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.