I practiced a little last night - really late as I waited for a zombie outside to finish digging in the trash cans and loitering around, and that zombie took its sweet time. The zombie went through a lot of trouble to dig out the last bit of metal out of one dumpster but didn't even check the HVAC place's one, where there's still thick wire and pieces of copper pipe. The undead are not very smart.
I woke up around 8:30 I think, then again around 10:30. I had time, I realized, to maybe get a bit of that lunchtime crowd if I were quick about it. I packed 9 small things that I'd gotten out last night so it was just a matter of packing the things and labeling them.
I headed out at about 12:30 with the packages and a bag of trash, and my trumpet and tip box of course. The post office is really not busy around lunch time, it seems.
I'd checked those little graphs Google has for businesses, to show when they're busy and Whole Foods showed a larger hump around lunch time than in the evening, while the Old Spaghetti Factory really only starts being busy in the evening.
I rode through San Pedro Square and it was indeed not very busy. I rode on to Whole Foods and set up right away. Bad news: There were some of the "Save The Children" scammers set up already so I placed myself as far away from them as I could, right next to where cars drive out. Maybe I'd get a few tips handed out of car windows.
It was every bit as bad as I feared it might be. There might be more people but they were all in a hurry. One guy said he'd come back with some money ... I wasn 't sounding my best either. I called out to one guy with his young son, dressed in little soccer clothes, that I take requests. He said his son likes "You Are My Sunshine" and I pushed "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" by Stevie Wonder out of my head and listened to my mental recording of "You Are My Sunshine" then worked out the notes. I started out awful and got better with each playing. The guy and his son looked pretty happy at this and the guy said he had no money and would go out to his car for some.
Ah well, I thought, at least I got to work on a new song. When I saw they were coming back, I played better and better versions with some little jazzy bits put in. The kid was entrusted with putting the money in. "Oh, a $20, that's nice" I thought but it was a $100. I'd said I was just trying to raise enough money for lunch which wasn't untrue, but this was really nice. "Go an' get yourself some food", the guy said, who turned out to be Scottish. I did that "If it's nae Scottish it's crrrap!" thing which got a laugh, and said his son will be the nest George Best. "The better Best!" I amplified. I also said "I'm done now, I'm getting fried out here" which was also not untrue.
Whew! The dollar guy did see me coming out of Whole Foods and gave me a dollar, and I thanked him just as warmly, as a dollar's a lot of money to most people.
I walked up to the hardware store to buy some Simple Green, which I was just about out of. That was paid for with the $20 I had in my wallet already. I went back into Whole Foods and bought some dental floss to break the $100. Then I hopped on the bike and rode West, originally thinking I'd go to the book store and buy that $75 book I have my eyes on, paying the difference between the $55 in trade credit I have and the book's price in cash. But then that's not playing the book game right, I thought as I rode, and instead went to the bike shop and ordered a new tire, as the front tire on my bike is really dried up and cracked. That was $65 and I'll have it in a week or two.
Then I rode back to Whole Foods and got some chicken and a samosa and basmati rice and a Trumer Pils - exactly the pils for my ills. Whole Foods was really quiet now and I dropped a few grains of rice for one of the sparrows. Mr. Sparrow gathered up several grains of rice the same way a puffin will gather several small fish in its bill. I'd never seen that before and realized Mr. Sparrow had some kids to feed. I spilled more rice, and the Mrs. came around and did the same. It was really cool.
Then I went back in and there not being any boxes Cabernet Sauvignon wine at all, I got 4 bottles of their "Three Wishes" cheap stuff which cost less anyway and tastes pretty decent.
I found a couple of books on my way back and had enough to get some sesame oil at Nijiya. Now, settled in back here, I've got $1 in my wallet, a few dollars in change, and a big smile on my face. What a day. I effectively earned $300/hour even if it was only for 20 minutes.
I'd also had a great time talking with the gals running the "Save The Children" scam booth. They said that location was better than University Avenue in Palo Alto, that they get assigned various places, and that they don't take money at all (why do that when you can harvest their personal info and take in thousands?) I said for my part that I knew when there are two "acts" there at the same time, both make far less, and I was about to pack up and take the train down to Campbell and play at the Whole Foods down there.
I picked today to do this because it was relatively cool. When I got back in here, it was only 81 degrees in here for instance. It'll warm up again. As for the book game, I'll turn my latest batch in on Friday when I'm going downtown anyway, and will have money on hand to pay any difference if I'm still short on trade credit.
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