Drip-drop

 Wow that was a long day yesterday. I finally realized around midnight that I was really tired, and just "geared down", cooking some salmon miso soup, settling down for bed-time, watching inane YouTube stuff and practicing the shakuhachi. 

I woke up a bit before noon, and went back to bed after checking the radar map. It was raining. I thought to myself, Why didn't I make a 2nd trip to H Mart for more sake, as Ken's "hours" as in "About an 'hour'" tend to be 3 hours long? 

Today I had to decide whether to go to the bank today because my week is always better when I go on Thursday, or put it off to Friday? I looked at the radar map and outside and it looked like it was going to taper off so I made an appointment for my bank for 4:30. 

As soon as I did that, it started raining again. I got out my Marmot waterproof jacket and my boonie hat and got on the bike and got going, not riding too fast so I'd not get rain splashed on me from the wheels. So I was speed-limited but I still got to the bank early, so I rode around to the back of the Old Spaghetti Factory and took off my safety vest, shook it out, took my jacket off and shook it out, and used a wet wip to clean the junk off of my hands from my bike handlebar grips and cleaned the grips too. And it had stopped raining so I was able to go from drippy to merely damp. Perfect! 

I went into the bank and did my deposit, and that went great as usual, we talked a bit and we wished each other good weekends. Then I headed for the Amazon place and it had started raining again. At 1st and San Fernando I heard a homeless(?) lady talking loudly, on the phone I thought at first but she turned out to be just ranting. "I can't get away from it! It stops raining then it starts again!!" etc. I called out, "My sentiments exactly!" and she really started ranting, screaming. Really the rain today reminded me of the old days in Hawaii where I never let a little rain get in the way of a bike ride. Or even a motorscooter ride up on Tantalus, on the twisty road. 

I went into the Amazon place and picked up 6 bubble mailers and two things: some clear tape rolls for my little tape dispenser, and a sort of polishing disk for my electric drill that might be just the thing for the bathroom floor. 

Then I dripped my way over to Nijiya and did my shopping, including sake of course, a beer, and among other things got some seasoned dried conger eel as I'd buy if I ever got over to Mitsuwa Marketplace. 

I put things away on the bike and there were two, what I thought were security guards so I got talking with them, "Are you doing security for that building (being built) over there?" It turns out they're San Jose cops, new on the force they said and going around talking to everyone, getting to know the neighborhood. I told them it was really nice, but of course there are some homeless and crazies. They were very nice and told me to be safe on my bike and even called out to, as I ended up doing a 3-three-sides-around crossing of the street to go to Minato's, due to some asshole drivers. 

I locked the bike up there and went in and ordered the tempura appetizer and mentioned the Buddhist fundraiser which is why I went in, alongside the tempura there being about the best I've ever had. For some reason I had to call on my phone, so I was talking on the phone with someone who was maybe 8 feet away. Then you wait until a tag with your name comes up, turn the tag in and pay, then go find, on one of the tables, the bag with an identical tag. It's odd but it works. 

While waiting, I figured I'd walk around, and discovered Nikaku's was open. That astonished me because it's this hole-in-the-wall place and you have to go up a long flight of stairs too. The guy in there and I had a delightful talk, and I looked around at their stuff .... one of the most intriguing things being sets of rubber stamps for all the katakana and all the hiragana. At $65, I said maybe it might be better to learn how to letter, but he said sometimes people want "that printed look" and that's a real point. I love that place but their prices are ... ugh. They had a full, complete, series of the 2nd version of Astro-Boy and I'm still kicking myself for not getting it, but it was about $100 and I had maybe $200 in the bank at the time. They want $25 or $30 for Ghibli DVD's and they're American versions, where at Book-On over at Mitsuwa's you can get the same ones where you can choose between the dub or subtitle and they're never more than $20. 

I walked around at ground level on the sidewalk a bit more, then collected my food and drip-dropped my way on home. I was really hungry, having had pretty much nothing to eat all day. And I could still barely finish the tempura. That's why I always get "just the appetizer" because I can't imagine finishing that plus rice, salad, and miso soup. It was $8-something, and I told them to round it up to $10. A lady from the temple was there at one point too and recognized me and tried for a hug but I backed off, don't want to spread germs... Now that I think about it maybe she's been immunized as the Yu-Ai-Kai Center's been making sure the olders get their shots, but still ... I'm gonna be masking and distancing for quite some time. 

I've been noticing in my practice that I'm gradually being able to hold notes longer. I've not been using the Voldyne for the last week because I'd rather put in time on the flute than on it, but I'll use it to check up on things. It could be that my Voldyne numbers will level off but my ability to play the actual flute will become more efficient over time. As I read somewhere, "Old guys with one lung are masters of this instrument...." I would say I am at the "Embryonic stage" as a shakuhachi player right now.

I got back and put things away and had my tempura and a beer, Oh, man that stuff is good. Probably not the healthiest so I should really save it for once a year for the Buddhist fundraiser.