I like black and white abstract photos.. but sometimes all I get are puzzled looks for my effort.

Flipping thru some SF pics...

JPennant: what do you think of that pic?
k a t e: what is it?
k a t e: i am having a hard time seeing details
JPennant: Its the Powell Street BART station
k a t e: oh wow
JPennant: People standing on the platform, train blurring past.
k a t e: NEVER would have guessed that
JPennant: yeah, I like the abstract :-)
JPennant: the only thing sharp in the pic is her face.
JPennant: Im always amazed.. the pictures I like, no one else gets.. and the pictures Im ready to throw away, people go gaga over.

silence. tumbleweeds. crickets.

k a t e: i am gonna go grab lunch

*sigh* :-)

Here are some other black and whites...















I guess SF is not really as 'black and white" a city as New York is.

All my life, I was a Dog Person, didnt care for cats all.

I think partly because I regarded them as aloof and not as close to folk as dogs.
Cat lovers, to me, were an odd breed themselves.

Then I lived with one last year and I came around...

StonerCat, aka Casey aka The Cat of JT, is very lap friendly. Jumps into my lap and lays on my chest when he feels like it.

He's in my lap now.

But...

JPennant: Rhetorical thought: Why do cats, just after they take a dump - feel the need for human closeness? Gah.
cecily: Hee!
cecily: "Just in case you couldn't smell it well enough, I wanna make sure you get the full effect."
JPennant: *whoof*
cecily: That's the one thing that keeps me from being a complete cat lover.
cecily: The pooping indoors thing.
JPennant: the cleaning up the poop deal
cecily: That too.
JPennant: By the way, "Tidy Cat for Multiple cats" is far over-rated.
JPennant: Can barely handle THIS cat
cecily: Heh.
cecily: Smelly Cat..smelly cat..what are they feeding you..
JPennant: heeheehee

Heheh. Love those obscure "Friends" references.. :-)

*sigh*.

This is for Em, Stacy and Eugene...

Brooklyn

Exchange Place NJ

Both taken around last summer.

I think these are the only recent pics of me. Im about 40 pounds lighter and I currently sport a pepper gray beard.

Aight?

This is about as narcissistic as I care to get.

My friend came back from his old house with his furniture in near tears.

It hadnt gone well with his ex.

As I was hauling his stuff off the U-Haul this afternoon, he sat down and said...

"Remember the Simpsons episode where Flanders said to Homer - 'I dont mind you taking my vegetables, but did you have to salt the earth when you left?' "

Yes I do. :-(

All I could say was.. "Yeah".

Im trying to learn not to throw salt myself.

Jami chronicles a heated coffee war on NY's East side...

A battle between the NY 10 oz cuppa and the gourmet kind with the fancy lid..

I like 'em both.

Here's how ya do it:

The 50c (usually 65c) 10 ounce NY cuppa coffee you get with a buttered bagel or donut, the 4 buck starbux you get with pastry.

In other words, one is to get you going, the other to relax ya - and you pay accordingly.

Simple.
--------------------
I have often had a simple wish tho...

a NY greek cuppa, but double sized to 20 oz...

But then again, for its purpose - the 10 oz'er is indeed the right size.

EZ to handle on the subway and buses, and just enough juice to get you going.

Yeah, why change it.

Lets get it straight..

I havent really been raggin on LA, just on Cali in general. :-)

However, Im starting to see a little Cali pride stiffening up. Uh-oh.

Jules has been staunchly defending her city

>> >Have you seen our L.A. scrapbook?
>> > http://juvin.com/scrapbook/so-cal-pix/
>>
>> Wow. These are nice.
>>
>> NOW LA comes to life....
>>
>> Seems so eclectic and funky. Ive always had an image
>> of it as being a more
>> sterile cross between Miami and Arizona
>
>Wow... I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry.
>Where EVER did you get such an image?! (8-O
>

Prolly the movies and images...

Miami = Palm trees and beaches
Arizona = Mountains and Desert & Open spaces
Miami = Car culture and ostentatious displays of money
Arizona = Chicano/Hispanic (sub) culture

The only thing that was set apart from those places was the Cali SoCal rep - Surfer, hippie, alternative, pacific rim influence, freeways.

I know thats not all it is.. but its an impression thas been reinforced over the years.

Hey, Ive never been there.
Which is why Ive been prodding folk *cough* to take more goddam pictures of LA.. never mind that "you cant take pictures" cuz you have to drive everywhere. :-)
---------------------------------------

JPennant: I was about to send out some spam about LA before you popped on.. this article makes me wanna see it now.
bleak: la is great
bleak: can't imagine moving anywhere else
JPennant: oh yeah? wow
JPennant: thats local luv there :-)
bleak: yeah
JPennant: Funny tho.. youre one of the few people Ive heard who actually comes out and sez "I love LA"
JPennant: (Thats a t-shirt I think)

Well, soon I'll be in the area, so..

JPennant: So, it looks like I'll be wandering down to LA for a visit sometime this year
bleak: cool. let me know when you're in town
JPennant: I'll drop some secret agent hints to y'all :-D

Zis... is why, over the years, I swear by Norton AntiVirus, kiddies.

"Im always surprised when people leave New York. I mean, where do they go??"
"The real world?"
- Sex and The City

george: How's the bicycling comin'?
JPennant: oh sweet
JPennant: although I think Im gonna have to do some walking for strength
JPennant: I definitely have to start riding out West
JPennant: not start, make it an almost daily routine
george: Walking for strength. Speed walking?
george: Walking with hand weights?
JPennant: Nah, just walk. Briskly. Not drive or catch a bus when Im going less than a mile.
JPennant: But the cycling actually is helping the midsection (subtle hint :-D )
george: Not the sit-ups?
george: That's what I figured was going to do it.
JPennant: crunches definitely help.. but that doesnt help the other component.. your back and gluteus
george: And cycling does?
JPennant: oh yeah
JPennant: specially as Im doing four miles a day
george: There's a lake near me. Lake Merritt.
george: Three miles all the way 'round.
george: I could try to hit that.
george: Last August. I went around two or three times a day for a week or two.
JPennant: you know though
JPennant: the cycling sux if youre not riding to a destination, just riding around
george: Then I might have to go head up Telegraph Ave. to Berkeley.
JPennant: ooh, hills :-)
george: Yes, hills.
george: Not those central Florida flatlands.
JPennant: Hey, Im suckin wind on some of these gentle crests :-)

I think Im gonna die on the hills of the Bay Area... :-)

Today's horrorscope:

There are times when everything goes wrong and times when it all comes together - when everything you try works out for the best - and this is most definitely one of the latter.
Today's Venus-Jupiter aspect promises that in all areas of your life, you'll meet with unparalleled success. You don't even have to make much of an effort. Sit back and let success come to you.

Wow.

Pity that doesnt apply to lotto tickets. ;-)

You KNOW you're in the south when:

You buy a lean turkey wrap sandwich...... and discover its also wrapped in bacon.

Liberally.

Hey, you know.. for the flavor.

What would be in the wrap in California, I wonder.
------------------

Daydreaming of living out west.... while I wait for a new camera... a few recycled views of Out West:












I did not stage that picture...





















This might not make much sense .. but I now realize I was in a different place then.

But I knew then I was headed out there, even though I wasnt warm to the idea.

I wasnt prepared then.

Recycled blather.. posted in response to George's comment about joining a gym:

Heh. So G - youre gonna become a born-again exercise *cough*havent even seen a situp or crunch in 10 years*cough* freak like me and start riding the hills.. maybe taking to the bike/commuter lifestyle?
(Thats effing dedication to the granola, Im tellin' ya..)

I wanna become like the Brendan Frasier character in Bedazzled, who when he found out the Meaning of Life, started whizzing up the SanFran hills on his Beach Cruiser like they were speed bumps.
Thas my current daydream, ayuh. :-)

By the way, back when I was a weight room wonk - I despised those modern weight rooms in the sports clubs/gyms.
I was uncomfortable cuz theyre essentially social clubs.
The only machines I used were the bikes (to warm up), and the lat machine - as that is still the best way to hit that lat spread..

Other than that - gimme a well-equipped free weight room wit da chalk and mirrors to check form.. and to preen and pose.
And grunt in sweaty happiness.

The other advantage was that the free-weight room was blissfully machine and estrogen-free and therefore an inviting place to come to daily.
(The women who came to use the free-weights were always welcome, as they usually knew what they were doing - ie: not whine about being afraid of bulking up using free weights.)

Personally, i think those designer gym places actually DISCOURAGE people from exercising long term, cuz going in become these big productions and drama (machine, rotation, dress, preen etc etc) - thereby making most clubs profitable.
Most folk would just like it to be a simple routine.

I truly think the 'sport club/gym' operators want you to join, but not really use the facilities.
Stay with me here: They market to get people to join, and the more who join but hardly use the facilities, the more people they can sign up!

< end conspiracy theory of the day >

Wow. That was a good rant.. I think I'll recycle this for the blog.

Posted by Joe at February 13, 2002 02:27 AM

I've always had this entrepreneurial spirit in the back of my mind, and I always wondered what puts people to the point where they live their dreams," Peets, 45, said. "It's harder to take the plunge in a secure job. I was winning awards and getting recognition, and I got chicken.

"But when I got laid off, it was an unbelievable turning point."

"It's not my character to do high-risk things, but the circumstances gave me the courage," Peets said. "There is a silver lining here. I just had to believe in myself, ask my wife and business partner whether they believed in me, and take a leap of faith. Now I'm unbelievably motivated." "

For probably the first time in 20 years, I went riding in the dark last night.

For the first time in 20 years.

Sometimes you forget.

-------------
As I rode around, safety lights flashing (Florida law) - I realized that with money, the simple pleasures wouldnt be as simple as this.

I want money, as well as the will to enjoy the simple things anyway.

Hell, the *discipline* to keep things simple.

Hows that saying go?

"Rough work, iconoclasm, but the only way to get at truth."

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Indeed.

I never intended to be an iconoclast....
--------------

One of my daydreams/nebulous goals:

To be one of those people who cycle around San Francisco/Berkeley, taking their trail bikes on BART.

Heh.

I can also see myself doing a LOT of walking up those hills with da ' bike.

Thas real. :-)

Not having ridden a bicycle since I was a teen-ager, I went riding this morn.

Hey, the Dunkin Donuts is 2 miles down the road and I'd been feening for my morning Donut and Coffee for weeks now.

So, I saddled up and rode.
Hey, it aint like NY or even NJ, where my morning sugar and caffiene is within walking distance, mere blox away.

They say you never forget how to ride - although things like backpedaling to get the pedals in the right position, shifting without thinking etc etc things you remember - and within a few minutes, I wasnt even thinking about it.

*Hooo*.. for the first mile or so, I was hurtin and suckin wind like a banshee. Ho ho, verily.
Then I got into the rythm, and it got better.

I was drenched when I got back, legs a little sore.

Felt good.

So did the chocolate donut.

----------------
My grandfather, into his 80's rode a bicycle daily.

Back in Chicago, I had a mature friend from the Netherlands, who carried her bicycle in her car taking it everywhere.

Although I understood intellectually, that it was a good idea to ride - I dont think I appreciated until now, what was their motivation to do ride.

I think Im starting to get it now.

Today's horrorscope intuits how Ive been feeling lately..

The thing you must remember this weekend is that your destiny is not set in stone.


Your room for maneuvering may be limited, but you can still change the future if you know what you want.
And it seems that's half the problem:

You're not sure if you want worldly success or just to be left in peace.

Time to decide.

Hmm.

I simply cant have both, eh.


----------------------


Random chit. From the underground....

Heh.

Someone with the an Itinerant mug at their desk...



*Beam*

-------------
Tisha has me reading Uncle Bob again.

Reliable laffs again. Good times.

I stopped reading when the stress of becoming a Daddy became unfunny, but now he kicks ass.

Thanks T.
------------
Its dawn in Central Florida, and the sky is grey.

But its grey with a kickass view, as the layered clouds of a cold front pass by, flecked and streaked in god's own Pink, Purple and Gold..

Wow.

I need a camera.

JPennant: god will provide :-)
JPennant:hey, god gave me a Lincoln Navigator when I needed to move some stuff the other day :-)
phred: isn't the universe nice?
JPennant:"Hey JT, I got a car to move the stuff outta yer garage.."
JPennant:"Thats nice. You got a golf cart?"
JPennant:"Come look"
JPennant:"A car?"
JPennant:"Come look"
JPennant:"Oh my god! Thats a fucking Navigator!"
JPennant:Heehee. The look on his face was priceless :-)
JPennant:(Imagine a humungous luxury truck backed up on yer lawn, and you have the scene down :-) )
phred: too classic. i laughed when I saw it on your site
JPennant:heheheh. Yes, give thanx and the universe does indeed provide
JPennant:I had a shit eatin grin on my face all day tooling around it that thing. Schmoov. :-)

Yesterday, I got the chills - which wiped me out.


Today, I got the chills again, so much so that I padded around the house with a jacket on and later crashed with the covers pulled up around me. I hadnt taken off the jacket.

Well ya, it has gotten cool around here, so the windows were wide open - but still.

JT thought I had gotten feverish - but I think my blood has thinned out.

"Its as cold as witches titties!" he exclaimed tonight.

Uh, its 55 degrees dude.

Eh, he's a Florida native so he's excused.

Whats mine?

The SuperBowl halftime show had U2 in concert.

Toward the end, the names of people killed during 9-11 scrolled by on a giant banner.

During this Bono pranced around to the adulation of screaming fans holding glowsticks.

And the names continued scrolling.

And Bono kept prancing around, sucking up the adulation.

And the names kept scrolling.

And he kept prancing around.

This. Bothered. Me.

"You want some of this cornbread hon?"
"Cornbread? Uh.. sure."
"There's some butter over there you can put on it."

JT's apt complex was having a Chili/SuperBowl cookoff in its club-house.. right off the bar - by the indoor basketball court.

I havent had cornbread in years, never really liked it - but hey this is the South.

"You havent had this in so long? Well honey, youre in the South.. eat up!"

I was dragging some items to JT's storage space, and a guy comes along in a Lincoln Navigator

"Youve got a lot of stuff to drag there?"
"Some."
"Well shit, let me put my stuff up and you can take the truck and get the stuff all in one."

He flipped me the keys and I carted stuff around in a leather lined Navigator.

Schweet.

Hey, give thanks and god will provide.

This is the South, sho nuff.
---------
And to paraphrase Ferris Buehler..

"If you can, drive one. It is CHOICE."

This truck makes me want to get back to driving. Badly.

Whoo.

Sun gave me a reminder as to why Im getting antsy..

NY808: hiking in rain forests was my fave pastime
JPennant: cool :-)
NY808: and itd be only a 20-30 ride to a trail
NY808: here you have to drive hours
JPennant: no you dont
NY808: so where can i find a good trail 20-30 from queens?
NY808: other than central park
JPennant: Palisades. Across the river.
NY808: so much to do here! i just need a hiking buddy
NY808: oh..and time
NY808: damn it
JPennant: yep

I aint going hiking anytime soon, but not being able to go walking is getting to me.

When I first got to New York, my first instinct was to raise my hand and yell "Taxi". City blocks INTIMIDATED me. I even took a cab to go TWO city blocks. More often than I care to admit to.
New Yorkers would look at me as if I were daft.

Now, Id rather walk, if only to the nearest train station.

Even in effing Bayonne, NJ - where you absolutely need a car, eventually Id walk everywhere.

Sturtle writes:

You get to walk in New York--which is, you know, a good thing. In fact, New York is probably the most perambulophilic (I just made that up!) city in the country, maybe the world.

For the rest of Americans, walking is something we do only sporadically--maybe in the middle of the night, we get to walk to the bathroom, or when we want to distribute a memo to our coworkers about the need to practice aiming at the toilet instead of the tissue rack we walk to the copy machine, but otherwise, we hop in our cars, drive the 20 feet to the 7-11, and circle the parking lot for 20 minutes trying to find a spot five feet closer to the door.

But in New York, you wanna get somewhere? Walk outside, two blocks down to the train station, get on, get off, then hike six blocks over, one block up, to visit your friend who lives in a 5th floor walk-up. Life in New York is conducive to great calves and even better asses.

Thats prolly why, Jules - I cant even imagine living in the LA area. Even when I get my license all paid off.

With the announcement of massive layoffs at Amtrak - I think time is running out to take that cross-country train trip.

The three men in the apartment : Joe, JT and Casey the Cat, settling back to watch movies..

JT: Which one?
Me: American Pie
JT: Aight
(15 minutes later, and not a damned thing is funny..)
JT: Planet of the Apes or Charlies Angels?
Me: Charlies Angels. I want to crack a smile at least ONCE tonight.
JT: Supposed to be done over the top with Tongue in cheek. Errr... pun not intended.

Heh. Took me about 5 seconds to visualize and get that one...
-------------------
I stood outside and looked up at the Central Florida night sky.

A man in business casual clothes sailed by on his longboard thru the complex.

I looked up and watched the lights, all the planes circling the Orlando area.

Here, it doesnt feel like everyone is on heightened alert. It doesnt feel like The Blitz like it does in New York.

F'rinstance.. like New York.. all the planes are lit up like Christmas ornaments.. but at least private planes are flying all over.

Small and private planes are excluded from New York airspace..

All you see are commercial planes flying predetermined paths, slowly. Almost no helicopters or private planes, cept for military and civilian authority.

Oh yeah, and the F-16's on patrol.. seen usually when they light their afterburners, making that abrupt turn over Manhattan.

I stood and looked at the lights in the sky.

Normal lights.

Today's horrorscope:

You've planned and pondered long enough:
Now it's time to get your act together and start making your dreams come true. Forget about all the false starts and missed opportunities.
The planets promise that if you believe in yourself and act as if you can't fail, you'll accomplish some amazing things over the next few weeks, starting today.

Holla.

Already making the moves yo.
---------------

Doing a site redesign (for munny)... rockin to the playlist, getting to the creative groove..

DMX - Up in here
NIN - Closer
RedHotChiliPeppers - Love Rollercoaster
Notorious B.I.G - Big Poppa
Digital Underground - Doowatchyoulike
Kool Moe Dee - Wild Wild West
Maxi Priest - Just Wanna Be Close
George Clinton - Atomic Dog
(bowwowwow-yibbiyo-yibbiyay)

and the usual suspects...

Shit. I havent left this house all week. The closest store is frikkin 2 miles away. And its 80 degrees outside. (Heheh. Boohoo)

No wonder I got fat when I moved to Florida.

Heh, better start walkin'.

----------------

Jamie, now an HBO site producer who regularly goes from LA to NY and back writes:

I'm so happy to be home. I feel like I've been gone forever. I think I left town just long enough to miss New York. It's been a while since I've felt like that, maybe since last summer, but more likely since I went to Jamaica two years ago. I don't think I like places where people are happy all the time, and people in Jamaica and LA fucking smile all the time, and then you have to smile back, too, or they think you're an awful person, which I don't mind ordinarily, except I was there on a business trip, so I had to care what people thought about me, or at least pretend like I did.

Anyway, I missed scowling. As soon as the plane hit the ground at JFK, I immediately relaxed my face into my natural scowl, and it felt so good and so right.

Hmm.

Nah.

Someone said, she couldnt imagine me out of NY. Someone else asked if I would be back.

Heh.
---

JPennant: hey
george: Where you at? ;-)
JPennant: couch surfin for a bit at my pals JT's place.
JPennant: a luxury gated community.
JPennant: getting my bearings
JPennant: My body is starting to relax.
JPennant: Now, if I can just figure why the gods have me coming here.
george: To Florida?
JPennant: yeah
JPennant: because in many ways its my disadvantage to be here
george: How so?
JPennant: I dont drive - deadly in a spread out place like this, florida is notoriously difficult to find work in, and there isnt any obvious way I can further my objectives here.
george: Is it warm? Quiet? Can you hear yourself think?
JPennant: yes
JPennant: Is that all I need at this very moment?
george: It may be.

Still, there are things I need to accomplish, and I feel like Im in a holding pattern again...
Today's horrorscope disagrees..

There's such a thing as mind over matter, but it won't help you much today because your physical batteries are at a very low ebb and the only thing that will recharge them is complete rest.
That might be difficult if you've got chores to do and deadlines to meet, but it can be done - and must be done, if you don't want to burn yourself out.

Aight.

I would much rather be in SF, but hey.

JPennant: Heh. Plus I got a cat here givin me all kinds of love. :-)
george: Kitty!
george: Name, make, model?
JPennant: Casey, big coon/tabby mix, 7 years, lap friendly
JPennant: Now sleeping on his back, mouth open, tongue hangin out, legs akimbo :-)
JPennant: I think our heavy petting session wore him out

Aight

"Where ever you go, there you are."

Florida... for the time being.

Ok, now what?
--------------------------