The USA's appendix

 Hawaii is the USA's appendix. 

The day after "liberation day"

 Yesterday, after the stock market had closed, Krasnov announced it was "Liberation Day" and came up with a list of crazy tariffs on, well, everyone else except Russia of course. So now the stock market's tanking. 

This is not good for business. Our sales are awful because of all the crazy shit going on, a lot of our customers are small businesses or tech hobbyists who probably worked and put away money in their 401k's and now these are tanking. So naturally they want to spend less. 

I got back here and put things away, and having eaten something like a pound of lasagna didn't fuss about dinner, but got the place cleaned up and then did an hour's practice. The bums outside were in rare form. 3-4 of them were standing around a large SUV with the back door open, and exchanging or looking at or talking about, the assortment of junk they'd collected, then just stood around talking, making bum plans for bum activities to come. 

Meanwhile some other bums were trying to tow a truck that didn't run with some other vehicle that barely ran, with a cargo strap. That fun activity was happening right outside the door here. 

And a third bum, in a black SUV with all but the front windows blacked out, had chosen to park right in front of our roll-up door for a nap or something. 

This was a perfect time for some trumpet practice! Especially my cornier numbers, and some of them, like the beginning and ending music for the 2nd version of Astro Boy, really needed some work. By the time an hour was up, the bums had all left. I don't know why that one guy can't sleep to soothing trumpet music! 

Now it was time for Ken to come over, and he did, eventually, around midnight. He *had* called to say he was running late. There was only one fast food place open by the time he was done at his work, so he had to get a burger and fries (not even a drink) and it was $14! I started to fry up a "burger in a bowl" but Ken shared his fries with me and they were pretty filling so I put the frozen serving of hamburger back in the freezer and had some pumpkin seeds and that was enough dinner for me. 

I didn't get paid, of course. Ken had left his check book at his house. So I'm supposed to get paid today or tonight. 

I got 25 things ready to list, packed two things and could not find the third, until about the 5th time looking then I found it. And that was about 15 minutes before I was going to leave so I packed it quickly. 

I dropped off one thing at the post office, and took the two boxes to FedEx. One didn't scan and the machine said to check with an employee, who said, "That's because this one has to go to the post office". It was now 4:36 so I booked it back to the post office and dropped it off just in time. 

Then I went to Whole Foods and had beer and wings, and sat near some hockey fan type guys who were talking about how awful the stock market is, but Hey, Tesla's still up! (It is, from last year but this year is not like last year....) 

After eating I went over to Starbucks and got some study in, maybe 45 minutes but it got gradually noisier and I realized if I hurried I could go by Nijiya on the way home and get some fish for tomorrow night. So I did that. 

I rode back here and Ken had dropped off my check. I'd told him to just put it into the mail slot in an envelope and that's what he'd done. So that was a minimum amount of trouble for either one of us. 

It's interesting, those bros discussing the stock market. I remember now that in Krasnov's first term, there was a general impression/experience that he was good for the stock market. People saying, "I'm not too crazy about the guy, but he's made me a lot of money!". Now, Krasnov is showing that he'll be as good for the stock market as Hitler was for peace (Hitler originally appealed to many as a 'keep us out of war' guy). 

 

 

It's the Nerd Reich and they can't even do that right

 www.thenerdreich.com 

I get up and turn on the radio and as per usual these days, it's a new serving of horror. But this time NPR has actually gotten off their asses and have a guy named Gil Duran on, who's talking about the actual mental framework behind the current destruction of the US. 

So it's all nerds who've read too much science fiction but here's the rub: They're destroying the system that created "Silicon Valley" and "the computer revolution". They're doing away with the social safety net that not only kept people from starving in the street but also gave people breathing room to re-train, start a business, etc. 

They, as nerds, should be pro-science but they're anti-science. Measles is back and kids are dying of that and also vitamin A poisoning because these idiots told them to give their kids tons of vitamin A. 

It's an r/iam14andthisisdeep version of how to run the world. 

For instance, in the "California Forever" techbro city, "greys", those who align with tech, are going to rule. "Blues", or Democrats, will be cleansed. Off to the camps! There will be statues all over this techtopia, showing how awful Blues are, or rather, were. 

I packed a bunch of things and realized I could carry them without needing the trailer so I loaded up my Whole Foods bags and took the things to the downtown post office and the FedEx on the Alameda. The grifter kids (this time it's for the animals made homeless by the L.A. fires or some shit) did the big "Hi! How are you??" thing as I pulled into the bike racks at Whole Foods then realized I still had the FedEx package hanging off one handlebar, got out of there and took the box to FedEx, then came back, more of their fakey-fake spiel. 

Don't people understand that you can't afford to pay two guys at least $17 an hour for an 8-hour day on the very few donations they're getting? No, these operations are about collecting people identities and bank account info. Plus I heard one of the kids talking on his phone about "getting to the airport" or something and I've heard them in the past talk about being flown around the country and put into hotels. High tech grifting Gypsies with good English. 

So I always have a reason I can't donate, haha not now thanks. 

I had something like a damn pound of lasagna maybe more, and a beer. It came to $18 and change and the beer was maybe $3 with the tax and bottle deposit. And amazingly, I finished it off with no problems. I couldn't finish the last 1/3 of the beer though. 

I walked over to Ace and got some metal toilet lid bolts, some Ed-Fred for keeping the toilet clean, and some Simple Green which I was just about out of. Then got a few more things like yogurt in Whole Foods and rode back here. 

I still feel "blah" from yesterday. I installed the new toilet seat bolts and hopefully they'll work better than the plastic ones that came with the seat. 

A great sound

 After shipping things, doing a study session at the Baguette, coming back and getting things ready to list, I managed to be 1/2 hour practice in and I actually think I had a great sound. I really like this "new" trumpet. It's just about perfect, being a real cut above the student Yamaha, but not having cost me a lot of money. 

I had plans for a while to take maybe a thousand dollars with me and go to Hornucopia on the peninsula and see what they have, but I think I really won out here. 

The thing is, if I lose my job with Ken, busking is going to be my fallback. And it's going to be my unofficial profession when I'm in Israel. So I have to sound good. 

It's rainy and stormy but it's storm cells passing over; heavy rain and then nothing. I'm waiting one out now. 

I finally got going around 5. I rode over to Whole Foods and tanked up on chicken and veggies and a beer, and got going to get down to the Addison-Penzak JCC for tonight's class. It was a long ride and I have a much greater appreciation for how much work the Green Line train was saving me. I got to class probably about 15 minutes late. So I don't know if the class sung Debbie Friedman'd Alef Bet song but I've been doing so every night before bed. Also we're supposed to learn her Oseh Shalom which I've also been singing along with nightly. 

The main class was eh, stuff. We got a good run-down on Reconstruction Judaism which seems to satisfy one of my possible definitions of "God" but I cannot say I agree with its methods. 

The ride home was ... long. So, 4 hours on the bike today. I went to the casino and got "steak bites" and an IPA. The place was dead so it was pretty relaxing. This is what you do in a town where pretty much everything closes at 9PM and there are next to no "third spaces".