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.
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