Caffeine

 Up at 3. I'd actually woken up at 10AM and wondered if I should drink a little alcohol to get back to sleep, but instead took some kava and eventually went back to sleep. 

One thing I think I've figured out is, if you're quitting alcohol, best to quit caffeine too. Caffeine seems to contribute quite a bit to "shaky" feelings. Naturally, coffee flows freely at AA meetings... 

I headed over to Japantown and got a small fish bento and a bottle of cold green tea, and ate over at the Nissei building. It's worked out very well. The steps are comfortable to sit on, I'm out of people's way, there's a trash can nearby, and I get to watch the tranquil street scene. A couple of old people exercising is about as lively as it gets. 

I dropped off some books at the 6th and 5th street little libraries, and went to Whole Foods and locked the bike there and walked over to CVS. I bought a bottle of vodka, Pledge, and a can of corned beef. When I'd walked back to the bike and put those away I realized I'd wanted to get some Alka-Seltzer. I'd found some in the dumpster where medical stuff like that gets tossed out, and gotten into the habit of drinking it in place of taking a couple of aspirin. 

So I walked back over, and after having to ask where it's kept, I looked at all their Alka-Seltzer and it was all "Cold" or "Night Time" or "Extra" or some such and all had extra things in it like acetominaphen (or however it's spelled) and other medicines. All I wanted was the fizzy drink with the equivalent of 2 aspirin in it. 

Then I got cheese and nuts (but not ifs and buts) and such things at Whole Foods, and then rode over to the Amazon hub and picked up my safety vest. I rode over by the foot court in the "SoFa" area where there are outdoor tables and fairly good lighting, and tried it on. It seemed a little big, but that's OK for later when I'll be wearing a jacket. I wore it riding home, and it adds a little warmth too which is nice as the weather is cooling. 

When I got back here and after putting things away, I went on Amazon and ordered some plain aspirin-only Alka-Seltzer. Because why not take aspirin in fizzy liquid form? 

I've spent $178 of my last paycheck which is Meh if I'm trying to only spend half of each check, but fine if I'm trying to save 1/3 of each check. And I've got $60 cash in my wallet because I pressed the wrong button and got $20 back at Whole Foods when I intended to get no cash back. And this isn't counting the $260-odd in cash I have stashed away in small bills because for some reason these days small bills are good. 

I did more voice exercises last night, not a ton, but some. If I can do these every day until November 12th which will be one month from when I started, then I'll see about getting a "uke" and work on some Christmas carols I guess. Today by Whole Foods there was a guy on the sidewalk with a pedicab with a big plastic sheet between him and any riders, and I asked him how business was. He said these days he just takes it out once a week "to keep it from freezing up". He's hoping for the bars to open up, and I said I think the best model for this is the 1918 flu which means it'll be bad for 2 years and still around the third year and then fizzle out. "We just have to hang tight for a couple of years".  So he's playing it cool with his pedicab and I've got to play it cool with anything that seems like busking. 

I'm really going to need to get out among people and put in those times when I sound like crap though. I remember going busking with my cornet in Morgan Hill where I made something like $4.50 and some guy came by with his 6 or 7 year old kid, who gave me some pointers. They were good pointers too.  Or time time in Mountain View where I slept at a friend's on the floor (he lived on the living room floor himself) and played for hours on the main drag there, in a drizzle, and about all I could play was It's Only A Paper Moon. I think  I calculated that I'd made $4-odd an hour. The thing is that it takes time and toughing it out and with uke and voice I'll be starting at just about zero again.