Roll out the barrel

I woke up at 2:30 which is about right. I had my cold coffee and vitamins and a few nuts, and because I'd really wanted to get it done, cleaned the bathroom floor with lots of Windex and paper towels, then after it was dry, waxed it with Pledge (I really need to get a can of Johnson Wax). It was nice to come home to such a clean, lemony-smelling floor.

I got out of here at about 4:45, stopped in J-town to drop off trash and put a bag of tobacco in the blessing box, then went to the one on 4th and put a bag in there too, and picked out a book, "The Aosawa Murders" by Riku Onda, which is a true-crime book about a case I've watched a YouTube thing about in the past.

I dropped off three more bags of tobacco at corners where bums are likely to come across them, thinking someone just dropped their tobacco stash.

Then I went to Lee's, where $12-odd got me a char siu on noodles plate lunch, 4 chicken wings, and a nice little mask to add to my mask collection. It was windy as hell there on Santa Clara street but under the pepper tree the wind wasn't a problem for me as I had my little picnic. An old Asian lady in the house there (I think it's a rooming house) didn't look too happy to see me setting up there, but she seemed to be OK about it when she went back by and saw me eating the char siu and noodles the proper way, with chop sticks.

The trouble now was I had to use the bathroom, so I went over to the food court in "SoFa" and used theirs, and while The Fountainhead was still closed, I went to the sushi place and got some "truffle" something or other edamame. I was hoping it would be a savory dish, but in the end it was a sweet sauce.

I picked my teeth and chewed gum to get my mouth nice and clean, and set up to play in front of Johnny Rockets. As I rode by, to see if Philz was open (it wasn't) I heard someone at one of the tables at Scott's Seafood say "... a big RAT!" and I thought, am I hearing things? Just because I'd written that in my Google review of the place, naming the rat Mickey Rat, maybe I just thought I heard it. Then I realized, there are only a few reviews on there and someone was obviously reading the reviews on their phone while they waited for their Ptomaine Platter. That's funny as hell.

I set up in front of Johnny Rockets (there's a tiny plant with 6 beautiful little blue flowers growing in the crack at the base of the column there new) and started playing. I got a bit of applause for Amazing Grace, but I only played that once; I played lots of We Shall Overcome, and a mix of other things. A lady came up and handed me $4, and I said I'll pass it on to someone else who needs it more. I played Roll Out The Barrel because it's a polka that's pretty universally known, but the guy up in the window didn't stick his head out so maybe he wasn't home. After playing for half an hour, I felt like I'd played a lot. How in the world did I play those 2-hour sessions I used to?

There was a bum in a wheelchair back in the covered area behind the column, and he'd had to listen to my lousy music, so I took the $4 and gave it to him. Good thought, but it was a mistake, as that caused Mr. Bum  to come out from his lair and offer me a bottle of water. I said I was OK and had plenty of water, and "I gotta go" because I didn't want this guy hovering over me.

I rode over to the MLK library and played there, and it was pretty neat. When an intersection is as empty as it was, the sound really carries around. I got in about 15 minutes there, then noticed a bum just kind of hanging out some distance away, but close enough that he could rush me and grab my bike or who knows what. I moved my bike closer and played a bit more and then decided to go.

I rode by the protesters at City Hall and talked with the folks at their food and water booth. I ended up in the most fun conversation with a tall kid dressed all in black except for his maroon Doc Martens. Here we were, leftists, in a crowd of leftists, talking about guns. He said he'd just bought a Glock at Bass Pro Shop, "They have a nice selection of guns, actually" and we talked about other things too, like how the cops have stopped being violent and not-so-amazingly, the protests have been really non-violent these last couple of days. And how people are being more "giving". Like in my case, putting things in the blessing boxes, giving things out, playing my trumpet without expectation of any pay, etc. He said he lost his job so he guesses he's a "professional protester" now. And he probably can be one - other protesters will have an extra couch for him to sleep on or something and he can just be a protester for a while which is great.

I considered playing some We Shall Overcome there, but the main crowd was out marching and would be back, and I didn't want to be in a big crowd. And some kids back by the wall had a breakdancing thing going on with music, and I didn't want to clash with that. Geez, back in normal times there used to be breakdancing all the time at the back entrance/window of the library and it was great. I'd even thought it would be neat to play along with their music and if they ever return and I'm around with my trumpet, I'll do it.

I needed 15 more minutes playing to make a full hour, so I went to Japantown. I was going to play by "the spike" on 5th and Jackson but the sun would have been right in my eyes, so I played in front of Roy's Station, the ex-gas-station coffee shop, on the opposite corner. Again, it was so quiet that the sound really carried. I got applause from someone over at the temple's dojo building, a car slowed down to hear, and I got some smiles and compliments. I ended with We'll Meet Again.

Then I rode over to TAK Market and got a PBR and a large Slim Jim. I told them if they were playing their music, I could play along with my trumpet. They said they will, some time. I wonder if the loud music was for Eid, which is the celebration at the end of Ramadan?  In any case, they like me there, and there were customers just ahead of me they didn't like - a tattooed couple who could only be described as "white trash". After they were gone and I was paying, I said about them, "Do you think they've ever had a job in their lives?" She said, "I think he works at a bail bond place. I don't like them". I said they'd been making out by the side of the building before coming in, and she said "Nice" in that way that shows one thinks it's anything but nice.

I rode back and is wasn't too windy or anything. The dumpster on 10th had only these things that I think are in the cucumber family, that I didn't want to mess with right now. I pulled some packing supplies and a lot of Allen wrenches out of the Star Zone dumpster though.

This playing out in public is good training. It's very different from playing exercises at home, so I need to do both.