I actually got paid

 I actually got paid last night. Ken came by at the usual time like nothing's been out of order at all, I showed him my accounting showing he owed me $1800, he checked against the stubs in his checkbook and agreed, and he wrote the check. He also brought some things to list, and I just finished listing today's batch of things now. 

We also talked about science-y things as usual but also, surprisingly, the Bracero program of the 1940s - 1960s. Ken used to be pretty progressive, worked for the McGovern campaign, etc. I pulled up the Wikipedia page on the Bracero program and showed how the program gave immigrants far more rights than they have now, and that's why it hasn't been re-enacted. Braceros had basic workers' rights, and the big capitalists want slaves who, if one dies they can just bury them or dump the body somewhere and go on. This is why there are stories now of 11-year-olds losing arms or dying in food processing plants now. 

Other than that nothing so unusual. I'd finished and hung up a load of laundry before Ken came, and it's toasty dry now. The wall plate has one coat of paint on the front and since I can only re-coat every 48 hours I'll put more coats of paint on every other day. It will take all of 5 minutes to actually install the thing, and it will be installed when Ken comes by next week. 

The shiitake mushrooms were all nice and dry and I put those in a jar before hanging the laundry up. I guess I have been kind of busy. Dinner was just cheese and olives and some Romaine lettuce courtesy of the veggie dumpster. 

I'd even been up to see the dumpster in the parking lot get emptied and decided to be daring and tossed a bag of trash, two boxes of junk, and the leftover parts from the microwave oven I took apart in there. And sure enough, after toss that last thing, here came a damn zombie, shuffling toward me, attracted by movement and the chance of some nice yummy brains no doubt. I exclaimed "Zombie!" and got the hell back in here and locked up. The zombie, interestingly, turned around and shuffled off the other way, back toward "Crack Alley", my pet name for Rogers Avenue around the cement plant and lunch truck place. 

I woke up, I think, around 8 and then again at 11. 

I had my usual cup of Elite instant coffee with cream, packed one more small thing that had sold last night, listed 11 things, and got out of here a bit past 3. After dumping some trash, I went to the post office and mailed the two small things, then went to the bank and deposited the $1800 check and my accounting and theirs agreed to the penny. I puzzled over how I could have gotten off by $1100 or so and the teller looked in the system and didn't see anything deposited by that amount, going back to February. I said I think I goofed somehow, perhaps writing down the $100 check from Starving Musician as $1100. I still like my idea of taking my $200 weekly "allowance" out right after doing my deposit, because it means any use of my card will be out of the ordinary and easy to trace. 

I went then over to TAP Plastics and got a little bottle with a spray dispenser and some zip ties. The little bottle is to put Bactine in, because the spray top on the bottle it comes in stops working well once the stuff is about half used and it's annoying. 

Then I went to Whole Foods and got fish with mac and cheese, some shredded Parmesan cheese on top, and some feta cheese. And a piece of falafel and a samoza. And an alcohol-free beer. A nice milchig meal because it's still Shavuot. 

Then I rode down to Walmart and got some things, not a lot of things but still a worthwhile trip. I got a lot of kids' books on the way back, and at Nijiya picked up eggs and "seasoned pepper" which is 1/3 salt, 1/3 pepper, and 1/3 MSG. It's tasty! 

I got back here and put things away and caught up on Ebay and kind of zoned out for a while which wasn't the greatest idea because I had to go out again for more shopping. I went back out and it was cool outside so I rode fast to warm up. I parked the bike at H Mart, with a little worry because there was a tall black zombie staggering around and making odd noises and digging in trash cans etc. After locking the bike I walked away, trying to take a route to avoid the zombie. The zombie changed its route to intercept mine so  I gave it a nasty look and made like I was ready to walk *through* it, and it changed course again and I walked over to Sprouts. 

I got roast beef and pickles and a bottle of wine and walked back over to H Mart  - the tall zombie was now on the sidewalk waiting for the light with a wad of bedding under its arm and a plastic tub of junk. Maybe it made the staggering realization that it's not welcome in a shopping area that 99.9% Asian and where zombies are *not* appreciated. 

I went into H Mart for a couple of things and rode for home. The zombies were certainly active tonight, as on Brokaw I came across a zombess pulling one of those clothing rack things such as you might see in any large city in the "garment district", just tootling along in the bike lane. I checked for traffic and rode wide, out into the lane, to get around this particular representative of the undead. "Sorry" it said. 

Then up at the corner, there was a yelling, cussing type of zombess with a bike and trailer and I think another zombie too. Cussing and snarling and saying things like "AAARGH!". I went over into the left-turn lane to avoid going near them and rode down Junction Avenue as fast as I could, stopping where I could take the street that connects Junction to Rogers, stopping just around the corner to turn my lights off to make myself harder to follow. I rode quickly back here and got the bike inside and locked up. Let the zombies prey on each other, haha.