Gnats!

 284th day sober. I actually woke up in plenty of time to have my 2 oz. of walnuts and vitamins and chicory coffee, and get going a bit before 4. 

Traffic is nuts. But it's almost like the old days when I could cut through the lanes of congealed traffic with little danger because no one was moving very fast at all. 

First stops were the little free libraries where I dropped off boxes of "Red Label" black tea. I didn't find any books worth taking this time. 

Next was the downtown post office to drop off a bunch of small packages. Then the bank, where they were solving some problem for a guy. Poor them - someone came in to drop off food and it had to sit there getting cold while they took care of the guy.  I deposited my check and everything added up right and I wished everyone a good weekend. 

Next was Whole Foods just to pick up olives and cheese and walnuts and such things. I didn't feel like eating there this week. 

I went over to the Amazon hub for bubble mailers and the "Kukyo" shakuhachi I'd ordered. This is made by the same guy as the "Jim Johnson" shakuhachis, and the "Kukyo" just means a slightly different style of horn insert in the mouthpiece. This one feels a bit heavier than the "Jim Johnson" one I'd had, and has a couple of other differences: The bore has a slight curve, of course, but the way they made it, if the holes are facing exactly upward, the bell curves a bit to the side. Also, the wire bindings, instead of being black, are a reddish-brown color and actually seem to change color with the angle of the light shining on it. 

I rode for home, slowly, as the shakuhachi box is long and a bit tricky to carry. I stopped at Nijiya and the guy with blonde-ish hair (it's darkened) was out front and said Hi. Now, it's been really weirdly warm, and there have been a ton of these little gnats in the air. I'd had little gnats landing on me all through my trip. 

So he said something about the gnats, several of which were on my bright yellow jacket, and I thought at first said there were gnats in my hair. Not likely, as I'd have felt them and because my hair's super short right now, having just done a haircut. Then it became clear the gnats were in the *air* and I looked up and there was a swarm of them - and more landing on my jacket. Time to get inside! 

I probably only took a dozen or so inside with me, and probably only shed half of them in there. I got an assortment of things including some fried fish and a nice, expensive but tasty chashu roll. I paid their $5 price for a sleeve of garlic because my garlic here at the shop had gone bad, and all sorts of things. 

I got back in here and had the fried fish right away, and put things away etc. 

Now I have the Kukyo shakuhachi and the shakuhachi Yuu and can can really A/B test them. They seem to be pretty even.