Journey to the dark side

When I first moved to California, I was upset to find how unfriendly people can be. I had experienced some of the "big city" hospitality (or rather lack thereof) in Kansas City, but not as pronounced as here. When I first started riding the BART (subway), I was taken aback by how distant people could be. Beyond keeping to themselves, they would look at you as if you were a creep if you even said Good Morning. Sometimes something funny or interesting would happen. Even one word of mention to the person next to you would result in them (not so) subtlely moving away.

I am sorry to say, I think I'm becoming that way myself. It's not that I don't want to be friendly and talkative to people - quite the opposite. But I've had too many uncomfortable experiences. There are just too many weird, sick, and messed up people here. Somewhere along the line, there was an unwritten rule that you don't talk on the BART. The only people that break that rule are people that don't know the rule. People that don't know the rule are a "risk." They might be homeless and ask you for money. They might be mentally ill. They might not actually be sick but rather be...how should I say...a burrito short of a combination plate, and go off on an obscenity filled rant. They might be addicted to drugs. They might even be dangerous. And innocent conversation could quickly become uncomfortable and even confrontational should you accidentally say the wrong thing. And heaven knows what the politics are of people around Berkeley, which they'll gladly share with you and protest if you don't nod your head in agreement.

I've seen all of the above situations and more. And I wish I could say that I just ignore it and continue being friendly. But either out of a sense of self preservation of just simply selfish fear of discomfort, I stick my nose in my newspaper, and when somebody cheerfully say "Good morning", I nod my head slightly and move just a bit away, hoping they won't start blaming all of the state's problems on illegal immigrants, republicans, or...UFO's.

On a lighter note, this weekend didn't turn out all that interesting. All week, I was certain that we'd take advantage of the promised good weather and go on an interesting journey to...somewhere. I've really wanted to go find a flower blanketed hillside, and in addition I wanted to test drive my new lens (yes, it arrived as promised). But alas, it didn't work out. The weekend, not the lens. We weren't able to get away, and it's probably just as well since the weather wasn't cooperating anyway. I don't understand why weather forecasters have so much trouble in California. In Missouri, you've got to look for 3 weather systems. In CA, you just got to look west and see if there are any clouds. But instead of 68 and sunny we had 55 and cloudy. Not exactly a Canadian front, but still not nearly as nice as we hoped.

But we did make a nice soup, my first Minestrone, which turned out to be my favorite so far. So the weekend was not a total loss:-)

Since I didn't get away this weekend, the only postcard I have is the first shot from my new lens. It's an 80-400mm. At 400mm, this is Galileo from 10 feet away.