On Reddit, a lot of people can't spell the word "business". In fact lots of people probably can't spell it right anywhere. They spell it "buisness". I would pronounce that "bwuizz-nezz" and think it's pretty funny. And I have a definition. Buisness is when business is done badly.
Years ago I was in the Sunnyvale Fry's Electronics; the store was really dying even back then. They had a sale table with things that had been opened, were shopworn, etc. In the middle of the collection was a pair of wire cutters of the type used in electronics. One side of the cutter part was broken off. So it was on sale, reduced 25% or something ridiculous. Because obviously they're not just degraded in usefulness, they're useless. That's buisness. Or when it takes me hours to find something in the warehouse here that sold for $5, that's buisness too.
I've slacked off on my voice-training thing which I really should stay with because it's good for my voice even if I never become a singing busker.
The truth is, I really don't know what to do. When I was playing trumpet in the before times, it was easy to get feedback; just go out and busk. But I can't go out and sing (or play trumpet) now because it spreads germs like crazy. I haven't even seen Leroy out with his sax for a while. I hope maybe he was able to get a grant from San Jose Jazz or some kind of help from some admirer, so he doesn't have to go out for a while. There's hardly a crowd to busk for, anyway. Since the virus is "now worse than ever" and everyone's been told so on the radio, people are being extra careful.
To think at one time I was seriously considering saving up, renting a small office where I know they let you sleep in them, and just playing trumpet. I was going to play at all the Whole Foods in the area and perhaps do other things like sell pull-throughs I'd make and teach at the beginner level. Instead of doing all this stupid fol-de-rol for Ken, I'd just do what I'm interested in.
How things change ... the trumpet is not a good fit for Hawaii and doesn't seem to be the best fit for me, physically. My hands are too small to make a go of it on violin. I might have something going with singing but it's going to take a lot of time to develop - need to keep up with the exercises and get a decent mic and start recording myself. The worst that can happen there is I end up with a healthier, stronger, voice.
So, aside from the stronger voice thing which I've concluded is well worth doing, I'm still stuck in the old "What am I really meant to do?" rut.
I think some of this comes from growing up middle-class. We had tons of books around the house so I could read up on any subject. My parents were frustrated artists so we had tons of art supplies and I was strongly encouraged to go into that. But we had sports, and the ocean to play in, and we grew up on good music because my dad had the most varied musical tastes I've seen in anyone. With my eyesight so wonky I think music was the thing for me.
I may have even been more "musical" than I remember, because I think my memory got wiped out around the age of 4 or 5. I think the anesthetic from one of my eye operations did it. According to my mother, I had a whole set of "characters" with different personalities that I'd do voices for, and she was dismayed that I had no memories of them at all. "Don't you remember the 'goik'?" she'd ask. And I'd have to say in a tired tone, "No, Mother, I really don't remember the 'goik', I'm sorry". That goik must have really been something. It sounds like something my dad and I probably came up with. He was extremely literate and loved puns and word play. So there was the possibility in the air of becoming a writer, too.
All of this is well and fine as long as we'd stayed middle class. By the time I was in my teens we were about as poor as people got in those days and that means, not having to shut off cable, but having no electricity once in a while, no phone, and not enough food. Now if I'd grown up like that all along I'd be much better adjusted because I'd not have the distractions of knowing about interesting middle-class careers like writer or artist or scientist or what have you. I'd have gone to work for the local supermarket chain and stayed there for life, or some nice boring career like that.
And I'd be better off by now, probably owning a house in Manoa or something. In fact, looking at its sales history, there was a time when, if I'd gone right into a trade and not mucked around with college, I probably would have been able to buy our old place on Portlock Road and thus fulfill my life's dream: To own it and have it available for anyone in my family, or everyone in my family, to live in. I quite possibly could have become a carpenter and would have had the skills and connections to fix the place up because it was probably so cheap because it was falling apart.
In Hawaii great value is placed on being "humble" and I would sure be better off if I'd followed that rule. But as I keep telling myself, I've only got the perspective I have because I've gone out and done so many things.
On a lighter note, I was up a little after 10 and watched the live stream of the temple's service. Darn it, I wanted to watch the kids' service too which starts at 9:30 I think. 'm curious how it's different from the adults'/English service. I had my usual natto and some sunflower seeds and green tea, and reflected how this time a year ago, my brekkie would have featured chicory coffee with heavy cream in it, and how much of a hassle it was to keep fresh cream around.
Quite a bit later I remembered I had this ... stuff in pouches. It seems the Nijiya Market has these little hangers everywhere with stuff in little pouches. It's things from little Pikachu's cut out of nori to put on your kid's bowl of rice to the vinegary stuff you mix in rice to make sushi rice, and so son. So I grabbed three different ones the last time I was there and I got one that was "wood ear" mushrooms that I put into my pork miso soup last night and turned out to be a pretty large quantity of them once they'd re-hydrated. They were good, too. One turned out to be a little freeze-dried brick of stuff you're supposed to mix into eggs then put the result in a little ramekin and put that into water barely hot enough to boil, and end up with this sort of savory egg custard sort of thing. I just re-hydrated the little block with some sake, mixed it into eggs, and scrambled them - it was really good! There were tiny shrimps and veggies and stuff in there and I used no additional seasoning, and I'll have to get more of those.
The last one is "ma bo tofu" seasoning so maybe I'll have ma bo pork tonight or something.
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