Events

Mellifluous holiday tunes have quickly been replaced by a cacophonous chorus of sneezing, coughing and retching. And wherever you turn, someone is wearing an ominous blue surgical mask — to either shield themselves from airborne illnesses or prevent the spread of their own. Whether the threat is seasonal colds and flus, viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu), or the many strains of Coronavirus, especially the current COVID-19, causing respiratory infections — they are all nothing to sneeze at.

In my January 2020 update, I reported the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (SDCRAA) was poised to approve a $3 billion plan to dramatically expand San Diego International Airport. This plan will result in 11 new gates and an undetermined number of “Remain Overnights” (RONS), which are jet parking places for the increased number of late-night arrivals and resulting early morning departures. We thought the additional RONS were going to be eliminated from the plan as a result of Quite Skies La Jolla advocacy, but the Airport Authority has not clarified its intent. As expected, the SDCRAA approved its Development Plan and related Environmental Impact Report clearing the way for an increase in arriving flights from 36 per hour in 2019 to 50 per hour in the not too distant future.

A Bird Rock business is revolutionizing the wine bar business, creating craft wines and pouring innovation into every glass. Lowell and Anne Jooste, the married owners of LJ Crafted Wines on La Jolla Boulevard in the heart of Bird Rock, explained how they’re helping to improve the community, one beverage at a time.

Here comes “Fly,” a new Wendy-centered musical opening at La Jolla Playhouse Feb. 18. And it’s offering a whole new Pan-orama, with a re-imagined Wendy taking center stage. Book-writer (and co-lyricist) Rajiv Joseph is a playwright best known for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” and “Guards at the Taj,” which had a controversial production at the Playhouse in 2016. (I loved it.) “Fly” is an offbeat take on J.M. Barrie’s “Peter and Wendy,” a 1911 novel that was the Scottish-born, London-based writer’s follow-up to his hugely successful 1904 play “Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Never Grow Up.”

I’ve long since given up on New Year’s Resolutions, but for years I’ve kept a somewhat varying list of 10 Rules to Live By. At the end of the year, I look at it and give myself a grade. Some stuff should just get dropped from the list because I get an “F” every time. But where it’s health-oriented, I feel morally obligated to at least pretend I’m going to do better next year.