Anyway, here's Easter

 I practiced last night, doing OK. New songs, old songs ... I'd also listed 15 things on Ebay. Our sales are down again which is hopefully just due to the holiday. It's a major one for Christians, more important than Christmas in their scheme of things. 

I woke up at 3, not good. Too much wine again. For some reason I'm sleeping right through the night again instead of getting up at least once and it was often more than once, to pee. My coffee drinking is way down. Ideally it's one cup in the morning and that's it. I'm having maybe 2 cups a day and that's far, far less than I was drinking. 

I got out of here at about 5. I dropped off trash, donated stuff in the Japantown little free library, and went to Nijiya Market for a can of iced black coffee and something to eat. I ended up getting a $10 thing of salmon sushi and managed to eat that at a table out front without the wind blowing things away. It was windy and cold today but at least not raining. 

I chewed gum to clean my mouth out, and rode toward Whole Foods. I passed through San Pedro Square and decided it looked a little too dead. So I rode on to Whole Foods and set up and started playing. I made a dollar in the few minutes I played, as a guy coming out half-yelled something at me that I didn't get. I said something like Pardon me? and he repeated, that they're closing in 10 minutes. So they were closing at 6, because it's Easter and all. 

Well! I played a few more minutes but people didn't have the time for it so I packed up and tried going in myself, but the guy would not let me in - they're closing after all. I thanked him and hopped on the bike and rode out. Old Spaghetti Factory it is. 

After the sushi I had about $7 cash in my wallet so I wanted to at least make an effort. I've only taken $109 out of this last pay check and want the other $291 to stay right in there. 

I set up at the Old Spag. and told myself I'd treat it as much as a practice session as anything else. And on my way over there I decided I ought to work on "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens and in fact I did, and it went pretty well. Also "Blue Skies" which is a pretty good song. And a bunch of other things, trying to see if there's any one song that people particularly seem to want to hear. Marvin Naylor calls it the "Song of the day". 

By the time I'd put in an hour, I was starting to tire but I really wanted to make $50 and it looked like I might make it if I stayed a bit more, so maybe another half-hour. There were not that many people but there was a steady trickle of tips and appreciative comments. A guy set up across the street with a loud radio on his bike but I out-stubborned him and he eventually took off. 

A "Groundwerx" guy was there, sweeping the one stretch of gutter there over and over. "Thanks" he said, eventually. He was happy to hear the music. 

Eventually I decided I'd been there long enough and probably made $50. I did a quick count-up and I'd made $75. And it'd been exactly an hour and a half. I packed up and on my way out of there, talked with the Groundwerx guy a while. "Danny Boy", to him, was a song with lyrics about standing at Calvery and things like that. I said that the song we know as "My Country 'Tis Of Thee" is actually "God Save The Queen" (or king, these days) in England. 

The Groundwerx guy wants to learn the ukulele, and I told him of the good places to go, about the San Jose Ukulele Club, and the jam sessions that are held around this area. Outside of Hawaii itself, it's the best city to learn the ukulele in. He seemed like a pretty smart guy and since comp sci grads are to be found stocking shelves and hardware engineering grads are jerking coffee, it makes sense that a pretty smart guy would be out there sweeping gutters for Groundwerx. 

I rode home, stopping at TAK Market for a couple bottles of wine. They're Indians and don't close up early for Easter. They have other holidays, including one where they play Indian music and whoop it up, and they still mind the store. 

I got back here, made and ate a delicious curry, prepared and photo'd 15 things, and called it a night because for some reason my computer decided it was an hour later than it is. I thought my wall clock, which I haven't adjusted yet, was somehow 2 hours slow, then finally consulted my faithful flip phone. For some reason doing a "time sync" with the Microsoft time server fixed it. Just had to check in with ol' Uncle Bill. 

 

Rainy Saturday Night Havdala

 So: I woke up in time on Friday to get the few things  I wanted to take to the post office together, clean up etc., and get outta here. One of the packages would be "overdue" if it didn't get mailed today and yes, Ebay keeps track of not just when packages are packed but when they're actually checked in at the shipping service. And the gap between these two times. Ebay likes 'em to go out "hot off the presses". 

So I had to get out of here to make it to the post office in time, the problem being that was pouring. I wasn't too worried about the packages as they were in waterproof bubble mailers (and I wiped them with a dry paper towel before putting them in the slot at the post office). I, however, got drenched just riding the mile and a half or whatever it is, from here to the light rail station. 

By getting on the light rail, I could stay dry at least on the leg of my journey from the Karina light rail station to St. James Park. So that's what I did, myself and a handful of unhappy bums. 

I got off at St. James into the middle of another handful of unhappy bums and dropped the packages off, then went back to get on another light rail to stay dry to Diridon Station. Some bum-ess was having the most fantastic, screaming, ranting, and yes literally roaring, shit-fit up the street, but fortunately she pushed her shopping cart full'o'crap elsewhere. 

By now it had gone down to a sprinkle, and I treated myself to a bag of train station popcorn. The lady at the little shop there was happy I was able to pay her in change, in which she's always in need. I munched on my popcorn and watched/listened to the general train station activities, and it was pretty nice. 

Then I went over to Whole Foods and parked the bike, and got some food, hummus and feta cheese and olives, and a "black light" beer which is OK, but then I wanted to go upstairs and get a half pint of their "Coffee & Cigarettes" stout, so I did that. The tables were covered with standing water and the wind was vicious, so I ended up in the nook by the elevator hanging out with a couple of cholo type guys, talking about stuff. One of the guys thought I looked like the brother of the guy who owns the Rose Garden. Uhm, ok. I'm not, I said. 

I'd bought a cucumber and some pate' and such things for later, so when it was about 10 to 6 I told the guys "I gotta jet" and got on the bike and rode up to the temple. The rabbi, last weekend, had told me to come early and just look for him, so I did that and ended up in the waiting room of his office where he came out and said he's meant for me to make an appointment, by phone or email, and gave me his card. No problem, and I was glad to get his card. 

They had the chairs arranged so the first several rows were re-configured into sort of concentric ovals around the area right in front, and I thought, This is great because I'm closer to the screens so I can read off the lyrics for the songs, words for the prayers, etc. 

Also, P. the guy who plays trumpet was there and he'd gotten about 4 light sticks last weekend so I asked him how long they'd lasted and he said about 36 hours which is pretty good. I also learned he's been taught trumpet because his mother wanted him to be in the drum and bugle corps, and that he mostly learns songs by ear, like I do. 

This service seemed to have a lot of singing, which is great as far as I'm concerned. Some time in the past I'd read or seen in a documentary, maybe "Hollywoodism", how a lot of the music in "Western" movies is influenced by Jewish music, and honestly, a couple of the pieces had me imagining a wagon train crossing some dusty desert. 

Being closer to the screens and squinting was not cutting it though. I'll have to find one of my "emergency" pairs of glasses. I'm surprised I didn't give myself a headache, straining to see the words. The Hebrew words are actually bigger on those screens and that would help except my sounding out Hebrew isn't very good so far and I still couldn't see them perfectly well. 

Afterward, we had our bread and wine and some food. I just had some hummus and pita bread slices. 

I ended up in quite the fun conversation with a Mrs. Z. who had her something like 6'4" son with her, and I told her about the "Loft" at the big Goodwill store on Stevens Creek, and some of the Palo Alto thrift stores run by rich women in the "Junior League" and so on. She was very interested in this information. She's going on a birding trip to India, and wanted some way to keep bugs from crawling up her pants legs. I told her that, growing up in Hawaii, I'd never had that problem except for the ONE time with a very large cockroach... 

Then on to bird stories. The rabbi's a birder too. "We're big bird watchers" they said, and I said "I'm a little bird watcher" and I got to tell some bird stories. So now they know that even if I'm not an ardent birder, that's something I'm interested in rather than, say, professional wrestling or football or something stupid like that. 

The book store was open and I spent about $17 on a book by a lady who is/was local to here, something about "Emptying The Ocean With A Spoon" about general Jewish stuff, as experienced in her family but also a lot of other people's. 

The ride home wasn't bad. It wasn't raining, although it was wet and cold. I got back in here and relaxed and stayed off the computer but read books, a thing I'd really missed doing. I read the "Spoon" book and some other things, including an article about Stanislaw Lem I'd kept out of a copy of the New Yorker and hadn't gotten around to reading. 

Today I woke up around noon because the guys next door have a professional pressure washer they love to use, to clean their cleaning vans with. And a leaf blower they used to blow water out when they're done or something. Then loud oom-pah Mexican music. It's all happy sounds, though. I've never heard an argument or a fight. That's left to the people on the other side, who get in fights in their Asian language, slam doors, etc. It's easy to ignore, reading a book though. 

Finally at 9PM the relaxing time is over, back to work. 

I wonder if I'll ever be glad I wrote all this stuff down to re-read it. I do refer to my busking diary to see if I busked on a particular day and now much I made etc. No one else reads this thing because it's very, very boring. Those who think the FBI or something reads everyone's blogs are way too paranoid. Even that Hamas asset Aaron Bushnell, probably wrote all about what he was going to do and no one paid attention. People who do really large, momentous, horrible things tend to write all about them online and no one notices until a magnifying glass is turned on them because of what they did. No authorities, not even George Soros, micro-manages blogs. No one cares. 

That brainwashed idiot lighting himself like a candle and the reaction to it, are what's made me realize I need to put up or shut up. "Stand for something or you'll fall for anything" is a saying. 

Reading the "Spoon" book was mind-blowing. I'd have found it very boring in my 20s because it's just a lot of minutiae of day-to-day life of a Jewish family who escaped the Russian Empire in the 1890s. Interestingly, her grandparents were both tailors, as my maternal grandmother was. Not hem-up-pants type but real tailors who could make any clothing, without patterns. 

It's mind-blowing though because here's a society where people actually give a damn about each other. Relatives were close, grandparents were close, and while there was some struggle, no one went hungry, ever. They'd certainly have, if they'd been completely atomized like proper Americans. Richard Feynman wrote in one of his books that his family was like this also, something like, "Things were pretty calm on the surface but below it everyone was struggling like crazy" and they worked together. Little Dickie Feynman never nodded off in school due to fainting from hunger. He never had to drop out of high school to work in a gas station like I had to. And his father really took part in his learning physics, unlike the standard American father who'd care if their kid played football and other than that, would not care at all. 

To Be A Jew

 I woke up in time to get a couple bags of used books I had ready, and take off for downtown. Only one small thing had sold so no need to visit the post office. 

First was the bank, my balance was dead within 3c so that's good. Then the used book store where I turned in the books for the guy to evaluate while I looked around. 

I was pretty sure I'd get $10 in trade anyway, and looked around in the Judaism section. Up near the top shelf I found the book "To Be A Jew" which is one of those on the list of required books for converts and it was like $8. And while marked as used, it looks new. 

I took that up to the front and the buyer had taken all but a few of my books so I had something like $24 in trade credit. I had $3.50 or so already, so after buying the book I still have just under $20 to buy other used books. 

I went out with my book and the few books the guy hadn't bought, and as I unlocked the bike and put things away, a skinny druggie looking gal, a pretty routine type of zombie, had been digging in the dumpster next door (she seemed to come away with a wad of someone's personal mail, bills, etc., maybe her drug dealer buys that stuff for the purpose of identity theft) and held up the bag with the few books in it. "Want some books?" She was like "Sure!" and took them. I probably could have said, brightly, "Want some used TP?" and she'd have accepted as enthusiastically. 

And in the 3 minutes or so I was there by my bike she was actually the 2nd zombie, as a large male zombie had come up, didn't want any books, and wanted to know if I smoke. "I don't smoke, sorry" was my reply and he wandered off. If you don't smoke, you're not likely to have a spare cig, or understand the plight of the smoker who doesn't have any. 

I went to Whole Foods and had some fish and veggies and drank half a beer, then rode over to the Amazon place for bubble mailers, and then down to Walmart. I managed to spend about $45 there, and loaded up and headed for home by way of Nijiya where I got some things also, and a large bento and a beer. 

As I wandered around in Nijiya, there was a couple who were speaking Russian or Ukranian I could not tell. So I bubbled to the friendly guy at the register that I'd had a really good weekend with my trumpet and that I need to learn the Ukraine national anthem so I can play the "Slava Ukraini" special. If the couple were Russians, hopefully that made them uncomfortable. If they were Ukrainians, hopefully it made them feel good. 

I actually picked up a few books on my way home, to start a new batch. It's nice to turn them in before the batch gets really big and the bags get super heavy. It was windy and cold all day but at least it was not raining. This will not be the case tomorrow. 

L'chaim!

 I cleaned up and photo'd 20 things last night, all ready to list. I also practiced a bit, working on some new, "more cheerful" material like Jeramiah Was A Bullfrog. 

I'm also working on learning the jazzy version of L'cha Dodi which is .... well ... it seems the lyrics are about the same but there are a lot of different tunes that are called L'cha Dodi. The jazzy version is great and was played by the trumpet player at the last "rock shabbat" and I want to master it. It's nice and klezmerish. 

It's just a matter of listening to it a lot, until I have it accurately "recorded" in my memory. Maybe real musicians call this ear training? 

I packed 10 things and got going to the post office and dropped all but one off. Got two (and this time she just gave me two which is really all I wanted to eat) tea eggs at 99 Ranch and ate those, then went over to H Mart and got some fried fish and a beer and dropped off the last package in FedEx and ate the fish at the bench that's kind of between H Mart and FedEx. 

I found some packing stuff and rode back here and then decided to ride back to Junction Avenue by Fry's and see if there's still police activity there because yesterday there were like 10 cop SUVs there and the helicopter flying around today made me curious. But nothing. I stopped by Tom's to check in and nothing much is new with him. 

Now I was pushed for time and got back here and vacuumed the office and cleaned the bathroom in record time, and started in listing the things I had photo'd and all ready to go. I got the bigger stuff done when Ken came by and by then I had the smaller things in a box and just had to put lids on the boxes I had open. 

I got my check and we talked about things, and the book I'd bought on Ebay hadn't shown up. Good thing I only spent $4 of Ken's money. I said I'll just order the book new from a real book store and it will come to the house with my name on it.  

So after Ken and I had had our bull session and solved the problems of the world, he left and I went to a good Judaica store online and ordered the book new so it will come to the house with my name on it. All it is, is a book on reading Hebrew, that's used in the adult reading Hebrew class held at the temple. It's kind of aimed at kids and has lots of colorful pictures. And it's fun to take the picture of the plagues of Egypt and have the guy with boils saying "Ah've got borls!". 

A machine-like existence

 I did a ton of things last night, plenty of work, but in the end was too tired to practice. I woke up in time to pack some things, 8 or a dozen or something. 

I got the things to the post office and FedEx, parked the bike at H Mart and walked over to Ross. I wanted to find a sort of light jacket. I like the "Marmot" one I've got but the lining really is falling apart. Now that I think about it, if I'm going to stay here a couple more years than anticipated, I might go down to the outlet stores in Gilroy and see what I can find there, because I believe there's a Pearl Izumi store and no doubt ones like Patagonia and North Face. 

I ended up getting two T-shirts and a woven shirt for when the weather warms up. It's still cold now. 

I went over to Lowe's and got a wooden plaque, the kind used to put up house numbers on, to hopefully fix the situation with the TP holder in the bathroom. One side is just about falling off of the wall, and what's needed is to drill fresh holes in the drywall and my plan is to mount the holder on the plaque which is then fastened with new holes. 

I got back here and cooked up a package of the Kosher ramen I got at Walmart and mackerel, but instead of frying the fish, I thawed it and filleted it so it was just fish chunks going into the soup. The soup was great and the place won't smell like fried mackerel for 2 days. 

It seems like if I'm Living My Life Right(tm) I'm throwing away a bag of trash a day, coming home with at least a dollar in change, and doing my part to use up lots of paper towels and cleaning chemicals like Windex and rubbing alcohol. Inputs and outputs, hey it's my old friend from elementary math, the Function Machine! 

Another function is to spend money, so seeing that the registration for the Passover seder is open now, I signed up. It's $70 for non-members and I could round it up to help pay for other members so I rounded it up to $100. The thing is that no one's turned away for lack of money, but I've got the money and am happy to pay my share and what I guess is half of another person's. I'll bring some wine too and some decent stuff, not the cheap plonk I've been buying. 

A real re-arrangement of the mental furniture

 This thread right here. This: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jewish/comments/1bncsmu/am_i_the_only_one_who_saw_this_coming/

Last night I got in, caught up on Ebay messages and accepting offers and so on, drank wine, ate a bit, ate the three poppy seed hamentaschen I'd bought (delicious!) and gradually got my stuffed backpack unpacked and things sorted out and put away. And found useless YouTube stuff to watch, and went to bed around 3-4 AM. 

I woke up a bit past noon, with a headache so I drank some water and went back to bed to sleep until about 3. I. Am. Tired. It was a ton of running around yesterday, carrying all that stuff, etc. Good physical training. 

Yesterday as we were talking around that table I learned that the rabbi had actually been at the Purim dance, dressed as "Prince" or "a prince" I'm not sure. I wonder if he was the guy in what looked like it was supposed to represent chain mail? Prince Valiant in the newspaper comics was always dressed in chain mail. In any case I'm glad the rabbi was around because he got to see me handing out light sticks and hanging out with the sound guy and generally getting along. 

Due to the extremely atomized nature of this place it's not like I got to do a ton of socializing before covid, but covid really made me isolated. But this group, by its nature, does things together. For instance in the reading of the story of Esther, a bunch of different people each read one of the chapters. I might read a chapter next year. 

I was able to pack a dozen things and get them up to the post office, and went to 99 Ranch for some tea eggs, 2 for $3 but now for the 2nd time, the lady's given me three, the third one being one that's been soaking in the marinade for a long time and actually has some great flavor. "You're trying to make me fat!" I joked with her. 

I ate my tea eggs then went over to H Mart and got some beef rib slices, all cooked, on their own without the rice. That was $3 and what a yummy snack! I ate those out front and then walked over to Sprouts to check out the wine situation. The long and short of that is, I bought 6 bottles and a neato compartmented cloth bag to carry them in. The stuff's only $4 a bottle and both tastes better, and is cheaper, than the already cheap tetra pak wine. 

I've been thinking about the open window at the hotel, and the theory I've come up with is, while I was asleep, someone came up and very slowly opened the window so it would not wake me up. Then someone else, maybe a security guard, came up and made the guy go away - that would be the male voices I heard right outside. The window was left open, because whoever had chased the baddie off didn't want to disturb and now they were keeping extra watch. That would explain the traffic noises being so annoying when I woke up. 

The window had been opened up enough that with a bit more opening, a guy could climb right in. I've stayed in some really dodgy hotels, some really skeezy places of the type that I'm not sure even exist any more, and never had a problem. But I know from Reddit that there have been cases around here of people breaking into hotel room when they know the person who'd rented the room was in there. If I stay there again, I'm going to put something in the window track so the window can't be opened like that. Or at least screw the little screw thingie in. 

I also thought just now that yesterday was actually my best busking day ever, as my previous record had been about $160, and yesterday I made $180. Both days stand out because the $160 was in a single hour, while yesterday I played for two hours. 

An interesting and profitable weekend

 On Friday night I got things listed really early, and settled down for my do-nothing time. All well and good, and with some wine too. 

I woke up on Saturday and I'd already signed up for the Purim thing at the Jewish temple, and I wanted to go to the thing the next day. The first thing started at 6PM and the thing the next day started at 10:30AM. Plus it was rainy, cold, and miserable. Riding home from the first thing at something like 10 at night, in the rain, and then getting myself up for another ride, probably in rain and certainly in the cold and wind, sounded horrible. 

So I booked a room at a hotel down by Santa Clara college, stuffed all kinds of things in my CostCo backpack, and took along my trumpet and tip box, and the 46 light sticks I had gotten from the EMT training place. 

By the time I got down there, checked in, and took a thorough and very welcome shower, I knew I'd get to the thing at 7PM instead of right at starting time at 6, but  I figured tons of people would be "fashionaby late" too. It was about costumes, drinking, and partying. 

By the time I was showered and out the door of the hotel, ready to bus it down to the temple, I was pretty hungry since I'd not eaten anything so I went to Akita Sushi and got a "Philly" roll which was pretty good, great fish to rice ratio. I was glad I'd done this when I got there because the "nosh" was really lame - tortilla chips, refried beans, nothing hot or spicy at all, some guacamole, sour cream, meh. I had some, of course, but I was really glad for that fish. 

I did end up drinking three pretty strong IPA's, enjoyed the music (their band is pretty good) and once the party was starting to swing, I went around and handed out the light sticks. So now I'm the guy who handed out light sticks. 

I bugged out at a bit after 9, hopped a bus down to Whole Foods and got some string cheese and one of those little 4-packs of 185ml wine bottles. Then hopped another bus back to my room, and settled in for cheese, wine, and TV. 

I actually slept pretty well until I woke up around 7 or so, hearing crows outside so I knew it was light out. It had rained pretty hard. For some reason now I was hearing all the traffic, the buses stopping at the stop right by the front door of the hotel, etc. I brewed up more Keurig coffee and watched a bit more TV, finding some neat stuff about CFCs and global warming, a NASA post-mortem on an experimental jet crash, and suchlike things to watch. Once it was 9AM I'd gotten my stuff together, leaving tons of little snacks from the Purim goodie box I'd gotten the night before, a $5 tip for the room cleaners, and inadvertently, most of the string cheese in the little fridge. 

When I left was when I noticed the window was open about 6 inches. When did that happen? I'm pretty sure it'd not been open when I'd checked in. And I think it had been closed overnight, but then things get mysterious. Did the cleaning people open it to make sure I'd wake up? Was someone trying to break in? It's just ... bizarre. 

I went across the street and Voyager Coffee was far too hipster-y for me plus the egg fritatas were sold out, so I went to the Cali-Mex place and got scrambled eggs and has browns, and a regular ol' mug of coffee. And they had a bottle of Tapatio right on the table. After all there'd be lunch but better eat now. 

I rode the bus down there and walked over to a sort of outdoor area behind an office building, with tables, and did a bit of practice. In the telling of the story of Purim, you're supposed to make awful sounds whenever the name of Haman is mentioned. The night before, we'd all had "graggers" or noisemakers, to do this with. But there was to be another Purim telling, and I figured with my trumpet I could do pedal tones, which sound fairly awful. So I practiced pedal tones, sorry neighborhood! 

But when  I got the the temple, I learned the Purim telling and carnival were for the little kids, but it just so happened they had an open-house for adults. It was me, an older lady who plays clarinet, taught herself, can play classical and plays a Selmer R13 so a pro-level horn. The same model Artie Shaw played. And a guy who teaches high school in Los Gatos and had just learned of the temple's existence. 

So we went around, learned of the various remodels of the buildings and grounds, and it was really nice. While the kids did their little-kid thing. The best costumes were two kids dressed as Mario and Luigi from Mario KART with toy cars they sort of wore around their waists. 

We grown-ups ended up sitting around a table talking about all kinds of things, and then we got the lunch - all pretty much finger food like tater tots, these sort of egg shaped things that turned out to have pieces of hot dog inside, and that sort of thing. So I was smart to have had those scrambled eggs. 

And I got to meet the rabbi, in a dress! Not myself, the rabbi. Pretty hilarious because he's a chunky lad. I'm to talk to him a bit this Friday. 

Clarinet Lady wants to get into volunteering for various things, but also is, like myself, interested in klezmer music. I said I'm I real klezmer musician myself, in that I have a job I hate during most of my hours, and only get to play music on evenings and weekends, I learn mostly by ear, and of course I love the klezmer style. 

To be in the actual band you have to be an official member of the temple and to be a member .... well ... that's why I need to talk to the rabbi.

I ended the event with buying some hamentaschen which were 3 for $2 but I gave them $3 and said keep the change, then went into the gift shop and bought a book, Abba Eban's autobiography, for $5. The gal working in there I'd seen before, in the past. I think she's Israeli, or something, and English is not her forte'. She was overjoyed that I had an even $5 and an even 50c for the tax. 

Now I was really all done and went out to the bus. My plan, the plan I'd had for last weekend but didn't do, was to try the waters at the Campbell Whole Foods. I'll be kicked out of there, I was sure. I'll be kicked out of there or it'll suck. So I got off by Diridon Station, and got on the Green Line train to the weird, elevated, Hamilton station and walked over to the Whole Foods. 

The place is huge. There are something like 4 in/out doors. I set up at the one next to the main one, and started in playing. All kinds of Whole Foods employees went by and no one said a thing or even gave me a sour look. No security people said anything. I played, and tips came in, and it all went pretty well. At the end of an hour I was done, packed up and went inside for a $4 can of black coffee and drank that up, and counted up. $51, in an hour. That's OK. 

I decided I'd go to Sunnyvale, my plan for if Campbell sucked, anyway. So I hopped back on the Green Line train, and took the CalTrain to Sunnyvale. 

I walked around Murphy Street, mainly looking for a place I might get something to eat and also use the loo. I went into The Bean Scene, and asked the gal what spreads they had for their bagels. That pretty much short-circuited her brain, and I said Look, I need to use the bathroom so badly I can barely think, and she said something like how she was going to go around back and open it, or something.  I went back there and it was open so I used it and left. 

All the places on Murphy were really high priced. Plus, some placed called Fuego or something started up this loud canned music that covered the whole street. So much for playing on ol' Murphy. 

That left Whole Foods, so I walked over there, and got some roast beef and pastrami and broccoli, and a can of carbonated water, mainly because if I could not find implements and had to eat with my hands, the water could be used to wash before and after. But an employee told me where they were, so the can of fizzy water turned out to be well worth the price as a weight to keep my tip box from blowing away. 

After eating and using a toothpick and chewing gum, I set up in front where people going to the theater and Target would hear me too. That went OK, and I got handed $10 from a car and I hardly ever get handed money from cars. The wind was awful though, and after half-hour I decided to set up at the other front door, where the carts are and where people go in/out of the massive parking structure. 

That went OK too. Only OK as it was a bit slow. When I had maybe 10 minutes left to play of my hour, a lady dropped a tip in almost apologetically, and it was a $100 bill. This was the third time I've gotten a $100 tip, and this is the second time the $100 tip was from a smallish, swarthy, probably Indian, lady who is almost furtive about dropping it in. I'm thinking it might be the same person. 

I played a bit more, then my Lawrence Welk "Goodnight!" sign-off tune, then I was packing up and an Asian office-worker type guy came up. "Are you packing up?" he asked. "Yes I'm packing up". "Well can you play 'Fly Me To The Moon'? Something cheerful?" I got the horn back out of the case and plugged the mouthpiece in and was ready to say that the song is actually called "In Other Words" but the guy had already dropped a couple dollars in the box and turned to go inside. So I played the tune and gave it some real effort, *then* packed up. I'd made $129 which with the $51 earlier, was $180 for a couple of hours of playing. 

I walked back to the train station to find I had something like 45 minutes until the next train, so I walked out to El Camino Real to get on a #22 bus. I got off at the Santa Clara transit station thinking I could get on the Airport Flyer and not have go to all the way downtown just to get back here. 

But the next #60 wasn't due for ... 45 minutes. Bugger! I had a solution though, I'd just hop on the CalTrain, because the one I didn't want to wait for should be coming through in about 5 minutes. So I checked that and nope ... next train was an hour out. So then I ran back to the bus stop and a #522 came through and I ran and got on it. Funny thing, an Indian guy ran and got on it too, and neither of us were sure if we were on the right bus. I was afraid I might be on the one heading to Palo Alto, which is turned out not to be. The Indian guy however wanted to go to Palo Alto, had run and got on because he was following me, and a friendly gaggle of Indians told him he had to get off and take a #522 from the opposite spot to get to Palo Alto. 

I got off by the SAP Center and walked to my "home" Whole Foods. I got another 4-pack of those little wine bottles, some olives and marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms, and a can of IPA. 

I went upstairs and had my marinated goodies and the IPA, then sat at the bar and got a half-glass of some coffee beer called "Coffee And Cigarettes" which was pretty nice. I was nice to just relax. 

Then I walked over to Diridon, got on a train back here, and walked in. At least it was a matter of disengage mine, put feet in motion, and pretty soon I was back here. I got on Ebay, made things happen, and the numbers are happy.

Got 'em done

 I was up in time to photo 25 items, then pack 8 or so small things (some of them bigger because I was giving the customers some extra things) and got out of here to go to the post office. 

I took along one of those huge plastic containers of cheese balls. I'd found 'em last night and they seemed to be fine, tossed out by a business. I ate some, but they're very unhealthy. So I took them to a place on my rounds where the crows and gulls are very attentive due to someone feeding them, and dumped them out on a strip of sand by the basketball courts that I think is for bocce ball. The crows were like Meh but the gulls congregated pretty quickly. 

I rode up to the post office and did my drop-offs, then locked the bike at H Mart and walked over to Sprouts. I got some sliced "London Broil", a bottle of wine so cheap I'm not sure how good it will be, and a jar of pickle slices. 

When I walked out it was raining but only a little. It stopped as I walked back to H Mart where I bought a cucumber and a big bottle of coffee that was really reasonably priced. 

I picked up a lot of bubble wrap from the laptop repair place and besides that just got back here. Time to list those items! 

I should mention I practiced last night, not long but worked on high notes a lot and wow, I don't know if it's sheer time playing or my abdomen/breathing exercises, but I'm really coming along as far as range goes.

Up at at 'em

 I actually woke up in time to put the smaller, post office, things in a bag and gather up stuff to donate and took off from here at almost 3. 

I stopped in Japantown first for a nice cold can of Doutor coffee with change I had. Then I went to the post office, past St. James Park which is a sea of bums. Dropped off the things and went to the bank to deposit my check, then over to Whole Foods where I had the deli guy slice me some roast beef "a quarter-pound, maybe a bit more" it ended up being almost a half pound. I had about half of that and a "Black Light" beer and put the rest away for later. 

Then I rode down to Walmart and got a lot of things to the tune of $65 or so. I'd gotten cash back at Whole Foods to make it just about $200 out of my check, and now ideally I won't take any more money out of the bank but will go on this and whatever busking money I'm able to come up with. 

After Walmart I rode back and had 45 minutes to put things away and package up one large-ish thing, loaded the bike and trailer up, and rode - taking it easy because the load was heavy - to FedEx and dropped those packages off then picked up packing stuff on my way back. 

I got back in here with a fair load, and fixed up the rest of the roast beef with some horseradish/Kewpie mayo sauce I mixed, cucumber slices, and some pepitas (they're cheap at walmart). And some of my 100ml/200ml wine/Coke drink. Nice dinner and no cooking! 

A parting of ways

 Well, I did it. I told Rinban Sakamoto in an email that I no longer want to be a member of the sangha (community) of the temple. I thanked him for starting the shakuhachi class up again, and mentioned making at least an attempt to be part of the Hawaii club, but that I'd made the mistake of mentioning to one of them at the booth they had set up that I grew up surfing in Hawaii and was met with hostility. 

I said it came down to the BCA (Buddhist Churches of America) and myself having different views on recent geopolitical events. Their attitude is hands-off the Israel vs. Hamas thing, but they've put me on all kinds of mailing lists for pro-Hamas groups (a particularly evil subset of "peace creeps") so it's hands-off except rah-rah for the group that wants to eradicate all Jews. Nice. So Sayonara suckers and So long. 

I somewhat liken this to the Jodo Shinshu attitude in WWII which was neutral except pretty pro-Japanese which was not neutral. They've apologized kinda-sorta since. And I liken my situation to being in the 442nd (Oh wait, I *was* in the 442nd, not during WWII granted, when I was in it was a reserve unit full of sleepy old guys but still...) who decided to not be neutral but to go and put themself on the line for what's right. 

Recent thread on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hawaii/comments/1bi8mtx/who_do_you_consider_a_local/ it's really got me wondering. Never-ever have I had anyone ask me if I'm a Californian (to which question I'd happily say I was born here) or have I been treated any differently based on someone thinking I might be a visitor from another state or country. I've been thinking that things would be hunky dory back in Hawaii because I'd not be on the job market and that's a huge thing in life I'd no longer have to deal with. But there are a ton of other things that would be the same and where being perceived to be an outsider would affect me. Like walking down the street. 

My older sis avoids this by avoiding the public, period. Drives everywhere, only goes to bougie shops and restaurants, will pretty much only associate with people who went to Punahou, that idiotic prep school she went to. 

My youngest sister probably does about the same except for the bougie prep school bit, but since her husband is a police chief, she probably never lets anyone forget that in the same way my older sister will constantly remind you she went to Punahou. 

These are ways to cope, but dammit I *like* being able to go to scroungy local type places and eat at the lunch places the bus drivers do, and so on. And I did when I was there and it was by and large no problem but there was always that factor where you have to be aware of who's around you and will you be waited on at all in this shop, and so on. Plus the violence factor, being of an appearance that it's encouraged for people to blame all their problems on. 

So it's not on a whim that I told Ken I might as well stick it out here for a couple more years. 

I was up in time to pack a bunch of things and get them shipped out, then came back and cooked some curry of a different kind than my usual that I thought might be interesting - the packets are like 4-5 different things. I cooked that with mackerel which I fried - I love the crispy skin. But while it was good it made the place smell fishy plus some smell of the seasonings that .... is not something I want to repeat. 

I packed more things especially two large things plus some smaller ones, got 20 things ready to list and took a computer apart to sell the parts, and finally called it a night. 

 

More stuff!

 I felt like crap most of yesterday but eventually took a package of the Kosher instant noodles I'd bought at Walmart and cooked those up with vegetables and a couple of fried eggs. And I did drink one of the two remaining tetra paks of wine, but by mixing it 100ml of the wine to 200ml of Coke Zero. This resulted in a bit above 4% alcohol and I didn't feel any buzz at all. I read somewhere this is a popular drink in South America. 

I was starting to get going on things when Ken came by. He had a bunch of stuff for me to deal with, and I got my check for this week. He wanted to make sure I didn't deposit it until Thursday and I said of course I'd not, just to recall that bit in Fiddler On The Roof  where they sing about "Tradition!!". I have to deposit my check on Thursday or Friday or who knows what damage I'm doing to the Universe. 

Because I busked on Sunday, I'm able to save over $250 of my last check. When busking is going well, I can save almost all of it. 

So, I had to swap out one of my file cabinets for one Ken brought, but not before cleaning up the top and putting white sign vinyl on the top because the top is rusty. It's not perfect but it was a quick way to have a clean surface on top to put things on, using materials I already had. I put the one I'd swapped out, out front with a FREE sign on it, and also the 2nd file cabinet Ken had brought which was a screamin' piece of junk. 

I found places to put other things, and soaked 93 small tubes in 99% alcohol to get the adhesive off of them, from black tape I'd peeled off of them. It was easy, after a good soak. The thing with tubes is, often any kind of solvent will take the numbers off of them too. But these, Hamamatsu's, didn't have that problem.

Plus I packed a couple of things for antsy customers. 

Once I finally had everything squared away I did some practice, only about half an hour but it seems that being regular matters a lot, as it went quite well.  

I read r/homeless on Reddit daily, and I see people who are just lost. No skills, or skills that no one's hiring for like computer programming and they're over 40. If I were suddenly cut loose I'd get a storage unit right away and a gym membership and probably look at a sleeping situation at Tom's first off, but I'd be able to get right into making the same kind of money I do now, working for Ken, and it'd be more enjoyable too.  Plus I can sure hustle Ebay. 

I was up in time to pack about a dozen things and get out of here, took 'em up to the post office and FedEx, stopped by 99 Ranch for a couple of tea eggs and a sweet potato pastry and ate those, then gathered packing materials on the way back. 

I got back here and parked the trailer and packing stuff, and headed right back out again - it's Tuesday, senior discount day at Ross. I tried on a pair of pants and 2 shirts and bought the pants and one of the shirts. I also got a couple more tetra paks of wine, and odd veggies, there and at H Mart and rode for home - it was not late, something like 20 after 9, which is the same as 20 after midnight anywhere else. 

I drank a liter of wine

 The long and short of it is I drank two of the 500ml tetra paks of wine last night, plus ate the container of hummus with the cheese and olives and extra olive oil and if that weren't enough, had some sardines too. At least they weren't really fishy-tasting ones as they were a can of the skinless boneless ones from Walmart and are pretty bland. But it was a lot of food, plus the tall beer, and then the liter of wine. 

I told myself if I made myself go to bed early in this way I'd get up early and it would be progress toward getting back to a normal daytime schedule. Instead I was still up until something like 3 in the morning, and when I woke up I felt like the food might come up. 

The solution to this is simple: stop drinking wine. And the wine I've been buying isn't even Kosher as that's nearly impossible to find in this town. Since "the fruit of the grape" is important, I can buy Kedem grape juice which Walmart sells. Not only is that Kosher but I believe it's even made in Israel. That's two for the team. 

I feel like I shit a liter, too. When I was last steadily drinking, I was putting away a liter of sake a day, typically. Sake is a sweet white wine and I don't remember anything unusual, shit-wise. But red wine ... all that dark pigment has to go somewhere... 

I've pretty must sat around all day, feeling like shit. I drank a 7-Up and got about halfway through a mug of coffee.

 

Funny

 Last night I took two things apart that will never sell whole, but have a lot of good parts to sell. I put the scrap metal out by the trash enclosure. Then I did things like watch YouTube, drink some wine, and did about an hour's practice. 

I woke up around 4 in the afternoon which is about right. And this is funny: I looked outside and there was the stuff I'd left out, that no one had taken or even touched by the look of it. Oops. If Ken comes by he'll want to look at it, not knowing it's junk to get rid of, and drag half of it back in here. Well, a few minutes later I looked again and it was gone, all of it. Whew! 

I exercised and had coffee and got trash together to toss out etc. and got out of here around 6. After dropping off the trash, I rode down to Walmart and spent $42 of the $45 I had on me. The interesting thing was, they had Vendange red wine tetra paks, the 500ml size for $2. Whoohoo! They had 4 left and I got 'em. 

Then I rode back going along Market and had a look at San Pedro Square. I had my trumpet and tip box with me and the plan was to busk. I'd even practiced "Molly Malone" last night to, in addition to "Danny Boy", give me a whole two "Irish" songs. 

It was a shit show. There was a band coalescing and I saw a large drum. The crowd was assholes and elbows thick. I can't do this, I decided. 

So I rode over to Whole Foods and set up. It was 7:20 when I'd set up and played the first song. Molly Malone, also known as Cockles And Mussels, didn't seem to impress anyone but Danny Boy is always a good one. An hour was really all I could do. It was cold out there and it felt slow but I like to think of busking sessions as practice sessions, and also a new mind-hack, I think of myself as playing for one of those film scores back in the days when they were played by actual musicians. 

I finished with "Goodnight" the old Lawrence Welk sign off, and packed up. I had $3 in my wallet and went in and got a cucumber. I then did a count-up and I'd made an even $50. I felt like a reward so I got some store brand hummus and some olives and feta cheese in oil to dress it up with, and a tall can of beer. 

I rode back through San Pedro Square at about a quarter to 9 and it looked very busk-able, with the loud band gone and some space between the places playing loud canned music, but I was worn out. Time to get home. 

The ride home was very calm. The wind is cold and there were just about no people outside. Of course 9 at night is any other town's midnight. 

Books!

 I woke up pretty early (for me) around noon or 1, probably because I'd had a bottle of wine last night and thus went to bed at a non-crazy time and thus was more inclined to get up at a non-crazy time. 

I was worried Ken would come by and dump a load of things on me and there goes my relaxation time, so  I gathered up all the books that I had slated to sell and took them to the Recycle Book Store and got enough trade credit to get a really neat book on Hebrew calligraphy and Welcome To The Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, one of the very few of his I haven't read in a couple of decades. 

I took the books they didn't want over to the Peace & Freedom Center to put 'em in their little free pantry, and there were some guys with a table out front, and we ended up bullshitting about all kinds of things, including a fairly deep nerding out on boxing with one of the guys. It turns out the 3rd Saturday is a sort of "free sale" around back and I checked it out, eventually. I got one C.S. Lewis book that looked interesting but it's actually "swords and sorcery" BS. One of the guys also had a bunch of books in his car and I got to pick over them and then he put the rest in with my donations so I got some good trade-in stuff like "The Guitar Grimoire". 

I stopped at Nijiya on the way back for eggs and a few other things, including a nice cold can of coffee and a bag of Japanese coated peanuts, the really good ones. I went over to the old hospital building and set up on the steps there, having coffee, delicious fancy coated peanuts, and reading the Vonnegut book. 

This was really nice. Until some fat, aging metalhead set up on one of the benches by the street and played some kind of ... game? show? something obnoxious, and that kind of wrecked it. Also those stone steps didn't help my bony butt much so I packed up and came back here. It was a relief to not see Ken unloading a buttload'o'crap. 

I relaxed and read more of the Vonnegut book. It's pretty good.

Not supposed to be writing this

 I listed 15 things last night, did all kinds of things in preparation for taking sundown today to sundown tomorrow (Saturday) completely off. 

It's worked and it hasn't. I got to the bank on time, my calculations and theirs agreed to the penny. And I'd dropped off trash and a bag full of donations on the way. 

Now I could breathe a little as I didn't have to be anywhere until 7. I had some meatballs and asparagus with fizzy water at Whole Foods and then walked up to TAP Plastics to buy some small zipper bags for the shop, then went to the Recycle Book Store and had a good ol' browse. There are a couple of books I want there but I want to hold off until I can turn in some books for trade credit. 

I walked back to Whole Foods and got things for my relaxing time and went to the Friday night thing again. This time no Beatles music but neat music all the same. And the food after was good - they had really good hummus. 

During the thing, I'd gotten a phone call and I just pulled out my phone long enough to open it, shut it, and put it back in my pocket. When I was all done with everything, the thing and the eating and a bit of schmoozing, I walked out to my bike and just as I'd suspected, the call was from Ken. I've tried a couple of times calling him back with no answer so I'm not sure if he's at the storage unit loading up on stuff and headed here next, or headed here tomorrow, or what. 

Up late again

 After Ken coming by and my getting my pay check, I did things like cook some dinner and eat, get a batch of things ready to list on Ebay, and finished a load of laundry. 

I also practiced, not for long, about 1/2 hour. From shakuhachi playing I learned that being relaxed is very important, and I'm finding that by relaxing I can get those high notes right out. There was also a thing on NPR about stuttering, and it make me think about how that might be a related thing, tensing up too much. 

I was up too late to get to the bank but packed some things and took them to the post office then took Oakland Road all the way downtown where I got bubble mailers at the Amazon place and then rode down to Walmart. 

It was gusty and while not really cold, not very pleasant out there. It's a reminder that it's not busking season yet. Busking season is basically April 1 to October 1. And there's December if one wants to play Xmas carols. 

There were zombies *everywhere*. On bikes, off of bikes, drugged-out and sprawling all over the front of the 7-11 across from the Amazon place and at the fronts of the apartments along there. On the road, off the road, staggering out into the road, you name it. 

I got down to Walmart and got more diet 7-Up and Coke Zero so I'd not have to worry about it on the weekend. And a few other things. I had *just* enough money and only had to take 15c out of my change bag. I even got 500ml of wine for tomorrow night.

I rode back to what used to be TAK Market and got a tall can of beer (about 600ml) to have with dinner. That used up the ton of nickels and dimes I had which is good. 

Up late

 I was up around 5:15. I had time to pack one thing that had sold, and since the fuse holder looked gronked, or the cap anyway, I took al 6 or 7 of the same type (but they all have tiny differences!) fuse caps and included them and told the customer about it. 

I slept this late because I was up into the morning practicing. It went fairly well.

For some reason it was warm outside! So despite my fresh hair cut I didn't even wear a hat. I got stuff over to the post office (3 small things) and the two larger things to FedEx. I also got a bottle of coffee in H Mart because I hadn't had any yet, some tofu for later, and a cucumber. 

I went to the "Krispy" chicken place where I used to get 2 thighs to go pretty much every Wednesday. It always cost me about $6.50. Now it's almost $9, you don't get any napkins, there's some kind of gunk put on the biscuit that purports to be honey but sorry, honey isn't orange and doesn't look like that, and one of the pieces of chicken was a bit undercooked. So my weekly place will become more like once a year, I think. 

I got a good load of packing stuff and tons of six-packs of those little bottles of Purell hand sanitizer at the EMT place, and got back in here. Got the place all cleaned up so even if Ken were to surprise me by coming by early, the place is clean. 

Ken actually showed up quite a bit late but he did show up and I got my check. He might show up on Saturday with a lot of stuff for me to deal with too. 

 

Wintry Tuesday

 I was up around 1.  I didn't do anything last night because after all the riding around and getting rained on a bit and not having eaten all day (and it was an honest half-hour in line at Walmart), there were three things I'd bought at Walmart that factor in here. 

One was a "Black Box" tetrapak of wine, 500ml, and one was another brand tetrapak, another 500ml, and a can, just like soda is sold in but a can, of wine also. 350ml I think. Plus in line I'd grabbed a couple of beef sticks. 

The plan had been to sit and relax, eating the beef sticks and drinking the soda can of not-soda in Japantown. I like to sit on this one long bench by the "spike" and just relax, with some coffee or something, and enjoy not being at work, not being at home, not actively shopping. This used to be called having a "third place", a thing that's almost completely unknown here. 

Traditional third places are generally social places too, but socializing is a real no-no here. If you go to a coffee shop and talk with someone you didn't come in with, or  - the horror! - get out a chess set, you will be told on no uncertain terms to leave. Again, "You're not here to make friends, you're here to work". 

Well, the big drops of rain falling on me nixed that plan, so once  I got back in here I got out the can and the beef sticks and enjoyed them here and then got into the "salmon candy" I'd also bought and one of the tetrapaks and then, by golly, the other one. In the end I'd drank all the wine and went right to bed which answers why I was up early (for me) because I'd gone to bed early (for me). 

At least the wine this time around wasn't sweet, so I felt blah but not as bad as after all the sugary wine. I had coffee and some nuts and tried to get feeling normal and eventually got around to packing 20 things and got up to the post office and FedEx, and collecting shipping materials on the way back. 

On my way back I realized it's Tuesday and that's when I get the senior discount at Ross. So I got back here and unloaded and went right back up to H Mart to lock the bike, and realized I was feeling better enough that I really had to eat something. 

By now it was about 7:30 so the hot things in the back corner of H Mart were half-price and I got some beef ribs and rice and pickled daikon slices for $4-something and ate that sitting out front. Yum! 

Then I walked over to Ross, picked out some pants and a shirt I was interested in, then realized I'd better go to Sprouts before they close so I hung my finds up where I'd found them and went over to Sprouts and got some jalepeno peppers and a cucumber, and was able to use the self checkout OK even though the peppers had no code so I had to key in the name of them. 

I also checked out the wine selection there and still can't find anything Kosher and the can and tetrapak situation is pretty limited too. Walmart's actually better. I didn't buy any. The wines there are serviceable, though, and I can always dive in there on a Friday afternoon and get what I want for my nice Friday dinner. 

I went back to Ross and ended up getting a shirt so I guess that's something. 

Then I came back here, got 15 things ready and listed them, put a big backlog of things away, packed everything that had sold that I hadn't packed already, and even did a haircut. 

Election results are in, and in some states significant numbers of Democrats voted something called "Uncommitted". Translation: Biden's not pro-Hamas. States with large numbers of "uncommitted" voters are places where the stupidity is like pea soup fog, like Southern states, states that remember they were set up as whites-only homelands like Washington, and, the state with the highest percentage ... Hawaii. 

Hawaii's had a Christian problem like they have a stray-cat problem: Far, far too many of them. In a lot of ways it's like the South - ignorant and hateful. One of my younger sisters got sucked into that cult, and was taught early on to hate Jews. They have a ton of trumptards too. And you can't swing a cat without hitting a member of some loony cult or another. 

But to have 30% of Hawaii Democrats vote "uncommitted" by which they mean, "We don't care if Trump is elected and imprisons or deports most of us for having brown skin, we've decided we hate Biden because he doesn't share our hate of Da Jooooooooz!"

I'm really beginning to wonder just how stupid that place is. They've decided to base the whole economy on tourism, and are almost entirely depending on importation for their food. Many decades ago, they actually had local dairies, local taro and rice fields, and even more recently, a shrimp farming industry and locally grown corn, and things like that. All gone now. Those Kahuku shrimp trucks are all selling shrimp grown in Thailand or somewhere. 

So they've based the whole economy on tourism, and the result is over-tourism. Apparently the North Shore is one big traffic jam and people talk about it taking an hour to get from Haleiwa to Sunset. It's shit like this that makes me wonder if I went back, if I'd just end up moping in my room all the time.

 

It's possible to spend $85 at Walmart

 Today I woke up too late to go out and do much of anything. So I decided to go out and do the big Walmart shopping trip I'd have done yesterday. 

I got out of here around 6? 7? and dropped off trash, picked up three copies of a Socialist magazine called "Monthly Review" at one of the little free libraries, and stopped at the Amazon place for bubble mailers. 

Then I rode down to Walmart, and bought ... all kinds'a stuff. I had $75 cash on me so I figured I'd be all right. Although it was by now about 9 at night, it was "busy" because there were only a couple of checkouts open. 

I got in an enjoyable conversation with a huge lady in a Walmart scooty-puff, which had the weird habit of not liking to back up. She had to go forward, then maybe the thing would back up. 

Nevertheless, she knew every podunk storefront from Morgan Hill through San Martin to good old Gilroy, and we had great fun talking about chickens, horses, coyotes, skunks, possums, and various and sundry critters. I got to see a photo on her phone of a magnificent rooster with a white tail, and hear all about his quirks and mannerisms. And she did not flinch at my side of the story, which involved solving the problem of too many adolescent roosters fighting at the Gilroy place, of potting them with a .22 and burying them under apple trees. 

It helped pass the time, we both remarked. And  I was wished well, as I'd helped her put her things on the belt at the checkout, saying something like, "We younger folks are a resource, it's what we're here to do!". 

When I finally got checked out, it was about $85 and I had about $75 on me, so it went on the card. 

I rode out of there and before I got to downtown proper it started to rain and big drops too. So  I rode to the light rail station and took the light rail up to Karina station, and rode back from there. It hadn't rained too much but for all I know it might have poured and I wanted to avoid the gunkiness. 

Predictably

 Well, I drank the wine last night and predictably I have an awful headache now. Sweet wine, how could that ever have happened? 

So much for my plans. Last night someone recommended I try playing at the Campbell Whole Foods and that seemed like a good idea, so the plan would have been to ride down there and try it out, and go by Walmart on the way back for my "weekly Wal" stuff. Instead I'm pinned down by this headache. 

I think it's a good idea to have a wine opener around, but I'm only going to obtain wine right before Friday night, and only one bottle or even one of those half-size bottles they sell at Whole Foods or one of those 3/4 size tetra-pak things from Sprouts. I'd like to get Kosher wine to "support the cause" but it's going to take some time to figure out a brand and which store to get it from. 

As for the weirdos last night, that was due to playing so late. 9PM being the equivalent in this town of midnight, 10PM being like 1 in the morning. At Whole Foods the crowd had *really* gone down so there was hardly anyone around - those are conditions weirdos like to operate in. If there's a good crowd, someone would have dove in to chase him off. 

In fact, a couple of years ago something like that happened. A weakness of my playing location at the downtown Whole Foods is that my back is to the sidewalk which means someone can sneak up on me. Usually it's no problem, but that one time there was a sudden flurry of motion and someone walking off and a couple others who seemed to have closed in to protect me, and then, their job done, moved away and acted like it was nothing. I think someone had been trying to pick my pocket, or was making a move to grab my tip box, or something. And the other people saw this and prevented it. 

A golden rule of busking is to have a wall or something behind you. Sans that, you have to at least have a good awareness of what's going on around you. And to still be able to concentrate on the music. That's what happened with that cello player who got whacked on the head with a metal Thermos or something but that zombess. Poor guy was doing something like paying his way through medical school by playing the cello and last I read about it, it's spooked him out of busking. 

Some people will even hire some "muscle" which makes sense if they're high earners. I saw this in Mountain View long before our present chaotic age. Before covid, before the crash of 08. It was a guy who told fortunes or something, with a little table with two candles. He had a big guy whose job was to provide security. 

Who knows how much money Mr. Fortune Teller was making, and Mountain View is not problem-free. It's infested with Christians for instance, who are a huge pain in the ass, standing in front of buskers and intercepting their tips, handing out fake $100 bills with their culty little messages on them. I'd even regaled someone with my story about how I'd chased one of them off. The Christian was attracted by my playing Amazing Grace, and had come to stand right in front of me and bother me, so I'd started "jazzing it up" making it sound raunchier and raunchier, and the Christian had said something like "Don't do that..." and actually seemed to be in pain, and left, and didn't come back. 

Like the old Chinese superstition where you put X-rated pictures in the kitchen because the Fire God is a prude, "Jazzing up" Christian songs can be a handy thing to know about. 

Excellent Reddit discussion bagging on San Jose here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SanJose/comments/1bamakn/whats_your_unpopular_opinion_that_people_seem_to/

I'm wondering if this area is simply part of the continuum that blends in with the Pacific Northwest, a notably lonely, dour, place. Something like the "Seattle Freeze" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze

In any case, the overwhelming ethos here is "You're not here to make friends, you're here to work." I do *not* want to grow old, or older anyway, here. 

Yet I'm not convinced going back to Hawaii is the best plan. I'd go back and visit my old beaches and my old schools and pick some shells and fish a bit, and then I'd find myself moping in my room with a little muffin fan blowing on me to deal with the heat and humidity, and realize I'm right back in the social order I grew up in - one where I'm near the bottom. No amount of attending the Buddhist temple is going to make me Asian. I may not be white enough for the whites here on the mainland but I'm too white to ever be more than just tolerated in Hawaii. 

There, just as much as here, race. is. everything. Andy Bumatai, no part Hawaiian at all, actually white/Filipino and born in Germany, because of his brown skin was able to blend right in and be a beloved personality in Hawaii. No white entertainer/character has been able to be accepted at the level Andy was, because of the color of their skin. Perpetual outsiders. 

It's a nice place, and far more cultured than here, to be sure. And at least the weather isn't actively trying to kill a person for parts of the year. I'm just not sure it's the best I can do. 

By the time my headache was down enough for me to feel like doing anything, it was too late to go out anywhere. So I cooked a nice beef curry and after eating, listed 15 things I'd prepared yesterday. 

A very mixed day

 On Friday I got sent off a big box and did that early enough to get back here a bit before 4. I also happened to time it right to meet up with my favorite food truck where I got three things that were either thick fish sticks or small fish "filets", breaded, for $3 and the lady even gave me a 2nd tartar sauce when she saw I was running out (as is required, I ate standing by my bike and using the large box as a table, right by her truck). 

Then I gathered up the smaller things and took them with me, donated a bunch of things at the Japantown little free library, dropped off the packages, deposited my pay check, went to Whole Foods and bought things, getting cash back to make it come out to $200 taken out and then $200 will stay in the bank. 

I had some hummus and olives and stuff, the ol' Mediterranean thing, then went to a place to do a thing where there was good food and Beatles music and learned of a  new electronics place from one guy and told another guy about it, and in general did something that's really, really hard to do here: Socialize. 

Then I rode back here. On my way out, I'd gone through San Pedro Square because I like to feel the place out when I can, and there was a guy wandering around with an instrument case in his hand. I guessed a tenor trombone, and he said indeed it was, and he was supposed to meet someone there to do street music with. I said the Old Spaghetti Factory was the traditional place, that I'd had less luck in other spots there so the Old Spag is really the place. 

I hope he met up with his friend and played a good set and made good money because buskers are just about extinct here. 

Back here, I ate food I'd arranged to not have to cook, drank some wine, watched some historical-interest videos, drank more wine, and went to bed. 

I woke up today and kept the damn computer turned off, and read books. One, an absolutely amazing book about racism against Mexicans in the US, written by a guy who, if his mother hadn't had ice cream already in the fridge, would likely have died in the San Ysidro McDonald's shooting. Incredible book. I'm going to be proud to trade that in to the Recycle Book Store for used book trade credit. And a Nabokov book about a guy who's in the future and people have developed "rays" to be able to tell what each other are thinking, or feeling, or all about to some extent, and he doesn't have the ability to do that so they're gonna behead him, except in the end everything's a Potemkin prison and he walks off. And a got a bit more into my book about Miles Davis by Bill Cole. 

Come around 6:30 in the evening, and it was possible Ken might come by with tons of stuff for me to deal with. So I oiled the bike chain and got trash together to get rid of and my tip box and the trumpet in its gig bag and got out of here at almost 7. 

I dropped off the trash in a can and went over to Whole Foods. I had to eat something and use the loo. The old guy with his table of stuff was there, and a guy leaning against one of the lamp posts who was bothering people for money. He tried bothering me and I said something like, "I'm OK, really; I don't need money - I just got paid. But thanks for asking!". Like he was offering to give *me* money. 

I went in and got a dollop of hummus and a bunch of Kalamata olives and feta cheese and ate that. Hummus isn't very "keto" but the olives and cheese are, and I drank some black coffee I'd brewed at home because it runs circles around the stuff from stores and it's a ton cheaper. 

Now I wanted to go down to BevMo in Willow Glen because it turns out *no one* sells corkscrews. Not Whole Foods, not H Mart, not HomeGoods, no one. Only a specialized place like BevMo could be counted on to have them. It was now 8 and I figured it would take an hour to ride down, shop, and ride back. 

So I rode down, discovered they have the kind of corkscrew I wanted right at the checkout which was neat, and asked about Kosher wine. That, they have, as long as you want Manischewitz. And another one that looked like it might be a bit better. I got that, and the opener, and got out of there. 

I got back to Whole Foods and since the place had been buzzing when I'd left, I did my shopping (a cucumber and a jar of herring in dill sauce, which Kenny "let me try" by which he means he made it free) and I set up to play. It was just before 9.

Man I'm rusty! But I played along and there are improvements; a bit more endurance and high notes a bit easier. A guy gave me a $5 right away which was nice and then it was slow because it was most certainly *not* buzzing. 

Presently a guy came up and stood close, I mean crammed-onto-a-very-full-bus close. He said he was "witnessing" ... my playing? I was playing Paper Moon and he wanted to know if I could play Blue Skies so I had a try at that and it went pretty well, with this guy crammed close beside me. Then he put his hand on my back by way of emphasizing something he was saying and that was it. I packed up to do and pointed out to him that people who appreciate my playing simply say so, or drop a tip, or both, *not* what he's doing and I packed up. He walked off into the parking lot very disgruntled and I got the bike loaded up and unlocked as quickly as I could without letting my anger slow me down, and got the fuck out of there. 

Now, as is pretty obvious, this was a white guy. And "witnessing" is something Christian white guys say. As if I couldn't hate white Christians any more.  

I rode up Santa Clara street, hoping the weirdo hadn't gotten in his car and was now hunting me down. I got on down the road, and cut across and dove into San Pedro Square and set up in front of the Old Spag very quickly. There were quite a few people around, so it might turn out OK. 

Well, I got tips. Even the flower seller put in a tip, and of a couple of pretty "hip" looking Black guys, one gave me a tip which I took as a real compliment. And I had a tall young guy come up and drop in a $5 I think, and talked about how he's played sax so he knows how hard it is, and we got talking about saxes, and I raved about the baritone sax solo in Simon & Garfunkel's Why Don't You Write Me, and I told him about Cafe Stritch and its history and what they're up to lately. It was a great little bit of camaraderie and the guy didn't know it but he really made my night. 

I had a family stop by because I was playing Haktivah, and the little old lady of the group said "It's the national anthem" and I said, "Of Israel, yes!" and she said "There's another one....." and I played a bit of Hava Nagila which is another song I'm working on. The little old lady was going to tip but saw one of the guys was getting money out so she let him do it - $2 I think. Another of the guys - standing close beside me although not as bad as that one guy, said, "Are you Jewish?" and I said, "I don't know!" and tried to come up with something sensible about Lithuania and everyone who could give me an answer being gone. "I admire 'the Jewish people'" or "I support" some rot like that, said the guy. O ... K ... 

I was going to play another 10 minutes, I figured, when a short, smelly, white guy came up and gushed over my "beautiful bugle" and seemed like he was going to hang around, a thing I did *not* need so I said something about how I had to go, had to go play a set at Cafe Stritch, and this while practically throwing the trumpet into the gig bag and the mouthpiece into its little pouch and into the top pocket on the gig bag. The bum walked off. I'd had enough - fuck this. 

Needless to say I didn't count the money; just folded up the tip box with the money in it and stuffed that into a bike saddlebag. I can set up quick and pack up even quicker. 

I rode home and stopped at what used to be the TAK Market for a bottle of non-Kosher wine, and got back here. Ken had not been by and there was not a mountain of stuff to deal with - whew! 

I wrote things down in my busking diary and counted up. I'd made $5 at Whole Foods and $20 at the Old Spag. So $25 for a bit less than an hour's playing, with less than ideal conditions due to it being late, lots of weirdos, etc. I think I made more than I spent today so that's pretty good. 

And I had my shiny new wine opener. Turns out the "Barefoot" wine I got is screw-top, and the fancy Kosher wine was too. And tastes like essence of sweet. I have some research to do... 

In other news, Joe Biden has .... decided to install a port on the shore of Gaza. This is so aid can be delivered by ship and is a pretty interesting and amazing development. Since Israel decided to let Gaza be it's own country, they can't say boo about it. I see this as a good thing because Hamas will happily let Gazans starve to death by the hundreds of thousands, and when Israel tries to send aid, it's used as cover to get terrorists through for more attacks. 

Other Arab nations should be pitching in to help their fellow Arabs but we all know how empty their words are. So the Americans will help and I see this as a good thing because we don't get Gazans starving in hundreds of thousands, and also I'm hoping it means lots of contact between Americans and Gazans. This means a lot of Gazans will decide Screw Hamas telling me to stay here, here's a country full of some pretty nice people that's pretty open to immigration, and they're pretty happy to help me go to their country, or at least *some* other country, so now there are lots of possibilities; it's not just the Hamas way or death. 

People who squawk about stuff like this area idiots. The US uses up this much energy and time doing their regular training. Older supplies including munitions have to get "cycled out" no matter what, which is why it's cheaper than cheap for us to give stuff to the Ukrainians. It's cheaper than cheap to give lots of MRE's to the Gazans because they'll have to be cycled out anyway in 1-5 years. 

Somehow the squawkers won't say a peep about the Berlin Airlift because that was helping Germans, a certain percentage of whom were unreconstructed Nazis. That was all well and fine. 

The powers-that-be yearn for the fasces

 I actually practiced before bed last night, it was kind of meh. 

I was up in time to gather up all the small stuff and take it to the post office, then go to 99 Ranch for a few things, then parked at H Mart and walked over to Ross where I found a shirt (tried on 3) and Sprouts for some things, then walked back to H Mart where I got some cooked beef on sale and a cucumber, for a hurried dinner as Ken's planned to come over tonight. 

I got back and well, I sure can't hear my President's state of the union speech but they're sure giving the Fascist side's counter-speech plenty of airtime. All that was missing was the Horst Wessel song and something about the blood flag. 

NPR is part of the powers-that-be, and they're the American version of "Left" which means, they're liberal, not actual left. 

Liberal: noun; one who values calm over justice. Example: In Germany 1933-1945, the German liberals are those who ignored the stench of the death camps, would not break the law to help anyone. "Go Along And Get Along" is the Liberal motto. And if the nice officer says your Black neighbors must be evicted and lynched, it's So long, it's been nice knowing you, do you get a last meal? Here's some cheesecake. And they'll have a nice fruit basket with, if fashion recommends, a little Fascist flag stuck in it for the new neighbors. 

Super ... Wednesday?

 I was up in time to pack a good load of things, and as long as it was warm, the heat island effect seemed to be keeping what looked like some heavy duty thunder storms away from the city here. 

So I left at 4, got some packing stuff on the way back, and it was just starting to rain on me when I got back. 

Ken came by early, while I was still finishing a load of laundry. He forgot his check book but brought by the new printer we really needed. He brought in the box containing it and we settled in to our usual bullshit session and eventually he said I should check out the printer to make sure it works OK. So I got it all hooked up and fiddled around a bit to get it and the computer talking and it works great. Whew! 

Super Tuesday

 So-called. There's a bit about the returns on the radio but probably nothing definite for a week. 

I packed 5-6 large things and got them over to FedEx, and on the ride realized it's Tuesday, when as a senior I get a 10% discount at Ross so I got back to the shop as quick as I could, only stopping one place to pick up a big box and some bubble wrap, double-checked the closing times of places, and leaving the trailer here, got back over to H Mart to lock the bike and walked over to Ross where I found a couple pairs of pants and a T-shirt, and went over to Sprouts for some things, got some diet Pepsi and a couple bottles of coffee on sale at H Mart, and got back here. 

Dinner was steamed asparagus (had bought a bit package of it on sale) with beef on top and a couple fried eggs on top of that. 

My Politics, In A Mere Few Thousand Words

 https://archive.ph/3BfGK

Hopefully this link works for a while. This sums it up completely. 

Law School Beer & Pizza Bullshit Session

 It's prime law school beer and pizza bullshit session material. What if, say, Charles Manson was written in in each state, in numbers large enough to win? Would the US be obligated to make him President? 

This is the situation with Diaper Don right now. A couple-few states have tried to take him off of their ballots on the grounds (true) that he's an insurrectionist, and the heavily Nazi supreme court has said No, you have to have him on your ballot. 

Meanwhile the syphilis is rotting his brain even worse and whoever his counterpart to Hitler's Dr. Morell is, hasn't been able to keep him together very well. 

I got up - at a bit after 3 in the afternoon - and packed 15 small things I'd not need the trailer for, and filled out my ballot and sent that in too. I should have done that last week. 

I also watched the 2nd half of Saving Private Ryan and practiced, so it was more than an hour of practice. 

The original plan had been to pack a load last night, take it to the post office first thing, and get back in time to pack some large things and take that 2nd load to FedEx. That was before Ken came by and dumped a lot of stuff on me and I ended up staying up all night taking some of the things apart, then finished the load of laundry I had soaking. Then practiced etc. 

I guess it will be all about the election on the radio tomorrow. 

Lots of rain, lots of work

 There's been a lot of rain lately and I've been busy too. Lots of work. 

Through all this, I'm trying to practice and the half-note downward bends (thank you, Adam Rapa!) and the breathing exercises (thank you, Herbert L. Clarke!) I think have been having a good effect. I feel now like high C is starting to not just be a note I can reach but one that's routine. 

I have not been putting in the hours of practice I should, though. If I'm going to go out and busk for two hours, I need to practice for that long and I haven't been. That's what it will take to solidify my new advances in technique. 

One thing I can do is busk in one place for an hour and then take a bus or bike or train ride to somewhere else, and busk there for an hour. Thus getting in two hours but not doing a 2-hour session. 

It's all kind of academic as it's not busking season yet and it's still too cold and rainy and windy to be really busker-friendly.