A good windy day.

 96th day sober. I was up at 3, not bad considering a delivery guy came by with a big box I had to sign for and wrestle into here, at about 10AM and I'd gone to bed around 7:30 or 8AM. 

So I got a bit more of something like sleep, and I'd practiced last night too. After skipping what felt like a week! Practice went well, and I decided, what the heck, I'll prepare to busk after doing my errands. 

So I got going a bit after 4, dropped off some packages at the downtown post office (there was a hell of a yelling match going on in St. James park there, yay bums) and then did my bank deposit (the IRS hasn't cashed my check yet) and everything works out to the penny. 

I went over to Da Kao and got some yellow chicken curry with rice and some deep fried breaded "yam" (sweet potato) strips with shrimp and went over to the college to eat. Of course a good part of the curry sauce had escaped the container and was in the bottom of the bag, but I was able to eat it OK by just opening the top of the bag and the container and it went well. That was all about $8 and I had leftovers to leave on top of a trash container on one of the bummier parts of Santa Clara Street so it's all good. 

What's funny is, when I was paying at Da Kao, they didn't want to take one of the $5's I handed them and I gave them a different one and agreed, that $5 looked too funny. I'd not seen a fake $5 since the dark days of 2009 but I'm sure I had a fake on my hands so I left it lying in the gutter out on the street. 

I went over to Whole Foods and locked up the bike. The same guy was there with his "save the children" or "something something children" booth. "You're the trumpet playing guy" he said, and we caught up with things. I said I was going to have a coffee and relax a bit. Which I did, with a cold can of coffee and The Metro. 

I finally set up at a quarter after 6, and in between playing, talked with the guy. It was windy, enough so that I'd put some cans of food in my tip box to keep it from blowing away, and I told the guy I used to sell at swap meets a lot and windy days were always bad. I'm glad he and I get along, and I was worried my playing was keeping him from getting "customers" but he said he'd had a "solid" day earlier, and the last time we were both there, he'd gotten that one last customer he needed and that's all that matters. 

Since it was a windy day, with the sun in my eyes, I didn't have very high expectations and decided I'd just play from 6:15, when I started, to 8:15 and whatever I make, I make. So I played along, got lots of "thank you"'s and said Thanks all I could in return, and the one notable "customer" of the day was a black guy who rode up on a big blue Harley and had his radio on loud, playing some Motown song of the kind I grew up with, so I worked out the trumpet parts and played along, then when he walked up I was playing Amazing Grace and he said, "Keep going, it's my mother's song" and I played and he sang along. It was pretty cool. 

I had tips coming in fairly well right up until 8, so I considered whether to stay even later but decided that no, 8:15 would be it. So when that time came I put everything away and folded up my tip box without any counting, and rode home. I passed through San Pedro Square and it was kind of dead with no one performing. I think there was one of the regular beggars there and that was it. 

If I'd stayed any later I'd have needed my thin sweatshirt and jacket which I'd brought, but the ride home was fine. I got back here and since the trash truck comes around on Thursday nights, I took some boxes and cut them up and took a lot of junk I had in "our" trash enclosure, and got it all into the dumpster that belongs to the place a couple of doors down. I like to keep things pretty neat around here. 

I finally counted up and I'd made $69.81. It didn't "feel" like I'd made that much but there it was - I even counted three times to make sure. 

Ken came by and picked up this very heavy signal generator we'd sold for 5 grand, and there had been a bit of a hang-up with getting payment and shipping all coordinated, but it seems to be all straightened out now and I told him, Don't worry if Ebay chalks up the shipping as "overdue" because I'm keeping our shipping numbers so good that one thing being shipped late won't hurt us. Ken took off, not even wanting to hang out and have tea, so I didn't get to brag about my making $70 in a couple of hours. 

I had someone ask me today "why I do this" and I explained how it's great practice and improving my playing, and preparation for my retirement "career" as an enjoyable way to make day-to-day money. 

I think the trope is that if a person is out playing music they must be desperate somehow. But the people I see who really are desperate, never seem to hit on the idea of playing music or performing somehow. So if you get someone out playing on the street who's competent, they've probably done a lateral move from some legit occupation. Like Leroy who was an "engineer" (I think in terms of running their HVAC stuff) for the college, Gabriel The Violinist who was an accountant, or myself with an electronics background.