Maybe I'll play it today

 After getting back here I did Ebay stuff and watched the antics of the illegal night club that's set up in this complex, in the other one of the two buildings. In the past I'd submitted a ton of complaints to every place, the police, Crimestoppers, etc. Even called the cops when something I could call them on, like a parking lot fight, happened. 

I'd finally given up but now they seem to be on the cops' radar and they come by each night. Like last night. It was only a Thursday night, the slowest of their Thu-Sun evening schedule, but about an hour into their operation which is normally 2-5AM, the cops showed up in force and ran 'em out. 

I'd feel bad about ruining someone's fun but there's drinking, they piss everywhere including in front of my shop, and I'm pretty sure the young girls being taken in there are not being taken willingly in all cases. So I just sit back these days and watch the fun. I keep forgetting to get one of those air horns, though, to blow when one of the guys pisses outside my door. 

Such is life in Silicon Valley and I'm doing better than most people. 

In the end, by the time it was about 5AM I was too tired to think of anything but sleep so I went to bed. 

So I woke up at 2 in the afternoon which is early for me given that the stupid illegal night club has me on a night-owl schedule, and thus has time to pack a bunch of Ebay things and arrange an appointment on Monday evening with a guy who saw my Craig's List ad and wants to buy my trumpet. 

Trumpet's out, flute is in! 

It's going to take me years to get competent enough on the shakuhachi to play in public, so in the interest of playing something that requires the same sort of breathing, I'm learning the concert flute because I feel I can be ready to play Xmas carols this Xmas season and from then on, be off and running as far as busking goes. 

I also have the plan of saving all of my pay checks and living on the proceeds of selling things off and busking for the next year. At the end of the year I plan to move back to Hawaii where I grew up and just live off of Social Security and busking. 

Hawaii may not be ideal but it's where I grew up, I know where everything is, I can fish and gather shells at the beaches where I grew up doing these things, and it's cheaper than here. 

It's also my rebellion against The American Way which is summed up in the saying, "He who dies with the most toys, wins". The idea that a person could be happier if they had less, had as few "toys" as they could dispense with, and could do some traditional art be it sumi-e painting or playing a flute that's just a hunk of bamboo with some holes in it, is more opposite to The American Way Of Life than anything else I can conceive of.