And I'm even factoring in the "dirty" phone call I got when I was a kid when we lived in Pupukea. The connection was bad and I kept saying "What?" and only after I hung up did I realize that it was a "perverted" phone call.
But this one was stranger. I was actually half-awake around 8AM, and at 8:30 I got a call from a lady who's a traffic investigator in Fountain Valley. She said my name came up connected with a vehicle I've never owned, she mentioned street names and I blurted out, "Boy do those streets bring back memories" but said I've been here in San Jose for years, don't drive a car but have gotten around by bike for years, etc. She even mentioned another last name, which she said was "like" mine, but it's really not - it starts with Q and mine with C. I was very cheerful on this call because the whole thing was so silly. The lady seemed very satisfied that I had not, on Sunday, crashed a Ford Escape into someone in the fine town of Fountain Valley.
There are two possible things: The call's real, in which case I have to wonder how in the world my name and phone number would have come up in this case. Or, it's a private investigator trying to find me because one of my family members is looking for me - in which case they have.
Another weird thing happened last night. I was watching YouTube and I clicked the YouTube logo to go back to whatever the algorithm wanted to serve up to me to find a different video to watch, and my computer went blank, dark screen. I unplugged it to make it fully reset and went to bed.
When I got up this morning, I turned on the radio and KQED is having a hard time with their fundraiser. So I got the computer booted up in time to give them a donation of $60 and that's tripled due to some rich benefactor. So I'm finally paying my fair share for the sound track around here.
I know my busking tips are down, and as I said to the checker who complimented my playing at Whole Foods, the economy isn't bad right now, it's improved quite a bit, but people *think* it's bad. Inflation's down, pay's up, there have been a lot of tech layoffs but in general it's not really bad at all. Store owners tell me shoplifting is up, but to them maybe, shoplifting is always up.
I was thinking, though, that if this computer starts failing, or had failed, I'd better get down to the "fix laptop" place downtown right away. I'm dead in the water without a computer. When I was thinking of bailing to Hawaii in September, I asked Ken if, if this computer died, he could provide me with one. But now that I'm "signed up" for 2-3 more years here, if my computer goes kaput I'll just go over to Fix Laptop and get a new (used) Dell. I'm a big Dell loyalist.
I'm surprised I'm increasing my bank account by about $113 this week. The Israel '76 thing cost me $20 and I spent another $20 on the Bring Them Home dog tags thing. I just sent KQED $60. Sending the wonky shofar back cost me $24. And, sadly, I'm sure I'm spending too much on wine. At least on this last I'm going to change from Cabernet Sauvignon to Chardonnay. And tapering down; it's just not worth it.
And I am happy that I have "people" now. If Trump wins the election, it's going to get scary. As I understand it, I have to go through my conversion and then live an observant life for a year more, and then there's the process of getting my papers in order to go to Israel. But at least I'm part of a community here.
If things get dicey, I'm pretty sure my new community will have my back, as I will have theirs. I have been very quiet about what I bring to the table. My sports accomplishments, my survivalist skills, the fact that there will be at least one new ba'al tekiah in the community, and if I can get the other trumpet player on board, we'll have two. The fact that I am very serious about going to Israel to retire, am learning Hebrew, and that I don't think there's anything a kibbutz could call on me to do that would phase me.
News on the radio: In Germany, politicians are getting beaten up in the street. Greens, although the AFD folks (modern Nazis) are getting some punches too. When I was in Munich in the 90s, there was an election coming up and there were tables near my hotel, and I got a neat sticker from the Greens. No one was punching anyone.
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