I woke up around 1 in the afternoon so that's progress. Ken came by last night and I got my pay check, and we talked about things. No more talk about trying to buy a building so that's good. He talked, among other things, about a particular type of photomultiplier tube and I found a great catalog/manual about them so I sent the link to his email. I also reminded him of my idea of his wife, to save carrying a vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs, having two vacuum cleaners, an upstairs one and a downstairs one. "Oh, I forgot." So after he left I sent an email about that, too.
If I can steer Ken toward making his house more livable for his wife and for his family in general, I can keep him off of the idea of buying a building.
Then I made matzo ball soup from the box I'd bought at Walmart weeks ago. It was meh.
On r/hawaii on Reddit, there's a wonderful discussion that really reminds me of the place. A guy walked his dog in his neighborhood, which is full of houses with "fenced yards and mean dogs". There are what they're all calling "spiky ball things" (come on people, they're kukus) growing from the patches of grass and growing so enthusiastically that the sidewalk is blocked and the burrs are sticking to the dog's coat etc.
So this person proposes trimming these weeds down, and then it comes down to, "Are you haole?" Because this determines whether the guy can get away with doing this good deed. The guy admits that he is, indeed, haole and that if he gets his ass kicked and weed trimmer stolen it will be his own fault. For haole'ing in a public place or some shit.
Then at the end the conversation gets even more interesting. A guy in New Zealand pipes up and said things have gotten *really* hostile in New Zealand - not sure if anti-white anger or just anger in general. Maybe the Westons, whom I remember as being lovely people, are outliers and not representative of the kind of people I'd be around if by some miracle I was able to make my way to NZ.
Little things like this are why I read those Reddit forums. It's little things like this that tell a lot about a place. From what I've read, I can't for the life of me imagine someone in Israel getting in trouble for trimming weeds.
A similar experience I had years ago was when I lived in a small mobil home park in Costa Mesa. The red curb was barely red any more so I asked the manager if he had any red curb paint and he did, and I painted the curb around my place and then just kind of kept going, doing my next door neighbors' place too. They, the Butlers, who were great people and became good friends, appreciated it.
I think the mainland has spoiled me. Going back to Hawaii would mean stepping down several rungs on the social ladder.
I packed 8 things that needed to go out today or tomorrow, and loaded up two bags of books for the used book store. And the 8 things of course.
I left at 3:30 instead of my usual 4, dropped off trash at one of my favorite sneaky cans, then went to the post office where I inhaled some junk from those trees we have here and had a major coughing fit, got out the Listerine and gargled and spat and sounded horrible. I went in and dropped off the packages, and came out to realize I hadn't locked the bike. Not that anyone wanted to be anywhere near there with me sounding like I was gonna cough up a lung.
Next was the bank, deposited my check and had pleasant chit-chat, and explained the mask I was now wearing (I keep an emergency mask in the bike bag at all times) and we wished each other a good weekend. The IRS hasn't cashed my check yet so it's hard to tell if the numbers are right or not. But I saved $200 of my last pay check and am on track to save $200 of this one, and even after the IRS cashes the check my account will be north of 5 grand.
Back in the 80s I always felt OK if I had $500 in my account, because that was 3 months' rent and a bit more. Now that $500 is $5000 I guess. Save, save, save your money.
The bank done with, I went over to the used book store and handed my books in, and looked in the Jewish section. I found Tenement Songs, The Popular Music Of The Jewish Immigrants by Mark Slobin for $19.95 and figured I ought to get at least that in trade. I got $17-odd, and pulled a $5 out of my wallet to cover the rest. Save save save your money... I was going to use that $5 to buy soda yesterday, but used change instead. So I was able to whip out that $5 and said to the gal, "This is why I save, save, save my money".
This book looks like a good one to take along to the Jewish Music class I've signed up for, plus it probably covers the kind of music my mother might have played as an act with her younger sister, my Aunt. They played in an "Odeon" theater and played accordions. Mom didn't want to do the act any more when she began to "develop" so I'm gonna say she probably did this act in the middle-later 1940s. I'm astonished that Mom did something that cool and never told us kids. It was my aunt, her sister, I heard about it from.
I took the books they didn't want with me to Whole Foods where I got what was probably a prototypical old-folks'-home meal. Fish, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and a nice mild Stella Artois to wash it down with.
After that it was off to Walmart. I spent about $60 there. I also bought a boonie hat style hat at Big-5. All they had were either Medium-Large or Large etc. They had a looser fit than I wanted, then I found one that fits good and tight and the inner lining is flowers which I don't mind a bit as I'll be the only one who sees them.
It took some logistics to get the bike loaded and to carry the hat, I wore it. This ... was interesting. I had cars treating me with a lot less respect than normal. I think that wearing dark clothes, with a light colored hat, and on a bicycle with bags on the handlebars, they saw a "Mexican". I normally ride hatless, and at one tricky place, where Brokaw goes under the freeway, I turn my head frequently to look at the cars and they're very respectful when I do this. I've thought it's because they're seeing a human face, but now I'm thinking it's so they see that I'm white or at least one of the lighter-skinned Hispanics and thus a "good one". I took the hat off before I got very far from Walmart; who needs that crap?
I picked up a few books on the way home and some bubble mailers at the Amazon place, so the bike was really loaded when I got back here.
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