Blessed are the whistleblowers

 First, the internet and the radio are abuzz with the newest Fascist move; to take an old issue that was settled a half-century ago and have the country fight over it again. Somehow the web site Politico got a leaked document from the Supreme Court (someone on the radio said leaking this is a "career ender" but Oh what a way to end a career) saying they plan to end Roe v. Wade (which actually has a lot of other progressive stuff like doctor-patient confidentiality in it) and after that, end gay marriage and while it's not in the document, it's pretty much on everyone's mind that they won't stop at that but will try to illegal-ize things like interracial marriage and, well, you and the wifey better not like doing butt stuff... 

The *way* they're doing all of this is particularly evil, like the "bounty hunter" system in Texas for anyone who even is thought to have helped someone get an abortion, the anti-abortion laws being absolute even in cases of rape and incest or cases where carrying the child to term or trying to will kill the mother. 

California and Hawaii are going to stand against this of course. They always have. Plain and simple: Both states have the largest Asian populations and people are sensible about these things in Asia. I actually thought the Pacific Northwest was a lot less "yee haw" than it turns out to be, but I've learned that region was originally intended to be some kind of "white homeland" with no non-whites allowed so that's why the smell of stupid wafts so strongly from up there. 

I simply stayed up, packed 25 things (they were all pretty small) and did my post office and FedEx run in the 9:3- 10:30 hour, got back here and dropped the trailer off and rode to the meeting place. The gal selling the flute showed up right on the dot. She said she'd gotten it for a "project" where she recorded herself playing a lot of different instruments, put together to make a piece of music. The flute seems to play OK at least on the notes I know which are B,A,G, C, and G# and their octaves. It came with/in a "vintage" Protec case, which is probably a good choice for busking. 

I got a bowl of curry from the curry place since I'd been loitering at one of their tables, plus some spicy chicken wings from a lunch truck, got back here and ate and went to bed. 

I woke up at 8PM, after 8 hours' sleep which is good. I have a guy from France coming over to pick up three large test instruments he'd bought, I dunno, before the virus so 2+ years ago. He'd said he'd pick them up next time he was in town and I said they're just sitting here, they're not going anywhere, and however long it takes for him to get a chance to get by, they'll be waiting here for him. That and my laziness kept me from listing the things again as I expected to not hear from the guy again. But he'll come by Friday or Saturday he says. 

I was already mentally rehearsing the little speech I plan to give him on the theme of how he should get out of the US, stay out of the US, sell any assets he has in the US, and thoroughly detach himself from this sinking ship, when the elevator into the abyss the US is on took another sickening "thunk!" downward; this Roe v. Wade thing. 

 Now I'll have to give the same little spiel, then say since this major change, I can only reiterate is with more vehemence. Get out if you can (just please take these 3 big instruments with you because I can use the shelf space). 

The wind's been vicious out there and that's a reason I didn't take my sleepless self and go downtown, to find some batteries for my calculator and to pick up some non-sugar sweetener that's hopefully the same as "blue Sweet-N-Low" which is really hard to find. It's for Ken, of course. It was only about $6 for a large box on Amazon, their brand, and even if it takes 2 packets instead of one for a cup, that's fine because there will be plenty. 

So I'll make that trip tomorrow, with some small things to drop off at the downtown post office. And the wind might be just as nasty but generally it's only really bad coming back and if it's that bad, I can just hop on a light rail train with my bike and get off at the stop just upwind. The last time, the ticket machine wasn't even working or something and it didn't even cost anything. I guess since the trains are so empty they're not bothering charging. 

I just read a bit more of James Galway's 2nd autobiography and it's really good. Again my suggestion is to get both, because the earlier one is great for a more "raw" look at his early life and what formed him, and the 2nd seems to be really good for insights into his young adulthood and onward. 

I think I did all right buying my little Yamaha 225SII student flute, as it seems like it's playable, came with a suitably scruffy little bag to carry it in, and I want to learn to work on flutes. Just learning to work on my own flutes will be well worth it, as paying a tech to do it is expensive. And I don't want to experiment on my fancy-schmancy $2000 job! 

Likewise I don't want to take the fancy one out busking, not right away anyway. If I could only remember what I was playing back when I was busking with a flute. I don't remember making much money at all, but my tips for playing trumpet weren't much when I was starting out either. I know I wasn't playing Saints on the flute but what the heck was I playing? I must have been drinking a fair amount during that time. 

I guess I'm really itching to get out there. I guess I remember going partway - maybe not as far as I've gone now - in the Wye book and then just going on my own because my practice habits weren't as good then. And the little exercises in the Wye book are starting to found fairly good. They're more musical than the exercises in the Rubank trumpet book, for instance, which are more like calisthenics. 

Zombies keeping things interesting dept.: A bit past midnight a large "Pace Arrow" RV pulls in a couple doors over, by what's the back door to the race-car place. They often have a lot of vehicles park on the other side and along the big fence, I think in preparation for a race. They get together whatever they're running in the race and I'm pretty sure, carpool it in as as few of the vehicles as they can. The RV looks neat and well maintained, so I thought it has to be one of the race-car crowd, maybe spending the night. 

What appears to be an elderly, infirm, old white guy gets out. With zombies it's hard to tell age as the zombie virus exerts its ravages on them. He hobbles around to the back and gets out a hose which he hooks up to the spigot outside there and starts washing the RV or something. I think he might be emptying the "grey" (pissy, shitty) water tank and I'm thinking, "Eww, but as long as he rinses that down" and I get busy making a curry. 

I look again and the zombie has his pants down and is .... washing his dick? His ass in general? Really playing around there. Then the zombie spends some time leaning against the RV in the classic opiate "nod", staying motionless for a while. Finally the zombie snaps out of its stupor, gathers up the hose and goes inside the RV. 

Now, most zombie vehicles are really obvious. Non-working lights, busted out windows, tarps randomly strapped on with bungee cords, noisy and barely moving under their own power. But this one looked like a normal person might own it. This is probably why so many neighborhoods don't want RVs on their streets because even the neat-looking ones can be chock full of zombies. This RV had been accompanied by a zombie car that likewise looked normal, and the zombie car reappeared and followed the nasty thing out. Being zombies, it will never occur to them that they're on camera. 

This is a large reason RV's are illegal in Hawaii. They tend to be inhabited by shitbirds. In this case literally because a while after the zombie RV and car had gone, I walked out to put some trash in the dumpster and it smells like shit out there. And apparently the RV had come in leaving a trail of shit, and the water left all over is shit-water and stinks to high heaven. The next time I hear about a street RV being lit on fire, I'm only going to think, "Good. Someone did a public service".

Another interesting zombie fact I learned on Reddit is that other than old people, who gets eczema? Crack addicts, that's who. So if you've got someone relatively young, skinny, and perpetually complaining that soy oil, or dairy products, or the phase of the moon, is giving them eczema, you can bet your bottom dealer it's really coming from their crack dealer.