Forgetting

 Ken came by last night but he forgot his checkbook. In all fairness, he forgot to put a new bottle of insulin in his medicine box too. Oh well! I made him tea and we talked about stuff. 

I'd also gotten a cornet practice session in. 

Now it's going to be rainy for the next few days at least. My next class is at the Addison-Penzak center and maybe it'll have stopped raining by then. A sprinkle is OK anyway. 

Today I checked out a local passport/visa service place. Skeezy as hell. I learned some things thought, for instance everyone has to go to the post office, and all these guys do is take the packet from the post office and hand-carry it to the passport office in San Francisco. And, to get an expedited passport I need a flight itinerary that shows it's necessary. So yeah, I think I'll just go with the post office.  Right now I plan on leaving in years not months or weeks. 

Top dollar for ugly pictures

 Today I packed some things including one big thing, got 'em out to the post office and FedEx, and left early for that trip because at FedEx I got passport photos done. Now I just have to get some papers together and my old passport, and get a new one. 

The Nazis 2.0 are choosing some very arbitrary reasons to keep some people from getting passports, and it's got everyone spooked. For instance, I've made it no secret that I donated to the Harris campaign, about $600 in all. 

So I'm not just someone who didn't vote, I'm someone who voted for the Nazis' enemies, donated to the Nazis' enemies, and if they're anything like the first version of the Nazis, they don't want a lot of us to just peacefully bugger off out of the US, they want to keep us in because how else are they going to populate their work camps? 

Deporting (or causing to "self-deport") 20-30 million people, about 10% of the population, is going to mean they have to take another 10% and find ways to keep them from leaving. It won't be just breaking rocks, just as prison labor in the US is as diverse as the economy as a whole. Prisoners do manufacturing, man phone banks, work on organic farms (your Whole Foods goat cheese may well have been made by prisoners as well as goats) do accounting, all sorts of things. 

This is why, I realized many years ago, they snatch up "white collar", law-abiding people for having one marijuana joint in their suitcase while traveling and other petty things like that - they need paper-pushers as well as blue collar workers. 

For the Nazis 1.0, believing as they did that they, the Nazis, were somehow the victims of the Jews who they imagined never labored, and were all rich off of the Germans' backs, it was "delicious" to work Jews to death at work they were not used to. That was the point of the whole thing. 

The last time Diaper Don was in power, there were calls to flat-out shoot Democrats and even Republicans who were deemed "not loyal enough" so I guess they'd not even make it to the camps. 

So I pretty much need to get my passport squared away ASAP. 

A new day, a new horror

 Another new day in this horrible winter. First, there's that it's winter and here, it means that after Xmas and certainly after New Year, everyone withdraws from each other and tries not to see each other again until April or so. It seems to be a northern thing. 

But there's also that we're in our shiny new Nazi regime, and today's new twist is, lots of people are not able to get passports now. So they can't leave the country unless they sneak out somehow. 

Also, the new Gestapo is going door to door in some places, checking for IDs which I'm pretty sure is unconstitutional but that doesn't matter any more. If you are brown and here not legally, or brown and here legally but they just plain decide to, it's off to whatever country we've decided you've come from, or off to the shiny new concentration camp that's been authorized in Guantanamo. Or one of the new ones land's allocated for in Texas. Or some other one, as the Nazis 1.0 had about 900 camps and I'm sure we're determined to outdo them. 

I listed 20 things, packed about 6 including one big thing and got those off to FedEx and the post office, did a study session at Paris Baguette, and got back here and was settling down to maybe some cornet practice when Ken called to say he's tired tonight and will come by tomorrow night. I said, "See you tomorrow night!" and did a bit over an hour's practice. 

Feeling *very* 1933 out there

 Today's big news is, besides the round-ups of people who "look" like illegal immigrants including Navajo, Tono O'odham, etc., now the orange turd has, somehow, shut off Medicaid funds. 

"If one single person can now undo our laws and completely control spending that a majority of our representatives voted for becoming law and where our tax money is allocated, things that have been in place for quite some time, what the fuck kind of system are we now living under?" - u/somethingsomethingbe on Reddit.  

Without Medi-Cal I'd have had to pay for my covid shots, no problem with budgeting but something like $120 each time. And my visit to the hospital to check out my back, forget about it. 

I'm seriously considering going down to the clinic at Walmart to get the latest covid booster plus any other vaccinations they recommend (all I can think of is flu and rsv). 

On the other hand I've had something like 6 covid shots and they've either done their job or, I have a suspicion, that Ken and I are both winners in the genetic lottery where we can get sick from it but not super sick. I suspect that "coughing thing" we both got in the winter of 2019-20 was the first bit of covid which, if a possibly now "disappeared" PBS Frontline episode is correct, was in the US as early as October of 2019. 

Plus we're all taking better precautions these days, at least in my area. I see masks, and I'd wear one if I had a sniffle, and would also avoid going out if possible. That's just common sense in Asian countries and of course we have tons of Asians here. 

I managed to pack 10 or so things, get them to the post office, eat a beef bowl at Nijiya, get over to Campbell OK with time to study for an hour before class, did the class, and get back. It's cold out there! But I didn't get really cold. 

Yom HaShoah

 I was reading in Reddit in r/Hawaii last night and someone posted on there something like, "32% of illegal immigrants have murdered more than one person" and this was upvoted. I can't find it now so maybe it was removed but it got upvotes. 

This is what a lot of people don't understand, that Hawaii is really redneck as hell. Only unlike other redneck areas, if you're white you're in the underclass unless you're one of the rich ones - kind of like being black here on the mainland. 

By leaving Hawaii I left a place where, although I'd grown up there, I was not welcome but merely tolerated. Here on the mainland I've gone up a level, from merely tolerated to being "mainstream", kind of like being a generic Asian in Hawaii. 

The difference here on the mainland is that the old workplace rule applies to all of society, "You're not here to make friends, you're here to work". The ideal life, here, is to work all your life and then hopefully die quickly once the last bit of possible work has been wrung out of you. 

I was able to not only get 20 things photo-ready to list on Ebay last night but also I got a bit over an hour's practice done on my new cornet. I'm practicing now so in April, when the class is done and the weather's no longer so cold and I can go out busking again, I'll hopefully sound decent. 

Also if things go to shit here, and I have to put my stuff into a storage unit and sleep where I can, maybe at Tom's, maybe somewhere else, I'll hopefully sound decent because busking is the best skill for making survival money I have. 

I did push ups and neck exercises today and the push-ups would still not be counted as such by a drill sergeant but they were better than last time. Now I understand at the gut level what people are talking about when they relate how, after an injury, they find their strength or ability to do certain things takes a huge hit and it's really work to get their capability back. 

I was able to finish the load of laundry I had soaking, pack 11 things including one big thing, get the things to FedEx and the post office, do a study session at a coffee shop, find packing stuff on the way back, then do a practice session on the cornet which went really well, then cook dinner.

Erev Yom HaShoah

 Well here it is Sunday evening. I was up in time to get over to the temple for this week's Judaism 101 (not to be confused with the all-important Intro To Judaism) class where this week's subject was, for the most part, Shabbat. 

We all got a neat handout of a few pages with prayers and things, under the title "Welcoming Shabbat". One of the fundamental admonishments in there is to "Share our bread with the hungry, clothe the naked, and never to hide ourselves from our kin". 

The last, "never to..." thing really hit home with me because the standard American way of doing things is, if you do better than your family members, you indeed "hide yourself" from them; you ostracize them and most emphatically do not share your wealth with them, however they might need it and however much it might change their lives. 

This is why I just about fell off of my chair when, in high school, I was writing a book review and had chosen a book about Einstein of course. In it I read that it was the custom of rich Jews to invite a poor Jew to their Friday night dinner, the grandest dinner of the week. It astounded me. I, like any properly raised American, knew that it was standard for rich people to keep poor people far away from them, and especially if the poor person was a student, hence smart and having a tiny chance of being competition for the rich people. 

This was the first hint I had that there is a different way for a society to work. If I am able some day, hopefully not too long from now, step off of a plane in Israel, there to stay, I will be able to say, "Einstein brought me here". 

It was downright cold outside, grey with a cold wind, and after class I went over to the Peet's on The Alameda and got a good study session in. Then I went over to Walmart and got stuff, picked up a few bubble mailers on the way back, and stopped at Nijiya for a bento which I ate back here. 

Thursday. The round-ups beginning?

 Well, the Gestapo can go into churches, schools, etc. to round up illegals and "illegals" and a lot of people who are brown are very nervous, some saying they're not leaving their houses, as per Reddit. 

What no one seems to remember is this was done before, Operation Wetback in the 1950s, the requirement for "Real ID" in places like Arizona during the 2008 crash, and even the internment of Japanese residents/citizens resulting in a huge hit to vegetable farming, which is where that whole "Victory Garden" thing came from. People were encouraged to grow their own fresh veggies because the people who grew a lot of them were now in camps. 

Some on Reddit are saying the powers-that-be will realize this, and instead of deportations, we'll have imprisonment and work camps. Immigrants who got peon wages picking vegetables will now get US prison slave wages of 10c an hour or or something. 

This will also provide a profit motive to scoop up brown people to work in the work camps. 

That's enough news. 

Yesterday I got a folder that can hold the loose leaf sheets for the Hebrew part of the class and the class syllabus sheets, and my two Hebrew books because studying here at the shop just isn't happening. And as I pointed out to Ken, I'm halfway through the class time-wise but have only done 1/3 of the class sessions. The Hebrew is going to get harder and there will be people who wash out. One of them will be me if I don't get a lot more serious about study.

Enter coffee shops. I did a study session at Paris Baguette yesterday, and will study at some other shop today. Yes, it will mean spending $10 or so on coffee and a croissant or something to not be a freeloader, but I'm that serious about the class and about learning Hebrew. 

So, after packing a few things and finding a lot of things to donate, I took off a bit after 3. I dumped trash, went to Nijiya for a salmon belly bento, donated the things in the little free library there, found a few books there and the others, dropped off the packages at the post office, deposited my check at the bank (only maybe 15c different between their math and mine, that's a win) and went to the Amazon place for bubble mailers. 

Now to find a coffee shop. Philz's was really busy in fact there were students everywhere and two old guys with a guitar and a mandolin I think, playing whiny old-guy music and a few bucks in the guitar case. 

I went over to Nirvana Soul and got a "small" coffee and a garlic roll thing, which was kind of awful, but I was able to do a good study session upstairs. I also befriended Kathleen The Violinist, who was hanging out there before her rehearsal session at the California theater next door. 

At each new coffee shop I'm buying $12-$15 in coffee and junk, so their first impression of me is of someone who spends money. But over time I think it'll just be the coffee. 

Study session done,  I got a couple more bubble mailers at the Amazon place, got a few things at Nijiya, and got back here. 

More fires in SoCal

 Well there are more fires in SoCal now, a big one around Lake Castaic. The Santa Ana winds are going to stop when they stop and that's all there is to it. Amazing to think that places I've known, where relatives lived, etc., now look like those photos of the results of Allied bombing after WWII. 

Ken had called last night and told me he was going to be over with whoever it was who wanted to buy power resistors, at 3 in the afternoon. Sounds great, I said, from the light rail station in Campbell at 10PM. 

I got back here, had my double Dough Burger and fries, had trouble getting to sleep for some reason and went to sleep around 5AM, then got up at 1PM. At least I felt good with no headache. There are a lot of things that can give a person a headache, one of which being a bladder infection and my pee had been stinky so I had a good dose of mannose/cranberry powder before bed and surprise surprise, pee not stinky and head not aching. 

I started packing things and at about 3:30 a Vietnamese lady came to the door with her phone, "Talk to Ken" she said. So I talked to Ken; she was the lady looking for power resistors of a type we don't have. I told her how to get parts effectively (first have an idea of value/wattage/type) then look online for that exact part, then find someone selling them etc.) and eventually she said she'll just wait for Ken. 

So she sat in her car and I did more packing and Ken showed up and while I did my work around them, Ken showed her other ways to solve whatever problem, something to do with medical device design, she had. He ended up selling her a power supply and an op-amp power supply to the tune of $900. Not bad! I helped all along from printing out sheets on each thing, de-listing them from Ebay, and helping load them into her car. I even got Ken to give me $20 for paper, which I need to buy more of. 

I packed the last item or so and that was that. 

First day under Nazism

 Well, the orange turd did something like 100 executive orders, among them many that are blatantly illegal under the constitution. Which means they go to the supreme court, yes that supreme court, the one stuffed with orange turd loyalists. 

If any of them dare to actually vote against his diktats, they'll mysteriously fall out of a window or drink polonium tea. This is what too many normal people don't understand: This will be a regime of pure force and anyone who gets in the way, babbling about "laws" or some such rot, will end up in an extermination camp. 

On Reddit people are saying "Wait until the election of 2026, we'll show 'em!" well, I'll be very surprised if there's an election in 2026, or if there is, if most of us will be allowed to vote in it. 

When he came over yesterday, Ken delivered a letter to me from the Democrat party, including a hokey cheapo membership card, a begging letter for money of course, and an idiotic blue sticker with simply the words repeated 3 times, "Elect Democrats". Hell, what do you think we've been doing? At least voting for them. It's just that more people have decided that the prospect of being the Nazi official of their neighborhood, taking over their black/brown ex-neighbor's house and business, etc. is more appealing. 

I can only hope the passport system is functioning fairly well because I need to get that done. And my "Real ID" however that works. Actually a current passport might help with the "Real ID". In any case I need something I can get on a plane with and get away. Almost anywhere. 

This is why I'm looking at selling off everything that I'd not take with me, and working on my trumpet skills because I might land in Israel and somehow end up separated from my money, Social Security become only issued to those who swear a personal oath to the orange turd or are a member of the MAGA party (just how in Germany even if you were just the dog catcher you had to be a Party member) and myself end up without the savings and trickle of Social Security money I've been counting on. But skills are hard to remove from a person. 

Right now tons of immigrants are leaving. 

I packed 11 things and got cleaned up, putting on brand new underwear, t-shirt, sweat pants, etc and man, it felt great. I left here at 4. 

I had things to donate to the little free library in Japantown so I stopped there, and decided if I ate at Nijiya I could then take the light rail from nearby without riding all the way over to Diridon station. So I picked out a teri beef bento and some salmon sashimi, then realized I had to get to the post office in time so I ate fast, not quite in keeping with such a nice meal. 

I got to the post office with maybe 10 minutes to spare, maybe only 5, but I got the packages mailed. Then went to the station there and got on the green line and took that down to Campbell. Then it was just a matter of riding West on Campbell Avenue which turns into Prospect Avenue. I got to the Starbucks in time to study for maybe 45 minutes which I did. 

Then I rode over to Beth David and got there just 4 minutes before the class starting time so that was cutting it pretty close. There's no way of getting there in less than two hours and in reality I need to allow for more than that. 

The class, as usual, went great. We did our first half our on Hebrew, then the lesson was on how temple Judaism changed to rabbinic Judaism. There were also books offered by the temple to take home if one wanted, and I took two interesting ones. 

The trip home took, indeed, exactly two hours. I rode the train all the way back to Karina station and then rode in, and stopped at Dough Burger for a double and fries. Cold weather plus lots of bike riding means wanting more calories. 

I think with the paucity of study I've been able to do, I should start sneaking in some study sessions at various coffee places. The level of difficulty of the reading assignments is going to stay the same, but the Hebrew is getting trickier as we learn more letters and more rules. 

 

MLK day

 A national day of mourning. Also our first, wait not our first, that happened when the election was stolen from Gore, but possibly our biggest, step into fascism. 

I packed 4 large/large-ish things yesterday and got them to FedEx, hung out with Tom a bit and told him about these chairs the guys next door had thrown out - something like 40 or 50 of them. Tom has a working bicycle now and rode with me over here, decided the chairs were Meh, and I went in and used the photos I'd taken earlier and posted them for free on Craig's List. 

Now it's 2PM the next day and there are still a bunch of chairs haha. 

Ken called me at 1PM saying he's coming over with another guy to look at resistors. In the intervening hour I was able to find all but one thing that has to be shipped. Ken did show up a bit after 2, and the guy never showed up or even answered messages from Ken. 

So Ken and I talked, he decided to take three of the chairs that were office chairs, and I got my pay check to deposit on Thursday or Friday. I was kind of surprised to see that even though I'm getting over back trouble (I still can't do a proper military push-up) I was able to lift the chairs better than Ken was. 

Ken would have happily stayed around shooting the bull for hours, but I said I had to make a FedEx run, so he went off (he said he usually shows up at his job at 4 in the afternoon, so today he'd be a bit early) and I got to work packing 4 things for FedEx then decided to take one little thing and at least sneak it into one of the drive-through mail boxes at the post office and if I'm going to do that, might as well do the other 4-5 small things. 

So I rode up to FedEx and dropped the boxes off, then went up to 99 Ranch for some shopping, and at the post office was able to sneak the small things into the drive-through box with a slightly bigger opening. Then I went to H Mart to use the loo and looked around but didn't buy anything. 

Then I walked over to Ross and found a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt, and got a few things in Sprouts. I got back here at 7:30 and the chairs are all gone. The guys next door took this holiday seriously and didn't show up at all, and they should be happy to see all those chairs gone. 

I did the one thing that's the most rebellious, the most subversive, thing I have the power to do: I practiced. My tone is rough but that's OK because I'm practicing now, for April. The weather will have warmed up then and my class ends at the end of April.

Saturday night

 I got out of here in time on Friday to go to the bank, pick up bubble mailers, buy things at Whole Foods, etc and figured I'd have an hour to sit in Starbucks and study Hebrew, but then I got this really strong pang of feeling that I may not have locked the door to the shop. 

So I rode back, and the door was locked just fine. At least I put the things I'd acquired away, made sure the door was locked, and rode back over to the temple for the service. It was a "Rock Shabbat" except it really wasn't, it was a musical Shabbat, I'd call it. It was pretty nice, and hanging out and schmoozing afterward was too. 

I got back here and had a light dinner, watched stuff on YouTube, stayed up too late, and went to bed. I was surprised to wake up about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, but with an awful headache. I had some Tylenol and coffee, went back to bed, and the headache lessened some. I finally got out of here around 11 which got me to Temple Sinai just in time for the very end of the service there, which was one of the "not required by highly encouraged" things for the class. 

The oneg afterward was great, bagels and lox and such things. I had a plate of lox, some cheese, veggies, things like that. Nothing starchy. There's a lady who's in the class also who's very short and wide, and who purports to be a language whiz. Se we were buddying up together, and there were so many people we couldn't find a place to sit so we sat at this kids' table - on kids' chairs - over in a corner and were deep in conversation when the rabbi came and asked us if we'd like to set at a grown ups' table. 

"We're fine!" we essentially said, and he sat there and ate and talked with us. This is when I really learned something about my friend. The conversation was dominated by her, going on about how she's a "polyglot" and what a whiz with languages she is. The rabbi managed to get some talking in with me, but not much was possible, mainly about military service and any Jewish background and so on. He's a great rabbi and I really like him, and will take some advice he was able to give. But only a little information transfer was possible. 

My "friend" went on about how she'd been in the DLI (Defense Language Institute) for a while until apparently she got kicked out because she didn't know she was supposed to do the military stuff too, not just the language stuff. She has a very high opinion of herself, yet is having real problems with Hebrew because it's not like the other (European) languages she's supposed to be an ace at. 

Really, this person is a real Boomer. At age 62 I'm a Boomer by some calculations, but she's edging into www.reddit.com/r/BoomersBeingFools level Boomer. It's all about her. 

My pal took off and the rabbi had other people to talk to, and by now the nosh had given me a bit of a stomach ache. I'm not sure why, maybe indigestion. I wandered over to the informal bar and contemplated taking a shot or two of liquor to settle my stomach. There was vodka, tequila, and some whisky. And some pretty used looking shot glasses. But, I didn't. 

I started on the ride home thinking I could stop at BevMo in Willow Glen there and get some Underberg, which is a sort of drink for just this situation. I should have, because instead I tried the "Liquor Locker" out of curiosity, and the guy'd never heard of it. I could have bought a "nip" or two there and been fine and saved money, but I wanted Underberg, it being specifically for crumby tummies. 

So I rode on, and made my way to the Recycle Book Store because I was going right by them, and picked out "The Story Of A Life" by Aharon Appelfeld, for $8 because it looks like a good read and why not support the book store. 

Then I went over to Whole Foods and found the Underberg, which along with the other liquor was in a locked cabinet. I pressed the button for help and no one came. The thing's timer ran out and I pressed it again, and again the timer ran out and no one came. 

So I went to the little basket of single bottles and cans and things, and found this little Old Fashioned in a can for $6 and got that. An Old Fashioned being basically whisky with a few things to make it taste a bit better, it was about the same as the pack of 3 little bottles of Underberg would have been. I went upstairs and had my Old Fashioned along with some coffee in a can I'd brought along. 

Then I went to the Amazon place for bubble mailers, and Nijiya for odds and ends because why not, as opposed to a nice Shabbat at home I'd been sort of obligated to go out running around all over town. At least my stomach was settled down. 

Thursday - more practice

 Today I was up in time to pack some things, take them to the post office, drop off one thing at FedEx, walk over to Sprouts and Ross and get some things, get back here and cook some dinner, practice, and then get to work coming up with a batch of things to list tomorrow. 

That involved taking apart yet another big heavy piece of microwave equipment. That took something like 4 hours. 

It's going to take me a while to get back to where I was in terms of busking skills. which is OK because right now the weather's too cold to be very good for busking and I still have things I want to sell off and we're getting into the time of year when people get their tax refunds and start feeling spendy again. 

That time the Allies....

 Decided they were exerting a "genocide" against the Germans in WWII so they withdrew to the German borders, let the Nazis keep their weapons and ideology, sent in tons of aid, and of course 10 years later the Nazis were still sending rockets and drones into London and Paris... 

Oh, wait, that didn't happen. No, we chased the Germans right down to the bunker hiding their King Rat, who politely offed himself. Germany was at least largely de-Nazified, and occupied by the Allies until they could behave themselves. 

But this first, fictional, case is exactly what Biden has decided to do in Israel. This is why I think Bibi should have gone in fast, hot, and HARD and leveled Gaza on October 8th, the day after the attack, and leveled the fucking place. It's what Sharon or Golda or Ben-Gurion or any good leader would have done. 

I listed the 20 things I had all ready to go, and did something that feels really subversive these days: I practiced on my cornets. It feels like there's no time to do so these days, and it's certainly cold and not all that great out there for busking, but yesterday and today I made the time. 

After practice and eating something, I cleaned the place up and got things out of the warehouse that had sold, and Ken came by right on time and I got my check. I told him I might not deposit it until Friday though. 

The cheapo mouthpiece I got from Austin Custom Brass is junk, it lowers each note by half a tone and I don't know what to do with it. Palm it off on someone I guess. Both the Connstellation and the Getzen have a nicer sound than the Yamaha (made in China) trumpet and I practiced on both today and yesterday. The thing with the Connstellation is it's quite heavy, and I'm not sure if I want to busk with it, although it does have a "big" sound. 

Tuesday - We studied Kosher'ness

 I was up in plenty of time to grab the two things I'd packed last night, pack 4 more things, and get out of here, I thought, in time to catch the train to Menlo Park. I only stopped at the post office to mail the things, and the Amazon place for some bubble mailers.

But it was not early enough because there was one train that I had to get on to get there in time, and when it came it was "labeled" as train no. 132 Southbound when the one I was waiting for was no. 141 Northbound. There was an Australian guy waiting with me, while everyone else got onto that train, and what I knew about him, besides that he's Australian from talking to him a little, is that he'd tried tagging his clipper card and it had not gone through, probably due to insufficient funds. 

So he'd not gotten onto the train, but was happy to inform me that the train was indeed Northbound. They'd just not refreshed the little screen in the train that's easily readable from the doorway. And he'd not gotten on because he probably didn't want to get busted for not paying. There's a certain breed of traveler that just likes to "wing it" and he probably thought he'd be able to beg the money for his fare off of someone, and had me picked out as not the right kind of someone. Which was a good call, as I only had $1 in cash on me. 

Since I'd missed the train, I decided I'd go back to Whole Foods and just use my card to get some food and some "walking around money". But, I'd not been using my card so I had trouble recalling the PIN number and fucked it up, twice. So my card was refused. I went back out and got on my bike to ride to the bank and just take cash out, then when I got to the corner, remembered my PIN. So I went back to Whole Foods and tried again, and the card was refused. Back out again to go to the bank. 

I got money out of the bank and the guy said my card is OK - I said I'll either get one of those robo-calls where they'll verify that I have my card still and that I'm me, or it will be fine in a day or so. 

Then I went back, again, to Whole Foods because the 3rd time's the charm or something, got two slices of pizza, a can of seltzer water, a bottle of coffee, and paid cash. 

I should mention that all this time, some horribly Gypsy guy with a violin, and amp, a backing track, and his kid with a smaller violin that at least was not mic'd up, were playing "music" by which I mean, playing some basic riffs that sounded like a cat being tortured. The kid was mostly dancing around and swinging his violin bow around which was good because he really couldn't play for shit. The amp was really loud, and I think he was only getting a few tips because of the kid. So that's what busking has come to in this town. 

Done with my pizza, I rode down past Temple Sinai to the Safeway and went in and checked out the Kosher section they were raving about. It was ... OK. Mostly snacks and nostalgic type stuff and I didn't buy anything.

I went to the nearby Starbucks and got an espresso and some ice water and settled down to study for 45 minutes or so. I like the other Starbucks better though because the lighting is better and the tables less sticky. 

I got to Temple Sinai a bit early and wandered around a bit, then one of the ladies in the class got out of her car and we went in. I took the Godiva chocolates I had (that had come with that bottle of wine) and put them out and one of the ladies put out brownies and cookies and stuff so there was a real diabetes-fest for the taking. 

We studied more Hebrew and then more about Kosher foods and then the mitzvot. As always it was fun and interesting. And this Saturday we're supposed to, or highly encouraged to, go to the Saturday morning service there. 

Once we were done, I put on an extra layer under my jacket and set out on the ride home. This town, this area, gets really dead after 9PM. There's nothing open after that time other than Denny's or the casinos. I just enjoyed how quiet the ride was and got back in here and cooked up some ramen with beef and veggies. 

 

Feeling old and ache-y

 I'd signed up for a class, part of the "Judaism 101" series, not to be confused with the all-important "Intro To Judaism" class that's Tuesday nights. The class started at 10AM and while I should have gone to bed right at midnight, I didn't but was instead up past 2AM. 

But it gets worse. Although I'd set my alarm clock, I didn't get real sleep but this sort of shallow sleep. 

I got to class in time though, and it turned out to be a discussion of the "party platform" of Reform Judaism, issued in 1937. Apparently somewhere along the line we (they?) had gone over the platform of the 1890s or so. The 1937 one is bitchin'. 

Mainly I'd signed up for the class as a way to get my lazy ass up before noon on a Sunday. There was no coffee at the class and I kept starting to doze off. 

My breakfast had been a pain pill and a little coffee - apparently not enough. I held up my end OK though, doing one of the readings of one of the paragraphs in the platform and holding up well in questions/comments. 

When the class was done I felt fried. I rode over to Whole Foods and got a slice of pizza and a bottle of "Chameleon" coffee and I'd really needed 'em both. Once I was feeling more right, I thought about what to do today. I noted that if I'd been busking, it was not very busy at Whole Foods and here it was noon. And cold. Sunny, but cold. I'd got some practicing to do before I get back out there. 

I rode over to the Goodwill on San Carlos and found a couple pairs of nice light shorts I'll be glad to have in about 6 months. $8 a pair for used shorts, though, and probably $40 a pair if I could even find that type in the stores. 

I rode over to the Amazon place and got a couple-few bubble mailers. I need to remember to check each time I'm at Whole Foods because I go there a lot and there are often a few. 

Back here, the guys next door were whooping it up. It's pretty much impossible not to feel happy hearing Mexican music. I gave Chuey the bottle of wine that the landlord's agent had dropped off, and a short while later they invited me to have a beer and I said Sorry, I don't drink. 

I packed 6 things that can go by FedEx, the local one of which is open on Sunday so I took the packages up there, and stopped by Tom's on the way back. Not much going on there; he had his wife sweeping up leaves and junk (he was too) and we caught up on things. I found "some" packing stuff on the way back. 

I still feel "fried". Ache-y, and I don't know if it's the cold weather or my having done exercises, but I took a pain pill. 

Saturday night

 I was able to list 10 things, pack the things that had to go, and get out of here in plenty of time to stop in Japantown to buy a can of coffee, donate some stuff, then go to the post office to mail stuff, then go to the bank and deposit my latest pay check and the bank's calculations and mine even agree. 

I had my Hebrew books with me, planning to hang out at the Starbucks and study, but I decided to go to Walmart instead and got stuff there. Then I went to Whole Foods and ate a slice of pizza and had a no-alcohol beer. 

I used the loo and saw, wayy up on the wall so it would not be easy for someone to take it down, an idiotic sticker of the flag of Israel with the red circle with line through it over the flag. I went back out to my bike and got my reacher thing, sharpened it up a bit on the concrete, went back in and got to work. It took some scratching away to get the sticker down but  I got it. I looked around for any others but didn't see any. 

I went over to the service and had forgotten my glasses but what's fun is, I'm starting to be able to read the Hebrew writing for the songs and prayers, not just the English transliteration. In fact, at the check-in desk in front the lady working there asked me how I liked the Intro to Judaism class, and I raved about how fun learning to read Hebrew is, and she said that in her case she had to just accept that she could convert to Judaism and be Jewish without knowing Hebrew. I'd have told her how no less than Isaac Asimov hadn't been able to learn it either, but it was busy there. 

Honestly, the Hebrew reading part is fun, and over and over again on Reddit I hear that the one thing that really matters if you move to another country is to learn the language. 

There was the requisite amount of schmoozing after the service, and I went to the gift shop, which was open, intent on buying something. I'd broken one of the fancy "lead crystal" candle holders I had, and after looking at every set they had, got some round ones that are probably just regular glass, but may have been made in Israel or something cool like that. And they were only $10. 

The ride home was very calm, which was nice. 

January 9th was gone too

 2AM the 10th now. Ken came by last (Wednesday) night and I got a double check to cover New Year's Week and this week so I get to put $800 in the bank. I did the math and figured out now my balance will be back where it was just before I bought the super duper neato "once and forever" cornet that I feel really weird about taking out busking. 

I listed 10 things, took one thing to FedEx in the interest of having less bulk to carry tomorrow? Today? Friday, to the post office downtown. I also did some shopping at Sprouts and H Mart and came home and cooked dinner and found all the things that need to be sent out, and rounded up 10 more things to list. 

I put junk out for the bums and startled, or we were mutually a bit startled I guess, a couple of prostitutes who were bummed out they couldn't get into the illegal casino/brothel which is closed and locked up with nobody there. They were gonna do some bidness! 

Altadena is gone

 The big news today is the huge fires in Los Angeles. It appears that the city of Altadena got hit particularly hard. My paternal grandmother lived there and I remember visiting her house, on a nice little street probably unchanged since the 1920s or 19-teens, and going to the nearby little market on an errand for her. This would have been in about 1979. 

She complained about Mexicans this and Mexicans that, as is normal for a white person living in Southern California. It's kind of required. She may have had a point in that apparently she had a home invasion and what saved her were her dogs, who, like the dogs we had when I was a kid in Hawaii, were willing to give their lives to defend her as they knew they were defending their own lives, also. I'm willing to bet the kids who broke into her place were not first-generation, or may not have been "Mexican" at all. Or may have been people, or children of people, she was nasty to. Because that's kind of required if you're a white person living in Southern California. 

You have to use a little Realpolitik, especially if you're old and less able to fight. Be nice to people, bake some cookies and hand them around at Christmastime if that's your thing, learn a little of their language - goodness knows they have to learn tons of ours and English is not easy. 

In any case it was a street full of tall trees and greenery, and my grandmother's old place is surely gone. 

Interesting article:  https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/07/def_con_security_chief_injured/ now I feel I was 100% right in getting to the hospital and getting checked out. And I was able to do it because of being on Medi-Cal. I'd been wondering if I might have been OK on my Advil and Guinness routine, but if nothing else I didn't want to continue on that because drinking sucks. 

The US is reverting to its true nature

 Today I made the mistake of turning on the radio; Mango Mussolini is talking about using the US military to take the Panama Canal and Greenland. 

Again, this is following the Hitler playbook to the letter. Hitler was voted in because he was considered anti-war, a "deal maker" who got Germany back the Sudetenland by making a deal etc. Then of course through a few complicated dance steps, he declared war on pretty much everyone and eventually lost. 

Where do you find dictators like this? In banana republics. Or in the case of the US, wheat, peanut, rice, beef, republics. Places that have natural resources and just lean on those, never becoming tech powers. 

Being a tech power requires an educated workforce and the US is just plain not about that. We import smart people as needed. We produce tons of raw materials, and I forecast back in 2003 that we'd become a nation that lives a low standard of living on average, on our raw materials. These raw materials also include impoverished Americans joining the military to not be starving and homeless, as I myself did. In fact, the best shot in life a working-class American will have is to, if they can, join the military and stay in for life if possible. Sure you might got shot or maimed, but you're probably safer than you'd be in American civilian life (no one shot at me in the Army while I have been shot at as a civvie). 

I forecast that the average American would have some non-tech job, making maybe as little as $10 a day in cash money. They might work some 2nd job for the privilege of sleeping on-site. As I do. Any tech they have will be developed in Japan or Europe, manufactured in China or Africa, and something they save up a long while to get. 

Notice I don't mention Canada or Central/South America in this, or Mexico. What goes for the US seems to be going for the Americas overall. In other words, taking the long view, Europe and Asia are not finished with the Americas, for 100s of years sources of raw materials and slaves. Likewise Africa. 

"Work hard" not "Work smart" nations. 

Silicon Valley is dying. Layoffs are huge now, and as the US further isolates itself the death of tech in this country will only accelerate. Tech is not even a big employer here in "Silicon Valley", it's places like Safeway and public transit and health care organizations. This was a tech-y place 50 years ago, not now. 

I packed 9 things and cleaned up and got out of here, dropped the things off at the post office downtown, ate some chicken and broccoli and stuff at Whole Foods, then rode over to tonight's class. I was very early, thinking I'll stop and study somewhere and Lo and behold there was a nice Starbucks right at the point where I'd done most of the ride and only had to go one more major block. I went in there and studied, then when it was time rode over to the place and it was class time. 

The Hebrew part of the class is getting more involved, as we learn more letters and vowels and rules. Interesting stuff! The rest of the class was a big discussion of different "streams" of Judaism, then the stated purpose of the class, good old kashrut. That was fun. We didn't even get to hechsers which we'll get into at the same place, same rabbi/teacher next week. It turns out the Safeway nearby is supposed to have a large Kosher section so I plan to check that out before the next class. 

The ride back was very calm, not nearly as windy as I thought it might be, and it felt very calm and quiet, and dry. Once I got back here I learned that Southern California, the Los Angeles area, is having tons of fires due to the Santa Ana winds and that's what it felt like even up here. It feels like Santa Ana conditions. 

Tomorrow I'm supposed to get paid, and I rode by my bank to look for a notice that they'd be, like the post office, closed on the 9th (Thursday) in honor of the passing of Jimmy Carter. I didn't see one. As for Jimmy Carter, well, here's an article: https://aish.com/jimmy-carter-and-the-jews-10-facts/ basically he did a good thing or two but he was a standard Christian: Not any friend of the Jews and always seething with Jew-hatred just below the surface. 

I found that article because I was listening to NPR and between their "We for one welcome our new orange overlord" BS and the occasional good piece on science or something, they never miss a chance to instigate Jew-hatred, and to them, Jimmy was a great guy because he did some good ol' Jew-hatred and if NPR has their way, everyone will be looking it up and thinking, "Why, Jimmy Carter was a great person and Jimmy Carter hated Jews, therefore if I hate Jews I'll be a great person". 

This is still weird-feeling to me, that the Left hates Jews just as much as your unrepentant Nazi types do. I'd thought it was kind of one-sided, OK, these Nazis and Klan types over here, yeah they hate Jews, we always knew that, but the Left, of which so many Jews were an essential part at least many decades ago, has far more people within it, who hate Jews just as much or more. This is why the Left can't win elections. The Right in the US is a loony-toon show but they're not the ones keeping Jewish students and professors (!) out of our elite colleges, staging pogroms, etc. Trump's a blithering wingnut but he goes off about "hell to pay" if Hamas doesn't clear out of "Gaza" and a lot of Americans like to hear it because the truth is that Hamas is a gang of terrorists, they started the war, every time Israel lets up for a second they attack again, etc. Meanwhile our loony Left is talking about how the Hamas favored pastime of killing Jews is A-OK and justified. 

Now, Harris was and is not loony-Left. She would not have even paused US aid to Israel because as a country it's what we do. But a lot of people saw her as a lot more Left than she actually is, and the Left being a bunch of rubber room candidates, **and Harris being silent about this, sending the message that the antics of the Left are OK with her** may alone be what lost her the election. 

Monday, monday

 I really want to go out busking for the lunch crowd on a Monday and do that "Monday, monday" song. Plus all the other Monday songs I can think of, but not today. 

I really got on myself for being lazy yesterday and did some things like set up an area for all the Hewlett-Packard circuit boards to go, put a bunch of stuff away, packed 11 things to grab-n-go, etc. I was up late enough to notice no one at all driving by or any streetwalkers being dropped off, and only saw one police SUV come in, pull in in front of the place then back out and go on his way. So I think the party is really and truly over. 

I got out of here at about 2 with 10 things for the post office and one for UPS, dropped off the post office things downtown and took the UPS one to the UPS place on The Alameda, then locked the bike at Whole Foods and put $20 on my clipper card, and walked over to the train station where I only had to wait about 15 minutes for a train. 

I got off at Menlo Park, and stopped at this little sidewalk pastry stand, that half the time seems to have American/European stuff and half the time has Chinese stuff. This was a Chinese day, and I got a chicken shiitake mandu in a little paper bag which I carried with me to do my business (it didn't take long) and then had plenty of time to eat at the train station waiting for the train back. 

Here was my evil plot to cheat CalTrain of some money: I'd not "click off" at Menlo Park but would take the train back one station to Palo Alto, then click off there. The trouble here, now that I think about it, is that when  I got off at Palo Alto, I wanted to click off on the Northbound side, but I remember now that I forgot to do so, so I was charged the full rate as if I'd gone up to San Francisco. So I might as well have clicked off at Menlo Park then clicked on again and off at Palo Alto. Who knows what the system made of my then, after wandering around University Avenue for a bit, getting on a #522 bus at the Palo Alto bus station? 

I'd wandered around University Avenue thinking I'd stop in at the Starbucks and use the loo, but there was no Starbucks where there used to be one and for old times' sake I walked up as far as the old hotel which is still there, and I guess I looked white enough that the doorman let me right in. I'd gone in because the corner coffee shop was, the signs said, inside. But the restaurant inside looked more posh than I needed, and was closed. But the bathrooms were right there and unlocked so I got that taken care of. 

As I'd gotten to the bus station which bus was getting ready to leave but the #522. My body language was something like "Oh man.....!" and the driver stopped and let me on, nice lady. 

I rode as far as the Lawrence Avenue stop, and walked over to the Han Kook market where I bought 4 packages of cotton-swabs-on-a-stick as they're the only place I've found them with an actual wooden stick. And I'd run out. I walked back out to the bus stop where there were two people; a nice regular looking Indian gal and a crazy homeless guy talking to everyone and everything. I noticed a strong odor, B.O. or ... curry? It was a strong curry smell and it wasn't the crazy buy, it was the normal-looking Indian gal. 

I got off at Diridon Station and walked back to my bike and rode over to the Amazon place for bubble mailers and Nijiya for food and back here. It's cold out there, and feels more so because it's really damp and foggy. 

All in all today's adventures took me 6 hours. If I had a car it would be more like two. But the time-saving would be extremely expensive. The official figure of what it costs on average to own and operate a car is a bit over $1000 a month. Or a bit over $30 a day. 

All of this is boring as hell anyway. Hardly anyone wonders how it would be to live in San Jose, California. Some *do* wonder about how it would be to be a busker as a career, and I'm sure not writing much about that these days, because there's nothing to comment on. 

On my way to Whole Foods at about 2:15 I did see a guy leaning up against a building just to one side of San Pedro Square banging away on a guitar, but I didn't have enough time to hear if he was banging on it tunefully or not. And I've found that the 2-5PM time slot is really dead. 11AM-1PM, lunch time, is good. And 5-7PM, dinner time, is good also. Some swear by the late-night drunk crowd and I have no doubt that can work well in place where there is one of any size like Waikiki, Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, or ... New Orleans. 

In fact, if I had a blog about New Orleans, supposing I lived there, I'd probably talk about my daily live but in such a way as to make it useful as, unlike San Jose California, tons of people dream of running off to New Orleans to be a busker or a face-painter or a juggler or something. This is not to say they *will* do this, but daydreaming about it is very popular. 

So instead of just nattering on to pretty much nobody but myself, I'd imagine myself guiding a friend who's new to town around. "I got on the 'Desire' streetcar at 9 in the morning, which is a good time to ride it since the rougher element aren't awake yet. This street car doesn't run X days but on Y days it's every 15 minutes" kind of thing. Marvin Naylor used to, on his blog, go into some details about his regular donors or about unusual people who'd come across him. 

I just mention this as a way to, if one lives in an actually interesting place, to make one's blog interesting. 

Or maybe blogs are outdated by now and the thing to do would be to do "livestreams" on YouTube like "Jimi The Hobo" does, who's even more boring than I am, and seems to live just fine off of YouTube. Marvin Naylor does this now, and he is one find guitar picker indeed. 

Sunday

 On Friday I had time to get 10 things listed on Ebay and also packed things which I took to the post office downtown. 

I went to Whole Foods and got things as well as something to eat, then rode down to the Starbucks and hung out there for 40 minutes or so studying Hebrew. I had an espresso of course, and joked around with the guy there about how I know why they don't have "condiments" out any more, because years ago I used to buy a "doubleshot" in the little can and ask for a cup of ice, and pour the doubleshot in, and top up with half and half. It made a great drink, but I'm sure it lost Starbucks money. 

Then I rode over to the service, which was not large this Friday night. I had a bag of books for the gift shop which didn't open so I hung the bag on the door handle for them to deal with later. 

Friday night was the acid test. The illegal casino/brothel did not open up, and a bunch of disappointed clients drove through, and that was that. It was the same last night. Last night two pretty obvious streetwalkers were dropped off but they walked out to Rogers Avenue it seemed, to play their trade at the SAIA truck stop where they normally do, I think. 

Thursday night

 I was up later than I thought ideal, but I needed the sleep. I studied some Hebrew, did something closer to push-ups, had my breakfast, and finished the load of laundry I had soaking and hung it up. 

I surprised myself by being able to pack all the things in time to get to the post office for the smaller ones and FedEx for the larger ones. 

All I found for packing materials was a set of manuals with a DVD (can sell the DVD on Ebay) that was wrapped in bubble wrap, that was it. A lot of people have this week off so not much business being done. 

I even have this week off in a way, in that I called Ken on Tuesday night and it turns out he has some sort of bug, not covid because he tested negative, but something that had him sounding awful. The last thing I need is him coming over and giving it to me. So I'll see him, and get paid, next week. 

Tomorrow's supposed to rain but on and off so I'm hoping I can just time things. 

New Year's Day

 I should not have been up that late last night, but a bit past 2AM the illegal casino/brothel was shaping up to have a rollicking night, and all seemed normal for them until about 4AM when a police car came roaring in with the siren for a moment and two more police cars showed up. I think they were after one guy (police cars have license plate scanners) which would explain the siren. 

All seemed calm while the police did whatever they were going to do with that guy, then the people in the illegal place starting boiling out like ants out of a nest that's been kicked. It was great. A shoal of them went jogging down the parking lot and to their cars, and once they were out the cops went *into* the place and were there for quite a while. 

I'm thinking they had an undercover guy go in, verify whatever was going on in there, then they went in, not giving the people time to hide casino machines, etc. 

I didn't wake up until about 2 in the afternoon, which is why I don't want to be up all night like that, but I have to admit it was kind of worth it. 

In other news I had pretty much zero headache when I got up. I felt it a little bit when I woke up, but some deep breathing took care of it. Yesterday I'd donated all the various packages of ramen I had, the rest of the big bag of "8 Mate" arare I'd only eaten two packets out of, the rest of the cream crackers and the little tin of corned beef spread. I have to stick to low-carb plus I'm fairly certain there's something extra in the ramen that's not good, maybe just the tons of salt. Plus "IndoMie" brand stuff gives me tons of farts.