RIP Craig's List

 I woke up around 3:30 and felt a small earthquake so naturally I went to the Craig's List site to see where it was, submit a report etc. Craig's List has been simplified or dumbed-down or something. Most of it is gone - the discussion forums, the weather link, all kinds of things. It still seems to be functional for finding an apartment or a used trombone, and even still seems to be functional for finding a yoga teacher or someone to clean the leaves out of your gutters, or offer such services. 

It's just been really, really, dumbed down. The text is big and I think what they've done is make it easier for dolts with fat fingers who's idea of "the internet" is what appears on the tiny screen of their smart phone, to use it. This may even make it more like other sales venues like OfferUp. LetGo. Facebook Marketplace, etc. all things I've heard of but are not usable without a smart phone. 

My ads are still all up, and the actual ads look the same, which I proved by looking at the most psychotic room-for-rent ad I've ever seen. Just wow. 

I packed a bunch of things, 16 of them in fact, and headed out for the post office at at quarter to 6. I was "waylaid" by a new furnace put out by the HVAC place, and took out the "brain board" which I could do with the screwdriver on my Swiss army knife. The other parts I wanted required a nut driver, a tool the scumbags probably don't even know exists, so they were safe for the time being. 

I did my drop-offs at the post office and at H Mart I dashed in for a bottle of mustard as I have some things to eat like deviled ham and corned beef spread that are tons better with some mustard. I didn't see the bum which was too bad because I had some books of paper matches in a little bag for 'em. 

I just have one box for FedEx and then I was outta there. I stopped by Tom's to drop off the many cans of Garbanzo beans, along with a few jars of peanut butter, some pinto beans, and even a can of chili spaghetti-O's. Tom was really happy to get the stuff and said he might try going through April without shopping for groceries. If he's gonna do that I'll have to ask if he likes canned fruit and things like canned peas and green beans... maybe I'll just take all the stuff to Tom's place other than what I keep for myself and what's obviously not wanted by anyone like brown rice... 

I mentioned taking matches along with me for the bum and asked Tom if he needed any matches - he really was happy to get them. It reminded me of a tale an old, now long gone, friend had told me about going to some sort of camp-out in the desert done by motorcyclists. I think he'd gone with a group called the Nuggets. The bikers had steaks and beer and all kinds of food but what they didn't have was ... rolling papers. My friend and his pals were trading rolling papers for huge steaks, endless beer, etc.

I went by the damaged-food place not to look for damaged food but for boxes and it did not disappoint. I got several. The boxes they use are really good and a useful size and I'd used my last one today, to send something to Japan. 

I got back here, unloaded, went over to the HVAC place and poached the rest of the parts off of the furnace using my magic nut driver, and then went to the medical place where I got a couple of goodies and a lot of small boxes that are useful and got my ass back here and inside. It was damned cold out there. 

I should mention that I practiced the shinobue and the shakuhachi last night, as I should. At one point I had trouble with the highest note on the shakuhachi and when I relaxed then I could make it come right out. A sort of "concentrate by relaxing". 

Rinban had said that for beginners high notes can be harder "because you're thinking about making the note" and given that the shakuhachi only has 1000 years or so of history and scholarship, I trust his word. By playing for hours and hours, over days and weeks and years and decades, I guess skilled players eventually don't think about high notes being harder or "bracing" for them. 

If I can learn this "concentration by relaxation" well as a beginner, it will help me a ton. I can't spend hours a day practicing now, but if I can keep away from the temptation to work once I'm back in Hawaii.  I've concluded that I could be an OK Ebay seller back there and a maybe-OK shakuhachi and shinobue player, or if I really work on the music and keep other interference as far away as possible, I might have the time to actually get good at the music. 

At least I am fully settled now on *where* I will go. The idea of converting to Judaism (aside from how stupid all the Abramic religions are) to move to Isreal is a solid one as far as getting out of the US. It would certainly get me out of the US. But it would likely be something like "out of the frying pan and into the fire". By living there you enlist yourself into an ongoing war, of Jew vs. Arab, and that war is heating up. I prefer to stay away from things like that, and from stupid religions. 

I have to say, Thank goodness for covid, because it showed the true nature of the various areas within the US. This is handy as at my age with my resources the best I can hope for is to find some corner of the US that's "less American" to hide out in. I'd really been thinking seriously about New Orleans because I could play my trumpet (stupids like the trumpet because it's loud) and it's (supposedly) got a strong French influence, and so on. 

But New Orleans when it isn't in first place is in the top few for the highest murder rate in the US. And there, there is an ongoing war also, between the few decent people and the worst of Southern inbreeding. Mix in crack and meth and pot and booze and flakka and krokidil and bath salts and tranq and so on and hey baby you got a gumbo going. No. Thanks. 

The really only non-horrible parts of the US are places like coastal California, New York, Massachusetts, and that's about it. The rest is flyover country. As I write Paul Theroux is being interviewed on the BBC about his adventures in the US South. How blacks were very nice to him and whites nasty. He went to lots of guns shows (as I've been to lots of gun shows) and he said the whites were nice there, but the general fear among them was striking as it was always right below the surface. 

I actually noticed this change when I moved to the mainland from Hawaii in 1986. The Fear, I thought of it. I'd never worried about having my place broken into or any sort of natural disaster or that this or that racial or ethnic group was going to "rise up" but once I was in Southern California, there was all this fear just bandied about, of earthquakes and "The Mexicans" and so on. 

At my apartment building there was a great deal of fear of a guy, part Asian I think and therefore not Safe And White(tm), who I think had lived with a parent and the parent had died, and not being able to pay the rent on his own, he'd become homeless. All he did was lurk around, having no where else to go. We were to call the cops if we saw him. There was also fear of being late on the rent because it was set up such that the rent was due a few days before I'd get paid, and office hours, the only acceptable hours to pay the rent if late, were right when I was working. I was able to deal with this system all right but it was designed to increase the level of fear. Needless to say I've never encountered a situation like this in Hawaii where they charge an extra $90 a day or some such thing for each day late. You just pay your rent on time and that's that. 

Maybe that's a key point here, that the predominately Asian culture in Hawaii operates on honor, while the mainland culture, having no concept of honor, has to operate on fear.