I'm so glad I got my little Fjallraven pack. Now I can see that if I want to carry 2-3 concert flutes plus two bulky Shakuhachi Yuu, I need to improvise the concert flute cases out of the picture.
The shinobue flutes will just have to go. Only the shortest is short enough to consider packing.
I have three fancy shakuhachi covers I bought from Mejiro in Japan but it looks like I might want 1-2 more. I'm thinking the concert flutes, in pieces, will go into clear plastic tubes with end caps from TAP Plastics then into shakuhachi covers. The shakuhachi will go into shakuhachi covers of course, and the lone smallest shinobue, if I take it, has its own cover.
Since sales on Craig's List are so slow, San Jose Taiko probably has some donations coming.
After listing 15 things last night I did some practice. I got out one of the concert flute headjoints and did some tones on that. Long ago I did a lot of that and for some reason actually got worse at it over time - being able to blow the low note and then the octave up. I actually got where I could barely get the high note.
Now I could do it with ease. In playing any sort of flute, I think there's a whole apparatus of muscles and nerves that we're not really even conscious of and never will be of most of it. It needs to be used where it never really gets especially called upon in regular life. This apparatus can tire easily because of this. The solution is consistent practice over time.
Tons of sports are like this. Golf for instance. Tiger Woods was noted for working out and staying fit, but that was more to stand up to the rigors of the professional golfer's life than to directly make his golf game better. The only way to improve that was lots of golf.
In the same way, the only way to get to a good sound and decent level of skill on the shakuhachi is going to be lots of shakuhachi playing. A lot more than I'm doing presently, where it's a half-hour or many an hour's practicing at the end of the day when I'm tired out from all the things I have to do.
Since I'm not going to keep the shinobue flutes I won't need a flute holder to keep them and the shakuhachi all hung up on the wall, so I decided I'd try to return the stuff I got to make a holder. I got out of here around 5, and took the stuff over to Lowe's. The nice lady there explained that since so and such a date, they can't do refunds, not even for store credit, without a receipt. Fair enough, I thought. I said I may have been short of enough cash and "bit the bullet" and paid using my card, after all, and the lady said "Let me scan all the things and we'll try" and it actually went through - I'd paid on my card and it was refunded back onto my card. It was about $57 so well worth the effort.
I got a gallon of Windex and paid for that using the self checkout, and was on my way.
I rode to H Mart, locked the bike, and walked over to Sprouts where I got a couple of "sugar free" beef sticks, er, "beef" "sticks" and ate those. It was really hot outside so I sat in what used to be an indoor area to sit and eat but what I think is mostly an employee area now. Oh well, it was cool in there and I figure as long as I'm not in the way and don't leave a mess, I'm OK.
I went over to Ross and looked around. The sweat pants are wiped out as it's "back to school" time and parents are buying 'em up. I did find a pair of Quicksilver slippers for $7 so now at least I have some Hawaii type slippers to wear and get my feet used to them again. These are about one level above Locals, that cheapo brand everyone loves in Hawaii because they're cheap, you can get 'em everywhere, and they're a very basic slipper with no fancy wide strap or anything like that. Something only a local would feel comfortable wearing for hours and well, they say Local right on 'em. Quicksilver is pretty local, as the guy who founded the company was our old next door neighbor in Pupukea.
I've been looking for places that sell Olukai slippers but those are about $75 and do I really want to spend that much? I want to be pretty low-key when I get back home. So for $7 I might have solved that problem.
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