Because of course it is

 279th day sober.

Today was going to be the day I go pick up the shakuhachi I ordered from Amazon but it's late because of course it is. "If it doesn't show up, check with us on Wednesday" they said. 

This was after getting up after having slept the day away, and going online to check Ebay etc. at 6. I was thinking, "Well, I've slept the day away but if the shakuhachi's there, I can go downtown and pick it up". 

I figured I'd take the rest of the night off except for listing things I'd photo'd last night, read the "Call The Midwife" book, and get to sleep early so I'd not sleep most of tomorrow away, and I'd take tomorrow to ride over to Mitsuwa Marketplace. 

I'd just finished doing some Ebay stuff like accepting an offer, when I heard Ken's truck pull up so the chaos that accompanies Ken ensued. I had to move things around quickly, hope Ken didn't fuck up the toilet using the restroom, and keep him from grabbing and pocketing the paperwork with $60 cash in there for the temple that I'd left on top of the printer. I grabbed it just in time and put it in a drawer. It's the rule around here that paperwork etc for him goes there, but I had it there to get it out of the way and didn't anticipate his coming. 

He came by because he needed one of the keys for one of the storage units, that he's bought some shelves for. We talked about the storage units and he's going to try to get out of the first-floor one, that's easy to get into, and move things into the other two that are on the 2nd floor, harder to get into but they're a nice square shape instead of long. 

That's all a nice plan, so I agreed with him that it's a nice way to go. Ken's work wants him to get some of his stuff out of there, too. He's got three different "labs" there and maybe it's become a bit much. 

I'm equally ticked off and worried about the Amazon shakuhachi not coming in on time, though. Fortunately I know how to make it all work out. I went on the Shakuhachi Yuu site and ordered a Shakuhachi Yuu just now. That ensures the first one will show up, and when I had a bamboo one before, I wanted to get another Yuu so I could compare the two. The bamboo one seemed to work better than a PVC shakuhachi and better than the Yuu I'd had, but since I no longer had the Yuu, I could not compare them. Maybe all the trumpet playing I'd done had simply made *me* better. Maybe the bamboo one I had, actually had problems keeping me from going very high into the 2nd octave, or was it me? The Yuu is sort of a "standard reference" to compare against. 

The only thing against the Yuu is that they're really ugly. I would feel ashamed to go out busking with one. But if I put in some time with some woodcarving tools and some paint I could make one look good enough for the busking audience. 

Interestingly, in the US the shakuhachi Yuu, sold by a company called Naljor, is actually having sales handled by Monty Levenson, who's probably one of, if not the, best shakuhachi makers here in the US. The guy emailed me right away, I got your order, it's being packed, etc Here's the tracking number. Color me impressed! Naljor/shakuhachiyuu.com sells an "Enhanced" Yuu that's been worked on by ... Monty Levenson. At about $750, I'm holding back for now. But if I can get somewhere with the plain Yuu and the bamboo one I'm getting, sometime, from Amazon, then I think I'll buy one. Especially if I can by then have figured out how to make a Yuu look nicer and more bamboo-like on the outside.