Matsuri Madness

 I practiced shakuhachi some, maybe half an hour but almost all long tones. 

I woke up at 2, and was out of here at 3. I dropped off some trash, and put some books and some reading glasses in the little free library near Japantown. 

Matsuri was on and it was really crowded, with tons of people and I think the whole thing was bigger, with more parts of side-streets taken up with booths and so on. 

The first thing  I did was go to the sort of food court area (there were also some food trucks and some restaurants had specials) and got a serving of 5 pork gyoza for $8. They were delicious, especially since the seasoning packet with them included hot chili oil. They were so good, in fact, that I went back and got a 2nd serving of them. That stand was run by the Buddhist Youth organization or something, so the cost was fine with me. 

I missed the taiko, but there were about 3 other bands playing various things. There were tons of booths with things like jewelry, hats, earrings, all kinds of little knick-knacks that at least the booth owners must think there's some insatiable desire for. 

I got a brush pen with a small and a large side, to practice writing out shakuhachi music, in Kogura Gifts so that was another $6 or so I spent. It's hard to find much to buy when you're planning to leave in less than two years. 

I walked through the whole thing, even checking out the "garage sale" at the museum, and gave up on getting anything from Nijiya as it was packed in there. I went to the N-B store and the lady was happy to see me again, and I asked if Robert was around. She said he has long covid so he's not around much, and I said he'd told me his flute broke and that I can fix it for him, free of charge. I left and note and she said she can text it to him. I think what he has is the black bamboo "fue" told by Taiko Shop, and it's split. I can put a little glue in the crack and put some bindings on it which will make it look cooler and keep it from splitting again. 

I looked at the time and realized it was only 4. So I rode down to The Alameda and got some epoxy glue from the Ace Hardware. Boy is that stuff not cheap any more. But all I have on hand is some J-B Weld that's probably about 15 years old. 

I went to Whole Foods and had a Lagunitas "NA" beer upstairs, which really hit the spot because it was pretty warm today. 

I found a couple of books from the little free libraries, and then rode back to Japantown and wandered around a bit while everyone packed up. I got a carton of Key Coffee and some half and half from Nijiya and rode home here. It was a bit of a slog because the wind was really howling out there and home was upwind. 

There were such crowds, with everyone in such a good mood, that I think I might have done all right busking with the shinobue or the shakuhachi today. It's just that my skills are not up to it yet. So I need to get my skills and endurance up, and I need to get out there.