Thursday - more practice

 Today I was up in time to pack some things, take them to the post office, drop off one thing at FedEx, walk over to Sprouts and Ross and get some things, get back here and cook some dinner, practice, and then get to work coming up with a batch of things to list tomorrow. 

That involved taking apart yet another big heavy piece of microwave equipment. That took something like 4 hours. 

It's going to take me a while to get back to where I was in terms of busking skills. which is OK because right now the weather's too cold to be very good for busking and I still have things I want to sell off and we're getting into the time of year when people get their tax refunds and start feeling spendy again. 

That time the Allies....

 Decided they were exerting a "genocide" against the Germans in WWII so they withdrew to the German borders, let the Nazis keep their weapons and ideology, sent in tons of aid, and of course 10 years later the Nazis were still sending rockets and drones into London and Paris... 

Oh, wait, that didn't happen. No, we chased the Germans right down to the bunker hiding their King Rat, who politely offed himself. Germany was at least largely de-Nazified, and occupied by the Allies until they could behave themselves. 

But this first, fictional, case is exactly what Biden has decided to do in Israel. This is why I think Bibi should have gone in fast, hot, and HARD and leveled Gaza on October 8th, the day after the attack, and leveled the fucking place. It's what Sharon or Golda or Ben-Gurion or any good leader would have done. 

I listed the 20 things I had all ready to go, and did something that feels really subversive these days: I practiced on my cornets. It feels like there's no time to do so these days, and it's certainly cold and not all that great out there for busking, but yesterday and today I made the time. 

After practice and eating something, I cleaned the place up and got things out of the warehouse that had sold, and Ken came by right on time and I got my check. I told him I might not deposit it until Friday though. 

The cheapo mouthpiece I got from Austin Custom Brass is junk, it lowers each note by half a tone and I don't know what to do with it. Palm it off on someone I guess. Both the Connstellation and the Getzen have a nicer sound than the Yamaha (made in China) trumpet and I practiced on both today and yesterday. The thing with the Connstellation is it's quite heavy, and I'm not sure if I want to busk with it, although it does have a "big" sound. 

Tuesday - We studied Kosher'ness

 I was up in plenty of time to grab the two things I'd packed last night, pack 4 more things, and get out of here, I thought, in time to catch the train to Menlo Park. I only stopped at the post office to mail the things, and the Amazon place for some bubble mailers.

But it was not early enough because there was one train that I had to get on to get there in time, and when it came it was "labeled" as train no. 132 Southbound when the one I was waiting for was no. 141 Northbound. There was an Australian guy waiting with me, while everyone else got onto that train, and what I knew about him, besides that he's Australian from talking to him a little, is that he'd tried tagging his clipper card and it had not gone through, probably due to insufficient funds. 

So he'd not gotten onto the train, but was happy to inform me that the train was indeed Northbound. They'd just not refreshed the little screen in the train that's easily readable from the doorway. And he'd not gotten on because he probably didn't want to get busted for not paying. There's a certain breed of traveler that just likes to "wing it" and he probably thought he'd be able to beg the money for his fare off of someone, and had me picked out as not the right kind of someone. Which was a good call, as I only had $1 in cash on me. 

Since I'd missed the train, I decided I'd go back to Whole Foods and just use my card to get some food and some "walking around money". But, I'd not been using my card so I had trouble recalling the PIN number and fucked it up, twice. So my card was refused. I went back out and got on my bike to ride to the bank and just take cash out, then when I got to the corner, remembered my PIN. So I went back to Whole Foods and tried again, and the card was refused. Back out again to go to the bank. 

I got money out of the bank and the guy said my card is OK - I said I'll either get one of those robo-calls where they'll verify that I have my card still and that I'm me, or it will be fine in a day or so. 

Then I went back, again, to Whole Foods because the 3rd time's the charm or something, got two slices of pizza, a can of seltzer water, a bottle of coffee, and paid cash. 

I should mention that all this time, some horribly Gypsy guy with a violin, and amp, a backing track, and his kid with a smaller violin that at least was not mic'd up, were playing "music" by which I mean, playing some basic riffs that sounded like a cat being tortured. The kid was mostly dancing around and swinging his violin bow around which was good because he really couldn't play for shit. The amp was really loud, and I think he was only getting a few tips because of the kid. So that's what busking has come to in this town. 

Done with my pizza, I rode down past Temple Sinai to the Safeway and went in and checked out the Kosher section they were raving about. It was ... OK. Mostly snacks and nostalgic type stuff and I didn't buy anything.

I went to the nearby Starbucks and got an espresso and some ice water and settled down to study for 45 minutes or so. I like the other Starbucks better though because the lighting is better and the tables less sticky. 

I got to Temple Sinai a bit early and wandered around a bit, then one of the ladies in the class got out of her car and we went in. I took the Godiva chocolates I had (that had come with that bottle of wine) and put them out and one of the ladies put out brownies and cookies and stuff so there was a real diabetes-fest for the taking. 

We studied more Hebrew and then more about Kosher foods and then the mitzvot. As always it was fun and interesting. And this Saturday we're supposed to, or highly encouraged to, go to the Saturday morning service there. 

Once we were done, I put on an extra layer under my jacket and set out on the ride home. This town, this area, gets really dead after 9PM. There's nothing open after that time other than Denny's or the casinos. I just enjoyed how quiet the ride was and got back in here and cooked up some ramen with beef and veggies. 

 

Feeling old and ache-y

 I'd signed up for a class, part of the "Judaism 101" series, not to be confused with the all-important "Intro To Judaism" class that's Tuesday nights. The class started at 10AM and while I should have gone to bed right at midnight, I didn't but was instead up past 2AM. 

But it gets worse. Although I'd set my alarm clock, I didn't get real sleep but this sort of shallow sleep. 

I got to class in time though, and it turned out to be a discussion of the "party platform" of Reform Judaism, issued in 1937. Apparently somewhere along the line we (they?) had gone over the platform of the 1890s or so. The 1937 one is bitchin'. 

Mainly I'd signed up for the class as a way to get my lazy ass up before noon on a Sunday. There was no coffee at the class and I kept starting to doze off. 

My breakfast had been a pain pill and a little coffee - apparently not enough. I held up my end OK though, doing one of the readings of one of the paragraphs in the platform and holding up well in questions/comments. 

When the class was done I felt fried. I rode over to Whole Foods and got a slice of pizza and a bottle of "Chameleon" coffee and I'd really needed 'em both. Once I was feeling more right, I thought about what to do today. I noted that if I'd been busking, it was not very busy at Whole Foods and here it was noon. And cold. Sunny, but cold. I'd got some practicing to do before I get back out there. 

I rode over to the Goodwill on San Carlos and found a couple pairs of nice light shorts I'll be glad to have in about 6 months. $8 a pair for used shorts, though, and probably $40 a pair if I could even find that type in the stores. 

I rode over to the Amazon place and got a couple-few bubble mailers. I need to remember to check each time I'm at Whole Foods because I go there a lot and there are often a few. 

Back here, the guys next door were whooping it up. It's pretty much impossible not to feel happy hearing Mexican music. I gave Chuey the bottle of wine that the landlord's agent had dropped off, and a short while later they invited me to have a beer and I said Sorry, I don't drink. 

I packed 6 things that can go by FedEx, the local one of which is open on Sunday so I took the packages up there, and stopped by Tom's on the way back. Not much going on there; he had his wife sweeping up leaves and junk (he was too) and we caught up on things. I found "some" packing stuff on the way back. 

I still feel "fried". Ache-y, and I don't know if it's the cold weather or my having done exercises, but I took a pain pill. 

Saturday night

 I was able to list 10 things, pack the things that had to go, and get out of here in plenty of time to stop in Japantown to buy a can of coffee, donate some stuff, then go to the post office to mail stuff, then go to the bank and deposit my latest pay check and the bank's calculations and mine even agree. 

I had my Hebrew books with me, planning to hang out at the Starbucks and study, but I decided to go to Walmart instead and got stuff there. Then I went to Whole Foods and ate a slice of pizza and had a no-alcohol beer. 

I used the loo and saw, wayy up on the wall so it would not be easy for someone to take it down, an idiotic sticker of the flag of Israel with the red circle with line through it over the flag. I went back out to my bike and got my reacher thing, sharpened it up a bit on the concrete, went back in and got to work. It took some scratching away to get the sticker down but  I got it. I looked around for any others but didn't see any. 

I went over to the service and had forgotten my glasses but what's fun is, I'm starting to be able to read the Hebrew writing for the songs and prayers, not just the English transliteration. In fact, at the check-in desk in front the lady working there asked me how I liked the Intro to Judaism class, and I raved about how fun learning to read Hebrew is, and she said that in her case she had to just accept that she could convert to Judaism and be Jewish without knowing Hebrew. I'd have told her how no less than Isaac Asimov hadn't been able to learn it either, but it was busy there. 

Honestly, the Hebrew reading part is fun, and over and over again on Reddit I hear that the one thing that really matters if you move to another country is to learn the language. 

There was the requisite amount of schmoozing after the service, and I went to the gift shop, which was open, intent on buying something. I'd broken one of the fancy "lead crystal" candle holders I had, and after looking at every set they had, got some round ones that are probably just regular glass, but may have been made in Israel or something cool like that. And they were only $10. 

The ride home was very calm, which was nice. 

January 9th was gone too

 2AM the 10th now. Ken came by last (Wednesday) night and I got a double check to cover New Year's Week and this week so I get to put $800 in the bank. I did the math and figured out now my balance will be back where it was just before I bought the super duper neato "once and forever" cornet that I feel really weird about taking out busking. 

I listed 10 things, took one thing to FedEx in the interest of having less bulk to carry tomorrow? Today? Friday, to the post office downtown. I also did some shopping at Sprouts and H Mart and came home and cooked dinner and found all the things that need to be sent out, and rounded up 10 more things to list. 

I put junk out for the bums and startled, or we were mutually a bit startled I guess, a couple of prostitutes who were bummed out they couldn't get into the illegal casino/brothel which is closed and locked up with nobody there. They were gonna do some bidness! 

Altadena is gone

 The big news today is the huge fires in Los Angeles. It appears that the city of Altadena got hit particularly hard. My paternal grandmother lived there and I remember visiting her house, on a nice little street probably unchanged since the 1920s or 19-teens, and going to the nearby little market on an errand for her. This would have been in about 1979. 

She complained about Mexicans this and Mexicans that, as is normal for a white person living in Southern California. It's kind of required. She may have had a point in that apparently she had a home invasion and what saved her were her dogs, who, like the dogs we had when I was a kid in Hawaii, were willing to give their lives to defend her as they knew they were defending their own lives, also. I'm willing to bet the kids who broke into her place were not first-generation, or may not have been "Mexican" at all. Or may have been people, or children of people, she was nasty to. Because that's kind of required if you're a white person living in Southern California. 

You have to use a little Realpolitik, especially if you're old and less able to fight. Be nice to people, bake some cookies and hand them around at Christmastime if that's your thing, learn a little of their language - goodness knows they have to learn tons of ours and English is not easy. 

In any case it was a street full of tall trees and greenery, and my grandmother's old place is surely gone. 

Interesting article:  https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/07/def_con_security_chief_injured/ now I feel I was 100% right in getting to the hospital and getting checked out. And I was able to do it because of being on Medi-Cal. I'd been wondering if I might have been OK on my Advil and Guinness routine, but if nothing else I didn't want to continue on that because drinking sucks.