Starting my Sunday the right way

 By sending $50 to the Harris campaign, of course! 

I got a little practice in last night, and also had an interesting thing happen. The dumpster that the machine shops use, it turns out, is never actually locked. They close the doors to the enclosure so they're very even and there's a padlock hanging on there, but the lock is just "there" it's not locking anything. Well, last night one of the doors was a little mis-aligned so even I could tell it was not locked, time for a look in there. 

Because I've probably pulled $2000 out of there over the time I've been here. So I went to have a look and surprised a homeless lady who was in there rooting around. It was a lady I'd met there before, so we talked. She needs knee surgery but believed that because she'd been to the ER at Stanford she couldn't go to Stanford. I said it doesn't work that way, and she ought to check and see if she can get it done at Stanford. Her own doctor is in jail for a dozen years because his wife was cooking the books and so she was doctor-less. I also told her to look into organizations like St. Vincent De Paul and so on. 

Anyway, the trash. She was looking for a purse or a backpack, anything like that. I thought about my CostCo backpack which really isn't that great, and told her to wait a minute, and went in here and got it. I gave it to her and said it had only cost me a dollar and she'd use it a lot more than I would. 

I'm sad to see on Reddit that another nut has self-immolated or at least tried to (he lived) in front of an Israeli embassy. That's the Western Death Culture in action. I've long felt, since a teen, that suicide is illogical. In terms of Judaism, I'm pretty sure the idea is that your life is not yours but God's; it's not yours to take. 

If this latest idiot wanted to actually try to change things, he could simply get a tourist visa to go to Israel, and go around and see how things really are. Maybe let himself be captured by the Hamas he loves so much. But honestly, go there, boots on the ground, talk to people Israeli and Arab, and see what's really going on. Maybe find a way to volunteer, there are plenty of pro-Hamas organizations, sorry to say, the biggest being UNRWA. 

I didn't feel very motivated to get out there so I decided I'd try playing the 5-7PM time slot. I stayed in and took a big ugly piece of test equipment apart because we can get more for the parts. Then took off at around 5, and first checked out the Old Spaghetti but there were two loud sources of canned music plus a live band I didn't want to interfere with. On to Whole Foods. 

It was cloudy which as far as I'm concerned was great. I bought a bottle of water to use as a weight to keep my tip box from blowing away, and set up to play. I planned to play from 5:30 when I set up to 7:30. It went well. I'd practiced up a few cheerful songs and really mixed things up at one point playing "High And Dry" by Radiohead. 

One gal came up, put a $20 in the box, and I said I do requests, and she wanted me to play "Beautiful Dreamer" again so I did that. This other lady who's convinced I'm a teacher (I can't change her mind on this) put in a $20 and hurried off. The motorcycle-riding guy from Greece came by and put in his customary change, and the Paperclip Bandit put in two little $2 bundles secured with colored paperclips. I guess he's happy to see me back. 

There were no tweakers, no Grandpa Hate, no bums, just no problems at all. I ended up playing until 7, and almost all the tips, maybe all but one, had been in the first hour. I made $83.50. I got a lot of compliments on my playing too. 

Saturday night

 Well, after listing 10 things on Friday I actually got my ass in gear and fixed the flat tire, and moved that tire to the front wheel and put a newy-new tire on the rear, and was back on 2 wheels. 

I didn't leave here until past 5 but that's OK because I only had two small packages to ship and I know of some mailboxes that are open. I took off and dropped off trash, then went  over there and dropped the packages, then went over to Whole Foods. 

I invented a dish I call "Sticks And Stones". What you do is, take a bunch of the Parmesan cheese shavings, which look like little sticks, then put some Kalamata olives on top, those are the stones. Then put some "zesty tahini" dressing on top because that's the bottle that's always at least half full, because tahini is too exotic for most. It's a lot of calories for the weight due to the cheese, tastes good, and can be eaten quickly. 

Then I went over to the temple for the service and I'm glad I did. I was welcomed by one of the ladies who holds some kind of office, those who do wear these little pins that are hard to read but are shiny and rectangular and so it's easy to see this or that person is "ranking". She had me sit near the front and then a lady who is originally from Brooklyn but "has lived here longer than there" sat right next to me. 

I had my glasses ready but instead of the screens, we used siddurim but different than the ones used outdoors. These are hardcover and the print's small enough to almost but not quite need reading glasses. And the lady next to me had an even harder time because the page numbers are in black and blue, with the black ones going the way Western books do and the blue ones going the other way like Hebrew books do. 

So we sang our cowboy songs and I could just imagine the wagon train makin' it over the hill and the brave cowboy's back from the trail and gonna marry the Sheriff's daughter and the sagebrush blowin' in the wind, but also I helped the lady next to me a lot, keeping up with the page numbers and showing with my finger just where we were. She kept thanking me too which was neat.

It was a small attendance but it was a great service. It was supposed to be a "Rock Shabbat" but "rock" ended up being one guitar. I got to make the rabbi laugh a few times in the service and the oneg, and all in all I left feeling great. 

I went back to Whole Foods and got some "salmon bites" and decided I'd try cheaping out and got some beef hot dogs. And the cheapo wine, nothing special. Cold hot dogs, salmon bites, cuke slices, and wine for dinner.

Then, well, shabbat. 

Now I woke up at noon or so, read the 2nd half of Children Of Men, the ending of which ended up a little too pat for me. 

I also watched the most amazing 9/11 documentary by a pair of brothers from France, who were filming a documentary about a rookie NY firefighter, and then 9/11 happened so they filmed that. I'd always been kind of, "too soon" about watching anything involving 9/11, but I'm glad I watched this one. 

Am I that out of shape?

 Sure I walked plenty of miles yesterday but I feel really beat-up by it now. I'd say "this morning" but although I drank 1-1/4 bottles of wine to get to sleep quickly and probably was passed out by 2AM or even 1AM, I slept until 1PM. Now part of this is probably because I only slept about 3 hours the night before, then did all that walking. I woke up in Donald Duck mode. That is, apparently I'd gotten up to pee, and to expedite things had dispensed with my underwear and shorts. I also found a length of (unused, thank goodness) in my bed along with the underwear and shorts. I hadn't peed them but it must have been close. 

If this means my tolerance for wine is going down, good. 

I need to walk more to stay in better shape but I sure don't need to walk more today. At least I moved some things around to start to be able to accommodate the next load of capacitors coming in. And practiced the shofar a fair amount while drinking wine and watching YouTube, er, Vimeo actually, because there's one Adam Curtis series that for some reason Vimeo has and YT does not. 

This: https://www.reddit.com/r/Jewish/comments/1ffy6qb/ex_friend_finding_success_as_a_pro_pal_influencer/ is a very good discussion of what's going on now. Essentially, a lot of Americans are Nazis but they're not quite to the point of calling themselves that. But they're getting paid to be Nazis, getting approval and funding from large institutions like colleges, and deep underneath, they think this is really neat, because the underlying motive, as with the first-generation Nazis, is, Here's a small group of the population that's rich, so if we kill 'em off we can take their stuff. 

According to this: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1416272/us-household-income-by-religious-affiliation/#statisticContainer Jews are a wealthy group, but next is Catholics, and Asians aren't doing so bad. I'd expect Asians to be the next group to the death camps if Americans can really get their Nazism rolling. Also, I'm going to say that if you're working-class, you're not going to be prone to admitting something that you may be attacked for. I don't even admit my left eye's not much good, I'm sure not going to admit to some stranger with a clipboard in hand that I identify as Jewish. 

When it rains, it pours

 Ken came by an hour earlier than usual last night. I'd just cooked and eaten Burger In A Bowl with two fried eggs on top, and Ken said it smelled like tacos. I said it was onions, peppers, and I'd used some garlic powder and that's probably why. I said at least I didn't cook fish, and if I cook before he comes over I always make sure it's something familiar. 

I got my check, and we talked about all kinds of things as usual. He wasn't wearing his blood glucose monitor so he had to test himself and he was low and I didn't have anything around here he was interested in but he remembered he had a bottle of A&W root beer in his truck and drank that. He says the main way he can tell he's low is he'll start to get a white-out in the center of his vision. Ouch. 

I used to keep a box of brown sugar with a spoon all ready to go here, but then I thought he was carrying lots of fruit juice in his truck. I think I'll get another box of brown sugar because that stuff can sit for years and be fine. 

Ken's going to get more big capacitors, so along with working on the bike tires, I've got to move things around to make a place they can be put. 

After Ken left I got 15 things ready to list which took some time, some of it was taking a thing apart as well as general cleaning, prettying-up, etc. 

I woke up at 9 this morning after having an anxiety dream that was a jumble of worries about Ebay, about moving to Israel, etc. As the Talmud says and both Nikola Tesla and Harry Houdini agreed, dreams are just a mishmosh of one's daily events and things one is worried about. 

I was able to list 15 things on Ebay, pack a couple, and get myself cleaned up and took off from here, walking, with the two packages and a bag of bike tools. I didn't have to wait very long for any of the trains or buses I took today so that was nice. 

First the post office, then I walked over to the bank and deposited my check, their math and my math agreeing to the penny. Then the next stop was Good Karma Bikes. I waited to talk to the big gal who I'd not only bought the folding bike from, but who gave me the neat patches yesterday - she was the only one who know where the patch stash was. 

She was putting a Campagnolo gear cluster on a wheel for a guy, and the dumb little gears have to be put on *just* right and the right side facing out, etc. Then she said "We need a cap" and went off to help someone else with something more urgent, and I noted a cap sitting there so I put it on, finger-tight. The old shop guy tightened it down, so when she came back up front, it was all done. 

I held up the Walmart bag I was carrying, and said, "I'd said I'd bring you guys some tools I've never used..." and brought out a bunch of new Park tools I had indeed bought and never used. A pedal wrench, chain breaker/installer, cable cutter, a smaller pedal wrench, a new tube of Phil grease, and some odds and ends. They were very happy to see these. Then I sprung the trap: I said I'd like to get "however many more patches you'd like to give me" because "I have a large Christmas list and some of them have children..." 

So I got something like 50 patches and 165 stickers. We're talking about $1800. So I could have simply listed the tools on Ebay and let them sell, or I could do a swap like this where a lot more money comes in. I don't mind doing this because business is not good right now so I don't mind pitching in. 

Next I walked over to Whole Food and got some food and ate, drank a tiny bit of wine like 1/4 of one of those "airplane" bottles, along with a can of fizzy water. 

Sated, I walked over to the light rail and took it to Japantown, and walked to Nijiya where I got eggs, beef, and some other things most importantly a "medicinal" bottle of orange Fanta. The whole bottle has 60 grams of carbs, it's fantastically carb-rich. And Ken wanted something orange or lemon, so I have something to keep around here in case Ken gets low sugar again like last night. 

I walked back out to the light rail and then from the Airport/Metro station to back here. In the end I had something like 15 or 20 lbs of stuff in each hand, and I stopped several times to rest. 

A resounding win

 The media agrees with me, the debate yesterday was a resounding win for Harris. The mainstream media is a little less fawning on Dirty Don now, and maybe they've concluded that this particular dictator might not be so good for them after all. 

Today's 9/11, and Harris and the Diaperman both went to the memorial. I'm sure Harris made a great speech and the Dolt gave a thumbs up and talked about himself, sliding in the odd observation that the people who died were suckers and losers. 

While watching the debate I got together my last batch of books. After this, no more book racket for me. I'll go back to using the little free libraries as libraries, taking only books I want to read, then returning them when done. 

I left here at about 2:30 maybe 3, with my last load of books and some packages for the post office. I did my drop-off at the post office while the zombies in the park there fought and gibbered etc. Then over to Recycle Book Store where I handed them over, saying "This is my last batch". The guy asked if  I was moving, and I said no, that I just find books. And that it was a good thing when I was buying books I wanted like that one $60 one, but now I've got tons of reading ahead of me and I'll just go back to playing my trumpet. 

Because if I'd just played trumpet yesterday/today, I'd have made more money and gotten my Recommended Daily Allowance of practice in too. 

I got $8 for my books today, and had about $9 already. I went to Whole Foods and bought wine, then counted up what I had left. About $3.50. I got a hard-boiled egg, a bunch of Parmesan cheese shreds, and a dollop of tahini salad dressing, from the only bottle that wasn't empty. And my sneaky trick: I got a packet of soy sauce from the sushi counter. Whole Foods believes that you'll die of covid if you salt your food, so salt is unobainable. But shoyu is very salty. 

I also got a 89c can of seltzer water. When it came time to pay, however, I was about a dollar short so I had to put the seltzer water back. That's the kind of economy we're in these days, a 1930s sort of one where even a bit of seltzer water is an extravagance that must be foregone. At least the egg and cheese etc was pretty good. 

I went to the Good Karma bike shop and asked if they had any sew-on patches. I had to explain the concept, then the big gal there who I'd bought the folding bike from went into the back and gave me a handful of Palo Alto Patagonia patches. I'm hoping one of those will cover the "Danskin" logo on the yellow jacket I got from there. 

Now I had to donate the rest of the books, to the Peace & Freedom Center. This meant going through the center of downtown and that meant often traveling no faster than this or that shuffling zombie, so that took a while. At one light, a blonde zombess was crossing in front of the cars, not giving a shit. Then the thing stopped and waited, and when the light changed, didn't appear to notice. Then, when the walk signal was still on but the left turn arrow was on, thus the tantalizing chance of being hit by a car, the zombess looked down at an invisible watch on its wrist and sauntered across. Zombies don't care, they're already dead. 

I got to see that even at 4 in the afternoon, there are a lot of students walking around the Paseo de San Antonio, and it might be a good lunch time place to busk. Also tons of zombies shuffling around and smelling bad, but I can bring my larger pepper spray to deal with them. 

It was 5 when I got back here. The End Times wind is really strong today so the ride was very slow. 

I packed a heavy (but not too big) thing that has just sold and with another heavyish-largeish package, had a load to take to FedEx. I took off at 6, and by the time I got to Fry's the going felt like I was going up a hill. I stopped to pump the rear tire up a bit and I think that helped but I think a lot of it was the weight I was hauling, the wind I was working against, and I was already tired from all the riding I'd done doing the book run. 

Also I'm pretty sure I'm keto-adapted now and that will make a difference. I need to start weighing myself once a week. 

I got to FedEx to drop off trash and the two boxes, and coming in, I heard this loud music. The source of the music turned out to be a teenage Gypsy boy with an amplifier and a "keytar". He was playing this one riff over and over but it was catchy and sounded good. I still had those 50 "unlucky" pennies from earlier so after my FedEx business I went over with my change bag and dumped all these pennies in his pot. I saw a $10 in there and it looked like he might have been doing pretty well. It's hard to say because I'd have to know how long he was there, maybe hang out at the Starbucks and observe, etc. 

But it's an intriguing thought, because other than the fact that I'd have to set up on a parking lot island like the kid was, I'd say it's a good busking location because the place is typically busy as hell, and people are all funneling in and out of a smallish area. 

I got some boxes from the EMT place, and as I left there, noticed the rear tire was feeling kind of squishy. I stopped by the tire place to pump it up more and rode right back here. I think it's spit out so much Slime that it's gone dry, and I'll actually have to do something about it now. 

 

 

 

RIP James Earl Jones

 The voice of Darth Vader, the guy with the epic voice in Field Of Dreams, has passed on. Field Of Dreams is an OK movie but it will always have a special meaning for me because one night in 1995 I was sitting in my room in the Olympic Training Center, watching my TV that I had to stick my finger into a hole to change channels, and was watching that movie. The whole idea of building your own ball field reminded me of the kind of thing my dad might have done. The part where there's some ghostly voice saying "Ease his pain" I was actually crying. It really got to me in a way that surprised me. I found out the next morning that that was probably the exact time my father died, back in Hawaii. It's not very scientific but there you have it.

Last night I got a batch of things ready to photograph, "played with my food" AKA divided the fish and hamburger into portions and put into the freezer, started a load of laundry, and got a batch of books ready to take to the used book store. 

I woke up at 7AM amazingly, then went back to sleep until 11AM when I got a call from some volunteer reminding me to vote no on proposition 34. I said I'll probably vote that way. I'm going to study my election materials carefully. 

Besides all the other things I have to do today, I want to see if I can watch the presidential debate. It turns out I can watch it on YouTube so that's good - I won't have to spend money sitting somewhere with a TV. 

I left here with my (heavy!) books and packages around 3, dropped off the packages at the post office and took the (heavy!) books to the used book store. I ended up getting $10 in cash. I took the books they didn't want and put them in the little free library on Shasta.

I went to Whole Foods and got wine and put it in the bike bag and then got some food and a bottle of Lagunitas IPA. I rode back here, stopping for bubble mailers at the Amazon place, and picking up a few more books but here it got interesting. 

I picked them up from the little free library on 5th, and the old guy whose house it was in front of came out. "You finding anything good?" he asked. I said I was, kind of. He said something about being sure to put a lot of books there and I said "I'd always figured you were a voracious reader". Well, I should have said "I thought you read a lot" following the rule of the first Cat In The Hat books which were written in Basic English so even the uneducated or dull could understand them. The guy seemed to not understand the term "voracious" and my explaining it didn't help. I finally said, "This is not a 'San Jose' conversation, a 'San Jose' conversation would be more like 'You gotta cigarette?' followed by 'You gotta dollar?' or 'Which way's the bus?'" and ended with "I talk too much!" and rode off. Maybe the old dum-dum just likes the books because most have colorful covers. 

Really I'm starting to re-think the whole thing. The "book racket" was nice when I wanted to stock up on Jewish books, and it was a great way to fund my expensive Koren chumash which I really like, but it's a lot of work for little money even in trade credit and there are not a lot of books I'm that keen to get now, as I've got plenty to read. 

So while watching the debate I cleaned up the last of my books and am throwing in two big books by Abba Eban I'll probably never get around to reading, and will do one last book run tomorrow. Then, after that, I'm just going to stick with busking.

In fact, in riding around today, I noticed a fair number of people walking around the Paseo de San Antonio and around the $2 hamburger place that's owned by a Trumper so even though it's students I might try busking there because there's no set demographic that tips me. 

The debate by the way was kind of hilarious. Donnie had this old-man slump and played his invisible accordion one-handed as the other hand was used to lean on the podium with. He scowled constantly like he had "something died" farts that were seeping up through his suit. The times he tried smiling were just gruesome. Harris did great. I felt like I was watching the Kennedy-Nixon debate, the first debate on TV. Except Nixon was actually intelligent so those who listened on the radio thought Nixon won and those who watched on TV thought Kennedy won. Even just on the radio, I'd have known Harris wiped the floor with The Dump. 

The secret of the coal miners

 Last night I took a couple of things apart to have stuff ready to list today. I woke up at 12:30 and I guess I needed the sleep. I turned on the radio and good old NPR was talking about the coal miners in Appalachia. 

The central question being, why had this area, so solidly Democratic, so heavily fallen for Rotten Donnie? All I'd ever heard about coal miners was how miserable the jobs were, being paid in "scrip", the pitched shooting battles between miners and "Pinkertons", if you were short of rent on your company-owned shack the property manager to to screw your wife, black lung, etc. If you mention coal mining/miners this is the picture that's going to come to mind. 

The guy on the radio said that due to heavy Union agitation and solidarity, coupled with the oil crisis of the early 70's, plus the introduction of machines to do the hard work, miners became wealthy. He described a helicopter delivering a kid to a public school, and helicopters hovering over a football field because it needed drying out so the team could play better. 

This prosperity went on into the 80s and a bit into the 90s. So this is not a case of beaten-down and ignorant peasants longing for their days of toil with an "idiot's spoon" (shovel) and a reliable bowl of gruel, this is the living memory of coal jobs being very good jobs. 

This reminds me of pineapple jobs when I was a kid, jobs that I, due to my race, could never aspire to get. If you were the right race, a job in pineapple meant you could buy a house, start a business when you retired, send your kid to any college they wanted. 

So these halcyon days, days of relating to the upper-middle-class family in The Brady Bunch, have largely gone. And along comes Dumpo, who's old enough to have been familiar with John L. Lewis, the famous union organizer, and probably has taken on some of his mannerisms or style in his rants. (I'm convinced my mother, who would have heard the odd Hitler rant in newsreels or on the radio, took on a bit of his style when she ranted at us.) 

I looked up a Lewis lecture on YouTube and sure enough, there are some similarities. Lewis had a bit of a goldfish mouth, while Donny does not but seems to have taken on the mannerism of making a goldfish mouth even if it's not natural to his mouth shape. Lewis had rather epic hair, and I wonder if that was the inspiration for Donny's rug-like coif. Lewis was short and stout, hence his suits would have to be a big baggy to work, and Donny likes his baggy suits - he always reminds me of a kid who wears his older brother's clothes to see more grown-up. 

It was a charismatic populist leader, Lewis, that the miners, by following him, created the good living of the early-70s to early-90s. Therefore, by following another populist blusterer, even if as evil as Lewis was good, they'll get that good life back again. 

It's the same kind of stupid calculus that I did, deciding that studying electronics would lead to a good life for myself. It's a hard pill to swallow to realize the best you can do is manage poverty as well as you can. Do not aspire above your position. 

I had a package that should have been at UPS about 5 minutes after they opened and the customer was (understandably) antsy so I told him I'd get it right out and did so leaving at 2. I took it over there and they have a system where you scan the package at a little kiosk then put it in the area with the other packages that have been scanned. So that's nice. 

Then I went over to H Mart for things like hamburger, mackerel, veggies. Around back I picked up a bunch of thawing frozen fruit bars and 7 bottles of "vinegary chili paste sauce". I hurried over to Tom's and handed him the bag of frozen stuff, saying "Put this in the freezer right away" which he did. And gave him 4 bottles of the sauce because he likes to cook with Korean sauces. 

Tom's getting over his covid but now has bronchitis he says, and I said the frozen fruit bars might help. A bit of small talk and then I said I have to get my groceries into the fridge, and rode back here. 

A wholesome thread on r/homeless: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeless/comments/1fcpe9m/what_are_your_homeless_hobbies/ I see these folks as the few people who might have a chance to change from zombies back to humans. Like them, if I have to go to my Plan B, which is get a storage unit and sleep "wherever", maybe ultimately getting a car and living in the parking lot here, or renting a small office on 1st street, I'll have a lot of free time and honestly don't know if I'd spend it all on music or end up doing music and also some art. 

The emotional block against art is strong with me, but  I also have a lot more skill and appreciation of art than the average person. 

Mainly I'm just trying to keep Ken's business alive, keep my skills improving even if slowly on the horn, and doing the Jewish things. 

Some comments on my busking last night: That screaming guy is right, I should play some happier stuff too. And I think I may have busked the entire time with my damn fly open. Nothing to see but my sky-blue undies but it's not a good look. I believe Benny Goodman had one of his band tasked with making sure his fly wasn't down, so I guess I share something with the clarinet genius. 

Also, the nice lady who'd been "tabling" for Harris and whom   I talked with a bit, I'm pretty sure had dropped a $10. That's why I talked a fair bit with her. But when I looked, later, there was no $10 nor a $1 that was folded like the $10 had been. 

Now, one of my "visitors" was a young Hispanic guy who was in love with my playing. First he asked what my instrument was called. That's the level of musical knowledge these days. He loved the sound, and I said he could go to any music shop and rent a horn, and learn off of YouTube. He was up here from L.A., and had to go back down there to get some papers in order or something, and was killing time until his Greyhound left. He went away and them came back and more adulation, but I wonder if, when he came back, he started by dipping into my tip box and snagging that $10. I like to think either I only thought there was a $10, or if there had been and the kid snagged it, it's probably the only reason he was able to eat that night. His love for the trumpet sure seemed genuine, and he tossed change both visits, the 2nd time more, maybe it was the change from the $10. I hope he gets a horn and gives it a go. 

The water bottle rule

 Over the last few days I've done quite a bit of thinking about how I got kicked out of playing at the Campbell Whole Foods. I'm pretty certain the male Karen asked if I wanted water or anything as a test. And that the female Karen was lying through her yellowed teeth about not having him come to her and complain about me. 

So the rule from here on out is, if offered that classic charity move, a bottle of water, to accept. That gives the Karen offering nothing to bitch about and they get to be a hero and turn your entire life around by buying you a 78c bottle of water. At least that's how they'll see themself as they drive off in their $100k douchemobile. 

In all fairness, the sidewalk in front of the Campbell Whole Foods is a bit narrow and I always felt a bit odd busking there. That I got no complaints with Whole Foods personnel as well as everyone else parading back and forth in front of me made me think I was no problem. 

But this is Campbell. If you look at the demographics of this area, there are actually a lot of white people. So where are they? Because they're sure not downtown or in my usual haunts. The answer is, they're in places like Campbell. And white culture is big on backstabbing. It's almost a cornerstone of white culture. So there's no simply saying "Hey, we have rules against busking or petitioning here" they sent the male Karen to probe my defenses by offering something I really didn't need, like a bottle of water (as we say in busking land, a mild case of dehydration is your friend) and I, like an idiot, told the guy I actually eat and drink and brush my teeth etc., and am set to play without really needing anything, it's mainly just money I'm playing for. 

That's an Israeli level of directness. American white culture can't stand directness. It's always done in the backstabbing way. I remember a sergeant in the Army buddying up to me and offering to sell me a pair of boots he had (which I turned down for being too big) and behind my back he was complaining about me. Or my paternal grandmother, telling me to let her know when I'm ready to go to college and I could move to her place, live in a trailer in her yard, and go to college. But when the time came it was Sorry, fuck you, I've got mine etc. 

A classic example is when I left for the army in the first place. My WASP father said he'd drive me to the airport. My older sister, the Punahou snob, said she'd drive me to the airport. When I had to leave for the airport, neither of them showed up. We all lived in the same house and they were both off ... somewhere. Due to working at the local gas station I had some money and I called a cab and got myself to the airport. I never even got an apology from either of them either. 

A couple of days ago there was an interesting show on the radio where a lady was talking about how to deal with narcissists and it helped me understand some things. Like, as a kid I learned not to ask for anything because it would only give whoever  I was asking the pleasure of telling me, "Fuck you, I've got mine". In a narcissist society, I was actually standing up for myself in this way which is good but as the lady said, it's also bad because it keeps one from communicating and asking and finding people who will actually help. 

I think it's good to try to understand these things. For instance, I remember my mother as someone who could not keep friends, but she may have been stuck between a rock and a hard place. By her generation there may not have been much of the "old culture" to go back to, and the feeling that the old culture is old-fashioned and "square" and uncool and all that may have been very strong. Yet, getting along especially in Hawaii means being very Christian. Hawaii's like the South in that way. 

I think my mother was trying to reach back a bit to the old culture before we moved to Hawaii though. Hence my memory of her entertaining the older lady from Austria and talking about Israel. Hell that could be a reason Dad moved us to Hawaii - we'd be near his WASP aunt, our "Aunt Mary" who had this ghastly crucifix on her wall, right over her bed. And that much harder for Mom to take us kids and be off somewhere. 

Oh, the intrigues that happen in families! Father moving us to the middle of the Pacific to try to keep us together with him. Plus there's the theory my older sister holds that a friend of my father's, a Mr. B-, somehow defrauded my father of "all of his money" as if he had much of it. Programming computers is not a job that will get you anywhere, money-wise. 

So here's my Mom trying to befriend some neighbor, and pretty soon it's a literal "Come to Jesus" talk. We were recruited hard. One of my younger sisters went to Sunset Beach Christian School for a while on some kind of a scholarship (the was the "whitest" looking of all of us, taking after my father with big blue eyes, freckles, and brown hair with just a bit of curl) and the youngest got taken in by the extreme "born-again" type Christians, and these days, well, if there's ever a pogrom in Hawaii, I expect her to be as involved in it as she can be. 

Mom always thought Christianity was weird, and I still think it is. I remember when we were still living in Hawaii Kai, a Jewish lady started a deli in the nearby shopping center and mom used to hang out with her and talk. The deli had big Kosher dill pickles for 5c, and I remember standing on the street corner waiting for the light to change, just savoring one. So my mom sure seemed to gravitate toward Jewish folks. 

Trumpism. It's "Trumpism" on the radio, in the same way the Brits talked about "Hitlerism". We're in the nail-biting time. I was never this nervous about Y2K. I sold my guns to Ken with the idea that if it comes to where I need guns I should have been out of here by then. But now I just don't know. 

Today I decided I'd busk in the evening like I used to, when the wind's died down and it's a lot quieter, and cooler. I ended up feeling like I had tons of time, which I used to put more capacitors away, put things away, just general things around here. 

I decided I'd play the 7-9PM time slot, but actually got to Whole Foods at 7:30 and since I was all prepared, set up and started right in. It went slowly, but some interesting things happened. The first thing is, a big older SUV pulled up and its occupant took a ton of time to crawl out, barely being able to move apparently and using one of those walker things. I realized he was the skinny white guy who used to set up a table and big signs and hassle people with his begging and his extreme-right conspiracy theories. 

The guy hobbled into the store and a short while later hobbled out with some groceries. But he didn't leave. When a lady dropped a tip and we started talking about Harris, and then she left, he yelled out the window, "Did you hear about Harris?" I called back, "Yeah! She's running for President!" Then he yelled, over and over, "Harris! Hit and run!" I had no idea what he was talking, or more like shouting about, but was sure it was some kooky theory, so I started playing again, loudly .That shut him up. 

The thing is, he didn't drive off because he was probably planning to set up his Table 'O' Hate and was waiting for me to leave. Fine, I thought, I just won't leave. 

Next came the tweakers, a black/white couple, skinny and twitchy, with the (white) guy with his pants literally half off of his naked ass cheeks. They came around to bother me and I got my pepper spray out and held it in my hand. I said I didn't have any money, then the guy got offended and just wanted me to know I should play more Dylan. I did the old ignore-them-while-watching-them-carefully routine and since tweakers are short on patience, they eventually wandered off. 

And eventually, Grandpa Hate drove off too. Haha I hope I made his night. I had only maybe a half hour left at most, and I'm not sure I got a tip at all in the 2nd hour. Now I play some sad stuff, generally so sad it's sweet, or so sad it's funny like St. James Infirmary. A guy charging his SUV down at the other side of the parking lot didn't agree and screamed something like "DON'T PLAY THAT SAD MUSIC! I CAN'T HAVE IT IN MY LIFE!" so from there on I played happier things. I eventually had had enough at 9:45 and packed up. 

I'd made $19.74. And spent about $24 in Whole Foods so basically I'd gone out and gotten some practice in, bought some groceries, and my wallet was only about $5 lighter. 

And I found a bunch of books on the way home. Book run on Tuesday I think. 

I checked out this "Harris hit and run" thing and it's a hoax. Someone put some effort into it, setting up a Wordpress site that purports to be a California TV station but there's no such station, used some random photos, a fictional reporter, etc., and put this story on line then the fictitious TV station ceased to exist a few days later. This is the kind of shit the MAGA crowd falls for. I could try to tell him the story's not true when/if I see him again but I don't know if I will. I remember checking out something else bizarre he told me a while back and it was utter BS also. What a world that guy must live in. 

Saturday night Sept. 7

 I got things packed and got all the things done I had to, and got out of here at the usual time. At Whole Foods I saw they had "Baron Herzog" wine that was both Kosher and something called "Mevushal" which means it can be handled by non-Jews, essentially, and Kosher for Passover. And about $12 a bottle. 

What a great thing, I thought, to buy a bottle and take it to the service and people can have something that's not Manischewitz? Well, it was a great idea and I had fun helping Richard, the helper guy, pour it into all the little cups - I wanted to be generous so I put 2X the wine in each cup as usual. 

So we had our service and sang our cowboy songs and had a good ol' time, and then it was time for kiddush (wine) and ha-motzi (bread) and the wine... well ... someone said "You can tell it has tannins". I ended up talking with people and met an interesting guy who had acquired boxes and boxes of old Hawaiian stamps from Wells Fargo so now he's "the" big Hawaiian stamp expert. And he lives not all that far from here. He's also a fraud consultant for Ebay's coin and stamp group. I got his card. 

After talking a bit I was about ready to go and about half the red wine was still there in the little cups so I had another to really taste is and ... it's got this burned flavor that I don't like. That's probably why no one else wanted it that much. 

I rode over to Whole Foods and got a different bottle of wine because I had a bottle of Baron Herzog at home for my "good" Shabbat wine, and now I didn't want to drink the stuff. I got a bottle of pinot noir because I wanted to see what that was all about and it's OK, like cabernet without the bite. 

Today I read about half of "The Children Of Men" by PD James. I'm not sure if I'll ever get to see the movie so I might as well read the book. It's pretty good. 

Dancing and shofars, what's not to like?

 I wanted to wake up at 9. I actually woke up at ... noon. Luckily I had things pretty much singled out to list, and got 10 things ready and took the photos. Then I packed the things that have to get shipped out today, loaded up the bike, cleaned myself up, and was out the door at 3. 

I dropped off trash, dropped off the packages at the post office, went to the bank and deposited my check - their math and mine agreed to the penny - and then went to Whole Foods. I got ... wine, a little 4-pack of wine, a bottle of unsweetened tea, and a package of 365 brand beef jerky. 

The thing at the Addisonp-Penzak center started at 5, so I wanted something I could eat on the train. The whole day was stressful about whether I'd make it, and as I left the bank I realized I had a leak in the rear tire of my bike that went ft! ft! ft! But it was maintaining pressure and I think was the "leaf or something" that I thought was making that sound two days ago. So the Slime, a product I very heartily endorse, had been keeping me rolling all these last couple of days. I looked at the tire and there was a significant cut in it. Lovely. I just figured I'd go on and hopefully it'll be all right. 

So I rode over to the Diridon light rail stop and ... I've left my clipper card in the pocket of another shirt, that I wasn't wearing. I bought an 8-hour pass for $5 which is the same amount that would have come off my clipper card anyway. 

I rode down to the Winchester station, and rode south on Winchester Blvd. for a while until I came to a bus stop with some shade, no bench but a nice grassy bank to sit on. Probably the only place in the city of Campbell someone could loll around on the grass and not be arrested. I had some beef jerky and some tea, mixed with wine. It was a nice little break. Then I rode on, and found I'd actually gone most of the way I'd have to ride. I rode to the center, locked the bike to a tree, checked in and got my wrist band, and I was even early. 

There were a lot of booths set up on the (very large) lawn, tables and chairs, a stage, etc. The DJ played tons of songs from when I was in my 20s (pre-grunge). The booths were for all sorts of Jewish organizations, schools, camps, etc. A weightlifting club, a sort of political action group, etc. The funnest one was the Chabad one where they had a lot of ram's horns with the basic hole drilled, and it was a make your own shofar thing. They were all smaller than the one I've got, and it was mostly kids participating so I didn't want to "horn in" 

But I'd brought my own shofar and played that a bit here and there. I'm having trouble with the "teruah" the short choppy notes. But I didn't one perfect sequence, the tekiah, shivirim, teruah, and tekiah gadol, and right there at the Chabad booth so yay for that. It was so neat seeing the kids, some of them quite little, learning about the shofar and one kid, maybe 12, blew nice long note with wonderful tone. You gotta love Chabad, they had tefillin there and wrapped a few guys, had mezuzot, a tsadaka box, and for some reason those little tubes of honey and honey stirrers.

I'd signed up for a chicken dinner which was chicken in barbecue sauce, an ear of roasted sweet corn, and a slice of watermelon. I ate about half the chicken, had some of the corn, and had a Coke Zero. 

Eventually it came to the core of the event, which was one of the rabbis sounding the shofar, kind of "eh" but the shofar seems to humble a lot of people. And then a song with the guitar, then it was back to music but then there started some Russian sounding music and dancing by some Russian Jewish girls that was really cool. It was to recorded music but the first dance's music had some great trumpet in it. 

After the Russian gals did a few dances (and were probably pretty tired) there was a pause and then some other songs were played and some people were called up by name to dance, and it was Israeli dancing. That was fun to watch; it was on the lawn not the stage and more people kept joining and the circle kept getting bigger. 

I'm not sure my back is up to it yet, but once I feel tip top again I want to try out the Israeli dancing that's held at my temple on Wednesday nights I think. As they say it's not only fun and a good workout, but it's political and when there's a victory for Jews, the dances will break out. 

I also got a ton of literature, spun the wheel where it says to do this or that exercise and then you get to choose a prize, so for 5 push-ups I got a nice water bottle. And I got a big "Repair The World" bag that I'll find useful. 

The Addison-Penzak center is great and there, you can hear people speaking Hebrew. If I lived closer I'd probably consider joining. 

Last night I'd told Ken that due to my social class, I don't get vacations (he didn't even blink at this) and I realized a few years ago that if you're working class, the best thing you can do to stay sane is to join a religion, hopefully one with lots of holidays, because while there are no protections for vacations, there are protections against religious persecution. It's not like England, I said, where workers get holidays. I said that I felt a lot less like a "burnout burger" since I've been taking Fridays off and going to Jewish things. I think he understands this. 

The ride back was pleasant, and the ride on the green train back to Diridon not bad. When I got off at Diridon, there was a big black guy who rushed up, and tried to shout through the window to the driver, to hold up a few minutes while he gets his stuff - his stuff being a plastic trash can on the ramp. I don't think the driver was going to do this so I stopped with my bike on the track to check something with my kick stand, and the train operator honked at me, then honked longer, but by that time the guy had dragged his trash can to do door, at least I hoped. I hate to piss off a VTA driver but why wreck a guy's life? 

The ride back from Diridon was nice, too, and I found several books. Through all this the bike tire's held but I'm not counting on it.

Behind the curve and trying to dig out of the hole

 I slept until noon today, after having, I guess as the last dream of the night, a really dystopian one about the electric train. The train was pretty close to the opposite of my actual experience riding one of the electric trains, even hilariously so. The only thing that had some reality to it is, as I've read on Reddit, there's only one toilet per train. I even used the toilet on the electric train and it can't be beat for that "family" experience by which I mean, the door doesn't lock for some reason so I had the door pop open and some people got to see me sitting on the pot. 

On Reddit they're bemoaning this one toilet per train situation, and saying CalTrain personnel have already had people pee in the trash cans. Meanwhile, others are saying, BART has no toilets and people have been getting by fine for decades. So in my dream, there was a little river of pee on the floor which I had to avoid, with some success I emphasize "some". What a weird dream! But in the Talmud it says that dreams don't forecast anything; they're just about things you're worried about or what happened in your day. 

Ebay sales continue to be low. I think it's gonna be like this until the election and then hopefully Harris wins and everyone breathes a sigh of relief or grumbles and then it's back to normal. If Cheatin' Cheeto wins, all bets are off. Turmoil and a huge recession at best, civil war very much on the table. 

I started my day with listing 10 things, one of them a "big" $100 thing. I think  I see what's going on. Our feedback rate is almost 100 a month. But our sales $$ is down. So I think I'm not listing enough big/valuable things. 

I packed about 16 things that had to go out today to not be "overdue", took them to the post office and FedEx, found a large box or three, and stopped by Tom's. He's still sick. James was there and ... he'd gotten his truck into the parking spot under the trees next to this RV and when I'd walked out there with the wrench I hadn't seen him! He'd seen me, and was like, WTF? Guess I'll have to solve the problem myself... he ended up backing his truck all the way back to "his" place across the st. from Tom's. 

I told James I was awfully sorry, that I've been working so much ... I'd also been working extra hard, hadn't eaten much, etc. What I didn't tell him is that I "cheat" by not wearing glasses. I told James he should have yelled louder. That's one thing about James. Unlike most guys he can't really holler. His voice is soft and it's kind of hard to understand him because he says everything super fast. Ah well he got back to his place OK and as I said, "At least I know where to find an 11mm wrench in my shop in a hurry". 

I got back here and tonight's dinner was cooked broccoli with Kewpie mayo on top and then on top of that, sauteed' shabu-shabu beef I got some Nijiya. Good stuff! 

I'd had a couple of tea eggs from 99 Ranch right after the post office so I'm eating a very "keto" diet now and I think I'm adjusted back to burning fat. Under this diet I only lose 1-2 lbs a week and one week I actually gained a lb but the thing is, it's slow and steady and it works. 

Bibi needs to be a hard guy

 Bibi fucked up by not going in hard and fast on October 8th. They'd probably have a lot more hostages retrieved alive. But no, instead Israel's being too soft and my opinion is that the hostages are either (a) dead or (b) going in hard and fast now, causing the terrorists to execute them would give them the welcome relief of death. Israel would be much more respected if he went back to Moshe Dayan policies. 

Tons of Jews/Israelis hate Bibi but the only fault I can see is that his military took on a "macho" aspect which caused them to ignore the warnings of the October 7th attack, which the largely female intelligence corps was trying to tell him about. There's a reason Judaism has more matriarchs than patriarchs, fella. 

It's what's become the usual grind on the radio and on Reddit. Jewish people on Reddit talking about how *none* of their non-Jewish friends checked in with them or cared one bit about the October 7th attack. Actually tons of non-Jewish friends lost over this.

I have no idea why my two pretty much useless, drama-farming, non-Jewish friends back in Hawaii are not talking to me but one reason may be I am a Zionist and they ... seem to think Israel ought to be like Hawaii, a nice theme park to visit, thoroughly tourist-ized and colonized. Just like Hawaii where the "luau" you go to is commercial and staffed by Asians, the hotels are owned by Japanese, "Hawaiian" anything is thoroughly non-Hawaiian, etc. For instance in Whole Foods yesterday I looked at a package of, I believe it was called, "Kahuna Krunch" trail mix. It had pineapple, cashews, macadamia nuts and probably a bit of chocolate, none of these things native to Hawaii.  

Don't get me wrong, Hawaiians are utter savages. It's their own people who screwed them over and some of the chiefs were brutal in a way that would make Eichmann cringe. But they should get a chance in life and instead tons of them are homeless, or working the lowest jobs. They're the tip of the spear for the ruling class, the Asians. So the Hawaiian cop may ticket you for "walking while white" but it's his Asian boss who encourages this. The place is just beyond fucked up.

I was up late last night cleaning things up (like a couple of useful stacking bins the guys next door had tossed out) counting things, moving more capacitors onto the shelf I've set up for them, etc. I did the counting while watching "The Stand" the original 90s one. I know people gush over it but I could just not get into it and eventually changed to an Adam Curtis documentary. 

I listed 10 things, then got to work packing the two things that had to go today and another thing that's really large that took me something like an hour to pack itself. The shipping was super high for that, over $100, so I saw that I could ship it by UPS and it would "only" be $80. But I had to move fast because the UPS nearby that's open late enough to be useful to me, the one at the Doubletree Hotel, closed at 7:30. 

So I loaded the bike trailer up and got out of here, and got it there a few minutes before 7. It's really nice to know about that UPS, that's actually in the hotel. I told the lady there that I'm really glad they're there. 

Then I rode to FedEx with the other two packages and dropped them off, picked up some shipping stuff, and got back here. I put things away and then headed out again for some shopping. I did the usual thing, locked the bike at H Mart and bought a couple things in there and then walked over to Home Goods where I bought some Xylitol gum, Ross where I found a package of 5 black T-shirts, and Sprouts where I got some wine and roast beef. 

It looked weird out there because a lot of the street lights are out. I saw PG&E trucks on my way over to the Doubletree so they're probably working on it. 

I was just going in here when I saw what looked like James' truck. I stopped because I wanted to ask him if Tom's over his covid. But James seemed to stop, halfway across the entryway to the complex here, and not be able to start again. He said the brakes are locking up, but he could push the truck a bit and the wheels seemed to turn fine. We talked about general things - he's not sure if Tom's feeling better or not. And various ways to get the truck going again. 

We came upon the idea of maybe letting fluid out of the brakes so they'd work less well but maybe not lock up. He only needed an 11mm wrench. I told him "Let me put my groceries away and I'll see if I can find an 11mm wrench that won't even be missed". 

I got back in here, put things away, and dug around and found an 11mm wrench that looks like it came out of one of those little motorcycle repair kits. Perfect. I walked back over with it but he was gone so I guess he solved his problem. 

OK time to cook something and eat. I had a big bag of fresh basil I'd gotten from the veggie place, and I went through that, picking the best tips. Then I went back through it again and picked out the nice leaves, and spread them out on cardboard up in the loft. I should have a nice batch of dried basil this way. Then I minced the tips I'd gathered, and cooked them with diced onion, lots of butter, and a bit of tahini to make a pesto sort of thing. Then I fried some rock fish and put that on top. It was delicious. 

Guess we're gonna shofar

 I moved a bunch of heavy stuff around and found a place for some of the capacitors, and am working on places for all of them. Since I'd practiced, I didn't feel this heavy weight of "I need to practice" and then not getting it done because I'd be too tired at the end of the day. 

In yesterday's practice I could see that the free buzzing has been very helpful but I need to put in time on the horn every day too. 

I am just more worried about how sustainable this business I'm working for with Ken is. We'll have a $300 or $400 day and then 2-3 days where where we make like $20 or $30 each day. It's just not sustainable. 

In my experience, when things fail, they fail unexpectedly fast. As I'm too old for a regular company to hire, don't have the eyesight to be a commercial driver, and don't have a fit enough back to do construction, it's the trumpet for me. With the trumpet I can keep a storage unit and by taking Social Security I can pay for a room so that would be the plan. 

Ken has a lease to fulfill on this place so there will be some warning. But it will still be unexpectedly fast. 

I noticed people really ate up the song "Those Were The Day" no, not the hilarious theme song to the old TV show All In The Family but the sad Russian song by the same name. That's what got me out playing that 3rd hour last week. I wanted to try it out. I'm also going to work on one called "Dark Eyes" which was a bit hard to find considering I tried looking under "Brown Eyes" and then I thought it can't be "Black Eyes" and that's what reminded me it's "Dark Eyes". 

People seem to like this kinda sad sounding stuff and it's fun to play so I might be on to something. I like klezmer-ish things and if the public does too, it's a win. 

I signed up for this shofar picnic thing at the Addison Penzak Center in Los Gatos. In our system, people of my social class aren't supposed to have friends or do much of anything but work. I'm defying the system by doing the things like this that I'm doing. Then eventually I'll ultimately defy the system by escaping it to retire in Israel. 

I got out of here a bit after 12, got to Whole Foods and locked the bike and used the loo, and followed my plan of going to the Whole Foods on Hamilton in, I guess, the city of Campbell. 

After the train ride and a walk, I was there and set up. I had a guy, neatly dressed, athletic build, kind of a male Karen type, come up and ask me if I wanted anything from inside. I said that I'd eaten and had ice water and cleaned my mouth and was all set, so there really wasn't anything I wanted, the money's the thing. He went off, and a few minutes later a Karen came up, a Karen who worked for Whole Foods there, and said I can't be closer than 50 feet from the doorway and if I perform I'll have to set up at one of the "islands" in the parking lot. 

I said OK, I'll try it out. I found an "island" with a thin bit of shade due to the palm tree there, and set up and played. This might be better,  I thought, because more people can actually see and hear me. This Whole Foods has 3 entrances so the people going in and out of all three would know I'm there. 

I played for a while, and realized that I'm not playing for people here, I'm playing for cars. And cars don't tip. One actual person, an older Asian man, walked over and put $2 in the box, but that was it. I packed up to go but first I went into the Whole Foods and found out which Karen it was, a Karen named something like Courtney, and she said it's the rule for that building to be 50 feet or more from the entrance. 

I said that was interesting because that complex there was actually the subject of a lawsuit as to whether a private place that's a filled with the public is actually a public place. She said that they don't allow anyone, profit, non-profit, the Girl Scouts, etc. Karen probably thinks the Girl Scouts are Communists. I The first thing I'd asked Karen is if a guy, giving the guy's description, had complained to her about me. She said that No, it was all on her own. 

I have a feeling about two things. First I think Karen's lying. Not only about the 50 feet from the building thing but also about the guy never talking to her. And secondly, Karens are everywhere and they come in the male model too. I've always turned down offers of "something, maybe a bottle of water" but I think I'm going to accept these needless bottles of water from here on out. It gives the Karen something to do. 

I walked back to the train station and rode back to Diridon and went back to my "home", non-Karen-y Whole Foods and set up. I'd played maybe 20 minutes at the Karen-y Whole Foods and made $2. I played a bit over an hour at "my" Whole Foods and made $25.50. After the bit over an hour the wind had become pretty bad and I'd stopped getting tips and I was tired. 

So I went in and got some food and a seltzer water and ate and relaxed, then I went back out there. It was not good, another $2 in another 20 minutes maybe a bit more. There comes a point there the wind is bad enough that people aren't "strolling" by, they're hurrying to avoid being in that wind any more than they have to. 

Maybe I'll try the Old Spaghetti, I decided. I rode by there and there were hardly any people. The same goes for around downtown, except for the $2 hamburger place that's owned by a Trump supporter - I figure that place will go along OK until a bunch of people get food poisoning haha. I'm not sure about busking by there. It's mainly students, who tend to be broke. 

It was the same everywhere else. It's like we're halfway to the End Times - windy, desolate, depopulated - this last because people are swallowed up in cars. And in the end, it's a Monday and it being Labor Day just means there's probably something on TV everyone's at home watching. Some CBS Movie Special or something. 

So in the end it's $29.50 more than I had when the day started, and in Silicon Valley, that's a respectable daily income. 

And playing-wise, I didn't have too much in the way of high-note troubles, and I worked out "Dark Eyes" pretty well. And played lots of Those Were The Days. That last tune went over super well last time, but this time I think it's just that the wind had people tense and non-tippy, and it being a holiday they wanted to rush home with their groceries and not miss that ABC TV Special. 

But I'm glad I played lots of Those Were The Days because a couple of older people really got a kick out of it (last week it was a couple of young guys on solowheels who were entranced) and I had some nice little talks with people. 

I want to work on "Sweet Caroline" next for some good old corny fun.

The resurrection of the fan

 I didn't do much yesterday, but one thing I did was get the fan I thought I'd killed by washing it, down from the loft and tested it - it works fine. I had a feeling that if I put it up there where it's really warm and dry, it might dry out and work again. So now I've got two of these excellent fans. 

I didn't feel like busking today and felt that if my heart's not in it, I should not go. But also, tomorrow's a holiday and if I can get up early enough, I can go busk tomorrow. 

I sat around here and then finally got going, headed for downtown. First I threw out trash, then went to Whole Foods ant spent about $76 on stuff, it was vitamins that made it so expensive. And cream for coffee and wine, and various things. 

I loaded the things into the bike bags and thought I might not have time to get jalapeno peppers at Nijiya so I might as well get 'em here. I went back in and their peppers were a joke. Better ride fast, I told myself, and got over to Nijiya in plenty of time. I then backtracked and actually found a fair number of books. 

Then I got back here.  I put stuff away and eventually got around to practicing but at a normal time, maybe 8:30 at night. The thing is, the people in the machine shop next door, some of them are living in there and the last thing they need is trumpet practice at 2AM. Also, my putting it off until the end of my day is not working because then I'm too tired to feel like doing it. 

After practice I fixed up burger in a bowl and ate, and then moved things around in the warehouse and got some of the capacitors out of the office. As I put it, some are capacitors and some are just "assitors". I threw out a few leakers. 

Saturday night

 On Friday I moved a bunch of the capacitors ... around on the floor of the office so I could get at the laboratory freezer I used as a cupboard, tossed out a box of cables that will never sell, did various things and got going at a bit before 4. 

I tossed out trash, mailed packages, went to the bank to deposit my pay check, and went to Whole Foods for some Whole Foods I guess. Chicken and zucchini and a Guinness. 

I also went to the hardware store for some "canned air" for dusting out my computer and various things, and some lock lubricant for the door lock which seems to be sticky and doesn't latch well unless I slam it. 

The service was the usual fun. Singing and watching hummingbirds fly around, and lots of good old schmoozing afterwards. 

I rode back here and had my dinner and went to sleep next to the big pile of capacitors in the office. 

Today well, obviously didn't do much.