I went to sleep a bit later than I have, maybe 1AM. Maybe closer to 12:30. I woke up at 9:30, and took my blood pressure. Still high but the best measurement so far.
Then I did some exercises, and had my chicory coffee and nuts. When I got off of alcohol I told myself I can have all the coffee I want, but that turns out to be a lot of coffee. Probably too much. So I'm cutting back and will be drinking green tea, black tea, Rooibos tea, etc. in place of a lot of cups of coffee.
I guess since my age is now north of 60 I'm an old guy and old guys need an old guy routine. A real old guy routine involves getting up early in the morning, I don't know why but old guys seem to do this with enthusiasm when 20-somethings like myself were astonished that anyone would get up when they could sleep in. Also exercise. Old guys seem to thrive on that, harking back to their military/athlete days. And because their doctors said they'd better, or else. And shaping up one's diet. I think mine's pretty good these days except that I need to cut way down on the coffee.
I don't think busking is going to be too much exertion for me at all, especially not if I master what Adam Rapa has to teach, about playing trumpet without straining. In fact, I think playing trumpet properly is probably going to be easier on me than playing concert flute which my left shoulder does *not* like, or trying to puff enough air to play the shakuhachi well, which I'm not sure I have the lung capacity to do.
I should say, RIP "Red" the flute player. The bicycle shop guy with whom I'd talked about Communism and the possibility thereof, had told me that Red is now dead. Red was a big part of the free bike clinic downtown and the bike shop guy knows all the hardcore bike people from the old days. I told him that of all the regular street musicians, only Leroy remains, and he's only recently back after having to duck out of the scene for a while to take care of his mom, who's now passed away. Leroy's going to be the last busker in this city of over a million people, because I'm gone in 10 months.
I finished the load of laundry I'd had soaking for something like a week, and mainly watched YouTube stuff and procrastinated about my plan to go out busking today/tonight. I finally got my stuff together and left here at 6 to do so. I rode through San Pedro Square thinking maybe I'd see Leroy playing his sax but Loud Band was in session and he wasn't there.
I got to Whole Foods and there were no bums/beggars/hustlers there, just lots of Christmas trees. I used the loo and then set up. My rules were that I'd work on using a lot less mouthpiece pressure, just like Adam Rapa says to, and I'd only play Christmas stuff. And when I was done I could buy anything I want with the money in Whole Foods.
It went surprisingly well considering how long I've not been playing trumpet. I was able to play Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Oh Christmas Tree, White Christmas, and another one or two well enough to get tips. After an hour I figured I'd done enough and had made $31.76.
That's not bad at all; that's grocery money. After packing up I went into Whole Foods and got a cucumber and some cheese, which is all I really felt like getting. I rode home by way of Christmas In The Park which was a madhouse, elbow-to-elbow, and passing by Mama Kin, which is the new name of Cafe Stritch. The floor was jammed with dancers and the band was between sets but they had a trombone so they might have been pretty good. I looked around for Wendall but I think it's early yet for him to show up.
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