New Year's Eve 2022

 I woke up at something like 5 in the afternoon. I'd woken up around noon, remembered I'd told myself I could sleep all I want, and then, well, slept some more. It's pouring outside and on Reddit people are showing photos of local creeks which are really full. 

I wonder how many people remember the Katrina-level flooding we got in a part of downtown some years ago? Not right where the big buildings are but an area with older houses. It wasn't a large area but I believe it was something like 15 feet of water in some places and the guys who have those trucks that are jacked up high with the big tires went around doing rescues. 

I had no special plans for today anyway. I knew it was going to rain heavily. I've heard back from the guy on the island of Oahu, the guy with two houses and all the antiques etc., so now we're able to communicate using email. That's not as easy to do as it was decades ago. For instance, Ken's wife Suzy and I can't communicate using email. It's phone calls (and I always feel like I need a real reason to call) or it's written letters. We've tried email and have not been able to get it to work. 

I actually have a theory that The Internet wants people to hate each other. It's fairly well documented in cases like Twitter, Facebook, etc. More hatred = more traffic and more use of the sites. More use of the sites means they can charge advertisers more for ads. More hatred is going to result in more views etc. on YouTube also, and I watch YouTube a lot. It's nice to know all the free-floating hatred is enabling them to make more on the endless ads for cars (I hate cars!), Doritos (a real puzzler as I've not eaten them for years and don't like 'em) off-the-wall shit anywhere from maternity pants to holidays in Portugal advertised in Spanish, and for some high weirdness, I keep seeing ads for the latest model of Learjet. Like, WTF? 

So maybe email programs or The Internet make more money somehow even on emails if people either hate each other, or what I'm noticing is, email being very unreliable and strange. It might be that they're Apple users but both my friend on the big island and my evil aunt send emails that are all chopped-up and nearly indecipherable. In fact I just told my friend on the big island that I'm going to cut-and-paste what new stuff he's written that I can find, and quote it in a new email with a new subject. Otherwise it's like an electronic version of trying to piece back together a letter that's gone through a paper shredder. 

I was having coffee etc. just in time for "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" to start on the radio, and to turn it off. I can't stand that show. It's predicated on the idea that being smart and clever and quick are desirable qualities to have, that will get you far in life. The real world doesn't work that way and I hate anyone who tries to pass this lie off as truth. Reality is that you are born into a level in the social class system and there's really nothing you can do about it. What you do for a living and even your interests are based on this basic social-class position and other factors such as your all-important race classification, location, what your parents or their friends are interested in, etc. I can rank my relatives in terms of wealth and in terms of the inverse of their intelligence and it will come out the same ranking. Empathy, a bit harder to measure but I have a general idea, would result in the same ranking also. 

What "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" proposes is that you can be witty and clever and it will gain you social "points". In reality, try to treat life like an episode of that execrable show and the people you are trying to impress will get together at tennis or golf and talk a bit about how you're "odd" or ruined the "mood" and then without words even, mutually agree that you must never be promoted, or invited to tennis or golf, and must be walled-off the way the body walls off any irritant. You were Trying To Rise Above Your Station. 

This is why I'm the fuckup, really. From youngest to oldest: Married a cop, Went into the Army then went to work for a credit-card company nagging people poorer than herself for money (did great at this, as she's bossy, petty, and mean; perfect qualities for the job), myself, then older brother went into the Navy then worked building fighter planes for the kind of company you get into straight after being in the Navy. The oldest was sent to that elite prep school and married a guy who also went there (you're really not allowed to marry a "commoner") who's not very smart but again, smarts don't matter. He came from enough wealth that being a lawyer or doing anything he wanted to do was a given, and now she's a fat hausfrau who's very satisfied with herself as well she should be. 

Except for myself, none of us set foot on a college campus. I'm the fuckup because I'm the one who got suckered into the scam of "going to college to rise up in life". Again, that's not how things work and my siblings were at least smart enough to realize this. The oldest, pampered and promoted and given the best of everything, was able to successfully wear the camouflage of being my father's original social class, was a perfect fit for Punahou School as she had the snobbery bit down pat, and thus lives as someone in that social class now. 

The rest of 'em were smart in that they went into, or married someone who was, the upper respectable end of working-class. The police, the Army, the Navy, a credit-card company (where China has a social score which is at least based on the good one does for society, in the US we have the credit score which just measures how useful we are to the banks and that is used as a measure of how useful we are to society). 

When I was little I wanted to be a lot of things. I was told, often, that I wanted to be an artist so I kind of believed that. I wanted to be scientist, very much. I read all the books I could get my hands on about science and loved the microscope I got from the Punahou Carnival "White Elephant" sale and the chemistry set my mom got me. Maybe she had wanted to be a scientist also. I remember one day, she actually got together with me to do an experiment to electro-plate a key. It kind of worked, in that the copper went to the key but it didn't stick and we just ended up with a key that had a brown fuzzy coat that washed off. But Mom was really interested. I've even heard rumors she took college classes, and studied things like calculus. But people of her social class don't become scientists. 

I think I was steered toward art because it was seen as a good blue-collar profession. Even as late as the 90s, an artist could make good money working for magazines and advertising and such things. At the time, it seemed a sure ticket to starvation (I didn't know then what I've since learned about begging and hustling and I wish I did!) and I didn't want to go into anything that made next to zero money. 

A friend of my dad's was in electronics somehow and I hung over his shoulder one evening watching him build a kit, and he told me what the parts were all named. It seemed electronics was a good field to go into, and tons of people - I wish I could go back in time and kick them all in the teeth - told me "You're smart, you should go to college". That's how I ended up making less than the guys in the warehouse who only needed to be high school drop-outs to get *their* jobs and with college loan debt to pay off too. And even that 1980s job was doomed, as there are no jobs for electronics techs at all any more.

Forget about being a scientist. Only a select few, who come from money, get to do that. Art seems to have gone back to how it's been, traditionally, also. A hobby for the rich and an occupation for a very, very few. I've tried to get into sign painting, a good solid blue-collar profession, but it actually takes a lot of materials and it takes a good work space, which I don't have and would have to pay for. I imagine myself having to go out busking to pay for a studio in the School Of Visual Arts downtown, then busking more to afford materials to make and sell signs at a loss... 

I could have been knocked over with a feather when I learned that my mother and her sister, my rich evil aunt, had played accordions as a "sister act" in theaters in Southern California. They must have been at least fairly good at it. The story is my mother didn't want to do it any more when she began to "develop". And I guess any and all thoughts of her playing any kind of music were done and over with when she married my dad, because nice upper-middle-class WASPS and those aspiring to pass themselves off as such, don't play the accordion, or anything really. 

Electronics seemed like a way out of the highly class-and-race stratified society in Hawaii of the 70s and 80s. Plus, I thought synthesizers were fascinating and thought it might be a sort of sneaky way to get into music. Music was what really interested me. I think it's one of the few windows of hope for a working-class kid. You don't need to be big and strong to do it (if you're really working-class you're growing up small and lean and wiry, not big enough to go into basketball or football) it doesn't take up tons of room like a sign-painting studio would, and it's quite inexpensive to do as occupations go. 

It was made clear to, whether actually true or not, that I'd not get funding for college unless I went into something "useful" like engineering. And I'm not sure how one gets into a music program even now. I believe you have to audition, and that would have required at least a few years on an instrument with proper training in classical works and technique, to get in. Maybe it would have been possible to study "World Music" or "Ethnic Music" or something and get around the audition filter, but it was made clear to me that one went to college for survival, and that meant a "useful" degree. I didn't know at the time how useful a survival skill music is! 

My dad would tell me, regarding are, "Someone can beat you up, and you can get up and still draw a picture". Of course a "moke" (Hawaiian version of redneck) can simply break every bone in my hands or bash my head in, and I'd certainly not be able to get up and draw a picture. That's where he was wrong. But, if I can play music and as long as I am not an utter, utter, shithead, the moke or anyone else, would not want to beat me up in the first place. 

I've seen that here on the mainland, talking with working-class whites outside a sports bar, as handy a place to find a fight as down by the docks in Kalihi, and we get talking about Deep Purple's Machine Head album or where Lynerd Skynerd got their name, and it's just all hearts and flowers. 

There's a lot of "You think you're better than me?" type resentment in Hawaii and it's for good reason. Haoles thinking Hawaiians are dumb, when Hawaii had a nearly 100% literacy rate when it was a kingdom. Different groups being excluded from opportunities, for instance Punahou School was whites-only once upon a time. The result is, it's really, really easy to offend someone even with things that would fly just fine on the mainland. Being a caricaturist or even a portrait artist is out. Especially if you're white or white-passing. In fact, if you're not Pacific Islander, selling anything in Waikiki is right out. The rules are bent considerably for most and only enforced to the very letter on haoles. But playing music, that's fine. And playing an instrument that's considered understated and "classy" is even fine-er, as Waikiki, like Santa Cruz years ago, is a bit over-populated with amplified guitars. 

Even in a place where it's not forbidden for physical things to be exchanged for money, music wins because if you sell a thing, then the person buying it has to carry the damned thing around and maybe they walk a few blocks and and decide they regret dropping that $20 on a little painting of Diamond Head. But having heard music and impulsively dropped that $20, they won't feel so bad about it because ... it's music. 

I'll even go so far as to say, if a mainlander comes over and is hustling all kinds of art they've made, maybe even they've done workshops with leading impressionists and plein-air artists and have come to Hawaii to exercise their skills, there's going to be a certain resentment. Aren't there enough local artists trying to make a living? And impressionism, we've got the Herb Kawainui school of painting, what more do we need? 

But music is 180 degrees opposite. Sure, competition for "gigs" is probably fierce as it is everywhere. But music is much more cooperative, not individualistic the way art is. Go out and busk, be easygoing, prove you can "go along and get along" as Mom used to say, and there's not going to be the feeling that you're competition "against" those who are already there. 

It rained all day and into the night and it's nice to be in, just listening to it. Eventually I got around to taking a thing apart that a customer wanted to make a lowball offer on, and I decided to just "part out" as we can get 3X as much for it in parts. But it was a real bastard to take apart so that took a few hours. But eventually I had it done and put the scrap metal out for the bums. 

I also put out trimmings from salmon trimmings. I occasionally get these packages of salmon "trim" that I further trim and freeze in single servings, and end up passing on about 1/3 of it to the birds. So the crows and gulls should eat well tomorrow morning. 

 

Friday dry day

 I woke up at around 1:30, and noticed to my surprise that it wasn't raining outside. So I got myself together and packed the two things that had sold, one to go to the post office and one to FedEx, and left here around 11 or a bit after. I didn't even stop for coffee. 

After dropping off trash and the one package at the post office then went to the bank and deposited my check. I was off by a couple of dollars, probably due to fat-fingering something.

I went to Whole Foods and picked out a bottle of B vitamins and tried to pay with the gift card Giovanni had given me. The card had never been initialized. So I just got out cash and paid for the vitamins, that was easy enough. 

Then I picked out some "tandoori" chicken wings and went upstairs and had a pint low-test (4.5%)  beer with 'em. I talked a while with be bartender (it was almost empty up there) and we talked about various things, mainly how horrible politics are becoming in the US. It turns out the guy had lived in San Martin, and I said I'd been in the northern edge of Gilroy, so we felt even more of a kinship - in both of our minds were the same streets and the trees and the wind and the smell of a pepper field growing and the general atmosphere of that area of maybe 10 square miles. The guy had taken bamboo and made a lot of flutes at one time, only one of which ended up being any good. I guess I've known him a few years now and he's followed my "career" with trumpet and always encouraged me. He was also playing some great music up there so it was very pleasant. 

I rode out of there and up to the FedEx place further up The Alameda which I'd actually intended to go to first. That package was an easy drop-off. 

Then as I headed back toward downtown I started to get sprinkled on, and I only stopped at Lee's for some day-old croissants which were $7 for the two bags as it wasn't late in the day enough for the 2-for-one deal. 

Then to the pitter-pat of tiny raindrops on my jacket, I headed to Nijiya. I loaded up there, including a 24-pack of watery beer. The pack is big enough that I've got a trick of cutting the box in half with my pocketknife - generally kept almost sharp enough to shave with - and putting each half in one bag. 

I rode home, pretty loaded up (I'd found a few books to take home too) and expecting to be rained on, but ideally I'd get back in here and *then* it would start raining cats 'n' dogs. But instead it's been dry.

Yet another good state

 Last night I did some checking because the map I posted didn't show Hawaii or Alaska, and I still don't know or care about Alaska but I did some looking around about Hawaii and it's losing a net 19 people a day. This is even after adding 7 a day to births and there seems to be a steady flow of Filipinos and Micronesians coming in. I guess the rule is, if you're a stupid country, to concentrate the stupid into stupid areas so you get stupid upon stupid.... I know nice people leave states that are blue on that map but if you've got that many people leaving, to go to places like the red states on the map .... that's a lot of stupid on the move. 

I found another map on Reddit with weird colors, and it has the population loss for Hawaii as much higher. 

Last night I found some stuff to sort out in the back, found good stuff and about 3 boxes of junk to put out for the scavengers plus I took one gadget apart and kept the few good parts off of that, so I had things to list but didn't list them as I felt really tired around 3AM and just wanted to get some sleep. 

I woke up around 11:30 and surprisingly, it was dry outside. I went back to sleep for another hour and then got up and it was still dry. I had things packed and just had to find and pack one more small thing, and I was out of here around 2. 

I dropped things off at the post office and FedEx, and did some shopping at 99 Ranch and H Mart. I had a kind of wholesome r/idontworkherelady moment in H Mart, in that I was wearing my high-vis vest as I almost always do when I'm out shipping packages, and a lady come up and asked me where the pineapple juice (I think?) was. I said I don't work there but I know the store pretty well, and her English was not good so she had to struggle with it, but I was able to tell her the next two aisles from where we were, were all juices and drinks, so that's where to look. She was delighted to hear this and took off to find her juice.

I got here back and relaxed with some coffee and peanut butter mochi (there's a brand that 99 Ranch sells that's really good) and presently Ken came by. After he called me last night and asked if I wanted him to come by this week with a check, I said I did, but then a short while afterward  I called him up and said it was no big deal and if he didn't want to come by it was fine, because it's raining so much. But he said he had to go to a bank nearby to "drop off some money" so then I didn't feel so mean for wanting him to come by. 

I got my check and he didn't stay long. I was curious why he had to "drop off money "at a bank (which is kind of weird) and for some reason he had to do a bank to bank transfer in person. Yeah, whatever - it's his business anyway. Ken's not great with money but also he deals in large amounts at once, like 20 and 30 grand, so I guess at times it means going out on a rainy day to do things in person at the bank. 

In any case, Ken didn't stay long. And, depending on how rainy it is tomorrow I may or may not go out and if I don't, I won't even bother with the bank until the middle of next week because Monday's a holiday. 

One sunny day

 Wednesday. I've got one sunny day to do some shipping, then will be socked in for the rest of the week. This is all fine, except if I want the numbers to work out right, I need to deposit my pay check this week, rain or not. 

I woke up around noon, thinking about this. I can walk and take the light rail downtown tomorrow, or I can just go on my bike as long as I go what feels like super-slow except it's really not. Going as slow as needed to keep from splashing water up on myself is still really fast compared to walking. And my bike being a "mobile shopping basket", means I can buy things and carry them home much more easily. 

For some reason, due to indulging in watery beer mostly and spending in general, I'll be at -$90 in the bank so this week I'll be extra careful. The watery beer seems to have made my headache go away, but in place it leaves another problem which is that I'm drinking this watery beer. But if lack of hydration is the problem, and coffee and black tea aren't keeping me hydrated enough, I can just get some green tea or some fizzy water. 

I'm trying to get my Big Island friend to cough up the email address of the guy who's got the antiques etc. He's making an impression on me of being one of those people who like drama. He says the guy and I ought to correspond directly, but then he refuses to give me the guy's email address, or, apparently, give mine to him, as I've suggested. 

I can't make this bigger but it pretty much gives the idea: For some reason, a lot of people are moving from the best states and going to the worst ones. I mean, I'm going back to Hawaii because it's so much cheaper and nicer than anywhere on the mainland, but I've actually thought at times about NY, after all, the author of The Geography Of Nowhere, found Somewhere to live, namely Saratoga Springs. 

Harvey Pekar seemed to be pretty comfortable in Chicago, and I even had some pretty serious thoughts about moving to Near Orleans or just outside it, until I realized there's an action-packed Rescue-911 type show with plenty of good old blood'n'gore, where all they do is send a film crew out with an ambulance there. An. Ambulance. And it takes a lot of video to trim down and get a good 45-minute show. But that's exciting New Orleans! 

All I can think is, there are a ton of boomers who are Right politically and who have some house they got for next to nothing many decades ago and now it's time to cash out and buy a "big ol' spread" and not have to drive too far to get to the local Klan meeting. California, New York, and Illinois sure don't need 'em.

Anyway, I had time to pack 18 things and get 'em sent off and not get rained on. Horray for me! 

Ken's called and said he won't be by tonight, and can "probably" come by tomorrow. It's supposed to be rainy all of the rest of the week, so I guess I'll ship what packages I can in the rain and will go to the bank on Friday, in the rain. 

Do the jobs nobody else wants to do

 My dad used to say this, and his life may have gone better if he'd followed his own advice a bit more, but that's a subject for another day. 

I just read something on Reddit where this advice was trundled out, and it's why I'm up at 3AM writing this. When I was in college I took this advice rather literally and worked at the Blue Cross Animal Hospital, doing work that truly, hardly anyone else could be found to do. This did not translate into decent pay or hours or even legal treatment (Dr. Allison, the miserable sod I worked for, didn't believe in the concept of overtime pay, and I never heard of any health insurance although it's required by law for any worker putting in over 20 hours a week in Hawaii). 

But this same advice applies to Joshua Bell, the tip-top concert violinist. There's an old joke, where some wealthy matron exclaims to the violin virtuoso whose concert she's just attended, "I'd give my life to be able to play like that" and the violinist looks her in the eye and says, "Well, Madam, I did." 

Everyone likes to hear good music but hardly anyone wants to put in the effort to get good enough at playing music to be enjoyable to listen to. I thought I had to make myself useful by doing something that would always be in demand because it's scut work. But it applies on the high end also. 

But it's not just that precious observation that has me here, writing this down. It seems a mutual friend of my friend on the Big Island, this mutual friend being on the island of Oahu, has 2 houses full of antiques or something like that, and has also had a stroke and is hard to even understand. My friend on the Big Island seems to want me to go to Oahu and help him sell all of this stuff, and if I wait until 2024 to move there as planned, "The county will take it all". 

I've shot back, "Doesn't he have any family at all?" and maybe he doesn't, I don't know. In any case I've got my plans and my schedule and my loyalty to Ken, a guy who's been a staunch friend since I moved to the Bay Area in 2003, over a guy I happened to hike the Haiku Stairs with almost 40 years ago. 

I might be able to walk the guy through selling his stuff ... I don't know why my Big Island friend doesn't go over and help out, except he seems to have fibromyalgia or something and so he can't, although he's 1000s of miles closer. 

Everyone wants me to work for them ...  

I went to bed after drinking plenty of watery beer and since I'd stayed up into around 8AM, I slept, with one break around 10, until 3.  That actually seems to be somewhat common for me no matter what I've been drinking, to get up 2-3 hours after going to bed for a visit to the john, then back to sleep. 

So I woke up and had a look at the video feed - it was pouring. It's a holiday week for a lot of people and apparently in keeping with this, the "parking lot people", a guy with a young child and a large-ish dog, are back. I think they live in the unit on the end. They don't bother anyone, and the large-ish dog, if it's protective, is a good idea considering the bums that come through here. 

And the day after

 Last night I just drank up the rest of the watery beer I had around the place and I'm not sure what time I went to bed but I woke up at something like 6AM perfectly awake, and had to make myself go back to sleep until about noon. 

I had my beloved chicory coffee and left here at about 1. I just dropped off trash and donated the $10 bottle of "Ecological" fabric softener to the Japantown little free library, as I've got some real stuff and a source for it - the dollar store. 

My primary reason for going out was to drop off my donation towards the Dharma Center the temple is building, a thing I'll never see myself, as I'll be back home. 

I went into Nijiya and spent about $40 on a nice tempura bento, some kazunoku konbu which is herring eggs on seaweed, and a 24-pack of Kirin Ichiban beer since the Asahi stuff, according to the guy at the checkout, wasn't on sale any more (this turn out to not be true). 

A 24-pack is heavy to carry but I had a plan - I cut the big box in half, very carefully, and put each half in one cloth Whole Foods bag. 

I got back and tried the kazunoko konbu  and Wowwwww was it salty! So I soaked it in 2 changes of cold water and then it was ... OK I guess. "Outdoor Chef Life" on YouTube raves about it, and he has a nice episode where he gathers it here in the bay, but it might taste a ton better when gathered fresh. At least  I tried it. 

Uni's the same. I got some uni from the store and tried it and it was OK I guess. But in Hawaii there are 5 types of sea urchins I can think of right off, and going to the beach there is as simple as a walk, with maybe a bus ride. 

Starting at about 3 this afternoon the little weather thing on my computer started saying "sleet off and on" and it's really dark outside for being still mid-afternoon.

Xmas day

 Last night I had some sashimi I'd bought at H Mart, plus plenty of the watery beer. I watched YouTube, drank watery beer, and that was my night. 

I woke up, finally, around 3 in the afternoon. So here we are, Christmas Day. I didn't feel hungover, as there doesn't appear to be enough alcohol in 5% beer to do that to me. But my mouth was dry, and needless to say drinking even weak beer precludes getting any flute practice done. 

I'd far overslept the time to get over to Tom's for the turkey and chicken wings and stuff he was going to grill, along with stuff I was going to bring like some asparagus and zucchini as those grill well. Mushrooms would have been a win too. Plus I'd have had all the Bud Lite I wanted - especially as I was going to bring some beer also. And no doubt be a few bums; "friends" of Tom's and a fair number of food safety violations. It'd have been fun! Meh. 

I got out of here a bit before 4. I stopped by an interesting pile of clothes, donations left as they often are on non-working days, by the Salvation Army on 7th and picked up a pair of sweat pants, more like cold-weather pants, Hurley brand, that look like they might fit just fine. Hey that's about $15 saved and I'd been considering buying another pair. 

After dropping off a bag of trash, I visited the little free libraries and dropped off gallon Ziploc bags full of over-the-counter medications I'd picked up from the EMT training place and packaged up last night. I also found a couple of books I decided to take. 

Next was the 7-11 that's by the Amazon place. There's no non-sketchy 7-11 around here, but I thought I might luck out and I did, and was able to lock my bike outside, go in and buy a $100 money order, and be on my way. For a hot minute the usual aggregation of zombies around the front of the place was not present. It's normally the kind of place where ... I've actually seen a woman lying in the (wet) gutter there as if it were her own beddy-bye. 

That done, I swung by Lee's (closed) and then over to Nijiya. There was a skinny black guy with a lot of bags and junk out front, so I locked my bike up, then went in and got fried fish, eggs, and 3 tall beers. Back outside, I handed one of the beers to the guy, who was now sitting at a table in front of the place next door. I was pretty sure, so I asked him, "Aren't you the guy I gave a dollar to, months ago?" He was, and he said that dollar was exactly something he really needed, and it "carried him through" until his check from "the city" came. 

We talked for a bit, and he told me that he (1) had trouble with people not believing him about things, and (2) that he "played sports", namely basketball and football, for a living. "In earlier years?" I thought, thinking here's some forgotten player from long ago that whatever team he played for maybe ought to give a hand, and he corrected me, No, he plays them now. Pro football. Because of course the pros would just not be fully trained without a guy who at least physically if not chronologically is older than I am, and who might weigh 120lbs after a good meal, to whip them into shape. 

Then came the money. He rummaged around in some package of his or another and had wads of money in there, and in a sort of money-as-cookie-dough way, he tried to give me a sub-wad, of maybe $20 or so. It was for that dollar I'd given him, months ago. I said I was fine, and then he asked if I was Jewish, which I thought might be because I was telling him how to make a really good cup of coffee with just a funnel and "any old jive-ass coffee filter, or even a paper towels works". But it turned out he had several gift cards, and gave me a "Happy Hanukkah" Whole Foods one, that he said has $25 on it. I gave him the last $2 I had on hand in return, and we talked about where various Whole Foods stores are, and on that parted way. I'm to tell them at Whole Foods, to tell them Giovanni sent me, then they'll treat me right. 

The post office is closed tomorrow due to it being a federal holiday. Rain's coming in tomorrow night. I can't go around and mail things and get a postal money order, hence the one from 7-11. What I *can* do tomorrow before it rains is, drop off the $100 for the Dharma Center fund at the temple, and I can go to Whole Foods and see if the gift card is good. That will give me something to do before the rain starts. 

 

Christmas Eve

 Last night I just drank watery beer and watched YouTube and went to bed. I woke up around ... noon? My headache was there, but mild. 

I had two things I had pre-packed, put labels on those and found two more things  I can send by FedEx and packed those, then waited for a bum to finish messing around outside with some sheets of plywood and his Mad Max bike trailer. I'd resigned myself to going out, loading up, and in passing, tossing him some strapping material I have around here, when I looked again and he was gone. 

So I headed out. First dropped off the stuff at FedEx, then rode up to 99 Ranch for more "Curry Mee" hot red curry ramen, some pate', and another thing or two. It came to $16 and I got $60 cash back, so that's my spending for the week - any more will have to come out of the cash in my wallet. This way I know I'm saving $100 (or a bit more this week) in the bank and have money to spend. 

I rode back to H Mart and got more things including more watery beer because why not, and some sashimi, and other odds and ends. I squirreled it all away on the bike, most importantly the 12-pack of beer in one saddlebag so it was effectively invisible. 

I rode back and stopped by Tom's because he's back from Alaska. He was "glad to finally have some company". He offered me a Bud Lite and we sat and ate saltines and summer sausage, "Alaskan hors d'oeuvres" as I joked. He talked about these little stores in Alaska that have nothing but "dry goods" all dry things like crackers or things in cans, and plenty of bottles of hard liquor. No beer, and "you can't hope to see any *bread*" and I joked "Well, it was all brought in by dogsled, don't mind if there's dog hair in it, ya need the fiber". 

I had a 2nd beer, although Tom's plant, a thing we've decided is mint, had a good part of it while Tom stepped out for a whiz. It's kind of nice how well the guy and I get along. A mutual friend is leaving California to be a father to a kid he's had with a gal who left to go back to Alabama or some-such place. And Tom's father's died, that happened early in the month. His ashes will go to the family cemetery in N. Dakota. It turns out Tom's relatives are "mega ranchers", like, featured in Fortune Magazine big. Tom's father had said he ought to get together with them but, "I don't want to play second fiddle to those fuckers", Tom told me. 

All in all it was a nice social little Christmas Eve, and Tom wants to cook turkey and stuff tomorrow. I'm invited, needless to say. I've got about $30 left and I might well decide to swing by H Mart and pick up some beer and something to put on the grill, and see how it goes.

Chrismas Eve-Eve

 Ken came by at about 8 last night. He dropped off some things, we had our usual B.S. session over tea, and all was well. He wrote me a check with an extra $150 on it for Christmas which is cool. I also sold him a bottle of silver nitrate solution I had around here, unused. That got me a crispy $20 which I put back into the Dharma Center fund from which I'd kiped a $20 earlier in the week. 

I tried to get enthusiastic about listing stuff but between my headache and being tired, I just went to bed. Not before having my "holiday chicken leg" and the two beers, and also a bowl of broccoli. Ken had brought over a bunch of food and besides the raw broccoli I got yesterday, this was already cooked so I just re-cooked it. 

There was a big box of frozen non-meat burgers, a couple more of those in their own little package, plus orange juice, sodas, some kind of rice based dishes, etc. Once Ken was gone I put it all into a big plastic tub with the frozen cooling packs Ken had brought also, and put it out for the bums, or someone, to take. When  I got up it was gone. 

I went to sleep until about 8AM and was really not sleepy, in that I was torn between just getting up and doing stuff, or going back to sleep until about 11 to get a more normal amount of sleep. I ended up doing this second thing, and when I got up at about 11:30 or noon, my headache was barely there. 

I packed 9 small things I could take to the post office, and actually it was 10 because a customer was a bit miffed that I didn't send a power cord with something they'd bought, so I said I'd pop one in the mail right away. So I got out of here at 3, tossed trash in my "secret" trash can, then rode cautiously past the zombie show that is St. James Park and dropped my packages off at the downtown post office. 

Next was the bank and their calculations and mine agree to the penny so that's good. I then meandered in the way of Dai Thanh but decided to take in a bit of Xmas in the park on the way, and Wendall was there so I stopped by. We talked a bit, and agreed that I ought to buy him a jug of sangria for Christmas. So I headed out with that in mind. 

I rode my bike over to the "SoFa Market" and locked it there, used the loo, and walked over to Dai Thanh to get a can of chicory coffee and I got some hell money for Wendall because hell money's fun to have around when you're a busker. I walked down the street on the way back to the hole in the wall liquor store where they used to sell jugs of sangria almost as cheap as at CVS. They... don't sell 'em any more. I settled for some kind of fizzy red wine in a regular size bottle, that at least comes with a screw-off top. On my walk back to my bike I decided I really wanted a slice of pizza so I went to Pizza My Heart and got two slices, one for there and one to go. I ate my slice there, and the other was for Wendell. 

I got back where Wendell was set up and dropped off his goodie bag, in one of my green Whole Foods bag that had developed a hole in the side and thus was expendable. It would help Wendall hide the wine from prying eyes. He was talking with a little butterball of a Hispanic dude who was supposedly working security. 

Wendall wanted to know if I'm coming out to play tomorrow and I said I'm just not ready yet. "But wait a year, I'll have something to show! I'll play the F scale, the Bb scale, the C scale, and then the highest note, tweet!" I assured him. 

I wandered back up 1st and there were some buskers, a group of young people with a guitar, two trumpets, a guy singing (not super well) and a lot of enthusiasm. I got talking with the trumpeter who was playing, Yes that's a Bach Strad, etc. We talked and hung out a bit and I suggested "Feels So Good" by Chuck Mangione which the guy played with far more feeling than I've ever been able to, except he kicked it down an octave at the high part. I said something about that, kidding him a bit and he said he'd been playing a couple hours already. I said something I did, that he might try, since he plays a 3C mouthpiece, is I've got a Bobby Shew Jazz which is 1/2, maybe 1/3, of the way between a 3C and a 3D, and I'd switch to it when I got tired. A 3D, I found, was too extreme for me. He said he used it for classical. Cool, cool. I talked up the idea of joining a military band for a bit and he's all for it. I can't think of a better way to go for a young trumpeter and it was good enough for Chet Baker, Herb Alpert, and a bunch of others. 

I went by the Amazon place for bubble mailers and then to Nijiya for yet another "holiday chicken leg" and a 12-pack of Asahi "dry" beer. For some reason, my headache isn't kicking my ass and I'm not going to argue with success. Maybe all the beer's doing is fooling me into hydrating more. In any case the stuff's weak enough that I should be OK. 

 

Wendell's back

 Ken called me last night about an hour before I expected him and said he's not coming over.  I said my headache was kicking my ass (truth) anyway. 

My headache actually got better a bit after the call and after I got some things together to list, headache or not. I got 10 things together, but then was just plain tired even if my headache had gone, and went to bed. 

I woke up around noon, with my headache right back. Last night I'd also gone through my books and had two shopping bags full of them ready to go. I left here around 1:30 and went right over to the used book store. It was busy. It seemed a lot of other people wanted to sell books, too. 

I actually got $25.75 cash for my books, so that went rather well. I rode over to the little free pantry on 7th and put the books on the top shelf, went to Lee's for some day-old stuff and two pork egg rolls, and went over to the college to eat. The squirrels were hilarious, flipping their fluffy tails around, and after I tossed them some flakes of the eggs rolls, which they didn't like, still hanging around in case I had something else. 

I went over to Dai Thanh for some vegetables, and decided to take a ride around Christmas In The Park to see what vendors had shown up this year. 

I heard a flute and ... there was Wendall from New Orleans! I asked him what kind of flute he's playing and it's a Yamaha student model which he's sure was made in Japan but was actually made in China. I asked him if he wanted me to buy him a jug of wine (there's a hole in the wall liquor store that sells them) and he said No, and we both discussed how "the romance is gone" regarding drinking. 

He'd been here last Christmas season too, but we'd missed each other. And he's been here for weeks, but again I wasn't around at the right time and place to see him. He'll leave for San Francisco the day after Christmas. I told him about my learning the flute and how I'm following the lessons in the Trevor Wye book and don't want to fall into bad habits and I'm not far along enough to play any carols yet. He said, "Check this out!" and played a jazzed up version of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow". 

I told him about playing at Whole Foods, since I might as well share my "gold mine" if I'm not out there playing. While he didn't seem to be making a lot of money where he was, it might be a gold mine there once it gets dark and more people are around. He hustled me for a tip when I got ready to leave, and I put a dollar in his tip box. 

I took a little loop through the vendor area and the caricaturists aren't there this year. The people selling hats and scarves and T-shirts and such are there, and there's a big face-painting setup. Two old standbys, the "Sleigh Ride" photo place, and the guy making wooden signs with a router, are there. As well as the rest - decorations that haven't changed in decades, aging and slightly unsettling animatronics, little kids staring at the wonder of it all, as their parents did when they were little. 

I found 9 books on the way back, stopped at Nijiya for a "holiday chicken leg" and 2 beers, and got back here. It got cold pretty fast once the sun was going down. At least the sunset was really beautiful. 

Visit from Churchill, er, Zelensky

 Well, the modern-day Churchill is visiting the White House today and in even better new, the city of Bachmut, which Putti was determined to take, is now orc-free or close to it. 

I woke up with a headache and it's been bad, Not bad enough to keep me from packing 10 things including one big one, and getting them to the Post Office and FedEx though. 

It's annoying having my headache bad again. All I can think of is, licorice, real licorice not the American artificially flavored stuff  I grew up with, can give a person a headache, high blood pressure and other bad things. And the package of licorice cats from Cost Less Imports was 7 oz. and I ate more than half of them at one go. The timing would be right if the "magic" happens due to digestion in the gut rather than the stomach. In any case, no more licorice for me unless it's the American artificially flavored stuff. 

Tuvan throat singing

 Last night I got all involved in looking up tutorials on how to do Tuvan throat singing, where the singer gets 2-3 tones at once, from a low rumble to an eerie high whistling tone. Werner Herzog uses it in his documentaries a lot, and that's what got me started. So I was messing around making awful noises, didn't practice, and went to bed around 3. 

I woke up around noon, and packed some things I could take without needing the bike trailer. Drop-offs went fine, and I got a few things at 99 Ranch also, mainly a package of this "white curry" ramen that comes with a packet of really hot red curry paste. 

As soon as I got home and put most of the things I'd picked up on the way back, away, I cooked a bowl of that with beef and jalapeno pepper, yum! 

Relaxing here with some tea and taking my vitamins, I'm thinking, Why in the world would I want to try taking on learning Tuvan throat singing now? Just getting decent at regular singing would put me ahead of almost everyone else. I'm sure it has some value, in that it seems to involve deep breathing and would make me more aware of what's going on in my throat and chest, and of course it sounds cool. But the flute is a lot more important. 

 

Crappy air

 I noticed last night that there's a sort of haze in the air that's considerable. Not quite a fog. but pretty heavy. I checked www.purpleair.org and the air around this area is all orange/red so it's pretty bad. I'm one of those people who doesn't "feel" bad air at all, even when it's physically very evident. I wonder if living in Hawaii until my mid-20s gave me a good start with much cleaner lungs than the average American? Because while no one talks about it, the air quality and water quality on the mainland are awful. 

My two beers and munchies gave me a nice glow, and a few hours later I was completely sober again so it went as planned. Mainly I didn't want to be temped to do some work-related stuff as it was the weekend. But it was $5 I didn't need to spend, and mental discipline and hot tea would have done about the same. 

I practiced last night, mainly just the tone exercises and the little thing at the bottom of the page, teaching the note Bb, that's always been tricky. My tone actually sounds pretty good, and I think part of this is an exercise I've been doing. Whenever I think about it, I take a few deep breaths, blowing out like I'm playing a flute, and I mean the deepest breaths I can take. 

The breathing is so different between flute and trumpet, being based on volume where trumpet is based on pressure. In trumpet, breathing too deeply is a mistake, where in flute you really can't breathe too deeply. Flute instructors encourage their students to take singing lessons on the side, and flute playing seems to strengthen the voice. Trumpet instructors don't talk about this, and if you tried being a singer who breathes like a trumpet player, you'd sound awful. 

I went outside to put some stuff out for the bums, and the air smelled/felt "burned" so I checked www.purpleair.org ("It's a dot com!" - Homestar Runner) and the air quality is solidly in the red, 150s and 160s. Out of curiosity, I checked the air in Honolulu and it's ... a 2, a 3, and a 6 in the "industrial" area. Bright green. 

This is one of the many reasons, while I'm kind of leading Ken on, talking about maybe staying another year or two, I really want to be out of here ASAP. The P being decided by how soon I can get Social Security, which is at age 62, in late 2024. 

There are things that might happen to make me leave sooner, so I have to be prepared in case those conditions exist. One is if Ken dies or becomes too disabled to run this business. Another is if some weird political coup happens because the right wing doesn't feel like waiting around until 2024. Another possibility is I get offered a place over there, which may happen. It's not highly likely, and I'm not big on trusting others with my fate, but it is on the table. 

So what else is new ... there's a big discussion on Reddit about how to clean up the zombies downtown. If Gavin Newsom can get up his camps and get the more zombified and dangerous ones off the street, he might ride that all the way to a Presidency. It's a big reason why I want to stick around to vote in 2024, if there's an election. 

What is in the way of solving the homeless problem is capitalism. It requires a "submerged" and miserable bottom 10% or so. And it required this impoverished portion of the populace to be right in among everyone else, otherwise their function in capitalism, to keep wages down and to scare the workers, is negated. So capitalism dictates they be around, in quantity, and continually committing crimes and crapping up the place. If Newsom can even mitigate that a bit, it will be huge. 

And Trump and company are going through their continual legal troubles. Sedition and insurrection, crimes that the rulebook prescribe the death penalty for, are not being punished. There should have been summary executions on the White House lawn. 

I fully expect the Dump to be put into a "country club" prison for 5 years, along with a few of his closest cronies, one of whom will be a fairly capable writer. The Dump will write a screed which the talented writer will turn into a book. It will have a long, clumsy title something like, "My Struggle Against Namby-Pamby-Lib'ruls And Girly-Men, Oh Yeah, And The Jews". The publishing house will, with some effort, get the Orange Blob to go with a shorter title, something like, "My Fight". 

A bit of shopping

 I woke up fairly early, about 10, and read a chapter in the "Angry White Pajamas" book. Then I got up, had a croissant with butter etc., and got out of here around 2. I dropped off a bag of trash, and checked the little free libraries again, mainly to find a place to donate the airplane magazines I'd taken home from the airport yesterday. The one on 3rd had been stuffed with books so I found ten out of there that look interesting, and ended up putting the magazines in the one on 5th. 

I rode over to Whole Foods and locked the bike, then walked over to the shopping mall that has Target in it. First I went to Cost Plus Imports to look for tea, and found some "Yorkshire Gold" to try - it's one of the ones they speak well over on r/casualUK. I was going to look around for other stuff but it was super busy and that made me just want to get what I'd come for and get out, which I did. The line was long and took a while, so I ended up getting some liquorice cats too - the bag of those was $3 where they used to be under $2, but 200g is a fair amount of them. 

Another thing I wanted was pillowcases, and I realized Marshalls probably has them (I was originally going to look in Target) and I found a pack of 4 of them for $10 which is pretty good these days. It was also super busy in there. 

Then I went to Target where I found index cards and some Scotch tape refills but their calendars were really Meh. They were expensive, and generally in dumb designs with the numbers written so thinly they're heard to read, or go from June to June which is just weird. So, no calendar. 

Everything I did buy fit in the cutesy little paper bad I'd gotten in Cost Plus so the walk back was as easy as the walk there. The area next to Target is all torn up to put a big building in and right now it's a huge hole in the ground, and I had to walk on the bike trail going to and from Target. There are bum camps all along there so there were all kinds of bums going in and out too. This is why I keep my bike over at Whole Foods and walk over. 

I got back to Whole Foods and by then it was cooling down from a balmy high of 55 or so. Whole Foods, like everywhere else, was busy too. But while it was cold it was not windy, and there were no beggars or "fund raising" grifters with a little booth. This is to say, other than it being a bit cold it was perfect for busking. Tons of people going in and out, and presumably a good number of them in a "Christmas mood". 

Riding over there, I'd gone through San Pedro Square to see what was happening there, and while bars at either end had music playing, the part in the middle where the Old Spaghetti Factory is, was a nice quiet "bubble" where it would have been ideal for a busker to set up. There was a fair amount of foot traffic and it would have been like the old days. 

About San Pedro Square, in fact, I was thinking that a trumpet might be welcome as long as the player of it played very "sweet" and "smooth", in other words, just about the opposite of the way Rabbit Trumpet Guy played. And a flute would have been quite welcome, because of the fact that people and especially parents, will tip the player of an instrument either they regret not having stayed with, that they wish their kids would take up, or that someone in their family plays. An instrument that gives a good impression. 

Rabbit Trumpet Guy's playing was more like, "Lookit me, and gimme money!". He always looked like his horn, as well as himself, needed a really good bath. Nobody wants their kid to grow up to become that. And if a member of their family plays that instrument, especially that way, they don't want to be reminded of it. 

Harmonica is like this also. Associated with hobos and jailbirds, even when I see a good player I can't get over the feeling that the player is probably out on parole, and I want to keep my distance because of the spit particles that must be shooting out of that thing. 

Guitar ranges from Julian Bream to that bum on the bus who kicked his guitar into the passageway the other day. So you can't say "guitar" is an advantage or disadvantage to play, you have to look at whether it's bummy hobo style guitar played by someone with a nickname like "Scabies" or is it someone who plays legit classical or jazz or if they play popular, at least give the impression of being someone you want around. 

This is why my old violin teacher did so well right off, in fact. He had everything going for him. Tall, white, young, slender, personable, and played classical with music in front of him on a music stand. In reality he's Jewish and it's a viola he plays, but he ticks all the boxes. 

I didn't take a loop through the Paseo de San Antonio area but if there was no busking last night, Saturday night, there sure wasn't any tonight, sad to say. 

I made a final stop at Nijiya - yep, pretty busy - for some squid crackers and two large, watery beers. Then got back here and put things away and set up a nice array of things to eat and it was enjoy, enjoy.

Things pinching down

 I didn't go to bed until 5AM last night. I listed 30 things on Ebay because I'd listed 20 earlier in the week, and the "gold standard" had been 50 things, two sets of 25, unless I was listing large things then a batch was 11 or 12. 

I woke up around 10, turned on the heater and the light, had a wee, went back to bed ready to read a bit more of "Angry White Pyjamas" and rested my eyes a bit first and warmed up, and woke up again at noon. 

Fooey. I had coffee and a couple of croissants one stuffed with butter and the other with butter and some Marmite. Marmite turns out to be nowhere near as good as good old nutritional yeast, which I have a can of. I didn't even finish the 2nd one. 

I headed out at 2 in the afternoon. The plan was to ride down Capitol to Reid-Hillview airport, checking out what's along Capitol for future reference, and to pick up a free calendar with pictures of "nairyplanes" for each month, from Tradewinds Aviation. 

The ride down there was long. What looks small on a map isn't so small in real life. I found Tradewinds, and they weren't giving out calendars yet to members, and thought they might in a few weeks, but were not sure, as they couldn't/didn't get very many this year. OK, I said, after having used their loo and grabbing every free magazine and brochure in sight. I'll see you then! 

I checked out the actual air terminal building - which it turns out has bathrooms - and picked up a few more brochures for things. Like a "spy shop" up in the city. I didn't think any of those were still around. 

I rode further down Capitol to Tully and started making my way back. I came across a couple of things in quick succession. First a black zombie lady parked on the sidewalk with her bags 'O' shit, who called out a long and complicated utterance as ape utterances go, that I decoded to mean she wanted a lighter, if she had one. I actually did, as I keep finding them on the street. I rooted around in my bike bag and pulled out a yellow Bic, and handed it to her. "I keep finding them on the street," I explained. She took it without a word. Do you expect a duck in the park to thank you for giving it bread? Or the office ficus plant, for watering it? 

Right along there there was a Big-5 sporting goods store and I went in. It was very large and very well-stocked. I wanted to see about getting a new sleeping bag because online they appear to sell the one I like. But they didn't have one, even "in back". I said to the lady, "It seems you're getting away from stocking Coleman" and she said, "It all comes down to what they can send us". I complimented her on the store, how big and well-stocked it is, and went on my way. Again it's a case of the most mundane things that you just can't get anymore. This is talked about on r/collapse frequently; a gradual pinching-down. 

I rode back downtown, and stopped in at Dai Thanh. I got two cans of coffee (theirs is the best price) some green onions, and the last "Chinese Donut" that was there, probably the last one I'll ever have, too. They're closing that market down just before Christmas and besides the things, I wanted to check in on where they're moving. I'd actually seen one of the new locations, on Keyes. The other one turns out to be where a big market, Filipino I think, was on Capitol and Brokaw. It's not that far from me. I told the lady there I knew where the new location is and it's not only not far from me but it's really big. I'll still be able to go there. 

This makes downtown one little bit more dead, though. 

I decided to ride up and down Paseo de San Antonio and look for Wendell, the flute player who comes out from New Orleans each year. He was not there and there were not any buskers there at all. Now I know for sure Rabbit Trumpet Guy is gone. There were actually tons of people walking up and down, and the new development this year is tons of "danger dog" sellers. These are people with little carts selling bacon-wrapped hot dogs they grill right there. They smell wonderful. But there were no buskers at all and there were several good "slots" for them that I could see. 

I came back and checking the little free libraries, actually found 16 books - 14 of them from the one in Japantown that was over-stuffed. I went through that one carefully, picking out what I like and organizing the rest so it's easy for people to see what's there. 

I went to Nijiya to get some things, and wanted to pay with cash since I'd taken some out and was at my self-imposed limit. So I waited at the register that was set up to take cash, and this meant being in line with two people and a large dog. They were there for-ev-er, while the dog got bored and made little movements like he was considering "leaving his mark", and one person,  I think mentally disabled somehow, was getting a long and painstaking lesson in how to buy something. I finally just went to the other one and used my card, so I'm only saving about $80 this week instead of $100 in the bank. I'll survive. 

Why do people have to bring their damn dogs everywhere anyway? This is a recent thing, and frankly it's disgusting. The gal with the dog and I got in a nice conversation about the dog, and she probably thinks I'm all for it but I'm really not. 

I got back here a bit before 6 - that's late for around here, lately.

Thank you, Chinese medicine

 I went to bed at 2AM last night, but before bed I got the flute out and practiced. It was maybe a half-hour, maybe a bit more, just the tone exercise and some of the songs on that two-page spread. And it went pretty well considering I'd not practiced in something like two weeks. Leroy had said something like, "If I practice one day, then the next day, I'm a lot better, but if I don't do it for a while and then pick it up, it's like I never started!". But this was not the case for me - maybe because I've been practicing pretty regularly. 

I woke up at a bit before 10, which is right for having gone to bed at 2AM, but I did not want to get out of bed due to the cold. I got up to use the loo and went right back to bed, and slept a little bit more. I should have turned my little heater on when I got up. I eventually did get up, started a coffee, did some push-ups and neck exercises, and basically started my day. 

I then noticed something. For a while now I'd been having a pain in the lower right quadrant of my abdomen, that seemed to be just right for the beginning of a case of appendicitis. I had lower back pain too but some exercises have helped that. This pain had me worried though, because covid is not over and the medical system is still a shambles. 

I did some reading about appendix pain and it seems the problem is the appendix has a duct and appendicitis generally starts when this duct gets blocked. I recalled reading in one of the many "kung fu" books we had around when I was a teen that according to Chinese medicine, a massaged organ is a healthy organ. So I massaged and drummed sort of, on the area yesterday. And today I noticed that the pain is gone. Massaging could certainly help a blocked or partially blocked duct. 

I packed 17 things and got out of here just before 4. I meant to leave at 3, but decided to pack things for another hour, 4 being the very latest I want to leave these days, due to cold, dark, and zombies. 

The drop-offs went fine, and I picked up some mushrooms behind H Mart. I got back here as the sun had just gone down, and true to form, there were a couple of zombies on bikes around the tire store, that I had to make my way around. This is a thing zombies will do; "randomly" ride in your way to observe your level of "fitness" as you go around. Contrary to popular fiction, zombies happily prey on each other, and so this is a way to see if someone is drunk or drugged or mentally ill etc., and thus a soft target. 

If I'm out doing my post office / FedEx run around the middle of the day, zombies are not a factor. I mean, they're always a factor downtown, but along my route, it's all working people and the zombies stay in their holes or something, I think because they sense that if they act up, Joe Hardhat might whomp on 'em for interfering with his workday, his workplace, and the genera public, whom he really works for. 

Leroy and I had talked a fair amount yesterday about how downtown's changed. He knew Johnny Rockets was closed, but was surprised to hear the movie theater's now a construction site. Muji's gone, this is gone, that's gone... I said the surprising thing is how buskers are just about extinct. He made an interesting point: The kids too young to busk would go downtown, on school trips and such things, and see him playing, and he could see them get inspired, and later, they'd be out there. With covid making the mature generation of buskers extinct, it's also killed off the next generation coming up. 

There are a few places with a strong enough busking culture to survive, like New Orleans, and this square in Boston that's got music schools nearby and where I believe even Ben Franklin busked, reading off famous speeches and such material. And Waikiki, being the only busking venue within thousands of miles, is actually one. But in this area, you're not "a" busker, you're "the" busker. 

Leroy's back

 Ken came over last night, bringing more weird stuff to sell. He actually came about 45 minutes early, so I had the bathroom cleaned (after finishing a load of laundry) but hadn't vacuumed the office floor. He didn't notice though. 

We talked about a bunch of things as usual, and I told him my thinking about when to leave. I said I want to stay to vote in the 2024 elections because I take elections very seriously these days. If we're going full Fascism, it'll be time to leave because while Hawaii doesn't get me out of the US, it does get me a lot closer to other places. If it looks like we might hang on as a democracy a little longer, I might consider staying another "year or two" because "... more savings..." 

In reality it may take a while to get places as a flute player, just like it did on trumpet, and I want to sound pretty good before I hang my hat on busking in Waikiki and such places... 

Instead of of just saying "Um hm, that sounds like a good plan" Ken told me a story about how he and Burt Rutan were flying a small plane and weren't sure of the weather and "You don't want to be out in bad weather in a small plane". So at each way point where they could stop at an airport, they checked the weather and finally when they got to a place in their route that looked dicey, they stopped there. 

"Play it by ear" in other words. See how it goes. 

He left and I had a croissant with some pate and went to bed at 2AM. I woke up at 8 and turned the light on and got a book to read, then "rested my eyes" and woke up again at 10 which is when I should have woken up. 

The idea of selling the smart phone I have to one of the little phone shops downtown got me out of bed, and I got the thing out and charged it. It hadn't been charged in weeks but it was at 95%. This tells me the battery is probably still pretty good. I might get $50 from a skeezy phone shop and that'd be OK, but  I decided I should use it to learn the Android operating system and smart phones in general. I won't be able to stick with a flip phone forever. 

I got out of here around noon. My first stop was one of the lunch trucks, where empanadas were $3. I had $3 on hand so I tried one. It was delicious. 

Next was to meander over to the bank where I deposited my check, and it was only off of my own calculations but a little. 

Then over to the used book store because I had two bags of used books hanging off of the handlebars and those needed to go. I was offered $6.50 cash or about $10 trade, and I took the cash. 

I rode back the way I'd come to Whole Foods and got some dental floss - my usual brand, Tom's, has almost doubled in price and I got some 365 brand for the old price - and some cash back. Then I got on the bus to go to Dollar Tree. 

The bus ride was interesting. When some old bum with a hat with feathers in it and a guitar got up to mess around with some stuff he had on a cart or something, I saw that pair of seats empty and went and sat down. The bum put his guitar in the seat next to me. So now I'm watching over this guitar. It turned out the guy was basically "holding down" 4 seats plus whatever room his cart'O'crap was taking up. The bum then sat down next to me, and as the bus lurched, the guitar fell out of his lap. He gave it a good kick, sending it flying into the aisle. As soon as an old lady got up because it was her stop, I went over and sat where she'd vacated. 

I was happy to get off where the Dollar Tree is, and went in for some good old shopping. The linchpin of the trip was liquid fabric softener which I can't find anywhere else. I also got some Scotch tape, a nice cheapie chocolate Santa for Xmas day, red and black licorice, some kippers, and probably some other odds and ends I can't think of as I write. It was 11 items and all this fun cost me $14 so it wasn't bad. 

I got back on the bus - a lot nicer ride this time - and was back at Whole Foods in a short time. I went back in because I wanted to see if they had "Lurpak" butter that they rave about on r/casualUK all the time, but they didn't have it. I got some Clover butter instead. 

I rode over to the train station because I've had this craving for popcorn for a while. "You're out of popcorn", I said, sounding a little disappointed, when I checked at the little store there. "I can make you some", the lady said, so we had some time to talk while she did that. She said the really "interesting" passengers are on the Greyhound buses, "Since they closed Post" which took me a bit to figure out meant, they closed the Greyhound station on Post St. I said if the homeless people would just clean up after themselves and clean up the area they're in, people would not mind them, and might even kind of like having them around. 

I went outside and watched the various people around while I had my popcorn. When I was done, I got on the bike and headed for 7th and Santa Clara - I still had the books. I went to the Little Free Pantry there and stocked up the top shelf with books. Nearby, there were about 6 of those large flat-rate postal boxes that turned out to be crammed full of CDs. I decided not to mess around with them, though, and put some around, leaned up against the boxes, so people would know what's in them and probably someone with a car would come along and scoop 'em all up. 

I rode across the parking lot over to Lee's where I got the two bags of day-old croissants for $3.50 deal, then over to the Amazon place where I picked up a ton of bubble mailers. A customer in there and I kind of buddied up for a bit, talking about what kind of bags are good and mailing things. She resold clothes, and I told her how I'd had trouble with picky customers and swore off of them long ago, but one person on the Ebay discussion boards had a thing going where she bought the large sizes of women's clothing and sold the clothing to guys who like to dress in drag. "There are all kinds of angles", I said. 

My last stop was Nijiya, and I rode there, picking up two books on the way. As I parked, I heard  a saxophone. "Real or Memorex?" was almost my thought. I thought maybe someone from the Chidori Band was doing something at Roy's Station, and got back on the bike to check it out. As I got to the corner, I thought, "That sounds like Leroy". There was the same hurrying of the notes. And there was Leroy, on the corner. 

I said he looked good and he said likewise for myself, and we caught up on things. I thought maybe he got covid and died, and he said he got it, but got better. His mom and sister or something like that are in some podunk town inland, and he's been playing there a lot. He hasn't been downtown in ages and said he doesn't even like downtown any more. I told him about the busking scene in downtown Campbell, on Lincoln Avenue, and that downtown Sunnyvale can be good, and especially that the real gold mine is Whole Foods. 

I also mentioned my switching from trumpet to flute, and he's learning the flute too.  It's too bad his schedule is so crazy, or we could come up with a regular time to meet up and work on songs. But it's just great to see he's still around and out there playing. 

By the time I got back here it was 5, and cold enough that I needed my hat and gloves and I was still a bit cold. 

Flippin' cold

 I woke up at 8:30, having gone to bed at almost 1. So, perfect. 

I read a bit of the book "Angry White Pyjamas" about a guy studying aikido in Japan. It's a lot better than I thought it would be and very readable. Another Little Free Library find. 

I can't stay away from those things. and generally what I do is take the books either I want to read or the used book store ought to be interested in. I clean 'em up and take a couple bags full there from time to time, take the money and run, over to the little free pantry on 7th where I think it's supposed that people have no interest in reading, and put them there - not back to the little free libraries I got 'em from, in front of the houses of the prosperous. 

We're having freeze warnings overnight all week and I guess this is our winter this time around. I even checked the winter solstice (shortest day of the year) and it's the 22nd, after which the days at least will start getting longer, if not warmer for a while. 

I'm emailing back and forth with the Evil Rich Old Aunt but I'm beginning to sense it's not worth it. She's about as pure American as they come, by which I mean she'd rather cut her hand off than give a starving person a sandwich, and probably voted for Trump (while saying she didn't) because "muh taxes". 

I've kind of been thinking when she kicks out she might leave me a bit of her millions but I think of she leaves money to any of us, it will be the evil burn-witches-at-the-stake Christian one, and most likely it will be her evil daughter (who was actually a rather nice person when she was young, but that seems to have been beaten out of her). In other words, there are a lot easier ways to obtain a windfall of money. 

 

Freezing overnight

 It being sunny during the day means it gets down to freezing overnight. It probably gets down to the 50s in here so that's not bad. 

I woke up sort of halfway, after having a weird dream where I lived in something like the small mobil home I rented in Costa Mesa years ago, and was walking distance to all kinds of things. So I woke up and walked around and there was a breakfast place where you get those breakfasts with thick bacon and potatoes and 3 eggs and good coffee. I considered going in, but I knew with today's prices the breakfast would likely cost me $20. I considered it anyway; the people inside were talking about the TV show Jimmy Neutron and I was thinking I could buddy up, talking about Jimmy Neutron myself, but then I realized I'd fail. What's Jimmy's dog's name? 

I woke up a bit more, and thought about how many of our TV shows (and movies etc.) are just morality plays. If, they say, we only had this or that new technology, or if we just changed our fundamental nature by following this or that belief system, then life would be ideal. 

So I was awake by 10AM, which is doing OK. I want to make sure I get 8-9 hours of sleep, and I might make my "hard" bedtime midnight instead of 1, the one exception being when Ken's over and then it will be more like 1. 

I had plenty of time to pack 10 things and take them to the downtown post office (after dropping off trash in my "secret" trash can and dropping off my December pledge at the temple). Then I went to Dai Thanh for chicory coffee and stuff, then went around the corner to Iguana's for a couple of "street" tacos. I got to watch them make utterly huge burritos while I waited. The tacos I got were pretty good, and their orange sauce is pretty decent. Not bad for $6. 

I went to the Amazon place for some bubble mailers, and then went to Nijiya for a few things.  I also found three books, a bunch of zip ties, and a computer graphics board. Somewhere in there I also went to Lee's and got 6 assorted croissants/pastries for $3.50.

It had warmed up to the 50s but it was getting pretty cold by the time I got back here. I'd left at 2PM and got back a bit after 4PM. 

 

 

Sun for a while

 I've been doing well with changing my schedule to a more normal one. I kind of run out of gas around 11PM though, then am awake at 7AM. That's suspiciously close to the schedule I followed when I was a young adult, going to various jobs. It's also a good Hawaii schedule, as the local modus operandi is to get up early, get stuff done, take it easy around the middle the of day, do more stuff in late afternoon to early evening when it's cooler, then go to be relatively early. 

It should be sunny this week, and I'm glad because we sure got enough rain for a while. The parking lot Christmas party was very quiet, and yesterday, in the rain, they packed it all up and now things are normal. So as I said, it was probably some Mormon-y version, where they read their own weird Bible all about how if you're white enough (no kidding!) you get your own planet to preside over in the afterlife. (They actually tell gullible nonwhites that if they become more "holy" their skin will lighten.) 

I also finished the load of laundry I had soaking for so long. My drainer-bucket idea isn't very good, and my hands had healed so I could just wring the clothes out. It's good for wrist strength anyway. 

I finishing reading The Yearling which is a very good book. I used to just devour books, and although I enjoyed this one I had to force myself to finish it - there was always something to check on the internet. Alienation from books and this crazy night-owl schedule, technology is good, why? 

Ideally, I need to have a hard rule to go to bed at 1AM. Ken never stays later than that. That would have me getting up at 9AM, which is early enough. Without Ken in the equation, I could be pretty happy going to bed at 10PM and up at 6 or 7. When I'm back in Hawaii, if I rent a room, lights-out is generally considered to be 10PM if I end up in a place that's strict about that. 

I'd not want to be out busking in Waikiki late at night, and in fact when I was last there I saw a Black gal panhandling in front of the Eggs & Things at something like 9 or 10AM and she was making bankity-bank. For some reason that place is big with Japanese tourists and also anyone coming from the US mainland will be wide-awake at that time in Hawaii. 

If I can keep my schedule early, I can get into the wonderful world of busking at lunch hours and farmer's markets. Eentsy Weentsy spider and all that ... 

It's going to go down into the 20s maybe this week, overnight. Well below freezing. I remember a week like this in Sunnyvale. Vine-type plants died, and I found the gloves my older sister had sent me from Italy to be very useful. I guess we're having a real winter this time around. Even in the middle of the day it's only warming up to the 50s. 

I was even telling Ken that it may be that busking is very seasonal here - just like when I lived in Gilroy and didn't work, just hunkered down, from November 1 until April 1. Although if summer before last was any indication, it's more like October 1 to April 1, so 6 months busking and 6 months not. 

Hawaii's not like that, and in fact winter brings a bit higher grade of tourist, the kind who stay for a weeks or a month or sometimes more, where the summer people take these weird budget short vacations, "3 days 2 nights!" etc. 

Another rainy day staying in

 I was up at about 8AM, and fairly early in the day got to work taking some stuff apart. Mostly cheap'n'cheesy power supplies so I didn't get a lot of really good parts, just some so-so parts. I left the scrap metal out for the bums, in between downpours and it actually had started to dry out. 

Pretty soon two bums came to get the stuff, which was hilarious because one of them didn't even had a tire on the rear wheel on his bike, but was just riding around on the bare wheel. He had a shopping cart (I think) somehow incorporated into the front end of this bike. The other bum just had a regular bike and it was kind of comical watching him try to balance stuff. They wobbled away and turned in the direction of "crack alley". 

Weird Mormon Stuff

 I was up around 10, having told myself I could sleep all I wanted. I really need to make sure I get a full 8, or even 9, hours of sleep. 

It's been dark and rainy all day. For hours it was heavy rain. The people in the welding place and I think the people down at the end, who are friends if not family, have a big tent set up, two porta-potties, and caution tape set up, blocking off the end of the complex for, as their sign says, "Christmas Party". Except there are some odd things about it: 

First, it's *really* quiet for a Christmas party. Secondly, it's a good two weeks early. Thirdly, something I know but they don't know I know, about the welding shop people is, they're Mormons. I know this because a while back they threw out a bunch of stuff which I grabbed and went through, finding a fair amount of useful computer stuff to sell and some office stuff to use. I found stuff in there also, indicating that they're Mormons. 

So whatever it is they're doing I figure is probably about half and half, Christmas-y and Mormon-y. I've been inside the big temple in La'ie on the windward side of Oahu, because it has to be re-consecrated every 100 years or something, and there was a period during which "Gentiles" could go in. So maybe Mormons have to do some sort of meeting-up once a year or something. Maybe it's something like a Tupperware party but for magic underwear... 

Getting up earlier

 I went to bed at about 4AM last night and woke up today at 10AM. I'd taken a big piece of equipment apart that took just hours. 

I'm pretty happy because with this latest pay check, I made a savings goal for this year for myself that had started to form and then it was, Can I make it? And then, This will be pretty easy. 

It's amazing how much I can save when I'm not spending it on alcohol. Even decades ago, when I was a relatively light drinker, that $4 6-pack of cheap beer or $3 for a pint bottle of Guinness must have really added up. 

I packed 11 things and took them to the post office and FedEx, and picked up some packing stuff on the way back, and what I figure are $200 worth of new computer/tablet cases from the "bountiful" dumpster. I think someone else is going through there and snagging the good stuff but they don't know everything. 

Some of the people in the building here, the welding place and the place down on the end that works on RVs or something, have combined forces and are holding a big Christmas party. They've actually got the end of the parking lot blocked off and full of vehicles, set up a big tent, and even had a couple of porta-potties delivered. Since it's going to rain all weekend my plan is to stay in. 

Thursday's my Friday

 I did crazy things to try to get back to a normal schedule like force myself to go to bed - at 3AM - after Ken had been over last night. This after an all-nighter Tuesday night and then sleeping through the day and waking up at around 6PM. 

I did sleep OK though and was awake at 9AM ready to do things. I was out the door at about 9:30. I dropped off some books at the Japantown little free library, went to the bank, then over to Whole Foods to lock up the bike and buy a bottle of coffee and get some cash back. 

I waited for the bus - the bus stop is right there, it's really convenient - as was a bit put off that a cop SUV and then another cop SUV pulled up and parked there. The bus pulled in a bit before the stop to avoid the cop cars, and I hopped on. The driver and a lady were talking about the cop cars and I remembered that, going in to Whole Foods, I'd heard a lady talking with the customer service guy about someone harming himself or others. That explains the cops; another crazy. 

Then the lady was questioning the driver about whether we were in Santa Clara yet, and I took over talking with her. She used to go to Crema long ago, and I explained how they'd moved and pointed out how to find it - look for the Motel 6 and the O'Reilleys and it's right after that. The bus started to turn on Race st. and I realized I was on the wrong bus. The driver let me off at the corner "because the next stop is 'way down there" so that was nice of him. 

I waited for the bus there by the bike shop, which was not uninteresting as there was a schizophrenic guy wandering around and looking scary and doing this 3 Stooges thing of whacking himself on the head repeatedly. He looked like he was waiting for the bus but when the bus came, he didn't get on. I did, and said out loud, "Bye-bye, zombie" when I sat down. 

I rode down to Sunnyvale and among other things, checked out Dick's Sporting Goods where I got a Carhartt fluorescent yellow knit cap for $15 and then went to Ross and got a pair of sweat pants for about the same. 

The forecast was "chance of rain, then rain" and I decided I'd go around and do things today, saving a shipping trip for tomorrow when it's supposed to be drier. 

I got on a #522 bus coming back, walked back to Whole Foods to collect my bike, and rode by Diridon Station because I had a craving for train station popcorn. But the little store in there was closed. 

I rode down to Walmart and got some things there like a big package of TP. But they're still out of rubbing alcohol. Next was the Amazon place for bubble mailers, then I stopped by the little bodega where I know I can get rubbing alcohol, it's something you have to know to ask for. It's only 2X what it normally costs but at least I can get it. So I got a couple bottles of that for $12. 

Then Nijiya, where I got all kinds of things. I talked a bit with the guys there, about bike locks and places to watch out for that look nice but are actually high-crime, and also they noted that all their late-in-the-day customers were coming in early today and I said, "Well, it's going to rain later" which kind of surprised them and I said somehow I'm always the go-to guy to ask about the weather because I had to keep track of it, getting around by bike. That's what led to talking about places bikes might get stolen etc. 

It was pretty funny, too, because right around the corner the cops had a guy pulled over and I rode by just as they were putting cuffs on him. His SUV was there with the doors open and it was cluttered, seat split open, etc. So  I said out loud, "That's what you get for having a dirty car". I hope the cops got a laugh out of that. 

I think it really only warmed up to the high 50s, if that, and it kept looking like it'd rain but I guess the rain will be later tonight. 

Warnock Wins

 Finally some good news. Also, Josh Green won for Governor back home. Seems people don't want braind-dead sports idiots (Green's opponent was some MMA guy) who have the fascists' hands up their butts. 

I was able to sync things up just right to catch the one hour or so that was sunny yesterday and took things to the post office and FedEx around noon. Then I got a burrito at the lunch truck that's set up at the end of the building and ate most of it, then went to bed. 

I woke up around 1AM.

99 Houses

 Yesterday I packed 4 large packages and took them to FedEx, leaving here around 4. It was already too late, as during the cold season I want to do my mailing runs early enough that I'm not out in the dark *and* cold. I actually did a big loop, going to the Filipino market first and spending just under $20, then dropping the boxes off at FedEx, then getting back here. 

I'd already photo'd 20 things so it was fairly easy to get 'em listed on Ebay. 

Then I guess it was movie night because I watched some 90s thing called "The Saint Of" something, about two homeless guys, a new guy who'd lost his subsidized apartment and is clueless, both about how to survive as "a homeless" and also schizophrenic, not floridly so but actually how most schizophrenics are, "odd" and not able to get along in society well. The other guy was an old pro who'd served in Viet Nam. The movie was on about a par with "Premium Rush" or "Cowboys And Aliens", B-movies but worth to be watched once anyway. 

The other one was "99 Houses" by the same guy who did "White Tiger" and it was pretty good - it was about the aftermath of the 2008 crash, and gave a pretty good feel for the times. No jobs to be had, anywhere, "cash for keys" deals to keep evicted people from trashing their house on their way out, the conniving and scams and desperation. 

I practiced a bit, realizing it's been several days. I just did the tone exercise, but noticed I'm getting a pretty good tone and I'm having less trouble with the flute moving around in my hands. One thing that's very different from trumpet is the breathing. In trumpet, it's possible to breathe in too much air, and you end up hyperventilating and feeling weird and it just kind of messes you up. Flute's more about volume where trumpet's about pressure, and I've come to think that flute's a lot healthier. 

Was it the last election?

 I could barely keep my eyes open by 9 last night, so I went to bed. 8 hours' sleep would have me waking up at 5 and I did wake up around 4:30, then went back to sleep and was awake again a bit before 8. This is the ideal schedule, to go to bed around midnight or 1, and wake up around 8 or 9. 

More horrifying developments on the radio: The Dump has stated, in so many words, that he wants all "rules and regulations, including those in the Constitution" to be suspended and himself re-installed as president. There's a big court case coming up that supposedly will determine states' rights to ignore, if they like, the results of their elections and have their electors determine their state's vote for President. This was what was attempted in 2020, through threats, attempts at coercion, and good old wheedling that the Dump is so good at. 

I'm old enough to remember the Nixon and Reagan elections and nowhere, anywhere, was there talk of suspending elections, nor were the death threats against politicians, large or small, that were rampant in 2020. 2020 saw threats against the lives of everyone from local school board members to the sitting vice president. Given what the Republicans are, this can be expected to only get worse. 

If states' rights (a term the Klan is so fond of) are determined to be this strong in the upcoming court case, things will get interesting. States like California and New York will stay fairly sane, at least for a while. With the Dump given nearly absolute power, anything progressive that's been enacted at the national level can be expected to disappear. 

This will mean everything from the military being re-segregated to the Interstate Highway System, AKA the National Defense Highway System, Ike Eisenhower's project, becoming a toll road system in Red states. It would mean the elimination, down to the very name or leaving shells of their former selves, the CDC, the FDA, hell the FAA and the National Traffic Safety Board. The free market will take care of all of this! Just like in Somalia! 

It may well mean Social Security, the thing I've been hoping to be a lifeline, become something you have to pass a "political purity test" to get. Or a racial purity test. Or both. 

It will mean the politicization of, well, everything. What feels like an age ago but was really only a few years, I was able to converse with Red the flute player without politics entering our conversation at all. If I see Leroy the sax player again, I'll have to convince him I'm not "one of those". I will, in turn, have to suss out the politics of others, like the Nazi violin player I met in Mountain View years ago - I bet he's happy now! 

This really doesn't change my plans. I believe that just as I experienced in the mid-80s, Hawaii's about 1/2 as expensive to live in as here, and since I wasn't smart enough to bugger off to France in my 20s, being back home, where at least I know where everything is and can say "I went to high school *here* and I worked *here* and *here* and *here*, is my best chance. 

I may have voted in the US's last election, that would be recognized by the world as one. 

The Big Drip

 Saturday, and all it's done is rain, steadily. I woke up early-early, like 2AM and have been watching it and it's rained, hard and less so, but without letup for all this time. It's supposed to be rainy until Wednesday. 

A nice day to watch stuff on YouTube and fiddle with stuff I have to list. 

No so freaky Friday, really.

 I stayed up through Thursday night, having stayed in Thursday is being a rain day. I stayed up to pack all the smaller, first-class packages I could, and also got kind of mad at myself for being so lazy and gave myself a much-needed haircut, polished my shoes, and at least worked towards bettering my laundry system. 

My hands are a little bit messed up, due to cuts, and all the wringing I do, I'm not sure if all that useful because in the smaller bucket, half of them end up sopping wet anyway. I can't manage building a spin dryer yet, but I've long had the idea of just putting the wet clothes into something that lets the water drain out, in liu of wringing them, and given 10 or 15 minutes, might actually get more water out of them. 

I looked around upstairs and found that long ago I'd found two hose clamps that together are long enough to go around a bucket, and found a mesh laundry bag I'd had around here. It was pretty easy to put the bag into the bucket so it hangs about 1/3 of the way down, and fasten it with the hose clamps. I put that away in the bathroom next to the clothes I have soaking, for later. 

I left here at about 10AM. Dropped off some trash and some brochures and things, plus some half-finished instant coffee and baker's chocolate in the Japantown little free library. (Funny thing, since I've cut out eating chocolate, "my" headache is hardly a problem.) 

Next was the post office where I dropped off the packages. It's sunny and weird and sleepy downtown at 10AM. The zombies are around, of course, staggering and yelling and doing their part to crap up the place. A particularly noisy one was at the light rail station as I locked the bike up, and I hoped he'd just stay there and yell and not get interested in my bike. When I went out of the post office, the damned thing was gone. 

Then I went to the bank, and apparently I fat-fingered something and was $3 off between what I calculated I should have in there and what they say I have in there, but that's a tiny error compared to the total amount and a 5 and an 8 can look awfully similar. So all was good. 

Then I rode over to Whole Foods to use the bathroom and some food would be a good idea too. It's very nice and calm in the morning (it was not almost 11, close to the lunch hour) and there was a piss-smelling zombie with a bike by the door but nothing major. I'm sure to the zombie, piss was a wonderful eu de cologne for a hoppin' Friday night, in its quest for drugs, booze, and brains. 

I got meatballs and mushrooms and a little can of coffee and ate at one of the picnic tables in the sun. It had only warmed up to the 50s and I reflected how I'd not be comfortable busking here, even with the trumpet which only had 3 buttons to worry about. There was the old black guy with a sign, who I'd told has a decent voice and ought to try singing. It's Christmas carol season now and if he's not going to try those, I'm not going to belabor him about it.  He asked for spare change, and I said, "Haven't got it" and rode off. 

Next on the itinerary was Walmart, where I got canned fish and soda and the usual things, if they had them. They didn't have rubbing alcohol but I've always got my bodega to get it from, albeit much more expensively. Wal's was actually pretty busy. But not as busy as it is in the afternoons/early evenings when so much is going on that when I hear someone dumping a lot of change into the Coinstar I get a chance to find something interesting or buy it off of them. 

I rode back over to the SoFa Marketplace to use the loo (that coffee!) and then stopped at Nijiya and got a lot of things plus I'd also stopped by the Amazon hub for some bubble mailers and had picked up a book so I was pretty loaded up when I got back here. 

I put things away and had a hot eat and a "Chinese donut" (I'd visited Dai Thanh too) and went to bed. 

3 Down, 1/2 up

 

On r/casualUK on Reddit, they got into a conversation on internet speed. This helpful map was supplied. The speeds are in megabits per second. So of course I had to run a speed test of my own, and it's 3 and a little download speed, and 0.5 upload speed. 

This is why I don't put videos on YouTube, or post music anywhere, and only very seldomly post images on here. Although my internet speed is blistering fast compared to any of the public wifi spots that I've found. 

This is internet in Silicon Valley, unless as I keep saying, you're one of the Kool Kids with solid-gold-cased iPhones with $1000 a month connect plans. 

Just being online (while non-wealthy) is hard in Silicon Valley. I left my computer sitting too long so it went to sleep, and I was not able to get it to restart so I had to do a "hard" restart where I pulled the battery out and let it sit, battery-less, for several minutes then I was able to power it up again. It's really all my fault for not going to the Apple Store and buying the latest thing every couple of years like I used to do. 

(In all fairness, it's possible to get a "new used" computer every couple of years, spending maybe $100-$150 per year to have a functional machine rather than that much a month to have the latest Apple. My problem is lately I use computers until they die.)

I listed 15 things and then took 5 things apart. Actually, two of them I just broke down into smaller parts, to take those smaller parts apart later. Maybe at my leisure while I sit inside all weekend because the weekend's going to be rained out.

I put lots of scrap metal out for the bums but for some reason they weren't around to pick up scrap metal in 35-degree cold. I also got some more parts off of a furnace the HVAC place left out. That's basically like unscrewing a few screws and cutting a few wires and getting $75 or so out of it although it's Ken who gets the $75 because it all goes on Ebay. 

It's satisfying keeping good stuff out of the hands of the bums, though, who just smash things up.