Buzzing is a win

 I practiced last night (decided to subject the people next door to only a bit over a half-hour) and I can tell the free buzzing I've been doing is great. I'm as "in shape" as ever although I haven't been practicing for shit. 

It reminds me of when I first taught myself to surf, the first break I went to was walking distance from our house next to Kaya's Market, the break was at the Punalu'u river across from The Aloha Stop (a sort of convenience store with a few pinball machines) and it was almost always surf-able. Kinda lousy small break but I had fun. 

When we moved to Hau'ula the local break was better when it was going, but often flat. No problem I'd go collect shells or go fishing or something. But because my surfing was sporadic I wasn't in as good shape to take advantage of a good swell when it came in. I discovered that push-ups of all things would keep me in shape. 

Free buzzing is great because I can do it just about anywhere and any time. It's not loud. I imagine it being a huge edge after I've been doing it for years. Because once I retire I'll be a professional busker and will no longer have to worry about transistors and diodes but simply in getting better and figuring out what works so I can put a book or two out there for free under a "Copyleft". 

I drank a lot less last night than the night before with the result that I didn't sleep well but I did sleep, and I didn't feel shaky nor do I feel shaky now. This is absolutely great because alcohol has been taking up a huge part of my "food" budget and also it saps ones' energy. 

I was up what felt late but it was around 7 in the morning. I rested in bed and stretched a bit and got up at 7:30. It had cooled down to a balmy 78. 

Since I had such an early start on my day, I got the Connstellation cornet out. I was really worried I'd actually bought myself a "cornet shaped object" in that, when I was testing it out, it was so noisy at the Sunnyvale train station that I could not hear the little "thump" when I tested each valve for compression. Nor could I feel it - with all that noise vibrating the horn I guess that makes sense. But now in relative quiet I can tell it's got surprisingly good compression. That actually makes sense as it played rather well. I need to re-install the loose screw which I think I want to do carefully, cleaning the screw and the hole it goes into, and applying some Loc-Tite. 

I left here at almost 11. After getting rid of trash, I stopped in at Nijiya for two reasons: To get something to eat, and to get a box to put tips in because I'd realized I'd forgotten my red cloth tip box and didn't want to go back. I found a shallow-ish box that looked like it might be OK. 

I ate a couple of breaded fried fish and then got my mouth clean, chewing Xylitol gum so by the time I got where I was going my mouth would be very clean. By the time I got to Whole Foods, though, I'd realized I needed a deeper box as the wind was rising. So I went in and used the loo and got a box that held iced tea or something, that was nice and deep. 

I played from 11:24 to 1:24 and made $54. It would have been a lot less except near the end of the session a guy tossed in a $20. And no coins so it was pretty good. The wind got stronger, and also a plain cardboard box may not give people the hint to tip as well as a cheerful red one. But it was pretty OK, especially as I wasn't buying any alcohol. 

One lady tossed in a few bucks and asked if I was a "professional". I said that I was not, really, that I'd taught myself as an adult so not really. She then said it was good to see someone "working for their money". So yeah a little Puritan nonsense. I mean, what do you do if you don't have any skills? 

One guy wanted to know if I knew any Artie Shaw stuff like Stardust or Frenesi. I had a try at a bit of Stardust but I'll have to work on it. I told him that a lot of people don't know this but Artie Shaw put in about four years on the road playing the saxophone before he switched to the clarinet. The guy said Artie had always wanted to be a writer, and I said I'd been listening, late at night, when I lived in Southern California, when Artie was interviewed on the radio. I also said that among clarinetists, Artie was considered to have really good technical skills. Maybe one of the best players ever. 

By the time I was done the wind was pretty strong so it's a good thing. I had some chicken and zucchini and an alcohol-free Guinness. I got some cream for coffee and headed for home, finding a few books on the way. 

Back here, I thought a bit and decided to make an H Mart run. As I went by Tom's place, I noticed everyone gone - Tom's two trucks and James' truck and RV. A car swerved around a in U turn to have a try at me and I evaded, then the guy parked by James' stuff and started going through it. Not my problem. 

I got a couple onions and some celery and a lb of hamburger and around back, found some blueberries and some Korean melons that Tom likes. When I went by Tom's again he wasn't there but James was and I just left the melons on the table outside Tom's door. 

I rode fast back here to get past the zombies on Rogers Avenue before their worm-addled minds could realize I was there, haha. And got back in here and put things away and realized I was *very* tired. In fact, I'm kind of amazed at how well the busking worked out and how much I got done, while still detoxing from alcohol and getting maybe at a stretch 4 hours of lousy sleep. 

How well the busking went ... I've not been practicing for shit, or even getting out there every week, not at all. But after doing the free buzzing for a week or so, I was amazed. I was able to play high notes almost as easily at the end of my 2 hour session as at the beginning.  When I was playing and practicing a lot I'd gotten a glimpse of that, but now with free buzzing I was able to do it better than ever.