147th day sober. Last night I listed Ebay stuff and was all set to practice but really early in the morning the pavement guys showed up and I thought they might paint the whole parking lot, because they were cleaning the whole thing. It turned out they were putting in new speed bumps, but since I'm not supposed to really be living in here, I decided not to practice because some of the guys were hanging out talking right outside the door here. So I read the first bit of Graham Greene's "Our Man In Havana" and went to sleep.
I woke up at about 3:30. I had coffee and stuff and got out of here at 4:30. I stopped at Nijiya for some sushi and after eating, oiled the trumpet valves and picked my teeth and chewed gum on the ride over to Whole Foods so when I got there all I needed to do was use the bathroom and then I just set up to play.
I started at 5:20 and played until 7:30. The zombie was not around, and there was a security guard working who was really serious about his job - he walked around and really watched things. I talked with him a bit, telling him about the zombie and about some of the hijinks I've seen around there and we had a good laugh.
It was a nice, ordinary busking session. I played stuff, it felt slow but people did tip, after it got darkish some sketchy people went in and out of Whole Foods and at one point a few went in, with their neck tattoos and B.O. laden clothes, and one of them, a female well on her way to hag-dom, asked me what I was doing, "Making money?" and I said, "A little," and then on her way out, carrying a bunch of groceries in a double bag, she complained to me in a comradely way about how heavy it is. I said she should have gotten two bags and she said she did, and I tried to explain, Gotten two bags one for each hand so the load would be balanced but by then she was hurrying off down the sidewalk to whatever hoboville these types are coming from.
The rough types seem to appreciate my music and it's good to have them on my side. They might even be why that zombie wasn't pestering me tonight.
But it was pretty nice, no hassles, and I think I timed things well because by the time getting dark the tips slowed way down, and by the time I was actually playing my last few minutes and had told myself "one more tip and I'm outta here" it was really dead. I was playing "Strangers In The Night", one of Rabbit Trumpet Guy's tunes and not my favorite but it's not a bad tune at all. It's great for showing off the sound of the trumpet, goes around in an interesting way, and doesn't go high enough to be a strain.
I also played the Schindler's List theme and "Edelweiss" so I am enlarging my repertoire. And played Ave Maria a couple of times for the practice, as I really want to get that one down pat.
When I was done playing I'd made $63. so even after buying various things yesterday and today, I have $49 in my wallet for "walking around money", put $50 in cash savings, will make whatever I make tomorrow, and have hardly touched my pay check.
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