Good times, bad times ...
Wow, it's been forever since I posted in here, huh? Life has certainly been on the hectic side for me, is why. But at least on the personal front, it's been all good stuff. (I'll get to the bad times referred to in the subject line of this post a little further on--suffice it to say right now that those bad times aren't mine, at least not right now, thank Goddess.)
The good stuff: my gig with the brand-new restaurant recommendation website SanDiego.Eats.It just keeps getting better and better. We're still technically in beta test, but we've had a sort of "soft release" in that the site owner has given his enthusiastic okay for me to post the URL wherever I think I can entice people to go visit. So--consider yourselves enticed! And if you happen to live in the greater San Diego area, consider becoming a member and adding your own restaurant recommendations to the site--we've got six staff writers at work, but we've still got a lot of places to cover.
Another recent good thing: I was invited to host yet another eGullet one-week intensive food blog. That went down the week of March 19 through 25 -- if you'd like to check it out, clickie here.
And my weight loss regimen just keeps boogieing along, despite foodblogs and restaurant writeups and flakey bathroom scales and everything.
Now, as to those bad times: I just witnessed a sad litte drama out my apartment windows. Seems this woman who had apparently slipped her cogs mentally had taken up part-time residence in our apartment complex's parking lot. This had actually been going on for several days, and was mainly odd but harmless enough. It was only today that her odd behavior really escalated--stalking through the main courtyard swearing and yelling and daring passers-by to come take a piece of her, etc. So, inevitably, someone must have broken down and called 911.
To judge by the woman's appearance as well as behavior (youngish, skinny, dressed in good-quality but extremely baggy sweats, driving a car that looked pretty new but was missing plates; rooting around in our dumpster, but in an aimless manner, and talking very animatedly to nobody or anybody), I very much fear that the poor lady is yet another victim of crystal meth--I know of no drug that takes people down so fast that they still have several markers of economic better times (clothes, car) even as their lives start to circle the drain (dumpster diving).
From what I could see, at least the cops seemed to be pretty gentle with her--eventually there were three of them, including a female officer, talking to the woman at great length, and it seemed like they more cajoled her into handcuffs and the back of a patrol car than anything else. Still--the poor thing was hauled away in handcuffs, and her car searched, and I very much fear she's headed for the criminal court system instead of the humanistic help she must really need. Just all very sad ... why, in this ridiculous War On Some Drugs, is so much effort expended on such low-impact substances like cannabis, when the big clear and present danger on the drug front is this awful destructive crap called meth?
The good stuff: my gig with the brand-new restaurant recommendation website SanDiego.Eats.It just keeps getting better and better. We're still technically in beta test, but we've had a sort of "soft release" in that the site owner has given his enthusiastic okay for me to post the URL wherever I think I can entice people to go visit. So--consider yourselves enticed! And if you happen to live in the greater San Diego area, consider becoming a member and adding your own restaurant recommendations to the site--we've got six staff writers at work, but we've still got a lot of places to cover.
Another recent good thing: I was invited to host yet another eGullet one-week intensive food blog. That went down the week of March 19 through 25 -- if you'd like to check it out, clickie here.
And my weight loss regimen just keeps boogieing along, despite foodblogs and restaurant writeups and flakey bathroom scales and everything.
Now, as to those bad times: I just witnessed a sad litte drama out my apartment windows. Seems this woman who had apparently slipped her cogs mentally had taken up part-time residence in our apartment complex's parking lot. This had actually been going on for several days, and was mainly odd but harmless enough. It was only today that her odd behavior really escalated--stalking through the main courtyard swearing and yelling and daring passers-by to come take a piece of her, etc. So, inevitably, someone must have broken down and called 911.
To judge by the woman's appearance as well as behavior (youngish, skinny, dressed in good-quality but extremely baggy sweats, driving a car that looked pretty new but was missing plates; rooting around in our dumpster, but in an aimless manner, and talking very animatedly to nobody or anybody), I very much fear that the poor lady is yet another victim of crystal meth--I know of no drug that takes people down so fast that they still have several markers of economic better times (clothes, car) even as their lives start to circle the drain (dumpster diving).
From what I could see, at least the cops seemed to be pretty gentle with her--eventually there were three of them, including a female officer, talking to the woman at great length, and it seemed like they more cajoled her into handcuffs and the back of a patrol car than anything else. Still--the poor thing was hauled away in handcuffs, and her car searched, and I very much fear she's headed for the criminal court system instead of the humanistic help she must really need. Just all very sad ... why, in this ridiculous War On Some Drugs, is so much effort expended on such low-impact substances like cannabis, when the big clear and present danger on the drug front is this awful destructive crap called meth?