I feel *so* much like I dodged a bullet

 I got up at 2 this afternoon, early for me lately ... on the radio they were discussing the things that I think went into my waking up one fortunate morning and realizing I'm not retiring in Israel. 

They mentioned that something like 80% of Israelis are all-in for this latest war/genocide of theirs. That while they don't like the Netanyahu government, they're all for war and if NPR had the time to discuss this more deeply, they'd mention that their dissatisfaction with Netanyahu is he's not warlike *enough*. 

There are still not enough ultra-Orthodox in Israel to account for this; this is across the board. This is scruffy kids who are secular and sit around playing hippy music and middle-aged ladies with gift shops specializing in "dreamcatchers" and college professors and dental assistants and, well, everyone. 

There's a lot of talk - some of it by myself of course - about how Trump's regime resembles Hitler's and it's not a hard parallel to make considering the guy used to? Still does? Keep a book of Hitler's speeches at his bedside. But I think now a much closer parallel is the Netanyahu regime. 

I had one large thing packed and a handful of small things, and I was really on the ball today, getting out of here with time to drop off the big one at FedEx, then I'd go up past the post office to the next street, Ringwood, and go to Grainger and buy a new hi-vis hat. 

So I do that, go past the street the post office is on and start looking for Ringwood and can't find it. I rode up some street, and found a cross street, Consource, OK great I'm on .... Qume? I'll go up to Trade Zone and loop around, Grainger is just south of Trade Zone anyway.... 

There was a strong wind and I was going all-out to make good time and it was an hour's hard riding and I never found Ringwood, or Grainger. It was weird, because I'd even been there before. 

I found a bunch of packing stuff and rode back here. In theory I had time to relax a bit before taking off again, to go busking, but in reality, not really. I got the cornet ready, and took off and it was already about 5:30. 

I stopped at Nijiya for two boiled eggs and a can of coffee, and got over to Whole Foods. The wind seemed to have died down, and I'd just busk there, I figured. 

I started at about a quarter to 6, and held on until 8:30 but it was rough. First I was tired. Secondly I had a booth-botherer and the skinny guy who sets up a table to college signatures for petitions, for company. My stamina was not great, and I started sounding tired at about the 45 minute mark. The booth guy eventually packed up and I thought it might get better but it did not. 

In the end I made $27.01 and I'd also realized, this isn't even the proper busking season. Normally I don't even bother until April. I walked around Whole Foods and didn't see anything I wanted to buy, so I just called it a night and rode back here. San Pedro Square actually looked worth a try, but my prime playing condition was just plain used up. 

Back here, I cooked some dinner and then it's back to work. At least I looked up the Grainger again and Ringwood is one East of the road the FedEx is on, not the post office. So if I can get going early enough, I can have another try on Monday. 

 

 

A decent practice, considering

 Ken came by an hour early last night, but I had some things packed and had the office vacuumed so it was OK cleanliness-wise. 

I got a double check to compensate for the one that had bounced, and interestingly, in the mail he brought me was a notice that the check from the week before last had bounced. 

I also got my cornet gig bag which is pretty neat. 

After Ken left I packed the other things, being a few more small ones and three large ones, two of them quite large. 

I also called the landlord's secretary about her blaming me for the tables left outside and it turns out the guy next door is also called Alex, and the email was meant for him. I explained how, when the guys next door leave out a bunch of tables or chairs or something, I do them a favor by putting a "free" ad on Craig's List and people come and pick the things up. I'm not to do that any more. I guess the secretary would rather hassle them and fine them etc. But I'm still inclined to help, sneakily. 

I got a practice in that went surprisingly well considering it was like 6 in the morning. I went to bed a bit past 7, and was awakened at 1:30 or so by a call from the music store, my new mouthpiece is in. 

I had things packed, and stacked the three big things onto the bike trailer and took them to FedEx. Then I got back here, put the small things in a bag and took off for downtown. I dropped off trash at my Super Secret Trashcan(tm) and stopped in at Nijiya for boiled eggs and coffee. I ate the eggs at the table there because it beats eating them and being extra careful to be neat on the bus. 

I dropped the packages off at the downtown post office then stopped in at my bank and deposited my check. Then over to Whole Foods to lock the bike, and went right to the bus stop in front and got on the #22 for Mountain View. 

The ride was OK as such things go, until I was a mile or a bit more from the music store. There were a few stop lights out and they were blinking red lights. Those are treated the same way as stop signs. The only trouble is, we're talking 3-4 lanes of traffic each way. And everyone wants to get ahead of the bus because it's just the bus. 

So the progress was a bit slower than walking speed. But I preferred to sit and ride rather than walk it across the freeway "hump" so I sat, and eventually got to the music store. The time was a bit more than the usual 2 hours door to door, more like 2-1/2 hours. 

I got there and Craig was there and he had my mouthpiece, and I tried to buy a flute case but they had a soft one with an extra compartment on top that I didn't want, and a very sleek Yamaha one that apparently is for a certain model of Yamaha and nothing else, as a standard student flute won't fit. So besides picking up my mouthpiece, I got a mouthpiece pouch and that was it. 

I mentioned to Craig that I'd gotten my Gard cornet bag and he said something like, "Oh, same as mine" and got out his horn, an Adams A4 in a bag marked Adams but he said made by Gard for Adams. The A4 is the best trumpet he's ever played and I believe him. It's beautiful.  

I didn't want to be on the bus another 2-1/2 hours so I walked to Castro Street and stopped in at the Paris Baguette there for a croissant with a hot dog in it. Interestingly it was about $2 cheaper than it would be at my local Paris Baguette. 

The pedestrianization of Castro Street is neat, and there were no street musicians, beggars, or anything except up at the North end where there was a small band set up. They were between numbers (I didn't recognize what they were playing before they stopped) and I yelled out, "PLAY FREEBIRD!" which got a laugh or two from people. Then I yelled/sang "And this bird will neverrr chainge-y-yange-y-yange!" in the hokey way that song is sung. Good fun! The singer then launched into "The Donnie Darko Song" which is a good one, so here's to him for being a trouper. 

I got to the train station as the train did, so I ran and amazingly had time to click my card and get onto the last car. So that was nice. A tricky thing; that train was going to Tamien station so I had to be sure to get off at Diridon. 

I got off at Diridon along with a couple gals who seemed kind of lost so I asked them what they were looking for/ A bathroom, first and foremost. I said there's one in the station but it may or may not be clean, or even open. But if they follow me, I'm going to Whole Foods which will have one that's clean and open. So they walked along with me, and it seems one of their, or their, brother I think, got sick in the Philippines, and was going to meet them here in San Jose but is now in Singapore, being sick. So they're here in a house, an AirBnB I suppose. Oh, and they're from Ohio so this is all kind of new. 

I told them this Whole Foods, which they'd never been in one of, is a good "home base" and go them to the loo, and we said our cheerful farewells, and that was it. Gotta take care of our visitors from Ohio. 

I picked out some olives and feta cheese in oil, and a pint bottle of Guinness, and went upstairs to eat and drink. Long day. Eventually I went by the Amazon place on my way home to find one bubble mailer but it's better than none, and got back here.  

 

POSIWID

 https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1rkwedp/ice_confirms_a_measles_outbreak_in_the_nations/ The Purpose Of A System Is What It Does, which comes up in this delightful discussion. 

I might as well cite Reddit all I want because it's only a matter of time before the very-small-hats buy it out and turn it into another Talmudic mouthpiece. 

Anyway, I'd kind of suspected POSIWID when I concluded that the point of having a car is to intimidate others with injury or death, and that my theory is proven when many other, often better, systems of transport have been come up with, and are still not used in the US. Also that in 100+ years of cars being a thing, communication has always been limited to rude horn honks, shouts, and obscene hand gestures. 

I practiced last night from around 9-11PM and because I wasn't all tired out, it went great. So now I feel a lot better about my playing. 

I also listed 10 things and then realized I was really tired, and went to bed at 4AM which is about 4 hours earlier than I'd been. I woke up around noon with a horrible cough like something tickly had gotten in my throat, and got up and had some room-temperature 7-Up, then went back to sleep ... until 3:30. So much for my plan to get out of here by 2 with post office things, go to Grainger and buy a new hat, then come back and pack this one big order, take it to FedEx, and that'd be my day. 

 

America has ingested the poison ...

 https://www.reddit.com/r/israelexposed/comments/1rk6efn/israels_long_game_deliberately_destroying/ I don't normally link to Reddit but this is a very, very, very good discussion, began with a genius assessment of the situation by the original poster. 

American ingested the poison when it allowed the small-hats in, in the beginning. It allowed the poison to increase and proliferate when he allowed more small-hats in, in the waves of immigration in the 1800s from Europe. (Yes, my maternal relatives came from Lithuania, but not even the tiniest percentage small-hats, rather they were Tatars, known for ridin' horses and shootin' bows'n'arrers not suckin' blood.) 

The problem was further compounded when the US allowed itself to be influenced by the small-hats to get involved in WWI, which of course brought about WWII when "Judea" declared war on the one country that tried to free itself from the small-hats' blood-sucking bankery. 

As I said, the US is a callow, young country that has not yet had a proper revolution, and has not developed a proper immune response to the parasite-culture. I, we, may be living in the time this immune response develops. 

Now the poison is in full flower and we are in perhaps the beginning of WWIII. Hooray for "Our most Zionist president".  

Practice went a bit better last night, although I was not able to play the high notes as well as I'd want to. I'd packed two things last night so when I woke up to my alarm at 3 this afternoon, I was able to have some breakfast and get going at 4, drop off trash, the packages at the post office, and then the main reason to go downtown; to check my balance at my bank. Last week's check didn't bounce. So it's only one bounced check Ken has to make up for. 

I did another interesting thing last night. I took 6 identical boxes that stack, and sorted out into each one, with a label indication what's in it, my different flutes and the clarinet. Now I can list them on Craig's List, and keep all the various books, bags, bits and pieces, with each one. And just hand the box over to the buyer if they want the box. But I can keep the many, many bits and pieces organized.  

OK so that 2nd Manhattan Project in New Mexico to create a Jewish super-race ...

 Soooo much has gone on today but 9+ PM tonight I'm listening to NPR. Not KPFA. Not Dave Emory the conspiracy theorist on whatever station he's on these days (KKUP I think) no, plain-Jane, normal ol' NPR, and they're talking about how Epstein had a project he considered like a "second Manhattan Project" set up in, yes, New Mexico like the first one, to create a "super race". A Jewish super race. 

This all being said with a straight face, on a program that's really well "vetted".  I mean, NPR! The station that's been "sanewashing" Mango Mussolini, our most Zionist president, all this time. 

Decades ago, I kind of read the material I was given when I moved to a new apartment by a helpful neighbor, the Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion and some other stuff, and read it, and didn't think that much of it, yadda yadda this is just the rich doing their usual thing ... I knew it was anti-Jewish but I just thought, "That's anyone rich" and didn't think much more about it. 

I'd make the usual jokes and asides but I could not bring myself to be against a group of people I sort of had in my mind as Isaac Asimov, Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan, and a collection of bubbies (grandmother) who want to feed you, some musicians and comedians, etc. 

It's taken me forever to realize that guys like Feynman and Sagan were rebels against the culture they were born into. Asimov talked about trying to learn to read Hebrew and ended up throwing the book across the room. These were people who were pretty damned anti-religion. 

So I'd make the cracks and the quips because everyone did, but didn't really believe in them. It took my getting suckered into thinking that a culture that could produce a Feynman and a Sagan and an Asimov ought to be pretty good, and to make a real determined effort to join it, that I was able to see the layers underneath. 

In short, as the kids say nowadays, The Austrian painter tried to warn us. If we'd only listened! 

I may be fortunate enough to live through the time when my country develops a good proper immune reaction against the parasite. 

I used to kind of shake my head about the conspiracy theories, the "Great Replacement" and so on. But now, it's quite a mental re-arrangement, but I believe 'em. We have the Chosenites coming right out and doing them, and talking about it. Well, that's today's healthy, life-confirming helping of Judenhass, Judenhass forever!  

I'd gone to bed at around 8AM, after a not very satisfying practice session. And was awakened at 11:30AM by ... the landlord and his secretary. They wanted to talk about ... the guys next door? I said they're great neighbors, etc., ... we had a good talk about the illegal night club which they're trying every bit as hard as I am to get shut down and I'm only one of many complainers about it. 

So we got caught up on things and our lease ends at the end of August this year. So I have that date filed away in my head, in case I need to leave if Ken's not going to renew it or go month-to-month or anything. 

I went back to bed because I needed more sleep, and woke up around 4:30. In my 20s I used to spring out of bed and be ready to take off for work in 20 minutes, but these days it takes an hour. So I had my hour, and a half-hour to answer Ebay questions and pack that "one more thing". And took off for the post office and FedEx, and 99 Ranch and H Mart for a little shopping. Said shopping all on money I've earned playing music. 

Before leaving I'd called Suzie, Ken's wife, and  verified that my package with the cornet gig bag, had arrived and not been stolen. So I should have it Wednesday night. Or a week later. When I'm back in Hawaii the long shipping times won't bother me a bit, as I'm pretty sure I'll still get things faster than I do here. 

I found some useful boxes and stuff, said Hi to Tom and dropped off a small first aid kit I'd found, and got back here. I'd kept looking at things with sugar and carbs or what WERE sugar and carbs, like bags of dark chocolate Kit Kats for 99c, but I was good, and cooked up miso soup with shrimp for dinner. Yum! 

I'm thinking, a lot of what I do will depend on how the mid-term elections, which are apparently in early November. Yet another reason to keep white-knuckling it and try to hold out here, working and saving and hopefully improving my busking skills, at least until then. Will we be in WWIII by then? Will the planes even be flying? 

One plan I thought up a couple of years ago was to buy a sailboat and sail across to Hawaii. I'd time it with the TransPac regatta. There's a race, and then there's a regatta, which is a fancy word that just means, "We're not racing, we're just all sailing this route together". At least I'd have the boat to live in when I got there, assuming I could make it and manage to anchor in good old Kaneohe Bay, a place the Bethunes anchored at and we kids stayed with, on their boat, long ago. 

But I decided it's probably too expensive and impractical. Another plan was to take a cruise that just happens to stop in Honolulu, and jump ship. But in the end I decided just a regular old plane flight is the way to go, but will the planes even be flying? 

 

 

I needed the sleep!

 The illegal night club had an especially busy night last night. I need to call a number I was given, during normal business hours, and see if a sting operation is being set up and if so, how I can help. Other than that, I'm considering doing something like getting a really freakin' loud radio I can set to the right-wing AM station and play that just inside the roll-up door. Or, have a banner made saying "LICENSE PLATE READERS AND FACIAL RECOGNITION IN USE" and hang it so it hangs down over my front door, with the top bit looped over the top of the door, and the grommets it would have holding it in even if someone tugs on it, and put that up just before the night club starts up. I can easily have it up only when the illegal night club is doing their thing, and not at any other time. It's an idea. 

Edit: Another idea would be to, from 2-5AM Friday-Sunday, when the illegal night club is in operation, if I'm not working, I could do some activity that causes me to not care so much about the noise. Like ... practice. Extra points for loudness and awfulness. Not that I intentionally want to play awfully, but it would be a fine time to try out new songs and experiments in general. This would have the effect of the pimps, ho's and johns knowing there's someone in here who presumably between sour notes knows they're here and what they're up to. Just a bit of a jog to any sense of self-consciousness they might have about going to an illegal night club.  

One thing I did right last night, in busking, is I tried to really use my midsection and I think I need to learn to do this more. This is big among the flute players of all people, and while I was messing around with flute, I found old ladies who were eminent flute players talking about "Pelvic power" (heehee!) and one of the great flute players, I forget which, showing a student how he pushed out air by having them have their hand on his stomach while he played a piece. And flute is all about volume of air, not pressure (while trumpet is about pressure much more than volume). 

I finally went to sleep and woke up around noon, then went back to sleep until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. I needed it.  I had to list 10 more things left over from last night's photo and listing session, to be able to use the towel they were sitting on, to wash my hair ... it's going to be weird being back home, with access in some way or another to a conventional bathroom with a shower, and at the very worst case, take a bar of soap to the beach and use a public shower, a thing unknown here... 

I need to swing by my bank tomorrow or the next day, to see if the latest check from Ken has cleared. If he's still writing rubber checks, then it's time to start making plans. Mainly time to start selling off everything I can spare, do my taxes so that's out of the way, and buy that plane ticket. All while not letting Ken know at all, of course. I'll do him the courtesy of calling him from the Honolulu airport after I land. 

 

The You-Know-Whos up to their eternal tricks

 When they're not exerting usury, rotting countries from within, etc. they're getting countries who have not developed a suitable immune response to their parasite culture, into wars. 

The US is a young country. We have not gone through a true revolution like the French have, have not developed a suitable immune response to the parasitic culture (as the French have) and have not gone through a number of things like this that mark a mature country/culture. 

So the You Know Who's have gotten us into a war with Iran. The country that my father lived in for a while and could never stop talking about how nice the people were. I can only hope Godspeed to Iran. 

The illegal night club had a fair crowd last night so I called the cops and they did that "rats leaving the sinking ship" thing. They have made an enemy, and this is what enemies do. 

I eventually went to sleep, only to be awakened around 11 or 11:30 in the morning by the guys next door sorting out more metal stuff, from the hotel the one guy bought I'm guessing. I could not go back to sleep with that noise, and then with the delicious food smells from their lunch, so I got up. 

I went to a local coin show and turned some half-dollars I had into a couple hundred dollars, and since the show was in old-town Santa Clara, I got to see a lot of streets I'd never seen. I then went to Whole Foods and had some shrimp and fish and veggies, and then rode to Walmart for my Weekly Wal. 

On the way back I looked at the sky and the general feel of the weather and decided that although it's only supposed to be "a chance of a sprinkle" tomorrow, what if I busked tonight, potentially the best night, and then could just do work stuff tomorrow? 

Whole Foods had another "performer" there, a Black guy with no feet due to diabetes. His act is like, "Look, I drank enough soda to lose my feet, give me money". It's an act most Americans can relate to. But I knew he'd be gone once he got money for his soda or sweets or whatever he needed, so didn't sweat it and sure enough, he was gone by the time I'd finished eating my food. 

So with the addition of a stop at Nijiya for my Yakult and some Doutor pour-overs because I still think I can train myself to not only make the coffee and have it in the fridge overnight, but remember to put it in the bike bag the next day, I got back here and put things away and packed up the cornet and tip box. 

I rode over Hedding Hill for the 2nd time today, and was able to start playing at Whole Foods at 7. It went well. I got compliments and tips. An hour was all I could do, and I ended up making $58.22. Not bad for an hour, and if it weren't for this little busking session, I'd be down to $20-odd in pocket money, since the money from the silver half-dollars is to form the beginning of a cash-stash. 

Since it seemed like a pretty busy night I took a little ride around downtown to look for other street musicians and there were none.  

I'll need to stop in at my bank this week to see if the latest check from Ken has bounced or not. I've never had a check bounce before and I've never had the electricity turned off for nonpayment before. So if this is "the beginning of the end" I need to start selling things off and getting ready for a move back home. 

 

Why do I read r/homeless

 r/homeless on Reddit is one of my regular reads. There seem to be some common causes for people to become homeless. 

They have car trouble and in the US you are only human if you support one or more cars. No car = no life. 

You have pets you won't give up. 

You have drug or alcohol dependency. 

You have an utter shit personality and/or no skills. 

The people with skills and some kind of personality others can stand, are not posting on Reddit. 

A last category is people who are 17-18 years old and have been kicked out by their parents to sink or swim because that's standard in the US. It's just one of many, many reasons why the US and its shitty culture are self-destructing. 

So what are ways to avoid becoming a homeless non-person? Get by without a car or pets if you can. This is tricky because in some situations living in a car or van is the best you can do, and in many situations a dog is a life-saver because a good dog understands that it must be willing to give its life to save yours or else you'll both be dead. When we were poor as shit when I was a kid in Hawaii, having a collection of rescue dogs that were utterly loyal to us is the reason I don't have any horror stories from that time. 

Try to have an acceptable personality. This is not possible if your brain is burned out from drugs/alcohol or you've been hit in the head too many times. So try to avoid these things. 

Have some kind of a skill and do NOT fall for the college scam like I did. By skill I mean something that was a good skill 500 years ago. Barbering, house-cleaning, making or repairing or cleaning shoes, playing a musical instrument, doing decent artwork especially portraits, etc. 

Unless you're from a wealthy family who will pay your way you'll never become a doctor, but there are tons of other medical jobs that can be learned in a trade school so there's that. 

In my own case I like to think if I needed a room to rent, I might be able to put out a sign saying NEED ROOM TO RENT when I'm out playing music and find something that way. I still have the number for this one building that supposedly is cool with people living in the offices; I just haven't called them yet. Mainly because if I have to leave here in a hurry I feel I'm better off heading right back to Hawaii. An instant 30% decrease in the cost of living will be nice. 

I thought  I had 10 more things to ship, but it turns out they're 10 things bought by the annoying type of customer who buys each thing separately and pays the shipping separately, then of course expects a discount on the shipping when I just everything in one box. That could wait for later! 

I took the things I'd packed and sent them off, picked up a few odds and ends for shipping, then wrapped the cornet up in its towel and put it in the messenger bag, and took off for downtown. I bought a couple hard boiled eggs and a can of coffee at Nijiya. I've found that I'm surprisingly good at making a cup of genuine Doutor pour-over coffee the night before and putting it in an empty can I've saved and putting it into the fridge, but I am incapable of taking the cold can of coffee and putting it into my bike bag to take with me. So I'll have to resign myself to buying one each time. 

After eating the eggs and having some coffee, I took off for downtown. I stopped at the Amazon place for a few bubble mailers first, then went over to Whole Foods and set up. It was now 7:20 which is really early for me and a result of having had an early start. 

I got a $10 tip right away, then after a while a $1, then nothing for about 45 minutes, then tips started pouring in. By this time I was getting tired and it had been an hour, so I played a little bit more and called it a night. I'd made $61.50. 

I bought some vitamins to use up the $1's I had a lot of, and then rode around downtown a bit. I got a few more bubble mailers from the Amazon place and then, riding past Leroy's old location, there was Leroy and another guy, John, who plays guitar. 

Leroy had finally bought himself a new saxophone, a Selmer "Axos" which I've just looked up and it appears he's spent about as much as I just spent on my cornet. A lot. But, as I was saying to a guy I talked with at Whole Foods, I'm a grown-up and I can treat myself. 

I got back here and the guys next door are having a nice noisy party with lots of kids running around and a live band. The band is pretty cool; they've got a tuba, trumpet, clarinet, one hell of a drummer, etc. After putting the bike away I walked over to check the band out and listen to a number or two, but one of the ladies came up to me and kept saying "Soldat! Soldat!" and I don't know what that was all about (I'd been invited, earlier today when someone had knocked on my door and said they were having a 5th anniversary party and it would be loud, and I was welcome to come over for tacos etc.) so I just shook my head and went in here and buttoned the place up. 

 

Bouncy is not always good

 After doing a ton of stuff last night, I mean, I didn't even mention the purse suitcase I found in the dumpster and went through, finding a few useful things, or that I'd found 100s of "master technician" patches at a place, which I bagged up in 5's which I'll list for $5, making us $200 or so. And practice was a decent time, over an hour. 

I'd set my alarm for 2:00 and woke up at that time (1400) and cleaned up, ate, had coffee, did various things to get prepared, and took off at 4. I did the usual things like drop off trash, buy a couple of hard-boiled eggs and a can of coffee at Nijiya, drop off a couple of packages at the post office, and deposit my check in the bank, where I learned that last week's check had bounced. 

After a couple of calls Ken called me back, and I told him last week's check had bounced, and could he please make sure this week's doesn't bounce, and next week, he can just write me a check for two weeks' pay instead of one and that will make everything work out right. 

Also the guy at the bank said the ID they have on file for me is expired and I ought to do something about that. So it's about time I set up an appointment with the DMV and get my "Real ID". 

I really need to get set up so I can leave here with 2-3 weeks' notice. That gives me time to resolve final things, buy a plane ticket enough in advance that I won't pay a high price for it, and would not be horribly expensive in a hotel if things break down here badly enough that I have to make a complete exit. 

After talking with Ken, I locked the bike and got on a #22 bus for Mountain View. I had the Yamaha 14E mouthpiece with me, which Craig at West Valley Music said I could trade straight across for a 16E, and the idea was to take it there and turn it in, as the less time it's in my hands the least it can be considered a "used" mouthpiece. 

It was almost 6:30 when  I got there and Craig was out for the day. I looked at the books for a bit and then someone said Oh, Craig's still here just doing a lesson. I said I'll just wait, and look at the books. I found an interesting book published by Yamaha with a bunch of their sponsored players talking about their "pet" ideas and techniques, and decided to get it - it was almost $30. Craig showed up and I turned in the mouthpiece and the 16E will come in in a week or two. I said no hurry. 

I talked a bit with a tall thin young gal who had brought in a saxophone - that had last been worked on or seen or something, in 2002. While  I was doing my thing the estimate was being done, and when I was done, she was ready to leave, with it in its case. She said the estimate was about $700 and for that she could buy one. I asked what brand, and it was an "Antigua Winds", from 2002 or earlier. Bleh. I really talked up Yamaha saxophones, and how they can rent-to-own one to her, even a new one, and there are plenty of Yamahas on line for sale too. 

I hopped back on a bus and went to Han Kook Market where I got 9 rolls of packing tape because they had 9 rolls on the shelf. The tape from there last something like 3X what the stuff Ken buys from Uline does, which is pretty amazing. Yeah I'm spending my own money, and I need to sell some of the stuff here that has to be sold in person, to defray some of the costs. 

Then it was back on another bus back to Whole Foods, where  I got some chicken and a little rice (the closest thing to a vegetable I was able to find) and a bottle of Guinness I again only drank half of. And watched our right-wing fascist asshole hockey team lose 3-1 to Calgary. Once the game was over there were tons of hockey fans streaming out and I said things like "Whoohoo! great game!" which was pretty entertaining. 

The crowd was so bad I took the "back way" home along Hedding and back here. I honestly don't know how so many people can own and afford to operate cars, or go to things like hockey games, buy those idiotic jerseys with the name of some young, fit hockey player on them when they're old, fat, and sickly-looking, etc. 

I don't even know if *this* week's check won't bounce! In all the years working for Ken I've never had a pay check bounce, nor have I had the power out for nonpayment. As I'll keep saying, I'm trying to white-knuckle it and hold out until September of 2027 when I'm turning 65, then I'm out. But depending on how fast things are collapsing, I may have to compress that schedule a bit. 

 

I feel lazy

 I don't know why. I shipped things yesterday, came home and cooked dinner, ate, cleaned up the place, took stuff I'd thrown out that the scavengers didn't want and put the things in the dumpster that's only out on Wednesdays. 

Ken came by, I got my check, and as soon as he left, I packed a couple of things that had sold. I also took things apart and got 25 things ready for my next listing session. Then I got in a good practice session. 

I got up at 2 this afternoon.  

The exercise effect

 I practiced last night, and could not play high notes well. I kept at it though, while watching some weird movie about an expedition to Titan. Eventually it was like I got the knack for higher notes back, and wasn't playing them as purely as I'd like but I was playing them. 

I started this day with exercises and my push-ups are getting better. I haven't even been doing them once a week, but  I remember reading, long ago, about long rest intervals like this. It was back in the 80s, when there were printed magazines and at least one of them had not only bodybuilders but some powerlifters and some actual science sneaking in. And one or another of the noted powerlifters was saying that rather than exercise a given bodypart or more like, a given lift, 3X a week, or even 2X a week, they were getting better strength results with 1X a week or even stretching it out to 8-10 days. Of course those guys were interested in strength not looks. 

It was supposed to rain heavily today but I'm not sure if it rained much at all, so when I got up I packed one thing that should go out today, and also got a few things at Ross. 

On the way back I stopped at Tom's to say Hi and catch up, and he made me a nice hamburger on sourdough so that was dinner. I told him about "The Art Of Brass Playing" by Philip Farkas, and he's interested in getting the book. Tom has his side hustles to make money, but his side hustles are selling wood and tiles he scrounges up around his area, and it's a lot of work for little pay. Busking pays much better and I think is a lot more fun.  

I got back here and opened up the roll-up door and took most of the junk that was piled in the corner where the breaker box is, and put the stuff out for the scavengers. Then I put the things I decided we'd keep back into the corner but in an orderly way so the breakers can be reached. 

Spare 16E

 I was up late enough last night ... I woke up around 3, packed lots of things, and also called up the music store in Mountain View, where the (new-ish at least) manager has been so helpful, and asked him if I could exchange the 14E mouthpiece he'd recommended and I'd bought, and trade it for a 16E, which is what came with the cornet and I've decided I really like. 

I mentioned that the one that came with the horn has a couple of small dents, nothing that affects playing, but that I'd rather have a spare 16E than the 14E. So he said Sure thing, put a 16E on order because they don't have 'em in stock, and I said I'll get back there some time this week, as between work and the rain coming it's hard for me to get over there, and it's over an hour to get there anyway. 

If I go on Friday, I might fit in some busking on Castro Street there in Mountain View... 

I also have the gig bag I've had my mind on, ordered. It's coming from NYC and the shipping's kind of crazy, $45, but the bag itself is $90 and it's about $120 from, say, Guitar Center. So it all works out in the end. And the music store says they can't order GARD bags so that's out. 

But in a week or two I can set aside the messenger bag and wrapping the cornet in a towel. 

 

Morning Has Broken

 When I got in last night I packed the things that are overdue, and just relaxed, watched YouTube, caught up on stuff. I finally went to bed, and woke up around 3:30 this afternoon. 

I kind of wanted to busk over in Mountain View, to see how things have changed with the "pedestrianization" of Castro Street, but ultimately I ended up just going to good old Whole Foods on the Alameda. 

I started in at 6, and kept up until 7:30, by which time I was tired and the wind, which had died, was coming back and kind of cold. 

I'd been "joined" by a female beggar holding a sign, naturally said sign on tattered cardboard and in light blue lettering, so it was pretty hard to read. I'm pretty sure legible signs are against the Bums' Code Of Conduct. I thought it was Pee-Pee Lady due to how she was standing I couldn't really see her face, not that I went to a lot of trouble to look at her, and it's been a couple of years. 

I played the usual assortment, except I did a couple of new songs, "Lean On Me" and "Morning Has Broken" which seem to work well with the cornet, as I could make it "sing" on these tunes. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that this cornet has a nicer sound than the student trumpet I was playing before, and while I was prepared to hate deep cup mouthpieces, I've got to say I'm getting to like the one that came with it, a Yamaha 16E, more and more.  Not only do I seem to be able to get a nice "singing" tone, but when I got tired I could still play higher notes and I didn't start sounding so much like a duck. 

I had some annoying Indian guy ask for my card or info, saying he wanted to hire me to play at San Pedro Square. I told him everyone's broke there, I don't have a card, and he should buzz off and go find something useful to do. This pissed him off of course, and he stalked off, saying he'd given me a dollar (he hadn't). Like I'm gonna play for some Indian guy! I can just see it ... mysteriously there's no money for my pay, sorry, but I can have the leftover yogurt dip everyone's had their fingers in... 

"Discovering" two new tunes was neat, and in the end I'd made $37 which isn't as thrilling as the money I made yesterday, but it's still good grocery money. I packed up and, passing the beggar, joked about going in to steal butter, since Pee-Pee Lady is convinced I do that, but saw it was a younger gal, kinds junkie looking. Passing her again I said she'll make some bucks now, with no distraction (me). 

I think I'd overheard her talking with a lady who she'd talked to, who then went back into Whole Foods and came out with a bag, mentioning "Titos" which is of course a brand of vodka and might be the least expensive they sell in there. With more than a couple of hours before closing, I'm sure she'll get what she needs; junkies/alkies are good at that. 

I had time to get over to Nijiya in Japantown to spend some of that money on groceries so that was nice. I talked with the guys about how nice it is to have electricity again, and how I'd gotten bored so I'd gone out busking these last couple days making $150 for the weekend. I'm in there pretty close to daily so they know me there. One of the guys had talked about getting a saxophone but it's not happened yet. 

I just got back here, cooked dinner, did a bunch of packing (tomorrow it will be OK but Tuesday and Wednesday are supposed to rain) so I figure, ship everything out I can, then use the rainy days to list more stuff. 

 

A few days on the other side of the Olduvai

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olduvai_theory this is a great read! 

I woke up Wednesday to ... no power. Which is OK,  I figured, they'll fix it in a few hours. 

A few hours turned into 4 days. Ken came over Wednesday night and after not answering my many calls, here he was in person. "Why's it so dark?" he asked. "Did you pay that last electric bill? I believe it was a final notice...." 

The long and short of things is it took a couple of days for Ken to get around to paying it, and was going to amount to more days for PG&E to bother to turn it back on. I tried their telephone system hell, and didn't get anywhere. I had to charge my phone etc up at FedEx, and spent some time messing around with my newer laptop, as this one is about to be retired. 

My check was dated for Friday so I deposited it then, and went up to West Valley Music where I got a Yamaha 14E mouthpiece to keep my 16E that the cornet came with, company. And I got the hard-to-find first Getchell-Hovey book. The one guy, Craig, at the music store dug around in some drawers to find it, and I was impressed with his extra effort. He's manager there and teaches trumpet also. 

They were not able to order the "Gard" bag for a cornet I want though, so I might just buy that and put up with the extra time and precarity of having it arrive at Ken's house, if the porch pirates don't get it, and then the extra week or two for Ken to bring it here. At least I'll have it. 

I went back downtown on the train, and rode over to the big Goodwill on San Carlos. BIG mistake. It's pretty obvious that's a really bad neighborhood. Between the pawn shops (not the nice kind, the kind with dirt floors) and used car riposs places, dive bars (real dive bars, the kind guys go to first after getting out of "the joint") and the number of bums staggering around, it really is one of the armpits of San Jose. 

But the trouble is, it's still OK if you get out of your car, march right up to the door and go in, wearing a "Don't fuck with me" look on your face. But riding a bike means taking time to lock the bike and that means pausing for a few minutes, with all those drugged-up zombies staggering around. 

So I had one of the zombies get in my face and no go away even while I was on the phone with the cops. By the time the cops came the zombie had staggered off, and the cops were trying to figure out who was really at fault here and what was the actual situation. Was I also a scumbag? Or was I a human with the bad judgement to go to that Goodwill? They "ran" my license and of course found nothing. 

Besides talking about what the zombie had done and said, (the damned thing called me a "nigger" which is just bizarre, although I am a shade darker than fish-belly white...) I said Don't worry I'm not coming back here - I was after a flute case but I'll just buy one new, and Ross is better for clothes. I even said the bum was headed *that* way, pointing West on San Carlos, and I'm going *that* was, pointing the opposite direction. And did so, when we were done talking. 

That place really isn't worth it. And if they can't keep a guard on duty then let the zombies prey on each other and leave me out of it. 

Ken had called me when I was still in Mountain View, at the train station. He'd worked out how to pay, and the power should come on any time. 

So when I got back it was still dark. Another night of dime light via flashlights, and reading books and that's about it. I did some practice too but I guess my heart wasn't in it or I was tired, and it didn't go well so I just went to sleep. 

It was about 2AM when I went to sleep, and I woke up a bit before 6 which is really not enough sleep. I got up and had some aspirin, instant coffee, and a can of 7-Up, and went back to bed. And slept really well. I'd had grandiose plans of taking some silver half-dollars I have to sell to a place in Menlo Park but now it was 3:30 or so in the afternoon so that was out. 

I heard all kinds of banging and clinking out front, and finally went out there, curious. The guys were taking apart hundreds of door locks. It turns out the one guy had bought, for $1 million, an apartment building and was changing out the locks because "These are old". So he and a couple other guys were taking 'em apart to sell the metal. We had fun talking for a while, and all I can say is that again I'm impressed with how smart and up to date on things these guys are. Bring on the Reconquista! 

The wind was kind of strong and needless to say cold, and I thought if I go up to Mountain View I could avoid the wind, and do some busking. So I started on my day with that in mind. I cooked up my 1/4 lb of hamburger and 3 eggs because I have to use things up because I no longer have refrigeration. and I bundled up the cornet in my messenger bag, wrapped in a really neat thick towel I didn't know I had. 

I got to San Pedro Square a bit after 6, and set up to play. After 20 minutes I had one tip, a $5 from a family, which was nice. But although there were plenty of people walking around, these days people who go to San Pedro Square are broke, and it doesn't pay much, playing for broke people. 

So I moved over to Whole Foods. I'm here for practice, anyway, I reminded myself. I played a bunch of the "old favorites" and although it seemed slow, that was deceptive. It was also cold, but that worked to my advantage because it meant no hustlers with their booth, no skinny guy with a million petitions, etc. And the wind had died down quite a bit. 

So I played along, got plenty of smiles and compliments, and one lady really wanted to hear "Beautiful Dreamer" so I played that, and she put in a rolled-up bill that turned out to be a $50. The tips picked up a little, as I think 7-8PM is really the golden hour. 

I *was* going to stay until 8, as  I think I'd started at about 7:45, but at about 10 before, some scumbag bum with a big beard came up and was going to either (a) waste my time or (b) grab the tip box and run. So I said I don't want to have anything to do with zombies, plunked the cornet into the tip box and gathered it up and walked off. 

I counted up at the table nearest the door and thus presumably nearest the security guard, and had $61.25, which with the $50 I'd put in my wallet right away, I had a total of $112.25. Not bad for around an hour of playing, and the debut of my new cornet and its conical mouthpiece which I'm still getting used to. 

Ken had called me while I was at San Pedro Square and told me he'd gone though PG&E's phone tree also, and gotten a supervisor and got them to turn the power on. I said I'm out "practicing" and will check when I get back to the shop. He said to call him when I get back and let him know in either case. 

I didn't want to rush back to a probably still cold, dark, and electricityless shop, so I wandered around in Whole Foods for a bit, and picked out a bottle of Guinness. I don't drink any more but I'll make an exception for a Guinness once in a great while. I went upstairs and sat at the bar and watched a basketball game, except the ADHD method of filming a game is most unenjoyable. Some neat plays though. It was a say to take my mind off of things. 

I drank half the pint of Guinness which I've got to say is a pretty nice amount to drink. I'd happily have ordered one of the "home" brews upstairs, but there's something about the taste of Guinness, for which there's no substitute. I can see why in British pubs it's a thing to order a "half" because it's a nice amount to drink for the flavor. 

I got on the bike to get out of there, rode a little circuit around downtown where I saw very little going on and no other street musicians, then rode to Japantown. There was a live jazz thing going on at one of the little shops, and I hung out and talked with people, and after their set program there was a "jam" so I figured, why not? Except it turns out the kind of music they were playing is great for musicians showing off for other musicians, in other words, if I'm tuning around on the radio and hear this kind of mathematical jazz, I murmur "ok" and move on. So I moved on. 

I got back here and turned on the light switch by the door and nope, still dark so I turned the flashlights on, then noticed the screen for the video camera was on, and of course the light controlled by the wall switch, the fluorescent lights overhead, have been dead for a while now because Ken's worked on them. In other words, the electricity was back on. I called Ken and told him, and asked him if he'd called someone at PG&E at home and rousted 'em out of bed or something, and apparently he'd just been more persistent at the phone tree than I was. 

We talked a bit more and it was "OK see you on Wednesday" and I went around turning things on and plugging things in, and finished de-icing the freezer.  

Don't have a lazy chin

 Practice last night went well, and I'm progressing in the Rubank book. I noticed when I was having trouble hitting the high notes in the exercises, if I thought about keeping my chin just a bit flatter, it cleaned those notes right up. 

It's not even tensing it up, just thinking about it and there being a bit of "support" and things start working out much better. 

I'm considering "splashing out" as the Brits say on this one Gard brand short cornet case I've found online,  that's a bit over $100 with the shipping, this one Yamaha short-shank cornet mouthpiece that's named after one of their sponsored players, that's $61 plus whatever the shipping it, probably another $10-$15, and one or two of those little Protec mouthpiece pouches that used to be everywhere for $10 and are now more like $20. I still like 'em a lot though. 

I packed All The Things(tm) last night, practiced, got some sleep, woke up around 2 in the afternoon (had my alarm set for 3) looked at the weather, yep still pouring, went back to some sleep until 5, then had my coffee and nuts and took off for the post office and FedEx and timed things well; I only got rained on coming back. 

I'd stopped at H Mart on my way back from the post office and gave them their package and it had started raining again. So I went in and bought a couple of things, and when I came out it was still raining so I went back in and found a couple more things to buy, then when I went out at least it was raining less. 

It was nice having nice clean dry clothes to change into back here. I guess when I'm back in Hawaii I'll be renting a room from someone and in that respect I'm going to miss all the room I have around here. I'm not going to miss the work, though. 

Since I'll be just turned 65, I'll be able to do things like sign up for classes at the university without having to pay more than a token fee, and that opens up things like being able to use their practice rooms, and being around the campus in general. 

I also plan to join the musicians' union which isn't that big a deal here in California, maybe a bit more of a deal in Los Angeles, and really only a big deal in NYC. But in Hawaii it may well be; they have their own building and recording studios and have get-togethers and building  maintenance days. 

It will be a bit of a shock after having had one routine, working for Ken, for so long. And I expect to burn through a lot of money. First I'll be staying in a hotel until I can find a room to rent and that may take some time. I'll be back to how I lived as a young adult, when I didn't do a lot of cooking for myself but ate cheap stuff from Foodland, the local supermarket chain I even worked for at one time. 

I got back from being rained on, hung my jacket up in the loft, changed out my other clothes and fixed up a cold-cuts dinner of cheese, sardines, olives, and the 2nd half of a big batch of kim chee cole slaw I made a couple of days ago. 

Then I packed All The Things(tm) again. I have to be ready to go when there's a break in the rain. 

 

Go, Jarrett!

 JarretForHI for the win, let's hope! Yep, I still keep up with politics back home. And if I were back there, retired, I'd have time to work for his campaign. He's anti-AIPAC and anti-ICE like any normal human would be, and gunning for Ed Case's Congress seat. Ed Case, who my older sister thinks is a wonderful human being (he's the extreme opposite of that) need to go. 

I mean, the Red Hill scandal, how folks out in Waianae are doing, the Jones Act and what Matson's up to, and the price of lychee (never litchi) nuts are things mainlanders have never even heard of, but they're big things back home. 

Yesterday it just poured all day. I went to bed after packing all the things on Saturday night, woke up around noon or 1 and miraculously it wasn't raining, so I loaded everything on the bike and got outta here to FedEx and sent everything off, got a thing or two at H Mart, and got back here. No matter how I tried to stay awake, I needed more sleep so I slept until about 7 in the evening. 

Then up all night, got 25 things ready to list, and got a good practice in. Both of the mouthpieces I have for the cornet are more of a deep cup type than are common for trumpet. Finding a Bach 3C mouthpiece for a trumpet is the easiest thing in the world, for cornet nearly impossible. At least for a cornet that takes a "short shank" mouthpiece which this one does. 

What I'd want is a Yamaha or Schilke 14B4, and the Yamaha ones seem to be manufactured but hard to get, and Schilke (which uses the same numbering system) doesn't make short shank ones. Wick does, but Wick doesn't make an exact 3C model as it's a British company and really, really into the British brass band thing. The Wick I have is a bit closer to a 3C and a very popular cornet mouthpiece among the British brass band set, but has a huge bore, making it louder and I don't think sounds as nice at the 16E the cornet came with. 

Since for busking louder is better, and if the Wick is a really popular British brass band piece then I ought to learn to play well on it. But I really like the Yamaha piece. 

I'm just not "there" yet, I guess a year off because I was fooling around with the shakuhachi and another year off because of a combination of sickness and my year fooling around with That Horrible Religion meant no busking on Friday nights, no busking on Saturdays, meant pretty much ... no busking. Plus I was only going out there and blatting away, not practicing at home. 

 

More rain.

 Well, I had a good practice session last night, but the tradeoff was I didn't wake up until 6PM this evening. So, no packing and shipping today. 

I decided to make a 99 Ranch run though, and rode up there leaving here at 8. I got a few things and started to feel a little rain on the way back. I did, however, stop at the laptop repair place and got a large bag worth of padding materials, which I spread out up in the loft to dry when I got back since they got rained on a little. 

Needless to say, no busking tonight. Last night would have been a great night though. Everyone buying flowers and in a cheery mood, even though it was cold enough to make the booth-botherers leave their usual station at Whole Foods, the same place on the sidewalk I'd busk on. 

I'm just not all the way back up to strength yet. This is kind of how things work here, there's a busking season, from April to September, and there's a non-busking season, which is the end of September to the end of March. Of course if I were retired and didn't have to work for Ken any more, then I'd be out busking all year. Sure I'd make less in the "off season" but I'd still be out there. And this doesn't mention that the month of December is a very good one for busking, and there's also New Years' Eve. 

Of course back in Hawaii things would not have this seasonality to them. It's pretty warm and sunny the year around, except when it's raining and even then it's not cold. And tourists come all the year around, with the tourists who come during winter considered a little classier than the summer ones. 

 

Foggy Friday

 Foggy Friday the 13th! Except no bad luck as far as I could tell. I packed things, cleaned up, sent off packages at the post office, and got over to the bank to deposit my check and my math and their math agreed to the penny. 

I went over to Whole Foods and picked out some fish and mushrooms (keeping my diet very "keto" these days) and the lines were L-O-N-G in fact the longest I'd seen there since the covid days. 

So I made the mistake of joking around about it with a guy behind me, a Black working-class seeming guy, and we ended up talking about music and he got into this thing about Elvis Presley and he was on a roll. You see, ol' Elvis couldn't sing for shit until he sacrificed a chicken (I think??) and God gave him the ability to sing. I tried to mention that he simply started young and spent a LOT of time singing, and learned from gospel and blues singers. 

But my buddy was on a tear, and by the time we got to the checkout and I was able to put my still-kinda-warm fish on the belt, the guy was going on about how the only real Chinese, Mexican, etc people are black, and how certain people are devils and I'm pretty sure he was talking about the dreaded "white devils". The nice gal who was checking was Chinese and didn't seem to appreciate this data-dump, and I kind of rolled my eyes to her a bit and said this guy's "on a real wingding" which fortunately the guy didn't seem to notice, and next thing I know one of the guys working there has come over, and then the security guy, and I paid for my food and got my cash back and got outta there. 

I ate upstairs to avoid the guy coming after me for "calling security on him" which I hadn't, really, it was the checker's decision. Upstairs was busy too so I just ate my fish and watched the traffic go by on The Alameda below me. 

I went back in after eating for a couple of things and to get more cash back so that I've taken pretty exactly 1/2 my pay check and had it in my pocket to spent however I will. This is standard procedure when I'm being thrifty, and if I'm busking also then I might only spend $100 out of the paycheck or none at all, although it's good to do one withdrawal every week anyway, to remember my PIN. 

It was cold and a little windy, but no booth-botherers and if I were busking it looked like it could be a really nice night. Plenty of people going in and out and a big line for bouquets, which the workers were making up on the spot, which was kind of nice. 

I rode over to the Amazon place and got a ton of bubble mailers which was also nice. Then I rode down to Walmart. First thing I wanted to get some of the little button batteries to put in the little keychain flashlight I had, which was pretty nice - a dumpster find from the EMT training place. Big-5 didn't have them, and Walmart turned out to, but it would cost me $20 to put new batteries in the thing. 

So I just paid for my things and went back into Big-5 where I picked up a nice little flashlight for $5.50 that will work great, and I was nervous about using a flashlight that was attached to my keys, anyway. Great way to end up in a dumpster, throwing everything out of it in a frenzy like I'm a crazed tweaker, because I'd dropped my flashlight with my keys in it. 

I went to Nijiya on the way back and after getting things I took the small flashlight off of my key chain and left it on the table there for someone to find. The one I just got isn't small enough to go on a keychain, but it's small enough to be handy. 

Once I got back near here the traffic got a bit less crazy and I got back in here and "buttoned up" for the night. 

Practice last night (really, early this morning) went pretty well, and the Rubank exercises are getting easier.  

Whitewashed

 I stayed in while it was all wet and drippy outside, listed things, finished a load of laundry, did a bunch of things like that, and Ken came by at the usual time so I got my check. I also got the copy of "The Art Of Brass Playing" by Philip Farkas so ... that was about 2 weeks between my ordering it, it being shipped, and add a week for Ken forgetting to bring it by last week. 

He also brought by ... my ballot from the last election. This is why, I told him, I'm just signing up to vote in person because mail is just not dependable. If there's an election, that's my national holiday, and I'm taking the day off and spending what I have to, to vote. 

So buying things and having them delivered to my legal address which is Ken's house, takes time. But probably still a bit less time than when I was a kid in Hawaii, to get things sent from the mainland. 

This matters because I want to order one more mouthpiece for the cornet. So far I like the one that came with it the best, a Yamaha 16E I think it is. The Denis Wick one I have, has a much larger hole in it, to the extent that the cleaning brush goes right through. I don't think it has as good a sound. I'd like the Yamaha equivalent of a Bach 3C but those seem to be hard to get. There *is*, however, a mouthpiece Yamaha makes that's named after a noted French player and that one might be good. After all, the Yamaha "Bobby Shew" mouthpiece for trumpet is a good one. 

After Ken left last night I packed all the things I wanted to send out today, and eventually settled down to do some practice and that went well. Practicing every day is important. 

I practiced while watching Episode #3 of a TV mini-series, I believe just called "Holocaust" with Meryl Streep. I remember watching this as a kid in 1978 so it's a bit of a nostalgia thing and also it's kind of fun to notice new details in it. It's all a lot of Zionist propaganda, of course, and it's sickening how two of the characters, who are fated to emigrate to Palestine, talk about the orange groves, and having a farm, and all that sappy stuff but somehow don't mention all the indigenous families and children they look forward to butchering because that indeed is what the Zionists did, and do. 

Propaganda like this  was accepted at face value in the 70s. Now people have ways of being informed. They are noticing.

I ended up waking up at around 5 in the afternoon. Ken is tiring, laundry is tiring, packing things is tiring, and then practice is tiring I guess. I was glad I had the things all packed! So, a quick coffee and nuts, and I was outta here. I got the things all delivered, bought a few things at 99 Ranch and H Mart, and got back here. 

Oh, wait, I also finished worrying a large piece of equipment apart, no wonder I was tired! 

 

When it's better to not practice?

 After doing a bunch of other things yesterday/last night I practiced, but I went about it ... not ideally. First I didn't warm up with long tones. Big mistake I think. Secondly I was just not enthusiastic about it. 

I went to bed at something like 8AM, and told myself I wanted to be up around noon to pack a couple more things that had sold and get them to the post office before the rain starts. And amazingly I was up at noon. It was more like 1 when I got out of here, with 4 things, and rode up to the post office and back, and then on the way back (I could see ominous rain clouds coming in) I went to Lowe's. 

What fun looking in the cleaners section of Lowe's. For some reason they sell Scotchguard there, which a while back I hoped to find at Big-5, since it's used on sports equipment a lot, right? I only found some off-brand, and here it is, the genuine stuff. So that's good to know. 

I was looking for floor wax/sealer though, and am still kicking myself for tossing out my tin of Johnson's floor wax, the real old-school stuff, which takes a little effort but the stuff wears like iron. So I was thinking of trying some Minwax which is for furniture which would be the closest thing, but first I'd look at the liquids. Back at the Blue Cross Animal Hospital, we used to use some stuff called Mop And Glo, which I figured was no longer available but there it was. I had $15 cash with me and it came to $15.18 so I had to use my card, but now I can take care of the bathroom floor. 

I got back here just as a few rain drops were starting to fall, and a few minutes after I got inside it started to rain in earnest. Which is why I was so eager to get everything sent out early, because it's going to rain heavily tomorrow (Wednesday) and I'll stay in. 

 

4/9

 Well here it is a great weekend done with, and everyone's just bubbling about what a success it was. 9 shot, 4 deaths, and other than them I guess, everyone had a great time. 

I did more practice last night, really early this morning. I'm not sure how to describe the new embouchure thing I'm trying to adopt, other than before, I was using the muscles *right* around the lips, and now I'm using the muscles needed for a "flat chin" which are an ring of muscles surrounding them. 

So I'm paying attention to this, and also doing the flat chin thing in my breathing exercises when I think about them. 

It's also time I start thinking about getting out there busking.  

I did my post office and FedEx run, and picked up some boxes, and once I had the bike parked in front, there was a guy banging on the door or something, at the next door place so I kind of watched ... it turned out to be one of the workers, one of the very few who speaks enough English to hold a real conversation, which we did. And I found myself talking with this scruffy guy who looks like he *maybe* knows how to operate a landscape sprinkler system, about global warming and Thwaites glacier and so on. It was amazing, this guy knows a lot more than a lot of people would think. 

I've seen this with people in Hawaii in the past, whom you'd not think were very educated or tuned in, and it will turn out they know a ton. And I won't even listen to the stereotypes that get pushed about people in Hawaii being lazy, because it's the opposite. 

 

The current unpleasantness

 Last night I was up listing things, and .... the illegal night club set up for a banger of a night, plenty of clients coming in. So  I filed my report online and when it looked like I was going to have drunks camped out and talking/yelling outside my door all night, I called the cops. The 911 op said they were just headed over (anyway?) and they came in, the "johns" and ho's did their "rats leaving a sinking ship" routine, and that was all great except there were 3 large, very drunk, guys who *did* seem as if they were going to spend the rest of the night outside my door so I called again. 

I got to talk with the cop a little, too, and he said the site of the illegal night club doesn't even have electricity and they might board it up, and I said it had been boarded up before and the Colombians had just opened it up again. But maybe they'll board it up again and it will lead to some of the scum being arrested. 

So this fun occupied the time until about 4AM, and I got about half of the things listed. I also made the mistake of eating not one, but two, of the "Crunchie" bars I had, which made me feel weird, probably due to high blood sugar. The coffee I swallowed them down with surely didn't help. 

So in the end I was just tired, felt frazzled, and went to bed. 

I woke up around 3 in the afternoon, and after exercises and some breakfast, I took the rest of the Crunchie bars and some other stuff to donate, and headed downtown. I did the usual; dropped off a bag of trash, put the candy and stuff into the little free library, then headed over to the Amazon place for bubble mailers. 

Downtown was even more dull, dead, and unfriendly seeming than usual. In fact, one of the doors of the Amazon place had police tape on it and I just went in the other door. I did my thing, got a few mailers, and got out of there. I stopped at Nijiya for a couple of things and got back here. 

 

A good practice

 I was amazed last night,  I had a really good practice. I guess all those years playing trumpet have not meant nothing, and I'm getting better on the Rubank exercises and also found myself able to play things that went pretty high on the scale. 

I might want to give some credit to the horn itself. Student horns can certainly be played up high, but most students never will before they graduate to an intermediate or professional horn. But a professional horn will be judged and judged hard if it's not equally easy to play high as low, as far as being in tune, having no difficult notes etc. 

You get what you pay for.  And as expensive as this horn was, this is all nothing compared to how expensive violins can be, or flutes, or a lot of instruments that need a constant input of supplies and extra equipment, like guitars. Someone like myself who is fanatical about playing with a clean mouth and who knows how to to minor maintenance like replacing water key corks, thorough cleanings, and even things like valve rebuilds and alignments, can have a trumpet or cornet last indefinitely. 

I woke up around 3, photo'd the 25 things I had all ready to list first, then had some coffee and nuts and then went downtown. I dropped off a bag of trash, some books at the little free library, then went to the Amazon place for some bubble mailers, and turned right around and got outta there. It's crowded, and our legion of ugly streetwalkers, as well as various other druggies and freaks, are out plying their various trades. 

I stopped by Nijiya for ginger and eggs and got back here and that's it. I just wanted to get a bike ride in because it's a bit tiring to just stay in here all the time. 

 

 

A bit less bad

I went downtown to deposit my check and buy things ...  I guess I wrote about this already. I got back here in time to grab a big box and get that to FedEx. 

In the early morning, because I was up all night again, I did some more practice and it was ... less bad. Thinking back to when  I was practicing regularly, it seems there was a pretty good correlation between the amount of practice I was doing and how well I could play out on the street. This is what I want to get back on track on. 

The plan is to get back to a regular busking schedule and also keep regularly practicing and reading off of printed music.  

I didn't wake up until a quarter after 3, and I surprised myself by packing all the things and I got them up to the post office and then went to 99 Ranch and H Mart for things. I also went to Ross to buy a T-shirt. 

Were there crazy zombies staggering around? Of course! I even had to detour though a parking lot to get from one end of Rogers Avenue to the other, due to a "zombie clog" in the middle. Zombies just doing crazy zombie stuff, yelling, filling the street with the utter crap they drag around... 

The funniest zombie interaction was inside Ross of all places. I was walking past a rack and there was a tall, blonde Zombess looking at the clothes I guess, maybe deciding what things to shoplift. The thing stepped back right when I was walking past and banged my foot kind of hard so I said, "Sonofabitch!". The thing then said "What?" and I said "Son of a bitch! It's what you say when someone trips you, SON OF A BITCH!!" and that shut the creature up. 

I had zero problems checking out, paying for my shirt, and even had a nice little mini-conversation with the security guard about those coin dispenser things that people used to have, how neat having one would be. Not even a crosswise look because the people working there know a human from a zombie. 

 

Just before the horrors start

 I'm glad I had my packages packed, just two small ones and one very big one, last night. I also did some practice last night, I sounded awful. 

I woke up at a quarter after 3 in the afternoon. That makes sense because entertaining Ken for an hour or more is always exhausting, then I'd packed the things, then practiced etc. 

But that gave me just enough time to get cleaned up, have some black coffee and aspirin as that's a healthy breakfast, and take off. 

I dropped off trash and a bunch of books and 10 "Crunchie" candy bars, bought a can of coffee at Nijiya and then got over to the post office and dropped off the packages, then got over to the bank and deposited my pay check for the week. 

Then I went over to Whole Foods and ate and got things, and then headed down to Walmart to get other things. Downtown is already different, with barriers and tons of police and police dogs. I did my thing at Walmart and on the way back saw something eerie: a large-ish box truck painted all grey, no logo, no numbers, not even some small number or anything. Just the kind of thing you'd expect to see people be disappeared into. 

I went to Nijiya again for a few more things, and got back here, offloaded the things, loaded up the one very large package and took that up to FedEx and got a few things in H Mart. 

There were the usual number of crazy zombies, zombies with zombie dogs (I tried to get the zombie dog to chase me out into traffic but darn it, it obeyed its undead master) and the usual craziness. But now I am set to hunker down until Tuesday. 

 

As the internet continues to enshittify...

 I got up and went right to work packing things to ship. 20 things, and I'd shipped at least that number yesterday. For some reason sales are up. About 2/3rds of the way through, Bill Gates tried to "brick" my computer. 

My response to this was to get out the newer computer with Windows 11 on it and put it on the charger, and to do a "hard reset" on this one by unplugging everything and pulling the battery and doing something else for 15 minutes, then powering it up again and waiting for things to load again on my slow-ass Silicon Valley internet. 

Amazingly it was back to working at least for now. So I was able to finish my packing and get out of here at the usual time and ship the packages. 

I stopped and got chicken at the chicken place, which has the advantages of outdoor tables so I can eat right there and have dinner done with, and also once in a great while their chicken really hits the spot. There was a cop SUV idling there so I ended up eating at a table right near it which is pretty funny. Eventually the cop showed up, got in their SUV, and drove off and it was time for me to leave too. I thought I may have seen the weird zombie from yesterday, the scumbag, ride by on a bike. Going toward H Mart too, so I was hoping I'd not run into it. And I didn't, as I went in there for coffee (out), Yakult (out) and wet wipes (they had 'em). 

I picked up odds and ends for shipping and got back here. 

For some reason we're almost overdue to the electric company and owe them almost $400. I don't know if Ken just forgot to pay the bill or whether this is another instance of tech being a very low-paid field and being in it, a sure way to scrape through life and be perpetually behind on utilities. 

Interestingly, on the front page of my browser there used to be "radio buttons" for commonly-visited sites but those are a thing of the past now, and I have to type in each URL. Kind of like having addresses and phone numbers memorized in the 80s. 

 

the 3rd

 And for some reason I decided, apparently, to celebrate it by sleeping in until 3 in the afternoon. I was up until 4AM OK no problem, that means I should still wake up at noon. But when I woke up I saw one hand on the clock on the 12 and one on the 3 and thought, "Oh, OK, it's a quarter after, good enough" and went around turning on the lights and the radio, and on the radio they said it's 3 in the afternoon. Conclusion: I need a bigger clock that's easier to read. 

So I had my coffee and nuts and got to work packing things, which were one large combination order and another order that was just one large capacitor. 

I got going to FedEx and the post office, and went in to 99 Ranch for some shopping. The lady at the checkout asked me if I'm a "senior" and said I am, and she gave me the 5% off discount they do for seniors on Tuesdays so that's cool. 

As I was taking things out to the bike some big overweight blonde guy, scumbag type, came up and asked if that was my bike or something to that effect. I was it was and that it "does the job" and he asked if it was "all original" and I said yes it is, well, except for the rear wheel which has been replaced by a heavy-duty one as I wore out the original one... " I had no idea where I could have met this idiot before, and he was being really familiar. He said something like, "We're all a bit worried about you" or some such rambling shit. I'm thinking this is a scumbag tactic in the same way that creeps will start a conversation with anyone female with, "Have you lost weight?" As is considered best practice with psychotics, I just went along, while loading my things up and hopping on the bike and getting out of there, without seeming too urgent. "Be careful out there!" the scumbag said, and I said, "I will" and was off. 

Honest as I write this it's hours later and I still have no idea where I'd have seen or met this particular scumbag. Maybe he's a friend of DL's (Diabeetus Legs) the hugely overweight Chinese guy whose legs are rotting off from untreated diabetes. 

I meandered my way back, picking up a few boxes, and got back in here. 

 

Still getting over this thing

 Busy day. I packed 17 things which I had to fund first, and got them to the post office. I didn't stop to get anything anywhere, except to pick up a few boxes. Tomorrow will be taken up with packing and shipping also, I'm that far behind. 

On my way back I came across a dozen "Kinder" something or other bars, which are Meh, and 45 Cadbury "Crunchie" bars which are amazing. It's like Violet Crumble, but somehow the nougat or toffee or whatever it is in the middle, has had an extra toasting making it extra brittle and a unique taste. Roald Dahl wrote about the Cadbury company giving out new types of chocolate bar to the school he went to, and all they had to do was write their impressions of them, and I imagine this one went over very well. 

So I put all the other candy I had out for the scavengers but am keeping the "Crunchie" bars.  

 

I might be feeling better

 I slept fairly well overnight, and into the area of 1-2 in the afternoon which is good. I also read books instead of being up and on the computer. 

Today, I had to get some things out since they were due to actually go out tomorrow and it seems I have to get things out one day earlier or they show up as late. 

There were four things so I started with the smallest which just went into an envelope, and worked up to the biggest, which went in a big box, using up a ton of padding materials. 

On my way to FedEx I saw Tom outside at his place so I stopped and we talked a bit. The bums around his place are going to get cleared away, again. I asked what the stacks of boxes by James' tent were, and he said they were cup ramen, "A lifetime supply" haha. 

I got the things dropped off and went into H Mart for a couple of things, paying using my card (and contactless at that) to avoid passing any of my germs. My lungs were really full of stuff when I got up. 

On the way back I had to do something about my now low supply of padding. So I picked up some stuff here and there, and from Noah Medical I got a couple of boxes of good stuff but even better, I saw they had these huge boxes that held some kind of medical apparatus, with the black foam with fancy cutouts to hold the equipment, and a nice big top piece with no cut-outs at all, just a bit rectangle a couple of inches thick. Just ideal stuff. 

So I took my shopping and the stuff I'd already gathered back here, had some coffee and a couple of aspirin, and went back out to get those. Someone had dug through some bags by their dumpsters and left a big mess, and I know there are cameras watching the area, there's only a sign saying so. So I cleaned up the mess. Then I got to work digging out the big foam pieces I wanted; there were four of the big rectangles and I ended up taking some other stuff to make the rectangles stand up between the sides of the bike trailer. On my way out I stopped at another company for a roll of bubble wrap and one of those big anti-static boxes that are great for shipping large circuit boards in. 

The only other actual work I wanted to do this evening was to take the 25 things I have cued up to list next and make them actually camera ready by cleaning them, making labels, etc., and I did that.  

So a ton of things accomplished for being sick, and I have a ton of things to ship out tomorrow. 

 

Another stay in bed day

 It's the only way we in the working class get anything like a vacation! At least all the time in bed gives me time to sift and sort through my mind ... 

For some years now I'd wondered if I should feel guilty because my eye operation(s) and special classes in school must have been a burden. Maybe I'm why the family finances tanked. Thinking about it now, though, my maternal grandmother paid for the operation(s), (I'm not clear on whether it was more than one or just the one) and the special classes didn't cost us anything. 

According to my older sister, a family friend, Mr. Bethune, stole all of Father's money somehow. Through some mysterious process, maybe witchcraft? Somehow I don't see Mr. Bethune doing this; we grew up with the Bethune kids and I wonder what Sean and Claudette are up to now (I believe Claudette is a PhD. scientist these days, congrats to her) and Mr. Bethune was always a can-do, scratch and scrap, make things work kind of guy. He built the boat, the Sea Raven, the Bethunes lived on, and apparently ended up having a time-clock company there in Honolulu. Not exactly the profile of a financial scammer. 

Nope what really ruined us was my older sister having to go to Punahou School, which these days is $32 thousand a year. It would have been proportionately that much back in the 70s. My older sister could have gone to McKinley, which being public was, and is, free, and is the high school for intellectual kids. Or could have gone to Kaiser like I did, which is another good public school, and not even need to take a bus since it can be walked to easily from Portlock Road. 

Of course the whole reason to go to Punahou School, and what parents pay $32 thousand a year for, is to marry someone who also went to Punahou School, which my older sister did. I guess this was worth the other 4 of us ending up poor as hell, two of us never actually graduating high school because we had to go out and work to survive, and probably due to the extreme hunger and hardship we went through, none of us talking to each other after we escaped at age 18. 

And my older sister was going to be a writer, and at least write a book about "Cats In The Pacific" and she's not written a thing. She's just a dumpy hausfrau, but hey, she's a dumpy hausfrau who went to Punahou School.  

Really sick, stay in bed day

 So to liven things up, here's a guy playing the same cornet I just bought, a lot better than me! 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8kddfpI8I0

He is playing Debussy's Syrinx, a piece normally played on flute.  

I can't embed the video but it's well worth watching, the guy's really good! I bet he didn't pay for his. I notice he doesn't seem to be using the fancy little levers that are supposed to move the 1st and 3rd slides. 

I'm taking the day off although I should be packing two big things, one really big, and hauling them up to FedEx but I messaged the buyers and said they'll be a day or two late getting out because I'm so sick. 

 

Got a cold

 Last night right after Ken left, I sneezed like 10 times and started having a really stuffy nose which I had to keep blowing. I finally went to bed, not being able to make myself feel any better. 

Sure enough, I got up and my sore throat is accompanied by a nice cough. I'm going to blame that stupid French class because we were all stuffed into that tiny room and the teacher was out with a cold last lesson (the one I didn't go to because I'd dropped the class). So not only did I have to "eat" the cost of the class but I've got a nasty cold. 

I've actually looked up local German classes, and there's a place that's on the next street behind the Whole Foods on Hamilton, a place that's not hard for me to get to at all. But I'd sure want to visit them in person and determine if the textbooks are as smartphone-dependent as the ones in the French class. The thing is, being "certified" in a language, by passing official tests, and German might be much easier to get to the much-vaunted B2 level in. This school I mention and the Goethe Institute up in San Francisco both offer classes and the tests.  

And here I am with a shiny new mouthpiece to try out, a Denis Wick even, which is a brand I've always seen really talked up, and I don't even feel like picking up the cornet. I've got the new mouthpiece in its spot next to the one that came with the horn, in their two little holes in the case, and the stand folded up and stowed away in the bell and it fits just fine even though it's a "trumpet" stand, and all's well except I'm not going to be playing for a bit. 

I decided since I don't know if I'll feel even worse tomorrow, to pack a few things to take to the downtown post office, and mail those and deposit my check so I'll have that all done. I left here around 2 I think, and after the bank I went over to Whole Foods because it's an immutable law of the universe that I must go there after I go to the bank. I just got some vitamins I needed, swung by the Amazon place where I got one bubble mailer (at least I got two from the post office) and then went to Nijiya for a few things including a bento, which I ate as soon as I got back, a bit after 4 which is late here - the equivalent of 7PM anywhere else. 

There were a fair share of crazy zombies out there today, and on the corner by my bank the cops were rounding up one off of the sidewalk. On my way home, by St. James Park, a zombess was yelling on and on about, among other things, something about people not giving her matches. So I got off the bike and found two lighters in the top bag and rode over and gave them to her. No thanks for them of course, zombies aren't really alive or all that sentient. Maybe now this horrid thing, that went back to yelling as  I rode away, will burn the trash pile it lives in down, and end its nonsensical existence. 

 

I can't believe I played that, on that.

 Once I had all my listings on Ebay done and had some time, about 4AM of course, I got the new cornet out to do some practice. First I had to give the pistons some attention, since they were sticky. Typically a piece of hair or gunk of some type gets in there, and my remedy is to use some spray cleaner/oil for electronics I have, then lube with regular trumpet valve oil. 

I was prepared to hate the mouthpiece that came with the cornet. Since the cornet is a professional level "British brass band" type, naturally it comes with a mouthpiece that's aimed at that type of music. But I was able to play on it just fine, and get a good, clear, tone. 

I opened the new beginner Rubank book I'd been working out of years ago and since the one I had back then is one I ordered off of Amazon, I'm wondering if it was a fake with a restricted amount of material, printed larger. I did find exercises I'd been doing and ... 

I can't read the printed music for shit! I had to keep referring to the fingering chart I'd found online and printed out. Let's see, I've been at least a year away from the trumpet, then a year or three before that I'd just gone out busking and not putting in any time reading printed music at all. I believe it was that first year of covid, so 2020, that I'd been practicing off of printed music, in that (probably an Amazon fake) Rubank book. So I'm on Lesson 6. That's my level right now. 

I practiced quite a lot for someone just getting back into it, an hour. All I can say is it's good to be back. 

I went right to bed and woke up around 11AM maybe, went back to sleep until 1:30PM and got up, giving myself  half an hour to prepare and get out of here. I packed one package that had to go, and was out the door at just before 2. 

I stopped at Nijiya and got a little plate of beef and veggies and a can of coffee. I heated the food in their microwave and ate at the table out front, and here's where I made a mistake. I only drank a little of the coffee, figuring I'd save it for later. "Save it for later" is an extremely stupid way to think, when out on the street. Somewhere in my various errands, the can of coffee disappeared. This is what happens, out on the street, when you apply the idiotic rule of "save it for later". No, the correct thing to do is chug that shit so you're sure you get it, before it can disappear. 

There's a test in psychology called the "marshmallow test". The test is, you show a kid a marshmallow, and tell them they can eat it now, or if they wait a period of time, they can have two marshmallows. The idea is that "good" kids will wait, showing restraint and planning and all that. And "bad" kids won't wait. Except it's only a test of socioeconomic status. I'd have grabbed that first marshmallow every time. It might be the only food I'm given that day that I didn't have to fish or forage for myself, and marshmallows were a rare treat. Adults were not trustworthy, not my parents or any other adults.  

I rode over to Park Avenue Music and Eric, the owner, was there. This was great; I figured I could deal with Trombone Guy, who's nice enough but really not all there, but having Eric there was absolutely great. I showed him the Yamaha mouthpiece that came with my new Yamaha horn, important because it's a "short shank" cornet mouthpiece and those are rare. I said I wanted to get as close to a Bach 3C as possible which means a 14B4 in Yamaha or Schilke. He dug around in back and came up with two Denis Wick pieces, a 3 and a 3B. I decided on the shallower of the two. I also got a trumpet stand and asked about a mouthpiece brush, which he threw in for free. 

I was out front fiddling with things, figuring out how to load them into my bike bag, and decided to check the stand to make sure it was the 5-leg one because there are 3-leg ones and I sure didn't want one of those. While I was packing it back up (it's the 5-leg one) Eric came out and asked if I wanted the shallower or deeper of the two mouthpieces and I said the shallower one, and he thought I'd taken the deeper one, so the 3 I'd almost taken off with was exchanged for the 3B, and I was *really* thankful he'd done that. 

So much so that I went back in (come to think of it I had the can of coffee in my hand) and asked if he had the Getchell-Hovey book of exercises that Eric Bolvin had everyone use, and I found the 2nd book so I'll have to get the first one later. And, since we were talking about Eric Bolvin, I ended up looking at this book published by him called "The Big Songbook" or something like that, which is a surprising number of songs, all in one book. So I got that too. And come to think of it I probably left the can of coffee on the counter there. 

I went to the big Goodwill next, and looked at their musical instruments. I'd been thinking of buying a flute from them just for the case, using that case for the flute I want to keep, putting the Goodwill cheapie in the awful case the flute I want to keep is in, and so my "keeper" flute will be in a decent case. But I think I'll just buy a new case from Park Avenue Music. Flutes are $33 at Goodwill (or is it $38 now?) and I can't see a new non-name case being more than $35. 

 I didn't find anything I was interested in although it's interesting to know that there's a constant flow of cheapo musical instruments coming through there, violins and flutes and clarinets and guitars. I never see any trumpets and think I may have seen one, years ago. 

I stopped at the Amazon place and got a few bubble mailers, and got back here. Enough adventure for one day.  

I now have a new mouthpiece to try out, and now I have a backup in case something happens to one. When I'm ready to go out busking again, the nice thing about a "shepherd's crook" cornet like this one is, it can fit in my messenger bag. I've done this with a short cornet before. I just need to get a nice really smooth pillow case and a towel. Horn goes in pillow case then the towel's wrapped around it, and it goes in the messenger bag.  

Just as I was drifting off to sleep ...

 I was doing some breathing exercises. I got into doing these for flute and shakuhachi in a fruitless quest to be able to pump a lot more air since those instruments require so much air. But  I found they make me feel better and I have much more stamina on the bike, so I've kept them up. As well as at other times, I like to do them as a way to relax and go to sleep. 

But I thought, last night, I ought to do the exhale part with a flat chin, because I play the clarinet now and when you play the clarinet you keep a flat chin; it's what you do and it was taught to me by Pete Sowlakis at my very first lesson many years ago. 

So I did 'em that way and the feeling in my face ... I wondered if it would help with the trumpet embouchure. So I buzzed my lips first the same old way I always had, and then keeping a flat chin. I could go much higher the 2nd way. I told myself I'd do a search on this when I woke up.

When I woke up at around 1 in the afternoon because I'd been doomscrolling all night, I did a few things and then remembered to do that search. I searched, and Lo and behold, now knowing exactly what to look for, I found tons of people saying it's the way to go. That one guy, a student at the Peabody Institute, had a Horn player tell him, "You need to get 'The Art Of Brass Playing' by Philip Farkas" and the guy did, and it was all about keeping a flat chin, as Farkas and many others did and do. The guy said he practically slept with that book under his pillow... 

The consensus seemed to be that while it may not work for everyone, it works for an awful lot of people. And yes, just lip buzzing with no mouthpiece or anything, I can sure buzz 'way high and I've been out of the game for more than a year. 

I simply had to get my hands on a trumpet to try this out. The best way to do this would be to go to West Valley Music and test-play one of their trumpets.  No, just buzzing on a mouthpiece would tell me nothing. A trumpet is a resonant structure and just buzzing on the mouthpiece alone is not at all the same. 

So now I felt motivated. I packed the things that had to go out, got cleaned up, and left here just a bit before 4. I stopped to check out a few boxes by this food importer place and my reward was 63 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars. I put those in one pannier and went on my way. I dropped off trash and swung by Nijiya for some boiled eggs and sashimi and a can of coffee. Since I had time, I'd eat them there. 

There's one table in front, with four people sitting at it, but room for a fifth so I sat down. Two left, leaving a pair who were talking about, apparently, when the possibly older of the two, a Hispanic lady, was describing her recent experience having a stroke. High heart rate etc. When she mentioned Good Samaritan Hospital I chimed in, "I was there! I was treated really well" and we were off, talking about medications and whether getting an Apple Watch might be a good idea etc. Old-people stuff I guess. 

The day was so nice and the convo going so well, my entertaining them with my tale of going ass over teakettle in the BevMo parking lot because I came in fast and didn't see the curb in the middle of it, and such adventures, and talking about the neat foods we had - "These eggs are from Hokkaido" etc., that I bubbled about my possible new discovery about trumpet playing, my going to clarinet, but now my plan to get over to the music store to try out my new technique on a trumpet etc. 

The Hispanic lady had to go and that left me and the other, Black, lady to talk. It seemed she was musical, everyone in her family is musical with tons of clarinet players and at least one teacher, and Oh yes, her cousin (?) Ambrose Akinmusire, the trumpet player. Had I heard of him? Everyone's heard of him,  I retorted,  and she said he lives in the area. 

I got her card, and she says she answers emails so that's great. Knowing musical people is always good. The thing is, busking is almost extinct as an activity here, and I almost never see Leroy, just about the last street musician in the whole city, any more. All the others are long gone. Recorder Ron is still alive, but doesn't do any music any more. He does little pieces of art and straight-out begging with a sign. 

I went to the post office next to drop off the packages I had, then went over to Whole Foods to lock up the bike and went right over to the bus stop. A guy there taught me a cool trick: You call 511 and say "Arrival time" and key in the number on the bus stop sign. A voice will tell you when the next bus is coming. That's pretty cool. 

I got to West Valley Music at about a quarter after 6, and they close at 7. It's basically 2 hours from my door to theirs. I asked about trumpets, and the gal had me to into this separately locked side room they have where they keep the expensive stuff. 

I asked to try the Eric Miyashiro model trumpet because it's a new Yamaha and although this gal didn't know it, I'd tried it before, some years ago. I also wasn't impressed with it but that didn't matter. I tried playing various things with a flat chin and without, and it makes a huge difference. So it was confirmed. 

I've just got to say I can't believe this, that I've read a ton of trumpet books, been on Trumpet Herald for years, had two different trumpet teachers, and never seen keeping a flat chin mentioned. And yet the great Farkas has written a whole book about it. And yet it's one of the very first things mentioned in my first clarinet lesson. 

I asked to look at their used, consignment trumpets and what a bunch of wrecks. The intermediate Yamahas were all made in China, and silver plated. Being made in China is probably a non-issue as far as quality goes but I have an irrational preference for the ones made in Japan. And silver plated, that's what the kids all want now but I really don't want that. 

They wanted "full boat" price for everything, of course. And no doubt they were all priced before the tariff madness. So I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Down at the bottom level of the display case, at the back corner, was something labeled as a Getzen for $1500. It was a cornet, shepherd's crook type, and looked pretty good but with that light in that little corner I could not tell if it was silver plated or not so the gal dug it out and of course it wasn't a Getzen it was a Yamaha but a pro level cornet, a "Neo", and not silver plated. 

So it was not cheap, but a few hundred less than the Miyashiro trumpet which is not a model I'm impressed with at all so the long and short of things is, I bought it. To me, shepherd's crook cornets have a huge cool factor, and I read somewhere that cornets like this are aimed at the British brass band market, and tend to have big bores and are not the stuffy things American cornets can be, like the old King Master. 

I then walked out of the music store, not back to the bus stop but the other way, to Castro Street. I used to spend quite a lot of time there, and figured I'd walk along, feeling nostalgic, and get on the train at the other end of it. 

A lot of stores and things have changed, and some old standbys were still there. I want to go back there during the day because there are a couple of store fronts with robot that do robot stuff I guess. On the walk I also saw a Waymo car with no human in the driver's seat, also no passenger so it was all on its own. Doing robot stuff. 

Castro Street's been blocked off to cars except for intersections where cars can cross it, and the result is a lot of people out walking around. I didn't see *any* buskers though, no questionable types hanging out at the Starbucks, and there was just one guy hanging out with a sign. It was pretty neat seeing all those people walking around and it strikes me as something approaching the people-walking-around situation Marvin Naylor has, for busking, in Winchester, UK. 

I got to the train station about 1 minute before the train came, and it was a nice pleasant ride as always. I got back to Whole Foods and had two slices of pizza and a near-beer, discovered that however big it seems the cornet case fits in a Whole Foods cloth bag just fine, hung it off one handlebar, and rode home. It started raining as I got onto Old Bayshore, and I got in here. What a day.  

I said the clarinet's a beautiful instrument and nothing bad to say about it, but that if my new discovery works, I might have a clarinet for sale, and she said her music-teacher relative might be interested.