0 ml

Up a bit after 3. My computer had decided it didn't see the files of the photos I'd just taken of 12 Ebay things, and by the time I got things working it was close to 6AM so I stacked the things by the door where they'd be out of the way and set up for bed, but not before doing a load of laundry.

I made a serving of the kava I'd bought, and was immediately skeptical. No mouth-numbing, and it tasted too sweet. I didn't really feel an affect, and went to bed. I just felt kind of crappy and woke up with a headache. No dreams other than one where I was doing some sick drumming with eating utensils.

I'm so ticked off at the low quality of this kava that I've just applied to return it. I had to print up a QR code since I don't have a smart phone, and I'll take it over to the Amazon Hub and get credited my $21 or so back.

Maybe you can only get good kava from a place like Melo Melo in Santa Cruz, but I don't know if they're open these days, it's a huge hassle to get over there, and as nice as good kava is, once I was fairly detoxed from alcohol the last time, I didn't desire kava enough to go through the bother of preparing it. In other words, it's not a good drug, commercially speaking. One doesn't go from an alcohol habit to a kava habit.

Next time I'm in Santa Cruz (will take my trumpet with me and play a bit, tips or not) at least I can go to Melo Melo and have kava there.

So I got going after coffee etc., at almost 4, stopped in J-town to drop off trash and put two bags of brown rice and two packets of ginseng tea in the 6th street blessing box, then skipped over to 5th and did the same there. No books I was interested in this time. Actually I think I'm the only one putting things in the 6th street one right now. The 4th street one is gone.

Next I went to the Amazon hub and returned the kava. Interestingly, they didn't want me to package it up, but to show them a QR code on my smart phone which I don't have so I'd printed it out. The guy took the kava and the scanned the QR code and that was that. Easy!

Next stop was Lee's where I got my usual chicken on rice and a bottle of water, and went and ate under the pepper tree. I was sure to spill some fish sauce and rice for the ants.

After this I went over to my bank and .... the ATM could not take any more checks; the little hopper or whatever it is must be full. No problem; I can come back on Tuesday when my schedule allows me to go downtown and they'll have had a chance to empty it.

So, I went over to Whole Foods and got a few things and $100 back so that's my spending money for the week.

I thought about what other sorts of trouble I could get into, and decided it's a perfect time to go to Target. Even if some bum goes through my bike bag all he's gonna find is toothpaste and floss and 3 avocados. So I went over there and wow, the 4th of July is a perfect time to go to Target. There were very few people and it was really nice. I wanted to check out their shaving stuff and they had one expensive type of shaving brush and no safety razors at all. I kind of want to get the new Gillette that's come out. But I got other things from Ziploc bags to tape to some "ecological" hand wipes (seems the "ecological" kind is the only kind of many things available any more) and even some underwear and it all came to a bit under $40.

Everything fit into the bike bags and I decided to wander around downtown some more so I rode back through Little Italy (all one street of it, eh) and rode up 4th because often a lot of neat stuff gets tossed out by the college students there but I didn't find anything. I wandered back down to San Pedro Square and decided I'd see if O'Flaherty's had any alcohol-free beer. They don't, but the guy got me a diet Pepsi which they did have, and refused to take any money for it. I hung out with the Japanese guy out front and we just shot the shit about a number of things. It was very congenial.

Next I rode on Santa Clara over to the capitol where the demonstration had built up somewhat large, and hung near the back and watched and listened. I might take my trumpet there tomorrow.

I wandered back along 6th street, looking for free stuff. One place had a play stove, and a rather nice oven mitt that looks barely used. So I took that - it means I'll only need one folded-up paper towel to handle the big pot of boiling water when I do laundry. Another place had a bunch of Avon bottles - meh - and some nice dishes. I took a large soup bowl and a matching bowl and cup.

Eventually I got back here and put things away. But interestingly, there was a rock a bit smaller than my fist sitting at the doorstep here. I asked the Mr. Softee guy, thinking maybe he'd left me a note and the note had blown away. But he hadn't left one or seen anything. I took off with the bike trailer and picked up a box of junk I'd left out for the bums, well, the bums had gone through it and left most of it and I didn't want to leave a mess, so I dumped it in a dumpster across the street, then went over where I'd frankly left a big mess of clothing and purses etc., thinking whatever people haven't taken, I'll bag back up in the bags and leave it pretty much how I'd found it. But people had picked over everything and there was hardly anything left. Just a pair of shoes I'd almost taken yesterday, and I decided to take now. And a set of earrings that likewise, I'd almost taken. I put all the scraps etc into a large box that was there and left the area neat.

I got back here and looked around a bit more for any note. The wind is strong enough here that I've given up having a heavy rubber door mat in front, the wind just blows it away. So, I'm thinking, someone left a note but the note is long gone. Or one of the crazies around here just left a rock.

At least in talking with the Mr. Softee guy I'd confirmed what I suspected: that he's put some sort of lock on his faucet so Crazy Chrissie isn't there at all hours, washing her car, filling up 5-gallon jugs, etc. It also means she's not hanging out in front of here, too.