I was up until a stupid hour, like 6 or 7 AM, which is not good. At least I labeled and photo'd up a bunch of optical stuff to list on Ebay, and eventually got around to practicing.
I came up with a new way. The 4-note figures on Page 23 are in groups of 3, so I've gone from doing a 4-note figure (rest) doing it again (rest) etc. doing each 4-note figure 5-6-7 times without rest, now last night I did each set of 3, each 5-6-7 times and right on to the next, 5-6-7 times, etc and only resting at the end of the column. This made my breathing and tone improve and some of the note were like polished drops of jade.
I also found out I can play this one Radiohead song I like, the one with the video where the Thom Yorke is in the forest and comes across a cat wedding. That's pretty cool.
I was pretty motivated to get over to Mitsuwa Marketplace but by the time I actually got out of here, it was 4. I stopped at the temple to drop off my April pledge, and rode over to Mitsuwa, making it in an hour. At one point there was another cyclist behind me whom I let pass at one intersection, then thought "Uh-oh" when I saw him stop at a messy bum camp, then he caught up with me again at Saratoga where mitsuwa is. Maybe he's OK, I thought, and just dropping something off, or who knows, maybe he lives in there but is OK anyway. There being an Applebee's there, I told him the joke, "What's the deal with Applebee's? There are not apples and there are no bees". "And no people," he replied. "Well, the food was always mediocre," I came back with, "Too dependent on 'Chef Mike' as in microwave" and we parted.
I locked my bike up at the market and went over to Daiso, finding a thin cutting board like I wanted, some binder clips, some interesting 'oil based' marking pens and a package of arare.
I put those things away and went into Mitsuwa. I picked out a cup of sake, a carton of Ozeki sake, a couple odds and ends, and looked at the very picked-over bentos. There was not much there, but it's kind of confusing because there was another "float" of bento type stuff, and there was a "deluxe" chirashi there so I got that.
I paid for my stuff and set up at this one exit onto a side road that has a tall curb that's really nice to sit at, no one comes close as only a few cars go out that way, and all in all it's pretty nice. The chirashi was really good and even had a scallop and some seaweed salad.
On the way out to eat my chirashi I noticed that Kinokuniya was actually open, just using their side door only. So after I was done eating I locked the bike up again and went in and looked around. They have three major Japanese language sets of books. Genki, Japanese For Busy People, and one called Japanese From Zero. I really don't know which one is best although I've heard good things about Genki, and I'll have to do more research. I ended up buying a brush pen that turns out to be OK, good for writing shodo type stuff but doesn't look too great for writing shakuhachi music. Oh, well. There are so many books there! I looked at a great one on sumi-e and who knows, once I'm retired and in Hawaii, and only have the shakuhachi to be concerned with, I can set up my desk for sumi-e and shodo and do those also.
I put the pen away and on a wild hair, went back into the market to look around a bit more and got some cheap salmon sashimi, senbei, and another cup of sake.
I changed my short-sleeved shirt for my long-sleeved one, and got on the ride home. It was easier, being downhill. Pretty soon I was at the SoFa marketplace downtown and locked up the bike and saw my tall skinny Black friend who works at the Fountainhead and we said Hi as he walked by. I remembered that I'd told myself I'd make it a routine to, after cashing my pay check, go to The Fountainhead and hang out with the guy and talk about music.
I tried the sashimi and it's the same cuts I buy on sale. When they cut up a salmon, apparently they have to go fast or something so they end up with these long skin strips like a fair amount of meat on them. Those go on sale, and I buy them and flense the meat off of the skin and freeze it in 4-oz. bags for use in soup. This was those cuts, with the effect that some of it was good, some of it was OK, and some of it ended up in the planter. While I ate and drank the sake I noticed some place really whooping it up across the street. I can understand wanting to be out of the house but come on, people, the virus is still out there.
I rode back here in the cold wind, and after putting the bike in, dragged a big box of wood scraps and junk out to the front of the complex where someone should pick it up for firewood or something. At least get it out of here where it was taking up a parking space and was unsightly. And the main box and some of the junk inside was due to us so I'd told myself I'd do something about it this weekend. So that was my good deed for the day.
The evening ended with listing some optics stuff on Ebay and plenty of inane stuff on YouTube.
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