Best Bets for the Break: A quick guide to online entertainment and virtual experiences

This is a continuing series of online activities to undertake on your computer or tablet during your quarantine quandary.

Lectures & learning

• The San Diego Model Railroad Museum presents “San Diego’s Streetcars: From Boom to Bust and Back Again” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. The online lecture features author, engineer and historian Jim Price in a discussion of the history of railroad construction and operation in San Diego County, with an emphasis on the San Diego Electric Railway and San Diego trolley system. Donations are requested. facebook.com/ModelRailroadMuseum/events

• The La Jolla Community Center presents an online forum featuring San Diego City Council District 1 candidates Joe LaCava and Will Moore at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. Questions for the moderated event may be submitted in advance to info@ljcommunitycenter.org. Register at ljcommunitycenter.org/forum.

Opera singer Joshua Arky will be featured in the La Jolla Community Center’s “La Cena È Pronta (Dinner is Ready)” on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

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• The La Jolla Community Center continues its Wednesday Connect series with “La Cena È Pronta (Dinner is Ready)” at 10 a.m. Sept. 23. The free virtual event, featuring opera singers Alexandra Rodrick and Joshua Arky, explores how food and music enrich our lives, bring people together and sometimes serve as our downfall. Register at ljcommunitycenter.org/wednesday-connect.

• Warwick’s bookstore presents a “Total Meditation” webinar at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24. The online event includes bestselling author Deepak Chopra discussing his new book, “Total Meditation: Practices in Living the Awakened Life,” along with a 15-minute meditation and a copy of “Total Meditation” mailed to those who attend. $35. warwicks.com/event/chopra-2020

• The La Jolla Community Center offers beginning acrylic painting classes via Zoom at 11:30 a.m. every Wednesday. To sign up, email deborah@ljcommunitycenter.org.

Family & children

• The La Jolla/Riford Library will hold its Teen Book Club meeting virtually at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Teenagers in grades nine through 12 will gather to discuss all things books. There is no set reading list, and participants may read all genres, formats and old or new books. For more information, email sanchezdm@sandiego.gov.

Travel & outdoors

• Mark’s Delicious Adventures presents “Cozy Julian and the Apple Harvest” at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23. The free virtual tour features the specialty stores, attractions and pie shops of Julian, an hour east of San Diego. Register at bit.ly/cozyjulian.

Art & culture

North Coast Repertory Theatre’s “Theatre Conversations” continue Friday, Sept. 18, with North Coast Rep Associate Artistic Director Christopher Williams.

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• North Coast Repertory Theatre presents “Theatre Conversations” via its YouTube channel, with one or two conversations posted weekly and previous posts available for viewing. Friday, Sept. 18: actor, director, producer, stage manager and North Coast Rep Associate Artistic Director Christopher Williams. Free. bit.ly/3anjurp

• The San Diego Master Chorale kicks off its six-performance fall season at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, with “O What a Beautiful City.” The virtual performance features composer Shawn Kirchner’s Ukranian-Orthodox- inspired arrangement of the African-American spiritual “O What a Beautiful City!” along with interviews. Tickets are $20, or $100 for a fall series all-access pass, at sdmasterchorale.org.

• The Athenaeum Jazz program returns at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, live online. The monthly performances will stream from the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library’s Music Room, beginning with Holly Hofmann and Joshua White playing jazz standards and originals for flute and piano. Tickets are $12 for Athenaeum members and $15 for the general public at ljathenaeum.org/jazz-at-the-athenaeum.

• San Diego Repertory Theatre, along with the Old Globe theater and La Jolla Playhouse, present “We Are Listening,” a live online salon about Black artists’ experiences in the theater industry, at 7 p.m. every other Thursday. Free sessions feature a discussion followed by a brief question and answer session. The Sept. 24 episode will feature Nikki Cooper, director of patron experience at the McCarter Theatre Center at Princeton University, and Mark Sharp, director of operations at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Jersey. New episodes are at bit.ly/wearelisteningnew; past episodes are at bit.ly/wearelisteningpast.

• The San Diego Watercolor Society is presenting its “Lay It on Thick” online art exhibition through Saturday, Sept. 26. The free exhibit, juried by award-winning artist Richard Glassman, also offers online workshops. sdws.org

• The eclectic San Diego vocal performance ensemble Sacra/Profana has posted “Cars: A Socially Distant Choral Arrangement” online. Free. bit.ly/sacraprofanacars

• The Old Globe’s free playwriting workshop Community Voices presents a Spanish version, Voces de la Comunidad, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Monday with hosts and teaching artists Gerardo Flores Tonella and Valeria Vega online. theoldglobe.org

•The GI Film Festival San Diego, a military-themed film festival that solely presents films and events for, by and about military service members and veterans, announces a diverse film lineup for its first-ever virtual showcase happening Oct. 1 and Oct. 2. Films presented are curated by members of the GI Film Festival San Diego advisory committee. The lineup will focus on current events, women in the service, and treatment of Black service members post World War II. Admission is $10 and all proceeds support the festival. Each ticket holder will receive a unique URL that will take the user to the virtual screening room on the GI Film Festival San Diego website. The featured content and post screening discussion will all happen in the virtual screening room. For the list of films at this year’s festival, more information and tickets, which will be available by Sept. 18, go to gifilmfestivalsd.org.

The GI Film Festival San Diego has active support from several local military-related organizations, such as Project Recover, Workshops for Warriors, Travis Manion Foundation, Elizabeth Hospice, Challenged Athletes Foundation, Blue Star Families San Diego, American History Theatre, San Diego Military Family Collaborative, Armed Services YMCA, Southern Caregiver Resource Center, Courage to Call, and Joan & Art Barron Veterans Center at San Diego State University. Members of the advisory committee come from various military backgrounds, including veterans of the US Marine Corps, US Air Force, US Navy, US Army, US Coast Guard, as well as Air Force Reserves and several military spouses, all who volunteer their time, talent, and expertise to ensure the festival provides an authentic view of the military experience and engages its audience through post-screening discussions.

For those interested in submitting a film to the 2021 GI Film Festival San Diego, the early bird deadline is coming up on Oct. 7, 2020. For more information on how to participate in the GI Film Festival San Diego, visit GIFilmFestivalSD.org.

Virtual galas & events

• The nonprofit Promises2Kids, which supports San Diego foster children, will hold its virtual fundraiser Brighter Futures ball drop on Friday, Oct. 2. Golf balls, for sale starting at $25 each through the event date, will be loaded in a helicopter and dropped at 5 p.m. at the Del Mar Golf Center. The ball that lands closest to the pin will win its owner a $2,500 cash prize provided by Carmel Mountain Preschool. give.classy.org/promises2kidsballdrop

• The San Diego Humane Society’s annual Fur Ball gala is online through Saturday, Oct. 3. Contributors can participate in an online auction or make a donation. sdhumane.org/furball

What have you found for entertainment or other activity from a (social) distance? Email your leads to efrausto@lajollalight.com. ◆