Best tone so far

 110th day sober. I was up at 3 which is good because I needed to be "out the door at 4" as usual for a Thursday.

I was indeed out the door at 4, after having washed up, shaved,  etc. and had my coffee. 

Last night I'd practiced starting with long tones from G in the staff down to the bottom then back up, past C, then did some exercises ... I had real trouble with anything past C in the staff and I know it's psychological because if I got absent-minded while doing exercises in the Rubank book the high notes would ring out, but then I'd think about it and could not do them. So I applied stubbornness, actually forcing the high notes which then, strangely, made them easier thereafter. By the end of my practice session I was playing the Rubank exercises as well as ever and that would have to "do". 

My first stop was the post office where I dropped off a few packages, then the bank where I deposited my check and there's a big difference in what I calculate what my balance should be and what it is - usually I'm correct to the penny. I think it's the Amazon Prime membership. I really ought to read the statements the bank sends me ... 

I got some food from Whole Foods and sat and ate, and realized I had plenty of time to go to Park Avenue Music which supposedly closes at 6, so I rode over there which took me 7 minutes but they were closed. I rode back and got a can of coffee and read The Metro and drank that and chewed gum then used the loo, my usual ritual before settling down to 2 hours of busking. 

It was about 5 before 6 when I started in. I'd been thinking of all kinds of reasons to now play, from the delta-covid numbers increasing to thinking maybe I should take a break, but as always so far, I told myself it's only practice and I can take it easy. So I started in and tonight my tone was probably its best so far. And I felt the least stressed. 

I had all kinds of interesting "customers" of course. Like the guy who stood in front, talking on his cell phone, for whom I played quietly, until he was there so long that I started playing a bit louder than usual, and in the end he finished his call and tipped me $5. 

And the crazy lady came by again. She had a whole story about how she was going to tip me these collectible "silver dollars" which were really "from the Mexican Olympics" and that someone told her were too valuable to give away so ... next time... She went on about how her grocery bags each weigh  60 pounds (she had 4 of them) and how the last time, she's collapsed and had to be picked up by an ambulance etc. She then hinted pretty heavily that I might carry her bags to her house, a hint I ignored while I played loudly to perhaps drive her off. She eventually did wander off, making her way up the sidewalk 50 feet at a time. I'd told her she ought to get one of those wheeled carts and she had a story about how Ace Hardware had these huge ones that were 50 bucks and it's all an evil plot to sell a person a bigger cart than they need. What a loon. 

And of course there were tons of nice people. I played the full 6:00 - 8:00 "shift" and in the end had made $82.61.  I'd also worked out a version of "Paper Moon" that I think sounds pretty good. "Paper Moon" is one of the very first songs I busked with, back when I had no "swing" and I guess a horrible tone compared to now. And I believe the version I was playing was lower, and this version I played today was the version I wanted to play but could not play that high. But now I can, and it sounds neat. 

I rode home, checking San Pedro Square (dead and no performers there) and got back here, rounded up things to ship that had sold, and once it was well past 11:00 in the evening, thought Ken was not going to show up and went ahead and had my dinner of two fried chicken thighs from Whole Foods. That was a bit of a mistake as, of course, Ken came by at a quarter to midnight. I finished eating as he dug around trying to find this box of stuff we've lost. 

It was never found, Ken and I hung out and finished off the bottle of diet 7-Up I had here, and then he took off. I packed the things, as I want to take off early tomorrow. I also ended the listings of the 7 different things we can't find, plus ended the listing of a cable we supposedly have two of but I could not find even the one I refunded the customer for. 

I think I am approaching this whole busking thing differently than a lot of buskers. Trumpet Rabbit Guy always talked about "making noise" as in, "I gotta make some noise" when we were talking and a gaggle of the public were approaching. Then he'd blat out one of his 5 or so songs, perhaps with gusto but not with any sort of feeling. I think a lot of buskers think this way. But in my case I'm thinking of this more like I'm taking a class. It's not about how I do now, but how I might do a few years from now. And it's not being done out of desperation, as I have an income already. But a few years from now, I will want to be sure enough of my skill that it won't bother me a bit that it will be my main job. So I'm out there to learn and improve, not just get cigarette/booze money. 

And speaking of booze, I've noticed something: I never get tips from anyone buying alcohol. It doesn't matter if it's watery beer or "the hard stuff" if they're buying alcohol, they never tip. I suspect if Whole Foods sold cigarettes, I'd never get tips from cigarette-buyers either, as in both cases it's an addiction and an addict will be tight with their money to save it for their next fix.