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.
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