Now this whole post is going to be lined up on this photos, but anyway here it is. Courtesy of Cabin Radio in Canada, this is the bucolic scene in Yellowknife, a town that may ring a bell to those of us who have read our Jack London stories.
Among the doomsday prepper crowd, and aren't we all these days, the Word is to simply move north to avoid the bad effects of global warming. Nevermind the Martian levels of red smoke and junk in the air, the heat domes killing off wildlife and sea life, and the hordes of preppers who will come to share with you on the "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine because I've got more guns" plan.
I follow r/hawaii on Reddit a lot and there's no discussion of it being hot at all there. People are used to the constant 82 degrees as someone has described it. I'd describe as being - out in the middle of the largest ocean as it is - being in the center of a boat, both fore and aft and abeam. However the boat rocks, you'll feel it the least there.
I was up in time to pack the things I'd "staged" last night, plus one more large-ish thing the guy wanted shipped "right away" so that was good. The post office was first, where I put a bunch of packages and also stood in line and shipped the glass flute and books back to Hall Flutes to the tune of about $12, shipping's a lot more expensive as a regular person as opposed to shipping with an Ebay account.
I then rode around the corner and to the exercise place and did some chin-ups. Now I'm really testing my welcome because not only did I have the bike trailer but it was a weeknight and there was a guy chilling in his bright yellow sports car there, whom I had to pass. I did my pathetic little exercises, although a bit better than last time, then rode out, noticing only then that there was a pickup truck with a security emblem on the side but I rode right by and it would have been easy for the guy in it to say something but ... nothing. Maybe doing a few exercises is looked on as a social good; it'd doubtful the employees of the company there use the equipment much. My usual plan is to hit that place on Sunday but I hadn't been over that way, hadn't thought to use the equipment over by the police station, and had forgotten about it completely yesterday.
I stopped in at H Mart for some garlic and a "Size Up" bottle of black coffee since I'd forgotten to bring the bottle of black coffee I'd brewed last night. I dropped off the FedEx things then went around back, picked up a box or two, then investigated the green veggie dumpster.
As I was pulling up, a lady (Vietnamese? Chinese?) had pulled up in her car and got out a little step ladder thing and a plastic bag. There was a milk crate for me to stand on there also, so we both got to digging. She was after some things and I just wanted the apples and bananas that were there for Tom so it was a friendly dumpster-dive even though we shared not a word in common. I tried to convey to her that I thought she was smart for getting veggies in this way.
I went over to Tom's and he was out so I just put the bags of apples and bananas on the table there and wondered at how his favorite pet bum, James, has shitted up the place. Not only are James' two junky cars there but a veritable junkyard of electronics junk and tons of those things with a million little drawers, I'm guessing the load of stuff he wanted to try to sell me. Tom's place looks like crap now, not that it matters on that street.
I went over to the blemished food place next. There was a car or truck or something, with, right behind it, a small mountain of everything bums love - junk bikes and all sorts of crap, and a zombess fiddling around with stuff, frantically sweeping the street around this horrible pile of junk for some reason. I went around, got some of the blemished food place's boxes they throw out on Tuesdays, and got out of there.
I finished my route, amassing a big load of shipping stuff. Most fun was the day's freebee, besides the apples and bananas for Tom; 28 bags of various chips from Doritos to good old potato chips to every flavor of Cheetos and Fritos it seems. This was at the Coke place and there were tons of cans and some bottles of soda too but no Coke Zero or diet Pepsi so nothing I wanted. I'll drop the chips off at Tom's tomorrow and he can pay his bums in chips.
So, why did I send the glass flute back so quickly? Mainly, I read the terms and there's a 1-month window to try it out and I only had about a week left. That takes care of the "quickly" part. But I sent it back at all because I think I've finally learned a fundamental thing about any musical instrument:
There is no instrument that you can get up to speed on in a month or two and sound good good enough to effectively busk with it. Not only not the trumpet or the violin or the piano, but even the pennywhistle, "uke', harmonica, etc. There are people who can sound very good on these "trivial" instruments but they put in serious years and time to get there.
I thought I'd be able to get one of these glass flutes and go out and cash in on Christmas carols and sentimental songs for the holiday season but I found it would take serious work and a few years, not a few months, to sound good.
In fact, I found that I could get a better sound - and louder, surprisingly - on the shakuhachi. That's because I've put more time in on it.
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