118th day sober. I listed Ebay stuff last night and practiced, mainly trying to work on my weaknesses, which are high notes. I finally realized that while doing long tones, on the lower notes the limiting factor is how much air I have in my lungs. But on the higher notes, I crap out much sooner than that. So, I need to work on long tones on the higher notes so I can do them like I do lower ones; with the only limit being the available air.
I was up at 3, and out the door at 4 sharp. My first stop was the downtown post office with 9 packages, then I headed up Park to Park Avenue Music which, it being before 5, was open. I've been wanting to try a Bach 3D mouthpiece, and was willing to spend the $60 or so on one, but I was doubtful about the ones on Amazon. There are a lot of fakes on Amazon and there were none listed that I could pick up at the locker anyway.
When I went in, I noticed they had a big assortment of mouthpieces out on a table, that appeared to be on sale. I found a 3D in there and it was only about $30. It turns out everything on the table is half-price. I picked out a 3C like I play now, but this one's a genuine Bach and is gold plated which is an expensive option. It was the same price, just a hair over $30. So I bought that one also. I asked the guy if they were keeping the store open until 6 like it says online, and he said they're closing at 4 these days.
I rode back to Whole Foods and got some hot food there and went upstairs to get an alcohol-free beer, and they were really pissy about it this time. I don't get it, because I'd been tipping a dollar each time, same as I used to for a regular beer. I was finally able to get a can of seltzer water from them but they were not very happy about it. With that attitude, I'm swearing off that bar upstairs at all. I later found where the cans of seltzer water are kept cold downstairs, when they're stocked, and there are plenty of other things too.
I ate and then had coffee etc. and got out there at 6:15. I played until 8:15 and it not only felt slow but I kept having to "sniffle" my nose, sneezed at least once, and my eyes stung a bit. And, I realized after it had become dark that I'd not even seen the sun set, which is something I normally notice. (Sure enough, I was to get back here and check the air quality and it's about 130.)
The "customers" of note tonight were a Karen who went on about my playing "Danny Boy" which she'd heard played at funerals "Yes, Irish funerals will often have it" I noted. And wanted to talk quite a bit about how many Marines had died in the latest bombing in Afghanistan. Mainly she wanted to talk, block other people from putting in tips (although a couple did) and not tip, herself. I finally played St. James Infirmary with extra dolorousness and that chased her off.
The other "prize" was a couple of guys, one quite tall, who were pulled in by my playing Amazing Grace. The tall one said they, or at least he, was a vet and showed me an embroidered ball cap with a bunch of military ribbons and "Operation Iraqui Freedom" on it. "Operation Iraqui Liberation", I read aloud, which was the original name of the mission, the initials being O.I.L. He didn't seem to pick up on that though, and the hat still had the price tag hanging off. He asked me if I could play Reveille and I actually did a pretty good rendition of it, considering I never practice it. He stood at attention and saluted, which was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Then he tipped, giving me a $20 and getting $15 back, making him a better person than the Karen.
There were other interesting incidents. A (homeless probably) guy went around with his bare butt hanging out of his pants, while I played "What A Wonderful World". What a wonderful world indeed. Some kind of thing happened right behind me, I think a normal guy was there and a normal-looking but not normal gal/person made a grab for my tip box or the money within, and the normal guy kind of barked at them. A dirty (prostitute) mumbling to herself wandered around.
It may be a "flagship" Whole Foods but however nice the area may look superficially, there's a literal river of homeless, along the, um, well, river, a short walk away. That's the thing about this area - it might look "gentrified" there are homeless/crazies/zombies mixed right in. Normally being mixed in with the relatively affluent would mean that many more opportunities to get started detailing cars, or handyman work, or such things but these creeps are too far gone.
After 2 hours of this I'd made $62.70.
I took a little loop around downtown but not much was going on. There was a (loud) concert in the park, and that was finishing up - everything was closing up. The city of San Jose is closed by 9, for the most part, even on a Friday night.
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