A music stand

 The word at the last shakuhachi practice was that I need to get a music stand. I'm not sure why, if we're playing in the temple which has them, but that's what I was told. So at least I needed to get a music stand.

I did a lot of things and got 20 things ready to list on Ebay, and although I was very tired and really didn't feel like it, I did some practice. I was tired enough that at first I couldn't get a note. But pretty soon, I could. 

I got up at 3 in the afternoon and left here just a bit after 4. I only had one package to mail, and dropped that off at the post office downtown, and locked the bike at Whole Foods and got on the #22 bus and rode down to West Valley Music. From when I left here to when I arrived there, it took 2 hours. And my stop at the post office had taken hardly any time at all. 

So I got down there, and got my music stand, and it seems they have exactly one Hall flute, in G which is good and covered with a rose pattern which is not so great. 

I asked about the situation of their maybe being interested in buying back the Yamaha flute  I had so recently bought from them and they are, for 1/2 what  I spent which is almost certainly more than I'll get from some weirdo on Craig's List so I'm planning to get it over there tomorrow. 

It's a Depression economy right now, it's just that no one's coming out and admitting it. That could change very fast, as things are being done to make it as big a Depression as possible such as the tariffs, the drastic cutbacks in food stamps, welfare, medical care for the non-wealthy, and so on, so the best thing is to get at least some of the money back out if I'm not going to use the thing. 

But I have an idea: I'm going to see if I can do a deal where I get back half what I paid, AND their remaining Hall flute. They can do that by making the check they write bigger by the cost of the Hall flute, and my buying the Hall flute for cash right then and there. 

This way I'd get a Hall flute right away so I can wait out however many more days or weeks the one  I bought from Hall to get to me, plus I can go to an art supply store and get some holly stickers and stick them on it - I'm going to busk playing Xmas carols - and it will look "Christmas-y". 

Since I'd left here at 4, got there at 6, and after my business there had walked over to 99 Ranch to buy a couple of things plus got some food which I ate, that took me up close to 7. 

The food was an interesting thing because there was nowhere to sit and eat inside. And outside was a bum, the only Caucasian in sight, who was walking around swearing and threatening and acting like bums do. So I couldn't go outside and sit on the curb and eat. So I went back in, got a shopping basket, found a place in the hot food/bakery area that wasn't too much in the way, inverted the basket and sat on it, and ate. After a short time an employee came over and showed me the Super Secret Hidden Eating Area, which she didn't point out but *led* me to, because it's hidden pretty well. Great! So I sat at a table and ate. 

Then I walked out to the bus stop and waited quite a bit, and got on a bus and by now it was fully dark and thus, Bum Hours. And sure enough. bums got on the bus and did their usual bum things. One guy kept falling asleep and at one point fell onto the floor, wedged between the seat and this divider thing. Other bums did things like act crazy, talk gibberish, and those without those particular skills held up their end by stinking badly. 

I got back to Whole Foods and went upstairs and had an excellent alcohol-free beer and finished off my box of Chinese food, watching football players fall all over each other on the TV. 

Once I was done eating I headed back home by the shortest route, because I've got to get things done tonight to get to bed earlier to get up earlier to get going earlier to get to the music store earlier, to sell them back the flute and see if I can work my deal.