I was awake at something like 6:30 or 7, listened to the leaf-blower guys do their Tuesday morning pass-through, kind of semi-dozed, then up at 9. That felt late to me, but not long ago I wondered if I'd ever be able to get up as early as 9, consistently.
After tea and natto and so on, I finished off the packages which only took a little over an hour. I got out of here with a full bike trailer at about 11:45 and took $4 in quarters with me just in case I came across a food truck.
Sure enough, there was one on Queen's Lane. I stopped there and picked out a sandwich, which the lady said was $7. "I only have $4" and picked out a smaller one. "$4 is OK" for that one and she beamed when I handed over the $4 in quarters. I should see about buying rolls of quarters from my bank...
I put the sandwich in the bike bag and rode down Bayshore until I came to a business park with a nice grassy berm and a curb to sit on, and had my sandwich - it was a chicken pattie, "American" cheese, some bacon, some salty ham, and egg on some somewhat dry toast. Not bad for $4.
Full, I dawdled along up to the post office where the drop-offs went smoothly. I sent off my monthly $30 to the temple too. I could go in person to give my monthly pledge, but I think it's less germy to mail it in.
FedEx likewise went well, no line, and it seems they've always got someone by the door that I can hand things off to instead of going all the way in.
I checked the electric lighting place for boxes and got some pieces of foam and a bunch of small boxes and neatened up their dumpster area. Same goes for Sanmina, neatening-up wise but I didn't take anything.
By now it was 1:00 and I'd made an appointment at my bank for 2. So I got back here and put things away, and left here at 1:15. The ride downtown was uneventful, and like it'd been, just wonderful to be out in the sun with the sky so blue and the air nice and cooling. The 6th blessing box had a bunch of trashy fiction but the 5th street one had a somewhat beat-up copy of "Pau Hana" about Hawaii plantation life, and I exchanged it for a bunch of aspirin packets I'll never use.
After that exchange I rode over to the bank, locked the bike, and realized I was 20 minutes early. On the way there on Santa Clara street I'd passed first a bunch of dumped pens and student-y stuff, then a couple of bums leaning up against one of the posts at the entrance of San Pedro Square. So to kill some time I walked up there and told the bums Did they know there's a bunch of pens and stuff up the street? They were interested. I told the guy getting up to come with me and I'd show him, and he eagerly gathered up the pens and stuff. So that was a good turn.
After killing more time (Peggy Sue's is kaput, and O'Flaherty's is taking over that space. It makes sense because O'Flaherty's was doing well when other places were Meh and their karaoke was good.) all the outdoor tables 'n' shit are taken down. I think what places are open are take-out only.
Finally it was a few minutes after 2 and I got my deposit done. It appears they're open on Thursday so I said I might be right back there then, too.
Now I was free to do what I wanted for a while. I'd had a plan to lock the bike at Whole Foods and walk up to CVS and see what their sake prices are like, maybe buying a few things at Whole Foods like some vitamin D. But, I thought, it's nice and sunny today and might not be again for days, so why not do a Wal-Mart run? They might have competitive sake prices there, plus I can stock up on zipper bags and such things. And I'd not been there for months now.
So that's what I did. I rode South on 2nd through that funky area down to the complex where Wal's is, and locked the bike in front of Big-5 like I always do. And since I'd locked the bike there, as always, I went into Big-5 to look around. They had some ammunition on the shelf but no 9mm of course, and a few Airsoft pistols and a few Airsoft rifles. I noticed they had a Sig-Sauer Airsoft pistol and one that looks like a Baretta, and I asked the guy if they had the Umarex Glock 19 one in.
"That's a BB gun; let me look", he said, and produced one. Wow. I'd wanted one early on when I got the Glock, but they were sold and out looked like they'd be "unobtainium" for the forseeable future. I walked out of there with the BB gun, BB's and CO2 cartridges for $150 and change and no need to tell them that at one time I'd been sponsored and paid thousands of dollars by Umarex, or Walther anyway.
So thanks you Ken, for the extra $300 on this last paycheck - I got a neat Xmas present!
With such a valuable cargo in the bike bag, I skipped Wal-Mart and headed home by way of Nijiya. I waited in line for a long time, behind a group of four young Japanese-American kids. We determined that a plant growing out of a crack wasn't mint, and wasn't nettle "because it looks like mint but when you pick it it stings the shit out of you" - me. It was just some ... plant. And one of the guys had on shoes that were too big for him, like an extra big toe long in the toes and it made them look funny. "Walk like this," I offered, doing a Charlie Chaplain walk which got a laugh. But he had to wear them because he needed new shoes and his mother had bought them online. I bring this up to show the difference between Asian families and American ones where the kid would have pitched a fit if he couldn't have just the right Nikes or whatever.
Once in Nijiya I got a plate of sushi and some sort of fried veggie and seafood things and a big beer and of course, sake. By now an ice cloud was over the area throwing a sort of grey wash over things and making it colder so I was eager to get back.
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