Get out the paint chips

 I packed 16 things last night and did a practice session. I am slowly improving, even if I'm only doing an hour or so an evening. 

The latest thing they're talking about on the radio is "affirmative action" which in the US is race-based because this country is obsessed with race. Get a job, enroll in college, buy car insurance, rent a place, anything, everything, they want to know your race. I've had census workers insist I'm Hispanic because I lived in a heavily Hispanic area and I even got papers I *had* to fill out come in the mail later, to clarify on this. You can't ignore any of these race papers, either. It's join in the obsession with race or no apartment, no car insurance, no college, etc. 

So of course affirmative action, a program intended to right past wrongs, is race-based. In a "laboratory" environment, say, a US Southern state where there are two classes: white and colored, it might work. A while back I saw a thing on TV about people recovering from a series of severe tornadoes in one of these Southern states. I noticed everyone was white or black. There were no in-betweens. The people were all really white, or really black. They were working together as friends and neighbors which was great to see, but in a place like that, you could assume that anyone white had things fairly well, and anyone black almost certainly came from a slavery background and was still far behind. 

But the US isn't like that everywhere and even isn't like that any more except in a few small areas. Instead you've got a real mix of races and classes. And this is the real issue. If they did affirmative action based on the student's ability to overcome things like poverty and bad education, they'd automatically help out more people of color, but they'd not be screwing over working-class white kids. 

But doing that is hard, whereas, they can just take one of those strips of paint color samples and compare skin color and call it good. Plus, since the US uses the "one drop rule" which means if you are say, 1/16th black, grew up upper-middle-class and have just a slight swarthiness and a little curl to your hair, you're considered  black and get tons of help even though you're upper middle class already. 

This is not how the French would do it. Firstly, France has national school standards and excellent schooling is available to rich and poor. College debt is not crippling there and if you're smart enough to go to college, you go to college. And colleges are just that - colleges. Not sports teams with a college attached. 

In the US if you're working-class and classified as white, college is only possible if you're good at a sport. You can be really dumb and it won't matter because it will be arranged for some smart kid to take your tests for you. The way these things work in the US goes back many, many decades. A favorite example of mine are Hewlett and Packard, who went to Stanford. Hewlett's father was a wealthy doctor who gave/bribed a lot of money to Stanford and their kid was going to go there whether he was a dunderhead or not. Packard was not wealthy but was big and good at football. Needless to say he got a full scholarship and could have been an idiot and it would not have changed a thing. 

Most working-class kids who are classified as white aren't good at a sport because it takes things like good, plentiful food and free time to practice, that working-class kids don't get. They're half-starved growing up and busy hustling somehow to help feed their family by the time their age has -teen appended to it. 

The best hope is to join the military and stay in the full 20 years, or get good at some hustle that *is* achievable, like becoming a barber or an HVAC technician or learning how to buy and sell stuff, or being a 'fence' or running a pawn shop. 

I took off for downtown with the bike loaded up with the 16 packages, and dropped them off at the post office. Actually 15 went there and the last one went to the FedEx just down the street  from Pizza My Heart, where I had a slice.  Then I went down to Walmart and got some things, and came back really loaded up. 

It was an interesting evening as there were trick-or-treaters all over the place, but also the usual smattering of actual zombies, resulting in some confrontations and yelling and so on, as the zombies had to be reminded they are not welcome among the living. 

I stopped at Nijiya and it was a huge mob scene, with the street closed off and tons and tons of parents and kids and I guess a lot of the stores handing out candy. I got in, got my snacks, and got out of there, though, because it was basically a superspreader event. As a country, we've decided that while 1000 deaths a day from covid are an outrage, 300 a day, our present rate, are perfectly fine. Not fine with me, though, byeee... 

 

I have to assume I needed the sleep

 I slept the day away, finally getting up around 4:30. So much for getting out in the sun, but yesterday when I did go out, it was rather grey and wintry feeling, and we're supposed to have some rain by Tuesday. 

The Bee

 I got 20 of the little modules (anywhere from 1-8 of each one so it's a lot) ready to list but didn't list them. I packed 5 or 6 large things to take to FedEx and called it a night. 

I practiced and moved to the next page, where there's a piece called The Bee. It's not too hard to play, but what surprised me is, I seem to remember playing this piece before. All those years ago when I busked with a flute a bit - it was a student Yamaha I'd bought new. 

At the time, I was "puffy" in that I ran out of air a lot - I mean, even more than I do presently. I don't know why I have so few memories of this earlier, flute playing time. I remember proving to myself that I could always pay for my monthly VTA bus and light rail pass, which at the time was about $70. 

Later I remember wanting busking to pay me $50 a week. It was trumpet by this time and I was able to do that, although the hourly pay was pretty low. 

I woke up at around 3, and got an email from Tom asking if I could check his place - he's got his homeless van-living bum friend, Roy, watching the place but "Roy said he'd check but then he flaked on me". Roy spends a lot of time smoking marijuana, heavily. 

I took off a bit before 5 and took the packages up to FedEx, then went over to Tom's shop where Roy was messing around out front. He's sure he saw someone move around inside, and saw the light shining from inside get obscured by someone moving. We hung out and shot the shit a while, then I had to go. 

I got back here and dropped off the bike trailer and picked up a bunch of stuff to donate, and headed for Japantown. I had time to put the stuff in the little free library there, as well as check a few others, then circled back around to Nijiya where I got eggs and some fresh-noodle miso ramen and so on. I got some fish because I felt like making some fish ramen, but when I got back here I noticed the fish was ... not fresh. It was dated the 28th and today's the 29th. Oops. I cooked it anyway but it was not great. I'll have to watch the dates more carefully. 

The beginning of our Years Of Lead?

 I got my practice in last night although I was quite tired. It went OK, and it's about time I move forward to the next couple of pages in the book. 

On the radio there's all kinds of news. Muskie the Muskrat has finished his purchase of Twitter, which I swore off of years ago when it became forever associated with that dangerous idiot Trump. Now that the Muskrat owns it, it will probably become the present-day Der Sturmer, the Nazi newspaper, distributed all over the Reich, that even the Nazis thought got too extreme at times. I say this because of course Orange Twitler will be allowed back on. In the same way that advertisers jumped to get on the Hitler bandwagon, I'm sure Twitter won't lose advertisers either. 

Also, apparently Amazon lost something like 20% of its stock value in one day. Gee, that's a big surprise, given they seem to be making it harder and harder - if possible at all - to use. I personally feel like it was a fad that was fun for a while, but I'm bored with it now. 

We've also had an assassin try to kill Nancy Pelosi, who fortunately was away from her house, and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi who got injured but fortunately not killed. He, and political figures in general, are going to need some heavy-duty security from now on. Apparently Nancy's security detail was with her, in Washington, and there was no one guarding her family. They'll have to think in terms of a new world, one full of terrorists and assassins. 

Headache fading away

 My headache never got bad last night and after packing things to mail, I did a practice session and it went fine. I went to bed around 7AM and woke up at about 1:20. 

I went downtown, dropping off packages at the downtown post office. While I was locking up the bike, a zombie came running by at full tilt, and continued running until it got to a particular bench ... meetup with the local drug dealer? Who knows. "The crazy" is generally on display around that area. I feel sorry for the people who work in the county courthouse there, nicely dressed, almost certainly clean records, educated, who have to walk through this area. 

I did my bank deposit and then locked the bike up at Whole Foods and got on the #22 bus for some exploring. There's an REI store I'd wanted to check out and, while it's a bit nicer than a Big-5, there wasn't anything in there that I wanted and especially not given that I'd have to pay the membership fee and there's no REI in Hawaii. 

I also checked out the big dollar store, and it's pretty neat. All I bought was liquid fabric softener which is getting hard to find because it's bad for washing machines it turns out, but since I don't use one, it's fine for me. But with Fry's Electronics and Amazon out of my life now, I'll be back to that dollar store. 

I got back to Whole Foods and there were lots of people in hockey jerseys, both the San Jose Sharks and the Canadian Maple Leafs (or whatever it is, Maple Leafs).

I guess we're pen pals

 I worked through my rather bad headache to get these pieces of test equipment Ken had brought over that had tons and tons of little modules inside, to get them all done and to see if ignoring it would make my headache go away. 

I got the things apart, but the headache did *not* go away and it was just as strong when I woke up around 3. I had a Coke and some aspirin and that's all I had for hours, and the headache died off a little bit. 

I finally ate something - some peanut crackers - and got a bit more awake. I listed 15 small things that were easy to list and I could line up on the desk here, so no reaching for them on the floor, which might make my headache worse. Then I made some instant noodles with slices of beef, very spicy, and that went OK so then I got busy putting tons of things away that I'd listed that were really piling up in the office. 

I had the place all neat and clean when Ken came by at his usual time, and I got my check, and Ken brought a few more things to sell, and also gave me a letter from the IRS. Now, I'd just sent off one to them because they wanted me to, essentially, give them permission to check into things and see if they owe me any money for the earned income tax credit. Now this one, which is a bill for just under $150. And they want it pretty quickly, too. By November 7th. This is like corresponding with a pen pal who likes to send money back and forth. 

Ken and I hung out and talked about things as usual, and he left a bit after midnight. I made out a check and will send this 2nd letter to the IRS tomorrow. I think it's a fine for getting my taxes in a bit late; I seem to remember being a day or two late and thinking it might not matter. That's my fault there, and I'll make sure I'm early next time. 

Live Long And Prosper, Randy Newman

 Last night I had stuff ready to list but I had my headache come on strong and I kept waiting for it to go away and it didn't. I was kind of OK as long as I didn't move, but if I tried to do anything I was reminded that all was not well. So I finally went to bed, I thought 7AM but I think it was more like 6. 

I didn't sleep that soundly, and at one point dreamed I was at this place that was actually pretty cool; it was a sort of combination pawn shop and electronics store, that played some kickass classic rock on their radio. Randy Newman had died, and it was this shock to everyone, bigger than when Tom Petty died by far. So I'd been in various places as the news hit, it was a big thing. 

I finally woke up at 12:30 and among other things, checked to see how Randy Newman is doing - according to Wikipedia he's an "is" not a "was" so he appears to be alive and well. Whew! 

I had coffee and photo'd the ebay things I should have listed last night (I didn't practice either) and left here at about 3. I decided to try the taco truck that parks by the front of the place and a taco was $2.85 so I gave them that in the form of a $1 bill and a bunch of change that I counted out, then dumped the rest, maybe a dollar, into their tip jar. 

This resulted in my getting TWO tacos. They're a neat, clean food truck with a nice little table and a smaller stand with horchata and tamarindo drink in big jugs, all very nice. I sat there and ate my tacos with the orange sauce, and man they were good. Maybe the guy gave me two tacos because they're used to seeing me ride by all the time? Or because he thought I was broke? Or both? In any case, it was a nice, if ill-timed, stop. 

I say ill-timed because as I was leaving a zombie, I *think*  maybe the zombie I've had trouble with off and on for years, who at one time pissed in the mail slot, came by on his bike. And started yelling a bunch of hostile shit along with "Better not try to keep up". I slowed down, and did a little loop to give the damned thing more of a head start, then went on my way, in not too much of a hurry. My loop kept me from seeing which direction the zombie went in so I could only hope it didn't go the same way I was going, and fortunately I was right. 

Downtown was just jumping with the damn things. Maybe it's their last chance to stagger around and bother humans before the weather really does cool off. 

I went to the post office to drop off a few packages and then to the bank, where I told them I'd lost my debit card somehow, the last time I knew I had it being Friday. No need to tell them that when I burned my "classified" trash last night I'd cut the thing into a big spiral and tossed it in and it had burned up without a trace. So I was telling the truth about my not having it any more. 

So I've got a new card with a different number coming, and in the meantime will just operate on cash. I got $100 out and they gave me a new $100 bill. 

This isn't something I can break anywhere, so I went over to Dai Thanh and got a bunch of things, spending almost $20 which is a lot there. They didn't blink at the $100 bill. 

I swung by the Amazon place for a few bubble mailers because I don't have to be a member of Amazon to do that. Then I went by Nijiya for some eggs but the last half-carton of eggs had a broken one, so I found a few other things to get, and a funny thing happened. A big charter bus had come through and parked up the street and the store was suddenly full of these Japanese people. They were all young, so I don't know if it was a high school junior/senior age school trip, or young new employees of some company, or what. It was pretty hilarious. It seems a lot of shops there are only open Wednesday or Thursday through the weekend now so they could have picked a better day if they wanted to really see Japantown. 

As usually happens I found a couple of books that looked interesting on my ride home also, and I just got back here - it was a quarter to 5 and traffic was awful. 

I got back here and hitched up the bike trailer to go check on the "bountiful" dumpster. But since I had the trailer, I could use it for something else first. Last night, a zombie had a bike loaded with crap and some kind of thing dragging behind that might have been intended to be a trailer, had gotten into the locked dumpster enclosure somehow and spend hours rummaging around and gotten some stuff out, leaving it outside by the side of the enclosure. I decided to load this stuff up and take it to the FedEx dumpster, so that's what I did. 

Then I went to the "bountiful" dumpster and actually found a few interesting things so it was worth it. Also, it being 5 or just a bit after, it was still sunny outside and I thought I might trade off avoiding zombies by being early, at the risk of annoying the owners of the shop the dumpster belongs to. But they were gone for the day. In fact, a lot of places that were open and working until well past normal working hours, were all closed. This is actually good. I can check the "bountiful" dumpster around 5, actually before I do my post office run. 

Still pissed off at Amazon

 I woke up and yep, still pissed off at Amazon. Unfortunately I woke up at a quarter to 5, too late to make the planned dash to the bank. 

I practiced before bed and it went well. I'd skipped practicing a couple of days which is not good. It went well, though, and the pieces are easier to play. I'm back to where I was with trumpet, years ago, but in this case at least I know how important daily practice is and can develop a decent amount of skill and good tone more quickly. 

I packed a couple more things, bringing the number up to 15 packages, and headed out a bit after 6. Everything went fine, and since I had a $20 on me I got some things in H Mart - a bag of those shrimp flavored crisp things to use up what's left of the tub of sour cream, a package of Shirakiku "seafood flavor" ramen, and a bag of frozen shrimp. 

I stopped by Tom's to talk a bit but only one of his bum friends, Roy, was there and I remembered after knocking on the door a couple of times that Tom's off on vacation for a few weeks. Roy was there in his van but never came out or said Hi or anything. Probably drunk or stoned out of his mind. 

I got back here and hitched the bike trailer up and took a (rather nice) chair and a big Styrofoam cooler out to the side of Old Bayshore so someone will spot them and take them. Big Styrofoam coolers are always useful and the chair is actually pretty neat - a coat of varnish and some new cushions and it'll serve someone well. 

On the radio they're talking about the big flu season they think is coming, so I'm glad I got my shot. And covid, being endemic now, is also a concern so I'm glad I got my shot for that. There's talk of covid shots no longer being subsidized and will start costing $120 or $140 which I can afford, but if that's the case I might want to start looking for someone else to pay for the shots for, also. 

In fact I hope that becomes a thing, where if covid shots start costing money, people who have at least some money treat someone else to an immunization along with themselves. 

Well, that was a day off

 That was a nice day off, I guess. I actually started feeling just fine around midnight. So it was basically 24 hours of being sick and then it was over with. 

I tried the "Penang white curry mee" noodles I'd bought at 99 Ranch, and they're actually pretty good as instant noodles go. 

I guess I'm not spending very much this week, as I just don't feel like it. I was up early enough today (around noon) to consider visiting the flea market but decided there's too much chance of that tiring me out enough that other things don't get done and by "other things" I mean most importantly, flute practice. Flute practice is money in the bank for me, because if I can play some good tunes, that's going to not only make me happy but pay me better than wandering around looking at a bunch of skeezy flea market sellers' stuff, hoping to find something valuable. 

I thought a bit last night about my trumpet playing there at Whole Foods. I'd gotten burned out. It started to feel just like a job. I think it was a combination of always playing the same place, always playing the same tunes (each tune was so hard-won on trumpet) and not having an overall purpose for the money I made. 

The idea behind changing to flute is not only that it will be more welcome than trumpet in a place like Hawaii, besides the difficulty of keeping a trumpet non-stinky in a tropical climate, but a number of other factors. 

Trumpet is a high-pressure system whereas flute is an air-volume, or lower pressure system. That makes it seem like I'll be able to play it more years into the future and it'll be physically healthier. Flute has tons of reachable range. It's hard to have a trumpet sound good lower than written C below the staff, and I was never able to go much above the staff in actual busking. Flute doesn't go much below C below the staff, but going above it for an octave or two is easy - thus a ton more range. Plus there's a ton of material that sounds good on flute that would come across as just weird on trumpet. 

If I were decent on the flute, I could realistically experiment with going over to the airport and playing, as long as I played relaxing, happy stuff. Mayyyyybe someone could pull that off with a flugelhorn, but certainly not trumpet and there's a good probability the authorities there would see all that brass and say No Way. 

As I type there's a debate between Gavin Newsom and some right-winger who I guess is challenging him for Governor. The right-winger sounds somewhat convincing but is probably only so to the same crowd who thought radio talk-show kook Larry Elder had a chance a year or two ago - that little movement went down in flames. 

When the news isn't about Ukraine, it's about the upcoming election. The problem is, as I've stated, if the fascists win, then Putin wins. The  two things are tied together. All Putin has to do is hold out and if the Fascists win in the US, the US will pull out of NATO, out of the UN, and give Putin every white phosphorus shell we've got. My theory is still that Putin started his war with the assumption that his debtor, Trump, would win in 2020. When that didn't happen, with his army, composed almost completely of rabble and gangsters as it is, all hyped up on the rape and plunder they'd get to do, it was like holding the leash on a mad dog. Better to let it go before it attacks you. Now he's faced with trying to just hold on, since you can't, apparently, do a proper blitzkrieg with an army composed of rabble and gangsters. 

The upcoming election is "only" a midterm but any election is a national holiday for me, if that's what I need to get my ballot in. My understanding is that if the fascists get their way in this one, the 2024 election will be a potemkin one. I saying I saw recently - "You can vote your way into Fascism but you'll have to shoot your way out". 

I keep thinking up ways to stay here, such as renting a small office to live in and work out of, or moving up to the city to be a busker full time. But if the US is going to go Fascist, travel is going to become very restricted, possibly available to Pure Aryans(tm) of the right political leanings only. If I leave for Hawaii in 2024 it may seem too early. But I feel if I wait even a year or two later it may be too late. It would be like leaving Germany in in 1932 vs. 1933 or 1934. Plus, being back home, I'll be halfway across the Pacific and that would make it that much easier to escape to any of a number of places in the Pacific. 

Aaaaaaaand... I find myself looking at doing something I knew I'd had to do, but not for another year at least. Amazon is effectively so difficult to sign in on now because I don't have a $1000 a month connect plan and a solid-gold-cased iPhone because I'm not a Kool Kid, that I will no longer be able to buy anything from them. Because of this, I want to cancel my Amazon Prime, which ... Lo and behold, is also effectively impossible to do. I mean, I can do it, as long as I go out and bust a grand on a brand new smart phone and a new plan that's $60 a month or $720 a year. Then I can cancel my Prime that I can't use any longer, that's somewhere around $120 - $140 a year.  

Since I hate all high-tech companies with a red-hot passion, instead I'll do this: I'll go to my bank and tell them I lost my debit card, and that I want to get a new one with a new number because security and all that. I'll have to update the new card number with my cell phone carrier but that is actually do-able unlike any dealings with Amazon. That's the only continuing bill that's on my card. This is why I like to keep things very simple. 

I can just go into the bank for any cash needs I might have until the new card comes in. It's like Bezos The Bully saying, "If you wanna play on the teeter-totter, you have to give me part of your lunch money", with the assumption that I want to play on "his" teeter-totter so much that I'll do so, and my flipping the table by saying, "Nah, I'll go work on my marble-shooting skills, thanks, C-ya!" and walking away, leaving the bastard gobsmacked.

If I need a book, I can always have Recycle Book Store get it for me. As for other things I buy from time to time, there are other ways to get those things. I'm set for bike tires, and even if I ended up needing another tire before I leave, I'm sure La Dolce Velo can get me a tire at a competitive price. 

And I can still pick up bubble mailers from the Amazon Hub, as that's not dependent at all on whether I even have an Amazon account. 

There are a few flute things I'd like to get, but I can get those in other ways. I still never got my key oil from Flute World so I'm not sure what's going on there, but I have sources for things. 

I didn't get gypped.

 It took longer then usual for the effects of the covid booster to appear. I actually wondered if I'd just been given saline or something because for hours and hours I felt no reaction. I actually got a batch of Ebay stuff ready to list, including messing around with a bunch of Peltier coolers that needed a lot of handling that took hours while I watched videos. When I was done with those, I felt like ... I might be having a reaction after all. 

Then it was on. Aches and chills and fever (I guess) and pains just all over the place. I had to take some aspirin to be able to get to sleep, and as soon as I woke up took some aspirin again. Now it's mostly done and I just feel a bit of a headache and blah in general. So I didn't get gypped, haha, didn't just get saline or something.

So that was my Saturday, and this is why I'd timed things the way I did, because it interferes the least with work. 24 hours of some discomfort, that's no problem. 

I can't believe how much busking has died off, not just in real life (functionally extinct here in San Jose) but even online. Somehow, in a time where "handcrafted" things are very popular and you can't call yourself a proper restaurant or coffee shop if you don't have hand-written menus and hand-painted signs, and hand-stitched (by underpaid children or half-blind oldsters overseas of course) things sell for premium prices, "handmade" music just isn't out there. 

I'm not sure whether this is a shortage on the production or the consumption end. Maybe no one wants to get out there these days, or maybe when they do, they don't make very much any more. 

I wonder if this is related to the sort of "great leveling" that happened in music in general, after internet use became widespread. There are sites like "Soundcloud" and "Bandcamp" and so on, where supposedly you can put your music on and get paid somehow, but from what I understand, hardly anyone's getting paid by these services. But they might be short-circuiting the careers of a lot of people who'd otherwise try their luck out on the sidewalk, which takes a lot of guts to start doing. They try out going on one of these sites instead, post some music, make nothing or close to it, have "gotten it out of their system", then go and do something else. 

Soft skills are hard

 Ken came by last night with tons of goodies, and we talked a while, and I got my pay check so that's all good. 

I listed 10 things (some of the things were 20 or 30 of that thing) on Ebay and packed a couple and put those boxes in the bike bag. 

I practiced a bit, not a lot, the tone exercises and stuff on page 20. I was torn between practicing a lot and getting to bed in time to get some sleep. I was very happy with how the practice went, though. The flute didn't move around in my hands nearly as much as it's been, and my tone, I thought, was very good. This is what makes regular practice so great - you never know how it will actually go and it might go really great. 

I woke up at almost 3, and needed to get out of here by 4. I did all kinds of stuff as far as cleaning myself up and got a cup of coffee down, and took off. 

First stop was the post office to drop off the two boxes. Are an electrolytic capacitor and some weird old copier lens that important? They are to the people buying them. I was back outside unlocking my bike when I noticed an older Asian guy, maybe my age but probably older, messing around with the mail boxes in front. Those have been bolted closed for the longest time, because the bums in the park kept messing with them. The guy would just not quit messing around with them, though, and it reminded me that I had that letter from the IRS all filled out and needed to mail it. 

I got it out and locked the bike again and went over to him and explained the situation with the boxes and since I had a letter in my hand just like he had a letter in his hand, it was easy to convince him to go inside and mail it there. I also told him about the boxes by the satellite post office near the college, and said he'd done me a favor by reminding me I had a letter to mail. 

I went over to the bank and did my deposit and then thought I might be too late to get my covid booster at Walmart by now but I'd at least go over there to buy a few things and see what the hours are for tomorrow to maybe get it then. 

But I got there in time, at about 5 and the pharmacy closes at 5:30. Some people who got there after me had appointments so the pharmacist told me they'd get served first and I said that's fine. So I had to loiter around for a while, looking at all the medicines and deciding which are real medicines and which are snake oil, and neatening up the shelves because why not? Then I got my shot and that was that. So far I'm two for two, haven't had to pay anything. 

I got a couple cans of Pringles and a big pot of sour cream and some diet soda, and had a fine time shooting the shit with a Mexican guy in the checkout line, and found a South Africa 1/4 D coin with a hole in it in the Coinstar. 

I got a can of coffee at Dai Thanh on the way home as they've got the best price, and stopped at Nijiya for some peanuts and things, and got back here. 

Last night and today I've been thinking about how, for humans, "hard" skills like building a rocket that goes to the Moon, are relatively easy while "soft" skills seem to be very hard. So we have a level of technology that's pretty miraculous, but we're baffled by characters like Putin and Trump, and we may be tipping into the last war, the final World War, as I type, because our social skills are shit. 

Some good stuff

 I got my practice in, and it's interesting - I did OK an octave up as well as the notes as written on the "tone exercise" but when I got to the next few pieces past "The Stoat" I had trouble playing them an octave up. No problem playing them as written though. In fact, playing as written I should say I'm doing really well. And since the book says nothing about practicing everything as written and then an octave up, that being my idea, I guess I'm coming along fine. 

I'm not sure if it's my lips drying out, myself tiring out, or what. More practice is probably the answer. I might be just getting tired and while flute playing is very different from trumpet playing, that may be exactly it, that it's different and uses different muscles somehow even if it's a lot less pressure. 

But I got my hour or a bit more in, and that's good. Also I've long noted that playing actual pieces is actually easier than playing drills out of a book, which are intended to make you work a bit. 

I went to bed at something past 8AM and woke up at 3. Ken called and said he's coming by after work. I replied that that's great and I kind of figured he was, anyway. He's bringing by some "Good stuff, you'll see!" so ... I guess I'll see. 

This means I'll do a plan, which is to finish clearing off a shelf that's hard to get into, taking off what's left on there that's for sale or ought to be sold, and load it up with stuff that's sitting around here that's not for sale, and taking up space for-sale items can go on. That will enable me to make room for the "good stuff". 

In other news, I don't think I'll be communicating with my rich and evil aunt any more. Originally, I only wanted to get into contact with her to find out some family history. I found that out and that's really all I intended at first. The root of this was, How in hell do you get people as brown as my mom was, out of a Northern country like Lithuania? 

Originally I thought this was a slam-dunk. Obviously, Mom's side of the family must be Lithuanian Jews. Besides the DNA test I took, I wanted what verbal history I could glean from the Evil Aunt. I figured, if I knew I was Jewish even a year or two before the coming fascist regime does, it would give me a leg-up on getting out of here. To Israel, presumably. 

The DNA test told me I'm 0.0% Jewish, and Evil Aunt was very evasive about our not being 100% white, as can be expected from someone whose formative years were the 1940s. In fact the DNA test has me white enough to join the (new) SS, although of course I don't appear it. But at least the fascists won't have me first on their menu for "racial impurity".

I could still go to Israel if I wanted to convert, but I decided I'm not really interested. It means signing on to silly beliefs in a sky daddy who sounds like a real asshole, and also signing on to a seemingly eternal war with both Islam and Christianity although the latter is muted for now. Plus you have to learn a weird language and it routinely gets up to 120 degrees in summer in Tel Aviv. The place will be unlivable long before Hawaii does. 

So I got what I wanted and perhaps needed from the Evil Aunt, and had long decided that I never want to visit her again in person, as it requires drinking a *lot* of alcohol. 

But the latest exchange of emails is the last straw. She told me one of my sisters had done some great noble heroic thing for my mom when Mom was in a nursing home, but then never said what this thing was. And got all offended and tried to crudely evade the question when asked. So I told her off and that's that. 

When I'm back in Hawaii I really hope my older sister and I can be friends again but I think I should be realistic. Like almost every American, she was shallow, money-driven, and judges people as a scalar quantity: If you have much money, you are Good, and if you have not much money, you are Bad. 

I can't let someone like that ruin Oahu for me. Not someone who's scared to death to even go to most places on the island.

Warmth brings out the zombies

Last night I listed 10 Ebay things, started some laundry, and the usual things. Then I practiced even though  I was tired, and did OK except the usual trouble with the flute turning however minutely in my hands when I change fingering to and from the note C, and my lips getting dry, or something. Maybe I was just tired, I decided, so I went to bed. 

I was up at 3. I packed some things to ship, 7 of them, and got out of here the usual time. I did some shopping at 99 Ranch, notably a package of "white curry" flavor instant noodles, 4 servings. I got this because I plan to go back over to Walmart and get my covid booster on Friday, so if I'm going to be sick from it I'll have the weekend to be sick and even Monday is kind of a holiday, being Halloween. 

I put my 99 Ranch goodies away and went out again with the bike trailer and the step-stool and my "getter stick" because I'd spotted what might be some good stuff in the "bountiful" dumpster. On my way out of here, I got some boxes I'd put out by the trash enclosure and stacked those on top and was going to take them to the place near the bridge where I'd put the really big box, but when I got there, there was a zombie with a bike, hanging out. So I rode on - passed another zombie on a bike going the other way - and dumped the box up by the Lotus Glass place. 

No problem, no zombies visible on the way back, and I rode over to the "bountiful" dumpster only to find a zombie going through it, with its zombie dog standing watch. OK, fine, I turned around and got out of there and circled around a bit killing 10 or 15 minutes and came back, and the undead one was still in there rooting around, the undead dog keeping a sharp eye out. So I turned around again, deciding it's not worth it. 

It was very warm, 84 degrees when I'd left with the packages, and since the speed of chemical reactions doubles for every increase of 10 degrees centigrade, approximately, of course the warmth would bring the zombies out and have them out doing zombie things. 

I got back here and cleaned the place up and Ken came by, but while he brought some weird letter from the IRS where I fill out a form and I guess they want to send me some money. They seem to think I deserve a refund based on the Earned Income Credit which I'm pretty sure I don't, but I'll fill it out and send it in just to humor them. 

What he didn't bring was his checkbook because he forgot it. So, assuming he comes by again tomorrow with it as he says he will, I'll deposit my check on Friday and then go get my covid booster after that. Then I can feel like crap the next 2-3 days ... 

Documentaries

 After getting in last night and messing around, cooking up a bowl of ramen, etc. I listed 15 things on Ebay and then watched a couple or three documentaries. 

First I found a great one about Glenn Gould, so I just had to watch that. Oh, to be upper-middle-class and have parents who'd indulge whatever interest I had - I had a fierce interest and perhaps talent for music when I was little but Mom would not let me even touch the piano and the lady up the street with a Steinway grand in her living room, didn't want to teach me but rather my youngest sister, who really had no interest. 

Then I found on about some British guy who enters this race to sail around the world, in his apparently self-designed trimaran. Well, the thing started springing leaks before he even got into the "Southern Ocean" so he lollygagged around S. America, even put in for repairs, and then kinda-sorta realized that while he could simply wait for the other guys to come around and join them in returning to England, he'd be caught in his deception. Especially as they kept sinking or otherwise dropping out, leaving him under a spotlight. He either offed himself or fell off his boat - according to the Wikipedia, he was rather clumsy and had a talent for falling overboard. 

Then at bed time I got all involved in reading "They Called Us Enemy" by Mr. Sulu himself, and even signed by the guy. That was another little free library find. It's a graphic novel and really worth reading. He and his family weren't just in a camp, they got put into the "no-no" camp where they were treated as enemy aliens. His mother, born in the US as his father wasn't, even took part in a program to renounce her citizenship with the idea they'd get sent as a family back to Japan but at least they'd be together. It took a lot of effort and a very good lawyer to get her citizenship back and keep them together, here in the US.

So after all this I was up until 10AM and finally hit the sack.  I was awakened out of a fairly deep sleep when the delivery guy brought a big box containing packing tape. I didn't have to sign, just shout out my name and that was good enough. The box had barbecue sauce smeared on one side for some reason, so I opened it carefully and took the sub-boxes out, and put the box out front and went back to sleep - until almost 7. 

Right now, at 8:20 at night, it's 74 degrees outside and it would normally be about 54 degrees. They said on the radio it would get warmer, but this is more than I expected. What's the saying on r/collapse, Faster Than Expected(tm)? I mean, come on, it's late October. 

I need to get moving as far as selling off things goes. I need to sell off the smart phone, Galaxy S9? I have, since I've had it for weeks now and have had zero interest in using it. When I return to Hawaii, I don't plan to take a laptop or anything like that with me. I plan to just buy what I need when I get there. Probably take my flip phone with me because even without a local plan it's a 911 phone. I need to have my things down to a carry-on bag that will have essential things like flutes and a change of clothes, a checked bag that will have things that I want but it won't wreck my life if they go missing, and both bags have to be easily carry-able. 

I still toy with the idea of taking a cruise ship over. As long as they stop in Honolulu I can jump ship. It would give at least a few days' time to be out on the ocean and clear my mind, and I've not been out at sea since I went to Korea courtesy of the Military Sealift Command, and while that was a bit Spartan it was pretty neat. 

That's another thing I got lost in last night, looking at stuff on single handed sailing to Hawaii. There's a single-handed Transpac, and I've long decided that if I did something like that I'd do it in time with the Transpac because it would mean more "friendlies" around me out at sea. But it's a hell of a lot of expense for a single trip. It'd be OK if I wanted to become someone who operates an inter-island service after getting back home, or sail more otherwise, but I really plan to just get back home and that's that. 

Who knows maybe things will get so much worse in the next couple of years that Matson will start offering passenger service again. And the trip will cost a mere $10 grand, payable in silver... 

Acting my wage

 Last night I futzed around with Ebay things and packed 7 things that are small and have to go to the post office. I also practiced for at least an hour. 

It'd be nice to think I could get simple shortcomings in my playing gone in a practice session or two, but that's not how it works. It's not like using Windows and doing something some ass-backwards way and then someone telling you, "You can do it this way" and they show you a better way and you use that from then on. Nope! You have to build yourself into a player of an instrument, or someone with a decent 5K time, or a speaker of a foreign language, over much time and effort. 

I used to understand this deeply, at the gut level. It was the very beginning of the 90s, so the internet was not really a think the average person had any interaction with. I got into a sport and I *knew* it would take serious time and effort so that's what I did - I put in serious time and effort. 

Back then I think it was easier because there was no internet as a distraction. And at that time it was possible to slack off in life to an amazing degree. My place was a smallish mobile home in a park where I was in one of the back corners and had a tiny lawn and a big patio and a parking spot and a side-yard full of lush grass that was so because the toilet flushed out there. This cost me $500 a month and I think the only bills were for electricity and phone. My motorcycle was all paid for and super cheap to run. 

If there had been something like Ebay back then I'd have jumped right on it, or any kind of work I could have gotten that was self-employment, but any sort of work was really hard to get and that was a real blessing because that kept me from being distracted from getting good at the sport. 

This is why I really have to wonder about some of these homeless people who have a lot less free time than housed people seem to think they have, but still have quite a bit more free time than the average housed person does. Why not pick up art or music or shoe-making or any of a number of things that result in being not just housed again but ending up in a better position than the average "housie"? 

I think, though, that the kind of person who'd use the free time that comes with homelessness to better themselves, don't end up homeless in the first place or if they do, they're out of it again in no time. 

I woke up a bit after 3, and was out the door at about 3;45. I went to Nijiya first and got a can of coffee and a daifuku and cash back because I wanted to make sure, if I had to pay for my flu shot, I had the cash on me to do so. I ate it and drank some of the coffee out front, then rode down to Walmart. 

Monday's a good day to visit Wally World it seems, as it wasn't very hectic, there were a ton of carts out front which means relatively few shoppers, and the pharmacy in back wasn't busy at all. I had to show the pharmacist my ID and health insurance card and give her the last 4 of my Social Security card so she could look me up (maybe they share information with CVS?) and fill out some papers, and then she said, "Just a few minutes while I prepare the vaccination". 

I know how this works from the animal hospital. The vaccine likely comes freeze-dried in a little vial, which is then hydrated and mixed up. The shot was interesting because she rubbed my arm with alcohol and then put this thick around bandage on the spot and *then* injected me. Only after I'd been back home for a few hours did I take the bandage off and it's interesting, a little round foam thing with a circle cut out in the middle, like a corn pad, and thin plastic over the hole. I guess if I bled much, the thing would keep the blood contained and also keep the pharmacist from having to deal with it. Pretty neat. 

I wasn't charged anything for the flu shot, and went to check on the fabric softener situation. There are many types of the sheets that go in the dryer but I don't use a dryer. I've read that softeners are bad for washing machines, but I don't use one of those either. So I just got a 6-pack of Diet 7-Up and that was that. 

There's a saying I've seen on Reddit, where it's said half-jokingly, "act your wage" well, with as much as I'm going to Walmart and have become "their" patient at the pharmacy, I guess I am certainly acting my wage... 

I rode over to Lee's and got 6 large day-old croissants for $3.50, found a few interesting books in the little free libraries, and stopped by Nijiya for more things. One of these workers, I still don't know anyone's name so I'll call him Chubby, had said he needs to get his flu shot and covid booster too so I told him how easily it had gone and how they hadn't even charged me anything. 

I got back here at 7, when it had become dark. It had been sunny today but like yesterday, most of the time the sun was shining through ice clouds so it was not very warm. 

Rockin' The Stoat

 Yesterday wasn't much to write about, but one thing  I did before bed was practice for over an hour while watching episodes 5-6 of Adam Curtis' latest documentary. 

In the flute book I'm up to The Stoat, and the first version of Jingle Bells, in the key of F because all the B's are flat. I did a fair amount of long tones too. 

The whole thing about practice is, at first each piece sounds rather awful, then one practices it over and over and pretty soon it can be played sounding a bit more like music. The idea is to practice it so much that it can be "swung" a bit. At least  I think so - a real flute teacher might say, "We're learning classical here, not jazz!". 

I'd watched episodes 1-4 of Curtis' docu the night before and while I miss the music and voice commentary he put into his earlier ones, and he said himself, he chose to leave those out because "the material itself is so powerful". And it is. I just miss the music etc. because I could go into a kind of trance watching one of his docu's. 

In the middle of the night last night, maybe 3AM, I heard the sound of a large empty can, like a #10 can, hit the pavement outside and looked at the video feed. Zombie. This zombie had a bike and a cart piled full of the kind of crap they gather. He eventually got his literal shit together and pushed the conglomeration into the alley. 

9/10ths of homeless people don't look homeless. They are in a temporary hard spot, they stay clean, work a job, and get back on their feet because they're not disgusting orcs with negative social skills. They have or make friends, have or obtain job skills, and move on. In fact, in Europe, it's long been rather accepted that young people might spend a year or two being a "Wandervogel" (literally wandering bird) and travel around having a good time and staying in hostels etc. 

In the US you've got hyper-individualism, a relative lack of a social safety net, and drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. And a generation or three of "If it feels good, do it!". 

So we in the US have a certain population of ... zombies. The parts of the brain that recognize the social contract burned out by drugs, traumatic brain injury, or some other cause. 

Japan also has homeless people but not the hyper-individualism or the huge drug culture of the US. The YouTuber "Life Where I'm From" has a good series on how homeless is done there. You might call them down-and-out but you'd not describe them as zombies. Anyone really zombified in Japan gets put in a crazy house where they belong. 

So when I see one of these crazy creatures staggering around, banging on stuff, gibbering, I remind myself there are 9 people who are homeless but who are still people, to this one creature which is not. 

I woke up/got up around 3:15, and needed to get out of here with packages for FedEx by 5 because the place closes at 6. I packed 8 things, all large but none super-large, and had plenty of time to spare. I didn't have tape to spare when I was done, though. So I took the things over there to FedEx and dropped them off and got back over here to drop off the trailer and enact what I'd planned. 

I went to Nijiya first and got some things including a bento, fish and seaweed on rice, one of my favorites. I also got some cash back because I only use cash at Walmart as their POS terminals do not work well at all. 

I ate my bento out front, then made my way over to Wally's and got some things there, and the all-important couple of rolls of packing tape. This could not wait until tomorrow because I wanted to pack more things tonight. 

I got back here and found out I had about 4 inches of tape left on the roll I had, so I really needed that tape. I packed up the smaller things that need to go to the post office so I can take them with me tomorrow as I head out in pursuit of a flu shot.

I would say the weather is just about perfect

 I got up at about 12:30, and was out the door at about 1:20.

First I dropped off 6 small packages at the downtown post office, then went to the bank and put my check in, and they and I agree on the amount in my account down to the penny so that's good. 

I went to Whole Foods and got a bottle of coffee and locked up the bike, and got a coffee and some "flushing" niacin and a bottle of coffee and then caught the #22 bus to Sunnyvale. I got some of those lovely kalamata type olives, this time a larger size as I noticed they come in different sizes and I'd been getting something like extra-extra small. They are all the same price for 500g and so good with cheese! 

I didn't bring a carrying bag with me, though, so of course on the bus back a guy had to ask about them and we got into a discussion about what they're good with. This also kept me from stopping at this one really big dollar store that I want to check out. Oh well, next time. 

I was back to Whole Foods pretty quickly and stashed the olives in the bike bag and then walked up to CVS to get my flu shot. The nice Indian lady in the pharmacy said they're closing the whole store "forever" soon and they don't have the supplies for walk-ins. 

I walked around looking for anything else I might want to buy, and was a sad a bit. It's hard to be emotional about a big impersonal corporation but it was "my" pharmacy for the last 10 years and it was really handy to have it there. 

I went back over to Whole Foods and got barbecue chicken wings, mushrooms, and a "Racer 5" beer because IPA just goes with wings and there are no near-beers out in singles at all. In fact, they're charging more for near-beer than for regular beer. Almost $13 for a six pack of cans of the Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic IPA is pretty crazy. 

I know how it works, though. If I went into Cafe Stritch and got a beer, as soon as I'd finished it I wanted another beer, etc. But if I got a club soda, that one was enough. I didn't even mind if they charged me full drink price for the club soda because it was still so much cheaper. 

I went back in for cheese to go with the olives and then took off for Lee's to see about day-old croissants on sale, which they didn't have. Leaving there, I had an interesting experience. 

I'd ridden out of Lee's driveway and gone behind a Honda Element with a sticker about the national parks, and one for K&N air filters. I was daydreaming about how I'd once had a Kawasaki GPz 550 that the prior owners had done a very poor job of hot-rodding. It had turned out to be far cheaper to finish the soup-up job properly than to return it to stock condition. One of the things I'd done was equip it with K&N's... 

Another SUV pulled up into the right, non-left-turning lane and then the driver crept up into the crosswalk. Some hairy ol' bum had started walking across the crosswalk and started yelling at the SUV driver. The SUV driver, a psycho blonde Karen type, yelled and screamed back, and made like she was going to run the guy over when he was in front of her. He sensibly got out of her way, while she still screamed and yelled and shot forward, tires screeching. She actually went around in a small circle in the intersection, coming around again to have another try at him. By this time I'm not sure where he went, as I was keeping an eye on her, and had hugged close to the Element. When the light actually changed to green, the Element and I moved forward smoothly and I was glad to be out of there. It was not possible to get a license plate number for the aggressive SUV as there was one of those smoked plastic covers over the license plate (which should be illegal). 

As I rode off I thought about this. The scraggly old bum would have done better by making a face and saying something like "That's nice!" with a chance of the psycho Karen actually feeling a bit of guilt for driving like a psychopath. Also, these zombies downtown spend most of their time walking around in traffic so what did he think he was going to change? Put anyone behind the wheel of a car and they turn mostly if not completely into a psychopath. 

Meanwhile, Psycho Karen could have just packed up 12 inches and said, "Sorry!" as there was no one behind her so there was plenty of room, and she'd have been able to feel smug. Karens alternate between smugness and murderousness so this was an option. Why sweat over some penniless bum's yelling at you? To a Karen, it's like worrying over what a fly or an ant might think of you. 

The truth is, ol' Karen is probably a couple months behind on payments on her Deathmobile, driving with no insurance, no one can stand her at her job ("They're all lib'ruls!!") so she's up for the next wave of layoffs, etc. And the bum, well, who knows what drug-addled alternate reality he was operating in. 

I just wanted to make sure I didn't get mixed up in the whole thing, and went on my own way, picked up a couple of books on my way to Nijiya etc. And once leaving there, felt like an idiot because I actually wanted to see what was going on in St. James Park tonight (they really are trying to take it back from the zombies) and also to ride through the San Pedro Square area to see if there were any buskers. 

Busking is just dead in this town. In fact, I noticed that things looked pretty nice at Whole Foods. "My" place was free and clear and not even overrun with pumpkins. The skinny white guy with all the petitions is long gone, due to being a pain in the ass. There was an older black guy who I think used to have a clipboard with petitions but he was just sitting on the side of the Whole Foods building, engaging in a little subtle panhandling. No sign, just talking quietly to that portion of customers who "had" to walk right past him. That would have been no problem, plenty of punters for both of us. 

The other "competition" was a little booth for something about stopping school violence. The 2nd time they saw me, they said, "You're back!" cheerfully. So I looked at their materials and said, "I'm more of a 'start violence at schools' kind of guy." But they were a fair distance from where I usually played, and if I wanted to play where I'm more out of the wind, they would not have been in the way either. 

It's just going to take me some time to get good enough to try busking with the flute. It took me a fair amount of time to start sounding decent on the trumpet and it may take me a similar amount of hours of practice on flute. I'm gambling that it will be worth it. 

And I would say the weather today was just about perfect. Warm without being hot, and a nice comfortable temperature all the time the sun was out. It's just getting cooler at night and I find myself wanting to get in for the day nice and early.

This is how it is sometimes

 Ken came by last night and I'm glad I got my Ebay listing done before he came by, because he came with a truckload of stuff that was piled up in the office and also seemed to want to talk about stuff until far past his usual time. Lately he'd been taking care to leave by midnight, but last night he stayed until a bit past 1. 

So after he was gone, I put some of the stuff away where "away" means simply stacking it in the warehouse where I won't have to climb over it to get to other stuff, then cooked and ate a bowl of fish ramen and then put the rest of the stuff away. 

Then I relaxed a bit and got some flute practice in. I'm up to "The Stoat" and have learned a new note, Bb. This is about all I can do, just make sure to get some practice in every day or at least every 24-hour cycle, and keep at it. 

It took me literal years to have a decent sound on trumpet and I guess it will be about the same on flute. I really need to push for as much practice as I can do each day, but last night and the night before, I was so tired that I did maybe 45 minutes and that was it. 

I woke up today at about 2:45. I'm not going to do the bank today. I had the day all planned - I'd get up early, ideally have done a thorough scrub-down and fresh clothes last night, would get out the door a bit past noon, go to the bank and do other things like get a flu shot. 

Instead I'm tired as hell, and the bank etc. are pushed off until tomorrow. And that turned out to be a good thing, as Ken came by around 5 with my ballot for the upcoming election, and a $20 bill for the tape I'd had to buy and my trouble.

I got about 8 things packed and took them to the post office and one to FedEx, and did some shopping, using up $28 of the $29 Ken had given me. It was really just a few small things and a pound and a half package of frozen thinly sliced beef of a type I kept on thinking about trying. After getting back here I let it thaw enough to work with, cut the strips into smaller pieces, and weighed it out into 6, 4-oz. bags so I hope it's good because it's six dinners. 

I got 10 things together out of all this junk Ken had brought over, then cooked up a bowl of pork ramen. After I'd started eating Ken called because he's lost his jacket and thought it might be here. I told him I'd finish eating and then look for it, and call him back to let him know if I'd found it. I didn't find it though. He's looked all over at his work ... I swear the guy needs a minder. 

 

Preparing for Tuesday

I finished up the updating of this computer, got 20 Ebay things listed, as well as all the running around  I did on the bike, so it was a busy day and before I knew it, it was 6AM and time to prepare for bed. 

I woke up at 3 and had coffee etc and packed 9 small things to mail. The post office trip went fine, and since I had $20 on me, I stopped at H mart and got a package of lobster claws they had on sale, and a cleaned fish, and a package of Shirakiku ramen, fish broth flavor. 

I found a bunch of bananas out back and took those to Tom, and we talked for a bit. He'd had a barbecue on Sunday but somehow I didn't find out until it was over. I told him if I'd known I'd have at least picked up some near-beer and come on over. 

I came back here and had lobster ramen which turned out pretty well. I put the lobster shells and fish bones (I filleted the fish and got it ready to fry up tomorrow night) out for the birds and things, and in the area I put things like that, at the base of a tree I was sure is dead (it's coming back now) there were still these dried rolls I'd picked up and put up a week or more before. I guess the birds don't want anything that dried out. The crickets do, though, and it's a regular cricket party out there. So I walked all over the rolls and smashed them into powder to make them easier for the crickets to eat, and put the other goodies there. 

I want to put goodies on the little overhang roof thing that's over the door here but I found a while back that anything put there is very easily visible to anyone driving in and out. It looks pretty silly having a bunch of pastry etc up there. So I'm considering getting some seeds that are a dark grey color like thistle or sunflower that I can toss up there. 

 

Got to play "with" the flute

 Last night I watched dumb stuff on YouTube and worked through another page in the Wye beginner book. I'm back up to about where I was before. I also noodled around just messing around. There's a video on YouTube about "How you can't play low C on the flute" well, I can actually play that note. That's a good sign, I guess. 

When I think about the two guys I have books by, though, you just know James Galway noodled around a lot, as well as having a Mozart-loving father, he just had to learn to play Mozart stuff perfectly. But he played the pennywhistle at least a bit  - he used to go on TV and show off by playing two of them at once - and I guess he doesn't like to mention it but I've seen hints here and there that he went out busking at least with the pennywhistle. He got to where he could play the thing "hidjous" fast, as my dad would say, and you get that fast by spending a lot of time noodling around. 

Jean-Pierre Rampal talks about his grandfather buying him a flute and before he started lessons he "carried it everywhere" there's no way he didn't noodle around on the thing. 

I think flute is a good way to go because I can *make* a flute. I've done it before. The modern, padded, flute can be a beastie to work on it seems, but as I noticed before, if you can play one of those you can play any kind of flute. I think it's harder than the shakuhachi. 

What I'm finding in my life is that any striving for any skill that's "modern" or "high tech" has only resulted in my doing worse in life, especially financially. 

I wish I'd had the wisdom and discipline to have stayed with the classical guitar classes held at Orange Coast College. There were three levels of class, and you could take each level twice. I forget if they were on the semester or the quarter system, but even if Orange Coast was on the quarter system, that's a year and a half of classical guitar, plus I'd have probably made better friends than the motorcycle crowd I fell in with. I got around by motorcycle, and would have gone to and from class with a guitar on my back like the guy who turns into Kikaida, but that would have been OK. 

I'd stayed in the class just long enough to learn that in classical guitar, everything's broken down to make things easy for the player. An actual classical guitar is very "friendly" and I think I'd have liked the regularity and comradeship of the class. 

But flute is a good one too. As mentioned one can be made from all sorts of materials, and if I develop the fundamental breath, I can play any kind of flute. And I'd rather carry a flute around with me than a guitar. 

But my overall impression is that I was all wrong in having thoughts of doing anything "high tech". That's for an elite with money behind them, and a very few who come from less money but are able to hyper-focus through college and then work their guts out for some company until they're 40 and then, well, let's just say in this area, the homeless have a lot of programming skills. 

But even the lower level, the duped and worked their guts out crowd, had things like good nutrition, parents who let them live at home through college, maybe even a college fund. It was possible for them. It was stupidly impossible for me. My older sister knew this and was smart enough to stay away from college. She was smart enough to go into jewelry making and art from her early teens - both things that go back as far as humans go - and that got her the valuable "Mrs." degree, and to a guy with money too. She'd not have married a guy without money! 

In other words, thinking 100s to 1000s of years old would serve the average person better than the modern way of thinking where you're duped into going to college etc. 

I really wonder why I don't see more musical or performing in general skills among the homeless around here. It's a large city of well over a million, in a larger area of several million. Is it that you become homeless because of lack of discipline to learn such skills? Or is it that those who become homeless and fall back on entertaining skills they had, end up being helped out by other people who appreciate their skills? 

For instance, if I were busking at Whole Foods, let's assume I can sound pretty good on the flute here, and I put a sign out saying I need to rent a room or garage or backyard shed, I have a feeling I'd have a pretty good chance of finding such in a few days. If I were a tattoo artist or sign-painter/all-around artist or any of a number of things that are 1000s of years established, and had an community around me based on that skill, I'd not have to worry about always having a place to live.

Last night I got to sleep a lot earlier than I've been, so I slept in until 1:30 which is earlier than I've been getting up, and still felt like I'd slept in. 

 I had coffee and did some exercises then had another coffee and a little baker's chocolate and a croissant, and then it was getting to be the time I expected an Ebay buyer to come by, and so he did. He picked up the thing he'd bought and we talked a bit and it was all good. The thing is, Ebay used to be a lot less restrictive about changing addresses and while I'd be warned not to do it, I could change an address right before sending something out. Now I can't. 

As soon as the guy left I got dressed and went downtown. I dropped off gallon bags of over the counter medicines at the two of my regular little free libraries that allow non-book donations, and the last couple at the one on 7th which is more of a little free pantry. 

I rode South on Monterey Highway as far as the Weinerschnitzel where the sign reminded me they're selling temales, of all things. So I stopped and tried a Weinerschnitzel temale - it was OK, except the chili on top is very salty. 

Then I went down to Walmart and got soda and cheese and stuff. This all worked out great because I had about $50 cash on me and and after all this, I still have $21 that I won't even have to use for anything as I'm all stocked up. Due to my phone bill, instead of about $80 staying in the bank this week it will be about $50, which is about the minimum I need to be saving in the bank as it's just enough to cover my taxes. 

This should change once I'm out busking. 

New-old computer

 I was having such a tough time with the computer yesterday that I finally decided to test whether I can at least do my Ebay stuff and hang everything else. I could not. I tried for an hour to revise a listing and was not able to. 

So I got out my old computer which is newer then the loaner I had from Ken, and once I put in an hour or three getting it online and doing all the software updates and configuring things how it like, it works great. 

This is the computer that had the hard drive die, and I paid around $200 to have the laptop place downtown put a new one in, and a fresh install of Windows 10, which they did. It works great, things are fast, and I can watch YouTube as well as I was able to 10 years ago. 

So I'm good for now. I've still pretty much decided I won't take a laptop with me back to Hawaii, but will just pick one up there, and the same goes for a cell phone. I probably won't even take my flip phone, but will get set up with something there. 

Books

 I practiced last night and it went pretty well. I noticed I was pressing down way too hard with my right pinky, so I need to work on the three points of hold being my right thumb, base of left index finger, and chin, and not the right pinky (although at this stage the book is saying to press this one lever down with the right pinky all the time). 

In the autobiograhy of Jean-Pierre Rampal he says that if the G just above the staff is easy for you, you will have an easy time. It's easy for me so I guess I'm having a lot less trouble than a lot of people have. It's also a handy way to check if my position is at least fairly good. 

I woke up at about 2:30 today, and had coffee etc., and I had a box of books I wanted to take to the used book store, which stops taking books at 5. So I went through them, making sure they're clean etc., loaded them up into two Whole Foods bags and rode right over there, making it in plenty of time. 

I actually got $22 trade credit, and one of the books, an "arty" one with tons of drawings of what the physiology of various fictional creatures, like harpies, would look like, was set up on display there at the counter right away. 

I didn't buy anything there today, but the Wall-O-DVDs is nice and full so I should be able to find some things to buy next time I'm by there and in a buying mood. 

I went over to Whole Foods and there was just nothing in the buffet (they were changing over from lunch to dinner I guess) so I got some roast beef from the deli and a beer, and ate downstairs. There was a guy with a guitar and amp, mic, etc. who was singing some stuff that was ... OK at best. The best part was when someone's dog decided to bark almost in time with the music. 

I took my remaining books over to the little free pantry by the Peace & Justice Center and then went to the Amazon place for bubble mailers, getting a good wad of them. Then I went to Lee's and got two bags of day-old croissants for $3.50. 

I checked the little free libraries on my way back and left off gallon bags of over the counter remedies and other stuff at the two that don't have a "books only" sign. I found a couple of art books, one about living through the 2005 tsunami, "The Pianist" which is probably even better than the movie, and "The God Of Small Things" which was worth picking up just to see what that crazy title is about. 

I stopped by Nijiya for a few things, and got back here. 

Now, Whole Foods had that guitar guy, but I could probably have set up to play by the bike racks with no problems. Not to mention Sunnyvale's downtown is probably really good these days. And whatever other places I haven't tried yet. 

I think if I can play a dependable, secure, "Danny Boy", "Annie's Song", "Ave Maria", and some other things of that level, it will be time to get out there. A good number of Christmas carols are of that level or easier, and there are a load of other songs like "Amazing Grace" that are easier. 

Rampal also wrote in his book that when his father took him on as a pupil (only to fill up the roster in the music school he was trying to get going) he woke up early, studied flute for two hours, then went to his regular school. And his father was a flutist good enough to play in the orchestra so he'd has exposure to the flute early on. His family wanted him to be a doctor. He'd probably have become one too, if it weren't for the Germans. Dodging Nazis kept things rustled up enough that while he was studying to become a doctor, he was able to play flute also. And sloping off to some flute thing kept him from being rounded up and sent to a work camp in Germany. 

But two hours a day when you're still a teen, and doubtless teen-Pierre was practicing on his own also, to show he'd digested what he'd learned in class with his father. This is like a teen being infatuated with any interest, from surfing to building Gundam models, but he also had it formalized where he had to go to his 2-hour lesson each day. This is how you get places. This is how you work    your way  out  of  poverty  and  homelessness. 

The internet has been getting slower and slower every year, but now I notice it getting slower by the day. Even now, it takes several seconds per character to type this in. I type for a while, then sit back and watch as the characters slowly appear on the screen. There's a reason I don't put anything but text on here these days. 

It's like the old days when you had a 14.4 dial up modem and there was a lot of noise on the line so it would kick down to 9600. Or maybe it died, so you had to dig out the old 2400 you started out with and kept because of nostalgia. 

I'm glad the little free libraries have so many good books to read, with regular libraries hardly a thing any more. I suppose I'll be able to watch DVDs while I'm still here, and then my move back to Hawaii will actually be like moving back to the year 1986, when I first left as a young adult.

Bsuking

 I was up messing around with Ebay stuff, and also putting in some hours trying to find something that needs to be shipped out but after looking for it *again* now, I have to conclude it's just plain gone. 

The laws of physics only *mostly* apply here. Things disappear all the time. 

I got my practice in although I felt really tired. If I can just come up with a consistent way to hold the flute and place my lip on the mouthpiece I can get a killer tone every time. That's the problem - not being able to blow, but to get the position right and have the flute not shift around. 

I don't remember having this problem before when I was playing a student flute. I'm beginning to wonder if I should get one of the student ones out, go over the pads with the "Pad Juice" I bought and put teeny amounts of trumpet valve oil (since actual Yamaha key oil seems to be unobtainable now) on the various places that need it, and start working with it, to see if there's a difference. It may be a matter of being easier to play but with a mediocre tone. 

I follow r/busking on Reddit and ... man, "Bsuking" is not a typo here. In the Before Times, there were always interesting posts by people getting out there with all kinds of instruments from the spoons to the French horn, and now it's just some bot that posts stuff seen over in Europe, mainly nice middle-class kids with guitars, and people asking what mic and amp to use with their huge, battery-dependent setups. The number of actual buskers, people who, young or old, have always wanted to get out there and finally did it, got out there because they need the money, etc. is vanishingly small. And almost none are from here in the US any more. 

The last holdouts for busking will likely be places that are sort of international crossroads like San Francisco around Fisherman's Wharf, Waikiki, Jerusalem, etc. Being a busker at all, and goodness knows the bar is low, is becoming a much rarer skill and it remains to be seen if that makes it more valuable. 

So I must conclude that along with busking having disappeared from the streets of my city, it's nearly disappeared all over the US.

Meanwhile in the 3rd-rate world...

 I practiced before bed last night and it's going well. I've been playing the exercises and then playing them again an octave up, going back and forth, over and over. Doing the 2nd octave was not going very well at all a couple of nights ago, my sound sort of "drying up" but now I guess I'm becoming more aware of little changes of position of the flute in my hands, and also my breath and technique getting better. This is all to the good! 

I woke up at 2:15 in the afternoon and was out the door at 2:30. First I rode past good old St. James/Zombie Park, past the staggerers and growlers and so on, all living their best zombie lives, and fortunately none of them got interested in me or my bike, and I was able to drop off packages at the post office there. 

Then the bank, and my calculations and what the bank thinks I have were only a few dollars apart so that's good. 

Then I went to Whole Foods and locked the bike up and bought a little bottle of black coffee and got on the 22 bus to Sunnyvale. Needless to say I got to observe some real characters. Most notable was a gal who was trying to find... well, no one could understand her least of all the bus driver. She kept at it though, and another guy and myself finally understood she was looking for "the muffler guy", a big statute of a lumberjack or something that at various times is holding a car muffler or a hockey stick. That's miles back, we told her, and of course she had no more money for the bus etc. We convinced her to try hopping on a bus back that way anyway, and that the driver will almost certainly let her ride back there for free because they often do let people ride for free who are in a bad spot. 

I kicked around Sunnyvale for a bit, bought some dry cured olives, checked out Han Kook supermarket which was a disappointment, and went into a place called the Halford, where I had fried zucchini strips and a half beer that was some ale connected with the Monterey FC, a soccer club. It was good, too. A couple of big beardy guys and I talked about soccer in general, the strong dollar, Europe's immigration problems and problems in general being caused by their not being open enough to immigration, and so on. It was a good ol' time really. 

I checked out a pawn shop by Santa Clara University and that was blah. They had a flute in there that might have been at a good price but at $750 I'm not biting. 

More oddball bus characters later I was back at Whole Foods and had wings and half a beer, then stopped by the Amazon place for bubble mailers, Lee's Sandwiches for some day-old croissants, and got back here. 

The "bountiful" dumpster is actually locked closed now so I think that party has ended. Interestingly, one of the free books I picked up today goes for something like $175 on Ebay and Amazon and I can't sell it myself because of the non-compete I'm under, so it will go into tonight's batch of stuff on Ebay. 

It costs $3k to get to the first world

 I listed 20 small things last night and although I felt tired, I remembered that "practice is not negotiable" and practiced. It went OK, a lot of it is coming down to developing a steady, consistent, holding position. I noticed one neat thing, that I wasn't even thinking about it when I fingered C, which is the trickiest note so far. That's a really good sign. 

I woke up at about 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon, which is OK for now. I actually woke up at noon which is when I want to get up tomorrow, then went back for more sleep. 

On the radio right now they were talking about a Chinese comedian who decided to visit family here in the US just when covid was becoming a thing, and a different person, a lady, also. Trips to China were 6 and 7 grand. It was cheaper to have her furniture shipped and her cat sent to another country for her to go and pick up, she said. 

I checked just now and it seems to be 3 grand, 1-way. This is what people in the US don't see. We're a sinking, largely poor country with a few rich people and some wealthy (and rather scary) corporations. China meanwhile is raising its people out of poverty, said poverty being a legacy of the "century of humiliation" the West imposed on it. Of course it would cost a ton to go from a sinking ship like the US to a world power like China. 

At its worst, some people would have had to pay $12k to get back to China, and one guy said he should have, because with no work and no income here in this shithole country (he didn't say that) he'd have been better off. 

I packed one thing, a very large capacitor, and took that to FedEx, and on the way back, the EMT training place was throwing out tons of over the counter medicines and AED batteries and stuff, so I loaded a box up and both Whole Foods bags too. And at the electric lighting place I found another reel bolt, not quite the same as the one I'd turned into my "explainer" but it's something. 

I got back here and cooked up some ramen and neatened the place up, cleaned the office and bathroom and so on, and Ken came by at the usual time but he stayed in his truck and handed me my check all made out, and kept a mask on while we talked for a bit. There was a nice breeze going between us and I stayed back a bit so we were able to talk. Mainly about all the oil wells in Southern California. I wished him well and will see him again next week. 

I've got a book I ordered that came to Ken's house and "some letters and stuff" so I'll get those next week too. Basically it's taking the book a "mere" month to get to me, which is how it was when I was a kid. You ordered thing and it was just taken for granted that they took weeks to come and everyone was OK with that. You had magazine subscriptions and things like the book of the month club and no one felt things were too slow. 

People will have to slow down again. The internet is probably not going to be around in 10 years. As it is, it's becoming more and more awful. For instance, I hate cars, and I hate the present Ponzi schemes called "cryptocurrency" and so I get tons of ads for ... cars and crypto. I get ads for all kinds of other stupid shit I either don't ever buy or actively dislike. Watching video is becoming like when people had cable TV and you had channels that were scrambled but if it was a movie you really wanted to see, you might try, for a while, to watch it through the scrambling before giving up. And there were laserdiscs, the larger and higher-"fi" counterparts to today's DVDs. 

 

Some relief?

 I was up all hours, and practiced at least an hour on the flute. I'm getting stronger, and my holding position is slowly becoming more sure. Practice, practice, practice, it's non-negotiable. How else am I going to get good on this thing? 

I woke up with only a slight headache and was able to pack a couple more things right away, have coffee, 1/2 oz. of baker's chocolate, some raw walnuts, and a Lipovitan. 

I was idly thinking I need to finish both Wye beginner books (I don't even own the 2nd one yet) before I get into other methods, like the one I have 4 volumes of, that's based on popular tunes. But the holidays are coming up and I've just got to get out there, and got to get a bunch of Christmas carols under my belt. 

The only answer is to practice every day. 

A good discussion here:  https://www.reddit.com/r/AmerExit/comments/xvntc0/a_sort_of_uncomfortable_truth_about_emigrating/

I follow r/AmerExit on Reddit daily, because a guy can dream, can't he? And r/homeless too. One thing I keep seeing is, both in the case of AmerExit where people hope to leave the US without any skills, so that they're not particularly desirable even *in* the US, and on r/homeless where they're suddenly past 40 and their only skill was working in a factory or construction work etc. 

Suddenly they're dumped on their ass, with their only ability to earn a living being dependent on having a young, healthy, strong body that doesn't injure easily. 

One thing that's stayed with me, however many decades ago I first read the book, was in "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, all the meatpacking workers got broken down and the one guy who had a way out was the violin player. His problem was that he believed in "honest labor" or something and injured his hand so he could not longer play the violin, and then he was ground up like the others. 

This might also be why "high tech" jobs are so underpaid. At least it's not lifting boxes all day in a warehouse, or picking fruit and veg all day, or working up on a roof with hot tar, etc. Physically, it's easy work. In my bench tech days, I hardly had to lift more than a pound or two. 

And a headache-y Monday too?

 I felt so good not having a headache last night that in addition to the other things I did, I gave myself a haircut and practiced a bit over an hour on the flute. 

My big problem with the flute is consistently holding the thing. When I get it right, I get a great sound. The actual blowing is going really well, as I'm also doing breathing exercises and there's the experience from trumpet. 

The only solution I can think of is: More practice. 

I woke up with a headache though, having stayed awake practicing until 7AM and waking up at 2. Staying in bed a bit longer only made it worse. I finally got up at 3 and had coffee and aspirin for breakfast. 

Eventually a followed up the coffee with a sugar-free Lipovitan and my headache had subsided enough to work, and I packed a dozen small things I could take to the post office without needing the bike trailer. 

Drop-offs went without a hitch and I went to the Pho place across the street and got a bowl of Pho. There's no large and small at this place, and the price on the menu was $13. It was quite good, the equivalent of a "large" at Pho Bel Air, and my headache was gone by now; certainly the soup helped. 

I've lost my "explainer" (long bolt turned into a sort of billy club) so I'll have to obtain another long bolt from the electric lighting place when they throw some out, and make another. I probably just plain left the thing somewhere. 

I stopped at H Mart on the way back and got a package of "fresh" ramen to prepare, and a little package of chocolate cookies which I had with coffee when I got back. 

I guess I'll have to assume I might not be all that functional when I first wake up, so I'll have to do a lot more in the evenings and just count on an hour or two not being able to do much when I start my day.

Headache-y Sunday

 Last night I futzed around and got 20+ things together to list, and also cleared some space to move some not-for-sale things out of the listed-on-Ebay area of the warehouse. So that's good. 

By the time I'd planned to practice, my headache was bothering me and I decided the best plan might be to go to bed. I'd wake up right as rain and everything would be great. 

Instead I woke up around 11:30 with a strong smell of lighter fluid in the air. And my headache wasn't gone. I looked at the video camera feed and it was just Chuy next door using a lot of fluid to get his barbecue going. I went back to sleep until 2:30 and lay in bed for a while. 

I turned on the radio and there was some thing about the history of YouTube. That was kind of interesting, but unless you're a Kool Kid with a $1000-a-month connect plan and an iPhone with a solid gold case, you can forget about becoming a YouTuber. I concluded this long ago. With it taking an hour or two to upload one minute of video, and YouTube itself extremely capricious with regard to who gets paid, it's really only an arena for rich kids or paradoxically, those who are so poor their time is near-worthless but somehow have obtained fast internet access. 

I wonder how many people making below the median income in the US, about $30k a year, are actually able to even *watch* YouTube? Posting things on it, fugeddabouttit! 

And getting paid ... YouTube, like Reddit, leans very much to the political Right. If you're not at least Nazi-adjacent, you're not going to make a penny on that venue. That's a feature of music that can help non-Nazis survive, that it's largely apolitical. Wagner was a racist but that was apart from his music, which gave us a lot of the language of modern classical music, from cartoon sound tracks to movie music. It's also a curse that music is largely apolitical, in that so much Leftist music has been used by corporations, by definition fascist, for their advertising. 

But at least I can go out and play music and it's not seen as a political stance. Those can get you killed these days and things haven't even gone that far yet. 

I headed out for downtown at about 5. I stopped at the new "Late Night Bitez" thing on 10th and Hedding and there was one food truck there. I got two tacos that were pretty good, but they cost about $7 and I tipped a buck - which the guy was happy to get - so it was about $8. 

I went over to Nijiya and got some gum and snacks and got $40 back. Then after dropping off things in the little free libraries and picking up a few books, it was down to Wal-Mart for toilet paper and paper towels. They didn't have 4-packs of TP so I had to get the huge package, and it all cost a few cents over $18, but some quick calculations showed it was like buying 3 packs of TP at what's a good price these days and getting the paper towels for free. 

It was a nice peaceful ride and since I also dropped off donations and dropped my monthly pledge off at the temple, it was nice getting a few errands done. 

It's getting dark at 7PM now so I had the bike lights on by the time I got back here. My headache was gone and besides wasting too much time reading stuff on the internet, I did Sunday things. I put the backlog of things I've listed away, re-arranged some things on shelves to make room, and got out all the stuff that's sold. I also started a load of laundry.

Sleepy Saturday

 Last night I could not stop thinking about that guy sleeping on the sidewalk, or about my headache. So at about 9:30 I went out with a bottle of Sprite I keep around here in case Ken goes low-sugar and a big bubble wrap thing originally used to pad a Honda bumper. It had turned a bit cold, and the guy could put it around himself and sleep pretty well. I know I'd appreciate it on a night like this. 

So I went out and the guy was gone but that was OK. I swung back by here and tossed the bubble wrap in front of the shop in passing and rode over to Pho Bel Air and got a big bowl of Pho. They were playing some 1980s music from ... some music service for restaurants maybe? It was hilarious though because in the mix was not "Like A Virgin" by Madonna but ... "Like A Surgeon" by Weird Al Yankovic. So I had a lot of internal laughing along with my beef soup. 

I got 15 things listed on Ebay and my headache was almost all gone when I went to bed at 6AM.