What a night

 I had it all together last night. I washed my hair and shaved and had clean clothes all lined up to change into after cleaning up in the morning, had my alarm clock set for 8AM, etc. I went to bed around 12:30 or 1AM. 

Then around 3:30AM there was tons of noise outside, guys talking, parking cars, etc because the old Salt Unlimited place, now rented out by some people who appear to be pimps, drug dealers, something along that line, was holding their biggest bash ever. I kept hoping it would quiet down and more people kept coming, making noise. I finally got up and put in another report with the San Jose Police Dept. 

But then something pretty funny happened. As soon as I hit "return" police cars came in, and there were four of them with their lights on and who knows how many at the other end of the parking lot, and I hope they thoroughly ruined the fun. 

So someone else is narc'ing on them too. It could be anyone from the guy in the RV who never bothers anyone down at the other end, someone from the welding place (Mormons) or someone else. The thing is, I'm not the only one having their sleep ruined by this. 

I felt I needed to get back to sleep quickly so I drank some more wine. and went to bed. My alarm woke me up at 8, but then I decided to "rest" a little and slept until 10:30. Too late for the class I'd signed up for. I realized I'd screwed up and slept some more until almost 2 in the afternoon. 

So the usual get-up routine. Turn on the lights, turn on the radio, on NPR of course. I love NPR, I love shows like "On The Media" and the science programming, shows like "Code Switch" the name of which makes me smile because anyone who grew up in Hawaii knows what that is. 

But today they had noted anti-Semite "Te Nahasi Coates" going on and on about hatred if Israel and the horrible un-human-ness of Jews in general. They gave him an hour of air time. 

This was the final straw as yesterday they'd run a really nice piece about a mixed Black-Indian family and their darling daughter and her dog whose name is like 7 names long, and it was so nice and cute, and then they went right into the daughter screaming "FREE 'PALESTINE'" and the whole family going into their Jew-hatred routine. 

I suspect German radio was like this by 1932-33, nice stories about a cutesy German family then right when the listener is feeling good about the world, it would be dropped in that the Jews want to drain the family's children's blood or something. 

So I wrote to NPR about "California Report" where the cutesy Jews-hating family was featured, and to KQED about the Coates blast of anti-Semitism and told both of them they won't get another thin dime from me. I'd just started giving $60/year because I listen to them so much but no more, never. That money should have gone to Tablet magazine or something. 

The problem now is what I've learned is called the "horseshoe theory" that the far-Right and the far-Left both hate Jews, hate the family, hate empathy, and in the end it doesn't matter whether it's Hitler or Pol Pot who kills you, either one of them will make you very dead. 

So it's not just a matter of "Vote Blue" you have to vote for people who aren't loony-Left. You have to vote centrist. I would even say to vote for a Republican if they're a centrist Republican like Arnold Schwartzenegger was. But I'm not sure there are any of those any more. The Republican party has become a cult, so voting for any of them is out. So the solution is to vote Dem but not the loony-Left ones like Bernie Sanders, for instance. 

Today's been mainly sitting around hoping this headache will go away. It's only decreased a bit and that's after some pickle juice, hot sauce, and an iced creamy coffee. 

Eventually I headed out, at maybe 7:30? I rode by way of Hedding to Whole Foods and wanted to have a Guinness and hang out at the bar, watch some sports, and socialize a bit. Johnny, the bartender, and I, and another guy talked about the election, and I got a lot of compliments about my trumpet playing - the general consensus seems to be that I am improving, and playing new songs. It was very good to hear. 

We also talked about Rabbit Trumpet Guy and well, how bad he was. I told them about his really bad attitude and how there's a Sharks hockey site where he's talked about a lot, the funniest post being something like "He's been playing for at least the 15 years I've gone to Sharks games, how come he never improves?" None of us knew what has happened to the guy though.

It wasn't a Guinness I drank, though, as they didn't have any singles so I got a Pliny The Elder which is $7, then tipped the bartender $2 for opening it for me and handing me a glass, so that's a $9 beer but that's pretty part for the course these days. (Honestly upstairs they don't care if you get a $2 PBR and they'll give you a glass anyway.) 

When it was about a half hour to closing, I finished my beer and did some shopping. Then the plan was to ride home by way of Hedding, but I realized I really had to pee. I ended up riding back to Whole Foods to do that, then rode home by way of Hedding. I dithered around a bit going to the Foster's Freeze, to find it was closed. I felt like buying a couple of big burgers and eating those without the buns which I'd leave out for the birds. So much for that plan. 

When I got back here I really had to pee again, that Pliny The Elder has quite a diuretic effect. At least I have my groceries in, and back here safe and sound and warm. It might rain tomorrow.