Until next year I guess .... by October-November next year I should be safely back home in some sort of safe, stable situation but even if I'm not, being sick for a day or two won't kill me. Here, the weather is actively trying to kill you 5 months out of the year and yes, people do die of hypothermia once it gets down to the 40s. We lose quite a few each year. And it gets down into the 30s and even occasional 20s so it gets cold out there.
I feel pretty much all better now, but planned to not go out today. I have a ton of things to pack, almost all small things, and they can all go out tomorrow. Halloween's an odd holiday as it's not a federal one so the post office will be open, and to me it's a holiday for kids; something you put on for kids although plenty of adults wear costumes and go to Halloween parties.
I did a good long long-tones practice last night. I'm also doing breathing exercises while out on the bike, as I mentioned on the straightaways rather than at the lights where I have to pay attention to too much. I have to strengthen the whole breathing mechanism whether I'm playing shakuhachi or singing. One thing I've got to say for the shakuhachi, though, is that being essentially zero maintenance, zero assembly, etc., it's really easy to just pick it up and practice. Even if my voice isn't working well for some reason, I can still play it.
It's very good to see President Biden so supportive of the striking auto workers. Their leader, Sean Fain, appears to be a great one, class-conscious and suitably militant. It appears we're repeating history and in the 1920s right now. The equivalent of the 1930s should be interesting as it should bring about the Socialist revolution we missed out on last time around, or will bring about a true FDR-equivalent who will keep capitalism as the system here, at least on paper, but do what needs doing which is to control and regulate it to a near-standstill.
And likewise, Israel continues to bravely do what needs doing. They need to level Gaza, make it about as hospitable to human life as the Moon. Then once the "Palestinians" are sent back to Jordan or any of a score of other Arab (shithole) countries, Israel can get to work turning Gaza into a green, peaceful, area with pleasant seaside areas and a happy and prosperous, Jewish, population.
An overarching comment on all of this is, while I have access to the internet and the many sites on it, the best source for news on things like this or even the latest mass shooting (a popular American pastime, for fans of that sport rather than football or baseball) is the radio. It's head and shoulders above anything on the internet. And by "radio" I mean of course NPR.
It's just strange that, with 1000s of internet sites and one, very agile since it's as "grassroots" as they come, the radio and in particular one station, NPR, is still first with the news. I could probably approach the pinnacle it occupies if I kept parked on the BBC or Guardian web sites, but I doubt exceed it. And those sites are accessory to, respectively, a radio network and a newspaper.
It's almost like almost all of the internet is to distract and propagandize, rather than inform. Even on NPR, on the famed "Science Friday", I have to wait until the wee hours of the morning to hear any actual science, as US culture is profoundly anti-science so who wants to hear about that? The best hour or two on NPR is when they play the BBC around midnight.
I tried writing a couple of letters to Pat and another guy I know back in Hawaii because I don't think email is working for either one of them, but not only is my printer fucked up right now, leaving dark streaks on the paper, but with the one guy who's not Pat, I don't see any indication that his business has been valid for the last 10 years or so. I'll have to fix my printer or take the files to FedEx Kinko's to print out. The dark streaks don't affect Ebay labels much as they end up on parts of the paper I trim off.
I also tried to find any ukulele activity I can realistically get to and there is none. The San Jose Ukulele Club meets in deepest darkest suburbia, that's miles to get to by bike and I have to cross two large freeway interchanges. The other groups are defunct because of covid, which seems to have killed them off permanently, and if they were active, again, are in places that are nearly impossible to get to by bike.
I don't know how I'll be able to get it across to anyone back in Hawaii how impossible distances are here on the mainland or how things that are just routine as hell in Hawaii like buying an aloha shirt or finding a group to play music with, are impossible here. Plus I'll have to explain squirrels, crows, and seagulls, so I'll have some 'splainin' to do.
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