2022's LA Times Festival of Books

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment you left on my bookish post, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

After taking the last couple of years off, the LA Times Festival of Books was back this year!  It was back at the USC campus.  Of course, I went down for it.  Instead of going both days, I just went on Sunday since that was the day I could meet up with my friend.  We had fun walking around the booths and talking to authors, mainly in the mystery booths, of course.  It didn't seem to be that crowded this year, although I heard Saturday was very busy.  I was good and only bought three books, which was a nice change, although I bought quite a few to get signed by one author I hadn't seen for a couple of years.

The weather was warm.  Just a little on the too hot side, at least for walking around.  But don't let anyone catch me saying that.

I also got to meet one of the co-hosts of the podcast All Things Cozy.  Since I'd met the other one a couple years ago, that was a lot of fun.  Just talked to her for a few minutes.

Library Book Event

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment you left on my bookish post, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

In the second half of April, I got to go to another book signing.  This one was at one of the libraries here in town.  I had been two years in the making since it was originally supposed to happen in 2020 just after we all went into lockdown.  I don't think I'd heard about it then, so I'm kind of glad it didn't happen.

The author was J. R. Sanders.  He writes historical mysteries set in Hollywood, and the story of the first book actually takes his characters to the town where I life.  As a result, he was talking about some of the real places here where he set stuff, which was fun.

Naturally, I bought both of his books, although they sound like they are going to not be quite what I normally read.  Still, I'm looking forward to reading them...someday.

There was a street event just a couple of blocks away that night, so I went and hung out there for a bit, too, afterwards.  Sadly, it won't work to go visit it on a regular basis, but I was glad I popped in to see what all was going on.

Grandmaster Ultimate

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment you left on my bookish post, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

The Saturday of Easter weekend, I went down to Orange County to play some ultimate Frisbee.

Two friends I normally play pickup with here in town played in a grandmaster tournament last summer.  They were trying out for the team again this year, and I tagged along.  It was a very informal pickup game.  The real try outs happened at the end of April in San Diego (it's a San Diego based team) and I didn't go down for those.  I know my skill level and had other things to do that weekend.

Anyway, this was a ways away from where we all live.  I probably wouldn't have gone if I couldn't carpool with them.  That made it nice, especially since I was driving.

The play was just pickup.  I actually enjoyed it because I could mostly keep up with people.  I wasn't running around trying desperately to keep up with people much faster than I ever was.  I was still slow, but not noticeably slow.

Unfortunately, I did feel like I could play better than I did out there.  I had lots of drops.  Usually, they were coming from bad/questionable throws, but it would have been nice to catch them.  The few catches I did have I then threw the disc away some.  Yes, I did have a few successful completions, but not many.

However, I ended the day on a great note.  I caught a score!  Definitely walked off the field smiling.

Wondering what grandmasters is?  It's for old players.  You have to be over 38 if you are male to play.  What's scary is, I'm fast approaching great grandmasters level.

Family Vacation

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment you left on my bookish post, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

I have been very neglectful of this blog.  And it's not because nothing has been going on.  I just haven't had the time to post here.  Or I haven't made the time.  So let's work on catching up, shall we?

In March, we finally got to take a long gestating family vacation.  We had a great time.  We went down to San Diego, which isn't that far from me but is further for my family.  Not that I go to San Diego all that often.  In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been there.  I really need to fix that.

Mom and Dad rented us a fabulous place right on the beach.  It was more than we originally would have spent, but we spent a lot of time on the beach just chilling, so it turned out to be money very well spent.  It truly was a fabulous place to stay.

We spent some time just hanging out, which was wonderful.  We did go to Legoland one day, which my nephew enjoyed more than the rest of us.  But we'd all be curious about it, so that's okay.  We went whale watching, although we didn't see any whales.  I did my first escape room.  And we escaped, with 41 seconds to spare.  We were staying in Mission Bay, so we spent some time at the boardwalk, including their mini golf.

Mission Bay is where I got this painting, too.  What's cool is, it is done on glass, so when the sun hits it, it comes through in some parts.  I really like it.

We had a great time.  I definitely wasn't ready to come back to work when the week was over.