Yesterday was pretty routine. Woke up with a headache for some reason, didn't practice, got stuff to the post office (no FedEx packages) picked up packing stuff but no veggies which was OK because I made a nice cold green bean salad with the green beans I'd picked up the day before.
I got some Ebay stuff listed including a neato green helium-neon laser that I might just have to play with tonight.
Today I was up a bit before noon, which was the ideal time to be up when I was staying over at Ken's house every week. Get up by noon, cook up some breakfast, and be ready when Ken got up in the 1-2 time frame.
I even got in a practice last night which was good since I'd not been practicing enough. I'm finally getting to the point where I understand the different components of trumpet playing. I think for a long time I was constricting my throat because that's almost a reflex especially for someone who did a lot of underwater swimming like I grew up doing. What I'm learning about using my midsection is not something I've found in any of the books I've read, but it's really fundamental and important and it's not intuitive. Who would think you ought to push "down" for high notes and "up" for lower ones?
I got going at about 3:45, went over to Nijiya and waited in line a bit, got a few things like a can of fish and some instant dashi, a Coke Zero, and a bowl of cold ramen with toppings. I also got some cooked salmon to put on top of that and since "my" spot on the shady bench was taken, I set up camp on the steps of the Issei Memorial building and had my picnic.
I'd been starving since I'd had coffee and some 100% cacao chips but no nuts because I was out of 'em. I'd gotten all set up to do a haircut and thought my idea of using a binder clip to fasten my T-shirt neck tight around my neck so it would act like a barber's cape was brilliant but it turned out not to be. I could not get the clip to go on there. What I need is a safety pin, they must still sell those, I thought, thinking back to my 1960s little-kid-hood and the neat safety pins we had like the one the head of which was a duck.
But first I wanted to get over to the bike shop to replace my small bike pump. Of course they were out of those, and I got a slightly larger one for $10 more. That done, I went to CVS and found a little package of so-so safety pins for $4 and got those.
Then I went to Whole Foods and got some fizzy water and a little $2 package of pepperoni slices, and stashed those away in the bike bag and rode over to Big-5. The guy there remembered me and as I write I have two boxes of 9mm ammo with my name on them I'm to pick up tomorrow. But they didn't have snap caps, which are dummy rounds used for practicing dry-firing, clearing jams, etc with. I'd looked at them on Amazon and thought good old Big-5 might beat their prices, but they only had shotgun ones.
After that I went into Wal-Mart. Rubbing alcohol was wiped out of course, but they had a lot of other things and I ended up buying tape, bug spray, and things like that.
I rode back lazily, and stopped at San Jose State and drank fizzy water and ate the pepperoni by the Studen Union. There are signs all over warning not to be on campus because of covid, but there were a few people here and there and it was nice. A couple, she Asian and looking decent, he looking like a bit like a bum who I'd write off if he were by himself, and they had a funny looking little dog. The dog wanted some pepperoni and I said she could have one if it's OK but it was not. I'd gotten a couple of really thin slices that were hardly anything but I didn't have any like that left.
After eating I rode home. Before turning into Rogers Avenue, I turned right to check out some blackberries that I'd seen red berries on. I learned a couple of things: Firstly, that plenty of nice black ripe fruits were there, hiding under the leaves, and that these fruit are protected by ants. But the ants are small and not bitey so I got out a plastic bag and picked some berries ants and all. A good rinse in the colander will take care of things like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment