Getting an early start on the doom

 I'm getting an early start on the doom here by starting this post very early Monday morning. I called Ken last night and he thinks he'll be OK and come by this week, so I'll get paid. Theoretically. 

I listed some more things on Craig's List and lowered the prices on a few things I have on there already. That's sort of my plan, to keep lowering prices until someone bites. 

On r/busking they're saying that busking income is down by quite a bit, which makes sense as people realize that No, we never did recover from 2008 and we're on another downward slide from there. 

On Reddit in r/collapse they're talking about how in parts of India they're already getting temperatures of 40C which is 104F. With high humidity, those are lethal temperatures. There are also strangely high temperatures being reported in odd places from Ohio to Canada. What I haven't been seeing is any mention at all of unusual temperatures in Hawaii. Looking at what weather reporting is still existent, it seems that Honolulu is in the low 70s during the day right now and about 70 at night. 

I got some practice in and went to bed around 8AM maybe closer to 9, then slept in until 4:30 or so. 

I called Ken and said there's no need to to come by tonight (when he comes by it's always time-consuming and tiring) because I won't have time to go to the bank until Thursday anyway, so he might as well come by on Wednesday as usual. 

He said he has a file cabinet he wants to bring by. I asked in anguish where we're going to put it. "It can be used to store stuff!" he enthused. I said our problem is we have plenty of room to store stuff, and too much "crap!" taking up room. So Ken will come by, take up tons of my time wrestling with the stupid file cabinet, and keep me from getting things done unless I stay up all night. 

I am really, really close to burn-out. If I were going to stay with playing trumpet, I think I might have already put my things into a storage unit and arranged to stay at Tom's. But trumpet's a deceptive dead-end as it's not a fit for Hawaii at all. And I'm not ready yet for busking with either flute, plus busking season doesn't start for another couple of weeks, on May 1, at earliest as it's still too cold and windy out there now. 

I am heartened by the fact that last night I got curious and did some looking around on line and for some reason Hawaiian seashells, not specimen quality but just regular old washed up on the beach stuff, are going for higher prices than ever. There are a number of factors at work in this I think. 

Firstly, kids don't go outside and fish and collect shells any more. They're inside playing video games. The natural environment in Hawaii has flourished as a result, and everything from reef fish to seashells to wild/feral animals are doing great. Secondly, I think people have finally learned to differentiate between Hawaiian shells and junk from places like the Philippines. Some really cheap shit used to be passed off as Hawaiian and somehow everyone was OK with that, collapsing the prices for shells actually collected in Hawaii. 

Lastly, there's a taste now for things that are "artisanal" and "authentic" that was not present in past decades. 

And there's a (honestly justifiable) distaste for work these days. This is natural and normal, as even animals won't work if they don't have to. It's a basic survival instinct. Why go out and pick shells when you can just work the system and get food stamps and welfare? Or you can deal drugs, beg, pickpocket, steal tourists' luggage, any of a number of things that will pay more for the same or less effort and time? This is why buskers are extinct in my area but beggars still abound - beggars make more. 

And so, "natural "things, seashells included, are thriving in Hawaii and with only a few mainland transplants caring about these things and fewer still gathering them and putting them on Ebay and Etsy, I think I've found something I can do that would be a lot better than electronic surplus which I've developed quite a distaste and disgust for. 

In other depressing news, Craig's List keeps finding new ways to be shittier, and now it's not even possible to search for things in it by list, it's all these thumbnails that take up the whole screen, imagine being at a flea market and someone's selling CDs by having them in a big chaotic pile, that's the visual effect. I put three things on there last night and lowered the prices on some other things and have not received a single email showing interest, which is really unusual and I think the effect of Craig's List and a recession economy vying with each other to make things worse. 

I just have to hang on for another year and 2/3rds...  

I went out at about 7 to get rid of some trash, check the medical place (nothing) and drop off some food at Tom's and talk with Tom and Colin a bit.  Zombies are out and around, but then that's why I carry weapons. 

I got back in at 8, the equivalent of being out until 11PM in the before times.