State of the union

 Well, I drank more makgeolli than I needed to last night, listed 10 things, didn't practice, and woke up around 3. There hadn't been enough things sold last night to bother with taking to the post office today, so today's a stay-in day. 

I replaced the vacuum cleaner bag and washed the thing out, a messy process. Got done with that and Biden's giving a state of the union address. It's a rouser. People criticize the guy, say he's old and senile yadda yadda. But he sounds all of 40, and this speech is a long one. He's handling hecklers, and well too. He's not just reading off of a script either, he's thinking on his feet. I'm impressed. 

Then of course some loony Republican lady spewed some blather that didn't touch on any of the points of the president's address. As is tradition. 

Well, the expensive flute is gone. I'd put it on Craig's List last night, rebuffed a few texting scammers, a Chinese guy emailed me to call him and we made a deal that he'd come by and look at it, and put a deposit on it then come back next day, because he figured the banks were closed  (this was about 5PM). 

So the meeting time rolled around and there he was with his daughter, the standard willowy, quiet Chinese teenage girl who, once she put the flute together and played it, showed she's a whiz at the flute. I'd listed the flute at $1500 which is unrealistic given there are nicer flutes going for less on Craig's List, and on the phone the guy and I had agreed on $1200. So I was all ready to write out a receipt for whatever the deposit would be, and he had all the money - his bank turned out to be open until 6 or something so he was able to get it, the bills so new the serial numbers were in order and really liked to stick to each other. It took a bit of doing to verify there were 12 in the bundle. 

I'm pretty sure that's my easiest Craig's List sale ever. 

I might get right onto liquidating all the things I can, as soon as I can because I don't like the situation my Oahu friend is in. He seems to have tried at least something like the Adult Protective Services there in Honolulu, without much in the way of results. The thing is, his situation now, where he's got 2 houses and a bunch of electronic test equipment and all that, isn't going to hold for two years. Or even one. From the sound of it we're talking about months here. 

I think the guy needs someone to be actually there. Someone who can literally speak for him, to make the run to the phone store to get him a phone that works all the way, to get one of his cars running (according to my Big Island friend he has more than one) and so on. 

In return, if I can stay in one of his houses and not have to pay rent, it negates a lot of the fanatic saving I've got planned for the next two years. My lone-wolf plan called for landing in Hawaii and holing up in a hotel for a week or weeks or even a month or two while I find a place to stay. That gets expensive. Being able to step off the plane and give a cabbie Dave's address would make things tremendously easy. 

I keep thinking of Fred. Fred (I never learned his last name) was a guy who hung around the Nichi Bei Bussan store in Japantown a lot, and was super smart and well-read. He was great to talk to, and he was kind of surprised that although I talked some dirt about Hawaii as a place to live while working-age, I'd turn right around and say it's a great place to retire, and there are a lot of things where Hawaii's excellent from geophysical science to the study of Asian cultures. I thought Fred was a lot older than he really was; it turned out that not only being obese he had diabetes and the last time I saw him he was really ding-y and not well at all, and then I heard he'd died. That's when I learned he'd had diabetes and how young he really was. 

If I'd only known, I could have been his friend and could follow a "keto" diet together and I might have kept him alive. I doubt it's easy to convince a Japanese guy that rice isn't good for him but I could have done it. The guy needed a friend, a smart friend to spend a lot of time with, and I could have done it. But instead, like everyone else it seems, it was "not my business" or "not my kuleana" as we'd say in Hawaii. So there went Fred. Smart people are really rare here and it's awful to lose one. 

So the result of my thinking is that I may, if I can arrange with Dave to land and stay at his place, I might make plans to leave here right after I file my taxes so around mid-April.