Why do I read r/homeless

 r/homeless on Reddit is one of my regular reads. There seem to be some common causes for people to become homeless. 

They have car trouble and in the US you are only human if you support one or more cars. No car = no life. 

You have pets you won't give up. 

You have drug or alcohol dependency. 

You have an utter shit personality and/or no skills. 

The people with skills and some kind of personality others can stand, are not posting on Reddit. 

A last category is people who are 17-18 years old and have been kicked out by their parents to sink or swim because that's standard in the US. It's just one of many, many reasons why the US and its shitty culture are self-destructing. 

So what are ways to avoid becoming a homeless non-person? Get by without a car or pets if you can. This is tricky because in some situations living in a car or van is the best you can do, and in many situations a dog is a life-saver because a good dog understands that it must be willing to give its life to save yours or else you'll both be dead. When we were poor as shit when I was a kid in Hawaii, having a collection of rescue dogs that were utterly loyal to us is the reason I don't have any horror stories from that time. 

Try to have an acceptable personality. This is not possible if your brain is burned out from drugs/alcohol or you've been hit in the head too many times. So try to avoid these things. 

Have some kind of a skill and do NOT fall for the college scam like I did. By skill I mean something that was a good skill 500 years ago. Barbering, house-cleaning, making or repairing or cleaning shoes, playing a musical instrument, doing decent artwork especially portraits, etc. 

Unless you're from a wealthy family who will pay your way you'll never become a doctor, but there are tons of other medical jobs that can be learned in a trade school so there's that. 

In my own case I like to think if I needed a room to rent, I might be able to put out a sign saying NEED ROOM TO RENT when I'm out playing music and find something that way. I still have the number for this one building that supposedly is cool with people living in the offices; I just haven't called them yet. Mainly because if I have to leave here in a hurry I feel I'm better off heading right back to Hawaii. An instant 30% decrease in the cost of living will be nice. 

I thought  I had 10 more things to ship, but it turns out they're 10 things bought by the annoying type of customer who buys each thing separately and pays the shipping separately, then of course expects a discount on the shipping when I just everything in one box. That could wait for later! 

I took the things I'd packed and sent them off, picked up a few odds and ends for shipping, then wrapped the cornet up in its towel and put it in the messenger bag, and took off for downtown. I bought a couple hard boiled eggs and a can of coffee at Nijiya. I've found that I'm surprisingly good at making a cup of genuine Doutor pour-over coffee the night before and putting it in an empty can I've saved and putting it into the fridge, but I am incapable of taking the cold can of coffee and putting it into my bike bag to take with me. So I'll have to resign myself to buying one each time. 

After eating the eggs and having some coffee, I took off for downtown. I stopped at the Amazon place for a few bubble mailers first, then went over to Whole Foods and set up. It was now 7:20 which is really early for me and a result of having had an early start. 

I got a $10 tip right away, then after a while a $1, then nothing for about 45 minutes, then tips started pouring in. By this time I was getting tired and it had been an hour, so I played a little bit more and called it a night. I'd made $61.50. 

I bought some vitamins to use up the $1's I had a lot of, and then rode around downtown a bit. I got a few more bubble mailers from the Amazon place and then, riding past Leroy's old location, there was Leroy and another guy, John, who plays guitar. 

Leroy had finally bought himself a new saxophone, a Selmer "Axos" which I've just looked up and it appears he's spent about as much as I just spent on my cornet. A lot. But, as I was saying to a guy I talked with at Whole Foods, I'm a grown-up and I can treat myself. 

I got back here and the guys next door are having a nice noisy party with lots of kids running around and a live band. The band is pretty cool; they've got a tuba, trumpet, clarinet, one hell of a drummer, etc. After putting the bike away I walked over to check the band out and listen to a number or two, but one of the ladies came up to me and kept saying "Soldat! Soldat!" and I don't know what that was all about (I'd been invited, earlier today when someone had knocked on my door and said they were having a 5th anniversary party and it would be loud, and I was welcome to come over for tacos etc.) so I just shook my head and went in here and buttoned the place up. 

 

Bouncy is not always good

 After doing a ton of stuff last night, I mean, I didn't even mention the purse suitcase I found in the dumpster and went through, finding a few useful things, or that I'd found 100s of "master technician" patches at a place, which I bagged up in 5's which I'll list for $5, making us $200 or so. And practice was a decent time, over an hour. 

I'd set my alarm for 2:00 and woke up at that time (1400) and cleaned up, ate, had coffee, did various things to get prepared, and took off at 4. I did the usual things like drop off trash, buy a couple of hard-boiled eggs and a can of coffee at Nijiya, drop off a couple of packages at the post office, and deposit my check in the bank, where I learned that last week's check had bounced. 

After a couple of calls Ken called me back, and I told him last week's check had bounced, and could he please make sure this week's doesn't bounce, and next week, he can just write me a check for two weeks' pay instead of one and that will make everything work out right. 

Also the guy at the bank said the ID they have on file for me is expired and I ought to do something about that. So it's about time I set up an appointment with the DMV and get my "Real ID". 

I really need to get set up so I can leave here with 2-3 weeks' notice. That gives me time to resolve final things, buy a plane ticket enough in advance that I won't pay a high price for it, and would not be horribly expensive in a hotel if things break down here badly enough that I have to make a complete exit. 

After talking with Ken, I locked the bike and got on a #22 bus for Mountain View. I had the Yamaha 14E mouthpiece with me, which Craig at West Valley Music said I could trade straight across for a 16E, and the idea was to take it there and turn it in, as the less time it's in my hands the least it can be considered a "used" mouthpiece. 

It was almost 6:30 when  I got there and Craig was out for the day. I looked at the books for a bit and then someone said Oh, Craig's still here just doing a lesson. I said I'll just wait, and look at the books. I found an interesting book published by Yamaha with a bunch of their sponsored players talking about their "pet" ideas and techniques, and decided to get it - it was almost $30. Craig showed up and I turned in the mouthpiece and the 16E will come in in a week or two. I said no hurry. 

I talked a bit with a tall thin young gal who had brought in a saxophone - that had last been worked on or seen or something, in 2002. While  I was doing my thing the estimate was being done, and when I was done, she was ready to leave, with it in its case. She said the estimate was about $700 and for that she could buy one. I asked what brand, and it was an "Antigua Winds", from 2002 or earlier. Bleh. I really talked up Yamaha saxophones, and how they can rent-to-own one to her, even a new one, and there are plenty of Yamahas on line for sale too. 

I hopped back on a bus and went to Han Kook Market where I got 9 rolls of packing tape because they had 9 rolls on the shelf. The tape from there last something like 3X what the stuff Ken buys from Uline does, which is pretty amazing. Yeah I'm spending my own money, and I need to sell some of the stuff here that has to be sold in person, to defray some of the costs. 

Then it was back on another bus back to Whole Foods, where  I got some chicken and a little rice (the closest thing to a vegetable I was able to find) and a bottle of Guinness I again only drank half of. And watched our right-wing fascist asshole hockey team lose 3-1 to Calgary. Once the game was over there were tons of hockey fans streaming out and I said things like "Whoohoo! great game!" which was pretty entertaining. 

The crowd was so bad I took the "back way" home along Hedding and back here. I honestly don't know how so many people can own and afford to operate cars, or go to things like hockey games, buy those idiotic jerseys with the name of some young, fit hockey player on them when they're old, fat, and sickly-looking, etc. 

I don't even know if *this* week's check won't bounce! In all the years working for Ken I've never had a pay check bounce, nor have I had the power out for nonpayment. As I'll keep saying, I'm trying to white-knuckle it and hold out until September of 2027 when I'm turning 65, then I'm out. But depending on how fast things are collapsing, I may have to compress that schedule a bit. 

 

I feel lazy

 I don't know why. I shipped things yesterday, came home and cooked dinner, ate, cleaned up the place, took stuff I'd thrown out that the scavengers didn't want and put the things in the dumpster that's only out on Wednesdays. 

Ken came by, I got my check, and as soon as he left, I packed a couple of things that had sold. I also took things apart and got 25 things ready for my next listing session. Then I got in a good practice session. 

I got up at 2 this afternoon.  

The exercise effect

 I practiced last night, and could not play high notes well. I kept at it though, while watching some weird movie about an expedition to Titan. Eventually it was like I got the knack for higher notes back, and wasn't playing them as purely as I'd like but I was playing them. 

I started this day with exercises and my push-ups are getting better. I haven't even been doing them once a week, but  I remember reading, long ago, about long rest intervals like this. It was back in the 80s, when there were printed magazines and at least one of them had not only bodybuilders but some powerlifters and some actual science sneaking in. And one or another of the noted powerlifters was saying that rather than exercise a given bodypart or more like, a given lift, 3X a week, or even 2X a week, they were getting better strength results with 1X a week or even stretching it out to 8-10 days. Of course those guys were interested in strength not looks. 

It was supposed to rain heavily today but I'm not sure if it rained much at all, so when I got up I packed one thing that should go out today, and also got a few things at Ross. 

On the way back I stopped at Tom's to say Hi and catch up, and he made me a nice hamburger on sourdough so that was dinner. I told him about "The Art Of Brass Playing" by Philip Farkas, and he's interested in getting the book. Tom has his side hustles to make money, but his side hustles are selling wood and tiles he scrounges up around his area, and it's a lot of work for little pay. Busking pays much better and I think is a lot more fun.  

I got back here and opened up the roll-up door and took most of the junk that was piled in the corner where the breaker box is, and put the stuff out for the scavengers. Then I put the things I decided we'd keep back into the corner but in an orderly way so the breakers can be reached. 

Spare 16E

 I was up late enough last night ... I woke up around 3, packed lots of things, and also called up the music store in Mountain View, where the (new-ish at least) manager has been so helpful, and asked him if I could exchange the 14E mouthpiece he'd recommended and I'd bought, and trade it for a 16E, which is what came with the cornet and I've decided I really like. 

I mentioned that the one that came with the horn has a couple of small dents, nothing that affects playing, but that I'd rather have a spare 16E than the 14E. So he said Sure thing, put a 16E on order because they don't have 'em in stock, and I said I'll get back there some time this week, as between work and the rain coming it's hard for me to get over there, and it's over an hour to get there anyway. 

If I go on Friday, I might fit in some busking on Castro Street there in Mountain View... 

I also have the gig bag I've had my mind on, ordered. It's coming from NYC and the shipping's kind of crazy, $45, but the bag itself is $90 and it's about $120 from, say, Guitar Center. So it all works out in the end. And the music store says they can't order GARD bags so that's out. 

But in a week or two I can set aside the messenger bag and wrapping the cornet in a towel. 

 

Morning Has Broken

 When I got in last night I packed the things that are overdue, and just relaxed, watched YouTube, caught up on stuff. I finally went to bed, and woke up around 3:30 this afternoon. 

I kind of wanted to busk over in Mountain View, to see how things have changed with the "pedestrianization" of Castro Street, but ultimately I ended up just going to good old Whole Foods on the Alameda. 

I started in at 6, and kept up until 7:30, by which time I was tired and the wind, which had died, was coming back and kind of cold. 

I'd been "joined" by a female beggar holding a sign, naturally said sign on tattered cardboard and in light blue lettering, so it was pretty hard to read. I'm pretty sure legible signs are against the Bums' Code Of Conduct. I thought it was Pee-Pee Lady due to how she was standing I couldn't really see her face, not that I went to a lot of trouble to look at her, and it's been a couple of years. 

I played the usual assortment, except I did a couple of new songs, "Lean On Me" and "Morning Has Broken" which seem to work well with the cornet, as I could make it "sing" on these tunes. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that this cornet has a nicer sound than the student trumpet I was playing before, and while I was prepared to hate deep cup mouthpieces, I've got to say I'm getting to like the one that came with it, a Yamaha 16E, more and more.  Not only do I seem to be able to get a nice "singing" tone, but when I got tired I could still play higher notes and I didn't start sounding so much like a duck. 

I had some annoying Indian guy ask for my card or info, saying he wanted to hire me to play at San Pedro Square. I told him everyone's broke there, I don't have a card, and he should buzz off and go find something useful to do. This pissed him off of course, and he stalked off, saying he'd given me a dollar (he hadn't). Like I'm gonna play for some Indian guy! I can just see it ... mysteriously there's no money for my pay, sorry, but I can have the leftover yogurt dip everyone's had their fingers in... 

"Discovering" two new tunes was neat, and in the end I'd made $37 which isn't as thrilling as the money I made yesterday, but it's still good grocery money. I packed up and, passing the beggar, joked about going in to steal butter, since Pee-Pee Lady is convinced I do that, but saw it was a younger gal, kinds junkie looking. Passing her again I said she'll make some bucks now, with no distraction (me). 

I think I'd overheard her talking with a lady who she'd talked to, who then went back into Whole Foods and came out with a bag, mentioning "Titos" which is of course a brand of vodka and might be the least expensive they sell in there. With more than a couple of hours before closing, I'm sure she'll get what she needs; junkies/alkies are good at that. 

I had time to get over to Nijiya in Japantown to spend some of that money on groceries so that was nice. I talked with the guys about how nice it is to have electricity again, and how I'd gotten bored so I'd gone out busking these last couple days making $150 for the weekend. I'm in there pretty close to daily so they know me there. One of the guys had talked about getting a saxophone but it's not happened yet. 

I just got back here, cooked dinner, did a bunch of packing (tomorrow it will be OK but Tuesday and Wednesday are supposed to rain) so I figure, ship everything out I can, then use the rainy days to list more stuff. 

 

A few days on the other side of the Olduvai

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olduvai_theory this is a great read! 

I woke up Wednesday to ... no power. Which is OK,  I figured, they'll fix it in a few hours. 

A few hours turned into 4 days. Ken came over Wednesday night and after not answering my many calls, here he was in person. "Why's it so dark?" he asked. "Did you pay that last electric bill? I believe it was a final notice...." 

The long and short of things is it took a couple of days for Ken to get around to paying it, and was going to amount to more days for PG&E to bother to turn it back on. I tried their telephone system hell, and didn't get anywhere. I had to charge my phone etc up at FedEx, and spent some time messing around with my newer laptop, as this one is about to be retired. 

My check was dated for Friday so I deposited it then, and went up to West Valley Music where I got a Yamaha 14E mouthpiece to keep my 16E that the cornet came with, company. And I got the hard-to-find first Getchell-Hovey book. The one guy, Craig, at the music store dug around in some drawers to find it, and I was impressed with his extra effort. He's manager there and teaches trumpet also. 

They were not able to order the "Gard" bag for a cornet I want though, so I might just buy that and put up with the extra time and precarity of having it arrive at Ken's house, if the porch pirates don't get it, and then the extra week or two for Ken to bring it here. At least I'll have it. 

I went back downtown on the train, and rode over to the big Goodwill on San Carlos. BIG mistake. It's pretty obvious that's a really bad neighborhood. Between the pawn shops (not the nice kind, the kind with dirt floors) and used car riposs places, dive bars (real dive bars, the kind guys go to first after getting out of "the joint") and the number of bums staggering around, it really is one of the armpits of San Jose. 

But the trouble is, it's still OK if you get out of your car, march right up to the door and go in, wearing a "Don't fuck with me" look on your face. But riding a bike means taking time to lock the bike and that means pausing for a few minutes, with all those drugged-up zombies staggering around. 

So I had one of the zombies get in my face and no go away even while I was on the phone with the cops. By the time the cops came the zombie had staggered off, and the cops were trying to figure out who was really at fault here and what was the actual situation. Was I also a scumbag? Or was I a human with the bad judgement to go to that Goodwill? They "ran" my license and of course found nothing. 

Besides talking about what the zombie had done and said, (the damned thing called me a "nigger" which is just bizarre, although I am a shade darker than fish-belly white...) I said Don't worry I'm not coming back here - I was after a flute case but I'll just buy one new, and Ross is better for clothes. I even said the bum was headed *that* way, pointing West on San Carlos, and I'm going *that* was, pointing the opposite direction. And did so, when we were done talking. 

That place really isn't worth it. And if they can't keep a guard on duty then let the zombies prey on each other and leave me out of it. 

Ken had called me when I was still in Mountain View, at the train station. He'd worked out how to pay, and the power should come on any time. 

So when I got back it was still dark. Another night of dime light via flashlights, and reading books and that's about it. I did some practice too but I guess my heart wasn't in it or I was tired, and it didn't go well so I just went to sleep. 

It was about 2AM when I went to sleep, and I woke up a bit before 6 which is really not enough sleep. I got up and had some aspirin, instant coffee, and a can of 7-Up, and went back to bed. And slept really well. I'd had grandiose plans of taking some silver half-dollars I have to sell to a place in Menlo Park but now it was 3:30 or so in the afternoon so that was out. 

I heard all kinds of banging and clinking out front, and finally went out there, curious. The guys were taking apart hundreds of door locks. It turns out the one guy had bought, for $1 million, an apartment building and was changing out the locks because "These are old". So he and a couple other guys were taking 'em apart to sell the metal. We had fun talking for a while, and all I can say is that again I'm impressed with how smart and up to date on things these guys are. Bring on the Reconquista! 

The wind was kind of strong and needless to say cold, and I thought if I go up to Mountain View I could avoid the wind, and do some busking. So I started on my day with that in mind. I cooked up my 1/4 lb of hamburger and 3 eggs because I have to use things up because I no longer have refrigeration. and I bundled up the cornet in my messenger bag, wrapped in a really neat thick towel I didn't know I had. 

I got to San Pedro Square a bit after 6, and set up to play. After 20 minutes I had one tip, a $5 from a family, which was nice. But although there were plenty of people walking around, these days people who go to San Pedro Square are broke, and it doesn't pay much, playing for broke people. 

So I moved over to Whole Foods. I'm here for practice, anyway, I reminded myself. I played a bunch of the "old favorites" and although it seemed slow, that was deceptive. It was also cold, but that worked to my advantage because it meant no hustlers with their booth, no skinny guy with a million petitions, etc. And the wind had died down quite a bit. 

So I played along, got plenty of smiles and compliments, and one lady really wanted to hear "Beautiful Dreamer" so I played that, and she put in a rolled-up bill that turned out to be a $50. The tips picked up a little, as I think 7-8PM is really the golden hour. 

I *was* going to stay until 8, as  I think I'd started at about 7:45, but at about 10 before, some scumbag bum with a big beard came up and was going to either (a) waste my time or (b) grab the tip box and run. So I said I don't want to have anything to do with zombies, plunked the cornet into the tip box and gathered it up and walked off. 

I counted up at the table nearest the door and thus presumably nearest the security guard, and had $61.25, which with the $50 I'd put in my wallet right away, I had a total of $112.25. Not bad for around an hour of playing, and the debut of my new cornet and its conical mouthpiece which I'm still getting used to. 

Ken had called me while I was at San Pedro Square and told me he'd gone though PG&E's phone tree also, and gotten a supervisor and got them to turn the power on. I said I'm out "practicing" and will check when I get back to the shop. He said to call him when I get back and let him know in either case. 

I didn't want to rush back to a probably still cold, dark, and electricityless shop, so I wandered around in Whole Foods for a bit, and picked out a bottle of Guinness. I don't drink any more but I'll make an exception for a Guinness once in a great while. I went upstairs and sat at the bar and watched a basketball game, except the ADHD method of filming a game is most unenjoyable. Some neat plays though. It was a say to take my mind off of things. 

I drank half the pint of Guinness which I've got to say is a pretty nice amount to drink. I'd happily have ordered one of the "home" brews upstairs, but there's something about the taste of Guinness, for which there's no substitute. I can see why in British pubs it's a thing to order a "half" because it's a nice amount to drink for the flavor. 

I got on the bike to get out of there, rode a little circuit around downtown where I saw very little going on and no other street musicians, then rode to Japantown. There was a live jazz thing going on at one of the little shops, and I hung out and talked with people, and after their set program there was a "jam" so I figured, why not? Except it turns out the kind of music they were playing is great for musicians showing off for other musicians, in other words, if I'm tuning around on the radio and hear this kind of mathematical jazz, I murmur "ok" and move on. So I moved on. 

I got back here and turned on the light switch by the door and nope, still dark so I turned the flashlights on, then noticed the screen for the video camera was on, and of course the light controlled by the wall switch, the fluorescent lights overhead, have been dead for a while now because Ken's worked on them. In other words, the electricity was back on. I called Ken and told him, and asked him if he'd called someone at PG&E at home and rousted 'em out of bed or something, and apparently he'd just been more persistent at the phone tree than I was. 

We talked a bit more and it was "OK see you on Wednesday" and I went around turning things on and plugging things in, and finished de-icing the freezer.