Ken came over last night, we talked about everything under the sun as usual, and I got my check and some mail. After he left, I got involved in cleaning, sorting, and counting out parts I'd scavenged, and by the time I was done with that I realized I was pretty tired and did a little bit of octaves practice and went to bed.
I woke up at about 2:30, and was out of here a bit before 3. I dropped off donations at the little free libraries and in return got this Soviet SF/protest novel I'd long heard of and wanted to read, pages are falling out but that's fine with me. And "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin. There are a ton of books out there with "the fire" this and that, and I think this is the actual original one that I've wanted to read.
I went to the bank and did my deposit and everything was to the penny so... great.
Then I rode around a bit, and landed eventually at Whole Foods where I got some meatballs and green beans and a near-beer, and went upstairs and got a glass with ice to pour the can of near-beer into. I noticed the gal sitting next to me had all kinds of writing and doodles and drawings and stuff in this little cheapie notebook, so I said she ought to get one of those Moleskine books, and she said maybe she should, and that she's just brainstorming with herself over which condo to buy here in San Jose.
Game on, I thought to myself, and did, I think, a rather good job of convincing her that she's absolutely correct to buy at this time, that her friends are wrong and to "be right with historical trends" (not mentioning that those trends are dead wrong - millions buying when real estate is absurdly high does not make it a smart thing to do) she needs to get right on it. And even at one point said that one of the places she's considering, called 88 something, is probably the better buy because of the 88 in the title - not only lucky to Chinese people but lucky to the far-right, explaining carefully like it's completely normal (will it be?) that 8 is the 8th letter in the alphabet, H, and so 88 means HH or Heil Hitler.
I burbled about how Google is going to remake downtown San Jose and it'll be really neat (Ha! I'll believe that when ... well, I plan to be out of here long before then) and how a condo is so much better because there's no yard work or surprise bills when a tree makes the sidewalk out front buckle up. "And no packages being stolen, they'll even hold your food for you when you order food" she enthused. (Let's not think about how $23 for a Big Mac or whatever food delivery is these days isn't smart.)
By the time she left she was all a-bubble about buying in this real estate bubble. Who, as a kid, didn't like to blow a bubble up just as big as they could before it would pop? I like to think I did my tiny bit. Somehow the near-beer was tasty, the meatballs just right and I didn't get too many, and the beans just right. The weather felt delightful, too.
I went downstairs and did my shopping, and while loading up the bike noted that it was actually a really nice afternoon for busking. Warm, people around, no hucksters with booths and the guy who parked himself ON a bike rack to bother people hasn't been around. And it's now June, isn't it? I've got to get out there.
I went to the Amazon place for bubble mailers and then to Nijiya for a few things. Unfortunately I inhaled a seed or something on my way over so I had an itchy cough and also I hadn't had any coffee before leaving the shop so one of the things I got was a can of coffee which I drank and *gargled* out front.
I rode back here really loaded up, unloaded the bike and put the things that need to be refrigerated in the fridge right away, but mainly I got the things off the bike and hooked up the trailer and rode over to the dumpster that's nearby that I keep finding techie stuff in. There wasn't much, but I pulled out a number of fans, a couple of DVD drives, a bullhorn of the type that's normally mounted on a building, and a few other odds and ends.
I got back here and spent a LOT of time putting things away, organizing, re-organizing, etc. It's a good feeling though, getting that kind of thing done. I also ordered some headjoint corks from JL Smith Co. which is the parent company of Fluteworld, and some key oil and another beginner flute book from .... Fluteworld. For some reason JL Smith only sells "eh" key oil, not the good Yamaha stuff. I bought the book because I just heard of it "Flute 101" being good for adult beginners, and because why not.
I can't learn to work on flutes without key oil and corks! I believe the flute I bought new comes with a free "COA" which is clean, oil, adjust about a year after I've bought it and I don't want to mess with that one while it's covered like that. But the student flute I picked up, that's fair game. Plus there's a flute on Craig's List for a couple hundred that looks like a real "project", good flute just one level below, or maybe the same, older made-in-Japan Yamaha, that "needs a few pads". I wonder if I should jump on it ... I look at the ad again and remember why I haven't ... it's got an inline G. Hard for my stubby fingers to deal with.
No comments:
Post a Comment