158th day sober. I listed a bunch of Ebay things last night and then felt really awake, with the result that I didn't go to bed until past 9AM. I read a bit more of "White Noise" and it continues to be interesting.
I ordered some "peg soap" on Amazon last night. A real bugaboo for me with violins has been pegs slipping and there's nothing more demoralizing than opening a violin case and finding the pegs have all decided to loosen themselves and the strings are all slack - like wtf? I plan to get a hole reamer too.
The box containing the "Bunnell" violin I ordered should be arriving at Ken's house today, and I'll get it whenever Ken drops it off here. The kit is supposed to come with a bow and rosin and all that, but I plan to be set up to mess around with violins to the extent of being able to replace a sound post, replace pegs and so on.
I got a weird email today, a survey from Amazon about why I've not used their pickup points for a year. My response was pretty incredulous. Hopefully the left hand learns what the right hand is doing over there. My responses were basically, "Come on, guys, I use Amazon pick up points all the time and love 'em!".
I'd packed 8 or 9 packages, some large-ish ones, and took off at the usual time, just a bit after 6. It's really cooled down and looked almost like it might sprinkle (it didn't). The drop-offs went OK, and behind H Mart I picked up a lot of bananas, some limes, a couple small lotus roots, and a bag of Persian cucumbers. I boxed those up with boxes from behind Baja Fresh, the bananas in their own box and the rest of the stuff in a box.
I picked up some fried chicken, paying with quarters from the pill bottle full of quarters I keep on the bike and which holds $10.50. I'd spend exactly half of my last pay check, $175, and this is how I keep spending down.
I stopped by Tom's to drop off the bananas and although the lights were all out, Lo and behold he was there. He looked like hell. Dirty, esp. his feet, long hair not even tied up, dirty all over really. I told him I'd been by yesterday and all the lights were on but "I guess you were passed out" and he made no comment to that. He appreciated the bananas, and I told him about my tips for trumpet playing going way down and my decision to take some time off until December. I told him how I'd made just a hair under 2 grand in 2 months and 2 weeks, and he said that's more than he made selling figurines. "And I don't have to take the train up to the City, pay $20 or more for transit, and all the time", I said. "And you don't have.... don't have... " "I don't have any overhead!" I said. He had to *buy* those figurines, after all. Plus lug them up there and from what he was saying, that was not easy.
Still, he'd not been practicing and he even gave me back the mouthpiece I'd given him. I told him about the fruit and veggies I'd been finding and how he ought to check behind H Mart and also check that Dept of Education place every time he goes by, because they toss out all kinds of "school grade" furniture and he can sell it without having to do much to it. "You think people will buy that?" he asked and I said Sure, because people homeschool and besides they get nostalgic.
He was all set to turn on the outdoor light and to sit and shoot the bull for a while, but I said I had to get back home and eat the chicken I'd bought and then his friend who lives in a van and has been doing a lot of work for him on his building, came by. So I said, "Here comes your friend" and said Hi to the guy as I headed out, and got back here and had my fried chicken and followed it up with a nice bowl of cucumber slices.
I decided it would be a good idea to vacuum the office but ... how long has it been since I changed the vacuum cleaner bag? Way too long, apparently, as I opened it up out in the parking lot and it was awful. So I got that all cleaned up, actually *washing* the top part that has the motor and the container part that's the bottom, and the big rubber band that holds the bag on. The office isn't that bad, and I'll let everything dry overnight then put it all back together.
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