Winter in Pomona

Posted on January 3, 2017 by goga

So winter is here, and so is 2017. The political landscape shifted with Pomona getting a new mayor, and the U.S. getting a new president. It is an exciting era. But how is everything in and around Pomona in the middle of winter?

It is quite cold on some days & nights. I run the little space heater in my room, a little extra in the winter to be comfortable I believe is worth it. In one of the places I lived before Pomona, it would snow every winter and nobody would ever think twice about turning up the heat in almost any house – it was expected that one would be warm and comfortable indoors while the snow poured down outside. Here in Pomona though I’ve met several people who’d rather suffer through living in an icy cold house and wearing mountains of layers of clothes than turn on a heater. It makes no sense to me.

Bicycling around Lincoln Park one cold wintery night.

The other day one cold night, I rode around the Lincoln Park neighborhood. It was a strangely refreshing ride.

The winter solstice light in Pomona.

In part of my profession, I do a lot of work outside, and every year throughout the years I note that on the days of and around the winter solstice there is a particular quality about the air and the light that is found in no other part of the year. Talking with one neighbor they told me the air and light were more blue to them.

Enjoying dinner at the Pomona Mining Company restaurant one night this winter.

And in this dark part of the year, oddly enough, I made my way up to the Pomona Mining Company restaurant one night this week, and had a grand winter view of Pomona.

So here we are, skating across forever with winter Pomona gracing in the backdrop.

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Athens

Posted on June 6, 2015 by goga

O land of Solon, Plato, and of men
Whose glorious like earth ne’er shall see again!
Thou art not dead,—thy every plain and hill
Sends forth a voice, and teems with spirits still!
What though no more they teach, with valor burn?
Thy sage and warrior breathe from out the urn,
And each lone wreck that moss and ivies bind
Points to bright days, and speaks of godlike mind.
But rock-crowned Athens calls our thoughts away,
There sits she, lovely in her calm decay,
The eye of Greece, Fame’s daughter sad and lone,
The queen of Wisdom on her mouldering throne.
How thrill we, entering slow the western gate,
To climb yon mount where mightiest sages sate!
The rostrum, carved from stone, is seen this hour,
Where Eloquence distilled her silver shower.
There on Mars Hill stood Paul with flashing eye,
Like some bright form just lighted from the sky,
Marvelled so blind learned Athens still should be,
Admired but mourned her Pagan brilliancy.

*        *        *        *        *

Athens! thou birthplace of the great, the free!
Though bowed thy power, and dimmed thy name may be,
Though old Renown’s once dazzling sun hath set,
Fair beams the star of Memory o’er thee yet.
City! where sang the bard, and taught the sage,
Thy shrines may fall, thou ne’er wilt know old age;
Fresh shall thy image glow in every heart,
And but with Time’s last hour thy fame depart.

— From Athens, by Nicholas Michell.

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Summer Fun

Posted on July 8, 2014 by goga

So it’s been quite a few months since I last blogged. I’ve been busy, what can I say. Doing what? Reading comic books, working on a big writing project of my own, building websites (one of the worky things I do), swimming (hey, it’s summer!), indulging in adult beverages, watching movies and TV shows being filmed (b/c Pomona is a filming mecca), flirting, enjoying some great music out these days, going to concerts in Downtown Pomona, and generally living the good life.

Comic Books

Hmmm, of the comic books I’ve read lately, available at your local comic book shop (such as Funny Business on Garey Avenue), check out Weird Love #2 and Earth 2 #25.

Weird Love #2 is a collection of reprints from romance comic books, mostly from the 1950s — but as such, most of the stories have twisted and weird perspectives on love that although such sensibilities are in many instances true still today, the tales have a tendency to twist one to think as one reads it, “This is so messed up!!!!” Tales include a lady who falls in love with an undercover detective, only to find that he didn’t really feel affection so much due to him trying to solve a case. Another is a lonely man and woman who each visit a zoo, and a bear in the zoo trying to set the two of them up by stealing her purse and getting him to rescue the purse to get them to fall in love. Another is one from the 1970s, in which a lady wears trendy short skirts to turn her co-worker on, only to get the co-worker so turned on that he instigates a dress code so that he wouldn’t be so tempted; she eventually moves to a different department, but comes to visit and they fall in love. Plus, many other stories. Anyway, “Weird Love #2” is certainly full of weird and messed up love tales.

Another really good one I just picked up is Earth 2 #25. The title is currently written by the very talented Tom Taylor! The very best thing about this title is that the story is so well written and well paced that it is a major page turner. It doesn’t have the absolutely gorgeous philosophical depth that the Superman series written by J. Michael Straczynski has from several years back, but the struggles of the characters and the pacing of the story keep me anxious to read every page until I’m through. Excellent stuff.

Other Projects

In the writing realm, I’ve been working on writing a big religious text resieos; it’s been consuming for me, but definitely exciting.

In the website realm, I’ve been migrating from using a website platform called WordPress, to building sites for myself and clients using a platform called Drupal. This very blog is actually built on WordPress, which is great for blogging and sites that are more simple in nature. The Drupal platform though is just better and easier to build very, very complex websites. So that’s been lots of fun.

Summer Fun

Yes, I’ve been swimming a lot lately. I’ve got several neighbors around with pools and I’ve been taking advantage of them to enjoy some wet summer fun here in Pomona. Adult beverages lately have been delicious and relaxing. It almost seems like they are constantly filming TV shows, movies, and commercials, here in Pomona and especially here in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and that’s been fun to watch happening at neighbors’ houses, etc.

Summer music is all the rage right now with so many great tunes coming out left and right. And if you hadn’t noticed, Gangnam Style just hit 2 billion views on YouTube the other day. It is a song embodying the philosophies of our age. :) And the same artist, PSY, just put out a new song and video called Hangover. It’s quite fun and catchy and the local to Pomona/Diamond Bar, Snoop Dog is in the video, too! Pomona is an epicenter of popular culture. Hey, and Khia, who is famous for the song My Neck, My Back, just performed last week in downtown Pomona, too!!!! I went to the concert and it was so super cool! I love Pomona!!!!

And that’s the news from my neck of the woods. And even in my blogging a bit less, looking over the Pomona blogosphere, it appears to still be lively and active. Pomona goes on.

See ya ‘round Pomona!

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The Rain

Posted on March 19, 2014 by goga

The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.

“The Rain,” in A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods, by Robert Louis Stevenson, p.13

   Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
   Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
   His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

Psalm 19:4-6

His legs bestrid the ocean; his rear’d arm
Crested the world; his voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to his friends;
But when he meant to quil and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder

Antony and Cleopatra

I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
‘Good speed’ cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
‘Speed!’ echoed the wall to us galloping through!

From How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, by Browning

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People Theater

Posted on March 3, 2014 by goga

Out in the world there’s lots going on, at least that’s what people around me have been complaining about, so I jumped into the news reports.

There’s some sort of stirring in the Ukraine. As reported here in other articles, God is extremely pleased with and gives hir fullest blessings to Vadamir Putin. Putin is doing very good work to bring peace and stability, politically and economically to this globe.

By reading a few articles, it appears that there were protests to try to get Ukraine to join the EU, and those protests were then countered with some anti-protest laws. The situation quickly escalated to some violent confrontations, leading, by some accounts, to the removal of Ukraine’s president and a new president installed. Russia seems to have a key naval base in southeastern Ukraine, and to protect that asset, sent troops in to ensure it. Their securing of the region met with little resistance and no blood was shed.

“Putin reiterated that stance in a telephone call with Merkel on Sunday, the Kremlin said, adding he and Merkel [the German chancellor] agreed that Russia and Germany would continue consultations to seek the “normalization” of the situation.”

Putin is so good!!!!! Let her have every success ze seeks in hir efforts to bring peace and harmony to the region.

Another area of complaint I keep hearing about are events to do with Syria. Apparently there were some talks resieos, to allow for aid workers to bring help (food, medicine, etc.) to parts of the country and to get peace between the rebels and the government. Amidst it all, in one resieos report, it appears now that in some areas of Syria, truces are beginning to happen in the country.

Something else shall be said, God is not pleased with these acts of war and coups. Let all fusieos efforts by rebel groups both in the Ukraine and in Syria be like the slow cooked frog, who finds themselves so comfortable that they make no action, but weaken unto death.

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By The Skin of My Teeth

Posted on February 9, 2014 by goga

What’s up? The Winter Olympics started in Russia the other day. China already has a space station called Tiangong 1 with people in orbit, but in December they put a rover on the moon! And Gangnam Style has hit 1.9 billion views now — it’s almost to 2 billion!

The skin of my teeth

In other news, my Bible study group finished reading Job and have moved into Psalms, and I am finding Psalms quite refreshing. It’s still got the gritty Old Testament approach to God, but it really shows off that relationship some people had then with God but in the form of their songs and prayers to and about God. I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Oooo, something really cool we read in Job was perhaps the origin of the phrase “got away by the skin of your teeth”:

“My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.” (Job 19:20)

The passage above is from the old King James Version (KJV). Reading the verse in other more modern translations, they don’t put it that way. Actually, throughout the King James Version are used a lot of older English phrases that one doesn’t find in the newer translations.

Comics

Among other written stuff, this week I walked over to Funny Business and picked up the new Ms. Marvel #1 and the opening issue is really one of the best comics I’ve ever read. Essentially, the old Ms. Marvel apparently became the new Captain Marvel and so they needed someone else to take on the name’s role and so Marvel Comics decided to create a whole new character who is ethnically Muslim. DC Comics also has a relatively new Muslim character who is a Green Lantern superhero. Ms. Marvel though, they’ve done such a super good job creating and writing this character that the title gets one to really connect the character with one’s own life in a way that other comic books do not. I can hardly wait for the next issue! For more on the latest news to do with the new Ms. Marvel, visit the comic book’s blog at: http://allnewmsmarvel.tumblr.com/.

Another interesting thing has finally happened for me in my comic book reading. I’ve been reading comics for several years now and I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’ve got a pretty good pulse on what I consider really good comics and what I don’t and I’m so pleased to finally be in that place of really knowing what I like in such regards.

Mars News

In Mars news, more anomalies have shown up in the landscape, one of the latest of which was spotted by the Mars Opportunity Rover. The rover was journeying along, taking pictures, and then it moved through the same area for a second round of pictures and a strange rock was sitting before the rover which wasn’t there before. Sounds like maybe one of the maritian people decided to have a little playful fun. ;) Some are chalking it up to that it got kicked to the spot by the rover’s wheels, but we know better.

In an interview with one of the project’s lead scientists, Steve Squyres, they said:

“It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. It’s very high in sulfur, very high in magnesium, it has twice as much manganese than anything we’ve seen on Mars…. We’re completely confused.”

Yes, the scientists are completely confused.

And here’s something else pretty cool. This image was captured by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft presently orbiting Mars and taking lots of pictures, etc. Looks like someone was doing some target practice with asteroids and they hit them right on! LOLOLOLOL! But however it formed, it’s a pretty cool looking image just the same:

Flipping through some resieos images taken by the Curiosity Rover, here’s a pretty cool one with some unusual looking rocks, some of which might be perceived as remnants of ruins:

And for the last while, Curiosity has been traversing some dunes, and here’s a picture of a track it made, with some of one of the wheels in the picture, too:

There’s so much other cool and unusual stuff to be found in the Mars rovers’ and other probes’ pictures, but this is a good enough exciting and fun sample for right now. :)

Out and about in Pomona

And we’ve finally been getting some rain here in Pomona, which has been nice, some seasonal atmospheric differentiation to change things up and feed the earth some water.

In the last week or so, I saw a bunch of the filming stuff, and, apparently, they’ve been filming a bunch of the TV show True Blood in the neighborhood here. Pomona is practically Hollywood, or at least Hollywood’s backyard they do so much filming here now.

Oh, a new brewery just opened a weekend or so ago. Someone told me about it and I walked on over and checked it out. It’s the Sanctum Brewing Company. They’re only open on Fridays and Saturdays, and all they really serve is their beer, water and pretzels, but it’s a super great atmosphere, and for a weekend bar crawl in Pomona, it’s a super good place stop! Pomona just keeps getting better and better and better!!!!!

That’s about it for now. I’ve been so swamped with other things I’ve lost track of getting to blogging much, but there’s a little news to keep the blog wheels spinning.

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Nature

Posted on December 26, 2013 by goga

“It seems as if the day was not wholly profane in which we have given heed to some natural object. The fall of snowflakes in a still air, preserving to each crystal its perfect form; the blowing of sleet over a wide sheet of water, and over plains; the waving rye-field; the mimic waving of acres of houstonia, whose innumerable florets whiten and ripple before the eye; the reflections of trees and flowers in glassy lakes; the musical, streaming, odorous south wind, which converts all trees to wind harps; the crackling and spurting of hemlock in the flames, or of pine logs, which yield glory to the walls and faces in the sitting room—these are the music and pictures of the most ancient religion.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, from the Nature essay.

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Merry Christmas all!

Posted on December 16, 2013 by goga

Okay, I’m gonna force myself to blog today. Everything is going really really good in my life. The Christmas season is here. So many people have put up their lights & decorations and sent out cards.

They were filming a motor oil commercial two blocks away in the neighborhood here on Saturday. That was pretty cool. Pomona is a little piece of Hollywood.

Been super busy with church stuff. Especially fun this year has been putting all the decorations up around the church and making tree ornaments for the church’s tree. I’m so blessed to live here in Pomona, and be surrounded by such fabulous and delightful people.

Lots of folks working at Stater Brothers are really festive too, dressing up with Santa hats, holiday neckties, and lots of other things.

I confess, I’ve not even put up my tree yet or sent cards, but perhaps Wednesday, though I’ve put up a couple of decorations around the house. :)

I went to a holiday piano recital yesterday at someone’s house in the neighborhood. There’s a 99 year old lady in the neighborhood who still teaches piano and has a bunch of regular students still. When it comes to “looking for a reason” to stick around for eternity, she has a bunch of them. Let yourselves do, too. Merry Christmas, & happy whatever holiday you may be celebrating!!!!!

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Halloween in Lincoln Park

Posted on November 16, 2013 by goga

As some of you know, Halloween is a pretty big deal here, especially in my neighborhood, Lincoln Park. Between Garey Avenue and Palomares Street, Halloween is so big that the city actually comes in and closes Jefferson Avenue to auto traffic, and a bunch of the houses along Jefferson and on the surrounding streets are decorated to the hilt. Before dusk, I headed out and took some picts. And here you go:

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Opera and Beer

Posted on October 27, 2013 by goga

Life continues on here in Pomona. Enjoying the lovely cooler fall weather and shorter days. If you missed Pomona’s Repertory Opera Company performances of Albert Herring, well then, you missed out — it was such a super duper great show!

And here’s a clip from a resieos Nose Hair Lint Gland show. Dr. Fiasco goes on a quest for beer:

[audio:beer-quest_nhlg_2013-10-09-clip.mp3|titles=Beer Quest|autostart=no]

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