A very slow realization

 Smart people, defined as the ones who voted against Hitler-From-Temu, are slowly, Oh so slowly, realizing that the situation we're in can't be solved by more phone banking, more fundraising, more angry letters. It's happening glacially slowly, but we've used the first two boxes; the soapbox and the ballot box, to no avail. What's left is the ammunition box. 

I really hope to be out of here by the time that happens. It has to happen, but I don't want to be here for it. If I were much younger I might feel differently, but I'm close to retiring and fighting in a civil war would be work, a thing I want to avoid now. 

Any of the minor stories of the things being done in the Reich now, would be front-page, largest typeface, news. But there's so much being done to destroy this country that it's just one more drop in a waterfall. So it all slides past our glazed-over eyeballs. 

Living the most excellent life

 This guy is: 

This guy would last a week, tops, in the US. He's be run over (intentionally) or shot or something. 

Today I packed all the things(tm) and took them to FedEx and the post office, yep, the post office things were all small enough to go into the outdoor boxes, which seemed to not be overly filled and the things seemed to slide down in there OK. 

After doing that and collecting packing stuff on the way back, I headed back out to shop at Sprouts and Ross and H Mart. 

I really felt like busking but it was too windy and with a threat of rain. Better to do things around here, as I'm still in the 6 months of the year when busking is just not a thing. 

We need Greenland??

 Krasnov is going on and on about how we, the US, "needs Greenland". Why? For all practical intents and purposes, we *have* Greenland. We have at least one military base there and it's a friendly part of a friendly nation, Denmark, which is a founder member of NATO. So what does Krasnov think he's gonna do? Try to go in there with troops? Burning draft cards will be in fashion again so fast... 

 

And it's a win

 I A-B tested the Kanstul against my Yamaha, and the Kanstul wins by a mile. Silver plated horns are reputed to be more "shrill" or "hard" sounding, but the Kanstul is mellow, while the Yamaha has a hard, almost plasticky edge to it. This is not to say the Yamaha is bad per se, it's a fine horn. It's just that the Kanstul, whatever model it is, is nicer. 

I now understand what the much-vaunted "reverse lead pipe" is. It's the way the lead pipe interfaces with the main tuning slide. This trumpet doesn't have that feature, and I don't care. 

The Mystery Kanstul

 I set my alarm for 9 but I was actually awake somewhere around 8, because I'd had a bottle of wine and gotten to bed at around 1:30, and slept right through the night. 

I packed one more think and took off around 10, to the post office to drop off the things. One large thing especially, a big book, needed to go out yesterday. I returned the water valve tool to Tom also.

The ride to the post office seemed to go really quickly and I wondered if I had the bike shifted to a lower gear than the normal one. On the way back I found out why - the wind was crazy. 

I got back in here and put on some safety glasses and a cloth mask because of all the shit blowing around in the air. There were actual dust clouds. The ride downtown was a real ordeal. When I got to Nirvana Soul to meet the guy with the trumpet, I was 1/2 hour early. I'd fought that wind so hard I'd gotten down there very quickly. But that's how serious I was. 

Presently the guy showed up and I looked the trumpet over and played it a bit. I wasn't warmed up of course, so I played some of my usual numbers but where I had to hesitate because my mind wasn't fully engaged (the mind has to warm up also) I put little filigrees in haha, just like I'd do if I were busking. 

The long and short is, I like it. I'm not crazy about silver plated horns but this appears to have lacquer over the silver and not a scratch on it. The valves are very nice, and not only does it play well but it has a real "quality" feel to it. 

I had the $800 ready but the case with it was just a generic case and while  I thought it's a pretty nice case, I asked if I could take $50 off the price if I got it without the case. He was fine with this and I dug around in my wallet - he got $747 and he was happy with that. We talked about trumpets and trumpet playing, and he liked my style of playing which is a good style for busking, where he's used to playing just for sheer loudness and high notes. If I played for sheer loudness and high notes while out busking, people would hate me. In busking I have to try to make people hear in their heads the same backing track or ambiance I'm hearing in my head. 

So we parted ways, shook hands and wished each other well, and I bagged the trumpet up in plastic bags and then a cloth bag and rode home with it, at least going mostly downwind now, stopped off at Nijiya for a bento and a beer, and got back here. 

After doing other things I took a serious look at the trumpet and there's no model number on it. There's a serial number which one of the guys on Trumpet Herald says puts it in the 90s. It looks like it's had some dents ironed out, but very little actual play time. This is ideal for a busking horn. 

Now I'll have to A/B test it against the Yamaha, so I'll feel OK about selling the Yamaha. I don't regret buying the Yamaha, since it was kind of a fun experience. To, at the very start of December, up and buy a horn and a gig bag and various odds and ends, to the tune of about $600, and then go out and play Xmas carols and have it all paid for. 

 

Bit of a health scare averted

 For the longest time, months? Maybe a year or more? I'd been having, along with iced coffee with heavy cream for breakfast, 1 oz, of raw "shells" (the pale white ones) sesame seeds. They're pretty "keto", I felt like they were giving me some fiber, and they were fun to munch on and tasted pretty good. 

But I was getting some nasty pee. A sign of a bladder/kidney infection is darker, foul-smelling, pee. And I sure had it. I started taking d-mannose before bed when I remembered it, and a bottle of that is not cheap, on the order of $35 or so. The bad smelling / dark urine kept up, though, and I thought, OK time for an experiment. 

I quit the seeds, and have been having macadamia nuts with my coffee. And the problem's cleared right up. I found a study by the NIH where they were feeding volunteers 2 oz. of the same seeds a day and noting the health effects, but the study was probably not long enough to have the same effects I experienced. Or, I have less tolerance for various reasons, maybe all the drinking I've done in the past. 

It turns out sesame seeds have more oxalates that just about anything. And lots of oxalates can really fuck with your kidneys. The good news is I'd been taking a calcium supplement and calcium is needed to combine with the oxalates and get rid of at least some of them. But better is to remove the oxalates, which I have. Now my pee is 100% normal as far as I can tell. 

Since access to medical care is so abysmal here, I was really starting to worry about how I'd get tested, maybe given antibiotics, for an infection. Like most Americans, medical care = "Wait until you're about to die, then go to the emergency room". But in this case, the idea of quitting the seeds to see if that changes things was a good one. 

I left here at the usual time and after tossing out trash and dropping off packages at the post office, had wings and a beer (it was HOT outside!) at Whole Foods then rode over to do my study at the Starbucks on Willow and Meridian. 

Bad news, there were a few scumbag looking types hanging around outside and I didn't feel good about leaving my bike out there. So I tried Gong Cha several doors down, where there was a place to lock my bike, the coffee's a little expensive but good, and it's a perfect place to study. Nice tables, good light, etc.  So now I have a new favorite study place. 

I rode over to the class and our regular Hebrew teacher is back. Now we're to sing the "Aleph Bet" song by Debbie Friedman at the start of every class, and another one sung by her called Oseh Shalom. 

The class portion of the class was pretty interesting, lots on tzedakah. The class went into overtime when someone asked about lashon hara / lashon hatov and that could easily go another hour but I figured  I was done and left, along with a couple of other people. 

I got to Whole Foods at 9:30 amazingly, and got one of those little 4-packs of little bottles of wine because I'm serious about going to sleep at 1 or not much after. I got back here, washed my hair, and was probably going to do some trumpet practice when I heard someone fiddling with the door. It was Ken. 

I told him it's Tuesday. "Oh well!" was his reply. He brought me a burger, fries, and my pay check so I can't complain. We talked about stuff until about 11:45 then he took off. 

It's not far away enough

 I made the mistake of not being in bed at 1 last night and next thing I knew it was past 2. I put in a report on the San Jose police site because the illegal night club was pretty busy, the the attendant noise. And went to sleep. 

I'd had a bottle of "Barefoot" wine before bed and I'm not sure this is really making any difference, other than making me have to get up to pee. 

The water's still off, and I believe I can go right up the street and buy one of those tools to turn it on again. I'd had to use a real Rube Goldberg arrangement of crescent wrenches when I'd had to turn it off before, and a tool can't cost much. But I want to make sure everything's square with the water company. 

There more threats to Canada by the Reich because of course there are, it's a new day. On the radio they said that Canada's the most popular place for people in targeted groups to flee to, but it's pretty obvious it's not far away enough. 

If the Europeans are busy fighting Russia, China's having troubles of its own, Mexico and S. America are going to say, "Solve your own problems, yanquis!" and the UK more concerned about Russia than far-flung parts of their Commonwealth, it may actually happen that the Reich annexes Canada and there's not much in the way of repercussions. 

Or there are repercussions, but not any more than are happening now as the Reich alienates the US with everyone decent, except if they annex Canada they have all that land and minerals etc. 

In other words, Canada isn't far away enough. 

I rode up to Cal Steam to buy a water valve tool, and on the way realized Tom might have one so I stopped there. He had one, and I carried the surprisingly heavy thing back here. I had packages all packed, and dropped off trash, then the packages at the post office and FedEx downtown. Then I had some yogurt and water at Whole Foods because I wasn't feel that great, then rode over to the water company where I found they don't take walk-ins. 

I swung by Nijiya and got a bento, a healthy one with a big piece of salmon and brown rice and veggies. I called Ken to make sure the water's paid up and said I have the tool to turn it back on and he said Go ahead. 

I had a little trouble with this, because I turned it to align with the pipe and still didn't have water. I called Ken again to get the 10-digit code for our account with the water company and he said I'll have to call him at home around midnight. I hung up then thought a bit, Maybe the valve turns the other way. I tried that and there's water now. I called Ken back to say I have it solved, and that's that. 

I did most of the taking apart of a big high voltage power supply that's been on my shit list for a while (big, heavy, and I'd rather have the space clear) so I'll have 10 photo-ready things to list tomorrow. I feel bad not listing stuff today, but I actually did a lot today. 

RIP Jessica Aber

 Former US attorney general for Virginia. Appointed by Biden, fired by Krasnov, and now dead at 43. All that remains is to determine if the cause of death was falling out a window or polonium tea. 

The "wine method" kind of worked last night and kind of didn't. The reason it worked the night before so well was that I was really tired. I went to sleep fine, but woke up at 5 when the idiots were all getting back into their cars and being noisy. Then I woke up again around 7 with a headache, and went back to bed and slept until noon. I'd basically gone back to sleep to get the sleep I didn't get because the wine had screwed it up. 

I think the main thing is to have a hard rule to go to bed at 1, which means I'll be fast asleep at 2, and should sleep OK until 9.  If I can establish that, I can be up for things more easily, get my work done in the day, and get my practice done in the day too - I was up for some practice last night but didn't because there's a guy in an older dark SUV who I think just sleeps around here but he was parked pretty close by and I'm not supposed to be in here, and my trumpet playing at 10PM would give me away. 

I left for downtown, first (after dropping off trash and donations) to Upshift where I tried on, again, a reflective vest I was looking it. I knew it fits well with a jacket and sweater underneath, I wanted to see how it would fit with just a t-shirt underneath and it fits fine that way too. So I bought it, and took off my old yellow jacket and wore the vest with just my t-shirt. It was hot out. 

I went to Whole Foods to get some things, and had some fish curry and a beer. Then I went to Good Karma Bikes and donated my yellow vest, which was straight out of the laundry except for today's wearing it to downtown. 

I went down to Walmart and got a lot of things, which were paid for with my change, which after Coinstar took their 13% or so, got me $65. I got a bunch of bubble mailers from the Amazon place, and a 5-pack of "Shio" ramen from Nijiya and got back here. The thing with the ramen is, if I'm living my life right I just use the seasoning packets and cook it with vegetables instead of noodles. So when I got back here I took the packets out and packaged up the rest and put it out for the bums. 

 

 

The Dems took a copy of Robert's Rules Of Order to a gunfight

 As someone on Reddit put it. 

Friday, yesterday, what a day! I had a meeting with the rabbi at 11, and hadn't slept very well or very many hours because the illegal nightclub was having a good (for them) night and I was bugged by the noise. I finally went to sleep around 5AM and woke up at 9. 

But I managed the meeting all right in fact it went well. I had chicken wings and a Guinness afterward, went by the Amazon place for bubble mailers, then stopped at Nijiya for stuff, and got back here. I packed all the things that had sold, which were not too big to carry without the trailer. Then I got going from here at a bit before 4, dropped off trash, then donations, then the post office stuff, then the one FedEx box at FedEx on the Alameda. 

I should have done a study session  I guess but instead I went to Recycle Books and what did I find but a hardcover copy of "People Love Dead Jews" by Dara Horn. That was $7, and from the sale books by the door I found a neat book about Al Jolson. I say neat because it's a fairly serious book about him, originally printed in 1980, in England. They tend to go really in-depth on things, especially anything having to do with the history of jazz. That was $3. So a good time at the good old book store. 

I went over to the temple and told Officer Pifferini (or whatever it is) that the illegal night club keeps going and I keep filing complaints, and he said "Keep it up!" 

The attendance at this service was the lightest I've seen it. What a time to be seen with a blue, member, name tag instead of a non-member green one. 

I had whatever I was going to get, gotten, so all I had to do on my way back was ride back here by the shortest route, on Hedding, and here I was back here. 

Now to enact my plan. My plan was to get a bottle of wine, and drink it, the whole thing, so I'd hit the sack at midnight or 1AM at latest, and hopefully sleep through any illegal night club noise. And ... it worked. I woke up at 7 to pee and I could not tell if anything nightclub-wise had happened at all. 

I went back to bed until about noon, and then it took a few more hours for my headache to subside. 

Needless to say I relaxed today, started in on the Dara Horn book, and thought out what to get on a late-night (for San Jose, where 9PM is considered night-owl time) and at just about 9, took off. I got some stuff at Sprouts, including a $4 bottle of wine. Then got sashimi and seaweed at H Mart for a treat and a $3 bottle of cheap bleach. 

The bleach was for the bottle and I poured the bleach out. I cut the top off and now it's a perfect fit for a gallon Ziploc bag. This is for #2's because with the water off except for a tiny "survival trickle" I'm not able to flush the toilet so I'm not using it. Ken says he got the bill paid up and "will talk to them (the water co.)".

I see this as an interesting exercise in water use, and this is the kind of thing that every Israeli should know about. After all they're using desalination for some of their water. 

 

 

Whew!

 I'm tired today. First, yesterday, there was the meeting at 2 to become a temple member and just in general talk. That was like an hour and very ... energetic. 

Then I rode over to the trumpet store and got the 2nd Getchell-Hovey book since I figured I should have the first book in my hands when Ken comes over. And talked a while with the guy there, Eric, who's as on the ball as the trombone guy is ditzy. They have, by the way, the Jo-Ral copper bubble mute that people on Reddit rave about. 

Eric and I talked about refurbishing my Conn Connstellation cornet, and he said No problem bring it in we have the parts, and I said I think it's the older model with those bullet-shaped corks and he was like, "Ohh, one of those" and I said I can just order the kit online for the corresponding trumpet since it will be the same valve block and he said Good idea. 

I put off buying the mute, and got the book and also the Caruso book which I was surprised to find was only $15. I've seen it as high as $60. 

Then I went to Whole Foods for, among other things, a tall can of Lagunitas IPA. I swung by the Amazon place for bubble mailers, then Nijiya for some fish and tomago and cucumbers which I ended up throwing away as they were not fresh after all. I got back here and ate and drank and thus had a little "mini vacation". 

I got 10 things ready to list, and then realized I had a choice. I could clean the place up and get in a bit over an hour of practice, and always list the things later after Ken's come and gone. 

The practice went well, and again after playing, at the end of the practice, I was able to do bugle calls even the tricky and fast Reveille which I'd never been able to do before. 

Ken came by at his usual time and I got my check, and we had our talk session. Which ended up being 2 hours instead of one, because I hadn't re-set the wall clock for the change in time, and it's only when I reminded Ken it was half after midnight that he realized how long he'd been. So that was tiring too. 

I was tired and hungry and had some noodles and beef and went to bed. 

I got up around noon. The ongoing destruction by the new Reich of everything that denotes a safe, stable, government resumes. 

I packed things, and got going to the post office and FedEx, and did a study session at the Baguette, except it was icy cold in there so I didn't stay as long as I would have otherwise. They've shortened their hours to closing at 9 instead of 10, and I noticed it was very un-busy. Their strength is not only all the great pastries but as a study place and place to hang out. Mostly Asian and Indian clientele, and they take their kids there (there's nothing more adorable than a little kid with one of those proper Indian accents)  and if you chase that crowd out, you're in trouble. 

I got some "Spanish mackerel" at H Mart and got back here. And .... the water's off. Actually not off, there's a sort of "survival trickle" which supplies enough water to do things like wash my hair, cook, etc., but not enough to wash dishes much or flush the toilet. So I'll be back to other methods like wiping dishes instead of washing them, which I was used to in the old building. 

I called Ken and the water being off is yet another side effect of his checking account having been hacked. I ended up making a run to TAK market but in the end didn't buy water, just a 6-pack of Lagunitas IPA haha. 

And this day had started so well, with push-ups and everything. 

Today I become a member

 Today's the meeting where I become a temple member. No more green name tag for me now, I'll wear a blue one. 

Night before last I watched "Sicko" by Michael Moore. I'd watched it ages ago and it's amazing how well it's aged. At the time it was made, "pre-existing conditions" were a reason many people could not get insurance at all and what a nightmare that was. Needless to say under the Reich that's coming back. 

Most striking was the parts shot in France. They interviewed a doctor there, now I've known doctors as friends here in the US and boy do they like to complain about taxes. Here in the US it's a standard sentiment that "I pay taxes and I don't get my money's worth" in other words, what do taxes do for ME directly. In France the standard sentiment is it's good to care for others, and taxes provide good value for US. 

The most striking point Moore makes is that in France, the gov't is scared of the citizens, and in the US the citizens are scared of the gov't. France has had a real revolution whereas what we call one, wasn't. Theirs involved getting the guillotine out, and using it. Ours was all about oligarchs being able to do oligarch things like slavery, without pesky English rules and rather more decent norms. 

And the failure of the Biden Administration to declare an emergency and leave the White House lawn covered with the bodies of insurrectionists has led to a government now that will lead to concentration camps and mass graves. 

I packed on big thing that had to go out, and took off. I dropped off donations, one small thing to the post office, and the big thing to the FedEx on the Alameda. Then went over to the temple where I was 10 minutes early. Perfect. 

I filled out the forms and we had a good talk, and now I'm a member. This might save my life.

Another class session done

 I was up until 5AM doing laundry last night, at least I got a ton of small things like sox washed and hung up and the next load started because that's a rule I've made for myself, to always start the next load after finishing one. 

I got up in time to pack some things and get cleaned up, dropped off the things at the post office, had something to eat at Whole Foods, and got a couple of things at the hardware store. My new LED work light works great and it will work even better when I've got it hung up from an overhead pipe, giving it a better angle. I put the old one out for the scavengers (it cost Ken $15 at Goodwill and if he asks I'll tell him how bad a light it was - who gives away a work light unless it's junk?) and it was gone in minutes. 

Tonight's class went well. The half hour of Hebrew at the beginning and the rest of the class was taught by my own rabbi and he's good at these things. 

I got back here and after various things I settled down for a practice session. I'm working on new stuff since  I sure can't play "Ave Maria" any more. And the same as last night, I noticed that at the end of the hour or so practice, I could play bugle calls - way back when, I could play higher notes at the very beginning of my practice session and then forget about it past then. Now I think I've built up more strength or stopped tensing something or somehow have matured as a player a bit. 

 

No comprende

 I was awakened by a knock on the door. It was a guy wearing pink sweat pants who asked, "Spanish?" I kind of shook my head I guess, and he asked again, "Spanish?" and I said, "No comprende, sorry" and that satisfied him. Poor guy was looking for a business here and was confused by the unit numbers. It's not the first time and it sure won't be the last. 

I went back to bed for an hour or so and then got up. Yesterday I packed 4 things I could take to FedEx, got them there and did a study session at the Baguette. I had a coffee and a salty bun, but I was already coffee'd and carbo'd up because I'd had a double shot and a pastry at the Starbucks by H Mart because I'm a nosy bugger and wanted to watch whatever the ambulance and for a short while, police car, in front of H Mart were all about. 

I finally wheeled my bike and trailer there and left them at the bike rack, and went in for some shopping. I could not really get a look other than to see that it was one of the local homeless, with a shopping cart filled with stuff and a broom sticking up out of it, who'd apparently passed out or come down sick somehow, and probably one of the guards at H Mart had called the police. 

Rain was due so I collected packing stuff and got two nice big boxes from the tire place - I'd had to pack one large thing in a big iMac box which was a pain, and I remembered that I'd been in the habit of keeping some boxes from large rims around, and had gotten out of that habit. 

I got back here and did the usual things, putting things away and getting out things to ship, and was just winding down to do some practice when the power went out because such is life in Silicon Valley. So I did things by flashlight and fortunately had dishes done and there wasn't that much I had to do. I read a few chapters of "Secret Israel" by Shakked Beery which is an amazing book, and went to bed. 

I didn't sleep that well though, and after a while the lights came back on (I thought I had them turned off) so I got up and turned them off and still, I slept lightly through the night. 

I packed 13 things, about 5 of them all in one large box which surprisingly I was able to carry with the old traditional cord around it, and I got rained on a little but nothing too bad, took the big box to FedEx and the smaller stuff which I put in a big Ross bag I taped up so it was waterproof, to the post office. 

I did some shopping in 99 Ranch then went to Lowe's and picked out a nice Craftsman work light I'm going to try to rig up in here because Ken's cheapo xenon one has a failing power switch and I swear the thing's going to catch fire it gets so hot. It must be "hot" on the electric bill too. 

Saturday night

 On Friday I was able to pack things to take with me to the post office and to get out of here in time. I did a study session at the Starbucks on the Alameda, then went over to the temple for the service. That went great except I forgot my glasses and stuff so I had to sit up near the front and I wore the baseball-themed kippah that's in the box with a lot of others, all left over from bar mitvahs. It's fun to be able to read the Hebrew, not as fast as I can read the English but ... getting there. 

It was a "Ruach" Shabbat service and the people sitting behind me thought maybe "Ruach" was Hebrew for "Rock" since we had a band this night. But the rabbi came around in his general habit of circulating and it turns out, he told us, that "Ruach" means "Heart" so that cleared that up. Hebrew for "Rock" haha. 

The flute lady was there and I got to talk with her a bit. She's very happy with the flutes I sold her, and we had a nice friendly short talk. 

After the service stopped by Whole Foods for a few last minute things then got back here. I settled in for a nice Shabbat night. 

Now Shabbat is over and ... ugh the news. Voice Of America and Radio Free Asia are now shut down. Lots of people who voted for El Dumpo are losing their jobs as well as his political opposites. It reminds me of how it was dangerous to be an enemy of Stalin in the USSR but it was also dangerous to be a friend of Stalin. Being a family member of Stalin was particularly dangerous. 

Rasputin

 Last night's Purim spiel was interesting. It was very different from last year, we were in a small room and it was a relatively small number of people. Last year it had been a big deal with a band and dancing. 

I got there after having a Guinness and a slice of pizza at Whole Foods. It turned out there was food - pizza. I set up my little project, pouring out arak and ice water drinks with various things added, and Tuaca. A few people took drinks and a lady brought a bottle of white prosecco with a screw top and a bottle of sparkling prosecco (essentially cheap champagne) that I could not get open. We never did get that one open. 

As the spiel got underway the rabbi told me to sit down and I sat down at a table, and we sang a couple of songs and various people read their parts of the spiel. Almost everyone had bottles of wine and liquor at their tables, and that's how it was really done. 

I had a little Tuaca which was not the aromatic amazing stuff I remember it as from about 17 years ago. I tried a little arak and it tasted exactly, precisely, like Good'n'Plentys. I tried a bit of the Scotch the rabbi was saying was good, but it was pretty strong and peaty for me.

I don't know whether to call the spiel hilarious or sad or scary, maybe a bit of all three. The names "Trump" and "Musk" got substituted for Haman and the king. 

It was all done by 8:30, and I packed up my little plastic containers I had things like zest and coffee beans in, and the bottles of liquor which were still half full. I had in mind that I'd bring them for tonight's Shabbat. 

I went by Whole Foods and got some yogurt which I left in the bag overnight at room temperature so I tossed them out when I discovered them today. I stopped by TAK Market and got a 4-pack of Guinness tall cans, and got back here. 

I was very happy that I hadn't gotten rained on, a thing I can't guarantee today. I started in on the Guinness, and a bag of potato chips that had been thrown around the room for some reason during the spiel, and which I'd put in my bag when I'd packed up my things that I wanted to keep. 

In the end I drank all 4 cans of Guinness and had some Tuaca too. Ugh! Bad idea. I got to sleep early but woke up around 6, had a very hard time getting back to sleep, and finally woke up around noon, feeling awful.

I poured the liquors out. Firstly, the Tuaca was nothing special. And the arak was OK if you really like Good'n'Plentys, that's about all that could be said about it. And bringing the liquors to Shabbat tonight would just be weird. 

I drank some pickle juice and tried to get feeling at least somewhat normal, while the rain pours down. Listening to the radio, good-guy politician Chuck Schumer has pissed a lot of people off by voting with the Republicans for a budget plan to prevent a government shutdown. It's described as Schumer having "two terrible choices". Chuck thinks a gov't shutdown is worse and "just what Trump wants as a distraction". 

I thought, This is really our Rasputin moment. Somehow, a Russian peasant named Rasputin, somehow, had enough charisma and con-artist talent that he got himself into a position of essentially being in control of the Russian royal family. This was not centuries ago, as I thought for a long time, but approximately in the years 1900-1916, ending when some Russian nobles killed Rasputin. 

I do not understand Trump's charisma, his wheedling voice with his B-movie gangster accent is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I can't stand his little hands waving around like he's playing an invisible accordion, or his little O-shaped mouth. Or his cheap toupee for that matter. But apparently to millions, he's wonderful. He is our Rasputin. 

The liberal radio never fails to deliver, though. There's a series they're doing called "Airwaves" about radio personalities of the past and it's interesting, but they never fail to get an anti-Jewish dig in. Today's was about Dorothy Thompson who essentially set herself up as Hitler's opponent, was very popular, and was considered right up there with Eleanor Roosevelt for influence. 

But of course they had to add that she thought the founding of modern Israel was awful, that the Arabs would "never be treated equally" yadda yadda. If the Arabs were to be treated equally in a Jewish state, one that was founding with the knowledge that the only people in the Jews' corner are the Jews themselves, it's news to me. Somehow, all the violence by the Arabs before, during, and after 1948 doesn't count, it only counts as violence when Jews defend themselves. 

Last night, at least Ken had come by while I was gone, and left a check for last week and this week. It was written on his personal account. I called him and he answered right away, it turns out his business account got "hacked" somehow and cleaned out. It was nice of him to write the check on his personal account to make sure I got paid, and I  told him that at least with a business account he's got a bit more protection as I'd had problems a couple of times in the past that were taken care of easily because it was a business account. And also that he should not put his mail that has checks in it into the outdoor boxes at the post office at all, since I'd used them and found mail just jammed in there where it's easy to take out. 

Next election, I won't have to vote

 Not in the US elections, anyway, because I probably won't be able to. I just heard now on the radio that they're going to make it so you need to have proof of citizenship like a passport to register to vote, and then to vote at all. 

Since the next presidential election is 4 years off, I guess Krasnov is right. If I'm so unfortunate as to still be here, the barriers to voting are likely to be high enough to prevent me from doing it. 

Every day it's new crap here in the Reich. 

Greenland just had an election and they just voted to be independent of Denmark. This is very bad, because there are only about 50,000 people in Greenland, and large US military bases. If they were still part of Denmark they'd be hard for the US to annex but now I expect the US to do something like, at best, offer $1 million dollars and a new snowmobile to the Greenlanders to vote to become part of the US, or at worst, just fucking walk in and take the place. 

Then the vast majority of Greenlanders, as "brown people", can enjoy being 2nd class citizens if they're considered citizens at all. 

On this fine day birthright citizenship is on the chopping block too. One might think, OK, "anchor babies" will be a thing of the past, but since the new Reich interprets things in the worst way possible, it could mean that anyone, even generations in the US, could be determined to be a non-citizen. This will be used against non-whites and political opponents. 

Closer to home for me is the possibility that Americans retiring overseas and collecting the US Social Security they'd paid into for years, may get that cut off for not being "patriotic" enough to live within the US. My only comforting thought in this is, if it gets that bad then I'd probably get it cut off anyway, and I'd sooner starve in the street in Israel than here. 

 

More ways the Left is shooting itself in the foot

 I got up at around 10:30 probably because between coffee at Starbucks, coffee in the class, and the can of coffee  I drank later at home, I didn't "need" as much sleep. 

I was surprised to see it was dry last night so I got right to packing things to ship. And it started raining. 

I turned on the radio and of course they're talking about the poor, put-upon Hamas guy and his pro-Hamas followers holding demonstrations on college campuses and waving their Hamas flags around and the usual crap. This one guy was being deported for being an agitator/fundraiser for terrorists, so the Left has decided to make him a cause celebre'. 

The problem is the majority in this country know exactly what Hamas stands for, and this is another case of the Left shooting itself in the foot. Or more like, in the gut. The vast majority in the US know Hamas and Hezbollah and all the Arab entities stand for "purifying" the world of Jews, preferably by the most brutal and painful methods possible. Then they'll start in on everyone else. 

I could not manage to deliver packages without getting wet so I just went out and got wet. At least they're delivered. Sales are down because everyone's nervous as hell, wondering if they'll lose their jobs, or their Social Security, veterans' pensions, etc. 

 

Tuesday night - back from class

 I have 20 things ready to list but didn't do 'em today. I packed a few things that has sold, gave myself a haircut, and got out of here around the usual time. 

After dropping off trash, and packages at the post office, and going by TAP Plastics for some little zipper bags, I had wings and a beer at Whole Foods. It was odd today, not seeing any VTA buses going by, nor did I see any light rail trains. I'm glad I can get where I need to go by bike, and I don't have to go as far as Shir Hadash for any more class sessions

I did a bit of a study session, pretty much just the reading assignment because it was a lot of pages, at the Starbucks on the Alameda. 

I got over to the class after that, right at my home temple. We didn't do any Hebrew, but did a ton on weddings and funerals. Which was kind of funny because the reading assignment wasn't on those, but on other stuff. It was fun. I kept starting to doze off though, so since I'd left my can of coffee in the bike bag, I got myself a cup of coffee there in the classroom, and spilled a lot of it on the tablecloth. "Son of a-" I said, and went to find paper towels to wipe it up, which turned out to not make much difference anyway. The coffee woke me up, and the cookies I had with it too. 

The rabbi, *my* rabbi, taught the class better than any of the others. We were gonna talk about weddings and funerals and that's exactly what we learned about, in depth. 

When the class was over Jim and I both made for the loo, and I said something like, "I can't believe I spilled all that coffee" and Jim said he'd done worse, first he had a leaky cup, then spilled some besides... etc. 

I rode back over to Whole Foods and spent about $28 on stuff, and while it was windy and a bit cold outside, I thought if I were busking even for an hour or maybe a half-hour, my purchases might be effectively free. There were people going in and out. I also noticed they had a cop working there along with the usual security guard, so maybe they'd had more bum problems recently. 

I rode on back here, put things away, etc. I should have practiced but instead among other things I watched on YouTube, I did some looking around for trumpet versions of this and that song, and not only is the helpful Andrea Guifreddi still putting out videos, but another guy in Ukraine has a bunch of covers up and he seems to stay in the staff so they're easy to play. It's not busking season yet but I want to be ready when it is. 

Well it's Monday

 I got about 14 things packed, small things, and got 'em to the post office, and it felt like it was going to rain out thee and it just felt ... weird. 

So after the post office I rode right over to Nijiya for some things, only had to dodge a few zombies because it wasn't dark yet plus it felt like it might start raining. 

I got back here and had a beer and some snacks, then had a hot coffee, flavored with a bit of cinnamon and vanilla. I burned a load of "sensitive" (addresses etc on it) trash and Lo and behold, a couple of zombies came through on bikes, making weird sounds. I got done with what I was doing and got my ass back in here, and sure enough, a bit later one of the zombies came through with a zombie pit bull, maybe hoping I'd still be out there futzing around. 

I have to wonder, if zombies want to eat brains, do zombie dogs want to eat dog brains? 

I got another email from Pat on the Big Island, who said that yes, the neighbor I'd asked to check on him, the one with the art gallery is an enemy, who'd "done him wrong in a hurricane". And this or another neighbor, had cleared too many trees or something, or had to clear some of Pat's crap from his (not Pat's) land, so that made whoever *that is* an enemy. 

I just don't get it, I get along with everyone around here.  I asked Pat if he has any neighbors he's not enemies with, and haven't heard back so far. 

The Ol' NPR Shuffle

 I set my alarm for 9, 8 by my internal clock since the time had just "sprung forward". I had trouble getting to sleep because the brothel was having a banging (teehee) night so there was noise from the idiots going in and out. I should have been asleep by this time anyway, and would have probably slept fine through them, because I normally sleep through noise from the guys next door. 

My faithful alarm woke me up; I went from hanging out on a pleasant night with buskers in Santa Cruz on Pacific Avenue, to beep beep beep time to wake up. It's a neat alarm though, starting out rather quieter then getting more insistent. 

So I got up and turned on the radio and my ears prick up when I hear mention of L'Cha Dodi, the Shabbat song. How nice, I thought. It turned out to be a glowing puff piece about a group of anti-Israel Jews, in other words, arguably not Jews at all. Certainly a modern counterpart of the 4/5ths of Jews who didn't follow Moses across the Red Sea. 

The piece went on and on, how awful it is that "bad" Jews will display the Israel flag in their sanctuary (yep my temple has big US and Israel flags, one on each side) and actually support the existence of Israel, how horrible! In other words, NPR endorses the modern counterpart of the German National Jews, the Jewish group that voted for Hitler. This is why NPR isn't getting another thin dime from me. In fact I'm starting to think they owe me money. 

I time my ride out of here to get to the temple 15-20 minutes after 11, when the Purim carnival was on and the spiel for the kidlets was done. Perfect. I bought $10 worth of poppyseed hamantaschen and paid $5 for the lunch, which was good. I hung out a bit, and got to talk to the membership person and tell them that I'm ready to go, and had sent an email so I hope to get news and hop on over there with one of my new checks and become a member. 

When I was done there I rode over to "Royal Wine & More" I think it's called, and got a bottle of Israeli arack, a bottle of Tuaca because that stuff's magic, a little bottle of grenadine, and some clear plastic cups. 

Then I rode over to Whole Foods and treated myself to a slice of pizza and a beer and relaxed upstairs with those. I ended up talking with a guy who told me he's been going to a place called "Recovery Cafe" for years and gushed about it, two meals a day, really good chef, etc. But you have to do some chores. And he gushed about the pork loin so yeah, I've got it filed away to tell *other* people about, haha. 

I got lemon and lime juice and a lemon and a lime, and also some coffee beans. So I'm pretty set for my plan for the Purim party on Thursday night. I'd said to the ladies at the sign-in at today's Purim carnival that the adult thing being on Thursday, I'll have to get out of there at 10PM and they said something like, "We all do...." but that's the Jewish calendar for you. 

I eventually got back here and put things away and packed two things to take to FedEx and did a trip to Sprouts and Ross, so it was a pretty busy day. 

I did a practice session while watching some 1982 animated thing by the great Mobius, "Time Masters" which was really cool. But the practice went well too. 

Another interesting thing that happened today is I heard from Pat on the Big Island, he sent me some inane email about the latest Haiku Stairs news, and I replied something like, "I thought you didn't want to talk to me" and we went back and forth a couple of times. He claims to not remember my getting worried and having a neighbor check on him, then he was curious which neighbor because he seems to be at war with at least one of his neighbors. I've come around to thinking the guy's too flaky to consider any kind of a friend. 

 

Saturday night

 Thursday night I got a half-bottle of sake, because as I was shopping in H Mart I saw the bottles of the milky stuff and decided I really wanted one. I drank it just before bed and it actually messed up my sleep. The stuff has a lot of sugar, or carbohydrates at least, in it and I thought that might be why. 

Last night did the things I had to do and went to the Friday night service. Before the service I talked with one of the ladies about membership and she mentioned paying monthly. The service went well, and it's fun being able to read the Hebrew up on the screens. I didn't really eat any of the food after the service, as I found myself wanting a coffee more, and also I got one of those awful scratches in my throat and tried to cough it out, and ended up taking a 2nd one of the little cups of wine and gargling with it before swallowing it, which took care of the scratch. I finished my coffee and called it a night then. 

On the way back I felt like going to TAK Market and getting some Guinness, which I did. Again the idea was that I'd sleep well and get to sleep earlier and thus get up earlier. That sure backfired. The stuff didn't really give me that much of a buzz and my sleep was all messed up. I'm giving up at this point. 

I woke up around noon, and got up - maybe dozed a bit more - at almost 3. I read a book of Israeli stories originally published in 1962 and frankly, pretty Meh. And just got barely started on a Primo Levi book, not the one I really want to read which is the one where I'd freed from Auschwitz and spends the next 5 years getting back to Italy, but one that's a fictionalize account of a couple of guys in the last part of the war and the first few chaotic postwar years that is probably actually more truth than fiction. 

I also got to thinking about the lady who's paying her membership monthly. My plan, I told her, is to just write one big check at the start of the fiscal year which I just need to find out is either June or July first, since everyone seems to have a different fiscal year. It's July, she told me. That's where our little exchange ended, but this has got me thinking. 

July's pretty far off, and "Participation in Jewish life" may only count, officially, from when I become a member. And, since I need a check with my name printed on it to pay the library to process my passport, I now have 60 checks, with my name right on them. Enough for 5 years and I sure won't be around here another 5 years. So I could pay monthly and I can start up right away. I'd started going to the temple regularly starting last Purim, and here I am, this Purim, and will be an actual member. 

I did a practice session, so that's good too. 

In Reich news, the BBC was discussing the US annexing Greenland as if it's all over except the ink drying, and the bloviating orange blimp got his airtime. They love him! Canada and Mexico are going through with tariffs of their own, and actually enforcing laws that are on the books already as far as gringos visiting their countries. Good for them! 

Achy

 After getting the news from Ken that he's out of town, I rounded up a couple of large things, and took apart another large thing to "part out", so I have plenty of bits and pieces to list today. 

I slept in again though, and dreaded getting out of bed due to a headache I kept trying to help with breathing exercises, and finally got out of bed around 1:30. I took some Tylenol, coffee, and the cranberry stuff I'm taking for what I think is a bladder infection, and waited for the Tylenol to kick in. I'd been wrestling some heavy stuff around last night, hence the aches and pains.

Another day in the Reich. One disappointing thing I'm finding is that Hawaii is a lot more right-wing than it's commonly thought to be. It makes sense, though, as being right-wing is normal for the US and it's part of the US. In fact, I can't think of a place that's more militarized. No one seems to have exact numbers; I'm seeing "references" showing as few as 10, and as many as 100, military bases in the state. Most estimates put it at 12-14, and that's a lot. Hopes that the military might oppose the present administration or prevent it from committing crimes, are far in the past. 

I packed a couple of things (OK 3) to go out, and got them to the post office and FedEx, did a study session at the Baguette, and got some things at 99 Ranch the most interesting thing being a "Taiwan" cabbage that has the interesting quality of being a sort of flattish shape, so it can fit on the shelf in my fridge OK. 

I got back here and did a practice session on the trumpet. Some good tone happening at times here. I really hope I'm not too old and "futless" as we say back in Hawaii, to really get somewhere on the trumpet once I'm done with this work for Ken, because I'd really like to get into some things in depth. For instance, Louis Armstrong's early recordings have a lot of note-bending and he didn't really have a high range, while his later, more mainstream stuff, he got away from the note-bending and more into showing off high notes and left a lot of those mannerisms behind. 

Those "mannerisms" though are probably the real original New Orleans sound and also are a big thing in Klezmer playing. Mostly in Klezmer it was the clarinet but there was and is also Klezmer trumpet. And I'm probably a genuine, dyed in the wool Klezmer player in that I have a day job, make very little from my playing, and have a relationship with printed music that's tenuous at best. 

This last has its bads and its goods. Granted it's within my range, I can play anything I can play in my head. This means I don't have to futz around obtaining printed music. But for something that's printed music, I have to laboriously work through it or cheat and listen on YouTube and then use the notes as a general guide to where I'm going. 

 

Always the last to know

 Because of the class last night, I slept in today until something like 1:30 in the afternoon. I'd spent hours taking something apart overnight so that was a factor too, not just the class. 

I cleaned the parts and got them ready to list, and listed about 5 of them, then realized the rain had stopped and I could get the two things that had sold, sent. So I packed those and got them to FedEx and the post office, and then went over to Nijiya for some things, and then back here. 

 I listed the remaining 15 things and cleaned the place up and when it got a bit later than the time Ken normally comes by, I called him. "I'm in Vegas! I forgot to tell you!" he said. He also said that he probably won't come by until Thursday next week. 

Smoot-Hawley II

 It's the first part of the plunge into Depression and I feel fine. 

People on Reddit are saying it's some sort of master plan by El Dumpo to crash the economy and thus his billionaire buddies can scoop things up for pennies on the dollar, but I don't think Diaperman is that smart. I think it's a combination of a harking back to the "Robber Barons" of the late 1800s, resentment over GATT and NAFTA, and good old fashioned r/Iam14AndThisIsDeep isolationism. 

Someone on Reddit said Well, we've already had a "Spanish Flu" type epidemic, we're about due for a depression, policies that make said depression really bad, then world war. 

I packed the few small things that had sold, and got out of here in plenty of time. I dropped off donations in the little free library box in Japantown and tried out a new thing, "tuna katsu" from Nijiya, which turned out to be sort of tuna croquettes. Good enough, and I got a bottle of beer to go with them. 

After eating I went to the post office to drop off the things, went by the Amazon place for bubble mailers, then went over to the train station for some train station popcorn. I hung out and talked with the lady there because I wanted to find out once and for all if she's a Trumper - she is most emphatically not. That's good. 

I went over to Whole Foods for a yogurt, then rode down to the Starbucks that's kind of close to where the class was tonight, did the reading assignment and some Hebrew reading, then went to class. The class went well, our intrepid Hebrew teacher was there and glad to get the dry-erase markers I gave him. I'd bought a pack of 5 and by the time I went through 2, the other 3 would be dried out so I was happy to give them to him. 

The rabbi teaching the class joined in at the end of the Hebrew session, and we learned an interesting rule - some letters that are changed by a dagesh/dot, the dagesh goes away if it's a vowel sound before that letter. To me that's like the rule of whether to say "a" or "an" before a word, so I can't forget it. 

I rode back from class quickly enough to go to Whole Foods and get some yogurt, among other things.  Kenny was there and asked if I'd been playing out front and I did my best to explain that I've not been playing for months. It would have been too cold and windy today anyway. I rode home by way of Hedding since I think it's a big shorter, and while I avoided 4th street, I was kind of dumb in taking 7th, which of course has zombies also - a zombie said "Hello" to me, no doubt to size me up and after a bit of delay I said "hey" and rode on, listening carefully to see if the damned thing was following me. Best to stay on 10th probably, since 10PM in this town is something like 3AM anywhere else. 

I got back here, made some delicious soup for dinner, and took a heavy thing apart so now I have parts to list tomorrow. 

Monday

 I did an, I think, productive practice last night. I got the trumpet out and A-B tested the Bach mouthpiece, and in the end I really can't tell it from the Blessing. It's nice to have an actual Bach one though, and the $35 or so I spent on it was a good price. 

I'm still inspired by the documentary on Herb Alpert I watched, and I think there are a couple more shorter ones done by the BBC and so on that I want to watch. It's not that his playing itself is all that inspiring, but the whole package. I also found that he did a lot after Rise, and his technical skill appears to have actually improved as he got older. 

I found that once I got used to the different feel of the trumpet, I got some good sound out of it, and I also worked on being relaxed and found that I could play high notes fine, even though I haven't been practicing worth a damn between my cold, my back injury, etc. 

This is important because if my situation here disintegrates, I need to be up to speed to play, probably, 2 sessions a day, along with throwing my stuff into a storage unit, and hotel'ing it while I find a room to rent. As dismal as the housing situation here is, it's not any worse than it is back in Hawaii, and as a non-smoking non pet owner with good hygiene and speaking decent English instead of the lower-class mutter that even I have trouble understanding, I'm sure I'd be able to talk my way into a rented room or rent a small office near Japantown. 

As long as Ken's doing OK I'm doing OK, but the rub is if he were to suddenly exit the scene. It happens. His family is nice enough but they're Nazis so I'd not expect to stick around for long. 

Hence, the need to practice every day so I can get out there and live off of my horn. I took things to the post office and fedex, got a study session done at the Baguette, and got back here and practiced, then cooked and ate some dinner and got 10 things camera-ready to photo and list tomorrow. 

My practice went well again, and I think I'm making some very important progress, because I've been working based on what I call the "song method" - I'd noticed that when I consciously would try to play high notes I often could not, but if I was playing a song that happened to have some high notes I could often do them just fine as long as I was thinking about the song and not the high notes. 

In the spirit of this, last night I ordered the first Hovey-Getchell book for cornet/trumpet, the very one Eric Bolvin (RIP) had me get when I took lessons from him long ago. I didn't stick with the lessons, because he had a tendency to yell, and because he played for me a recording of what inspired him as a kid; a recording of Maynard Ferguson doing a great imitation of a herd of pigs screaming for their lives. I did not appreciate this. It sounded awful. 

I wish I'd stuck with the lessons though, because that might have put me ahead of where I am now, and because I'd have had two, maybe three, years of lessons under my belt when the economy crashed and might have gotten out there busking that much sooner. I figured my Prius cost me about $600 a month to own and operate, and I might have lived in the thing and busked and things have gone very differently. Maybe not better, given that the economy was in Great Depression territory, but certainly differently. 

Sunday

 Since I got to bed somewhat early (for me) 1AM or at latest 2AM,  I was able to get up in time to get to the class today which started at 10. In fact, even though I rode more slowly than usual due to how wet the roads were, I got there early. 

I'm glad I went, too, because the rabbi talked about how he was a kid actor in a lot of TV shows like The Waltons, in the background (non-speaking roles) and he said there was a lot of "abuse" and it turned him off of being an actor. 

We talked about politics of course, and even covered a bit of what's the course material but mainly politics. As the saying goes, "You may not be interested in politics but politics is interested in you" and this was particularly true in early 1930s Germany as well as the present day. 

After class I went to Whole Foods for a slice of pizza and a seltzer water, waited for a bit of rain to get over with, then went to Walmart for things. Then I just got back here.

Saturday night

 Yesterday went OK. I dropped off things at the post office, deposited my check at the bank, got things at Whole Foods and Nijiya, and got back here and settled in for a nice Shabbat dinner. 

I'd bought a half-size bottle of wine at Whole Foods and the stuff tasted more like vinegar than anything else. Plus I bought a 4-pack of cans of beer at Nijiya, the drinking of which after the wine caused me to go to sleep early and thus get up early which was kind of the plan. Awful way to reset my sleep schedule, though. 

It's supposed to rain tomorrow but I'm still going to try to make it to the 10AM class OK. If nothing else I can ride my bike up to the light rail and take that to Diridon, then it's a relatively short ride to the temple. 

Today I watched a documentary about Herb Alpert that was only made a year or two ago. It was pretty good. While no one considers Alpert to be a virtuoso trumpeter, the fact that he started playing at 8, had teachers, was in high school, college, and Army bands, and that pretty much all he ever did for a living was play trumpet, says that while not a flashy player, there's a lot of depth there. One could do worse than to get to play as well as him. 

I've been thinking lately about how, to understand American culture, you just have to watch American TV. For instance, every time the subject comes up on Reddit, there are tons of Americans saying Oh no, not them, they don't wear shoes in the house, only very dirty people do that! But if you look at our TV programming, shoes in the house are the norm. The only places in American homes where shoes are not normally worn are in the bath/shower or in bed. Elsewhere, it's shoes 99.99% of the time. 

Another social norm that's enforced is the law of "Fuck You, I've Got Mine". In The Beverly Hillbillies, the characters are suddenly rich because oil was discovered on their land. The immediate, unquestioned, reaction is to pack their shit and leave, and get far, far away from any friends, family, church, any connections from what are suddenly their enemies; poor people. You never see or hear about relatives they're helping out, or their giving to charities, or anything like that. 

In fact, in all of TV-land, giving to charities, such a big thing in Judaism, is never seen. It'd be kind of normal to show admirable characters giving to charities and bad guys / cads not, but charitable behavior is just not seen at all. You have to go to old movies from the 1930s or earlier to see charitable behavior. Post WWII, any kind of altruism at all, I guess, is seen as "Communism".