Monday, November 8, 2021

Getting packages out before the rain.

 190th day sober. Yesterday was fairly productive. I gave myself a much-needed haircut, scrubbed my legs (when you don't have access to a shower and bathing is a splashy affair involving a tub and lot of cardboard laid out on the floor, I've found it can work pretty well to scrub your upper half or lower half with a worn-in Scotch-Brite and Windex, wiping up with paper towels, and it works better than you'd think) and left here at 3 to check out this large strip mall that's past the Filipino market on Brokaw (which goes through about 3 name changes by then). 

That was ... interesting. I wanted something to eat, first, and checked out the Vietnamese sandwich place. They had no grab-and-go stuff like a Lee's generally does, and I ordered a sandwich. Then I noticed they had some sticky rice with sausage on top things and changed my mind and got one of those. I handed the lady a $20 and she gave me change for a $10.... 

After eating my sticky rice sitting on the curb, I walked past the homeless bedding materials spread out on the corner and the human shit smeared on the walkway there, and rode around looking at what's there. There was a combination Filipino market and food place that does either breakfast or party platters and has a few lame groceries. Maybe all their money's in breakfast... 

There was a Carl's there and I decided what the hell. There was a 2 for $6 deal with either the "Famous Star" or the "Western Bacon Cheeseburger". The guy told me I could get one of each and I did that. Sadly, the burgers were tasteless and touch, slathered with tons of sauce and on hard, stale, buns. Carl's used to be good, decades ago... 

There was not much else going on. The "anchor" store used to be a big supermarket but that was abandoned, and everything was run-down and the only people I saw around were, besides a few workers in the stores and a few customers for the Vietnamese place I'd gone and the Pho place, homeless bums staggering around. 

When I'd paid for my burgers I saw the $10 sitting in my wallet and remembered I'd handed the lady a $20. I'd been short-changed by $10. I went back over there and explained what had happened, and a big guy, probably the son of the lady who waited on me, ended up in the middle with her jabbering away in Vietnamese and myself jabbering away in English. I didn't get mad or anything and figured I had a pretty low chance of getting the $10 back, but they ought to know what happened. But I did indeed get the $10 back, and I think it was just a mix-up. Apparently the lady thought I'd ordered the sandwich too, in addition to the sticky rice, and I think they'd gone ahead and made the sandwich. Now I feel bad. If I'd been more patient I could have avoided those awful burgers... 

All done at the Miserable Mall(tm) I rode over to 99 Ranch for some shopping. Waiting in line, and the line was moving slowly, was a young gal with only two tubs of tofu in her hand. "It's a long wait just for tofu," I said, and that got us talking. She said I must like Asian food and I said I grew up in Hawaii so it's just regular old food to me. She said something about how people are very much in a hurry and competitive here and I said I know, this area just seems to be about work-work-work no friends. 

It was a nice little conversation. When I said "mainland" referring to here, she was confused at first because in English when you hear "mainland" it's always mainland China. This is the mainland, I explained, pointing down at the ground at my feet. It's really saying something, though, when someone who probably has Hong Kong or Taiwan roots, two go-go places, tell you this area is hectic and impersonal. 

I rode on home, and noticed it was getting dark although it was only 5. That's the time change. I remember the time Daylight Savings Time was tried in Hawaii. It was a disaster. People came to work an hour too early, an hour too late, no one knew quite what was going on, and it was sort of quietly decided we're on an island out in the middle of the ocean and we don't need to do that and we're not gonna do that again. At least until everyone who remembers that farce has moved on, then some bright politician will come up with a neat idea... 

At 99 Ranch I'd found some "spare rib stew" or something like that, for about $5 a lb. The beef I used to get at Nijiya is $15 a lb now. Prices have gone up. If I'm going to work out a long-term plan to convert and retire in Israel, I need to change over to a diet that doesn't lean so heavily on things like pork and shrimp. So I got this stuff, trimmed it out into meat with some fat for me and chunks of fat to put out for the birds, and got 3, 4-oz. servings for $6.50 or so, which isn't bad at all. It'd be an even better value if I could figure out a use for lots of beef fat. 

So that's 3 beef curries to look forward to, and I guess beef and dairy are back on the menu, but eating the Israeli way involves using lots of vegetables. 

I got Ebay things listed last night and also got my hour of practice in, feeling a little rusty because I'd skipped a few days, but it went OK. I can't think of any other way to get good than to practice dutifully, an hour a day, and gradually work up to more practice.

For a short while here I thought I was screwing up my right shoulder, a certain small band of muscle, by playing violin. But I realized it's been colder so I've been zipping my sleeping bag up much more when I get in and out of it, and that involves a very awkward motion using my right arm/shoulder. So I've been training myself to do it using the other hand or be more careful about it and the problem is going away. 

A very good article on where we are, and where we're going: https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/05/the-brazilianization-of-the-world/

I like the term mentioned in it; "Belindia", the idea of a society with an affluent "Belgium" on top and a poor "India" below, which is what I see here. From Brokaw Road I can ride a bit North and see what I call Dilbertville, which is part of our Belgium - techies making good money (at least until they're 40) owning cars, having access to health care, making payments on their houses, the whole thing. Or I can turn South and see my share of homeless camps, and the glory of what I call "Hamsterdam" downtown and it just gets poorer South from there. 

That excellent article also talks about a white elite and a mixed working class, that no matter how hard they work will never become part of the elite because they're not "pure". As someone who's not "pure" myself, I have to admit this is almost certainly why my father's side of the family, fairly numerous in California, have not wanted to have anything to do with me. They'll all help each other get ahead but not the "impure". 

So what do you do if you're in the "India" side of society? The same thing that's worked for 1000s of years, of course. You'd better be good at a 1000s of years old skills like music, art, buying-and-selling or thieving of some sort, or be an outstanding athlete. High tech isn't anywhere in the picture. You have to be a member of the elite to have the access to the internet that allows actually doing YouTube videos, for instance. 

So, 1000s of years old skills it is.

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