New Years' Eve Coinstar Capers

 I woke up with a headache and the internet was down. So, a pretty normal start to the day in Silicon Valley (may not apply if you're in the top 1%). 

I took a Tylenol and had some breakfast and studied some Hebrew, then reset the router and that didn't work so the problem wasn't us. 

I took the change I'd been saving up and a bunch of things to donate and headed out; it was around 2 in the afternoon. I dropped off the stuff at the little free library in Japantown, and had quite a little talk with a guy about how and where to get a bike like mine. 

I rode down to Walmart and it turned out had two people ahead of me at the Coinstar. Neither were used to using the machine, so I helped them out and the first guy had two silver dimes kicked back, which I paid him a dollar for and he was glad to get. The second couple had a lot of foreign coins, French and Japanese and so on, which they said I could just have. 

Then I ran my coins through and what you do you, the machine worked perfectly. No kick backs. Because I wasn't trying to cram too many coins through at once. My change came to about $45. 

I waited in line to cash in my receipt, and the 2nd couple, older Vietnamese folks, were right behind me so we got into why sugar-free candy still isn't good for you if you have diabetes which the lady had. I pointed out how many carbs were in the little package of sugar free chocolate covered caramels she'd picked out. In the end she ended up buying her few bags of them. 

I got my money and did some shopping, waited in line more to pay for my stuff, that was that. Enough Walmart. The Coinstar was busy, and I was there just when a young Asian guy got done cashing in his change, and walked off, leaving at least $3 in change in the slot, again only kicked back because he'd put his change in too quickly. 

I took a quick look at Customer Service to verify that indeed, they no longer stock batteries behind the counter, (I need a couple CR2032's for my calculator) had to walk past the Coinstar again, and a guy was having trouble, having shoved so many coins in that they were jammed. I got my pocketknife out and un-jammed them and explained how he has to put them in more slowly, but that was only the beginning of his problems. I think he'd just started shoveling coins in without starting the process of choosing between cash, gift cards, or just donation, and the machine defaults to donation. He finally got the last of his change in, and I said, "I think you just lost all your money" and he said, "I hope not!" and I told him he might have to get someone to help him, and got out of there. 

So I ended up ahead by two silver dimes, a bunch of foreign coins I left outside Big-5 because I don't care, and at least $4 in change, mostly quarters.

I considered going over to Whole Foods but decided to head on back here, because if the internet was back up, I could pack a thing I told a guy I'd mail today and so I'd be keeping my promise. 

I stopped at Nijiya, of course, for a bento and a few other things. And rode back here. Once back here I saw that the internet was indeed back, packed the guy's thing, packed two other small things, and caught up with messages and offers on Ebay. 

I rode up to the post office and I was able to mail the things no problem. I went to 99 Ranch thinking my $4.25 in change should cover a couple of packages of peanut butter mochi but they don't have the simple ones any more, just ones with a layer of marshmallow around the peanut butter center. Yuck! So I got a pound of "beef trimming" to try out in soup instead. 

I feel kind of bad not being out busking, and I haven't been practicing so while I could pick up one of my horns and go out tomorrow, I'd probably sound like crap and it's bloody cold out there too. I do need to get back to practicing and going out busking though, because if it's going to be my retirement career I need decent skills. 

RIP JC

 Jimmy Carter died yesterday. One of the greatest of the Greatest Generation (he didn't fight in WWII because he was in the Naval Academy) and while not perfect, he will be remembered as one of the greatest people this country has produced. 

I had time to pack and ship 17 things, go to Ross where I found a package of underwear for $10, do some shopping at H Mart, and get back here. After cooking and eating dinner, I took some things apart to have parts to list tomorrow. 

The condition my condition is in

 Today's a rain day. Last night it was a big party as usual at the illegal casino/brothel but the cops seem to know about things and there were a couple of drive-throughs, some drive-bys on Rogers Avenue, and at the end, a cop car came in and flashed its lights (an undercover SUV) and the people didn't quite do their rats-leaving-the-sinking-ship routine but they did leave. Also I saw another undercover car come in and park right by the SUV and (the people almost all gone now) the driver - another cop - hang out with the cops from the SUV. So it's on their map. 

All in all the idiots were not too loud, and I need to simply get good at sleeping through these midnight parties. After all, the guy in the RV up at the other end of the parking lot right next to Rogers has to sleep through all kinds of noise. 

I finally did a weigh-in and I've lost a couple more pounds, which is good. I woke up with a headache I think because I've been allowing carbs to sneak back into my diet so that's got to change. 

I'm to the point now where I don't really think about pain pills, am taking a Tylenol 500 when I wake up and other than that, am only taking them if I feel like I need to, which I pretty much don't now. 

My upper body strength is shit right now and I was only able to do "cheater" push-ups a couple of days ago. How embarrassing! But I'll keep things up. I do feel like, if I had to, I could make my way in the world as a sign painter, which involves being able to move my left hand around freely to paint large letters. 

This has interested me for a few reasons. Firstly, my being expected to become an artist resulted in my being more familiar with art materials and techniques than the average person by far. Secondly, if I ended up "street" homeless, I can't really busk for more than a couple of hours a day. Adding in a couple more hours making funny/decorative signs would be a big help. And lastly, it would really help my Hebrew if I got into making signs in this language. 

In Israel, it seems the "shuk" or market, something like the Capital or Berryessa flea market, is a big deal. And people always need signs in a place like that. If I got handy at dashing off signs in English/Hebrew it would make me a fluent speaker in short order, and I'd always be fed. 

It's very hard to get a real picture of how things are in Israel from the other side of the world, but people will throw just about anything up on YouTube and based on my being able to compare how YouTube depicts "the real Hawaii" compared to my own knowledge of it, I think it's pretty accurate if you know what to look for. 

One way of describing my impression of the place is that it's like working-class Hawaii except with actual health care and public transit and with the native language actually revived and spoken, and a sense of people-hood. 

Things Hawaii could have in an ideal world but instead it's a thoroughly colonized (by the US and Japan and China) tourist money-trap serviced by a largely imported (100+ years ago in the cases of Japanese and Chinese, or as recent as last week in the case of groups like Filipinos) working class. As for Hawaiians, they're the largest group of homeless in the place. That they're a bunch of thugs doesn't keep me from knowing they got a raw deal. 

It's probably a stupid habit; it's certainly a depressing one most of the time, but I read r/homeless on Reddit every day and the one thing that impresses me is that the people posting on there seem to have one thing very strongly in common: they don't have any sort of skill that sets them apart from the herd. This seems very strange to me, coming from a background where you had to be very "akamai" or smart, to just survive. 

Maybe this is the kind of blandness that comes from being a part of the majority. Like being Japanese or at least Asian, back in Hawaii. You didn't have to worry about your very existence being questioned or endangered. Your position in life was set out for you - you were going to operate the business your parents started or your high school buddy would set you up with a high-paying job at the shipyard. Or you'd work for the post office or some other government position, the kind of job where you'd never see a "haole". 

Here on the mainland, white people are the majority of homeless, simply due to sheer numbers but also because of the norms of white culture - hyper-individualism. It's a new thing to be homeless, to them, and rather than growing up with it, they're newly introduced to the concept that they can't go into many stores, that they're followed and suspected of being shoplifters in many they are, and that their very existence is in question. No wonder so many of them voted for, if they can, their bloated Germanic god who told them he'd make America "great" (which means white) again. 

I'm reminded of a time I was walking around by the Britannia Arms downtown, and there was one of those Black Hebrew Israelite types ranting on the sidewalk. There was a skinny white guy arguing with him, and he turned to me and said, "This guy hates you because you're white". I kind of shrugged and said where I'm from, that's just Tuesday afternoon and he doesn't have to like me. 

Anyway back to skills or lack thereof. I guess it's kind of foreign to these Majority-Americans that they might want to have some kind of "ace up their sleeve" skill that they can make use of when no one will hire them. Today there's a discussion on r/homeless about how shelters don't want a person to work. Some, according to the discussion, even tell their residents not to work. This is because to the Homeless-Industrial Complex, homeless and desperate people are cash cows. Can't have them getting back on their feet, that's many thousands of dollars a year they lose. But if you have a sneaky skill they can't rub out, like you busk, or do odd jobs, or do crafts or signs or something, that's hard to keep a person from doing. 

Busted

 Last night in the middle of the night the illegal casino/brothel set up for a banger of a night. All kinds of dodgy characters driving in, playing loud music, etc. It was off to a rollicking start by 2:30AM then around 3:30 maybe closer to 4, suddenly everyone wanted to leave. 

I'd seen a small black SUV come in, and somehow I thought it might be an undercover police car. It waited approximately in front of the place then parked, then that's when I noticed everyone starting to leave in a hurry. It appears a regular police car was out on Rogers, and the people leaving created a traffic jam trying to get out that way, so they eventually all turned around and went out the other way in a hurry. By this time there was a police car with its lights flashing in the parking lot and the cops were talking with one guy - I didn't see if they took anyone away but they may well have. 

I like to think that with these illegal operations, sooner or later someone loses a lot of money on the gambling side of things or catches something from the brothel side of the operation, and "drops a dime". Of course these same things will happen at the legal casinos and there are certainly streetwalkers circulating around them, but they don't get shut down from a mere complaint. 

Like a chicken with its head cut off

 I had some rather awful dreams last night and was glad to wake up. The illegal casino/brothel up the way was operating but due to the rain the relatively few customers parked as close as possible to the doorway so none parked right in front of the shop here. 

I've thought of ways to rain on their parade. I could take some of the pallets around here and make A-frame things to put in the two parking spots by my door, marked NO PARKING but that won't keep them from parking in adjacent spots and making noise anyway. 

Another hack might be to "blow it up" by advertising it, making little flyers to distribute around but I'm not sure where to distribute them around anonymously. Not the legal casinos, which have cameras everywhere. So that's kind of a dead end also. 

I can only hope that over time the place "blows up" on its own, like this bar up the street did which was an illegal gambling den and all fine until a guy got shot. That put an end to that. 

In other news the digs against Dirty Diaper Don about "President Musk" are not only hilarious but working, so the MAGA idiots are starting to fight like cats in a sack. The morons who voted them in are starting to realize Nazism might not work for them, as they are in fact the "weak" that are to deprived of gov't benefits. If they were real Aryans, they'd be making $100k+ haha. 

One can only hope that the country can keep functioning somehow, like a chicken with its head cut off that still runs around etc. 

The day after Christmas ...

 I woke up around 10:30 or 11 or something. It was supposed to stay clear and not rain until "after 5AM" but I'm thinking someone typed it wrong and meant "after 5PM" because... 

I had something close to 20 things to pack, and did so, even packing some hard to find things that took some time to, well, find. By this time it was 4:30 in the afternoon and since it was supposed to rain all weekend, I decided why not get this one last very large thing sent out? 

So I packed it, which took about an hour which is how it always is with the big ones, and I heard a funny sound outside. It had started to rain. I put the other things, all small or pretty much so, into big plastic bags and loaded up the bike, put on what rain gear I have, and set out. 

It kept raining, so it wasn't just a small squall passing over. I got things mailed and headed back here, stopping at the African store for a few things since after all I may be holed up for the next few days. 

I got back here and hung my wet jacket and hat up, fixed up some hot soup, and got warmed up and dried out. And hours later as I write this, it's still raining steadily. 

Christmas

 I went to bed at about 2AM last night, woke up at 6AM then went back to sleep until about 10AM maybe closer to 11AM. Sleep is good. 

The last time I was at Whole Foods I noticed that there were tons of people going in and out and I could have made "bank" if I were out busking. If I hadn't had my back injury I'd probably have been out there hitting it hard, but I'd probably still be drinking, having my bottle of wine a night and considering that OK. And might I have found the cornet I recently bought? So, so many things would be different. The worst of which being that I'd still be a drinker. 

After some breakfast I got together a lot of books that I'd normally take over to the used book store to get whatever pittance I'd get in trade value, then take most of them - that hadn't sold - to the little free library over on Shasta and stuffed them in there. Instead I took the books with me on my way to Japantown, dropped off trash on the way, and stuffed them into the little free library there. 

Nijiya Market was the only place open and even they hadn't been very busy, as evidenced by all the onigiri still on the shelf. I got some Q-tips since I was out of them, other odds and ends, and a "holiday chicken leg", probably the last time I'll be able to get one for about a year. 

It was also pretty cold outside. So even if I had been all geared up to go busking at Whole Foods, I'd probably have been miserable. It was probably dead there because it sure was in J-town. 

I rode back along 4th and noticed some interesting foam in a dumpster - pieces that appear to be some low-budget sound-deadening pieces that someone had stuck to their walls and then, later, taken down. Pretty good packing material. So I stuffed them into a large plastic bag I had with me and rode home with my Nijiya bag on one side, and this big bag stuffed full of foam pieces on the other. 

Along 10th street a black car slowed down next to me and as I slowed down, slowed down also. I stopped as the car stopped and with the demeanor of someone who's found a wasp nest that needs a spraying, got the pepper spray I had in my bike bag, out. The zombess in the car was saying things in Zombese, the trouble being that I can barely understand the patois of zombies / the underclass. They all sound like they've gargled with Drano before taking a bite of cole slaw and then trying to speak. 

Seeing the pepper spray in my hand, the zombess puttered off down the road and at the intersection, took the branch that would lead her to some zombie hangouts and ultimately, a very skeezy and crime-ridden liquor store. Enjoy your Christmas, ghoul. 

I got back here and put things away and then, having put the bike away, walked around the complex to pick up some big pieces of foam from a dumpster just around the corner of the building. Handy stuff. Then I burned some trash and shut the place up for the night.

X-Mas Eve

 Yesterday I was able to get up in time to pack some things to mail, and hop on the train to Menlo Park for some business, come back and do the usual Whole Foods and Nijiya shopping, and get back in here in plenty of time to miss the rain that came in overnight. 

Apparently I slept right through a pretty rainy stormy period before noon, and it's been pretty wet all day which is fine with me. 

I'm sure I needed the sleep because I took a big thing apart that was some work.

The real scoop on Hanukkah

 Overnight last night the illegal gambling den/brothel had a banger of a night, and this made it hard to sleep. I only got a few hours' sleep and then surprised myself by getting up in time to go to a class being held at the temple  - separate from the Intro To Judaism thing - and there I learned the real scoop on Hanukkah, a thing we were supposed to learn last Tuesday but did not. 

After class I went over to Whole Foods and had a slice of pizza, then rode over to Walmart for things, got more things at Nijiya, then got back here and packed 5 things that were small enough that I figured I could get them into the drive-through mail boxes anyway. But the doors were open and the chute working, so dropping them off at the post office was no problem. 

I stopped at Tom's to hang out a bit on my way back but his wife was there and they were having a fine fight over how bookmarks and tabs and things work in Windows. Tom said he was "kind of stuffed" so he didn't want any of the mochi I brought by, but I gave a couple to his wife and took off. She doesn't visit that often and I didn't want to butt in, especially if they were going to wind up to a good old fight. 

I got back here and ate and eventually packed the 5 things I had left, to take with me tomorrow. Tomorrow's going to be dry and Tuesday rained out. 

Cold and foggy Friday

 I woke up around 11, and even around noon it's foggy and dark. 

I should mention that "dead internet theory", the theory that the internet is becoming nothing but old shit and bots, has some basis in reality. 

I used to follow a blogger named Morris Berman but he's gone over to something called "Substack" which can't be connected to. "The Archdruid Greer" has some sort of page of his own that's much more obscure and hard to find, "Bison" of "Bison Survival Blog", last I heard, has gone over to publishing an actual paper newsletter. I write this blog not because I expect anyone to read it but because I'm in the habit of writing it. 

Rabb1t just writes about the same old shit and seems to be happy being in the same "place" he was 10 years ago or more. Ran Prieur had a few rough years when he was a lot younger, waiting as most Boomers do, for his parent(s) to die and leave him a house or houses, which he's done, and now he's "shittin' in tall cotton" as the saying goes. It still doesn't keep him from cyber-begging though. 

Surprisingly, I got an email from one of my Hawaii friends, the one with 2-3 houses and tons of stuff, who's (a) worried that the big bad gov't will take it all away (which is what happens when you don't pay your taxes etc.) and yet won't allow anyone to help him. I'm surprised he's still alive, as he said he'd not be by this time. He's got gold-plated fancy engraved health insurance and like any conservative, is taking all the gov't handouts he can, so I guess that's what's keeping him going. 

Cold yet sunny Thursday

 Ken came over last night and we had the usual talk session, and I suggested I just deposit the $800 check of his I still have here and that will take care of this week and next week so he doesn't have to worry about coming over on Christmas Eve. He said that's a good plan. 

I was very tired, worked on some things to get parts to list, with only a little reward for my efforts. 

I woke up around 11 or so, had one little switch to send out to a guy, and got out of here a bit past noon, maybe closer to 1PM. I dropped the switch in the mail at the downtown post office, rode over to Whole Foods to at least use the loo. Joke was on me because the door would not unlock and would not even for an employee who was using her employee code to try to get int. 

No problem, I thought, I'll use it at the train station. I walked over there just in time for a train to have left, so I had a half hour to kill anyway. Well, their loo was closed for cleaning and then when it sounded like they were opening it, some homeless guy/bum started some kind of loud argument at the door and I stayed away. 

Instead I had a nice fun talk with this young security guy at the Amtrak side of Diridon. He has an 07 Prius and I had an 05, so I told him about the secret compartment in the center console, so secret that even though I'd bought my Prius as a "certified pre-owned" and thus really carefully checked over, there were things in there from the previous owner. We were having a fun time talking until a guy came up who needed help with something so I left to go wait for my train. 

I ended up on the platform with some people who'd come from Sacramento or somewhere between Oakland and Sacramento for ... a day exploring the train system? I told them about how easy it is to get to Fisherman's Wharf from the CalTrain terminus so maybe they did that. 

As for myself I rode up to Menlo Park and did some business, and had a couple of pastries in this little Middle-Eastern place. There was a Chinese gal there on her laptop apparently on a call or a video call, where she was trying to tell the person an address, and the problem seemed to be that she didn't understand the difference between the abbreviations "st." and "ste." So I told her the "ste." is actually short for "suite" which generally just means an office number; it's just a fancy way of saying it. The thing being, if she types it into Google, Google will always see it as "suite" not "street". She was happy to learn about this, just another pitfall in good old English. 

On the way back I got off at Palo Alto and walked over to the Patagonia store to look around. Almost nothing was in biking-friendly colors and $200 for a fleece pullover? I got on the next train which was a limited so it got back to Diridon quickly. 

I rode over to Walmart and got some things, and stopped at Nijiya on the way back for a bento. I sure didn't feel like cooking tonight. 

OK so enough boring shit. Let's say I, as a brass player, decided to retire in New Orleans after all. I guess the first thing I'd do is get with the New Orleans Busking Ministry or whatever they're called, because they actually *like* buskers and *want* them, although they want actual music not people running sidewalk karaoke shows or playing endless Grateful Dead (California) music. They want music that has veritable blues/jazz roots. 

Next if I were to have a blog, I'd fill it with the juicy details of how my daily "busk" went or even if it were not a working day, maybe my visit to this or what music store to get whatever it is I need and my interactions with other musicians and the people working there. 

This is what people would want to actually read because many, many people like to daydream about being a street musician and not having to worry about the morning/evening commute, bills, their quarterly review, etc. Not that they're about to go out and do it, but they love reading the day to day nuts and bolts account of someone actually doing it. 

For instance take "Nomadic Fanatic" on YouTube. I started following him some years ago and while there are things about him that are irritating (his high squeaky voice, his hot dogs and pop tarts diet, some questionable life choices) I've also watched him go from the kind of cheap'n'cheesy RV you see parked out on the streets all over around here that you can probably buy for a thousand bucks, to, somehow, a house in the Midwest, a big RV, a motorcycle, a drone or three, and his latest is a full size school bus. Somehow the guy just keep chugging along and he shows the nuts and bolts of his daily life. 

And it all started out with him putting out YouTube videos and selling stickers. He just went to one of those online companies that will print up stickers for you, and had some printed up. People would mail him money and he'd mail out the stickers. 

And this is just a boring guy some have nicknamed "Tater" who goes around to mildly interesting places and has adventures like stumbling on some rocks. Somehow the guy has enough money coming in to travel around, not have to work, not living on the gov't dime, and he has fun. I admire that.

Now think if you're a musician in New Orleans, on the mainland US pretty much "the" street music ground zero and birthplace of jazz. That's much more interesting. You could have followers and a fan club and have all kinds of things on Etsy or Tee Spring etc., T-shirts and little goodie bags with some stickers and imprinted guitar picks, that sort of thing. It's a lot easier way to get "known" and have a fan base than trying to "open" for this or that big act, which is just about impossible. 

Assuming this is what one would want to do. Myself being a trumpet player I'd probably want to offer things like wah-wah mutes made out of actual coconut shells which is how that was first done, and various bits and bobs for trumpets. 

And I'd sure make sure my blog shows up on Google, not one page of it from last September, but the latest post. Maybe set up a sub-Reddit on Reddit. If the goal is "fame and fortune" those are the steps. If the goal has changed to, "Sit back, collect welfare, and smokum crack pipe" than this is all moot. 

And now the funny stuff: This just in, from the Internet-O-sphere: Our new President is fElon Musk, Dirty Diaper Don is First Lady. 

Wednesday

 Last night I was able to take my bike onto the light rail and ride to the Winchester station, take the route I'd figured was best from Winchester to Lark to "Other Santa Cruz / Los Gatos" whatever the street is called, up to Blossom Hill and over to the temple. I was an hour early and to pass the time helped a Chipotle delivery driver find the person who'd ordered 5 big boxes of stuff and helped him carry the stuff inside, studied my books in the cold outside and finally, inside, when the front doors were unlocked. 

A good crowd showed up and the class went well. I made some good jokes like, "If the Hebrew word for 'meat' is 'bashar', then what is Bashar Al-Assad?" I was able to check my name off on the attendance sheet but this goes back to my college days in Hawaii. As a hated minority I have to excel and make sure people remember that I was in the class so no one can say I wasn't there at every session. (In Hawaii if you're Asian you can sit back, not say a peep, turn in your papers and mediocre work and get an A while a "haole" will have to excel and will get a B or a C.) 

The ride back was a bit eerie as it was a bit foggy. The ride back to the Winchester station went easily being downhill, though, and there was a train there waiting so that was neat. And it only took 1/2 hour to go from there to the Airport/Metro light rail station. 

I stopped in at this pizza place and got a veggie and cheese slice, more expensive then Pizza My Heart and not as good but any place that's open past 9PM has the market cornered. I then went to the casino and got a big croissant and got home and stuffed it with butter and ate that, too. 

Tuesday night class

 I woke up around 9:30 which wasn't bad. I packed things, listed 10 things, and was able to get out of here around 3 in the afternoon.

Rainy monday

 I watched about half of "Adventures Of A Mathematician" on YouTube last night, then went to bed, and woke up a few hours later and could not get back to sleep. So I got up, had some cinnamon and water, and watched the rest of it, then went back to bed. I also treated my right thumb nail with plenty of tea tree oil, as it was painful as sometimes happens due to a weird little fungus that makes it have black streaks, that I've had since I was about 11 years old. I should keep up the tea tree oil daily. 

I slept soundly, only waking up when I'd breathed in some irritating thing and it woke me up. There's all kinds of crap in the air here. It was past noon. And raining. 

Nothing much else going on. There's the daily school shooting, this time at a private Christian school. And NPR is making Jews and Israel seem like the worst thing since ISIS and also had an interview with a "Palestinian" who's a bodybuilder, that's right, bodybuilding requires at least 2X the calories of a normal person and something like 3X-4X the protein. The selfish little shit could be working on something like yoga that's useful for life and giving his extra calories to fellow "Palestinians" in need but given that "Palestinians" have the ethics of the smallpox virus, that's not gonna happen and NPR did their best to make him seem like a saint. 

This is why NPR isn't getting another thin dime from me. 

This is also why I'm very disappointed in other bloggers I've followed for years. Ran Prieur, for instance, who just took a vacation in Ireland and raved about it, Hey Ran, maybe next time you'll get to go with your Irish buddies and torch a synagogue? 

Sunday

 Sunday and at 11AM it's 51 degrees out so it's sunny but not all that warm. But tomorrow it's going to rain again so I have to do things today. 

I'm not out busking with my new cornet because, in the same way Leroy is doing things with his new Selmer sax, I feel it's too nice to take out onto the street and since the Connstellation is so heavy, the plan is to sell that, sell the Yamaha trumpet, and once I've got the cash saved up, go to Hornucopia in San Carlos and find a nice short cornet with a shepherd's crook, used, that can be my busking horn. 

Interestingly, at the music store on Friday, the ditzy guy let me hold a Bach model 37 "Stradivarius" trumpet which is considered the standard professional horn. "Wow, it's heavy" was my reaction. He then went into a little lecture about how Bach-Selmer had their brass sheet supplier lower the quality or something and they didn't check up on it, the result being these heavy horns. 

Well, heavy horns are not for me. But maybe this is why, among those who pay close attention to such things, the trumpets etc made during this period are considered not as good or "inconsistent". Meanwhile a Yamaha Xeno is going to play like every other Yamaha Xeno of that model. 

I packed two things to send FedEx and as I was taking off for there, noticed good old "Renee", a homeless "lady" who was a constant troublemaker who lived in the parking lot here and fought with everyone, even her own son and daughter. "Renee" was picking up trash in the parking lot, which was her old ploy to make herself seem like someone people would want around. It didn't work. 

I rode a couple of circuits of the parking lot here, making sure to give her a look like I'd give to an especially annoying pest animal I'm about to "retire" with a pellet gun. Then took off to take the packages to FedEx and on the way back rode around the larger area a bit to look for "Renee's" RV. She's always had this distinctive RV with the roof painted dark green. I didn't see it but I saw her walking toward an RV that's been parked on the public street in front of the complex here for a week or three. 

Then I took off for downtown. I had a bento at Nijiya and Japantown was buzzing. Hence I saw with some other people at one of the tables in front and had a nice talk about Hawaii, Japan, etc. Then I rode over to the Amazon place where  I got a ton of bubble mailers, and then down to the small Walmart for some things. 

The Walmart had been really busy it seemed because tons of stuff was wiped out. No paper towels, but I was able to get some other useful things and I even found a silver dime (along with a regular dime and a 50 centavos piece) in the Coinstar. And I actually only spent $26 or so. 

I don't think it ever warmed up above the 50s outside. Sunny but wintry. 

 

 

Saturday night

 Friday went well. I woke up in plenty of time to have breakfast and get over to the temple for the scheduled meeting with the rabbi (he wants us to meet once a month) and we talked for almost an hour. 

Leaving there, I found myself on Taylor Street and decided to, instead of turning on El Camino Real, to keep going ahead and see if the music store is open. It was not, so I had a breakfast burrito next door that was too big for me to actually finish. 

Then I went to the music store where the guy there, who said he was a trombone player, helped me out. They had the 2nd Getchell book but not the first, but he said "Hickey Music" in New York or something like that, would be good to order it from. 

I also wanted to look at their used mouthpieces and in the end I got a Bach 7C for cornet, but maybe an older one as it says "VINCENT BACH CORP." on it, for $20. The guy said $20 out the door was fine, then when I left he chased after me saying I owed another $1.88 in tax, and I said that's not how it works and that most people calculate the price so it comes out to $20 with the tax and his reaction was something like "Ohh yeah... I can do that". Really ding-y guy. 

The mouthpiece is interesting though. Looking at the Bach Loyalist web site, it seems it was made in the 1970s, earlier than 1974, and just by looking at it and feeling with my fingers, it looks really, really close to my 3C trumpet mouthpiece. So although I just wanted something cheap and generic to put with the Connstellation which I'm considering selling, I may have just bought another keeper. 

The rest of the day was doing some shopping and getting back to the shop, then taking some things to FedEx to get 'em out. I didn't go to the service because it was forecast to rain, which it did. 

Menlo Park

 Today I got up at 8:30 horray for me. Now I just need to wake up by 8AM tomorrow, so I have 1/2 hour to wake up and 1/2 hour to ride to the temple to make the meeting with the rabbi I have, that is scheduled for 9AM. 

But today I packed a few things, had breakfast, etc., and got out of here around 11AM, went to the bank and first thing, asked if the last deposit I'd made, last week, was for $800. It was. Ken, last night, made out my weekly pay check for $400, but also gave me one dated December 1st, for $800. I said he'd already paid me, but I'll ask at the bank to make sure, and if I've already been paid (I have) I'd have the $800 check here for him to figure out what to do next. 

Post office drop-offs done and banking done, I rode over to Whole Foods to lock up the bike and get a Siggi yogurt drink, and walked over to the train station. I only had to wait about 15 minutes, and it seems during the middle of the day like this all the trains are locals so going to Menlo Park is no problem. The new electric trains are really nice too. 

I got my business done, and stopped in at the Starbucks there for use of their loo and to have some kind of pastry with turkey and rosemary or something in it. It was actually pretty good. 

I counted at least 4 shops on Santa Cruz avenue there, selling "Persian" or "Oriental" rugs. Really nice ones, the prices are probably like the prices of cars. 

I got on a train back, and got off at California Avenue to go to Mollie Stone's and got a few things, then rode back to Diridon. I went to the little store there and had a bag of popcorn while talking to the lady, who loves to talk about things relating to bicycles. 

I went back to Whole Foods and got a few more things, then rode to the Amazon place for some bubble mailers, then to Nijiya for a few things (like dinner) and then rode back here as it honestly turned from a little drizzle to rain. 

It felt good to get back in here and hang my wet clothes up and sit here with heater on. 

Tuesday 4th class session

 I did a shipping run, and got back in time to clean up, and take off for downtown. I decided riding to the Walgreen's on Santa Clara and 17th would be quicker than taking the bus, so I zipped over there and bought more Ibuprofen, then stopped by the Amazon place for bubble mailers, then rode over to the temple and sat on the low wall in front, eating pistachio nuts I'd bought at Walgreen's. 

I was worried there'd been a last minute change of venue, but at about 10 minutes before the start time people showed up. 

As it's been so far it was fun. The Hebrew part was fun, and the the Judaism part was fun too. We ended the session by going into the sanctuary and going up on the bimah, and getting to see up close the cool things there like the yad used there, which is from the 1860s or so. 

It was cold, and I had time to go to Whole Foods on my way back and get a few things. 

Monday was blah

 Just packing more stuff, getting it shipped, finding some packing stuff etc. At least I found a couple of pounds of walnuts so  I can keep feeding my birdies or eat them myself if I toast them first. 

This is but one example of how different life on the mainland is. I find cans and cans of food, pastries, bread, fruit, veg, pasta, all kinds of things discarded/donated all the time. If, as a kid in the 1970s in Hawaii, I'd found *one* package of spaghetti, or one can of tomato sauce, it would have been a striking lifetime memory. 

In fact in the 1980s, when I was in my first apartment and only working 8 hours a day, money was tight and I found a bunch of MREs in the apartment dumpster. I fished out as many as I could without climbing in (should have climbed in) and each day after work I'd go home and have an MRE. 

Another thing that's struck me lately is, here on the mainland there's been a lot of effort and even laws passed to make welcome those who are "immigrants" (non-white) but who were brought here by their parents while their ages were still in the single digits and thus, grew up as Americans. They're called "dreamers" and it's been acknowledged that it'd be unjust and cruel to send them back to a country they didn't grow up in and probably don't speak the language of. 

In Hawaii you can be 5th generation living in Hawaii (I've met a guy who was) and white and you'll always be an outsider. Hell we "local haoles" do that to each other. I thought my friend Pat was a mainland import but hope, he'd grown up in Hawaii as I had. 

I, with my olive skin, could actually pass as more "local" than most. By turning up the Pidgin a little and wearing a dress code that's subtle but that no tourist will ever crack, I could be considered "pretty local". But I'd get tired of the old place pretty fast. 

Sunday

 I went to the service on Friday night and that went well, pain not too bad, forgot my glasses so I sat near the front to see the screen, and had a good old hangout and schmooze session afterwards. 

On Saturday I actually woke up at 7, didn't get going until about 8:30 or 9:00 though. I rode out to the light rail station and the cold wasn't too bad at all. I had to wait 23 (I think) minutes for a train, took said train to downtown Campbell, then rode on Campbell blvd. to where it changes to Prospect and to the place. 

The service was still going on (it was just before 11) and Iris from my own temple (where she's one of the office staff) greeted me and showed me where we were in the siddur. "I'm gonna stick by you," I said, and sat next to her, only to find she's in a position only somewhat less important than that of the rabbis, and led a lot of singing and prayers. It turns out Beth David is her home temple. 

Afterward the lunch was all kinds of foods, most of which I should not eat but did. And talking and hanging out. One lady is in the class with me but I didn't see any other classmates. 

I rode home the way I'd come, and that's a fair old ride along Prospect / Campbell ave. It's a "stroad" along much of it and thus not very safe to ride on. 

I rode the train as far as Diridon and went over to the bike shop and test-rode the Brompton A-line bike. It felt a bit twitchy but then my main bike is pretty much the very opposite of a Brompton. I had to leave my ID and debit card with them and wear a helmet they provided, but I rode a few circuits around the large parking lot behind the bike shop and experimented with shifting gears which is very smooth. So I have some food for thought. 

First off I'd want to order fenders ("mudguards"), the bag mounting block that goes on the front, the rack, and I'd need a softer seat. I'd also want to put some better tires on than the stupid slick "Kojak" tires the thing comes with. All in all it would come to $1500 minimum. 

Alternatively, I could put the set of Mr. Tuffys for 20" wheels I already have in the 20" "Mobic" bike I have, that already has fenders, is light as a feather and should be easy to take onto the bus, and while it won't fold as small as a Brompton, will probably still fit into the trunk of a cab OK.  And it's all paid for; I even have a new seat ready to put on it.

I got back here and basically went to bed to listen to more of The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich, fell asleep, woke up again and listened to another chapter, fell asleep again, and on top of that went to bed pretty early, midnight maybe. 

I slept until 11 or so, and I think the rest is good for my back. Now, while I'm still starting my day with a Tylenol 500, it's not an urgent need and I don't need to lie down for half an hour for it to kick in. 

Better today again?

 WTF but nice. I woke up around 6:30AM which is the time I used to get up for work ... or more like the time I used to leave for work. I went back to sleep until 10:30. 

I got 20 things listed last night, washed my yellow bike jacket, etc. 

I finally had a look at the $10 mouthpiece I got from Austin Custom Brass, which was supposed to be a no-name 7C for cornet. Well, it's actually some kind of deep cup, looks new, and looks very well made. So I'm keeping it. I just wanted a generic mouthpiece so, unlike the guy I bought the Connstellation cornet from, I'd not have it without any mouthpiece. But this one looks like a keeper. 

More pain darnit

 Last night before Ken came by I did the last of the load of laundry I'd had soaking, really only 4 shirts and a pair of sweats, and hung those up in the loft, then vacuumed the office, with the end result that by the time Ken actually came by at 11:30, I was in a fair bit of pain. 

Ken had got himself one of those gas station sandwiches and a donut and I made him a tea. He keeps bringing by these tall, sturdy, paper cups he prefers his tea in, that he gets at the doctor's office. So he's going to the doctor about 2X a week. 

We talked about injuries and such, and I told him about Tom telling me he'd fallen down (not drunk or anything) and catching himself against a metro cart he had there, and now his left shoulder is all weird and makes popping sounds. Ken told me about some time fairly recently I guess when he was "all shaky" and said it was due to falling down. In fact Ken seems to fall down a fair amount. 

I'm fine as long as I'm sober and have my legs to catch me, but one time quite a while back I caught my foot on the edge of some cardboard and down I went. But the key is to sort of relax like when you're falling down when you were a kid. This is how I was able to zoom into the parking lot of the BevMo on Stevens Creek, not see the little curb thing until too late, do what must have been an amazing flip bike and all (I have the scratches on *top* of my bike light to prove it) end up flopped down with the bike on top of me, do "the worm" to get out from under the bike and check for injuries, and come out of it without a bruise or even any soreness the next day. 

It's when drunk, that's the problem, because who knows what script is running in my mind while my body is doing something else, and at the very least I can't catch myself. Which is why there's no more alcohol in my future. 

But back to the pain. I told Ken I must have overdone it with the laundry and vacuuming and he said "It's best to not over-exert yourself" and I got my check for this week and last week also, and once Ken had left a bit after midnight I had some cheese and olives and went to bed. 

And I even slept well, no wake-ups. 

I had two small things to mail so I packed those, took them to the post office, did some shopping in 99 Ranch and then parked the bike at H Mart and walked over to Ross where I found a pair of sweat pants, and got some things in Sprouts. And found some packing supplies on the way home. 

 

Hail to thee, Hoodie Bicycle Silencer Guy

 I could not get back to sleep last night after waking up at 4AM, and am pretty sure I lay awake in bed until about 6AM, then slept until 9:30AM. I think the problem is when I drink coffee that's fresh brewed, there are particles of coffee that don't get handled by my stomach but go further on to my intestines, where they're digested and more caffeine comes out. Coffee drinks that are bottled in a factory don't have these particulates, but fresh brewed stuff like the "flat white" I had at Starbucks last night will have this effect. 

Today's news is that some hero, wearing mostly black clothes, with a pistol and silencer which are just about given out as cereal prizes in the US, shot the CEO of United Health Care. In other words, he de-activated a ghoul with the blood of many thousands on its hands. Horray! I hope they never catch the guy. 

I also just took a look at the map and next time I have to be at Temple Beth David, I can take the green line to downtown Campbell, get onto Campbell Avenue, and just take that West and it will take me right there. Since I have to be there pretty early Saturday morning, I can just take the green line from the station that's about a mile and a half from here. 

Progress

 On my own part, certainly not on the world scene where Dirty Diaper Don is offering his paymaster, Pewtin, the 20% of Ukraine's territory the orcs occupy, as a sort of Sudetenland to buy off this new Hitler. 

On my own part though, I slept the whole night w/o the neck brace. What helped is I took some foam from my packing supplies and stuffed it into my pillow, making it less flat. 

I also not only packed 22 things and shipped them yesterday, but put all the things I've listed for the last few weeks and put them away in the warehouse, and found a thing that was *very* hard to find, and packed that to go. 

Tonight's the 3rd session of the class, which as I've said is the most important class of my life because this one can actually get me somewhere, whereas all those college classes only made me poorer for life. I have to pass this class, because if I don't I'll have to re-take it next year, and if my situation comes down to a choice of keeping Ken happy by being at his beck and call at all times, or going street homeless and being able to take and pass the class, I must choose the latter. 

Fortunately it's not going to rain tonight, and won't even be all that cold, in the 40s. This week's class is at a place that's 2 hours away by bike, I know, because I've timed myself when I've gone there in the past. 

I left here at 3, stopped at Nijiya where I got a "Hokkaido salmon belly" bento which was very good. I dropped off packages at the post office downtown,  then rode over to Starving Musician. The cornet I was interested in was in the back, and it was in good playing shape and seemed to play just fine, but I could tell it had been dented and (mostly) straightened out a number of times, and had one particularly nasty little crease the brass techs hadn't even tried to fix, not that it seemed to affect playing, but ugly. 

To not be a completely lookie-loo, I bought a bottle of Yamaha synthetic valve oil, which amazingly was only $3.25. That's like a third or less than anyone else charges. So that's a nice discovery. 

I rode down Saratoga until I got to Prospect and rode through this large strip mall complex until I found a Starbucks and stopped in there, spending about $14 on a "flat white" coffee and some pastries, and studied my books for an hour. Then rode over Temple Beth David, getting there just in time. 

The Hebrew part at the beginning was fun, and I'm a module ahead of the class. The Judaism part was pretty interesting too. It turns out that this Saturday, the Shabbat service and lunch I'm to go to isn't at Temple Sinai but there at Beth David. And I'm to try to get there at 9:30AM. 

The ride back was long, as was the ride there. I rode down Saratoga, turned right at Moorpark and rode that to Bascom, then to San Carlos, to Shasta, to The Alameda, yadda yadda. By the time I'd been riding for two hours I was thinking of a way to eat without having to cook or do dishes so I homed in on the M8trix casino. How nice it was to use the loo, break the $100 bill I had on me at the cashier, and sit at the bar, watch some of a basketball game, have a ice water to swallow a Tylenol with, and try the "Garden City Steak Bites" which were really good. 

The ride back here was easy, and now it's time to call it a night because I have to get used to being up at 8 in the morning. 

Hunter Biden pardoned.

 And I'm all for it. Under a normal rule of law, of course as I've said out loud, I want him to take his licking. But we as a country have voted for a Nazis 2.0 / Russian gangster empire, and no one can fault a father for trying to save his son from a long, agonizing, death in a torture cell. 

Hunter's crimes seem to involve some drugs, which are a basic food group for many Americans, and lying on a firearms form - which while it's not good, plenty have done (looking at you, potheads). Biden says Hunter was specifically singled out because he's his son and I buy that. 

Meanwhile the Nazis 2.0 have pardoned actual violent criminals who have murdered multiple people, and anyone who participated in the insurrection can be expected to be pardoned and given well-paying gov't positions. That's how gangster dictatorships work. 

Gloomy but at least not raining Sunday

 I slept in until noon, which was OK I guess considering I was up until 3AM. The prostitution operation several doors up is still operating, but I think they've told the customers to be less noisy and try not to park down at my end. Plus I sleep with my heater set on fan only to make a little noise so I don't hear every little word and footstep. 

I'm really getting to like "The New Reading Hebrew" book we're working from. It's tons of drills and seems repetitive but that's the magic of it. Even very advanced musicians still play scales, and it's that sheer repetition that makes the knowledge stick. 

I'm doing the recommended reading 2X, and have been listening to the song "Sholem Aleichem" tons of times. It turns out to be an important Shabbat song, and here I thought L'cha Dodi was the big one. 

The next class is at Temple Beth David, one I'm now well used to going to. This is where doing "all the things" from when I first decided on this path has worked out well for me. And there's no rain in the forecast so while it might be cold coming back it won't be wet. It's just wintry out. 

Today would have been a good day for busking if I were in shape to. At least I got the new cornet out last night and played a little, and made sure the slides are moving smoothly. My main concern was the smallest one for the middle valve, a slide that often gets frozen on horns that are neglected. Since the horn is new and the clearances tight, it could happen easily. But  I took it out and cleaned it and the tubes it goes into with a Q-tip and put some slide grease on there and I'm less worried now. 

Today being Sunday it's basically a work day for me. I packed 4 large things and took them to FedEx and collected packing stuff on the way home, then went out again for some shopping at Sprouts and found a T-shirt and a pair of sweat pants at Ross. 

I got home (again) and cooked up a nice fish soup. I'm still in pain but I guess it must be getting better because I was able to cook fish soup.