3 heavy loads

 I managed to do 3 heavy loads today. 

Last night was spent packing 4 large boxes, basically box inside a box, with 28 things inside each that aren't that heavy on their own, but 28 of 'em in a box add up. Those were packed in a Yogurtland box, which then went into an Enkei wheel box. I was glad I'd just recently picked up the wheel boxes from a tire place nearby, and that I had a bunch of Yogurtland boxes. It was a good way to clear out a lot of junk in my pile of packing stuff, too. 

I could carry one of these boxes on the bike trailer, and I had other things to go FedEx so I packed those too, but didn't print the labels until today, then I did the labels and took things to FedEx. What's really nice is, for the first two loads, the FedEx guy with the truck was there, and had just finished with the hand truck both times, and both times helped me load up the boxes onto it and took them in. Older Asian guy, really nice guy! On the 3rd I was on my own but that was OK. 

It was taking 45 minutes for each load, round trip. So I didn't have time for the 4th. I moseyed a bit coming back from the 3rd trip, and found a little packing stuff and a useful big box. And a nice head of cabbage from the veggie place. 

I went out a 4th time anyway, though. I went to H Mart and got a package of salmon sushi which was half price and which I just about inhaled. I had my nice Zojirushi flask with coffee, and that thing keeps it icy cold.  The reason I was buying "Barista Rules" iced coffees from H Mart was, they're pretty cold and somehow that makes them extra good. Well, my own coffee I make here and put in the Zojirushi with some ice are even colder. And thus better. And cost less than a dollar. Plus I got a couple of freebee samples, which turned out to be some kind of strawberry cake dipped in chocolate. 

The main interesting thing, though, is that they had these "Dubai" chocolate bars for sale in a bin at the customer service counter for $2. I decided to get 20 of them. Well, it turns out they're at the very front with the sale stuff for $1 each, so they cost me $1 each because the checker can't tell - they're identical bars, UPC code the same, just with a $2 sign one place and a $1 sign at another. So they ring up as $1. 

I ate my sushi and stashed things away in the bike bags and walked over to Ross. I found a package of the underwear I like, and a sweatshirt it turns out I really like, that I'm wearing now. It says "Los Angeles" on the front and a bunch of stuff about L.A. but hey, I've lived there some years and it's why it was $10 instead of $20 I guess. So the trip to Ross was a win, even if it's a matter of shopping for 15 minutes and waiting in line to pay for 30. 

I walked back over to H Mart and got 30 more of the bars. So I have 'em to last for a while. I rode home and spent some time moving things around, moving pens (throwing most away) from this transparent "can" I had them in, cleaning up said "can" and re-labeling it "HOT COCOA" to put all the packets of hot cocoa mix Ken had brought over into it, to free up a drawer to fit all the candy bars into. 

Then I got to calculate and send out shipping refunds to buyers, which I'd not done because I needed every minute to get all those loads over to FedEx. The big buyer got $570 back. 

Practice last night went well. I can pretty much come up with interesting "doodles" that are practice going up and down, hitting high notes, etc. I still guess I might have to buy that cichowitz book though, as it's pretty much impossible to find someone simply playing the exercises on YouTube so I can get an idea of them.  

Better practice

 The new sleeping bag is great. I'd not want to be any taller than I am, though. It's *not* a bag for a 6-footer. I got great sleep. 

I practiced before bed, and it went better. I didn't grind away on the exercises in the book, but just played songs and it appears I have the strength to play high notes all right, but by just pushing to play the note, in the exercises, without worry about it being musical, I built strength without finesse. So last night was more about finesse. I also have a bit of a "double buzz" going on but it lessened last night due to actually trying to be musical. 

I keep debating with myself over ordering the "Cichowitz Flow Studies" book. If I'm moving in less than a year, do I want to load my luggage down with another book? But finding the actual exercises on YouTube is difficult. 

 

New sleeping bag

 I went back over to Big-5 and got a new sleeping bag, the last one I'll need here on the mainland, yay. 

Needless to say I didn't go out busking, in fact my practice before going to bed really disappointed me. I've been getting a rough tone and I think I've been pushing or straining too much. 

At least I have a nice new sleeping bag and that's always a great feeling. 

Let's see ... in other news, Marvin Naylor is apparently still alive, and in Canada. Nice to see he's still around.  

Like that saying about spiders, but it's zombies

 I thought I was all set to go busking tonight. I was all ready to go, practiced before bed, etc. I set my alarm clock for 3PM and woke up OK but since it would have meant only about 6 hours of sleep after a tiring day yesterday with all the walking, I went back to sleep and woke up at 5. 

About the practice, I had to really force high notes but then at the end, they started coming out beautifully. It seems wrong to force them but I've noticed that if I'm having a hard time one practice session and force them a lot, then they'll be much easier the next practice session. Go figure. 

I got out of here at about 7. I dropped off some stuff in the Little Free Library in Japantown, got some cilantro and garlic from Nijiya, and went over to the Nichi Bei Bussan store to pull off a heist. The heist was to take the bag of all of my shakuhachi stuff, the two shakuhachi, books, etc., and sneak it over the fence they had across the side entrance. They sell books and Japanese stuff and they should be able to sell the stuff just fine. 

The truth is, the Shakuhachi Yuu and the "Enhanced" Shakuhachi Yuu, both sold by small-hat chosenite Monty Levinson, don't even play as well as the cheapo PVC pipe ones cranked out and given away for free by Rinban Sakamoto. The original Shakuhachi Yuu probably made sense since it was originated back in the 1970s I think, at a time when PVC pipe wasn't everywhere like it is now, and when there were not easy to follow plans to be found everywhere, to make your own. At least the original Yuu was consistent and fairly much in tune, and looked at least a bit like a piece of bamboo. The company that made them, that makes electrical insulators or something like that over in Japan, has stopped making them now. Their time has passed. 

As for that Levinson character, he's the greatest shakuhachi maker in the world, just ask him! Typical small-hat modesty. Being made of bamboo, shakuhachi are inconsistent and often need a going-over, but this is the same as with violins, being made of wood. 

Probably the best beginner shakuhachi is the "Hoshi Arashi", made of plastic like the Yuu but I believe made of the same kind of plastic recorders are made from, and having a smooth bore and good volume. They're really hard to find though. 

In any case I'm glad to have washed my hands of the whole thing. 

I went over to Sakura Market next to buy some coffee and a bottle of Lipovitan. I noticed a ton of foot traffic along the Paseo de San Antonio and everyone I asked what was going on either didn't know or just stared like an actual zombie, and I'm talking about older people. I noticed the park area looked busy and thought "They're starting Christmas In The Park early" and rode over to check it out. 

Instead, it's a big Diwali festival. There was tons of booths for clothing and free face painting and jewelry and all kinds of knick-knacks, and food booths, and a ton of people. If I didn't have things to do I could have happily spent my evening there. This is kind of how San Jose works; all kinds of cool things happen but they're always hush-hush unless you're in the specific group holding the event or that the event is for, or you happen to stumble across it. 

I rode down to Big-5 to lock the bike and went inside to check out the sleeping bag situation. The upshot of that is, they have the one I want on display and 3 on the shelf. So if I can't make it to go busking tomorrow, I'll go down there and get one. 

I went into Walmart and got my stuff, following a little list I'd made. I only spent a bit over $40 and that's with an expensive bottle of instant coffee and four tins of good sardines. A guy come in right behind me and asked me if he could go ahead at the checkout, as he only had one thing. I said "Sure" and then there seemed to be a bit of negotiation going on, and it turns out he was something like a dollar short for his drink, and took off. 

I checked my things out and told the checker I'd have happily given him a dollar and she, a Vietnamese lady, thought that was a nice thing to do. "Go look for him outside", she advised. 

I did, but he was gone. There were certainly beggars though, and I gave one guy a few dollars because he was "saving up to buy some Robitussin" haha. Sure, here ya go, ya junkie. I'm just waiting to see someone huffing computer duster. 

Saturday night, full moon ... there were "florid" displays of various mental illnesses everywhere. Even in Japantown, on the way back, stopping to talk a bit at the barbecue skewers pop-up being run out of Aloha Fresh on Saturday nights, I was telling a gal how they (the barbecue skewer folks) are working on getting their own store front, just around the corner. Just then, yep, a weird guy, just another fuggin' zombie, pops up and starts saying weird shit and I took off. 

I got back here, put things away, and hooked up the bike trailer and loaded up some stuff I wanted to get rid of, and took off again. I first stopped at a sign place I sometimes find useful vinyl at, and put the main box 'o' crap in their dumpster. Then I took off for H Mart where I bought a few things, then rode around the back to see if anything interesting was getting tossed out. And yep, there was a zombie. In fact, because I didn't jump on my bike and take off quickly enough, the zombie slurred something about wanting a dollar. Of course. 

I went over to the chicken place and got two thighs. I'd been thinking about their chicken for a few weeks now. The guy's re-arranged how things are set up in there and the new layout is great. And the chicken is as good as it ever was, and for some reason, cheaper. Win all around. 

Full of chicken, I had a fairly successful route gathering up shipping materials, on the way back. I got back here and unloaded them and was thinking about making a couple of toilets, just the bottom part so not too heavy, "disappear". I got a piece of plywood to put in the bike trailer to help support them and just then - zombie! There was a damn zombie staggering around. So I, quickly without I hope appearing to be hurrying or in haste, put the plywood back in here and put the bike and trailer away. That's it for tonight, I've got the place all buttoned up. 

It's kind of like how there's this saying that you're never that far away from a spider, except with zombies. The damned things are just ... everywhere. 

 

I hope he found his halibut

 I had a lot of errands in mind for today. I got up at 3, left here at 4, and stopped first at the downtown post office to drop off packages. Then I went over to the bank and deposited my check, and their numbers only disagreed with mine by a penny so that's good enough. 

The weather was just right, not too warm and not too cool, to be really nice for the zombies to be out and they sure were. So it was another day of zombie-dodging. 

The first errand was to go to Whole Foods, buy a couple of beef sticks to eat on the bus, use the loo, and get on the #522 bus to Sunnyvale. 

Once I was there, I went into Dick's Sporting Goods to look at sleeping bags. Big-5 seems to not sell Coleman ones any more, so I thought for sure Dick's will. Big mistake. They had a few, some weird off-brand, that were hard to find. Plus a security guard who gave off the vibe of being an enthusiast of the kind of vodka that comes in plastic bottles, who kept on me to go up to the front and talk to the manager. 

So I did, and got a guy to go with me (to keep the security drunk off my ass) and he showed me the few they had, and I said "OK, thanks" and that was it. I think Dick's makes most of their money from mom-types who go to yoga classes, walk their dogs in the park and must be seen wearing just the right stuff, etc. And kids who need the latest, greatest, and most expensive stuff for the numerous sports suburban kids have to do. There's a smattering of other things, for instance I bought my last Swiss Army Knife there, but that's what they're about. Not sleeping bags. 

Then I went to Ross next door and the real fun started. I've found a make of underwear I really like, and I'd found some at my "home" Ross. The idea was to check the one there for any. I found a package of 5 from which two had been removed, and 4 more on individual hangers. Great. So I went up to the checkout where a very harried lady named Sybil of all things, got it all sorted out. She had to take the box out of inventory, essentially, and generate tags for the 3 pairs that were in it, print them out and attach them, then ring up all 7 pairs. The total come out a couple dollars less than I thought it would so it was all fine in the end, it just took a lot of time. 

I walked back out to the bus stop, and ended up talking with a nice young couple, the guy with a 10-speed bike and the gal, well, without a bike. I told them a #22 had left right when I was walking to the stop so it would probably be 20 minutes. 

We started talking about Sunnyvale, how things have changed over the years, what places are still there, etc., and I said at least there are no weirdos around while we're waiting for the bus. While I said that, a guy who might be a weirdo was staggering around the bus stop across the street. And yep, he started toward us.... 

I said I'm pretty sure it's not the same weirdo, though, as the original guy tended to remove his pants and throw them into the middle of the road. This guy kind of staggered near us, but as I observed loudly enough for him to maybe overhear, there are probably too many of us and I never leave home without my pepper spray. The weirdo staggered off in another direction, then gradually wandered nearer to us. 

I say weirdo not only because of the staggering aimlessly, but because he appeared to have ... maybe a plastic shopping bag ... that he'd inserted his head through one of the handle-holes of, and was wearing around his neck. And uh-oh but now the weirdo walked up to us. He was looking for "halibut". 

H-Halibut? Yeah, Halibut Restaurant. The bicycle couple and myself had no idea, and I said there's a seafood restaurant nearby (pointing) called Boiling Crab or something ... Yeah he'd just come from there. The plastic bag around his neck was the bib you wear when you're making a big mess eating crab. He realized he was unaware that he was still wearing it. (I joked with the young couple that the real way to do it is to not only wear the bib the rest of the evening, but also on the next day at work, so people could tell you were a diner of discernment, having gone to Red Lobster or wherever they dress you in a plastic bib.)  

We still had no idea where Halibut Restaurant was, and while I was parlaying with the guy, the young guy had checked on his phone and got nothing. (I've just checked now, and keying "Hallibut restaurant Sunnyvale California" gets me a reminder that "Halibut" only needs one L, and tells me that there's a restaurant called Fresh Catch in Sunnyvale and not very far from the bus stop all this had happened at, too.  The weirdo told us his family was there, and he was trying to find them. All I could say is they need to choose a better landmark. 

Finally the bus came and we all got on, except Mr. Halibut whose family maybe gave him directions, or maybe were happy to see him not there. 

I got off across from the In-N-Out where I ate so often back in the day, and walked through their parking lot to 99 Ranch. I noted that In-N-Out still has a security guard right there at the door, and that in fact for however much Mountain View is supposed to be upscale, it has no lack of sketchy types with pit bulls, people pushing carts of unidentifiable junk, etc. 

This 99 Ranch had, last time I was here, Ibumie White Curry Mee noodles. Now, they're out. I'm under the impression now that they can't get them, so that's that. 

I walked back out to El Camino Real, and decided I'd walk up to Castro Street and walk its length up to the train station and take the train. And ... that's what I did. I wanted to stop somewhere for something to eat, but wow, everything's expansive. I makes sense, though, as things are now priced for people making $100k a year, and will look expensive to someone making $20k a year. In the end I didn't get anything. 

I just got on the train and got away from the no-goods with their stolen bikes and pit bulls in Mountain View and got back to my local, hometown, no-goods with their stolen bikes and pit bulls hanging around my "home" train station. I got a few things in Whole Foods and rode off. 

I rode through San Pedro Square because I wanted to look for Ron, the homeless guy who used to play the recorder but "I can't find it now", who used to have a job washing dishes and such things at The Old Spaghetti Factory but got less and less hours and obviously because he couldn't be bothered to wash his clothes or clean himself, ever. And who used to live at "the waffeman's" house or really, parents' house, but could not keep up with the $420 (tee hee) rent. 

I wanted to find him to arrange a time to meet, because I'm of a mind to just hand off my flute stuff to him, all of it. Just messing around with the stuff, taking time off busking, has cost me more than I'll ever get for the flutes anyway. But he wasn't there. Maybe I'll just give the stuff to San Jose Jazz. 

So I toodled on home, with the streets away from the major entertainment areas really calm and quiet. I could disregard traffic lights to do things like breeze on past a couple of zombies, one doing a very energetic soft-shoe routine for the imaginary people in his head, and another one yelling and going on, that I could not see because it was hidden somehow. That's the cautioning part, because the zombie you can't see might be the zombie that decides your brains are the main course that night. So yeah I got on home. 

In other news at least I practiced before going to bed last night, and besides the usual exercises, worked out "Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem" which is a neat tune. 

And I guess I sound pretty antisocial but not only was there the fun interaction with Mr. Halibut, but one the first leg of the bus ride, I gave directions to, and talked a bit with, a guy who's taken the train up here from Mexico and was, apparently, visiting all kinds of things like Apple, and I guess he wanted to go to the Intel Museum but I think I convinced him the Computer History Museum was the one to go to, and at the moment he was on his way to eat at Five Guys, and I knew exactly where he should get off to go there so that was good. 

And at the end, when I was buying things at Whole Foods and about to head for home, the gal who was checking me out commented on my not being around for a bit, and how were things going, and so on. My playing music has me fairly well known there and, seemingly, liked. So that was cool. 

 

Rain plus internet outage plus shorter days, what a joy

 The internet went down a few days ago because Ken hadn't paid the bill and it had been shut off. He didn't pay the bill because he'd gotten his "Comerica" bank account canceled. 

How's that even happen? I asked and he said it was due to "too many overdrafts and stuff" which is a method of banking that's foreign to me. I've always been in the habit of having enough money in the bank to be sure of covering things. Usually far in excess of any checks I might write. 

So it sounded strange to me, because why would a bank not want my money? To loan out and make money on, as banks do? Oh yeah, overdrafts. Ken was probably keeping very little in the account and having it go negative, repeatedly, so his account was just more work and expense for the bank. Yeah, that'll wear our your welcome. 

So Ken had to try to pay for the internet, which because he had to use a new credit card was of course a long and difficult process involving trying, getting something or other "frozen", calling them on the phone to have them tell him their "system is down" then calling again, and their saying they'll call him back, and finally their telling them the DSL "should be" back on at 5 in the afternoon yesterday, or at least that's when he called me to tell me it should be on now. 

(Narrator's voice: It was not.) I found things to do, as I'd been doing, and finally at 10 last night just to make sure, I powered the computer up again to verify that the internet is off, and amazingly, it was on. So I was able to catch up on things. 

Ken came by last night and I got my check, etc. And he told me he's signed the new lease so that's taken care of. (Mr. Burns voice: Excellent!)

Yesterday was supposed to be a "rain day" but it was not, but it started raining last night and hasn't quit. So almost a full 24 hours. 

I've been practicing each evening and it's time to work on Christmas carols and also some new material anyway. It's been too rainy/cold/depressing to go out and do actual busking, of course. That's kind of the norm in this area, where there are maybe, at a stretch, 6 decent busking months out of the year. Fortunately December is one of them because of Christmas, and this time, being a sort of lead-up, might be OK. 

The fact that there are 3 busking blogs on the entire planet should illustrate how rare busking is. "Street Musician Daniel" in New Orleans hasn't posted for weeks now so he's probably either back in jail or back in the crack pipe. Marvin Naylor, lovely guy but old, has probably died. Both blogs are nearly impossible to find unless you know exactly the right keywords, and you won't know 'em unless you already know about those blogs. 

It's all a bit depressing, plus the days will keep getting shorter until just before Christmas and then they'll start getting longer again. There are a few holidays to cheer things up but it must be kept in mind that they're done according to the culture here. Which means things like Halloween are "trunk or treat" you drive your car to someplace, somehow candy is exchanged out of car trunks, then you drive home, just your own family unit, and I dunno, eat candy and watch TV (where eating candy and watching TV are the standard evening anyway). 

Thanksgiving is of course by nature not done communally, but is done at home, or one might go to a restaurant and get the special, and I might do that. Not a time for socializing because socializing is not looked well upon in the culture here. Top off the big dinner by ... eating candy and watching some TV.

Christmas, ditto. Again, drive to things, maybe to the mall to look at their big tree, shop some, go home. Eat candy and watch TV.  

There's something called the "German Christmas Market" put on by some German association, in Mountain View and I actually plan to go to that. I did it two years ago, when I decided to buy the student trumpet I had for a while from West Valley Music and see if I could pay for it with busking over the month of December. I did it, too.

A few days after I'd bought it, the Christmas Market was on, and I went there to play and played for an hour and made $60. To save money I'd taken the bus there, so I'd walked toward the main area of the event from the South, on Castro Street, and had simply set up where I started to see more people walking around, before being inside the actual even where I knew I'd not be welcome. So I played my carols and stuff I remembered, got tips and compliments, and being worn out after an hour because I was out of practice, decided to treat myself to a train ride home so I walked up the rest of Castro Street to get to the train station. 

Lo and behold, once I'd passed through the official event space and was just North of it, I saw other buskers, the usual hacks with guitars and amps, banging away. Maybe they made good money, I don't know and don't care. I'd wondered where the competition was, and there it was, playing the same crap they play all year, each trying to out-noise the other. It was pretty amusing. 

This time around, I know it's two days not one, and I might get a sausage or something although I'll pass on the gluhwein which is sweetened, spiced, wine. 

So tonight I'm just getting caught up and also clearing out a lot of crap that is just taking up room and won't sell, out of the shop. There's a nice big pile of scrap and junk out front now for the scroungers. And reading up on Reddit, as if there's anything that's very important that I'd missed. 

One interesting thing is some "insider" is saying that those "Trump Accounts" that are being given to children, supposedly, to start their college fund, supposedly, seeded with $1000 to start, supposedly, will eventually take the place of Social Security for anyone under 40. And that if they don't contribute at least $5k a year, they'll go to prison. 

Our Most Zionist President has been acting pretty much the opposite of the actual Adolf Hitler, who actually looked out for the German working class. And doing something like that would alienate what's left of his "base" so we'll see. 

Another more interesting thing that I've been able to verify, is that those taking those GLP-1 medications like Ozempic or Montjaro or my favorite, Zepbound (you're bound to look like a Zeppelin if you don't take our drug!) are strongly advised to get 140 grams of protein a day. That ... sounds kind of high... 

So I checked. And not only is this recommended by really mainstream sites, but it *is* a lot. To get 100g of protein you need 13 oz. of beef or something like 13 eggs. We're talking about half again as much. So we're talking 1-1/4 lbs of beef a day, or a LOT of eggs. Or any of the popular protein sources such as fish, cheese, pork, chicken, you know the drill. 

So your savvy GLP-1 addict, because the medicine is for life otherwise you'll look like a Zeppelin ... will need to obtain and cook up their source of 140g of protein, every day, for life. Their 1-1/4 lbs of beef or 23 eggs or what-have-you. 

Or, they'll turn to modern solutions such as the bodybuilder's favorite, the ol' protein powder. And God knows what that's made of, but who cares, it tastes like chocolate or vanilla or whatever flavor, and it's got tons of protein, it's right in the name, protein powder. Let's not think about how it tends to have high levels of lead in it (this is a problem with some spices too). 

Well before crypto "money" and AI were big, I'd noted wryly that we *have* responded to the increasingly dire environmental news. In response to global warming, we've made sure to consume even more each year, and each year set a new record in greenhouse gases being emitted and irreplaceable resources being used up. 

What I did *not* see coming was our inventing new ways to accelerate the process. Crypto "money" is the use of resources just to use them. AI means every little thing, even a simple google search, is actually very expensive in terms of fossil fuels used and greenhouse gases emitted.

And now in the US at least, these GLP-1 drugs are being pushed, and hard. We've already had a fair boondoggle going on with a sugar-based diet being pushed as "healthy" with the result of huge rates of diabetes and people being dependent on expensive diabetes drugs. 

But that wasn't enough. So now if all the advertising is any indication, the powers that be want everyone to be on these GLP-1 drugs, which are expensive in of themselves but even more  important, are not only drugs to be taken for life, but one must follow a high protein diet more suited to a bodybuilder (and modern bodybuilders are freaks) than to a normal person. 

This means a vast ramping-up of the consumption of animal-based foods. A normal serving of beef for myself is 4 oz., but they want people to eat 20 oz. I might eat 2 or 3 eggs but if I were to "get with the program" I must eat 23. Or I must guzzle tons of disgusting protein powder made from God-knows-what and with God-know-how-much heavy metal contamination in it. 

An amusing side note to this is, I can finally see why I'm seeing "protein" as the new buzz word in all kinds of food stuffs. Protein in sodas, in corn chips and all kinds of strange things. All to make that 140 grams a day. Anything, any way, to accelerate us toward the oncoming ecological collapse. 

I was reading r/prepperintel on Reddit and in the "what's going on in your industry or business" weekly thing, someone mentioned how sardines are getting harder to find and more expensive, because of the GLP-1 users needed 140 grams of protein. I mean, here I was, minding my own business, my ears prick up because I like sardines, and I read about this whole new horror. 

I mean, I am somewhat fit and can be really fit, by just going out and exercising more. Hitting the weights and using the outdoor gym equipment around here. I really don't need to change my diet. Just following a decent diet, some meat, some veggies, some nuts, some this, some that, is fine. 

But now I know these weirdos walk among us, pushing to get their 140g of protein a day (someone on Reddit said they "need" 160) and I'm not sure about this yet but ... the GLP-1's seem to be really cheap but it looks like maybe that's a "promotional" rate, to get people used to using them, then it's something like $1500 a month?  

 

Sunday blahs

 I guess it's the Sunday/weekend blahs.