355th day sober. I woke up a bit after 12, maybe 1, then finally got out of bed around 3. I wanted to be out here at 4, so I found a few things that have to go out today and packed them, plus had time for one more thing.
I dropped off the things at the downtown post office, and the ride down had been easy, not only the "no wind" feeling when I'm going with the wind, but the wind pushing me. This is going to be rough coming back, I thought.
Before the post office I'd dropped off my pledge at the temple and went into my bank to drop off the pen I'd "borrowed" too.
It was so windy that there were tons of those little seeds the trees drop blowing all over the place. Just before the post office I had such a strong coughing fit from the things that it's a good thing I didn't eat anything before starting out or I'd have lost it. After the post office I stood over the grass in front and blew my nose out and washed my face with a bottle of water from the bike, right in front of gaggles of lawyers coming out of the courthouse for the day. Classy. I put my mask on - better to just wear it all the time in this weather.
I rode down to the exercise equipment place and bought a pair of dumb-bells. Like everything else, they're much more expensive than they used to be. The guy working there and I talked about bums, their characteristics and the problems with them and what ought to be done with them (internment camps where they can have all the drugs they want).
Done there, I rode the block or two to the used book store and got a book I'd wanted to get yesterday but didn't have the money. I believe it says the same things Morris Berman's "Why America Failed" says but says it better and I might even find that Berman has plagiarized from it - I'd not be surprised, given how much he levels that accusation against Chris Hedges, another author Berman hates out of sheer jealousy.
But a gal working there was busy re-arranging the whole set of shelves where the book was and I could not find it. After what felt like a half hour of her trying to shelve books and my trying to find the thing, she suggested looking on Google giving various hints about the book (since I could not remember the exact title or author). She found it right away. And while I was searching and had mentioned Hedges books, she found a Chris Hedges book I've wanted to find, "War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning", a title the rather obtuse Berman thinks is unironic. So I ended up with two books I wanted.
I felt hungry so I went over to Whole Foods and got some broccoli and veggies and meatballs. That was a bit over $7. I ate upstairs, to get away from the seeds that were blowing around. After eating, I went back downstairs to look for some things. I wanted to find "Vital Wheat Gluten" which, after looking for a while, a worker helped me look for and suggested the baking department. It was there. I also noticed toothpaste and floss, which I needed, on sale and got those and some baking chocolate.
As soon as I got onto Santa Clara St. I knew the ride home would be an ordeal. The wind was really cold and slowing me down to almost a walking pace. I could not imagine doing the whole ride home in these conditions. Fortunately I had a secret weapon: my Clipper card. I rode over to the station by the courthouse and a train was coming. The Clipper machine didn't seem to be working so I just got on. There was no need to worry as I was the only one in that whole train car, with someone else in the rear car.
During my ride no one got on or off. Not even at the Gish station, normally the busiest. I'd not ridden the light rail for months, maybe a year or more, so I got a look at how much more broken-down things were on that route. Also on the train itself, the PA system was even worse and tended to play two messages at the same time - the Japantown announcement was like a B-movie special effect.
I got off at Karina and stopped by Tom's but he wasn't in. So I just rode past all the resident bums back to here. The car with the smashed-out rear window doesn't look like it's mobile any more. And the zombie car that had been abandoned in the parking lot here is now parked neatly by the cement plant, like it's a normal car that can be driven - no doubt it was towed or pushed, probably pushed, there. This ride home, being downwind, was easy.
On Reddit I've learned today that the US is far ahead in the Covid Olympics. We've now officially passed 1 million deaths and the next runner-up, India, with several times the population in a smaller area, have only achieved a half-million deaths. Come on, India, you can do better than that! What's the matter with you people? You trust scientists or something?
No comments:
Post a Comment