105th day sober. I slept in until a bit past 3. I guess I needed the sleep! I practiced before bed as usual and wow, a cleaner trumpet sure helps those high notes. The exercises I'm on in the Rubank book were no problem, and I was going right up to high C very easily (for me).
As usual I didn't get going as early as I'd have liked, and left here a bit after 5. I went to Nijiya market first and picked up a few things but their bentos were wiped out. So I walked up to JT Express and got tempura shrimp and chicken wings, which were kind of expensive (about $14) but good.
I dropped off my final 5 boxes of falafel mix at the free pantry in front of the Peace & Justice Center on 7th, then rode over to Whole Foods. I had a can of coffee and an elderberry drink, and started playing at 7:25.
It went pretty well, highlights being the two guys who wanted me to play the Pink Panther theme and my tries were not good enough so no tip for that one - I think they were going to tip if I'd nailed it. A tall gal who got a real kick out of my jazzed-up Amazing Grace and tipped a $10. And the guy with the cargo bike who didn't tip at all, but tried to "guilt trip" me about moving back to Hawaii - big mistake on his part. The debate did not go well for him.
The final highlight was, about a quarter after 9, two short scruffy homeless guys right out of Central Casting walked in and nodded to me like "Good playing" and I thought no more of it. Until one came running, if you can call it that because he was not fast, with a handbasket of groceries. He was pursued by a tall older black guy in business attire, khakis etc., who was even slower and didn't even work at Whole Foods. He broke off the chase and went back to the gaggle of Whole Foods workers telling them how he's chased them etc like he was OJ and despite his lightning speed, had *just* missed a brilliant forward pass. A Larry Elder listener, spotted in the wild.
It was all pretty funny, but as I've learned, anything like that just kills the tips so I played the "Goodnight" song and it was 9:25 anyway, so I was done for the night. I'd made $49.80.
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