Monday after some good sleep

 I felt so tired last night I didn't do much of anything other than have my cheese and olives for dinner, and tried to get "up" for listing a bunch of stuff but didn't, and finally went to bed at 7AM. 

I woke up at 3 this afternoon, and the Monday "morning" weigh in shows me 1/2 lb up from last week. 

At least, for some reason, the elderberry lozenges seem to have done some good and my throat's better. 

I packed I don't know, 10, maybe 12 things, and got 'em to the post office, got things in 99 Ranch and H Mart, hung out in front of H Mart to enjoy a can of Mr. Brown coffee and some spicy peanuts, and didn't find much in the way of packing stuff *except* about 30 really neat "Kinder Country" boxes from the exotic foods place dumpster, which are a nice smallish handy size and of good quality. 

 

 

$65 Sunday

 I listed 10 things last night, all photo'd and ready to go from the night before. After having some dinner, I got involved in "just trying to find at least some of the next batch of things" which ended up meaning, "Get 20 more things photo ready"

I slept very deeply, then had a weird "frustration dream" about the airport, and getting stuff together, etc. It was pretty realistic; at one point I had this large, long piece of luggage to get aboard, and all I can think of it would have been something holding an electric bass because I can't think of anything else that long, but pretty flat. 

I woke up feeling sore (my back, mainly) and had a bit of a headache so "breakfast" was coffee and aspirin. 

I left here at 4:30 and Lo and behold, was at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at 6:30 so, a mere 2 hours. 

The busking went OK, about the same as yesterday. This time I just wore my fleece jacket which was borderline too warm but it was OK. It was overcast and a bit windy. I played "Long, Long Time" several times both to work on it and also because the Whole Foods employee who wanted to learn trumpet might show up again, I thought. 

"Eensty Weentsy Spider" was a big hit though, with a little kid and his dad, who didn't tip of course. It's a good one to have in my repertoire. I should learn the theme song for TV show "Bluey" but I'm not sure if that has that much of a strong theme song. There were just tons of little kids this time and I should learn more little kid songs. 

I was playing high notes well, so at one point I played the intro and ending music from the 2nd series Astroboy show, great fun but I'll be surprised if I ever run into anyone who recognizes them. 

At one point I *did* meet one of the Whole Foods Employees, a Karen type woman who's a manager, who told me exactly where the line runs that divides Whole Foods property from public property, where I can play and she "Can't do anything about that!". Even funnier, she talked while furiously chewing gum. I should have asked if it's nicotine gum, or if she brought enough for the rest of the class, or some snappy remark, but it's much better that I didn't. 

A very nice Indian lady came up and with her phone out, puzzled, she asked if I had Zelle or something, and I said I don't, but that some people go into Whole Foods and buy gift cards. I said it could be for $5 or $10, and one time I got one for $50 but that's an awful lot. She went away and I went back to playing and she came back surprisingly soon, and gave me a gift card with $25 on it. "Wow, thanks!" was my reaction, and I said I do a lot of shopping at Whole Foods, which is often cheaper than Safeway. (As if I go into Safeway these days, ha!) 

With that, after she'd left feeling good about doing her good deed for the day, I looked at the time and it was time to go. I'd made $40 cash including something like $4 in quarters, and the $25 gift card, making $65. 

I was surprised I'd done this well, and played as well as I did, because my throat's been scratchy and before getting on the bus I'd bought some elderberry lozenges from my "home" Whole Foods, and had some on the bus ride. 

I walked over to Baraka Market for olives and a yogurt drink, then walked over to the bus stop, and ended up running for the bus because the #522 got there a bit before me. 

This meant I got back to my "home" Whole Foods at around 9. The employees were getting ready to close, which they don't do until 10, and this always makes it feel later. There was a guy begging with a sign, very definitely on Whole Foods property but I guess no one was sweating it, as he wasn't being noisy, just holding his sign. I got a couple bags of macadamia nuts because I'll always use them, and a can of their tuna in olive oil which if anything is only about 50c more expensive than Walmart's version. That took care of the gift card. 

I had a nice calm ride back here, and had cheese and olives for dinner. 

$62 Saturday

 I practiced last night before bed and it went even better than the session before. This is good. I just need to be very consistent about practicing. 

Yesterday I shipped stuff, did shopping, blah blah. And got 20 things ready to list and listed 10 of them. I'll list the other 10 tonight. 

Today I got out of here at 5, and miraculously, found myself set up at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at just a bit after 6:30, thanks to the #522 bus. As I walked past Baraka Market on my way to the Whole Foods, I heard a lot of squawking, and saw that the parrots who used to hang out by the hardware store, are still here, and in force. The hardware store's history but ... not the parrots. 

Last night I'd finished a load of laundry that included the clothes I wear busking and I'd put a fan on the clothes, hung up in the loft, before going to sleep. So I had nice clean clothes on, and with how cold it's been getting at night, I brought a fleece jacket too. 

So I got there and the wind didn't beat me up too much at all, and I was glad to not be in the parking structure because not only was the first motorcycle there, but some idiot on a Harley had to pull in and park his stupid toy in such a way as to pretty much take over the area. Then after a while, left, noisily. Plus car alarms going off for some reason. 

So I happily stood out front and did my thing, and it felt a bit slow because it *was* a bit slow, but still, $62 isn't bad and is in line with a $40 an hour pay scale. 

It went pretty well, and one guy gave me a little bag of a type of popcorn they sell in Whole Foods, with a picture of a pink "Buddha" guy on it. It's not on my diet needless to say, so as I was getting near the end of my session, I handed it off to a guy with a shopping cart with all kinds of bags and things on it and hanging off of it, but it looked fairly organized. 

I finished up, and I might look at how to stay a bit later than 8 because the tips actually got better as it got a bit later, and the shopping cart guy started acting weird and cursing in some mix of Spanish and Crazy, and I thought, "Well, it's not my problem now..."  

I was putting things away and counting up when a young Whole Foods employee came up and wanted to know how to play "Long Long Time", the 1940s song that was in a recent Captain America movie. I said it's not that hard, but determined that he's really new at trumpet. So new he didn't have one yet. So I went through the standard advice; to rent one from West Valley Music, get a teacher or if he budget doesn't allow it, get one of the band books like Standard Of Excellence, and find people playing through it on YouTube. He said he hopes to see me out there more, and I'll have to put that song into my regular rotation. 

I packed up, walked past the crazy guy without incident because I'm the nice person who gave him popcorn haha, and walked out to Baraka Market for my yogurt drink and got on the bus back to my "home" Whole Foods. I went in for cheese and a couple of beef sticks for tomorrow so in theory all I'll have to do is ride there, park and lock the bike, use the loo, and go right to the bus stop. 

I also put on the fleece jacket which I'd left in the bike bag, because it was friggin' cold. While juggling various things, what goes into the bike bags and what clothing I'm changing out of and into, there were a couple of bums there talking with each other - hard to understand because there's this weird underclass accent/way of speaking that I find really rather difficult to understand. 

I said something to them like "Wow it's sure cold tonight!" and they agreed, and since I'd pulled my fleece jacket out of a very large, sturdy, zipper bag which I've got several of, I offered them the bag, which is a handy thing. The guy was thankful for it. 

The thing is, when I came back out after buying cheese and beef sticks, the two bums were still there and were only leaving to go off and do whatever else was planned for their evening. So  I figure they might have had a look through my bike bags because bums steal stuff. But when I got back here nothing was missing, except my little tube of lip balm. I guess they got that. Small victories. 

I was really hung up for a while on getting some "Chop Saver" lip balm which Craig at West Valley Music thinks the world of, and even gave me a tube of. That has disappeared, of course. So I had made serious plans to spend the few hours it takes to go over to West Valley Music and just buy some. I'd been thinking my cheapo Blistex is too greasy. But actually, it's not so greasy if I just use less of it. 

It's good if I can just get by with it, because  it's sold at a bunch of places and as I've mentioned, cheap. "Chop Saver" is enough of a hassle to obtain, even living here, must less living back home in Hawaii, that it would be easy to mail order it a few tubes at a time, and then losing a tube of it would be much more of a pain. 

So I just pulled out a new tube of Blistex out of the drawer here, and next time I'm at Walmart I'll buy a couple more.  

Paradoxical practice

 After doing a bunch of other things, I got some practice in before bed and it went really well. I feel like for the first time I got a bit of the feel for playing high notes without straining. 

Damned headache

 After getting back here and having dinner and staying up all night taking stuff apart, I developed a headache. I had visual disturbances too; haven't had those for a while but it's geometric patterns on the left side of my field of vision. 

In other words, I'm pretty sure I get a relatively painless, benign, version of the migraines that have been the bane of my older sister's existence. 

I really wanted to practice but I could not bring myself to, with the headache, so I went to bed. I had a weird dream where I was going to write the history of some big Asian market/company, like 99 Ranch but not 99 Ranch. Something like Yaohan maybe. I don't really have nightmares, just ordinary dreams but sometimes they can be kind of weird. 

I had two very large things to ship, both overseas. Both were above the weight/size limits and with one, the guy didn't even supply a viable address so I got to cancel both orders and have ending those listings. I'll just part the things out. 

I ended up packing two small things to go to the post office, taking those there, then going over to Nijiya Market by way of Oakland Road, to buy some coffee. Then stopped at the Amazon place for bubble mailers and found none. So those are going right out of style. 

Then it was down to Walmart for the shipping trip there I'd been promising myself. I had $60-odd on me and ended up speinding $41, leaving me with a $20 to put on my Clipper card. Of course it's OK to dip into my money in the bank, but the game is to do so as little as possible. 

When I got back the big pile of metal scrap from taking things apart overnight was still outside the door here.  

 

One year and one month

 Right now it's basically one year and one month until I leave. 

 I listed 20 things last night so that's good. 

I did some practice before bed and it was awful. I'm thinking I should not take one day off, but should take a day doing long tones and such exercises for my rest day. 

 

A little trail of Big Macs

 Pedonald is so brave, he was so unafraid of the Iranis, that he hid out in a catering truck while Air Force One flew without him, and he flew on some smaller plane. 

No other US president has done this kind of shell game. Not during wartime or peacetime or any time. 

I wonder how his handlers got him into the truck? I imagine it's like getting a cat into a cat carrier, and imagine them making a little trail of Big Macs to lure him in. 

I did a lot of packing last night - overnight - because I had something like 30 things to ship. And also, took the 8x4 foot sheet of fiberglass, which is VERY heavy, 100 lbs easy, and "walked" it because I could not drag it, across the parking lot and got it stashed in the trash enclosure where it's essentially invisible and no longer our problem. Yay! 

I did my shipping run and didn't find much of anything for materials on the way back, just a couple of useful small boxes. 

Dinner was "freebee beef broccoli". How that works is, I found a nice big head of broccoli behind H Mart so that was the broccoli, and as for the beef, that's an interesting story. 

After my last busking session on Sunday, when I got on the bus there was one pair of seats, the pair I like to sit at, with a paper grocery bag sitting there. So I decided to just sit on down and put my stuff next to the grocery bag, and have a little look to see what's inside. Trash, probably. 

Instead I saw a couple of bags of chips, some kind of potato chips fried in avocado oil or something like that, and some other kind. And underneath, a package of bacon. The bacon was not as cold as it should be, so the bag had been sitting on the bus for a little while at least. So I just played it cool until I got to the Diridon Station stop and got off, and gave the chips away to a couple of guys; "I'll never turn down free food!" said one. 

I now had an opportunity to dig in the bag more, as it was pretty heavy for just a package of bacon left now. Under that, was what felt like a big cold burrito, but a quick glance told me it was a big package of hamburger so again I just played it cool and walked over to "my" Whole Foods and stashed my goodies away in the bike bag, did my shopping, and rode home. 

One home I could really investigate things. After all, if the stuff was bad the birds would always eat it. The bacon was the "sugar free" type I'd been considering trying, and the hamburger was the Whole Foods store kind, that had been on sale. There was the receipt in the bag and it was from Sunnyvale Whole Foods. The place I'd just been busking at. 

This makes for some very puzzling logistics. The original owner of the stuff had bought it at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods. But the bacon was not as cold as it ought to be, and if it *was* as cold as it ought to be, it means the buyer would have walked to the other nearby bus stop, by the PF Changs, and then gotten right off. 

The only way it all makes sense is if someone bought this stuff, got on the #522 going *North* and forgot their stuff somewhere along the line, then of course the bus would have turned around in ... Palo Alto. And come back, now being a Southbound bus, and then I got on. No one would have disturbed the bag. 

I know this last because those bags of chips were in it, and chips are  a classic hand-to-mouth food, the only kind of food bums can consume, as it's beyond them to cook or wash or peel or prepare in anyway, anything they eat. They live, and eat, at the animal level like a squirrel or a stray cat. The chips *were* below the level of the top of the bag, so it would take someone actually peering inside, and I guess no one had had the opportunity. 

Since  I gave the chips away to a couple of bummy guys anyway, let's say a bum had glommed onto that bag of stuff. Well,  again, bums don't prepare or cook their food in any way. They'd have thrown away the bacon and the hamburger. Or let's say no one had disturbed the bag until the bus went off service for the night. It would come down to the driver or whoever cleans the bus to do something with it; eat the chips and by now, discard the now-too-warm bacon and hamburger. 

So my taking the bag kind of looks like the best case scenario. I put the bacon in the freezer until it was firm enough to work with, and cut it up into portions and those went into the freezer. And likewise the hamburger, cooled for a while in the fridge and then portioned out into 6 portions since there was a pound and a half of it. 

And tonight I cooked up one of the portions, and it's fine. I like the hamburger from H Mart the best, but it's hard to beat the price for this stuff. 

I kind of feel bad for whoever bought the stuff, but if they're buying chips cooked in avocado oil and fancy bacon, they're not hurting too bad. Public transit giveth, and public transit taketh away ... years ago I bought a nice table easel and left it on the light rail. 

 

 

I'm down

 2-1/2 lbs woot! Yeah it doesn't sound like that much, since a person's weight can fluctuate more than that on a single day. Which is why I only weigh myself on Mondays, right after getting out of bed, so it's a consistent time and at least in theory, set of conditions. 

 

$88 Sunday

 Standing out on the sidewalk at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods *is* better, even if the wind gets tiring. I played the same 6:30 to 8:00 time slot I've been doing, and it was all out there in that wind except a couple of times where I moved to the parking structure to get out of said wind, and moving back out after a few minutes. 

 

$49 Saturday

 I got out of here a bit later today. 4:30 instead of 4. 

But, if I took the shortest route, by way of Hedding, cut across a tiny part of the Bellermine campus, then right over to Whole Foods, that might help. And it did. I got over there, bought my two beef sticks and did a visit to the loo, and walked over to the bus stop by the SAP Center. The #22 and the #522 came at the same time, and a bum at the stop went for the #22 and I hopped on the #522. 

There's a difference; bums go for the longest ride while some of us are actually trying to get somewhere. And I did, in fact, I was at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods 15 minutes earlier than I was yesterday. Insight No. 1: Get the #522 bus when possible, it makes a real difference. 

Since I had a bit of time I checked their olive situation and it's the same as at my home Whole Foods so I didn't get any there. 

I set up down in the parking garage and it was really meh. It was not very busy, and I started to feel kind of abandoned down there. 

So I went up onto the sidewalk and while there was wind, and a lot of people just walking on by, I got more tips and more interactions, and all in all it was better. I may have done well in the parking structure, but Insight No. 2 is that I might well have done even better out on the sidewalk. 

Although the parking structure is good to know about in case of rain, excessive wind or noise, or if someone else is already set up on the sidewalk. 

When I was done I went to Baraka Market for my yogurt drink and a package of olives, and the guy greeted me, so I'm a regular now.  I'd made $49 and was glad to spend some of the many $1's I always end up with. 

The bus back was the regular old #22 so it was slower but still got me back to my home Whole Foods pretty fast, and I spent a whole $2, the $2 bill someone had given me, on some broccoli. 

 

$82 Friday

 I listed 20 things on Ebay last night, and when I was finally done I practiced, and it went really well. There's nothing like regular practice. 

I finally got to sleep and woke up at 3 in the afternoon thanks to my alarm clock. I got my stuff together and took off, dropping off trash and then some packages at the downtown post office. 

I was going to get my usual beef sticks at Whole Foods to eat on the bus, but hey, here was some beef jerky on sale that adds up to the same price, let's try that. 

On the bus I read the label and saw that the whole package (rather small; it wasn't a huge one so normally a person would eat the whole package) has 24 grams of carbs because here in the Land Of The Free, everything but everything has sugar in it to help us keep our trademark American physiques. 

Well, I ate it anyway, but I'll have to be more careful. 

I played at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods from 6:30 to 8:00 and although it felt slow-ish, I had some nice interactions with people. One guy wanted to film me and I said that's fine, as there are cameras all over the place here anyway, what's one more. He wanted to know my name and my back story and basically was one of these people who will donate a dollar (or nothing at all) and want to be talked to an entertained for half an hour, keeping everyone else from donating because you're busy talking to the pest. So I remembered I "had to" practice my pedal tones, which sound awful. A bit of that and he was off. 

And a delightful family, father, mother, and two kids, the kids and mom staying out by me while the father shopped, and wanted to know about my instrument, and about music stores, and I told them about West Valley Music for winds and Heaney Strings for violins, and even though as far as I can tell they only put in a dollar or two, it was nice. 

I even worked out that "Doo doo doo lookin' out my back door" song which has some weird lyrics but is a nice tune. I worked a bit on "Sunny Side Of The Street" too, but it turns out to have a ton of range, and will take more practice to sound good. 

In the end I counted up and had made $82, which is pretty nice for an hour and a half. 

It seemed to be getting dark earlier than I'd gotten used to as I walked to Baraka Market for my yogurt drink, and over to the bus stop. The next bus was a #522 so the ride back to my "home" Whole Foods was quick. It was still a bit past 9 and the employees were moving plant displays in and in other ways getting ready to close at 10 on the dot. 

I had a can of black coffee and some seltzer water since I'd been starting to fall asleep on the bus, and it was pretty dead there. And slightly cold, and windy.  

Here it is Thursday

 When I got up yesterday I tried something; I made my coffee with some Guittard cocoa powder but left out the Frima creamer. I thought this would make it tongue-curlingly bitter, but it turns out that the taste isn't much different at all. 

This means the Frima's outta here because while it's the best powdered creamer I've found, it's a weird processed substance that I'm not sure is actually food. 

I did my post office and FedEx thing, blah blah. Sales are very slow so there was not much to ship. 

I got back here and had the place all cleaned up when Ken came over. We talked as usual and I got my check, to cash on Friday which is tomorrow. 

Somehow Ken's got the money to go gallivanting off to England and Scotland for the next couple weeks. Worried about expenses and then this, it doesn't compute. 

But then, his wife is the opposite of him about money and she got at something close to half a mil when her sister died, and she was a travel agent at one point. She might be financing these trips they take. So off they go and I hope they have a great time.  

When Ken was gone, it was time to strike. And by strike I mean, drag out a huge piece of fiberglass, something like 4X8 feet and super heavy, out of here. It's something one of the homeless scumbags had given him when we were barely moved in, and all it's been good for is blocking the way to things. I put it out and some old centrifuges we can't give away and some other junk. 

Then I picked out an HP unit to take apart that I hoped had plenty of circuit boards with gold plated traces and I made a good choice. The one I grabbed had the paint flaking off of the front for some reason, and tons of gold plated boards. So that was overnight; taking that thing apart. 

Then I did a pretty productive practice session. If I can get to play the same range I had on a 3C trumpet mouthpiece, with my deep-V cornet mouthpiece, then if I pick up a trumpet again with a 3C, I might just be a real barn-burner. And once I'm back home, I might well pick up a trumpet or three, since my moves will be all done with and I'll be where I'll be. My life's dream back there will be if the Royal Hawaiian Band needs a 4th trumpet. 

I've realized that there's no need to feel guilty about skipping out on Ken in mid-September next year, because the guys on both sides of us will take over the lease in a heartbeat. 

I got out of here with various donations to drop off, a bag of clothes and household stuff I left in front of Goodwill, and a bag of foodstuffs I left at the base of the Little Free Library in Japantown. I also got a couple of hard-boiled eggs and a bottle of tea at Nijiya, and ate out front, as I had a big Walmart shopping trip planned. 

I went to the Amazon place and got a nice load of bubble mailers which is nice, and then realized I didn't pack the bike lock; the bike bags still had bungee cords from my last shipping trip. Which means I could not go much of anywhere, other than perhaps to Nijiya again,  so that's where I went, where I got some cold grilled mackerel and some eggs, and came back here. 

I've forgotten the bike lock before, so this is not a new thing. But I've used the one chance I have to go to Walmart that I have per week or so, and I'll have to be more careful for my one shot at it next week. This is why I keep stocked up on things. 

 

Tuesday because Monday isn't even worth mentioning.

 It's the usual, listing things on Ebay, packing and shipping Ebay things ..

I'm still thinking about the idea of being very aware of how exactly my lips are placed on the mouthpiece and how they tend to drift out of position, especially with my cheap greasy Blistex lip balm. I've looked all over and can't find the "Chop Saver" Craig at West Valley Music swears by. 

This means I'll have to go back there and buy another tube of it, so the first one, which he gave me, will re-appear. It might be worth it though. 

I went by H Mart to buy broccoli and ground beef and stuff, and the homeless guy was there with his huge bags on the bench. He got and and walked toward me, but sort of walking/looking past me like a zombie. I called out, "You still want the charger?" and he said something like, "No; already got one!" and that was that. No thanks for making the effort etc. 

The other day he'd given back some goodies (free samples from H Mart which are often pretty good things and these were) I'd given him. 

So ... OK. I left the charger on top of one of his bags as I passed, and went on with my day. 

 

 

Some progress

 Not in weight loss, as I'm still where I was last week. At least I didn't gain. 

Money-wise, yeah it's great I went out and busked. I bought a bunch of stuff so I'm left with $77 or so in my wallet, but all I need for the week is "cilantro money" in other words, money for small daily things. 

But in the trumpet playing itself, I feel like I've learned something new. I believe that for a long time, I'd just play and wasn't paying that much attention to the position of my lips on the mouthpiece or how that position would drift. Hence eventually sounding a bit like a duck near the end of a busking session. 

Now I'm suddenly aware of how the position is drifting, and re-positioning is a huge help. Maybe this is why Craig at West Valley Music is so fond of "Chop Saver" as opposed to the cheap lip balm I use. 

 Unfortunately, I can't find the tube of "Chop Saver" he gave me, and will have to go back there to West Valley Music to buy another, to be able to find the first one.  

$25 Sunday

 I played at the Alameda Whole Foods from 7:30 to 9:00 and made $25. It makes sense given we're in a Depression. 

I came home and started to use my super sharp veggie peeler to peel a piece of daikon radish and nailed my right index finger which makes it hard to type. The peeler and the radish went right into the trash. 

I'll eat something else for dinner.  Cheese and olives.

I think I should have started at 6, because once it was 9, things got dead and the workers started putting things away. 9 in this town is like midnight anywhere else.  

A slightly more decent busking Saturday

 I was up early enough but didn't get out of here until almost 4:30. I went over to the Alameda Whole Foods by the quickest route, over the hill on Hedding and cutting through part of the Bellermine campus. I bought my two beef sticks and got right over to the bus stop, and waited while two #522 buses went by, with plenty of time before the first one for me to have walked up to the other bus stop where the #522 stops. 

I still got to  the Sunnyvale Whole Foods in time to get started at just a bit after 6:30 so I took that as my starting time and played until just before 8. 

It felt slower than yesterday, but when all was said and done, I'd made $94, $10 of it in the form of a Whole Foods gift card. 

I also got to talk to the guy whose motorcycle is there, and he's not irritated with me or anything, and I think I set his mind at ease about any worries that I might even actually touch his bike. So that's cool. One he had left  with his bike, I was able to set up where the bike was, essentially, instead of some distance in front of it and in an odd position because of this.  

Someone had lost a little bag with a bunch of cheapo earrings inside, probably something for a craft project, and it was lying on the parking lot there and I didn't remember it being there when I'd started so when I was done I turned it into the customer service desk there in Whole Foods. 

Then I walked out to Baraka Market where I got my yogurt drink and then to the bus stop where I drank it and pretty soon a #522 bus came so the ride home was surprisingly quick. I still didn't get back here until almost 10:30 

 

 

A decent busking Friday

 Last night besides photo'ing and listing stuff, I gave myself a haircut and got things ready for an early (for me) day. 

I woke up at 3 in the afternoon because I'd set my alarm clock for that time. I had time to have breakfast and clean up and put on fresh clothes, and left here a few minutes after 4. 

I dropped off donations and packages, and got over to the bank and deposited my pay check. The numbers agree and it's looking like it won't be long before I'm back up to 10 grand which is nice. Hopefully when I leave here I'll have twice that. 

I went over to the Amazon place and got a whopping one bubble mailer, then went over to Whole Foods where I got a few more. I also got two beef sticks and a can of fizzy water I ended up not drinking. 

I put $10 on my clipper card and went out to wait for the bus, which came in about 15 minutes. The whole point here is that I didn't dilly dally around, yet after leaving here at 4, I was at Whole Foods in Sunnyvale ready to start busking at 6:30 so it's really an hour and half each way. 

This is like living in Kahuku, and only being able to busk at the Koko Kai Center in Hawaii Kai. Or living in Hawaii Kai and only being able to busk at the Kahuku Sugar Mill shops. You can't go further on the island of Oahu without hopping on a plane. 

Whereas, walking from anywhere I plan to rent a room, to Waikiki to busk is about the same distance as walking from my shop here to the nearest light rail station.  

I started in, and it seemed to go slowly but this is for practice as much as anything else, so I did my best and entertained some little kids a lot which the parents appreciated (but none of them tipped) and got through it. 

It turns out I made $65 which is pretty decent for an hour and half. Most of that was made in the first hour. It would seem to be better to start there at 6, but I'm not sure how easy it will be. 

When I was done and had counted up, I walked right over to Baraka Market and got a yogurt drink and drank that at the bus stop. A collection of characters gradually built up and then the bus came and the characters gradually decreased. I got off right across from my home Whole Foods and it was 9:30. I got some things there and rode right back here and it's almost 11 as I write. So again it's a bit of a commute. 

I could not exactly settle in and just busk at my home Whole Foods as there was a booth there with some scam, with the usual kids in vests calling out to everyone passing by, plus a methed-out "lady" with a wheelchair and a huge collection of junk in bags and boxes and just piled around here, and the standard sign, "HUNGRY HOMELESS ANYTHING HELPS GOD BLESS". Plus it was quite windy.  

The underground parking there in Sunnyvale could become a lifetime gig, kind of like how Leroy kind of owned the spot in front of Johnny Rockets, when Johnny Rockets was a thing. 

And from here it's only 5 hours a day commuting.  Let's say I can busk for 2 hours a day, that makes 7 hours a day of work, for let's say $50 a day. That would put me at a penny under the federal minimum wage of $7.15 an hour. In other words, I'd be living on what most people make in this area. 

Pedonald is ruining gold for me

 "TSA Gold Plus" wtf is that going to be? The guy just spray-paints gold on everything, uses it in every name for a thing his syphilis-addled brain can come up with. 

I mean, I always liked the color of silver more, and for instance the ancient Vikings preferred silver, but I can abide the warm color of gold given how valuable the stuff is, it's being corrosion-proof, etc. But  I swear Pedonald has just made it piss-colored for me haha. 

I practiced last night, determined, even though I'd stayed up right to 7AM, to get my practice in. And I'm glad I did because I played markedly better than the practice session before. Regular practice is the only way. 

I was up in time to pack three large things, two just plain large and one an order of 10 things all in one box. And got going to FedEx just before 7. 

There's a homeless guy who's kind of parked at this one bench in front of H Mart. It's not right in front, but kind of between H Mart and FedEx and the guy's clean-cut and surprisingly, Asian. So today I got talking with him and ... apparently in every aspect of his life, he's been foiled by "criminals" who have caused him to lose his job, cause the food bank people to hate him, caused him to lose his place to live, and for all I know if his balls are itchy, that's them too. 

He didn't want anything from inside the store although I offered. He went on about not being able to charge his phone, so I had him go with me to where my bike is parked, where I showed him two of those things with a spring-loaded door, each one containing 2 outlets. 

Then it's a matter of a cable, and he showed me his phone and yep it's got a USB-C connector so I said I'll look through my cables and see what I can find for him, no problem because I keep an assortment of them around. 

All I'd bought in H Mart was a bundle of cilantro and an iced black coffee, so my daily spend for this day was pretty low. I headed back here, put things away, and headed back out with the trailer. 

The trash can I'd put the "FREE" sign on, that was out in front of the exotic food place, was still there. In fact as I rode up, a guy/gal couple was just finished looking at the trash that was in it. It was time to be responsible and get it out of there.  I rigged up a sort of hobo bike trailer + trash can thing by leaning it way over, and zip tying it to the back end of my trailer. Then I pedaled this cumbersome setup to the bridge, and left the can there. With the "FREE" sign still on it. 

When I got back in here, I looked through my cables and stuff and found one of those little cube-shaped chargers with a  USB-C cable on it that I can give to the homeless guy so he can charge his phone. And another genuine Apple one for me. 

I might decide to go back to the "Apple ecosystem" once I'm back home.  

I packed what has to go out tomorrow, and had just made dinner and was on the toilet when I thought I heard a knock on the door. I took a peek through the mail slot and it was Ken. He had several more boxes of stuff to sort out and list, and a package that had bounced back from a buyer in Miami ($100 for some little O-rings) and I tried sending it back to him and Ebay won't let me edit the address. And Ebay showed it as delivered. So I just refunded the guy and re-listed the things and told the guy it might be best if someone he knows and trusts can buy them for him, and make sure they have a good address. 

In 13 months Ken's going to find out how much work this business is! 

 

Tonk

 W the actual F.... 

 Yep made the mistake of turning the radio on again ... the old WWII if not earlier term "Tonk" is being used again, this time around for (supposed) immigrants, actually anyone who fits the racial profile, who ICE are apprehending. For the same reason too, it's the word a billy club hitting a head makes. 

We really are re-playing the 20th century, aren't we? If this is 1926, if it were rhyming closely, we've got maybe 2-1/2 or 3 years before a catastrophic depression. 

I'd better start inventing a medical history for my older sister, starting with it just being found and mild. Keep dropping it into conversations with Ken here and there, so it becomes part of the background of things. Then she'll get much sicker in about a year, and for fear of never seeing her again, will go to visit in mid-September '27... 

I did stuff, packed stuff, ate stuff, etc., and Ken came by at his now-usual time of 11:30 at night. He'd brought a huge Carl's Jr. burger for me, and had one for himself and onion rings. Now, these burgers are massive, and I ate the patty and a bit of the lettuce, and later when Ken was gone I tossed the bun up on the roof for the birds haha. They love 'em! 

The point of this being, though, that Ken is *not* eating the kind of food he should be eating with his diabetes, and today he was really kind of staggering around in a feeble way. He said he was having trouble with balance, and that his legs have become really weak. But he's going to see the doctor soon, as he's scheduled to. 

He ate all the burger and half the onion rings (saving half for later) or maybe he'd eaten all the rings and saved half the burger, not sure. It's not the kind of food he should be eating at all, and as usual these days, he injected two full syringes of insulin (I think one is fast-acting and one is slow-acting).   

I got my check, to deposit on Friday, and he also brought a bunch more things to sort through and sell.  Good thing there was plenty of room in the dumpster that's out on Wednesday night, because I put a big box of junk in there, and put a smaller box of metal scrap type things outside the door here. 

 

Doing things right

 Last night I cleaned up thoroughly, had my packages packed, and was ready to, when I woke up, just have my breakfast and hop on the bike and go. 

I even got a decent practice in, as I did the night before too. 

I got up exactly an hour before I had to leave, had my breakfast etc., and got out of here. Dropped off packages at the post office, went to the bank and deposited my pay check (my math agreed with theirs to the penny) and was feeling pretty good. 

I rode down to Walmart and got a few things; paper towels, sunflower seeds, pepitas, and a bag of macadamia nuts just to have a different brand, and for a treat I guess, got a 3-pack of water filter cartridges. Those darned things are over $15 each now, but the 3-pack was $30. 

I noticed a lot of things there are marked down, as people are just plain buying less and prioritizing their shopping. 

I stopped at Nijiya on the way back and got a bag of coffee pour-over things. Those are almost $14 for 16 of them so they're not cheap, but they're far cheaper than my beloved Doutor canned black coffee which I've stopped buying because it comes in a weird small bottle now. 

Oh, and between the bank and Walmart I stopped in at Sakura Market which is a real Japan-style kombini. I was able to get a nice refreshing sugar-free Lipovitan for a dollar and a half, and while the prices are a bit more than Nijiya's for the same things, they have cheap things like this ramen bar setup where you buy a package of ramen and cook it up there and there are add-ons, and there are small things like a single fried sausage etc. 

I was going to get sashimi at Nijiya, but they've raised the price by a dollar and it looks like the portions are a bit smaller. And I didn't see anything else I liked so I just got the coffee and got back here. 

Then I went back out and went to Lowe's for a couple of those cheap bristle paint brushes, Ross for socks and pillowcases, and finally H Mart for some Frima and a cold black coffee which I relaxed and drank sitting in front by my bike. 

I *was* able to pay by cash so it's not that they don't take cash after 9 but more than they've closed out their drawers by the time it gets close to closing.  

Vinegar

 I realized I needed vinegar. 

My plan for the weekend was to clean all the stickers off of the heavy duty storage boxes I'd scored, then put them on Craig's List. They'd bring a minimum of $500, and that might be just selling the two big ones and keeping the smaller one for myself, which would be the heavy-duty-est rolling suitcase, with wheels and an extendable handle. VERY heavy though. 

I'd do this instead of busking. 

So after taking care of a bunch of other things, I started in on cleaning up the small one, that I might keep for myself, and after a while realized I don't want to mess around with this, and I don't want to deal with Craig's List people. So I put them outside along with some other stuff I wanted to get rid of, and that was that. 

Yesterday was taken up getting 20 things together to list (I managed to list half of them) and I decided I'd not go to the bank today but would get caught up on things instead. 

So I didn't go out today except at about 9PM I realized I needed vinegar to clean the coffee maker. I hopped on the bike and rode up to H Mart, where I got that, and T.P. and a few other things, a bit over $20 and they don't take cash after a certain time in the evening so it had to go on the card. I think it's a new policy of theirs because ... 

The zombies truly own the night. I mean, I packed my stuff in the bike bags and was going to sit for a few minutes and enjoy my can of "black" Mr. Brown coffee, when I realized I'd been fooled again, as it has sugar in it. The really black stuff is in a grey can. Oops. At least it was only $1.29. I gave it to some guys who were hanging out at a table in front of the bagel place and we talked sugar and carbs a bit, and I rode off. 

I went around behind H Mart and there by the dumpster enclosure was a zombie with junk and bike parts spread out all over, working on his zombike. 

In front of McDonald's, there were two more with bike sort of settled in, and one of them called out to a third, rattling up on a bike. They were everywhere. 

I got back here and unloaded and now it was time for neighborhood improvement. I hitched up the trailer and cleaned up a plastic tub and a bucket and associated "bum droppings" (trash, trashed clothes, etc.) and collected up some other stuff and big plastic car bumper and put them in the exotic food place's dumpster. Even then, when I was by the dumpster tossing things in, a zombie walking across the street called something out to me. Night's when they come out to do their zombie stuff. 

I was thinking they're not handling cash after say, 9PM, to prevent possible robberies but now that I think about it, street types don't tend to have cards. A couple handfuls of grimy change, more like. So if H Mart doesn't take cash when the zombies are out and around, it not only cuts down the chance of being robbed, but it keeps them from coming in to buy anything (and shoplift even more). Plus it's nice to walk around the place without smelly bums being all over. 

 

Uneventful Friday night

 I took things to the post office and Fedex, bought stuff, blah blah. I'd gotten a package of Blue Diamond salted roasted walnuts in H Mart, which I remembered as being really delicious, to go with my cup of iced coffee, and the walnuts were so stale as to be inedible. Oops. I ended up going back in and getting spicy peanuts. 

A nice windfall

 I re-photo'd the capacitors last night and can list them now. 

I did my post office and FedEx run, with small things, bought the usual couple of things (OK I spent $1.50 on a bundle of "minari" for tonight's soup) and on the way back checked on something. 

Last night I'd swiped the foam from the inside of these large protective boxes a place had left out. The boxes themselves are of very high quality, but were covered with stickers and looked scruffy as hell. I knew what they are, and was surprised to see them left out by a dumpster. 

So today I went by there again, expecting the boxes to be gone either because someone at that business wised up and brought them in, or someone else got them. But they were still there. 

So I got back here and offloaded things and hitched up the bike trailer, and got 'em. It took two trips, one with one of the big ones, angled because it's wider than the bed of the trailer, and the 2nd trip with the smaller one on the bottom and the other big one on top. I had to hustle because it's generally considered suspicious if one is skulking around a business park past 8 or 9 PM. 

 

Wednesday bank day I guess

 I had such a huge number of things to ship, I put off going to the bank until today. I was up in time to clean up a bit, collect my donations and a couple of packages for the post office, and get going in time. I dropped off the donations and packages, and deposited the check, that I'd gotten last week, in the bank and their numbers and mine added up fine, plus the IRS cashed my check so that's that taken care of. 

I picked up a few bubble mailers from the Amazon place and stopped at Nijiya for a couple of things, and got back here. I was working on packing a large package to take to FedEx and the neighbor from the welding place came over. It turns out the illegal night club had been busted and it had even made the news - pretty much all channels. 

"I don't take a newspaper so I didn't know..." was my reaction. All the news agencies possible doesn't matter in the least to me, because I'll never know. If I took a newspaper, I'd read the thing and have found out a couple of weeks ago when the bust was done. Or, a neighbor catching me up on the latest gossip, that works. 

Ken came by around midnight, and brought me a big hamburger from Carl's Jr. because like any good American, he looks out for his friends, making sure the beef level in their bodies is adequate. Then we had fun hunting for his checkbook, somewhere in the clutter in his car and I found it this time. I got my pay check, to be deposited on Monday. 

He also brought a bunch of stuff to sell that looks like a good batch, so that's good. 

When he was gone, around 1AM, I set about photographing the 22 high voltage capacitors I'd been working on, but the counter in my camera that numbers the photos "rolled over" with the result that, as far as I can tell, the photos are utterly randomized and will have to be taken again. 

This is something that's going to be highly amusing to me once I leave here. Ken will find out how much work this business is, and the whole thing will melt down. And quickly. 

It's nowhere near as easy as it was in 2012 when  I started doing this job. There's much, much more effort in getting things to list because I have to dig around more and take things apart. Shipping is insane now and on large, heavy things, the shipping generally comes out double the original quote that the customer pays. The internet is slower, and so is Ebay itself. Both are buggier. And a lot of mundane things that used to sell well, don't any more because everyone is selling them now. 

I'd also asked Ken how his reverse mortgage thing is going, and he said, "They make you jump through all these hoops" and apparently the company found all kinds of old liens on his house, some going back to the 90s. 

Oh well time to shoot all those photos again... 

 

It's 96 degrees out there

 Yowch! That's 35.5C. 

I've long noted that we've been responding quite actively to global warming, but make sure each year to emit more greenhouse gases than the year before. That's dedication! 

But a few years ago I could not have forecast that we'd not only keep up that excellent record, but come up with a whole new way to gobble up power, emit greenhouse gases, and also, as a bonus, greatly accelerate our progress toward the water wars. Data centers are a whole new thing. 

Apparently if you use AI for one thing,  like coming up with a summary of a book or movie, or coming up with a picture of bears playing soccer, it's the equivalent of driving a car several miles. I *may* be using AI when I do a google search, even though I've been continually turning down their offers to use the AI version. But those are just simple text searches so my use has to be minimal. 

I'd been up all night packing things to get caught up, and had a big load ready to go. I packed the last big box, all pre-staged and ready to pack, and one small thing (someone had paid us $100 for some silly little O-rings so yeah, I wanted to get that right out) and went out into the heat to send the things off. 

Behind H-Mart I found a bunch of ramen packets and about 4 of those ones that come in a big bowl that you just add hot water to, not even needing your own bowl to put the stuff in. In front of 99 Ranch was a guy(?) begging so I gave him (?) the bowl ramen and then when coming out after buying my things, remembered I had two Starbucks cards, worth $5 each, and gave him(?)  those too. 

At H Mart I got some smoked salmon and some kind of sugar-free drink that was pretty good, and came back here to put things away and headed right back out. I went to Lowe's and got the two new screwdrivers I'd promised myself (I take apart a lot of things and screwdrivers get worn) and went to Ross where I found a shirt. 

I got back here and went through my ramen finds, packaging up the seasoning packets and taping up the noodles so someone, wherever I drop the stuff off, is going to get tons of noodles. 

I cooked up dinner with the one set of seasonings I got one of, and it was pretty good. Then worked on the 22 high voltage capacitors I'd cleaned, testing and labeling them all, and installing shorting wires. They're reliable sellers and will bring us a few grand. 

My finger had been strangely painless overnight and only bled a little. I was a bit worried because often if a cut is infected, it's painless. But I finally took a look at at least it's not infected. I painted it with povidone-iodine and let that dry and then bandaged it back up. 

 

 

Viva Espana!

 Spain is the World Cup champion. Sports are often treated as being on some kind of higher moral plane and it's not all that realistic because they're just sports. But in this World Cup there have sure been some good examples of Good winning over Evil. 

First there was the case of we, the US, having a dirty player who got red-carded for, I believe, slashing another player on the leg with his cleats. Diaper Don then "talked with" (bribed) the head of FIFA and Lo and Behold, it was OK for the guy to play in the US's next game. Which the US lost with comically dull and inexpert play. 

The 2nd is this final, where it was Argentina with the star player Lionel Messi, a Zionist vs. Spain, a decidedly non-Zionist country. Well, the Zionists played dirty, then when they lost started a brawl on the field. People all over the world cheered for Spain. Pedo Don got up on the podium for some damn reason and made an ass of himself, which the world saw also. Just a huge, huge morality play. 

I was up all night cleaning up some high voltage capacitors which is the hardest step in getting them ready to sell. 

I was packing this one big thing, and sliced my right-hand pinky pretty badly. Imagine coming in from the side, slicing up through the nail halfway. Yep, cut through the side of the finger and base of the nail. Which is why it's fairly painful. But the main thing was it kept bleeding like crazy and I kind of gave up on shipping anything, sent the buyer a note, then since I'd sat down for a while, the bleeding stopped, I bandaged it up, and took it up to FedEx. 

I got a 4-pack of probiotic yogurt stuff and an iced coffee at H Mart and that was a nice break, but at 20 grams of carbs per bottle of yogurt stuff, I'd better not do that any more. I'm over the runs, after all. 

Now to pack a lot of things and watch out for errant blood drips, to get caught up here.  

 

A Lazy Sunday

 Lazy, haha. Last night I got out all these high voltage capacitors I'm going to go through to list, which means clean, test, and label. That meant making 20+ labels, making 20+ shorting wires, and getting together 20+ sets of terminal screws that have to not only be a certain size but not too long. 

I also got rid of 60+ lbs of these parts that no one, but no one, is buying. I'd even lowered the price to just over a dollar and still not bites for the last few years. So out they went because I can use the drawers they're in for other things. Someone picked up the HEAVY box of them I'd put out too, and hopefully they get decent money for them from a recycling place. 

I also walked out, around midnight, and rolled a trash can that had been "living" behind Galli Produce and that I'd pushed around to an area near the front of Galli Produce, hoping someone would just abscond with it, over across the street where for sure someone will abscond with the thing. I may put things out in front of Galli's for scavengers to pick up, but if it doesn't go I do tend to find somewhere else to put it. 

I was up and ready to go and in plenty of time to go to Sunnyvale, but when I got to the Whole Foods on the Alameda where I usually park my bike, it was kind of overcast, making it nice, the wind wasn't too bad at all, and there were no other buskers, beggars, petition-getters, etc. there. So  I figured, Why do that long bus ride again? 

So I set up and busked there. I actually made it a full two hours, 5:30 to 7:30, had some nice interactions with people, and worked on newer stuff. My "Summertime" is pretty good now, and I'm pretty far towards having a good "O Bla Di O Bla Da" which is a fun one, being happy and fast. By the time it was close to 7:30 I was pretty worn out, and with 10 minutes to go I decided to play the "One more tip" game where I try to play my best, with the rule that as soon as I get one more tip, I'm done. And a guy dropped in a $10 so I finished my song and that was it. 

I was tired enough to not feel like buying anything, and just packed up, not even counting up the money, and rode back here. I didn't even bother with it until I'd eaten and rested a while back here, then counted up. I'd made $66.70.  Almost $5 of it was in change due to two "pocket dumps" for which my change jar is grateful, and I also got a $5 Starbucks gift card plus I still don't know how much is on the mystery Starbucks card I was given yesterday. 

 

 

$66 Saturday

 I got out of here at almost 5 instead of 4, but somehow got to the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at a quarter after 6, so only slightly later than yesterday. 

The motorcycle was not there again, so I think the guy's found another place to park it or something. I played from 6:15 to 7:45 and made $66. It went pretty well, with no interesting "characters" to deal with.

I'd sure seen them on the ride over. There was a guy sitting on the steps of the bail bond place on Hedding and 1st, just crying his eyes out with loud sobs. Who knows what the story was. Did his dealer sell him powdered sugar instead of the stuff he'd paid for? Had he violated his parole and knew he was going back to prison? Had he lost a friend/partner in crime? 

Then, up the street where Hedding crosses Coleman, there was a crazy zombie hustling for handouts, going up to a work truck and yelling, "Hey, that loaf of bread looks good! You should cut that open and put some meat inside! That would taste really fucking good!!" etc. 

Give me nice boring Sunnyvale, every time. 

The first tip of the day was a $20 which was a nice start, and I got a mix of $1's and $5's, and a Starbucks gift card that I won't be able to check until Monday when I'll be by the local Starbucks. 

It went pretty well, except that I think I need to practice more. But then I always think I need to practice more. 

When I was done I packed up and walked up to Baraka Market and got a yogurt drink, which I drank at the bus stop. It was a different brand than the brand with the cow on it, but really good. There's always the regular flavor and mint flavor. Mint in a salty drink, for it is indeed salty, seems kind of strange but maybe I should try it. 

The bus ride back was kind of hilarious because the announcement voice was kind of screwed up somehow so it sounded like a crack ho'. All raspy and speaking more slowly somehow. It would be right at home at St. James Park. 

I got back to my "home" Whole Foods at 9, and spent my $1's on some nuts and stuff. Although it was still almost an hour to closing, it felt like it was really close to closing. Not many shoppers and things were already being put away. I had a nice quiet ride home. 

 

A last-minute morale boost

 I managed to get up early enough to have my coffee and nuts, clean up a little, and get out of here at 4. I dropped off donations at the little free library in Japantown, and went into Nijiya to get a package of Yakult and a can of coffee. 

The key, it seems, to using a probiotic like Yakult to get over the shitz is, to drink the whole package a day, none of this onesy-twosy nonsense. 

I dropped off a package at the post office, rode over to Whole Foods where I locked up the bike, and went out and got on a #522 bus to Sunnyvale. I drank the Yakult on the bus and some of the coffee. 

It's a pleasant little walk from El Camino Real and Sunnyvale Road over to the Sunnyvale Whole Foods. I had to use the loo, and saw that the motorcycle was there, where I've been playing. Well, I'll just have to not play too close to it, I told myself. When I came back out, it was gone. So that's nice timing. It turns out the bike rack area is on the other side of the elevator, so it's not like there aren't places to park a motorcycle. 

I started in playing at just a few minutes after 6. Since I'd left here at 4, it was honestly two hours to get there and it would be another two hours getting back. This is like living in Kahuku and only being able to go busking at Koko Marina in Hawaii Kai, or living in Hawaii Kai and only being able to busk at the Kahuku Sugar Mill. For those not familiar with Oahu geography, those are as far apart as two points on the island can be, and still have roads. 

It felt a bit slow, but hey, I've got songs to work on. So I did that, trying to sound good and play things people know well, and working on some new stuff. After an hour had gone by, I figured I might have something close to $30 in the box, in other words, nothing to get excited about. The economy *is* slow, I told myself, and I'm going to see if I can hold out until 8. 

So I played more, trying to avoid things with high notes and giving myself little rests to try to keep my tone from getting too rough, and it looked like I could soldier on OK. At 8:40 or so, a bit past 8:30 anyway and I'd just told myself I only had another half-hour to go, a sort of nerdy looking lady put something in the tip box, crouching down and looking kind of embarrassed like it was the least she could do. 

When she was gone and the tune I was playing was done, I had a look. It looked like a $20 but not quite. Nope, it was a $100. Well! Time to give my tone a rest! I packed up and counted up what I'd made besides the $100. I'd made $32 so my feeling was correct, it *was* slow. 

But there are people for whom a $100 is like a $5 for me. I can't even conceive of making more than, say, $30k a year but there are people making 10X that or more. Other than Ken, who doesn't quite qualify as he doesn't make 10X $30k, but only 10X the $20k I make, I don't know anyone who makes more than a poverty or below-poverty income. But I know on an intellectual level that they exist. 

I took the bus back and stopped at Han Kook Market to buy some packing tape, because the tape they sell is something like 4X as much on a roll as the stuff Ken buys.  I still need Ken to buy tan tape from Uline, but these days that's the only packing material he has to buy. 

 

She really doesn't give a shit

 I got 20 things photo-ready last night, and took apart some big things that are a disaster to try to mail, but at least no one wants to buy. I put the parts out for the scroungers and they were still here today. 

So I went and did my post office and FedEx run, easy because it was only a few things and I didn't even need the trailer, got some things at 99 Ranch and H Mart as usual, la de da. I drank an entire package of probiotic stuff again, this time some Korean "Will" brand that tastes pretty good and was on sale. I've still got the craps but am maybe getting over it. 

I got back here and hitched up the bike trailer and took the parts out by Old Bayshore, and when I came back out to put something else out there, a guy had pulled up in a pickup truck and had loaded the things up. Great! 

On the radio, on NPR, they were interviewing a lady who was going on and on about how she really doesn't care about anything Diaper Don is doing, it's all about the economy for her. She really doesn't care, she reiterated, not anything at all, just the economy. These are the people who effectively run this country; the ignoramuses who only look at "line go up".  

I've got my "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday..." check from Ken and he says this latest reverse-mortgage thing is going OK, he just has to send them "a couple more things". 

The thing is, we're set up for an even bigger real estate crash than the one of '08. How is a bank going to loan Ken money on his house, which is by no means paid off because he's kept refinancing it over the years, assuming it may halve in value? They have to cover their asses. So from their end, I can see their assessing things at 1/2 or even 1/4 the present value. Count in how much "equity" Ken may have on his house, and if this latest lender only looks at that, well, he might get far, far less than he's been counting on. 

But at least Ebay sales are down lately.  

 

Watch out for the paint balls I guess

 Apparently there's someone in a black/dark SUV shooting paintballs at people right where I have to go, to go to the post office. Lovely. I mean, I'm on a bike, dressed in hi-viz, if I were a jerk I'd shoot at me. So I got some safety glasses out and will wear those. 

I listed 20 things last night so I'm back on track.  

Also, I wonder if I've got that cyclospora thing or I'm just "lucky". The long and short of it is, it's been a daily ass explosion around here and has been for close to a week now. This was another damper on the busking, in that if the public can perceive your mood, well, that may have affected my mood and helped make things slow. Still, just under $100 for the weekend is pretty good. 

 

91 Degrees (F) Tuesday

 It was a warm one today. I'm glad I had things all packed overnight when it was cooler and thus easier to work. 

I got out of here a bit before 4, with the small things to go to the post office. I dropped off donations here and there, and the small packages at the post office downtown, then went to the bank to deposit my pay check and everything agreed down to the penny, yay! 

I went over to the Amazon place and found a few bubble mailers, then rode down to Walmart and spent about $50 on my card on various things. But first I had a "meat" stick and a bottle of Coke Zero and just sat in front relaxing and enjoying those. Breakfast had been a very large black iced coffee and yet I didn't have to use the bathroom at all. 

I swung back by the Amazon place and got a few more mailers, then went to Nijiya to get more of my coffee pour-overs and a little cash back, so that's about $100 out of this pay check and I should be fine until it's busking time over the weekend. 

I got back here and put things away, and loaded up the large things to go to FedEx and took them up there. There was some zombie yelling and screaming in the parking lot, but it's funny I could sure hear the zombie but never saw the thing. I believe it was by McDonald's; the corpse-y smell of their food seems to attract them. 

I spent a whopping $1.50 in H Mart, haha. And got back here, only finding a couple of nice packing boxes, and got back in here. It's in the mid-70s outside now. 

 

1-1/2 lbs down

 It's Monday and time for the Monday weigh-in. And I'm 1-1/2 lbs down. I've switched back over to avoiding sugar and carbs, and the idea is to lose maybe 1/2 lb a week, to lose the amount of weight I want to lose in a year. This is assuming things are nice and linear, which of course they'll not be. Plus I'll want to work exercise back in; I mean more exercise than I get from just doing my job and daily activities. 

I'd packed things last night so only packed a few more today, and went to the post office and FedEx as usual. There were only a few drops of rain. I didn't pick up anything for shipping, and had checked the recycle bin at Sprouts for bubble mailers while going in there for a bottle of olive oil, but nothing. 

But my reward was to come. I had a bunch of boxes of chemicals and stuff that Ken had sitting around here for years, and the stuff was less than useless. So I'd put them out by Galli Produce along with other stuff I'd found, for the scroungers to have at. 

They'd long taken what they wanted by now, and since I'd put the stuff there it was my responsibility. So I went over to the dumpster by the imported foods place to check for room. Lo and behold it was full of candy bars; Cadburys and Toblerones and such things. So I loaded up the tub on my trailer and when I was close to done, a homeless guy on a bike with a trailer pulled up and wanted to see what's up. 

Now that I think about it, I'm convinced the guy was "Cowboy", who used to have an SUV but that was years ago and now he's skinnier and on a bike. I told him Candy bars and bottles of no, not wine, but oil. I finished up a good load and took it back here. It's got to be a good 30 lbs. I went back and got a few more candy bars, and Cowboy had gotten what he wanted, too. 

I then took, in two loads, the chemicals and stuff and put them into the dumpster and shut the lid. 30 lbs of imported candy bars isn't a bad reward for my work, even though of course I won't eat any of them, but will sort them out and let's just say the Little Free Libraries are going to have some sweet treats for a while. And I also got some bottles of oil, walnut and "truffle" so that's kind of nice considering my bottle of olive oil, same size, had just cost me $12. 

 

Slow, muggy, Sunday

 I took another large thing apart last night, and left the parts out front. Since busking counts for practice, I didn't have practice to worry about, and went to bed. 

When  I woke up, the parts I'd left were all gone, and the ones from the thing before that. So the crackhead(s) is back on the prowl for scrap metal, which saves me some work. 

The plan was to play in Sunnyvale today, and I left here around 5. By the time I got to Sunnyvale and I'd started, it was 7. And I'd taken the train, too. So no matter how I do it, it's 2 hours between Sunnyvale and here. (It's 3 hours each way between here and Santa Cruz.) 

The first hour went OK, and I made $35. The plan was to play from 7:00 to 8:30 but at 8 things just ... died. The weather was warm and muggy and felt like there was a big lid over everything. My final tip came from an old couple; He said he used to play cornet, and has a bunch of mouthpieces still, and She put $2 in the box and we talked a bunch about how "underground" jazz has become these days. They'd have happily talked all night too. I ended up blowing some low notes than a pedal tone or two and it was, She: We'd better get going!

I called it quits at a few minutes after 8 and got onto the 8:30 train back to San Jose and once back at the Whole Foods there I set up to busk some more. The late-night people are generous, I reasoned to myself. 

I got to do more work on new songs but in the 45 minutes or so, I only made another $2, it was that dead. At least I worked more on "Summertime" and "My Favorite Things" and since I read the Wikipedia on the movie "Blue Velvet" I'm starting to work on that one too. 

The ride home was very peaceful, and I noted that in the houses, almost all had no lights on because in San Jose, 10 at night is the equivalent of 1 in the morning anywhere else. Most people will have gone to bed at 9. 

All in all, my busking income amounted to $96 for the weekend, and that was only playing two days. And even after putting $20 on my clipper card and buying a bag of macadamia nuts at Whole Foods, I've got $66 in my pocket. 

A busy Friday

 But aren't they always? 

I slept in too late to go to Sunnyvale to busk, and didn't really feel up to it anyway. 

Last night I took a big oscilloscope apart and put the parts out front, and then did a practice session, and eventually went to bed. 

I woke up, had nothing small to add to the small things I'd already packed, so I took off a half-hour early and dropped the things off at the post office, then went up to Dai Thanh market for some things, H Mart, and picked up packing stuff on the rest of the way home. 

No one had picked up the oscilloscope parts, not any of them, which was surprising. So once I got back and gave out feedback and relaxed a bit, I loaded up the parts and took them over to the area by the bridge, to have 'em far away from here. I was going to put some other stuff there too, but a zombess started squawking in my direction about something. 

With zombies it's hard to tell if they're squawking because they're happy or angry or just hungry for brainnnnnnns. After dropping off the parts I rode up the street to where I could cross and headed back, and when I passed the bridge the zombess was still squawking. So I wasn't going to go back and the other things will just have to wait. 

I went through the boxes of circuit boards and a couple of other places and found a dozen old things that will never sell or have actually dropped off of Ebay's system, and along with other bits and pieces from getting 20 things ready to list, I had another junk box full. I've put that out and it will be interesting to see if anyone takes it. 

And ... no one took it other than 3 old Samsung tablets haha. I'll have to get rid of the stuff later. 

I left here too late to consider going to Sunnyvale, so I went to the Whole Foods on The Alameda. It was actually nice weather, not too hot. 

There was a Gypsy woman with a drugged-up kid or two, on the other side of the entrance and a big cardboard sign, SINGLE MOTHER yadda yadda. And No Feet was there in his wheelchair, hustling hard for his vodka. 

I set up much closer to the actual entrance to Whole Foods and started at 7:30, with the result that I made a whole dollar while No Feet hustled the hell out of people and seemed to get both a lot of "drops" and some pretty big ones. I moved a bit closer to where he was to be more visible, in an attempt to make more than a dollar, without any result. After almost an hour, the "lovely" Stella came to collect No Feet and wheeled him off. 

Now I was able to move over by the bike racks, and it was still a bit slow, but other than the Gypsy woman who was quiet and only periodically left her spot and came back, probably for bathroom breaks and to top up the drugs the kid was doped up with, I had the place to my own. 

I noticed a guy's bike basket was decorated with a couple of really neat hawk or owl feathers, and when the guy came back out we talked about the feathers and where they were found, etc. He was down from Menlo Park and I gave him some good tips regarding transit, and just before leaving he said "Here's something for you" and I got a $20. Cool. 

Now I felt a bit better and decided I'd just chug along until 9:30 and see how it goes. I was able to work on a couple of good busking standbys, "Summertime" and "My Favorite Things" and while it felt slow, I eventually made $59 for this session. That actually works out to just under $30 an hour and with zero transit costs since I'd just come on my bike. 

When I was done I went into Whole Foods and put $20 on my clipper card so tomorrow I can take the train to Sunnyvale if I feel like it. 

The guy at the Whole Foods help desk where I was putting the money on my card and I talked for a bit. He asked how it was, and I said it was slow, mainly because for the first hour I'd had to compete with No Feet.  He really hustles hard, we agreed. And yes, he said, he comes in and the only thing he ever buys is a bottle of vodka. And the Gypsy woman is there quite a bit too. 

Honestly, this Whole Foods is in an interesting part of town in that it's a nice looking area, but there are bum camps all along the river, which is not far away. And there are really sketchy areas just a street or two away. In fact, that I decided to, and accomplished, holding out until 9:30, I noticed some guy with a one of those sit-down scooter things - usually pretty bulky - and had this festooned with flags and junk and was probably going to do some begging, but decided against it since I was there. He'll make more up the street at the late-night liquor store or outside San Pedro Square which is walled off and restricted entry, but has tons of people milling around outside... 

It's funny, I've been able to do my thing without spending much in Whole Foods these days. That's the funny thing about the "keto" diet, in that it sounds more expensive but it's generally cheaper. If I weren't going back on the "keto" plan I could at least get no-alcohol beer, which has some taste varieties these days. 

The only "keto" alcoholic drinks are things like vodka, whisky, etc. Gin is iffy. The thing to avoid is mid-priced gin because that will be full of sugar. Cheap gin won't have much sugar if any because sugar's a cost, and expensive gin like Tanqueray or Bombay won't have much sugar because sugar in gin is gross. Years ago my go-to was this really cheap gin called Essex and diet tonic water. Probably the ultimate "keto" alcohol is vodka because no one ever puts any sugar in any vodka, and you don't have the strong, often smoky, flavor/aroma of drinks like whisky and it doesn't need a mixer like gin does. I've both lost weight on vodka, and maintained weight loss on vodka. It all comes down to how much sugar/carbs your letting into your diet. 

 

Might as well call him "Wimpy"

 Ken came by last night and I got my check, but of course to only deposit on TOOOOOOOOsday. For a hamburger, today. (Actually he did bring me a hamburger, as he's always afraid as any American would care about another, that I haven't eaten beef at least once that day.) 

At least his latest hinky reverse-mortgage scheme seems to be proceeding. The appraiser came out and too photos, and now it's just a matter of their lowballing Ken on his house and cutting him a check or however it works out, and then his financial problems should be held at bay for another year or so, and since my plan is to be out of here in 14 months, it will work out fine for me. 

When Ken was gone I photo'd 20 things and listed 10 of them. It seems I can't list more than 10 at a time, it's just too much work along with all the other things I have to do. 

I woke up around 3:30 maybe closer to 4, had my breakfast etc., and packed this one big thing that I'd collected a special box, from some kind of baby buggy or something, for it yesterday. The thing is not only large but made of glass and the last one like I shipped, broke. So I'm being extra careful this time. 

 

Monday was Monday

 And not much to write about. I shipped some things off, bought things to stock up like beef and pork which I portioned out and put in the freezer, and other such boring things. I also packed some big things to ship today. 

Today I woke up at almost 3, which was OK because I got out of here at almost 4. I dropped off trash at this one trash can  I use, dropped off donations at the little free library in Japantown, dropped off packages at the post office, and went to the bank and deposited my latest pay check - the one I'd been given last week. And the math all comes out perfect so nothing's bounced. 

Then I went down to Walmart for a bunch of things, and rode back here. I put the things away, put some much-needed air in the bike trailer tires, and loaded up the big things. Those went to FedEx, and I got eggs and Kewpie mayo at H Mart, and came back here. 

 

Well, maybe a bit of busking

 Yesterday I not only listed the 20 things I had photographed, having fixed the picture posting problem, but I also gave myself a haircut, started a load of laundry, and took a big high voltage power supply apart and got 20 more things ready to list. As in, all cleaned, labeled, etc., so I only have to photo them and list them. 

I even got some practice in. 

I woke up too late to go to Sunnyvale though. To be there at a realistic time, I need to leave here at 4 and I woke up at something like 3:30 so that was out. 

So while I didn't feel like going out busking at all, I told myself I should do it one day a week anyway, and "plan your work and work your plan" and got out of here a bit after 7 I guess. 

I played at the Whole Foods on The Alameda and it was an interesting session, in that the tips started with a $20 and then another $20, and then finally a single. I put the $20s in my wallet for safety and busked on, telling myself I've done OK already and I can always count it as practice. 

It got chilly with the wind and general lowering of temperature, and since I'd started at 8:00 I made up my mind to stick things out until 9:30 and I actually managed to. When I did the count-up I found, among the singles and a $5, a $100. I have no idea who put that in there. 

One thing I've realized is that I think a lot of people who tip hang back and listen and sort of "evaluate" and I'm not even conscious that they're there. Of course I'd barely set up and played a single "Amazing Grace" to get warmed up and a lady put that first $20 in there so this is not always the case, but I think a lot of people *do* hang back out of sight before they decide to tip. One lady said, "Thank you for doing this" so I'd say she's one person who's noticed that buskers are just about extinct here. 

Each busking session *is* a practice session in that I always have things to work on like a steady tone, trying to get more crisp note beginnings, etc. But I will say this one practice session went really well. 

Of course when I was done I had to "check in" with Kenny and he wasn't inside so I thought he was gone for the night, but he was outside, talking to an old lady who's probably homeless. She could play an old witch in a movie, haha, even down to one, prominent, singular tooth in front. I told Kenny to guess what I'd made and he said $45, and I said actually $58, but really, ONE-58 and I had no idea who put the hundred in. Somewhere in there the old witch bitched out some homeless guy who was coming over to hang out, I guess, and apparently was going to light up a cigarette. 

"DON'T SMOKE THAT AROUND ME!" she yelled, "IT'S RUDE!!" etc. The guy scuttled off and I told her how I'd grown up in the 70s and we used to buy cigarettes for our moms, and of course for ourselves too, 50c a pack. And the Army! - Don't get me started! She wasn't hearing any of it, "Those people are on ventilators now!" she asserted. "Maybe some of them.... " I said. The thing is that smoking is a nasty habit and I'm glad I never picked it up, but a tiny whiff of smoke isn't a big deal and she was making it into one. Probably has little other purpose in life. 

Another interesting thing while I was busking happened, in that a large (both tall and fat) gal strode by saying something along the lines of, "I tried to play trumpet...." and I said it just takes sticking with it and she said something about not realizing how hard it is. So I guess it's logical that if something's hard you just quit doing it.  

 

 

The arc of history does *not* bend toward justice

 After changing out the memory card and re-shooting the photos, I still just got a black box when I tried to post one on Ebay, so I decided to try doing software updates on my computer. With my last computer, I had to do this periodically but on this one it seemed to do it on its own. 

The answer to that is yes and no. So I had all these software updates to do, and I found a nice long lecture on YouTube about a guy named Walter Benjamin to listen to while I took circuit boards apart and monitored the downloads/updates and the restart. 

The lecture was about 2 hours but wow did it ever clear some major things up for me. Walter Benjamin was a Jew born into a wealthy Jewish family so yeah, 10,000 goyim had to live in poverty and squalor so he and his family could wallow in gluttony and opulence. And much of the account of his life was of the women he f*cked and left behind, the neglected child or children, standard Jewish playbook. 

But when a parasite finds itself in danger, it might come up with some valuable insights, and Benjamin did. He shows how liberalism leads to Fascism. 

It's a core tenet, perhaps THE core tenet of liberalism that "the arc of history bends toward justice/progress". Benjamin, or perhaps the highly intelligent goy he cribbed the idea from a' la' Einstein and Mileva Maric, concluded that the "arc of history" doesn't "bend" anywhere. In a sort of Newtonian mechanics of politics, nothing "goes" unless it's pushed. Progress, regression, don't happen on their own. People make them happen. 

Yet, this "The arc of history bends toward.... " BS means that liberals are content to sit back and do nothing personally, believing that the system is self-correcting and somehow, automatically, bad actors will be punished and good people rewarded and so on. You can hear Chris Hedges intone this maxim in pretty much every speech he gives. It's a core, core belief. 

And it's why liberals are happy to sit back and let bad people take over. "Just wait until Mom gets home" is pretty much what's going through their heads. 

Also, Benjamin noted, Marx said that "Revolution is the locomotive of progress" and in return he quips that perhaps revolution is the unwilling passengers of the train, pulling the emergency brake. 

The Religion Of Progress is one thing, but I guess I never realized how liberals use it as an opiate and this is why they sit around stoned on goody-two-shoes-ism while right are taken away, ICE agents haul off American Indians to deport them to "where they came from", it's illegal to call attention to ZOG, etc. At this time of writing there's to be an "integration" of US and "israeli" militaries, showing the truth in my own maxim that "We are all Palestinians". 

And liberals just sit back while concentration camps are built, and many, many children are missing (this is particularly noted during the Jewish "High Holidays" as that blood matzo ain't gonna bake itself) and the net tightens around we .... Palestinians. Palestinians in spirit, Palestinians in identical situations, we're just, over here in the US, not affected as strongly - yet. 

After the lecture was done, and the circuit boards done, I got some sleep. I woke up at 5 in the afternoon and after some breakfast I tried posting a photo on Ebay and and it's working again. For now. I'd submitted a big report to Ebay so maybe that was it. 

I was able to post the 20 things on Ebay and all's well for now. The neighbors around here are popping off tons of fireworks which is awesome. One year back in Hawaii the Chinese New Year's festivities were described by one newspaper reporter as being "Like the Tet Offensive" haha. 

 

Friday before the 4th and it might as well be the 13th

 I was up around the usual time, 3:30 in the afternoon. I got things packed, and took off the usual time, but FedEx had closed early so I had to take that box back home. I didn't find much for packing materials, and just got back quick because I'd bought a lobster at 99 Ranch and was looking forward to making a lobster soup. 

I set about getting the meat out of the lobster and it was weird, the whole tail was just mush! The claws were the only part that had some actual meat. I looked online for why a lobster might be like this, and the answer is that it would have been left dead before cooking for an extended length of time, or frozen and thawed repeated times. And the sell-by date seemed to indicate that this was a fresh one, as it said it could be sold until the 8th. Yikes! 

I re-configured the bike to go back out for two reasons. First, the Quiksilver shorts I got at Ross are a pure win, and while I can find them online I can't be sure they're the exact ones, plus they're about double the price even on sale. The rule as Ross is, if you see something and want more of that thing, better get right on top of it. So I went back over to Ross and did indeed find another pair of the shorts, but in a 40 waist! I'll have to look in Ross in Sunnyvale... 

I settled for getting some socks pretty much like the ones I didn't buy last night. 

I went back over to H Mart and looked around and finally decided to just get some chicken that's 2 for 1 after 7PM. And some celery. I was going to use up some change doing this, but the guy said, "No cash, we're closing" so I used my card. 

I came home and ate the chicken and celery, and put the bones along with the lobster meat which I didn't feel like taking a chance on my health with, out for the birds. 

I did my usual thing, got 20 things ready to list, took the photos, and was going to list 10 of them anyway, tonight, and my photos started showing up just as black boxes. I got out a brand new memory card for my camera, took all the photos again, and still - just black boxes. 

So I guess I can continue listing and hope the customers understand that they're not allowed to actually see what the things look like, maybe link them to a blog page and they can go look *there* like it's 1996, or I can get Ken to set me up with a computer that works, or I can get out my newer laptop that uses the (blecch!!!) Microsoft browser and try to get Firefox installed on it or just get used to the Microsoft browser which will make me hate computers even more, if that's possible. 

This is why I hate Ebay and computers with every fiber of my being. 

I think my plan's a solid one; to hang in here until mid-September of 2027 because then I'll turn 65 and all kinds of magical things will happen. Like half-price bus fare, I can "audit" college classes for nearly free, and most importantly I'll start getting Medicare. 

The question is whether this business of Ken's, or Ken himself, will fall apart first. When Ken was over on Wednesday night his car sounded even more like an old jalopy and made a weird sound when he pulled up like something was dragging when he turned. And Ken was wearing some kind of belt plus back brace setup, so that when it came time for him to inject his two full syringes of insulin, he injected in his leg instead of his stomach as usual because "it's so much hassle to take all this stuff off". 

The thing is, I may have to "skedaddle" really quickly. This area being heinously expensive compared to Hawaii, and my having one "nest egg", one shot, to move on, I need to make that move count. 

Living here, working non-stop, never having any friends, never seeing the ocean again, just does not appeal to me. Paying at least a third more than I'd pay to live back home in Hawaii makes the prospect even worse.  

If I have to move out of here fast and I take the cop-out of finding a place here, I'll end up stuck here. 

I'd really like to put more busking in this blog. There are maybe 3 busking blogs on the entire planet and this awful thing is 1/3 of them. There's "Street Musician Daniel" which you can find by doing *just* the right Google search, then knowing to click on the title of the page because Google will feed you a post that's over 2 years old. Clicking on the title will get you the latest post. 

There's Marvin Naylor's blog, which takes being even more obsessive. First you have to search Google for "Marvin Naylor Busking Blog" then click on "Start Here" which will get you to his first post, well over a decade ago and maybe closer to two. From there you have to really snoop around, the Archives are most useful because you can at least read things from this year. 

Marvin's blog is the best, though, because not having a job or a crack pipe to distract him, he's out busking really often and even gets gigs occasionally, playing at weddings and things. He talks about the characters he runs into, or who run into him, in his busking sessions and there's where he's a real stand-out, I think because of being in the UK. The UK has this "walking culture" that the US doesn't have, and he actually has "regulars" who know him by name. I've never experienced this in the US, not even before the pandemic and at times I was out busking 3-4 days a week. 

I mean, I guess I can think of two "regulars" one, who I think of as "The Paperclip Bandit" is an old, I think Irani or Indian guy, who's never said a word, and drops off a couple of dollars held together by a paper clip. I think he gives his little gift to whoever is around, so it's not that I'm playing music but rather that I'm merely there. And one of the checkers in Whole Foods, Kenny, is always curious how I've done when I come inside Whole Foods after a busking session.  

I could busk for 200 years and I'd never have "regulars" like Marvin Naylor does, because that's not how US culture works. You're not here to make friends. 

 

Planning for the weekend coming up

 I think tomorrow might be a day off for the post office? And banks? I'll have to ask at the post office today. 

In any case, I've got about $14 in change (and I don't save pennies any more) so zero money worries. 

I packed things and took off the usual time, took things to the post office and FedEx, found a bunch of other the counter medications and stuff at the EMT training place to donate and things like off-brand Bactine that keeps me from having to buy the real stuff at Walmart. 

I got back here, offloaded, and took my receipt and the socks I'd bought last night, which were too large, and returned them. I found some other socks I liked but they're marked "one size" and I decided I'll hold off until next week and maybe the next re-stock will have the ones I really want. 

What I *did* find was a couple of pairs of shorts and I know those are good because I got to try them on. That was simple; the dressing rooms in back have a sign saying they're closed, and that there are dressing rooms up front. The ones up front have a sign saying they're closed, and to try the ones in the back. Everyone just ignores the signs and uses the ones in front. 

I put the shorts on my card because good ones are worth it I think, and came back and cooked up a "low carb" dinner. It was tasty, too. Just greens and some roast pork on top. 

 

 

He'll gladly pay me Tuesday...

 Wednesday night, and Ken came by, an hour later than the "usual" time. His car's been sounding bad and now it sounds awful. He said his main job seems to not be able to pay for their air conditioning which sounds strange but then that's high tech for you. 

I served him  up his diet Sprite and he'd brought me a double burger so I ate the burger patties and that was nice. I got my check but he doesn't want me to deposit it until next Tuesday so he dated it for then. 

He's got an appraiser coming out to look at his house next Tuesday, so he can get the reverse mortgage going.  Then, at least in theory, his finances will improve and thus, his ability to pay me. 

He also brought a bill for me from the IRS, that his wife had opened by mistake. I need to send them $137 because I didn't do monthly payments last year or something. That's really weird for a small fish like me, when Ken's paying once a year and he makes 10X what I do.

 

Dealing with the heat.

 Keep in mind, at its coolest, at about 58 degrees outside at around 5AM, it's still 78 degrees in here. This doesn't really happen in Hawaii because in Hawaii ventilation is a thing. Traditional houses don't have A/C because it's not needed.

I'd packed all the things that had to go last night, then got involved moving things around, putting things away, and taking some things off of a pile/stack because the layer below them was Tektronix things, and the layer below that, HP things. So, not so valuable to more valuable to most valuable in terms of taking them apart to sell the parts. 

I then set about taking one of the Tektronix things apart and that took the rest of the night. I went to bed and slept until 5 in the afternoon. At least I had all the things packed, except I packed two small things that had sold overnight and got out of here. I dropped the post office things off and made the mistake of putting the one FedEx thing, which wasn't that large, inside the plastic tub I generally carry on the bike trailer. 

The result of this was, I didn't notice it until I was halfway back here, and putting some things into the tub. Oops! I rode back over to FedEx and dropped it off, and got some chicken at H Mart which I ate sitting in front. I really stuffed myself on chicken which was a good thing because while I didn't realize it, I had a ton more to do this night. 

I rode back here and put things away,  and decided I'd be a good guy and get rid of this really large box full of yard waste that's been a feature around here for a while. So yeah, I was asking for trouble. I got it, too. I took the box of yard waste over by the bridge and when I lifted it off of the bike trailer the bottom fell out, leaving a big pile of rotten leaves on the trailer. So that needs washing off. 

Then, since traffic is so heavy I knew I'd have to ride up to the traffic light on Commercial, cross the street there, and then ride back, I had a loose dog, some kind of large pit bull mix, get interested in me. The dog started to follow me so I sped up, a lot, and seemed to lose the damned thing. But I wasn't going to ride back home that way so I had to make a big loop, Commercial to 4th to Gish to 1st to Brokaw to Zanker and back in here. 

I dropped off the trailer and re-configured to go out again, and rode back out to H Mart and locked the bike, and walked over to Sprouts for some vitamins and got a bunch of stuff at Ross. A pack of socks, a pack of two T-shirts and another T-shirt, an outer shirt, and I treated myself to a new wallet. 

By the time I was done in Ross (and of course there's always the extra bit of drama because the check-out lady didn't remove the security tag from the wallet and the security guy had to have the lady at the jewelry counter remove it) and had walked back over to H Mart, it was a few minutes to 10. Keep in mind that in San Jose, 10PM is the equivalent of 1AM anywhere else. 

The ride home was *very* quiet, because in this town, every night's a school night. 

At least now that big box of yard waste is gone, and what's nicer is the bums not only scrounged up the aluminum but the plastic case parts etc. from the big thing I'd taken apart, and dumped the scraps outside the door here. The plastic parts had brass inserts for screws so I guess it all goes into buying the day's crack. 

I need to lose weight and have been far too casual about eating sugar and carbs. So when I got back I took everything sugary and carb-y in the place and put it all in a Sprouts bag, and put that (heavy) bag into the seat of a wheelchair that for some reason someone had left by the dumpster, and wheeled it out to the other side of Old Bayshore and now someone else can eat all the sugar and carbs and use the wheelchair when their feet fall off haha. 

I've done this before; the really doctrinaire low-carb thing and even treating myself to sashimi pretty often, it's always turned out to be a quite affordable way to eat.