I listed 15 things on Ebay last night and figured I'd done enough practice in the shakuhachi class so I went to sleep, and woke up around 3. I had coffee etc. and left a bit before 4, and stopped at the library first to drop off post office packages.
The zombies are out and about. The warming weather means that like lizards and other lower life forms, they're more active but at least right now they're kind of dozy, unaccustomed to the warmth. There was a zombess staggering around in front of the downtown post office, at one point even standing on a small shelf that's part of the styling of the building, lecturing to an imaginary audience. By the time I had the bike locked up, though, the thing had wandered around the corner.
I put the packages in the chute (1930s design so it works) and when I came out, the zombess was fooling around with some kind of paperwork. What kind of paperwork would a zombie be concerned with, anyway? Applying for a new garbage-pile to sleep in? Asking Food Stamps to supply them with more brains?
I went to the bank and put my paycheck in and my own math and the bank's were only off by 25c or so, so that's fine.
I decided all I needed to do with any urgency was get some coffee filters and I could get those at Nijiya so I doubled around and picked up bubble mailers at Amazon then went to Nijiya and got some things including coffee filters, and an unagi bento and a little can of coffee. I ate at one of the benches that's in the shade there on Jackson St. It was nice to be out of the woods financially, to be caught up on shipping,
I went into Nikkei Traditions to look at the new shipment of Aloha shirts and figured there are two I ought to buy. At $120 each we're talking north of $250 but since I plan to have two changes of clothes when I go back home, one to wear and one to wash, it will be worth it to me.
I rode back here and unloaded things and packed a couple of things I can carry without needing the bike trailer, and rode up to FedEx to drop off the two things, then 99 Ranch for things like these roasted peanuts that taste good and are cheap, and some cold fried shrimp for dinner.
I stopped by H Mart for other things, checked the computer place and didn't find anything computer-y but did get 6 nice boxes for mailing things and also did some work cleaning up the trash enclosure there, in a sort of payment for the $200+ of hard drives and RAM sticks I pulled out of there last week.
I rode on home, put things away again, and started out with my step stool etc. to raid the medical place. On my way out, I noticed a food drop; 3 boxes of cans. I sighed and loaded 'em up, and ran that load up to Tom's. Tom and Colin were unloading some of those frames used to hold stone samples, and after putting the boxes of canned food on Tom's outdoor table, I held down one end of the framework thing Colin was holding the other end of, while Tom drove his truck forward, taking the lift gate out from under it.
Tom took the food inside and we hung out and talked for a while. I told Tom about the Matsuri festival this Sunday, with food and beer and taiko and sure to be great fun. Tom told me his latest doings like going up to see a mutual friend who lives up in the mountains to get some welding done on his truck.
Our mountain-dwelling friend has, according to Tom, been raided by "the alphabet agencies" for polluting his creek and for someone else's piece of culvert that washed down and various things. Mr. Mountains is getting fined, will go to court, blah blah. The guy's harmless but pretty anti-establishment and I don't know how it's gonna go but it doesn't look good. I have a little theory that it's gentrification. Someone doesn't like the idea of a non-wealthy guy living around them.
Dinner was some cold fried shrimp from 99 Ranch (they often have fried shrimp and fish that I think they just take, that are a bit past their optimum for sale as fresh raw, and deep fry them, and sell them in packages really cheap, just the kind of thing a penny-pinching old Chinese person will like - or me, if I come along) and some kim chee from H Mart. The shrimp are fried shell on, although the shells are thin, and I went through them and took the legs and tails tips off, and peeled off what of the shells I could, although I still got plenty of that tasty chitin in my meal - basically I was eating ze bugs and with a big smile- yum!
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