320th day sober. Last night after dropping off packages I tried the shrimp skewers at the fish grill place and they were really good - the zucchini was the only side that was really "keto" so for the 2 sides I got 2 orders of that. So for $13 I got a good amount of grilled shrimp on a bed of tasty zucchini. I found a lot of neat packing stuff on my way back here, too, so it was a good night. I even found some neat OTC medicines etc from the medical place.
I put everything away and also did some re-arranging of some of the books and manuals here to make things make sense and make room for the bunch of books I'd recently listed. That was pretty tiring because those big folders are heavy, so I was pretty tired when Ken came by.
I had the back of his truck full of white boxes that say Mr. Chips or Chippendale or something with "Chip" in it, that are full of misc. electronics stuff that he'd gotten for a "steal" price. Like $120 for all of it. He picked out some things for me to list, too.
Then we talked about stuff and I got my check, and after he was gone I "entertained" myself by counting out, labeling, etc a batch of stuff to list. But I was so tired I could not imagine actually listing the stuff, so I found a documentary to watch on YouTube and did some of the octave exercise on the flute headjoint, for maybe 10 minutes and then was still so tired I went to bed, at 2AM.
I woke up at 9:30, and after coffee and some nuts, photo'd up and listed the things. After that I took the cornet, which I'd had taken apart and soaking in a bucket with some Dawn for a couple of days, and scrubbed it out and cleaned it up as best I could. I'd thought up a plan to take it, since being a cornet I could just stick it in my messenger bag, along with me when I got to the bank and after taking care of the banking I could go play things like "Danny Boy" and "Cockles And Mussels" down by O'Flaherty's.
So I got it all scrubbed up and greased and oiled and tuned, and took off at a few minutes after 4. It was a pleasant ride downtown but as a passed San Pedro Square I saw they already had a band playing - the same stuff that I heard a ton of when I was in Army Basic. "Urban" stuff. There was a booth with a guy selling green beads and hats and stuff, but a cheapo hat was $15. I knew that band would probably be playing until 9 or 10, so my playing down there was out.
I did my banking at the bank and then rode over to Whole Foods. If I was going to play anywhere tonight, that would be it. So I went in and bought a big glass bottle of fizzy water not to drink right then but to act was a weight to keep my tip box from blowing away, as it was windy.
There was a booth with one of those "save the children" scams, with a young black guy working it. He was in "my" prime place so I set up on the other side of the driveway and played a bit. I got $2 from a guy who said he liked the song Autumn Leaves and hadn't heard it for a long time. It was really slow going though and rather cold out there, with the wind.
I moved and set up about an equal distance to the other side of the booth, and got a $5 from a lady who said, "Keep playing!" and a couple bucks from a guy who turned around and walked back to me to give it, and $2 from the "Kleenex bandit", an older guy who always gives me a tip wrapped in Kleenex.
It was just slow, slow going. Finally I tried the other side of the driveway again and may have gotten a couple of bucks there. I was about to move again but really needed a break so I stopped a to talk with the guy at the booth, who turned out to be really interested in music. So we talked about instruments, and movies about music, and so on. That must have eaten up 20 minutes easily.
I started up again and then noticed the guy packing up. As soon as he was packed up and leaving, getting into a car, I went right over there and set up. Now let's see things change, I thought. A Russian guy listened, leaning against his car, and came over to give me $2 and also to talk. We raved about great Russian trumpeters like Dokshitzer and Nakariakov. He said he used to play trumpet, too, and I said I'm sure he was better than I am. He said he wasn't so sure about that.
My being in "the" spot didn't really help things though. The cart rack was full which meant the store wasn't very busy, plus it was still cold even if the wind had calmed down quite a bit. I looked at the time and I'd been playing something like 2 hours, from 5:30 to 7:30. I'd made $14.
The cornet might look neat and be cleaner now, but I was fighting the thing all the way. The valves would get slow-moving, and I'd get gurgling due to moisture build-up, no doubt due to the cold. It's no fun when you have to add a little pause in a part to allow time for the 1st valve button to rise...
I went in and got a few things like some olives and cheese and nuts, planning to spend what I'd made but I'd made so little I I was a couple of dollars short and just put it on my card. Still, I've got almost $20 in my wallet I'd not have otherwise.
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