A piece by Eclair Bandersnatch. In my pic, it looks like her hair eroded, but that's just my camera failing to depict glitter. Her hair had a lot of glitter.

An assemblage of toys.

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2026-07-29T16:06:36.095133

A fan of the #SanFrancisco Crosstown Trail posted his tribute "Straight Up," a walking route straight up the middle from the south side of SF up to the Golden Gate. Monday, I walked it.

I got a hint that my timing might not have sync'd up with the author's intent when I read the route instruction "As it [Pope Street] turns north, look down the street and you’ll see Mt. Davidson straight ahead." Thus I looked up from the instructions to behold Mt. Davidson:

It was foggy. That was on purpose: I'd headed out early in the fog to get in as much distance as I could before the day heated up. But my timing had consequences. Because I didn't wait until the end of summer vacation time, when I followed the route through the City College San Francisco campus, the library temporarily housing the Diego Rivera mural was closed. I saw maybe three students as I traversed the early-morning campus. (But when things heated up later, I would indeed be glad I'd gotten an early start.)

My foggy-morning timing made Mt Davidson not so much fun. Eucalyptus trees eagerly drew water from the fog and tried to drop that water onto their roots. I say "tried" because something blocked the water's path: me. I grumbled at the old city moguls who had attempted to start a lumber industry in the bay area by planting eucalyptus trees, accidentally choosing a type of eucalyptus ill-suited to lumber and then…just letting the trees grow. Now I walked through a false rain. A few times I started to slip in the mud, scrambling to keep my feet. I walked up to the huge cross, a memorial for the Armenian genocide. Yesterday, more than 100 years after that genocide, I'd read a quote from Azerbaijan's president that he still felt justified in Azerbaijan's conflict with Armenia. Humans are smart; it's too bad we devote so much of our smarts to holding stupid grudges. Somehow, I made it down off the hill without falling on my butt in the mud.

As I made my way from Mt Davidson to Mt Sutro, the fog burned off. Soon the day would warm up, not so great for walking. Nevertheless, I wasn't sad to see the fog go: I was about to walk under more eucalyptus trees.

Though I lived across the street from Mt Sutro's trees, I hadn't walked there in quite a while. A while back, UCSF's groundskeepers had started chopping down many many eucalyptus trees. Moguls, in their wisdom, had planted trees all at once, and the trees were dying all at once; the groundskeepers had a hard time keeping up. Finally, they'd gotten ahead of the game by cutting down many of the old trees. I kept getting notices: don't try to walk the Sutro trails for the next few months; they're clearing trees in the such-and-such area. I'd stopped trying to keep track on which areas were open for walks; I just gave up on walking there. I hadn't noticed when the notices stopped. Now this walking route was sending me into that trail system, making me realize it was open again, had perhaps been open for a while.

I emerged from Mt Sutro and headed down the Farnsworth steps, crossed Parnassus half a block from my apartment. I followed the route through Golden Gate Park. As I walked at 2nd and Cabrillo, I looked over a block to the intersection near my parents' house. There was a fleet of power trucks gathered, no doubt upgrading some infrastructure. I kept walking to Geary where I was interrupted by more infrastructure-upgrading: new asphalt was going in. I gave up on following the route exactly, moving over to Arguello.

At St. John's church, I took a little side jaunt. A recent SF Pursuit activity had made me think about San Franciso's labyrinths. Thus, I took a break to walk the labyrinth at St John's. Sort of. It was a bit neglected. My path was blocked by plant fronds. My contemplative mindfulness is amazing, I thought to myself as I awkwardly stepped over them.

I made my way through the Presidio pretty much on autopilot. In my youth, my mom and I had walked through the Presidio to get to my great-grandparents' house. Nowadays, I walked through it to meet with friends and/or SF Pursuit activities in the Marina district. The route instructions had me walking the Tennessee Hollow Trail, warning that it was tricky to follow; and it was tricky, but I soon realized I'd followed all of its pieces before on previous walks. I reached the route's destination: the beach at Crissy Field, which was windy. All in all, a good walk.

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2026-07-28T21:53:41.791847

Outside Lands is still two weeks away, but the temporary cell towers are already up and their diesel generators are in full roar. Meanwhile, at 20th and Irving, there's a new-to-me Kal Zakzouk sidewalk chalk piece:

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2026-07-25T21:36:03.673040

How to finish an #SFPursuit challenge in minutes years:

Attend elementary school a half block away. Get to know the neighborhood.

Write (the first draft of) The 2-Tone Game, one of whose puzzles covered the relevant territory.

If you're failing to discern something through glare-y glass: give up, stand back, and consider what nearby establishments the Hours & Access notes might describe. Enter the first one you thought of. It's correct. Now you can figure out what you failed to see through glare-y glass.

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2026-07-24T23:15:40.946537

Some mighty nice sidewalk chalk art at Presidio Wall Park today, celebrating Phillip's birthday. I dunno know who did it; it's unsigned. Maybe, like, Phillip's grandma or something?

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2026-07-19T20:32:41.410581

On my way home from the grocery store, I saw some Flower Power sidewalk chalk art on Irving St at 8th Ave. "I 🌼 SF" #SanFrancisco (In related news, I have replenished my supply of celebratory bubbly and am repeatedly refreshing the news page.)

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2026-07-13T15:16:17.293886

At Kezar Stadium, figure I have a few months to workshop some equine/vine wordplay.

But, first an another such project urgently emerged. Uh, "Elegy for L.G.: Burn in Hell, G."

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2026-07-12T14:43:36.266324

It's happening again. Anyhow, I got a selfie. #SFPursuit.

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2026-07-11T20:28:44.140321

Suddenly had a good guess at who made those Mario-themed drain covers on Page St when I saw this DraINvader cover on Baker St. #SanFrancisco #StreetArt

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2026-07-10T15:12:41.507259

Sidewalk chalk art at 22nd and Irving St in #SanFrancisco in front of Uncle Benny's donuts, where, miraculously,* there was no line this morning.

Maybe(?) it's supposed to suggest a bagua? I'd expect more, uh, mid-octant U-turns where there are straightaways to really get something bagua-like. Maybe I'm just jumping to a culturally-insensitive conclusion based on the presence of Chinese characters at the bottom which I can't even read. That would go well with the "Laozi" in Chinese characters at the bottom, legendary author of the Tao Te Ching. (Many thanks to Paul Masson for translating those characters.) I suppose that Pac-Man on top would be handy for harrying evil spirits a la one of those feng shui mirrors or something.

Maybe(?) by Kal Zakzouk who I vaguely remember making some Pac-Man mazes when he was drawing on Judah sidewalks but hoo boy not sure how well I trust my memory back that far.

*Maybe miraculously or maybe a large fraction of the Uncle Benny's regulars weren't sure whether it'd be open on Independence Day.

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2026-07-04T22:24:20.159953