26th day sober. Due to the poor widdle white snowflake who had his delicate feelings hurt and thus just has to shoot 8 co-workers at the VTA light rail yard, there's going to be no light rail for a while. I guess I'm glad I got over to Mountain View last weekend instead of putting it off until this one.
Events like this are normalized in American culture. Having a mental health problem is considered shameful and weak, so if you want to keep your job and your (fair-weather) friends you hide it and bottle it up. And the average American has few close friends.
In my case I'm lucky. I've got Ken, and Suzy, and Rinban Sakamoto has said repeatedly that if anyone needs help, they are there for them. I know that old Mo'ili'ili boy would listen to my problems and have good advice. Plus, when I play music, I feel like I've got a whole crowd of friends. If Benny Goodman were in the room he'd want me to learn to practice as much as he did. Artie Shaw would want me to keep working on those super high notes I discovered last night (he was a master of the altissimo range) and Sidney Bechet would want to teach me to really swing it.
I guess this is a general thing with musicians. There's a whole "family" of great musicians who you are trying to be like, and although many are not alive any more, you have the feeling that they're rooting for you.
I was up at 1:45 today. Someone, somewhere around this complex, was doing something "heavy" in that I'd feel these bumps from the ground. They kept going ... bump ... bump .. BUMP ... bump ... etc. Kind of unnerving considering all the earthquakes I experienced in Southern California.
I did a quick look and my super high notes/squeaks could be from "reed too weak or too strong" (gee that's helpful) or the student having too tight an embouchure. That 2nd one makes more sense. I think I also discovered how to kick things up into the altissimo, but I have to learn to control it. It sure beats the hell out of finding out that for me altissimo is hard to get to.
I took off for downtown at about 3:30 and dropped off some things at the little free libraries. I haven't found any books worth taking home for a long time now but at least they're good for donating things to.
The bank deposit went fine and the IRS still hasn't cashed my check for about $1085 so ... I dunno. I wonder if I forgot to sign anything? Hopefully I'll hear from them soon and can pay the rest that I'm sure I owe, about $1600. As I explained to Ken, they have all the info they need to calculate it since I put in my status (single, non-dependent) and age, gross income, any write-offs (none) and so on. They should be able to figure it up and send me a bill and then we'll be square.
I went over to the Amazon place for the lecithin I'd ordered and some bubble mailers, then over to Nijiya for a few things. The bentos were wiped out though so after walking around a bit I decided I had "treats" enough at home, and for my "treat" I get on a payday I'd get some O'Doul's which I got at TAK market.
Then back here, at a crawling pace. It was very windy. I got in, relaxed with some O'Doul's and pork rinds and peanuts, and some shows on YouTube. Eventually I noticed the guy at the welding place take off and their trash can was out - they'd tossed out tons of pink anti-static bubble pockets and these foam sheet sleeves, perfect for using in packing so I went out and got those and sorted them into a box (as much for neatness as to make sure none of them were dirty) so that was a nice find.
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