... You make the best of what's still around, according to Sting.
I listed 15 things last night, horray for me. I practiced while watching an interesting old movie called "Fat City" about some boxers. Very good movie, I think.
I got about 6 hours' sleep and woke up in time to have my coffee, clean up, and pack a couple more things. I took off for downtown and stopped at the post office to drop the packages off, then over to the bank.
Which was closed. A sign in the door said it's "temporarily" closed and to visit their nearest branch in Walnut Creek. Considering it would take me a full day to travel to Walnut Creek, that's not happening. I tried depositing my check using the ATM but it was unresponsive.
Right now I assume something happened like someone couldn't come in, or something happened with the computers or electricity or something. Banks are sneaky, though and although the people at my bank are nice it's still a bank. With banks failing right and left, maybe this is their sneaky way of saying they're closing up.
At least my card still works, and I went over to Whole Foods for some roast pork, olives, and asparagus and a "lite" near-beer, 5 grams of carbs. I got that one because it's Athletic Brewing Company and so far I like their near-beers.
I ate, then got on the #22 bus to go see West Valley Music's new store. It's not hard to get to at all, and it's much bigger than the old one - 3X the size, according to the owner, who was there.
I asked if they still sold the "Maui Xaphoon" which she said they did not. I was hoping they had one, a demo one, that I could try out. The reason I've been interested in this is it' a lot of noise in a small, nearly indestructible package, and the thing was "invented" in Hawaii. The owner thought they were kind of a fad, and I said I'd read a ton of reviews and for an instrument that's supposed to appeal to kids, there are supposedly two big problems: a wide reach for a couple of the holes, and the built-in mouthpiece is large; made to use tenor sax reeds.
I noticed a little sign saying Yamaha fifes are $7.50 or something so I said Hey I'll get one of those, play around with it, then give it to someone. But they didn't have those either. So it was a nice visit but didn't result in any sale for them. In fact their old store on a Friday evening would be a mob scene. I was the only customer in the place. The owner was the only salesperson there.
I walked back the way the bus had taken me to the big shopping center with the 99 Ranch market in it. There are a lot of other businesses in there and of course the popular thing these days, several empty spaces.
I went around behind 99 Ranch to see if Heaney Violins was open, which it was not. But at least they're still there. I went into 99 Ranch and it's pretty much the same stuff as my "home" one, and I just got a can of Boss coffee and drank that out front.
I got on a #22 bus coming back and got off at the Maria stop to go to Mega Mart. I got a package each of frozen pork and beef, and a small package of celery. It was already getting dark and originally I'd planned to explore the place more but by this time I just wanted to do a quick in and out.
Then I got on another #22 bus to go back to Whole Foods where I'd left my bike. By this time it was 9:30 or so. The skinny old hippie guy who's really into conspiracy theories and I'd listened a bit when I'd originally locked the bike up, but now, this late, he was gone. I got some eggs and a leek.
I rode back here, finding a few books as I often do, and got back in here at almost 10:30 which is the equivalent of 1:30AM in the before times. Almost everything closes at 9 even on a Friday night here, so it was really quiet out.
I got in here, put the bike inside, and checked out a box in the parking lot by the HVAC place. It was foodstuffs and I picked out several cans of Garbanzo beans, a bag of penne pasta, and some rock candy on a stick things for Tom.
The thing is .... Today everything was ... weird. The bank being closed. The vibe was weird at Whole Foods. I rode on three different #22 buses and the drivers had the AC blasting to make it uncomfortably cold (a thing some do in winter to harass the homeless who ride the "22 Hotel") and were in a hurry. Normally the #22 just ambles along, and this is a real change. The drivers seemed stressed.
Mega Mart was weird. There was one checker handling two checkout spaces for some reason, and I was glad I just had a few things to check through. Whole Foods when I got back there to get my bike (and some eggs and a leek) felt weird. It's Friday night, and in the past it was a night where there would be a fair number of late-night customers picking up more beer or wine, some chips, etc. It was a friendly time. This time it was really dead.
Maybe it's just myself, feeling the doom. Maybe it's that it actually cooled down in the evening, down to 62 (of course it was 82 in here when I got home) and I could feel a change in the air. But my feelings didn't make the bus rides so strange, or make both West Valley Music and Whole Foods so dead.
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