Still getting over this thing

 Busy day. I packed 17 things which I had to fund first, and got them to the post office. I didn't stop to get anything anywhere, except to pick up a few boxes. Tomorrow will be taken up with packing and shipping also, I'm that far behind. 

On my way back I came across a dozen "Kinder" something or other bars, which are Meh, and 45 Cadbury "Crunchie" bars which are amazing. It's like Violet Crumble, but somehow the nougat or toffee or whatever it is in the middle, has had an extra toasting making it extra brittle and a unique taste. Roald Dahl wrote about the Cadbury company giving out new types of chocolate bar to the school he went to, and all they had to do was write their impressions of them, and I imagine this one went over very well. 

So I put all the other candy I had out for the scavengers but am keeping the "Crunchie" bars.  

 

I might be feeling better

 I slept fairly well overnight, and into the area of 1-2 in the afternoon which is good. I also read books instead of being up and on the computer. 

Today, I had to get some things out since they were due to actually go out tomorrow and it seems I have to get things out one day earlier or they show up as late. 

There were four things so I started with the smallest which just went into an envelope, and worked up to the biggest, which went in a big box, using up a ton of padding materials. 

On my way to FedEx I saw Tom outside at his place so I stopped and we talked a bit. The bums around his place are going to get cleared away, again. I asked what the stacks of boxes by James' tent were, and he said they were cup ramen, "A lifetime supply" haha. 

I got the things dropped off and went into H Mart for a couple of things, paying using my card (and contactless at that) to avoid passing any of my germs. My lungs were really full of stuff when I got up. 

On the way back I had to do something about my now low supply of padding. So I picked up some stuff here and there, and from Noah Medical I got a couple of boxes of good stuff but even better, I saw they had these huge boxes that held some kind of medical apparatus, with the black foam with fancy cutouts to hold the equipment, and a nice big top piece with no cut-outs at all, just a bit rectangle a couple of inches thick. Just ideal stuff. 

So I took my shopping and the stuff I'd already gathered back here, had some coffee and a couple of aspirin, and went back out to get those. Someone had dug through some bags by their dumpsters and left a big mess, and I know there are cameras watching the area, there's only a sign saying so. So I cleaned up the mess. Then I got to work digging out the big foam pieces I wanted; there were four of the big rectangles and I ended up taking some other stuff to make the rectangles stand up between the sides of the bike trailer. On my way out I stopped at another company for a roll of bubble wrap and one of those big anti-static boxes that are great for shipping large circuit boards in. 

The only other actual work I wanted to do this evening was to take the 25 things I have cued up to list next and make them actually camera ready by cleaning them, making labels, etc., and I did that.  

So a ton of things accomplished for being sick, and I have a ton of things to ship out tomorrow. 

 

Another stay in bed day

 It's the only way we in the working class get anything like a vacation! At least all the time in bed gives me time to sift and sort through my mind ... 

For some years now I'd wondered if I should feel guilty because my eye operation(s) and special classes in school must have been a burden. Maybe I'm why the family finances tanked. Thinking about it now, though, my maternal grandmother paid for the operation(s), (I'm not clear on whether it was more than one or just the one) and the special classes didn't cost us anything. 

According to my older sister, a family friend, Mr. Bethune, stole all of Father's money somehow. Through some mysterious process, maybe witchcraft? Somehow I don't see Mr. Bethune doing this; we grew up with the Bethune kids and I wonder what Sean and Claudette are up to now (I believe Claudette is a PhD. scientist these days, congrats to her) and Mr. Bethune was always a can-do, scratch and scrap, make things work kind of guy. He built the boat, the Sea Raven, the Bethunes lived on, and apparently ended up having a time-clock company there in Honolulu. Not exactly the profile of a financial scammer. 

Nope what really ruined us was my older sister having to go to Punahou School, which these days is $32 thousand a year. It would have been proportionately that much back in the 70s. My older sister could have gone to McKinley, which being public was, and is, free, and is the high school for intellectual kids. Or could have gone to Kaiser like I did, which is another good public school, and not even need to take a bus since it can be walked to easily from Portlock Road. 

Of course the whole reason to go to Punahou School, and what parents pay $32 thousand a year for, is to marry someone who also went to Punahou School, which my older sister did. I guess this was worth the other 4 of us ending up poor as hell, two of us never actually graduating high school because we had to go out and work to survive, and probably due to the extreme hunger and hardship we went through, none of us talking to each other after we escaped at age 18. 

And my older sister was going to be a writer, and at least write a book about "Cats In The Pacific" and she's not written a thing. She's just a dumpy hausfrau, but hey, she's a dumpy hausfrau who went to Punahou School.  

Really sick, stay in bed day

 So to liven things up, here's a guy playing the same cornet I just bought, a lot better than me! 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8kddfpI8I0

He is playing Debussy's Syrinx, a piece normally played on flute.  

I can't embed the video but it's well worth watching, the guy's really good! I bet he didn't pay for his. I notice he doesn't seem to be using the fancy little levers that are supposed to move the 1st and 3rd slides. 

I'm taking the day off although I should be packing two big things, one really big, and hauling them up to FedEx but I messaged the buyers and said they'll be a day or two late getting out because I'm so sick. 

 

Got a cold

 Last night right after Ken left, I sneezed like 10 times and started having a really stuffy nose which I had to keep blowing. I finally went to bed, not being able to make myself feel any better. 

Sure enough, I got up and my sore throat is accompanied by a nice cough. I'm going to blame that stupid French class because we were all stuffed into that tiny room and the teacher was out with a cold last lesson (the one I didn't go to because I'd dropped the class). So not only did I have to "eat" the cost of the class but I've got a nasty cold. 

I've actually looked up local German classes, and there's a place that's on the next street behind the Whole Foods on Hamilton, a place that's not hard for me to get to at all. But I'd sure want to visit them in person and determine if the textbooks are as smartphone-dependent as the ones in the French class. The thing is, being "certified" in a language, by passing official tests, and German might be much easier to get to the much-vaunted B2 level in. This school I mention and the Goethe Institute up in San Francisco both offer classes and the tests.  

And here I am with a shiny new mouthpiece to try out, a Denis Wick even, which is a brand I've always seen really talked up, and I don't even feel like picking up the cornet. I've got the new mouthpiece in its spot next to the one that came with the horn, in their two little holes in the case, and the stand folded up and stowed away in the bell and it fits just fine even though it's a "trumpet" stand, and all's well except I'm not going to be playing for a bit. 

I decided since I don't know if I'll feel even worse tomorrow, to pack a few things to take to the downtown post office, and mail those and deposit my check so I'll have that all done. I left here around 2 I think, and after the bank I went over to Whole Foods because it's an immutable law of the universe that I must go there after I go to the bank. I just got some vitamins I needed, swung by the Amazon place where I got one bubble mailer (at least I got two from the post office) and then went to Nijiya for a few things including a bento, which I ate as soon as I got back, a bit after 4 which is late here - the equivalent of 7PM anywhere else. 

There were a fair share of crazy zombies out there today, and on the corner by my bank the cops were rounding up one off of the sidewalk. On my way home, by St. James Park, a zombess was yelling on and on about, among other things, something about people not giving her matches. So I got off the bike and found two lighters in the top bag and rode over and gave them to her. No thanks for them of course, zombies aren't really alive or all that sentient. Maybe now this horrid thing, that went back to yelling as  I rode away, will burn the trash pile it lives in down, and end its nonsensical existence. 

 

I can't believe I played that, on that.

 Once I had all my listings on Ebay done and had some time, about 4AM of course, I got the new cornet out to do some practice. First I had to give the pistons some attention, since they were sticky. Typically a piece of hair or gunk of some type gets in there, and my remedy is to use some spray cleaner/oil for electronics I have, then lube with regular trumpet valve oil. 

I was prepared to hate the mouthpiece that came with the cornet. Since the cornet is a professional level "British brass band" type, naturally it comes with a mouthpiece that's aimed at that type of music. But I was able to play on it just fine, and get a good, clear, tone. 

I opened the new beginner Rubank book I'd been working out of years ago and since the one I had back then is one I ordered off of Amazon, I'm wondering if it was a fake with a restricted amount of material, printed larger. I did find exercises I'd been doing and ... 

I can't read the printed music for shit! I had to keep referring to the fingering chart I'd found online and printed out. Let's see, I've been at least a year away from the trumpet, then a year or three before that I'd just gone out busking and not putting in any time reading printed music at all. I believe it was that first year of covid, so 2020, that I'd been practicing off of printed music, in that (probably an Amazon fake) Rubank book. So I'm on Lesson 6. That's my level right now. 

I practiced quite a lot for someone just getting back into it, an hour. All I can say is it's good to be back. 

I went right to bed and woke up around 11AM maybe, went back to sleep until 1:30PM and got up, giving myself  half an hour to prepare and get out of here. I packed one package that had to go, and was out the door at just before 2. 

I stopped at Nijiya and got a little plate of beef and veggies and a can of coffee. I heated the food in their microwave and ate at the table out front, and here's where I made a mistake. I only drank a little of the coffee, figuring I'd save it for later. "Save it for later" is an extremely stupid way to think, when out on the street. Somewhere in my various errands, the can of coffee disappeared. This is what happens, out on the street, when you apply the idiotic rule of "save it for later". No, the correct thing to do is chug that shit so you're sure you get it, before it can disappear. 

There's a test in psychology called the "marshmallow test". The test is, you show a kid a marshmallow, and tell them they can eat it now, or if they wait a period of time, they can have two marshmallows. The idea is that "good" kids will wait, showing restraint and planning and all that. And "bad" kids won't wait. Except it's only a test of socioeconomic status. I'd have grabbed that first marshmallow every time. It might be the only food I'm given that day that I didn't have to fish or forage for myself, and marshmallows were a rare treat. Adults were not trustworthy, not my parents or any other adults.  

I rode over to Park Avenue Music and Eric, the owner, was there. This was great; I figured I could deal with Trombone Guy, who's nice enough but really not all there, but having Eric there was absolutely great. I showed him the Yamaha mouthpiece that came with my new Yamaha horn, important because it's a "short shank" cornet mouthpiece and those are rare. I said I wanted to get as close to a Bach 3C as possible which means a 14B4 in Yamaha or Schilke. He dug around in back and came up with two Denis Wick pieces, a 3 and a 3B. I decided on the shallower of the two. I also got a trumpet stand and asked about a mouthpiece brush, which he threw in for free. 

I was out front fiddling with things, figuring out how to load them into my bike bag, and decided to check the stand to make sure it was the 5-leg one because there are 3-leg ones and I sure didn't want one of those. While I was packing it back up (it's the 5-leg one) Eric came out and asked if I wanted the shallower or deeper of the two mouthpieces and I said the shallower one, and he thought I'd taken the deeper one, so the 3 I'd almost taken off with was exchanged for the 3B, and I was *really* thankful he'd done that. 

So much so that I went back in (come to think of it I had the can of coffee in my hand) and asked if he had the Getchell-Hovey book of exercises that Eric Bolvin had everyone use, and I found the 2nd book so I'll have to get the first one later. And, since we were talking about Eric Bolvin, I ended up looking at this book published by him called "The Big Songbook" or something like that, which is a surprising number of songs, all in one book. So I got that too. And come to think of it I probably left the can of coffee on the counter there. 

I went to the big Goodwill next, and looked at their musical instruments. I'd been thinking of buying a flute from them just for the case, using that case for the flute I want to keep, putting the Goodwill cheapie in the awful case the flute I want to keep is in, and so my "keeper" flute will be in a decent case. But I think I'll just buy a new case from Park Avenue Music. Flutes are $33 at Goodwill (or is it $38 now?) and I can't see a new non-name case being more than $35. 

 I didn't find anything I was interested in although it's interesting to know that there's a constant flow of cheapo musical instruments coming through there, violins and flutes and clarinets and guitars. I never see any trumpets and think I may have seen one, years ago. 

I stopped at the Amazon place and got a few bubble mailers, and got back here. Enough adventure for one day.  

I now have a new mouthpiece to try out, and now I have a backup in case something happens to one. When I'm ready to go out busking again, the nice thing about a "shepherd's crook" cornet like this one is, it can fit in my messenger bag. I've done this with a short cornet before. I just need to get a nice really smooth pillow case and a towel. Horn goes in pillow case then the towel's wrapped around it, and it goes in the messenger bag.  

Just as I was drifting off to sleep ...

 I was doing some breathing exercises. I got into doing these for flute and shakuhachi in a fruitless quest to be able to pump a lot more air since those instruments require so much air. But  I found they make me feel better and I have much more stamina on the bike, so I've kept them up. As well as at other times, I like to do them as a way to relax and go to sleep. 

But I thought, last night, I ought to do the exhale part with a flat chin, because I play the clarinet now and when you play the clarinet you keep a flat chin; it's what you do and it was taught to me by Pete Sowlakis at my very first lesson many years ago. 

So I did 'em that way and the feeling in my face ... I wondered if it would help with the trumpet embouchure. So I buzzed my lips first the same old way I always had, and then keeping a flat chin. I could go much higher the 2nd way. I told myself I'd do a search on this when I woke up.

When I woke up at around 1 in the afternoon because I'd been doomscrolling all night, I did a few things and then remembered to do that search. I searched, and Lo and behold, now knowing exactly what to look for, I found tons of people saying it's the way to go. That one guy, a student at the Peabody Institute, had a Horn player tell him, "You need to get 'The Art Of Brass Playing' by Philip Farkas" and the guy did, and it was all about keeping a flat chin, as Farkas and many others did and do. The guy said he practically slept with that book under his pillow... 

The consensus seemed to be that while it may not work for everyone, it works for an awful lot of people. And yes, just lip buzzing with no mouthpiece or anything, I can sure buzz 'way high and I've been out of the game for more than a year. 

I simply had to get my hands on a trumpet to try this out. The best way to do this would be to go to West Valley Music and test-play one of their trumpets.  No, just buzzing on a mouthpiece would tell me nothing. A trumpet is a resonant structure and just buzzing on the mouthpiece alone is not at all the same. 

So now I felt motivated. I packed the things that had to go out, got cleaned up, and left here just a bit before 4. I stopped to check out a few boxes by this food importer place and my reward was 63 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars. I put those in one pannier and went on my way. I dropped off trash and swung by Nijiya for some boiled eggs and sashimi and a can of coffee. Since I had time, I'd eat them there. 

There's one table in front, with four people sitting at it, but room for a fifth so I sat down. Two left, leaving a pair who were talking about, apparently, when the possibly older of the two, a Hispanic lady, was describing her recent experience having a stroke. High heart rate etc. When she mentioned Good Samaritan Hospital I chimed in, "I was there! I was treated really well" and we were off, talking about medications and whether getting an Apple Watch might be a good idea etc. Old-people stuff I guess. 

The day was so nice and the convo going so well, my entertaining them with my tale of going ass over teakettle in the BevMo parking lot because I came in fast and didn't see the curb in the middle of it, and such adventures, and talking about the neat foods we had - "These eggs are from Hokkaido" etc., that I bubbled about my possible new discovery about trumpet playing, my going to clarinet, but now my plan to get over to the music store to try out my new technique on a trumpet etc. 

The Hispanic lady had to go and that left me and the other, Black, lady to talk. It seemed she was musical, everyone in her family is musical with tons of clarinet players and at least one teacher, and Oh yes, her cousin (?) Ambrose Akinmusire, the trumpet player. Had I heard of him? Everyone's heard of him,  I retorted,  and she said he lives in the area. 

I got her card, and she says she answers emails so that's great. Knowing musical people is always good. The thing is, busking is almost extinct as an activity here, and I almost never see Leroy, just about the last street musician in the whole city, any more. All the others are long gone. Recorder Ron is still alive, but doesn't do any music any more. He does little pieces of art and straight-out begging with a sign. 

I went to the post office next to drop off the packages I had, then went over to Whole Foods to lock up the bike and went right over to the bus stop. A guy there taught me a cool trick: You call 511 and say "Arrival time" and key in the number on the bus stop sign. A voice will tell you when the next bus is coming. That's pretty cool. 

I got to West Valley Music at about a quarter after 6, and they close at 7. It's basically 2 hours from my door to theirs. I asked about trumpets, and the gal had me to into this separately locked side room they have where they keep the expensive stuff. 

I asked to try the Eric Miyashiro model trumpet because it's a new Yamaha and although this gal didn't know it, I'd tried it before, some years ago. I also wasn't impressed with it but that didn't matter. I tried playing various things with a flat chin and without, and it makes a huge difference. So it was confirmed. 

I've just got to say I can't believe this, that I've read a ton of trumpet books, been on Trumpet Herald for years, had two different trumpet teachers, and never seen keeping a flat chin mentioned. And yet the great Farkas has written a whole book about it. And yet it's one of the very first things mentioned in my first clarinet lesson. 

I asked to look at their used, consignment trumpets and what a bunch of wrecks. The intermediate Yamahas were all made in China, and silver plated. Being made in China is probably a non-issue as far as quality goes but I have an irrational preference for the ones made in Japan. And silver plated, that's what the kids all want now but I really don't want that. 

They wanted "full boat" price for everything, of course. And no doubt they were all priced before the tariff madness. So I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Down at the bottom level of the display case, at the back corner, was something labeled as a Getzen for $1500. It was a cornet, shepherd's crook type, and looked pretty good but with that light in that little corner I could not tell if it was silver plated or not so the gal dug it out and of course it wasn't a Getzen it was a Yamaha but a pro level cornet, a "Neo", and not silver plated. 

So it was not cheap, but a few hundred less than the Miyashiro trumpet which is not a model I'm impressed with at all so the long and short of things is, I bought it. To me, shepherd's crook cornets have a huge cool factor, and I read somewhere that cornets like this are aimed at the British brass band market, and tend to have big bores and are not the stuffy things American cornets can be, like the old King Master. 

I then walked out of the music store, not back to the bus stop but the other way, to Castro Street. I used to spend quite a lot of time there, and figured I'd walk along, feeling nostalgic, and get on the train at the other end of it. 

A lot of stores and things have changed, and some old standbys were still there. I want to go back there during the day because there are a couple of store fronts with robot that do robot stuff I guess. On the walk I also saw a Waymo car with no human in the driver's seat, also no passenger so it was all on its own. Doing robot stuff. 

Castro Street's been blocked off to cars except for intersections where cars can cross it, and the result is a lot of people out walking around. I didn't see *any* buskers though, no questionable types hanging out at the Starbucks, and there was just one guy hanging out with a sign. It was pretty neat seeing all those people walking around and it strikes me as something approaching the people-walking-around situation Marvin Naylor has, for busking, in Winchester, UK. 

I got to the train station about 1 minute before the train came, and it was a nice pleasant ride as always. I got back to Whole Foods and had two slices of pizza and a near-beer, discovered that however big it seems the cornet case fits in a Whole Foods cloth bag just fine, hung it off one handlebar, and rode home. It started raining as I got onto Old Bayshore, and I got in here. What a day.  

I said the clarinet's a beautiful instrument and nothing bad to say about it, but that if my new discovery works, I might have a clarinet for sale, and she said her music-teacher relative might be interested.