I didn't list the 25 things last night although I "should" have. I'm serious about getting back to a daytime schedule and listing stuff at midnight isn't part of that. So I set the things aside and eventually went to bed after eating the cucumber, some cheese and olives, and watching stuff on YouTube.
It got down to 35 degrees last night. I was tired not so much from the actual trumpet playing but from the travel. That's something people back in Hawaii will have real trouble understanding; the stupendous distances that are considered normal here. I was only a few towns over (from San Jose through Santa Clara and Sunnyvale to Mountain View) but it was the equivalent of living behind Kaiser High School in Hawaii Kai and performing at the Kahuku Sugar Mill, or, living in the quiet little neighborhood by the mill and performing at the big shopping center in Hawaii Kai where I chipped a tooth when I was little.
I slept my full 8 hours though, waking up at 11. Had my chicory coffee etc., and listed the things I'd photo'd up, so that was done. Work things during work hours, or at least daytime hours.
I left sometime after 4, and rode over to Whole Foods. It's cold out there and maybe I'm feeling it more due to having lost weight. It was getting dark as I got to Whole Foods and the black guy who sets up *in* the bike racks was there, doing his thing. His thing is hassling people to sign his petitions. This would be fine and dandy except he bothers people and his setting up *in* the bike racks thing.
I went in and got some meatloaf with gravy and broccoli and a near-beer. I sat at one of the picnic tables downstairs to eat, and *another* black guy, this guy in a wheelchair, came by and set up nearby to organize things in this big bag he carries sort of in his lap (when you're really fat, you don't have much of a lap really). The first thing he "organized" was to pull out a bottle of Ketel One vodka and take a good swallow.
That's expensive taste, Ketel One, but it might not be so expensive if he's clever enough to have "boosted" it. The guy had no feet, so let's chalk up morbid obesity, diabetes, and alcoholism here. Plus when I was done eating I noticed he'd left a roll of TP on the table and he was over at the bus stop so I took it over to him, saying "I think you forgot this back there" and he asked, "What is is, money?" - not sarcastically but he honestly didn't know. So yeah, the 'beetus took his eyesight too. I got him to understand it was his roll of toilet paper and "It could be a shitty situation if you didn't have it" and that got a big smile.
Except that it's showing up everywhere in the world wherever the modern diet is, diabetes might be called "The American Disease". The standard treatment is "one foot on the brake, one foot on the gas" with more and more medicine while the patient is advised to eat lots of starchy foods anyway. It's also considered a progressive disease where they start with removing your feet and then work their way up.
I chewed gum to clean my mouth and went back in to buy some vitamins (I wanted to use up the $1's from yesterday) and then went out to the bike to put the vitamins away. The petition-hassler guy was gone. It was really cold out so he probably was done for the day, I figured. So I set up - it was just a bit before 6.
It was slow going at first and guess who showed up again? The petition guy, who had been taking a break or something. He didn't say anything but he was not too happy, and I'd already set up and I can be pretty stubborn and competitive both, so I kept right on playing, nice and loud. The petition guy actually yelled at some potential "customer" which was not good, and eventually wandered into the passageway by Whole Foods and didn't return. Probably hopped on the bus with Diabetes Guy.
I played my Christmas stuff and while things were slow to start, I think it's due to a lot of people going in and seeing/hearing me and deciding while shopping inside, to tip me when they come out. The people who dropped tips all seem to have taken some time to think about it. Highlights were the one guy who said I was "Keeping up the Christmas spirit - and no one else is" or something to that effect, and the guy who said he'd been at the German Christmas Market and seen the other buskers too, with their guitars. One had been playing "Sweet Caroline" which was agreed is not Christmas music "but people were having a good time" he said. As he walked to his car I played bits of "Sweet Caroline".
It was bloody cold out there and an hour was plenty. I finally got to a bit over an hour, played the "Goodnight" song and packed up. I didn't even count the money. I went into Whole Foods for a cucumber and got everything arranged on the bike and myself, and rode home. I got back here at about 8, and counted up - $55.39.
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