:Presenting a New Series: "WILT"

I had an idea: present a new ongoing post series called WILT: What I Learned Today.

Technically this is closer to WILY, or What I Learned Yesterday, but still...

Anyway, the inaugural edition is this:

White men in Long Beach don't ride the bus.

At least, and probably more accurately: White men with steady jobs and graduate degrees don't ride the bus.

My guess is that most men in my position---time off and a car that needs work, so it gets left at the mechanic and the mechanic is currently out of loaners---would just use Uber or Lyft to get home from that mechanic.

Not me, yo, I use the bus. I imagine the cost isn't too much more to use one of the car share deals, but it turns out I'd rather wait for the bus.

Maybe it's the NY in my system that I can't shake, but public transportation is closer to my heart than the new-thing.

In any case, I was the only white person on the bus yesterday morning, and it got me thinking about the different worlds that people most places inhabit.

More on this concept later...

Old Books

We watched a documentary about the Doors the other night and I learned a few things. One of those things I starts a discussion that I want to have later about the speed with which Art is created (Mo Yan is also a part of that discussion).

Another thing was that Jim Morrison self-published three books of poetry between '69 and '70. Eventually the content was published together by a company as the Doors skyrocketed in popularity.

They were together for only 54 months, but the combination of talent and rookies was powerful and strange.

Anyway, I started looking for those books. I saw a collection of "lost" and "rare" content from Morrison online for sale starting at $2.15.

No effing way. I dug a little, and that obviously wasn't what I was looking for.

But this article talks about exactly what I was looking for.

It discusses the three books, their "limited" print runs, and the fact that many of the books ended up with a friend of Jim's who passed on in 2010. There would be a series of auctions to raise money for music in education groups.

Bidding started at $5k. That made more sense. And it was back in 2016.

I found an eBay exchange with a similar photo to the one above that must have been from a winner of one of the original bids. It looks like they turned around and put it onto eBay. Oddly enough, they were stationed in San Luis Obispo.

It sold for nearly eighteen grand.

Did you know Jim Morrison's dad was Admiral Morrison, commander of the Navy during the Vietnam Conflict and did not exactly see the talent in what his well-read and formerly shy son was doing?

This begs a different conversation: How many father/son combos who were not either both president or king or emperor could have had an effect on so many humans? Name another combo that affected/effected as many other people?

Kate's Boys and Disney Villain Names

One day I noticed that my name, Patrick, was something like number 35 on the list of popular boy names in America. Cool, I thought. Number 35 wasn't bad. Then I thought I'd check for my brother, Daniel's, name.

It was something like number 3. Maybe 4, but I'm sure it was top 5.

Awesome.

Then time passes and I forget about it until I was watching Disney's "The Princess and the Frog." I really enjoy the film, and find the villain in the movie to be one of my favorites. The design is so cool, the voice work by Keith David is amazing (loved you in Men at Work!), and his name: Dr. Patrick Facilier:

This reminded me of the very cool villain from Monster's Inc., Randall, which was what Norm was called for a while:

So, that's two of my mom's boys as seen through their Disney-ish villain names. And, sorry Dan, when I find a Disney villain for you, I'll amend this post. For the time being, you'll have to be comforted by the knowledge that your name is way more popular than either of ours.

Paradise No More

My ties to Northern California are strong, and the foothills and mountains north of Sacramento on towards Oregon to the north and Nevada to the east occupy a space in the deepest portions of my heart.

When the city of Paradise was mostly wiped away from California by fire recently I found myself more rapt in a strange desire to dive into the stories and detritus of the natural disaster than I ever find myself otherwise.

The stories are harrowing and the photos are outrageous. But the following photo is one I couldn't ever dislodge from my shocked understanding, probably because it was taken by NASA, and space exploration lives in that same room in my heart, the combination of dry NorCal mountains and the desire to be an astronaut being two essential building blocks for who I am today:

I've driven 70 to the Cabin. I haven't spent nearly as much time in Chico as Norm or, obviously, another erstwhile Westwood Park alum Shannon, who lives in Chico, but still, I feel a connection.

And in this picture we can see the outline of small mountain hamlet completely swallowed up by fire, devoured in the course of a few hours one October morning.

The words...my words...will only flail around helplessly as families regroup in tents in parking lots...

Earth Mascot Discussion Starter

I've been thinking about this for a while...which is weird, that this is something I've been spending thought energy on...

I was wondering what animal mascot would you use for our planet? Would it have to be an animal? Should it be an amoeba? The double helix of our DNA molecule (probably!)?

I have some finalists for my own list...see how you feel...

In no particular order:

The humpback whale:

The anteater:

The Komodo dragon:

The octopus:

The stegosaurus:

The Rosario:

Maybe it should be a plant...like...

The General Sherman Sequoia:

Protozoa? Fungi? Are fungi even from earth?

Orchids? Roses?

How about:

Lichen...