Safe as helicopters

 141st day sober. Last night I counted out a ton of nuts and machine screws and such things, to re-do some Ebay listings where I'd listed them as they came, in a bag of "probably" 500 so I'd been calling the bags 400+. But it makes no sense because most people don't need that many, and those who do would rather know exactly how many they're getting for their money. 

I also cleaned up some expensive cables but after all that was tired enough that I didn't do any actual listing, but did some practice and then went to bed. I did more octave stuff, naturally, and I note that I *am* making progress. I also worked on two more new things to play, "Edelweiss" and "Those Were The Days" not the version from the TV show "All In The Family" but the other one. 

I woke up at about 4. I got out of here at about 5:30 and my first stop was at "Smile Market" which is my connection for rubbing alcohol, where I got two bottles of the stuff. Then I went over to Lee's for some food, and ate over at the college. 

By the time I had eaten and got started playing, it was 6:40 just like yesterday. It was windy, but Whole Foods looked pretty busy and the carts were all out of the rack. And the weird beggar-banjo guy wasn't there. So I started in, and it went ... OK I guess. Because of the wind, and it got dark soon, people hurried in and out. 

Plus there was a zombie. Said zombie had once been a Black female, but now it was a zombie in a tattered black dress with a belt made of packing plastic, going around doing random zombie things. It hassled people but not really for money per se, just hassled them then staggered off. It dragged things around, pulled a cart into the parking lot entrance then abandoned it when the cart locked up, dragged a big cardboard box around etc. 

In the movies zombies are attracted by sound and this one seemed to act like a movie zombie. My trumpet playing being the sound. I had pepper spray ready to give it a face full if it got too close, but I made no secret of this and it kept its distance. Finally I was done playing and yes, had played Edelweiss a couple of times, the obligatory playing of Ave Maria and I *am* improving on that one, and worked quite a bit on "Those Were The Days" because it's a pretty neat tune. When my time was up I went into Whole Foods for some shopping, and I'd made $38.47. 

And once I emerged from Whole Foods, having bought things like eggs and celery and so on, I noticed the zombie was nowhere to be seen, as there was no longer the sound source, my trumpet playing, to attract it. 

I will have to start getting out there earlier, though, because it just gets too sketchy around there once it's dark. 

Today I listened to a somewhat annoying radio show called "Says You" but at least I learned what the term "four flusher" means. It comes from the game of poker, where you need 5 cards of a certain type to have a "flush" but sometimes dishonest people will show 4 cards and claim that they have a "flush" hoping in the excitement of the game to get away with it. 

Sayings are funny. If you've read the book Brave New World, you'll know the expression used in that strange world, "Safe as helicopters". In 1931 when the book was written, helicopters were barely a thing and certainly not safe. But now they're considered extra safe for some reason. Like if there's a rescue up in the mountains or something, once they're in the rescue helicopter they're considered completely safe; the danger's over. I'm waiting for that saying to come around.