Tag: writing

Ten year anniversary of Cool San Diego Sights!

WordPress notified me just now that my blog Cool San Diego Sights is celebrating its 10 year anniversary today.

Ten years? Good grief! That means I’m already ten years older!

It’s been fun so far. Hopefully there’s much more to come!

Back when I started Cool San Diego Sights, I didn’t imagine these posts I publish in my spare time, using photographs taken with a rather old camera, could end up on popular news apps like Google News and Newsbreak. Believe me, if you’ve discovered my posts in those places and wonder how they possibly rate as news articles, don’t ask me. As I understand it, it’s all determined by mysterious algorithms. Take my blog for what it is. A curious guy walking around San Diego taking photos!

But what a wonderful opportunity to express my love for my city.

And a great opportunity to meet all sorts of interesting people, too!

Perhaps I’m most thankful that Cool San Diego Sights has allowed many people to discover my Short Stories by Richard website. As a consequence, my short story One Thousand Likes is now included in a 12th Grade textbook, and part of at least one English Literature course at a major international university.

Ten years ago I had no conception such a thing might happen. If there’s a lesson here, it’s that persistence can pay off. Never lose hope!

Once again, thanks to those of you who swing by Cool San Diego Sights from time to time for a few moments of enjoyment. I keep learning new things. I hope you make a few fun discoveries, too!

Onward!

Richard

P.S. I spied a mysterious garden today in a very unexpected place. That’s coming up!

The awesome TwainFest coming this weekend!

A very cool family-friendly event is coming to San Diego this weekend!

TwainFest is returning to Heritage County Park on Saturday, August 19th. The fun, educational event will take place between 11:00 am to 5:00 pm among beautifully restored Victorian houses at the edge of Old Town. Learn more about TwainFest and register for the free event by clicking here!

I’ve blogged about past TwainFests many times. There’s so much to enjoy! You’ll watch actors portraying 19th century authors and the classic characters they created.

You’ll likely meet Tom Sawyer, characters from Alice in Wonderland, Captain Hook and Peter Pan, Don Quixote and others playing their roles in beloved books. If past events are any indication, you’ll see big Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson puppets, listen to readings, play literary games, contribute your own words to an infinite story, and get a free book, too!

Anyone out there with kids or a personal love of books should consider enjoying this awesome event! Learn more here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Artist creates unique playing cards, games!

Brilliant! That’s what I thought when I met artist Jeff Daymont and observed his uniquely designed playing cards and original games!

I was walking through the Seaside Pavilion at the San Diego County Fair–you know, where vendors sell unique wares, demonstrating salad choppers and knives that will cut through a brick–when my eyes fell upon an unusual table. That’s a lot of playing cards, I thought. Then I looked more closely…

Jeff has created playing cards that are truly unique. The Kings and Queens illustrated on cards depict actual monarchs, rulers and royalty from world history. Many of the playing cards are also designed to support all sorts of original games, such as Rock, Paper, Scissors, Water and Lizard!

You can see a bunch of games invented so far for the versatile King’s Keys deck by clicking here. If you think up a new game, submit it!

Not only are these playing cards works of art, but I absolutely love the concept that inspired players can dream up new games!

Do you want to check out Jeff Daymont’s very cool playing cards?

Click here for his website!

Speaking of inventing games, have I ever mentioned that I wrote interactive game software in the early 1980s?

As a young man in high school and college, I created computer games that were published by Softsync and packaged as Double Feature Adventure: Quest for the Holy Grail & The Elusive Mr. Big. The two text adventure games were coded in BASIC for the ZX-81 and TS-1000. My creations were very early versions of open-world role-playing games!

You can read a review of one of my games here!

A similar game I wrote for the Commodore 64 was titled Super Clue. It can be played freely on your computer right now by visiting the Internet Archive here!

Here’s a screenshot of a new game beginning:

Hints: the characters in Super Clue move about randomly, randomly drop and pick up objects, and can randomly leave clues at each location. There are several possible murder weapons. You can search characters and locations and interrogate the roaming characters. Use objects that you pick up like a magnifier, rope and flashlight. The initial character positions are randomly generated. To make a new move, type in a simple two or three word command. Enter “help” to see which words are recognized. One character is initially designated the murderer. Deduce who it is and make an arrest before midnight, or before there are more victims! I’m very proud of the sound effects I created. Be patient! As the ancient program runs on a computer emulator, every move’s resulting text can be a bit slow to appear, so wait a few seconds. Map out the mansion as you move about. Have fun!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Help expand knowledge in San Diego!

Are you passionate about expanding and spreading human knowledge? Have you ever wondered how information is gathered and presented on Wikipedia?

I met James today in Balboa Park. He was telling passersby about the San Diego Wikimedians User Group. I personally use Wikipedia to help research the things I photograph. As you might expect, I asked him all sorts of questions!

James was encouraging everybody to become a contributor to Wikipedia’s vast and growing base of knowledge. Are you an expert when it comes to any particular subject? Have you noticed omissions or inaccuracies in certain articles? Become an editor on Wikipedia. It’s easy!

The mission of the San Diego Wikimedians User Group is not only to promote the wiki movement, but to engage with organizations in the local community. One example is their partnership with the San Diego Central Library. Edit-a-thon programs help the public learn the basics of Wikipedia editing. If you know any organization that would be interested in such an interesting and educational program, you can contact the group via their Facebook page here! Check out their Meetup page here!

Are you worried about bias on certain Wikipedia pages? A part of the solution, James explained, is having many more editors! You, perhaps?

Help expand human knowledge!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Creativity thrives on Free Comic Book Day!

Today, May 6, was annual national Free Comic Book Day!

Southern California Comics in Kearny Mesa held a big event celebrating the day, and I dropped by to see what I might see. (And to pick up a big bag of free comic books! Later arrivals were allowed to grab 15 comics. I have some reading to do!)

In the parking lot outside the store a number of small vendors were selling all sorts of pop culture collectibles, and independent artists were showcasing their original creations.

I wandered a bit and spoke to some of the friendly artists.

One thing that was obvious is these people are driven by dreams and ambition and a relentless passion to create. As an author of short fiction, I can relate.

No matter what level of success any artist might achieve, it’s good to remember these words by Frida Kahlo: “I paint flowers so they will not die.”

Every artist has the ability to work that magic.

I really like the work of Ruben Rosas. He does illustration and digital art. See some of his stuff here.

I learned there’s a group of artists who call themselves the Comicbook Artists of San Diego. The two guys who greeted me were super friendly. According to their website: CASD was founded with the intention of building a local community of comicbook artists to foster artistic growth and to showcase their artwork. They want to put San Diego on the artistic map!

More cool artists! These smiling humans are two of the creators of Accidental Aliens, a local comic art studio! Check them out here. A description of their 2nd Shift Volume 1 includes: When evil incarnate tears through San Diego, four fledgling superheroes band together…

Oh, look! It’s Horrorgasm! I once saw an exhibition of their art at the Comic-Con Museum here.

It appears Ronald McDonald has traveled to Free Comic Book Day from a galaxy far, far away.

Great cosplay. And an earnest pitch to check out the 60 Pages 14 Creative Teams 1 Big Punk Rock Comic Kickstarter page here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

A game of Telephone with words and visual art!

A brilliant exhibition can now be enjoyed in the 9th Floor Art Gallery at San Diego’s Central Library. The exhibition is called Lost in Translation: A Game of Telephone!

You know the game called Telephone? It’s that verbal game where somebody conveys a message to a second person, who then the conveys the message to a third person, and so forth, on and on, until the message becomes so changed that it bears little resemblance to the original.

Well, imagine Telephone being played with written words and visual art!

The several “messages” in this unusual art exhibition morph strangely and unexpectedly.

Sequential threads can be viewed on the gallery walls. Each thread begins with a poetic passage written by a local writer. Those words are then interpreted by a local artist, whose resultant creation is then interpreted by another writer, whose words are then interpreted by another artist . . .

Cool idea, right?

I found it interesting that some of the threads maintained a certain amount of cohesion when it came to the conveyed message. But other threads mutated wildly, with subjects and themes lurching in completely different directions!

This is one very unique exhibition that you really have to see for yourself!

Check it out before April 15, 2023.

The following is part of one thread…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Books published in San Diego a century ago.

The 57th Annual Local Author Showcase can now be viewed at San Diego’s downtown Central Library.

One of the display cases features books that were published in San Diego a century ago–in the 1920s and 1930s.

When I think of publishing in San Diego, the name Harcourt Brace Jovanovich immediately comes to mind. One of the world’s most important publishers made downtown San Diego their home for many years.

But have you heard of Torrey Pines Press, Hillcrest Publishing Company and the San Diego Printing Company? They and others were producing books in our city a century ago. Even Arrowhead Spring Water Distributors was part of the action!

The San Diego Library maintains a collection of books published or printed in San Diego. It’s called the Wilmer B. Shields Collection. It’s located inside the Marilyn and Gene Marx Special Collections Center on the Central Library’s 9th floor.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

A short story about planting a tree.

Looking up through the leaves of the live oak trees at blue sky and clouds.

Have you ever planted a tree and realized it will probably outlive you?

That thought occurred to me a couple days ago as I helped to plant a few young oak trees in Balboa Park.

Yesterday, as I sat gazing out at San Diego Bay, I recalled how the larger oak trees in the grove had seemed so very . . . old. How they were bent and cast dark, spidery shadows. And a bittersweet story came to me.

It’s titled Dale’s Tree. There aren’t many words. I published it here.

A short story about a Christmas secret.

The House of England was hoping that Father Christmas would Please Stop Here.

Would you like to read a short Christmas story?

It’s based loosely on a real experience. The story wrote itself today, while I was sitting out in the San Diego sunshine.

The title is A Christmas Secret.

Christmas is about generosity, compassion and good cheer. And that’s what this story is about, too.

To read it, click here!

A story about desire that can’t be fulfilled.

The sky turns red and yellow just before sunrise on Mount Laguna. Photo taken at the Storm Canyon Overlook on the Sunrise Highway.

We all have deep-seated desires that can never be fulfilled. It’s an essential part of being human.

There are horizons that cannot be reached, dreams that cannot be realized. But we keep moving forward through life, in that place where we find ourselves, and we never stop hoping.

I’ve published a short story concerning this. It’s titled A Distant Place.

Writing the story was painful. Those who are thoughtful might enjoy reading it.

You can read this short work of fiction by clicking here.