East of the sun, west of the moon

I woke up at 2 which is perfect, given I'd gone to bed at 6AM. I did the usual getting-up things, put my bedding away, had an iced coffee and vitamins and a few nuts to chase the vitamins down, took care of Ebay questions, and got my things together.

I washed my head/hair, then did a good scrub-up which involves Windex and a nicely broken in Scotch-Brite. It's a nice way to clean up if you don't have a shower. You don't end up smelling like Windex at all, and it's not as splashy as standing in a tub and using bottles of water to wash.

I headed downtown at about 4:30. First stop, of course, was Japantown where I dropped off trash, and went to Nijiya for some fried fish, a little salad, a Doutor canned coffee which I ended up not drinking, and some of what I call "Sarariman" seasoned seaweed. I got all three kinds because the labels are different colors and have this drawing of what I guess is a Japanese "Salary-man" with his coat over his shoulder and this look on his face that kind of stern, tired, yet relieved to be done with a day of work. Ken and I had a real laugh over that picture, with me making a stern voice, "The little woman better have dinner on the table when I get home!" etc. The kid checking me out said, "You know, I have a package of that at home and I've never used it. I have no idea what it's for." I said I think it goes on noodles, but I use it in miso soup.

I rode over to the 6th street blessing box in and put in a can of corned beef hash and a two bags of tobacco. Then I rode over to the 4th street one and got out a book about Billy The Kid, so I put the other two cans of corned beef hash in there and the other three bags of tobacco.

I circled around and rode back to the benches named after various internment camps and sat at the one nearest the street, and parked the bike near the curb, so I'd be the least disturbance to anyone walking by on the sidewalk. And settled down to have my fish and salad, and then thoroughly picked my teeth and started chewing some gum to make sure my mouth would be nice and clean.

I rode downtown, and rode back and forth in a sort of grid pattern because I wanted to find the black guy who plays guitar who I'd jammed with. I have a package of audio connectors I want to give him, and I thought we might have another jam. But I could not find him, and could not find the exact corner. I'd seen photos of the demonstrations before leaving and it looks like a lot of people, a lot more densely packed than  I wanted to be part of, so I avoided the City Hall area.

I finally decided I wasn't going to find my friend this time, but more importantly, I needed to find a bathroom. The Fairmont looked too carefully managed for me to sneak into there, so I went into the food court place where The Fountainhead bar is. They have a bathroom and a very nice one in turned out. I was so happy I considered getting a drink called a "Maybach" from The Fountainhead, but they were closed.

Now I was in a condition to play, and I set up in front of Johnny Rockets in honor of Leroy, who I've not seen for the longest time now, and because it's a pretty good location. I played "We'll Meet Again", "We Shall Overcome", and worked on "East Of The Sun West Of The Moon", that thing they play on the US/USSR collaborative series "The Unknown War", and some other things. A blonde lady and her husband came up, asking if I had a "thing" to put money in, and handed me a wad. I said I'm not really playing for money, "But you'll take it anyway" she said and we both laughed a bit.

In general there was the same indifference I'd been experiencing, but I think people liked my playing and my being out there. I got the odd smile, and a guy called out from a window above Scott's Seafood, "Play a polka!" I don't know any polkas per se, but I managed to play "The Shaving Cream Song" which I've not played for a while. That was fun, although I'm unclear on whether it's a polka. I heard him playing an accordion up there. I need to look up a polka, that is really well-known, so that they guy will probably know it on his accordion, and maybe we'll play it together.

I wanted to play until 8, or about an hour and a half, but I made it barely to an hour. I'd forgotten how tiring playing for the public is. In the end I tried playing under the overhang there, which makes a nice resonance, and tried working out some Pink Floyd stuff from the Wish You Were Here album. And then decided I'd had enough.

I packed up and rode cautiously over to City Hall. There were not that many protesters so it was safe to ride around. I stopped and talk with a couple of gals with a red cross symbol, and the mass of the protesters were out marching around the block or a few blocks and would be back. So much for hanging around and playing some music there, the crowd would flood in and it would be mobbed.

There was at least one guitar, some African type drums, and some black guys had made this neat thing out of beans. They'd made the black power fist logo out of different colors of dried beans, and the wind was trying to fuck it all up. It was really neat and I told them so. There were also free pizza and sandwiches being given out, as well as the usual water and granola bars and such things. It was all really neat to see, with people of all colors out there and not in self-segregated groups, but all together.

I rode on home. It was really nice today, windy but very clear, really pretty clouds in the sky, and nice and cool. My way home was by way of good old TAK Market, where I ogled all the fancy beers then got a PBR and a Slim Jim. The $3 that lady had given me, I dropped at the base of a scrawny tree in front of the 7-11 on 6th, famous as a stabby place. Now that tree's a dollar tree.

I got back and put things away and enjoyed my PBR and Slim Jim, along with the last of my "Mouth Spicy" snacks, which are like "bugles" but with spicy seasoning. I'd gotten those because of the funny "Engrish" packaging, to cut out the funny words and stick 'em on my fridge.

I listed 20 things on Ebay, that by the schedule I should have done last night but I just crashed and had to go to sleep. So I did 'em tonight.

Dinner was beef with scrounged beans and scrounged pepper. Came out good, too.