Out into the soup

 Up at 3:30. www.purpleair.com says the air's solidly red, about 160-175 and I have to go out into that soup. 

So I had my coffee etc. and packed a few more things and went out into the soup. It was pretty nasty and I just tried to take it easy, leaving at about a quarter to 6. Everything went smoothly, and I got back here barely after 7. I dumped my organic trash in the blackberry patch, and got in for the night. 

I cooked up scrambled eggs with bell pepper, with cheese on top and did various small things and then washed my hair and shaved, and was just getting ready for a bath when Ken showed up, about an hour early. So I folded up the cardboard and put everything away, and Ken had some stuff for me to list and we also talked about various things. 

I think Ken's becoming disillusioned with Trump, and he says a lot of the right-wingers he listens to on the radio are too. I said as well as I can pick up from what little right-wing stuff I pay attention to, it's been said that "Trump shit the bed" and "The fool keeps saying the quiet parts loud". 

Of course this refers to Trump calling on "The Proud Boys", his Brownshirts in training, to wait and attack on election day or maybe keep people from voting entirely. It's sure got us on the Left riled up. It's all over the Socialist Rifle Association sub-reddit on Reddit. Lots of new Leftist gun owners and lots of training being offered too, which is great to see. 

I think the standard recommendation is to have an AR-15, a Glock, a 10/22, and a shotgun. Welp, I've got the 10/22 (got that the day after Heather Heyer was killed) and just recently added the Glock. Maybe I'll fill in the other two off of dead Fascists someday. (I really hope to be off this sinking ship before that's a worry.) 

Hey Arnold!

 Up at 4:30 Out of here at just a nip before 6 with all the packages I'd packed last night. I'd done a practice also. 

The deliveries went w/o a hitch, and I got a friendly wave from Arnold, the security guard who guards the Telemundo building - I'd made friends with him a week or so ago, regarding a crazy homeless guy. I'd passed the homeless guy who was dressed all in green for some reason and tussling with a shopping cart. "Did it lock up on you?" I asked as I went by. "I'm all fucked up!" he said. 

75 yards down the road, Arnold called out to me, "Did you see a crazy homeless guy?" and I pulled in and we talked, I related that the guy had just said he's fucked up, so drunk or what I didn't know. The guy had been acting really crazy before I came along, though, according to Arnold. I asked me to "rate" my contact with the homeless guy and I said I'd rate it as neutral. Then we talked a bit; he sees me go up and down the street so I was familiar to him. So now we wave when we see each other. 

I got some fairly decent packing materials but no veggies this time. Once I was back here and put things basically away, I cooked up some eggs with diced jalapeno peppers, cheese on top, and some Tapatio hot sauce. Then other than diddling around on Ebay, I cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the office. Ken has a way of surprising me by showing up on Tuesday when I expect him on a Wednesday. So my new plan is to make the place nice on Tuesday, and if he shows up on Wednesday, it's still going to be pretty nice and clean. 

While I waited for Ken to come by or not, I got out things I need to ship and got all but a couple.

The Life Of Topol

 Up at 4:30. I'd packed everything that really has to go, last night. 

Had some beef and veg. last night and the "cheap" beef I'd gotten at H Mart is OK, decent flavor. I got a good practice in, also. Regular practice is the most powerful thing I've experienced, towards getting good? Well, decent. A bit over an hour a day isn't enough to become a virtuoso, of course, but it's working on basic strength and skills; a foundation that should serve me well if/when I find myself living out of a small office or storage unit and playing for my full living. 

I've come to really admire the Israeli actor/singer Topol (RIP). The guy grows up poor-ass in the Florentine district of Tel Aviv, when he's old enough joins a kibbutz, then has to do military service and a "morale" unit comes around, well, Topol's known for singing and making jokes, so he gets into such a unit, and the rest is history. He had to do his parts in Fiddler On The Roof by memorizing the English because his English was not too good at the time. What a life! 

A Pale Orange Day

 Up at 4. I actually woke up around 1, then went back to sleep which is fine, because I'd only slept maybe 5 hours the night before. And I felt OK, mouth not dry, pretty good. 

It's a balmy 81 in here, and the air quality is "light orange" or around 75. 

I had my coffee and was out of here a bit before 6. I was just delivering the packages that *had* to go out today. It was really orange-colored out there. Not as bad as the first time but still not great. 

Coming out of the post office, traffic was light enough for me to cut across the road and use the turn lane thing that cars do, and I heard something coming up; maybe a Cushman scooter? It sounded like a lawnmower. 

It was a guy on a motorcycle; the sorriest looking motorcycle, not a 250 but maybe a 450 and it sounded like a damn lawnmower. Both it and its rider looked pathetic as hell, and sure enough, on the back there was a big red Trump sticker. The thing putted gutlessly up the road, and I thought, If you're a huge loser, why have a Trump sign? Of course it was the street rabble who were the most rabid Hitler followers (their hero Horst Wessel was a small-time criminal and pimp) and it must be a case of wanting to be part of something bigger than oneself. The only thing actually bigger about Trump is his waistline, but the thing is, the dirtball riding that gutless bike (probably a leaky head gasket) is probably welcome just about nowhere around here* but he'd be welcome at a Trump rally or a Trump followers' gathering of any sort. 

*The Asians etc who run stores here are wise to look at whites with a very jaundiced view, but I am treated fairly nicely because I'm clean-cut, no tattoos, try to smell decent, no long hippie hair etc. 

I got back here and started in on waxing the bathroom floor with honest-to-goodness Johnson paste wax that comes in a yellow can. I'd been kind of fascinated with the stuff since seeing it among the few essentials being sold in a tiny store in Waikiki. I'd cleaned the floor before heading out, so now I smeared this stuff on, let it dry for half an hour with the fan going, then polished it. The polishing stage is a bit of exercise, but it went pretty well. I used a cloth I'd picked up off the road on 7th street that probably fell off a workman's truck so except for the cost of the wax it's a pretty low-cost operation. The floor's now not the perfection of a floor on an Army base but it's on its way.

A little less than last time (tm)

 Last night I drank a little less than the night before, and of course had a silly busy dream and only slept about 6 hours of real sleep. It's worth it though. 

The very best sleep is with no alcohol and meditation techniques to go to sleep, if needed. 

I had real trouble getting motivated to get going and finally did so at 5. First I dropped off trash in Japantown, then went to Nijiya and got odds and ends like seaweed and curry powder, and a package of chicken kara-age and a can of beer. 

I ate over at the benches, and felt a little better, I thought. I didn't finish all the beer, and ate about half of the chicken kara-age. It was dry, of course. So I packaged the rest up for later and went by the blessing boxes to put some books in. The one on 6th is gone now, and the one on 5th didn't have anything new until I put my books in. I later found the one on 7th was empty, so maybe blessing boxes are a seasonal thing. 

I went over to Whole Foods and locked the bike, and noticed a huge line to go in. I walked down to CVS for my handle of cheap vodka and got in a conversation with a young guy who was wearing a full-frame backpack. He didn't look like he'd been on the road long, really. I think he'd have liked very much for me to offer to buy him stuff, but I didn't feel like it and instead asked where he was traveling from (Santa Cruz) and where he was heading (Portland I think). 

An interesting occurrence was when one of the workers asked an older Black guy if he "needed a cart to carry that" and got the guy to sheepishly pull a fairly expensive bottle of liquor out of his pants. "I need to feed my children", he said. "You feed your children on alcohol?" the worker asked, heard the guy's explanation "Well, actually, I sell the alcohol..." and told the guy to just leave. 

I was going to tell the worker about the guy in Sunnyvale who's in a wheelchair and used to beg in front of a little liquor store there and got given tons of bottles of booze, which he'd sell right back to the store since he doesn't drink. But the worker had other things to hurry off to. 

I ended up being Mr. Backpack in line, then ended up walking with him for just a bit on the sidewalk. I was open to talking some more, and he got right square in front of me and said that he actually was escaping a really horrible situation, family trouble and violence, his brother had been shot etc. I said about all you can do is go far away, to some little town and just start a whole new life. 

I then ducked into a "FOOD & BEER 2- 6" place to look at their menu, and Mr. Backpack didn't follow - probably already knows you can't go in a place like that looking like him. This place has a dish, pelmeni, which is a Russian thing that "Life Of Boris" talks about on YouTube. Since I'd just eaten chicken, I could not eat any of them. If I'd not just eaten meat, the vegetarian one would be acceptable while none of the others are, at all. But if I can manage to go by there when I've not just eaten meat, I think I might give the veggie pelmeni a try. 

I came out of the place and Mr. Backpack was still out there, but talking to someone else. I went back to the bike and tried to think of anything I wanted from Whole Foods and could not come up with anything, so I unlocked the bike and told the Gypsies begging out in front that they might do better in front of CVS because "You can be closer to where the people walk by" which is true, and "Working-class people are more generous" which is also true. 

I rode over to the Amazon hub and picked up 16 bubble mailers so that was great, and picked up some nice fresh green beans from the dumpster on 10th. By now it was dark and I am really not used to riding around in the dark which I used to find fairly enjoyable. 

I got back here and put things away, and took a lot of fusty vegetables over to the blackberry patch. I throw out a lot of vegetables because I'm pretty careful with cutting off bad parts, and the veggies were headed for the landfill anyway. There was some guy shuffling along with a skinny-tire bike, completely dark. It was like he was a hole shaped like a guy with a bike, with a slight scuffling sound. I'd spotted him under the bridge and veered wide just in time, and now he was there at the beginning of Rogers Avenue. He seemed to have a place to go, though. Rogers Avenue is pretty much one long homeless camp again. 

I got back here and that's it for tonight. I made an interesting dish, where I cut the chicken kara-age into sort of cubes, toasted some garlic and walnuts in some sesame oil, then added the chicken and some water so it would not only be sure to be heated thoroughly but so the flavors could mix around, and simmered then fried that, and it was pretty good. 

I've now spent $150 out of the $350 I got from Ken last week, and $40 of that is in cash in my wallet so I've really only spent $110.  I really need to do my taxes though, because out of the almost $3500 I had in the bank, the IRS gets first dibs. 

I did a practice, a bit over an hour (rusty because of not practicing Thursday-Friday-Saturday) and it went fairly well. Then fixed up another large cole slaw and had it with cheese for dinner. 

Now I just have to pack lots of packages and it's gonna be a hot one tomorrow.

Very very meh

 I got back here last night just a bit after sundown, but got in all the same, after delivering packages and already had the feedback posted on Ebay so I was in pretty good shape. 

I'd boiled water and put it in the big stainless steel YETI jug so I had hot water for a hair-wash and bath so I was able to get nice and squeaky clean. "Islands and clouds" again for dinner, and of course, wine. 

I just watched stuff on YouTube and drank, and went to be early which means I woke up at something like 10AM. I had a dubious solution for that; I fixed up a drink and after drinking it, went back to bed, and woke up for real around 3. 

I lay in bed reading a book of Don Delillo short stories, and finally crawled out of bed around 7 and fixed up some fancy-schmancy "Matiz" sardines that come in a little jar and look like they might be the best thing ever. They are not. I could not fix how "meh" they are. 

It is very calm and quiet, and Crazy Chrissie hasn't shown up again. I think she probably spent the night here because she was hiding out from someone she'd had a fight with. She fights all the time so this makes the most sense. 

After those sardines, and I wonder how old they might have  been, given that Cost Plus Imports or whatever that place is called, I think sells some pretty old food. I didn't feel good after eating them, nothing drastic but just not good. 

Then I felt like I should have something with some fiber in it, so I made a big bowl of cole slaw. That and cheese were my dinner. I felt a bit less crappy but not at all like practicing.

Pest problem

 After doing those tons of errands last night and doing Ebay stuff etc. I was setting up to do a practice, even if kind of late, and noticed the Crazy Chrissie had parked her car not right in front, but right in front of the place next to me, the machine shop that's between me and the Mr. Frostee. I thought it might be rather humorous to bug her sleep with trumpet practice, but ended up not doing it. 

I did blow the shofar a bit, though, as it got around 5:30 in the morning and various industrial noises started up.

I was up at 3 today; time to do a ton of packing and take the stuff to the post office and FedEx.

Just a little more crazy

 I'd made my bank appointment for 4, and woke up a bit around 1:30 then closed my eyes for a bit, opened them, and it was 3. I was out the door at 3:15. Fortunately I'd cleaned up last night so it was pretty easy to just get dressed, get on the bike, and go. 

After dropping my trash off in Japantown I rode over to the bank and was 15 minutes early so I walked around a bit looking (again) at the menu at Farmer's Union and peeked in the Starbucks then turned around. So I was less then 10 minutes early when the bank people let me in and I deposited my check. If I weren't antsy about being able to pay the IRS I'd deposit 2 checks every other week. 

That done, I went over to Whole Foods and locked the bike and got a beer and a package of roast beef and walked up Stockton Avenue and found a place on the corner of it and Julian that wasn't bad for a nice little picnic under the trees. Then I resumed my walk up to Target. The walk wasn't bad, and it's a way to go there without worrying about my bike being stripped of things or stolen. 

There was a guy out front hustling for "a dollar" who didn't look or sound like the kind of guy who hustles for a dollar. I'd also seen a guy with a sign working the median strip on The Alameda across from Whole Foods where I'd never seen anyone beg there before. Nothing drastic, just a little bit more crazy... 

I actually went to this place called Costs Less or Cost Plus or something, that has a lot of weird international foods. There's a guy on YouTube called "Atomic Shrimp" who finds all these weird things in cans and in fact one of his themes is "Weird Things In A Can" so I figured I'd find some weird things like those German hot dogs that come in a tall jar. Unfortunately, said hot dogs are pork, and the most weird things I was able to find, really, was a little jar of Riga sprats (the kind in a jar taste much better than the ones in cans) and some really fancy-schmancy sardines in a jar. 

I stuck those finds in the bike bag and got some mundane things from Target like "snack" zipper bags and a package of paper towels and some underclothes they sometimes get, which is the impetus to work out a way to go to Target instead of just saying "Screw it" and just going to Wal-Mart. (Which has allures of its own, like some really good canned tuna and pickles from an actual Israeli kubbutz.) 

I walked back by a slightly different route, and noticed not only a Quonset hut but a guy securing the gate to the fence around the Quonset hut, and we had a nice talk about Quonset huts and other things. I told him how there was a surplus places loaded with stuff from WWII in Hawaii called A.L. Kilgo's and it was like a wonderland to me, and when we drove there and I saw the Quonset huts in the area it was in, I knew I was in for a treat. Later, living on the windward side, the people behind us lived in a Quonset hut and I really wished we did, too. He said the trouble with this area is, there are "eyes" watching all the time, HUD housing behind him, the homeless along the creek, a halfway house nearby, and as for the people next door, they're crazy. I mentioned the college professor who'd been killed in the area recently and he said, "Right on that corner!" and reiterated how crazy it is, "Bullets go in the houses!". 

He was involved with the Quonset hut in this way: Google owns the property and and is letting his non-profit use it as storage for the next few years. I'm guessing it's an LGBT-connected non-profit by his painted toenails, and I'm also guessing he's not exactly rolling in dough by the big bandage on his neck, from plasma donation I surmise. I told him that this virus thing will make 2008 look like a walk in the park and he may have use of Google's Quonset hut not for a few years but many, because what are they going to develop, in a bad economy? I wished him well. 

Back at the bike, I stashed my goodies then traipsed up to CVS for my cheap vodka, stashed that also, and did my shopping at Whole Foods. This time I got wine with an elk on the bottle (on sale!) and the usual weekend goodies, for instance, some smoke mackerel they sell "Fruits De Mer" that's really good. It's a key ingredient in a dish I call "Islands and Clouds". You just dump it in a bowl, put dollops of sour cream on top, and there you go; a delicious archipelago. 

There's a group of young guys who seem to be at Whole Foods a lot. They have some distinctive bikes, and I've talked with one or two of them about bikes so they kind of know me. They were at the bike racks in a gaggle talking about various things, "Hey come over" "No, I've got a raw steak in my pack here, I need to get home and put it on the grill" etc.  There's a term; "Young and indestructible" or something like that, to describe people in their 20s, when you can work any job, dishwashing, anything, or because you're young and good looking you can bartend or anything, and money's relatively plentiful and energy's abundant and medical concerns nil. I hope life stays good for those kids.

My final stop was the Amazon hub for bubble mailers and did I ever cash in. I must have picked up 30 of the things. Then a nice(?) ride home in the dark, fighting the friggin' wind. If there's one thing I know about the end times, it's that they're windy.  At least I got some of those super-long Asian green beans on the way home from the dumpster on 10th. 

Once home and everything put away and bank calculations done and everything just right, I had a snack of cheese, onion, and wouldn't you know it, the whole jar of sprats. Well, they *are* good.

No more gassin' it up after 2035

 By 2 I was up, had my coffee made, etc. 

Funny thing: Gavin Newsome has somehow "outlawed" gas-only cars being sold in California here after 2035. The funny thing about it is, in 2035 the least of people's problems will be buying a new car. By 2035, your biggest problem may be asking your conscience what, or who, you're willing to eat. 

I packed the 2nd big capacitor and 4 high voltage power supplies a guy was antsy about, and loaded them on the bike trailer and was out the door at 5:30. It was a fairly peaceful ride, and I found some packing supplies and an onion on the way back. 

I had some cheese and the last of my jar of kim chee for a snack, and was getting ready to take a bath when Ken came by. He dropped off a few things and gave me my pay check with an extra $50 on it (That's a decent hour or two of busking) and we talked about technical stuff for a while, and he made me make him a note about rubbing alcohol, which he'd forgotten to bring. 

No Capacitor

 Today I did not ship the 2nd capacitor. Instead, I shipped everything else that needed to go out, and will ship the 2nd one tomorrow. This has got me hauling packages 5X this week instead of the usual 2X. 

I was up a bit after 2, and got out of here about 5. I made the run and found almost no packing materials and no veggies (except peppers which I already have) so I came home pretty light.

I checked the time and if H Mart closes at 8, well, it was almost 7 so I took off again for some shopping. I overshot my budget of $30, spending almost $40, but I'd found almost 2 lbs of sliced beef for $10/lb so I got that along with the other things. 

Coming back, it was getting pretty dark and there were, at two different places, scumsuckers on bikes lurking around. Scumsuckers tend to dress uniformly in dark, dull colors all infused with dirt and they never have lights on their bikes so they can really hide in the dusk. They seemed to have their own scumsucker business to be on, though, perhaps because they'd seen the "tunker stick" in my hand. 

I'd been very tired when I got up. Probably a combination of the bad air and my having done so much work. Because I thought Ken might come by and I wanted to get some things packed before Ebay flags them as needing to be packed in the next 24 hours, I packed those things. I ended up trying to practice at something like 4AM and it went so awful that I just quit. No sense in practicing playing badly. 

So when I got back here and had cooked up some scrambled eggs with cheese, hot sauce, and sour cream, I did a practice session. I didn't know if Ken was coming by tonight so I figured I'd better get it in while I can. And it went well, in fact maybe the best yet on the Irons exercises I'm doing. 

Then I cut up and weighed out the beef into 8 servings, so it came out to $2.50 per 3.90 oz. serving.

One Capacitor

 Up a little before 3. I have to ship a capacitor today. The capacitor, packed, will weigh about 50 lbs. 

I had my coffee and nuts etc., put some stuff away including stacking some heavy boxes up on top of one of our cabinets, going up and down a ladder, and then packed the capacitor. It came out at 55 lbs. I thought about packing a power supply, 20-odd lbs maybe 30 and stacking it on, and decided Nope. 

The ride up to FedEx went fine. I found little in the way of packing materials but got a nice haul of veggies; broccoli, peppers, cilantro from the dumpster by Grill-'Em. 

I got back here, put things away, and used the trailer to take some parts and junk  - not even valuable scrap metal - to the tall dumpster out by the road, and that was that. It's a great system - stash stuff in the trash enclosure then get rid of it when it's convenient. 

I've only spent $120 of my last pay check, so I have a budget of $30 I can spend on stuff, and that's not counting the $20 I have in my wallet. My at-home savings are also just under $200. Something like $197 I think. Saving in small bills is turning out to be easier to do. I'm not sure why I was saving in $100s because they're great for buying something big (like maybe a plane ticket outta here) but not good on a day-to-day basis. 

"You don't usually want a pistol, but when you do, you want it very much" - Mark Twain. That's my idea with the Glock. If things get really bad, I suspect I'll be very glad I got it. If things only continue on their slow shitty sink downward, that Glock might be trade-able for a passport, a plane ticket out, or a lump sum that can be used to start again somewhere. 

As I keep reminding Ken, that's why I practice the trumpet. It's a portable skill and until the virus came along, when I bothered to go out and play the thing I was making really decent money. Sure, the $40 an hour I could make for a couple of prime hours outside Whole Foods isn't scalable to 8 hours a day, but just getting two good hours; that $80 is a lot of money. 

If I were to go trumpet-only, I could try to get into one of those small offices I know of that they let people live in, and I'd go around to a lot of places just like Gabriel The Violinist does. Or I'd find a "Se Renta Un Cuerto" cheap room to rent and do the same. 

This is what I theorize for my "retirement" in fact. Theoretically I'm able to learn Hebrew and to convert, then theoretically I am able to move to Israel and since I don't dare budge until I've got Social Security coming in, I've got that to pay my rent and can do the rest off of busking. Possibly some other things like English teaching. I've got no certifications of course and it turns out they're very hard to get without a college degree, but I could teach as an "entertainer". The whole idea is to be a person who will always find a way. 

When I was a kid in Hawaii, we had a lot of these guys on TV, who'd do magic tricks or any kind of silly routine; some on local shows and many on shows from the mainland. Thinking back about their accents and how long ago WWII was (not that long ago then) I think a lot of these guys - and gals - we people who'd lost it all in the war; who'd been bankers and accountants and landowners and owned factories and so on, like in the book Maus, where Vladek loses everything, and when they came out of the camps; out the other end alive, it wasn't like they could get their stuff back. But fortunately they'd been good at telling jokes, or their parents had made them learn the piano or the violin.

A "Relaxing" Sunday

 Of course it wasn't, because Ken came by. I was up about 3:30, and having iced chicory coffee, vitamins, nuts, etc when I heard Ken's truck come up. I'd had a nice day planned. Break my fast, then get in a good practice session, then a haircut and a bath, then list a bunch of small easy stuff on Ebay, then pack things to take to the post office and FedEx tomorrow. 

Ken had a big load of stuff he'd bought from Berkeley for $40 all told, and I tried my best to keep to what I'd planned; having my coffee and nuts and didn't even turn the radio off. I helped Ken a bit, but realized I was pretty hungry so I had a piece of cheese, then chewed my sugar-free gum to get my mouth clean, and did a practice session. 

Meanwhile Ken was busy taking apart this huge laser thing he's been carrying in the back of his truck for a few weeks now. So this went pretty well. Ken had fun taking this huge thing apart, I got in a good practice session, and when I was done I did things like put stuff I'd listed away, and hunt down things that have sold that I have to pack.

Then I realized I was really hungry, so I cooked the other 4 oz. of the beef bacon, which is nothing to write home about, and scrambled a couple of eggs in the grease. That was dinner. 

Ken finally wound down and took my suggestion to put a tarp over what's left of the big laser thing and get back on it later, and I put tons of stuff "away" as in, found places to stick it that will work for now, and even though I offered to cook up something for Ken, he said he's got pizza back at the house and he called it a night. 

I got some pretty decent shofar practice in, too, and am making progress. This shofar is not easy to play. A really decent shofar will be a pushover for me. But, this one has the advantage that I can stick it in the accessory pocket of my trumpet case so I can carry it with my trumpet if I want. 

I listed a bunch 'o' crap on Ebay, and then treated myself to the haircut and bath I'd promised myself. Maybe I should call it the Chernobyl Haircut - not great, not terrible. It's actually about on a par with what I'd been forking over $10 or so for, and I'm doing my bit to not spread the virus. 

It being Rosh Hashana and all, I sent emails to my sister, my other sister's husband in hopes he'll pass it on, and my aunt, apologizing for various things.

Take-Apart'ers for Carter

 Up at 3.  Last night I had a sort of "BLT bowl" thing I made with the beef bacon I'd cooked before leaving, then since the beef bacon left a lot of fat in the pan I scrambled a couple of eggs in it and ate those before taking off also. 

The post office was normal and the chute was even working. FedEx was normal too. 

I got back in here just before sundown, had my "BLT bowl" and wine, and watched stuff on YouTube. I watched the rest of "Fiddler On The Roof" which I really didn't remember much of when I saw it as a kid. It was one of those shows my mom insisted on watching and I pretty much remembered the part where Topal dances around singing about tradition, and the "If I Were A Rich Man" song. 

I was awake earlier, but got up at 3. I read the rest of Morris Berman's Japan book, then read "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner.

Then around 9, I took apart 4 different pieces of test equipment that had been put together, sort of home-brewed, by people at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The problem is, if it's not made by a recognized maker, I can't give the stuff away. So they're what I called "take apart-ers for Carter" and that's what I did. I find it rather relaxing, just put my mind in neutral and take stuff to bits, keeping the bits we can sell. Then I dragged a big box full of the scrap metal and parts out for some scavenger to find.

RIP, RBG

 The last couple of days I've not done trumpet practice because I was so busy, but I've at least practiced the shofar and amazingly, I'm getting better on the thing. 

As mentioned this shofar is about what you'd expect to get for $40 on Amazon. It is not easy to blow. But I am getting better at picking it up, sticking it on my face, and being able to blow a good long note. And I can play the octave above the fundamental note, which is really high. Not sure if that is really needed but it's kind of neat. 

Once I'm competent on this one, I can feel confident spending $100+ on a better one, some months from now. 

Ruth Bader Ginsberg has just died. May she rest in power.

58

 Up at 2.  I had coffee and got myself awake and functional and was out the door at a little past 3. 

First stop was the downtown post office (the beautiful 1930s one) where all seemed normal. I dropped off a load of packages; just what I could fit in a shopping bag hung off my handle bar. 

Next was the bank, but I was 'way early for my 4:00 appointment. I rode over by the "SoFa" district thinking maybe I'll get a couple vegetarian egg rolls because my stomach hurt, not hungry but irritated. Something greasy ought to help, I thought. But I turned around and headed over to the bank and locked the bike up. I walked up the street a bit, checking out restaurant menus, then walked back and I was only 10 minutes early and they let me in. 

The deposit went fine, and it was like they were happy to see me. I always try to be cheerful in the bank, but it seems that once things have settled down to a routine, with making an appointment, wearing masks etc., the cheerfulness has been dialed up. 

I then rode over to Whole Foods and locked the bike there. I went in and got a Lagunatis "Sumpin' Easy" because not only is it good beer, but the can really does make it look like I'm just drinking a canned iced tea. I also got some cold meatloaf - meaty and greasy; ought to set me right. 

I was going to walk over to the train station but decided to just follow this little road back and ended up at Cahill Park which had several dog walkers and a bum, sleeping away his afternoon. I walked around the park looking for a place to settle down and ended up not too far from the bum, because there was shade and a sort of low wall to sit on. 

I munched away and looked at the various doggies, and the trees, and thought about, what if *I* were a bum, would it make sense to maintain the same sort of schedule I do now, where I sleep away most of the day and am active at night? I could sleep here in Cahill Park. The dog walkers were all financially comfortable looking folks but the cig butts and Swisher Sweet wrappers told me the park leads a different life when the sun goes down.  I finished my meat loaf, wiped my eating hand on the grass, and left my beer with about 1/3 left by the bum. He'll find it or not. 

I walked back along the street on the other side of the park, which took me fairly close to CVS, where I went in and got another handle of "Gran Legacy" vodka, a 4-pack of Scott TP at not too terrible a price, and some decaf tea for when it's tea weather again so I can serve Ken up a cup of decaf tea. 

That over with and the stuff stashed away in the bike bags, I went into Whole Foods for more serious shopping, spending about $50. I even found some beef bacon. When I was a kid, during the short time my mom had a job cleaning rooms at Pats At Punalu'u, I used to help her clean the rooms (I'd been promised a buck or two a room but it ended up being only a promise) and the great thing about that was, if I was quick, I'd get a chance at the leftovers in the fridges. This is how I got to love pastrami, but the best thing found in one of those fridges was a package of beef bacon. Back at the house, no one jumped on it because beef bacon is weird, right? So I tried it and it was heavenly. Of course then everyone else wanted some so I only got it that one time, but I've always had beef bacon in the back of my mind as probably the superior sort of bacon. 

How in the world does beef bacon find its way into a fridge at Pats At Punalu'u on the windward side of the island of Oahu in the 1970s when it was much sleepier than now? It must have been a Jewish tourist. Just another way Jews have been looking out for me all my life. 

My stomach might have been full of meatloaf and beer but it was still gripey. I went over to "Viet Noms" where I'd had a really good vegetarian egg roll before, and got two of them. Not only were they $4 all told, but this time they were very different. Not greasy enough, and instead of tofu inside they seemed to be filled with something involving beans.  Hm. I still want to try one of their salad bowls later. 

Done with my beany and not enough greasy egg rolls, I rolled North on 1st. And there was Leroy at his place in front of Johnny Rockets. The guy still needs to spend some serious time with a metronome or at least learn to tap his foot, but his tone has really matured over the years. I stopped and we talked; he'd actually removed one of the pads near the bottom of his saxophone, "I never use that one..." and "I could put it in the shop but they'd keep it for 3 weeks". I talked about maybe having a spare, and how good Yamahas are, and he said his tenor's a Yamaha but he wants a mouthpiece for it that will give him a certain sound. Poor Leroy can't be making much there, and it's the first time I've seen any sign of dirt or care on his clothes. His shirt had yellow sweat stains on it. Maybe he's just trying to get laundromat money. We both said, "It's been good to see you" and I took off.

I stopped at the Amazon place and picked up 14 or 15 bubble mailers, so at this rate, well, I might have to explain to Ken why I'm not asking him to order bubble mailers... it's kind of a fun game, getting them for free. 

I rode back here and put things away and then hitched up the bike trailer and loaded it up with four really big boxes Ken had dropped off, that I wanted to get rid of. They were old and beat up and too big to be practical. I'd taken all labeling off of them and stacked them in the trash enclosure last night. It's a pretty handy system. I'll put things there I want to get rid of, then when it's convenient, pick them up and get rid of them. I took these to the dumping place by the bridge, then rode back and got a few peppers, red and green, from the dumpster by Grill-'Em. 

It's funny, twice today I saw bums with a bike trailer but no bike. Just pushing or pulling the thing. One was downtown by Delmas Market and one right there on Old Bayshore by Galli Produce. I rode around the corner, passing another bum with a bike trailer and a bike, and got in here quick hoping they don't pick up on where I went. 

Once safely in here, I relaxed a bit and my stomach still hurt, so I got out the Pepto-Bismol I'd bought just for the heck of it and took a dose and it stopped hurting.

Reading the r/preppers discussion on Reddit, there's one account of a guy who was walking down the sidewalk in his own town, saw an erratic zombie start to target a couple of women, at least one with a stroller, but the women saw the trouble coming and crossed the street or something; got away from the zombie. The zombie then targeted the person telling the tale, who foolishly let the zombie get close enough that the zombie grabbed him and threw him on the ground somehow, but for some reason didn't attack further. There's a lot of discussion as to what the guy should have done (hell, cross the street, duck into a shop, anything rather than let the zombie get so close) and some suggestion that the whole thing might be made up. 

Dodging zombies is kind of a way of life now. The guys with a bike trailer but no bike are nothing; there are the yellers and screamers and mumblers, the zig-zag walkers, and ones who are fishing for any kind of a tangle or a fight. The thing is to, as the captain says in "Yellow Submarine", "Steer clear!". As a kid in Hawaii I developed a pretty good sense of which "mokes" were trouble and when. Here on the mainland, the "mokes" are most likely to be white but a moke is a moke; a troublemaker, a bully looking for someone weaker they can gang up on. For more see the Trump white house lol. The trouble is, these retards are online now, too.  

The modus operandi is always the same. Try to appear normal to ask for a dollar, or anything they can beg off of you. Some can appear pretty normal, but beware: They are not really skilled in being people. People, normal people, have an idea of the social contract. Bums do not. It could be that they were raised feral, like the kids I see around here growing up in parking lots, or drug abuse has burned out their brains, or they've been knocked in the head enough times that they're TBI cases. They can't get their act together and will seem normal and then do really bizarre stuff. 

Examples are the fist-fights through car windows I've seen here, the various squabbles and fights, or even stuff like ... Renee, a notorious homeless lady who just about owned the parking lot here (it took a while but she's gone now thank goodness) set up a car wash one day. It was going fairly well, too. "I made $60 this weekend" she crowed. I'd been trying to encourage her to find something she can do, and it seemed like a win. She liked to wash things, there was room to wash cars here, and she'd build up a clientele. Then she just kind of tapered off. Probably because $60 in a weekend means a weekend's worth of crack. 

In Buddhism such people are called "hungry ghosts" they're not really operating at the base level of a normal human being. They're operating at a lower level. So to expect them to be reasonable, or ethical, or willing to work towards any sort of long-term goal is foolish. I've tried to explain to Ken that the proper way to treat the homeless is as if they're radioactive, but since he's into that stuff that doesn't really scare him. Today I thought the best way to explain it is to assume they've got bedbugs that will jump onto you if they get close. Fortunately with the security guards in their cars prowling around here, there really isn't a problem any more. 

I took some big piece of test equipment apart and that used up plenty of time while I watched James Burke science-y videos, and put a big box of parts out for not so much a bum to find, but there are people who go around with vehicles looking for stuff left out and they take it and that's that. I get the junk taken away and they get whatever they'll get at the metal recycling place. 

Pau Hana

 Here's a very good read on why I worked so hard to get out of Hawaii: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/a553rn/hawaii_is_the_worst_place_to_live/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body

I was up at almost 4. Air quality's around 50 although on the radio they're saying it may get worse again on the weekend. 

I feel like I'm lazy but in truth, yesterday I: 

* Started taking apart these big mechanical assemblies Ken had brought by that work the curtains in a theater or something. I got the end pieces and top rails off, which is about half the work. 

* Did a load of laundry

* Took a few pieces of equipment apart and listed the pieces on Ebay

* Put the microscope stuff I'd listed away

* Put all the glass stoppers Ken brought by tons of, away in drawers so they're not in boxes on the floor. 

*Got in a decent practice (paid more attention to being relaxed and played some songs in the middle of going through my Irons exercises

Ken had come by in a hurry, made out my pay check and dropped off some boxes for packing and then dashed, as he had to get up early in the morning.

No Buns

 I woke up around 3. I thought I saw another bun on the overhang but it's just a stain from those salmon skins. I had a pretty good system for a while; I'd toss stuff up there in the wee hours of the morning when no one was around and the birds would eat it up before very many people were around when it got light. Now I have to count on no birds, and in fact I was considering stopping my system anyway because birds = bird poop. 

I got a practice in but I think I'm pushing myself too much on the exercises, and should do a few, then play a song, do a few more, then play another song .... etc. I'm getting better on the shofar; better able to stick it on my face and blow and get a note.

Israeli Fishing Videos

 Up at 3, packed two large-ish things and had coffee etc then some cheese and olives, and took off at a quarter to 6.

As I headed out on Old Bayshort a bum across the street on a bike called out to me, "Hey!" and since the guy was going the same direction and looked like he'd be a problem I circled around through the armored car place's parking lot and went out the other way. 

The post office was like it's a week before Christmas. People and packages everywhere, the chute was jammed, and the counter where things are left when the chute is jammed was already full. Some guy with a cart full of boxes was going on about how they're "legally required" to open the side door for him. I grabbed a USPS "boat" box and put my packages in there, put it on the bike and rode around to the back loading docks and dropped them off there. It was a madhouse there too. 

Next was FedEx where I commented on the post office being kind of nuts, the the friendly guy there said that they'd shut down half of their conveyor belts at the post office. This is what happens when Low-Budget Orange sHitler installed a postmaster general who's a crook also, because he fears that the post office may be a threat to his autocratic rule. 

I picked up some tomatoes on the way back, and then got to work on a problem: I'd been tossing things up onto the little overhang above the door/window here because it's a way to feed my birdie friends, and a way to get rid of things like fat trimmings without the chance of any bums' dogs getting them. Well, for the last few days, no birds have been flying due to the bad air. And someone tossed 5 stale buns up there. I'd noticed on my way out that from the far side of the parking lot, just sitting on my bike, it was really obvious that there were buns etc sitting up there. 

So when I got back I got one of the ladders out and used a stick to get the buns down and also a thoroughly disgusting bunch of salmon skin trimmings that normally the gulls clean up right away. I don't think I'm going to put anything up there any more. I got rid of it all into the blackberry bushes. I hope I don't end up having to clean buns up all the time now - if whoever puts them up there thinks the birds are taking them it could end up becoming an annoying routine.

Last night I'd done a good practice and a good practice on the shofar too. I also discovered that there are tons of videos of guys fishing in Israel. They're catching tuna right off of the shore. The problem with fishing here is you need a car and a boat and a lot of expensive stuff that 90% of the population can't afford. Or you need to live right on the beach and that's expensive too. 

Hawaii's a bit more relaxed, although they take a dim view of people taking fishing poles on the bus. Especially if you're white/"haole". But then, if you're white/"haole" it's not all that safe to fish anyway as you're "taking 'their' fish". And waiting at the bus stop is dicey, as is walking down the street ... 

But in Israel, it seems that shore fishing is alive and well and they catch some really great fish. Off the shore in Hawaii I could only catch small fish, which is fine, but as mentioned they're catching tuna off the beach and other good fish. No hassles for being a hated "haole" there. 

Watching videos like that of any interesting activity by Israelis might be very good for learning day-to-day Hebrew too.

7-Cig Day

 I woke up around 3, and got out of bed quickly because I thought I heard the same sound I'd made when I dragged a heavy box of microscope frames etc (after I'd stripped the good parts off) across the parking lot to the trash enclosure. I figured I'd watch a bum wrestle with the many pounds of metal, but when I checked the video cameras the microscope stuff was gone, so that's good, and what I was hearing was the people over at the cement plant cleaning out cement mixers. 

I got going around 4:30, and my first stop was Nijiya where I got a small fish bento and a beer and a can of Doutor iced coffee - this last because I can use the can to put my own coffee in as I used to last summer, and the cans last a good long time. 

I ate over at the benches, and a guy came by smoking what I think was a hand-rolled cigarette made with pipe tobacco. It smelled great and I told him so. He hung out on the steps of the Issei Center and I ate, wondering at how quiet it is. The air's around the 150's quality wise, so maybe a 6 or 7 cigarette day. It's keeping a lot of people in. 

After eating, I rode over to Smile Market to see about some rubbing alcohol. They only had 50% in small bottles, and I wanted 70% or 91%, so the lady had to call someone and hunt around, meanwhile two big black guys had come in and we were all joking around, and I started a little tic-tac-toe game in the dust covering a blood pressure monitor they had for sale up front. The whole thing felt like a drug deal, and I finally said I'll come back later, and left. 

Next stop was Whole Foods where I locked the bike up, and walked up to CVS for vodka and index cards, and a big bottle of diet 7-Up which Ken likes. Then I did a bit of shopping at Whole Foods like a bottle of wine for Friday night and a few other things. There were no beggars or petition-botherers in front, so maybe they just don't work Sundays or maybe it's the bad air. The thing is, when I was making such good money playing trumpet there, I purposefully chose hours that my competition did not: The last hour or two before closing, Sundays, etc. There may be less people but the mood is very favorable. 

Loaded up, I swung by the Amazon hub and picked up 8 or 10 bubble mailers, so that's good. Then really loaded up, I rode home along 5th and 6th streets. On the way I picked up a classic steel wok, with a matching cover in one of the trash/gift piles people leave out. The prepper types on Reddit have talked about the usefulness of a wok and I'd considered buying one, and here was one for free with a matching cover. It's hard to regret all the spending I did today when it comes with a free wok. 

I got a good practice in, on the trumpet and a bit on the shofar, then after doing a lot of packing and other Ebay stuff, ended the night with a bit more on the shofar.

10 Cigs A Day

 Well, it's 8:30 Saturday night now. I had my dinner and my bottle of wine last night, did a thorough hairwash and batch, watched inane stuff on YouTube, and sacked out. I slept pretty well too. 

My baths are messier than just wiping myself down, but a lot more satisfactory. I just keep a couple of dedicated pieces of cardboard I spread on the floor and while they get plenty wet, they do dry out. Friday and Tuesday nights are probably the best schedule. That ensures I'm nice and clean for the weekend and for when Ken comes by midweek. 

I'm a bit over halfway through Morris Berman's book on Japan, "Neurotic Beauty". It's a great book. I hate buying books new for full price, but I've sure gotten my money's worth with his books. (It's less clear-cut for me with Dmitry Orlov's books; one of them really isn't anything I couldn't get from reading his blog posts, and the other is a great idea but he recently published an interview on the subject that's better than the book, and free.)

The air, yesterday and today and probably tomorrow, is about the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes a day. Not great, not terrible.  

I  got a good practice in, on the trumpet and on the shofar. What annoys me is if I'd spent the money and gotten a more "professional" shofar, blowing the thing would be rather trivial. But, this time of year everyone wants a shofar, so it's the wrong time to buy one. Also, I consider this shofar to be almost a throwaway, so if I can find a form I plan to try heating up the mouthpiece end until the horn is pliable and sticking the form in and letting it cool, thus making more of a conventional mouthpiece cup and making it much, much easier to sound. 

I made an interesting beef curry with purslane and it came out pretty good. My cooking has really been improving with my eating at home so much. I think I may be dropping a little weight too, as it's a lot easier to stay "keto" when eating at home.

Purple

 Well, the air quality's "purple" (over 200) and I've got to go out and do my deliveries. 

I went out into the sludge and got my deliveries done, and came back with a tomato, peppers, and two onions plus packing stuff.

The good trumpet player

 Up at 2, and I had to be out of here before 3:30. I had my coffee etc., and was out the door at 3:20. I stopped by the blessing box on 6th street and picked up a copy of "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner. 

On my way to Japantown though, I heard the hot-shot trumpeter I'd heard before, and I made sure I knew just where to listen for him. It was good to hear him, as he went through exercises more advanced than I do so far, and "air out" on the high notes. I think there's a chance the guy lives there. 

I got over to the bank 15 minutes early and as the people inside had no other customers they let me in although my appointment was for 4:00. I deposited my check just fine, exchanged some pleasantries, and was on my way to Whole Foods where I parked the bike, walked up to CVS for vodka and Febreze, and a couple of interesting "biltong" beef sticks on sale, stashed those in the bike bags and bought things for the weekend at Whole Foods including some smoked sturgeon - expensive but it's a fish I've never had before. 

I went over to the train station and had the beef sticks with a beer at my quiet spot. Just me and the occasional bird and the occasional person. The yellow/orange air made everything very calm. 

Done eating, I went to the Amazon hub and picked up bubble mailers and a book I'd ordered, "Neurotic Beauty" by Morris Berman about Japan. I actually had time to stop at Nijiya on the way back and got a small fish bento and a beer and a few other things, then came back here.

Could it be any more orange?

 Up at 3 and it's orange out there. The air quality isn't that bad, only orange on the purpleair.com map, but it's also literally orange, as the sun filters through the smoke which is up high now. I'm going to feel like I'm making my deliveries on Mars. 

I took three packages to the post office and FedEx yesterday but two of them were big, the biggest and heaviest being one going to Canada. That was big and heavy enough that I took it to the loading dock at the back of the post office complex. 

On the way back I found one useful box and an eggplant so there was that. I unloaded back here and went back out for some shopping at H Mart and by that time it was dark so I need to start getting out earlier. 

When I got back, I did things like make a big salad, pack some Ebay things, take the "salmon trim" I'd bought and bag it up in portions and put those in the freezer, pack more Ebay things, make dinner, and pack the last few Ebay things. I wanted to be able to, the next day (today) just put the boxes on the bike trailer and go. 

So once I was up today, I was able to just have my coffee etc. and I managed to get out of here at 5:30; out into the orange-ness. It's actually cooler, so that was nice, and traffic seemed more calm, I think because the orange tint looks eerie so people were being more careful. I had all my blinky lights going on my bike to make myself more visible in the odd light. 

The deliveries went fine, and on the way back along with a lot of those "pillows" used in packing, I got a head of lettuce and a tomato, so I came back here and ate 4 Hebrew National hot dogs (I was that hungry) and made a lettuce/tomato/onion salad and had that also. 

I vacuumed the place and cleaned the bathroom, and got in a good practice. Just Irons exercises, but I am slowly moving forward in the book. I got a little shofar practice in also, then Ken pulled up. 

Ken wrote out my pay check with $50 extra tacked on, and brought by some stuff, lots of little valves and things, and I showed him a box of plug-ins that I think are the ones he was looking high and low for several months ago. We did the usual bull session about science things, and was happy with ice water with some lime juice in it, since I can't find diet lemon-lime soda any more. 

It's a good feeling having my practice done, so after Ken left I could futz around taking the valves and assemblies apart into pieces to sell. It's stuff he got for "free-50" at his day job and yet the stuff should sell for $500 or more eventually. 

The thing with the practice is, if I don't have the skill of playing trumpet, I'm just another skin bag. There are tons and tons of people with no outstanding skills at all. There are quite a few who can play guitar, after all, there's a major company called "Guitar Center" with branches in every town of any size. And there are actually quite a few violinists and clarinetists, as well as sax players. But I was always impressed when I was at Cafe Stritch and a trumpeter deigned to drop by and play. The crowd always acted like a celebrity had come by. I think a guy could be living in a cardboard box and if he were a decent trumpeter and managed to clean himself up a bit, he'd get the same worship there.

Cool & Smoky

 Up at 3. It's a refreshing 84 degrees in here, and it's very hazy/smoky outside. Like an overcast. Apparently it's a smoke layer that's high up, and the actual air quality, while around 100, isn't as bad as the sky looks. 

I did a practice last night and it went well, and practiced the shofar also. That shofar is tricky and I practiced being able to put it to my lips and get a note, take it away, put it back and try again etc. I also have the basic blasts memorized now. 

Heat rose at night??

 Last night, the heat actually rose. Normally of course it cools down but nope, it went from 82 in here to 87 at midnight. Air masses on the move .... 

I was up at 3:30 and it's hot, 88 or 89 in here, and the ventilator things on top of the building are screeching away  which means it's super windy out there. Also air quality's not too good and with it being Labor Day everything's closed so it's another stay-in day. 

Last night I did a practice which again, went well, and more practice on the shofar. It's really a just about zero mouthpiece pressure thing and it's amazing when I think about all the gimmicks trumpeters have come up with over the years to try to teach students or themselves to use a very light mouthpiece pressure. Students of trumpet, like in colleges or music schools like Julliard, are required to study the "natural trumpet" which is just a bugle with a high price tag, but why not learn the shofar? It would teach them more about embouchure than the "natural trumpet" does about harmonics, I think. 

Because it was so bloody hot and I didn't feel like packing, at least I listed 10 things on Ebay.

What a teaching tool

 Up at 3. The air's "red" out there and of course it's really hot, so a stay-in day.

Besides reading and watching stuff on YouTube last night, I finally decided to do a practice before bed, with the result that I was playing my trumpet and then the shofar, until 7AM. This is one of the great things about living in an industrial unit. No one gives a shit. No one's really around to care, although in reality there are several people living in these units. But industrial noises are a thing even early in the morning which brings me around to ... no one gives a shit. And besides I'm on good terms with my neighbors. 

The practice went surprisingly well. I'd been having trouble going above the staff, but this time I was almost 100% back up to speed. After doing my Irons exercises and a couple of songs for an hour or so, I messed around with the shofar. It's a whole different feel, with practically zero mouthpiece pressure and will take just as much practice as the trumpet does. I feel if I can get good on this shofar, I can be good on any shofar, and maybe my blowing it is the reason my trumpet practice went so well.

Sundown to sundown

 I got up in time to do more packing yesterday, and around 4, Ken came by to drop off computer parts to list on Ebay. I was in a hurry but so was he, so we didn't do the usual small talk. I was out the door at 6, did my drop offs, collected some lettuce and tomato so that's salads for the weekend, and after much debating with myself, decided to go downtown that night rather than later like Sunday because it's going to be hot as hell. 

So I dumped my organic trash in the blackberry patch, and headed for downtown. I got to Whole Foods at about 7:30, picked out a bottle of wine and an opener, some pickled herring, cheese, artichoke hearts, sour cream, etc. It was probably 7:45 when I packed everything into the bike bags and was taking off, noting that the petition-signature guy was out there with his little desk, and there's a group of professional beggars set up with their sign all the time now, but over on the grass. 

I thought about asking the petition guy how he'd feel about my playing trumpet while he's there, and decided I'll wait until I actually am about to do so. I don't want to be a germ-spreader. 

On the way there/back I noted that San Pedro Square, now apparently shut off from cars permanently, is a shitshow. People are drinking and dining outdoors, which is fine enough, but they're crammed together, all yelling at each other and no one's wearing a mask. At least at the protests masks were 100% (if you didn't have one, they'd give you one) and social distancing was good. 

I rode over to the Amazon hub and "harvested" a lot of bubble mailers to use in shipping, and picked up my 3-pack of foot powder. I astounded a guy with a bike by taking mine out of the rack (the rack was so close to the wall that I had to occupy the whole thing because my bike handlebars are wide) saying, "I don't even have to put mine in the rack, here ya go". 

Then I just rode home. The ride there and especially back felt weird because for the first time in months, I was riding in the dark. I was careful to avoid streets that might have more zombies like 3rd/4th and 7th and avoided Commercial street entirely because the zombies there seemed restless already when I'd ridden there in the dusk. 

I got back and had wine and beer, and fish, cheese, sour cream, artichoke hearts, all things that do not involve cooking. And after posting the feedbacks on Ebay, just watched YouTube and drank myself into an hours-earlier bedtime than I'm used to. 

It still didn't keep me from sleeping until 4, though. 

When I got up it was more no-cooking food. I tried the "Fruits de Mer" smoked mackerel from Whole Foods I'd gotten because I'd been curious, and it's really good. The pickled herring in cream sauce, well, I think that sauce is more flour than cream, so I took what was left of that and actually rinsed it, in a colander, to get the sauce off and then just mixed it with actual sour cream. That came out fine and not bland, either, as I thought it might. 

I read the rest of "Why America Failed" by Morris Berman and it's a great book. Since it's a month or so since I read the first part, I went back and read the first two chapters again. I'm back posting on his blog again and it seems there are no hard feelings. In fact, I ordered his book on Japan which as 500 or so pages, is twice as long as this one. I bought it on Berman's recommendation, after I posted that I'm considering the Japan book next or "Wandering God" which is believe/hope is about Judaism but may be about religions favored by nomads as opposed to those of "civilized" people. He suggested the Japan one first. 

My interest in the Japan book is, growing up in Hawaii which is practically a branch of Japan, and having, frankly, a lot of anger and resentment at being near the bottom of the social order there, I'm hoping the book will help me put some demons to rest. I'm no longer nearly as angry and resentful as I was years ago, I know I could not go back to Hawaii and be happy at all. 

It's supposed to be over 100 tomorrow and the air quality will probably be "red" so I plan to stay in.

The money is so funny

 Among other things like listing Ebay stuff until 7AM and spending too much time futzing with the shofar, I set up an appointment at my bank for 4, so I had to make it. 

I got up at a little before 3 and left here at 3:20. I was at the bank early but that was OK, it doesn't take long to deposit a pay check. For some reason I've got more money in there than I thought I had, so it's more money weirdness I guess. 

Next I went to Whole Foods and parked the bike, and walked up to CVS for a handle of that cheap vodka, "Gran Legacy", which was on sale with my CVS card so it was $11.01 out the door. Plus I got $2 "Extrabucks" which I can use if I remember to use them before they expire. I even joked with the cashier about that. 

Next was Whole Foods where I got a little package of deviled eggs and a can of "Sumpin' Easy" - it's hard to beat a decent IPA that comes in a can that pretty much disguises it as a can of Arizona iced tea. I went over to the train station to eat, and wow, were those deviled eggs ever mediocre. I ended up eating the yolk parts only and tossing the whites on the grass for the birds and critters. 

I thought to myself, What if I kept some boiled eggs around and when I dash off to do my errands, just put 'em in the bike bag and a little packet of seasoning? I'd have a nice little snack for $1 and I'd only want to buy a fizzy water for $1 or a beer for $2. That's an old-time trick from the days when going to McDonald's was maybe a few times a year and even then the food was brought home and we ate it around the dining table. You brought your own lunch to places. 

Now I had to use the loo so I went over to the food court across from Cafe Stritch and went in and used theirs, which is open to anyone, but because I didn't want to be a freeloader, I bought a vegetarian egg roll from "Vietnoms" and it was really good. It was accompanied by 2/3rds of the beer which I'd poured into a water bottle, and their "house" fish sauce. 

I didn't get one with chicken or beef because along with the eggs I'd gotten a canned coffee latte thing, and under kosher rules you don't mix milk and meat. That egg roll was so good though, that I'm all for trying some of the other vegetarian things from there too. 

I realized I had time to go to Nijiya so I went there and got some things, picked up a bundle of long green beans from the dumpster on 10th, and got back here. I put things away then took the trailer to get rid of some boxes and junk, and that's it for going out. 

I packed a few Ebay things, then had a salad and coffee and settled down for a practice. I think I over did things yesterday and was not able to play above the staff. I'm coming along on Hava Nagila though, and something else really cool happened. I'd made a little tool like a tiny scoop to gradually enlarge the blowing hole on the shofar, and was playing it with a "side" embouchure last night which is really commonly done. But I was able to get a proper front embouchure and that works better. 

The shofar is an exercise in playing without any more mouthpiece pressure than is needed. You really can't use mouthpiece pressure at all with a shofar unless you're that idiot on YouTube who fit a trumpet mouthpiece to his. The proper way is just enough pressure to make a seal, which is very light indeed, and it's a magic feeling getting a note that way. I can get harmonics too. It will all take a lot of regular practice to get it all right, and here and there enlarging the mouthpiece hole with my little tool, but I now think this shofar's a real keeper. Maybe in the future I'll have one that's bigger and prettier and all that, but this one will teach me more because it's actually harder to blow than most.

A fine high tone

 Up at a quarter to 4.  I had coffee etc. and packed some more things, and did the post office - FedEx - picking up packing supplies and veggies route home. I bought some stamps at the post office too, because there's a push to give them money and also mail more stuff but not right around the election. The guy who founded DEVO, just recovered from a bad case of covid and wants people to mail postcards to an address in Hollywood. Sounds fun. It helps the post office and the post cards will become some kind of art project. 

My practice last night went pretty well and I worked on Hava Nagila some more. I figured out that one note had been a half-tone flat, and that's the thing with the 2nd measure, it starts out in a minor key, but then there's that note that makes it sound like things might be going to a major key. 

I also figured something else out. Since I have the shofar return all set up, it's up to me to return it or not. So my thinking is, I'll try to make it playable and if I can't, then I'll complete the return. I *had* been able to get a nice high tone out of it, but that "mouthpiece" on it is really not playable. As for the outside, that crude sanding on it bugs me, but that's easy to sand out. 

In fact, after packing one thing that had to be packed today, and not finding another thing and refunding the customer, I got the shofar out and messed around with it a bit. One side of the blowing end is almost a knife edge. I finally cut 3/16" off of the end and it's got a nice little rim around it now, and I just have to hollow out the space to make it like a trumpet mouthpiece.

Not a giant sucking sound

 I woke up at 4. I'd done so much last night that I'd drank a fair amount to get to sleep then woke up at something like 1, decided I could shut my eyes a little more, then it was 4. I wanted to check my bank account balance before 5, when people were at the bank. 

So I got dressed and didn't even bother to put my bedding away, and got going. I chewed some gum along the way to not have awful breath (dinner had been sardines with onions and Parmesan cheese) and got over to the ATM and was able to check my balance. It checks out. Either I hadn't counted something, hadn't counted something and Amazon had taken out the $120 or so for Prime, or both. And I remember a while back my account showing about $100 more than it should have and I don't remember freaking out then. If my card had been "skimmed" or scammed somehow, I suspect there'd be Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound" (or maybe a very small one) as my account was drained. In which case it'd be time to hit the panic button and report my card as lost and disavow all transactions after a certain time. And probably get it resolved. 

But all seems OK. My card expires after this month but Ken says one of the pieces of mail for me at the house is "from back east" so that's probably a new one. 

After that, I went over to CVS and got a flu shot. The poor lady taking care of everyone, a little Vietnamese lady with a squeaky voice, was in a terrible hurry and after some paperwork and waiting, she was ready to shoot me up. "I hope you're not in a hurry when you're doing the shot!" I joked. "Oh, no, I never hurry! It will never hurt when I do the shot!" she replied. She jabbed it in there good and I felt blood run down my arm, which she wiped up. "You have good blood! Never get a stroke!" she exclaimed. She put a bandage on and massaged the area, and I sat for a bit putting pressure on it then it seemed OK. 

I got a few things but it wasn't enough to use the $5 off on $20 card I was given, but they let me keep that card for later. So I've done just what they said on the radio to do: got a flu shot. 

I went over to the Amazon hub and picked up the shofar. No fancy packaging, just thrown in an Amazon bubble mailer. I went across the street to 7-11 for some chicken wings and beer. "No beer!" I was told. "Our mother doesn't like it!". This is probably a good thing because that 7-11 is an attractive place for bums and it'd be much worse with beer in the picture. 

So I took my chicken wings and rode to TAK market which turned out to be Kelley's Liquors. They have every weird kind of fruit flavored gop you can imagine, but I finally found a can of Lagunitas' "Sumpin' Easy" which is very close to their standard IPA and has another advantage - from any distance, the can looks just like a can of Arizona iced tea. Perfect for drinking in the park. 

I rode over to the park and ate my chicken wings and drank my beer, and watched some people do all kinds of really interesting exercises, like sprint forward then "sprint" back, etc. I thought maybe it was football drills so when one guy passed me going to his car and back, I asked what the exercises were. They are for judo, it turns out, and he's from Maui. I said one of my sisters is married to a police chief on Maui but actually lives on Kaua'i'. What impressed me about the exercises is, they can all be done anywhere, even here in the shop. 

Then I came back here. I'd picked up a beautiful cabbage someone had left out. There was two cabbages and some apples and limes and some cans of stuff like chicken, so I just took a cabbage. 

That beef I got yesterday turned out not to be a deal at all. By the time I'd trimmed it and packaged it, it came out to something like $15 a pound, plus there's the time involved trimming it. I about a pound of fat and gunk I put out for the birds, and the bones went into the blackberry patch. Feh. If I'd timed things a little bit better today, I could have stopped by Nijiya and gotten some beef all cut up and ready to weigh into 4-oz portions today. I think the way the Koreans would use the beef I got would be to use it in a soup or stew, where every last bit of fat etc is boiled off of it and used. Then throw the bones to the dog. 

After getting back here and putting stuff away including my bedding, I got the shofar out and tried it out. It's ... about as bad as you'd expect a shofar bought sight unseen would be. I'm uncertain whether to return it, and already have it ready to return in a box with the QR code Amazon gave me on it, or keep it and fix it up. It was supposed to be 16" to 18" in size and is barely 15". Fixing it up will mean taking maybe as much as another inch off. And the exterior is crudely sanded down, which I really don't like. But on the other hand, it probably is really from Israel, and how soon am I going to get to a local Judaica store to get one that's "right" and probably pay 2X as much? 

I had a couple of cold hot dogs with an interesting sauce, half and half mustard and Kewpie mayo, which was pretty good. Then I cleaned the bathroom thoroughly, vacuumed the shop, cleaned the fan because it gets dirty after even a week, and then decided to snip out the center of the front "cage" around the fan so I could get in there and clean the blades, and it works better too. 

Ken came over at the expected time, brought some packing stuff and stuff to sell, we moved some things around, and sat and talked a bit. I gave him the rent bill for September and I got my pay check, a form to request a mail-in ballot, and my new debit card. 

Dinner was beef with cabbage, just a couple leaves off of the head of cabbage I'd found. I really like cabbage. 

I did a practice while watching some documentary on YouTube then packed all the things that were showing up "overdue" in red like they're library books. If I'm up in time which I should be, I'll pack some more.