Payday

 I went to sleep last night on 4(!) teaspoons of Diabetic Tussin, and slept OK until about 1:30. Then I lay in bed thinking I might sleep some more and go to the bank tomorrow, but I kept having to get up to blow my nose. 

I decided that going to the bank was less work than packing and shipping things, and got cleaned up and left for downtown. I went right to the bank, put my checks in, and the balance came to exactly what I'd figured. 

I went over to TAP Plastics and got a few plasticky things, like a new spray button top for the little bottle I use for 99% alcohol, a clear plastic tube with sort of rubbery end caps I might use for something, and a large plastic bottle I thought I'll need to put my Break-Free CLP in. I have a big spray can of it but the propellant's gone, so I plan to drain it into something. They're always friendly in there and I told the gal how I'd priced having drawer liners made and it was kind of spendy, so since there was an election coming up I just waited until the day after the election and took election signs and used those. "Good idea!" she said. 

Then I went over to Whole Foods and got some vitamins and stuff. I looked at their bottles of niacin and found it hilarious that a bottle of 100 tablets was $10 and a bottle of 120 tablets was $20. Needless to say I got the cheaper ones. Maybe the others were capsules instead? 

I checked prices on their nuts, in the one section where they're in these bins and one where they're pre-packaged. The pre-packaged ones looked convenient, but they're 8-oz packages and work out to $30 a pound or more. I got the ones from the bins. I also got some roast asparagus that I dumped olive slices and bleu cheese on, and that an a bottle/can of their store brand "Spring Water" was my "treat" meal. 

The "Spring Water" is interesting because the bottle it comes in is this sort of brushed aluminum and not flimsy like a beer can but something I could see someone taking with them on a hike or something. It also looks perfect for putting something like Break-Free CLP in. 

I ate my food and then rode over to Walmart. I went into Big-5 first to have a look around. 'Way near the back I found a clearance rack with some T-shirts which look about the same quality as the ones I was getting from Muji, and at about the same price - $6 each if you buy two. There were two Smalls left. I took those up to the front and said to the guy, "Stop the presses, I'm actually buying something". 

I told him about Muji and how great it was, and had to explain that it's Muji not Moji,and that they still seem to be online but have pulled out of the US entirely. I like it when I actually find something to buy in Big-5 though. 

I went over to Walmart and got things like rubbing alcohol and foot powder, notebook paper, a can of sardines, just a real miscellany. I asked at the pharmacy if they do the A1C test and they don't. 

Now something interesting happened. At the checkout the total was something like $21.75 and I didn't have anything smaller than a $20 so I handed her two $20's. She gave me back change that was $10 short. I said something like, "This is short by $10" and was so unruffled and smooth, "I'm giving you it", opened the drawer and gave me two $5's, and the whole thing was so slick it gave me a funny feeling. "I've been trained by the best", I said, and told her about the gal at the Safeway downtown who's ask really casually, "Do you have another dollar?" and you'd think you were a dollar short so you'd hand it right over, and it would go right in her pocket. Very slick. I'm going to avoid that checker in the future... 

I rode back here, stopping at the Amazon place for a few bubble mailers. I also found a few books. 

I tried one of the t-shirts on and right now they're kind of "muscle shirts" but if I stay on the low-carb diet I should lose some weight, and that type of shirt may be handy for something. 

Besides that fact that these days - and it started before the pandemic - if you see something you might want or need, you have to go ahead and get it because you probably won't get a chance again, I also got the shirts to put in my traveling backpack which I don't have yet. I can use the CostCo backpack I got for a dollar to start though. 

I'd been thinking in terms of a carry-on bag and a checked bag but the checked bag is just to carry bulkier things and to carry things that have to be checked like knives. But considering airlines charge something like $75 for a checked bag now, while my Victorinox "emergency" knife was about that and my daily carry Victorinox "Tinker" is about $20 at Walmart, I think I'm better off just selling off these things here and buying as needed once I'm back in Hawaii. 

Having a year to work on that one packed carry-on bag will mean I can really refine things. Do I need to make special carriers or holders for my concert flutes, or are the cases they come in not too bulky? Can a bag holding 8 flutes in total also hold everything else I need it to carry? It's 3 concert flutes, 2 shakuhachi, and 3 shinobue. I may only take two of the concert flutes. I won't need tons of clothes because it's Hawaii. Vitamins and shampoo and even a Salux washcloth I can buy when I get there.