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.