Repamarations!

 On the radio today is a piece all about the "reparations" being paid to black people. Race-based, of course. And if you're black and a multi-millionaire, you still get the money I guess. 

The right way to do something like this would be to give the "reparation" sum to everyone whose family was here in the US in the year 1900, or pre-WWII, and have an income below the median. That would automatically pay black Americans but not recent immigrants from Africa who tend to be well-to-do, and it would included non-black people who have been put upon for more than a century also. Even if they're white, Oh, the horror. 

This is more Jewish divide-and-conquer policy of course. 

I packed what things I could before I had to go, went up to the post office to drop them off, then over to 99 Ranch and H Mart. I also wanted to buy paper at FedEx but ... every place was super busy! 99 Ranch was pretty busy, OK par for that course. The post office had been super busy, with lots of people who had lots of small packages like I did. 

Fedex was the busiest I've seen it so after using their bathroom I decided to get paper later. And H Mart was really busy, so much so that they were out of hamburger so that's another thing put off. I'm not sure why places were so busy. The 15th payday would have been last week, and I can't think of any holidays coming up.  

I rode back here, not finding any packing stuff but I did find an (I think) almost-new pillow behind the gym. A bunch of stuff was put out there, women's shoes and a bunch of small-kid clothes and carrying bags and things. I'm about due for a new pillow, and while it seems yucky to pick up a used pillow, people don't mind the used pillows in hotels, do they? 

So I rode back here but first went over to the exotic foods place dumpster. There wasn't anything there except a couple dozen liter bottles of some kind of sugary drink, hibiscus and mango flavors I think. I hate to see things go to waste, so I took them out of the dumpster (they were pretty well hidden) and them outside the dumpster where they were easy to see. 

Then I came back here, offloaded stuff and loaded up my old pillow, and on the way back out, gathered up an office chair that's been in the parking lot for a while, and the big bag of trash someone had put on it. Those went with me, with the office chair placed out by the street where it's easy to see, and my old pillow and the bag 'o' trash going into the exotic foods dumpster. The bottles of juice were already gone. 

 

 

$96 Sunday

 I got back last night and after eating dinner and relaxing a bit, was so tired that while I tried to get enthusiastic about listing the 30 things I had ready, I just could not stay with it and went to bed around 4AM

I set my alarm clock for 3 anyway and good thing, since I woke up around noon and then went back to sleep until it woke me up. Fortunately I had everything ready to go as far as the trumpet, tip box, beef sticks, fleece jacket, etc. 

So all I had to do was have my coffee and nuts and head out. I actually got to the bus stop at 5, which meant I was starting out busking at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at 6. I'd play until 7:30, I decided. 

It was overcast, a bit cold, and a bit windy. But not too bad. I did my "paid practice" and got my compliments and tips. This session's "I want to play trumpet" guy was a guy who was here I think connected with work, because he said he's staying "At Moffett" and is from Wyoming. He played trombone "Don't hold it against me!" and I said trombones are awesome. It sounded like he'd messed around with trumpet and even French horn, and was still in the process of learning what I have, which is to just buy an instrument new and keep it forever. Don't mess with used stuff because you're just buying someone else's problems. 

We talked a bit too long, really, but I was being lazy today haha, and thus I got $86 and a gift card. Still pretty nice! And many, many little kids got to see a live musician, which is a very rare thing these days. 

I considered staying until 8 but by 7:30 I was pretty tired and it had also gotten pretty slow, so I packed up. I got my yogurt drink at Baraka Market and went over the stop and got on the first bus which was a #22. 

This matters because the #22 stops at Maria which the #522 does not, and that's the stop to go to Mega Mart, which is the one Korean market  I didn't go to on Friday. So I got off at Maria and went to Mega Mart to check out their tape situation: Their clear tape is 50c a roll more, and they were out. But, there was a display with odor-free Raid in the red can, the kind that's for roaches. I didn't even know they made an odor-free version. I mean, the perfume is nice, but I don't need to be reminded for 3 days that I'd sprayed a roach, and I don't need that interfering with my meals. So that was an instant sale. 

Other than that, Mega Mart isn't any better than Han Kook, so I'm not missing out on much of anything. And I got the desire to go there out of my system. 

I got on the next #22 bus and at the Santa Clara Transit Station the driver had us get off because there was something wrong with the brakes. So a ton of us got on the next #522 which was there in a couple of minutes. All good! 

I got "home" to "my" Whole Foods a bit after 9, and it was dead, dead, dead there. Good thing I wasn't busking there I guess. I got nuts and stuff and found out that the gift card was for $10 which is a very nice tip. So that brought the earnings up to $96. 

I rode around downtown and it was dead all over. It's Sunday night so it makes sense, it's just sad that Sunday night used to be jam night at Cafe Stritch, and I could have stopped in, bought some food, and enjoyed some live jazz. San Jose didn't deserve that place. 

 

$136 Saturday

 I was up all night getting 30 things ready to list, but got a practice session done, too. 

Thanks to my alarm clock I was up at 3, and out the door at 4:30. Because of the 2-hour rule, I found myself at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods exactly 2 hours later and started busking at 6:30. I played until 8. 

It was windy, but I decided unless it go so strong that the money starts flying around in the tip box, I'm going to stick it out. And commenced a session of paid practice. 

I had one guy put a tip in and then ask me how I learned trumpet, and I told him I'd taught myself pretty much, there are books and YouTube etc. He tried piano, maybe as a kid, and it hadn't worked out. I encouraged him to try different instruments and see what he likes, and besides YouTube there's West Valley Music nearby. 

It was cool if not cold, and the wind didn't kick up too much. Whole Foods has a bunch of boxes of pumpkins and squash set up, in those big boxes called "Gaylords" (for the Gaylord company that makes some of them) and wooden boxes etc., and rather than this create a barrier, it's actually kind of helpful because people stop to look at the pumpkins etc., and now that it's been there a week or two people have learned to go smoothly around it. 

As always I was tempted to think it was slow, but it was most certainly not. There were a lot of people around, and the tips were coming in pretty regularly. My plan was to play until 8, and by a quarter to 8 it has gotten really slow. I kept on, until 8 proper which is good because that meant another tip or two, and in the end I'd made $136. 

As I was counting up a bum came up who I thought was asking for money, but really he wanted to know if I had a cigarette I'd sell him. Sorry, I told him, I don't smoke. But, I said, on Murphy Street there's a head shop and they might well sell loosies. And I gave him a couple of bucks anyway. He wasn't sure where Murphy Street was so I gave him directions, and he was insure about there being a smoke shop there. But I said it's weird, in this total "white bread" area, there's a smoke shop right in the middle of it. 

I walked back toward the bus stop, stopping at Baraka Market for my yogurt drink and some celery, waited maybe 15 minutes for the bus, and had a nice uneventful ride back to my "home" Whole Foods. I got some cheese there and a couple of beef sticks for tomorrow. The cashier said something like, "There you go with your beef sticks again" or something like that, not quite so unkind sounding, and I said it's because I can eat them on the bus, going to Sunnyvale. 

This is true. I'd brought some peanuts but didn't eat them because on the bus it means chancing dropping some and making a mess, getting salt and oil on my hands, etc. So it's beef sticks if I'm going to eat anything on the bus. 

I'd gotten back to the "home" Whole Foods at maybe a quarter after 9, and it *was* a Saturday night but it was really dead. Of course a quarter after 9 in San Jose is the equivalent of a quarter after midnight anywhere else. 

I had a nice boring ride home. 

 

 

Zombiful but productive evening

 I got up at the usual time. I'd been up all night listing things, and was finally so tired I went to bed. 

I actually woke up a bit before 3, due to an ice cream cart going by with the person ringing their little bell so loudly it actually woke me up. I fell back asleep then my alarm clock woke me up. 

I had breakfast and cleaned up a bit and I was out of here at 4. 

I went to the bank and deposited my pay check and my numbers and their numbers agree, so that's good. Then I went to Whole Foods to park the bike, use the loo, and buy a couple of beef sticks. 

If I'd been busking today, I'd have some competition. First there was one of the same zombesses from last week, a gal who has a regulation nearly unreadable sign, and sit her bony ass on the bike racks themselves, and looks down at the ground a lot. I guess it's an act that pays. 

And, although this is on the other side of where I'd be, out by the bus stop, there was another act on. An older, fat, gal sleeping on one of the benches except not really sleeping but squirming around and groaning theatrically. 

Today's mission was to, after depositing my check which I'd done, go to the 99 Ranch market in Mountain View, then on the way back visit Mega Mart and Han Kook, both Korean markets and the last one where I get clear packing tape from. 

While on the bus, I thought a bit and realized I could go one stop more and go to West Valley Music and buy some "Chop Saver" since the tube of it the manager there gave me has utterly disappeared. Now that I've bought another, there's a small chance the first one might re-appear. I've decided I like good old cheap Blistex I can get for a bit more than a dollar a tube at Walmart or Walgreens or a number of places. It's easy to obtain and easy to replace. But maybe "Chop Saver" is really really good for some reason. 

Then I walked back from West Valley Music to 99 Ranch. I walked through the In-N-Out Burger parking lot because that's how you get there, and it was amazing how busy the place was. I used to go there all the time. And they have an armed guard at the door now. I even exclaimed my surprise out loud, and the guy just smiled. A bit further on I saw the reason for the guard: a zombie staggering around, clad in a blanket, headed toward the In-N-Out. 

I hoped this 99 Ranch carried Ibumie brand "Penand White Curry Mee" which I really love, and can't replicate using red curry paste and my own seasonings plus I always get it too salty when I try to make my own seasoning combination for a bowl of soup. And, they had it! I got bags of 4 packages each and some spicy peanuts. 

Now to do something about the bulk, because I sure don't eat the noodles these days. I sat at a convenient table with a chair by the front of 99 Ranch and opened each package, taking out the curry paste, seasoning, and creamer. I put those in a bag I'd taken from the veggie dept. 

Now I had a 99 Ranch paper bag full of 12 packages of noodles without seasoning. I saw a 99 Ranch worker digging through the nearby trash can with more enthusiasm than a worker usually shows, and figured he was digging on his own behalf. So I handed over the paper bag, and instead of taking it, he dumped it all out into the trash, crumpled up the bag, and tossed that on top! 

Well, then. What I should have done, as the worker had then hurried off, would have been to have retrieved the bag, put the noodle packs back in it, and taken it with me to give to someone, but I didn't, As I walked toward the In-N-Out again, there was the zombie again, that had seemed to be headed in a definite direction before, but was actually just meandering around. Maybe getting handed a bag full of noodles to munch on would have had it doing that, and then settling down to whatever sleep zombies get, instead of wandering around. 

I got to the bus stop and saw a rail-thin old guy on a bike meandering through and called out to him. He came over and I described where the noodles are, but in the end he didn't want them, but "I hate to see food wasted!" I agreed, and we talked a bit. He's from Tennessee, and we talked about various places that toss things out and he told me about how, back in Tennessee, he and his "old lady" lived near a small shopping mall and "We ate like kings". I'm guessing the guy probably came out here in the 1960s or 70s for one of the electronics jobs there used to be, then the jobs ended and here he remains. 

The bus I got onto had all kinds of characters on it, and a fair amount of weird shit going on, and I was glad to get off at Lawrence. I didn't even say "Thank you" when I got off, which is the custom here. 

I walked over to Han Kook market and they had 8 rolls of tape so that's what I got. And a can of "Boss" coffee. The lady at the checkout wanted to see what was in the Whole Foods cloth bad I had in the cart, tied closed, so I said, "Sure, sure, no problem!" and got out the Chop Saver, with reciept, and the peanuts, with receipt, and ... and that was enough for her. 

I got back to the Lawrence stop just as the #522 was pulling out, Oh well. There was a guy at the stop hanging out with his bike and a Gatorade bottle in his hand with something in it. He was a laugh-y joke-y guy. So we laughed and joked and I said I was going to be disappointed if he didn't have vodka or tequila in that bottle. The #22 bus came and he stayed behind so maybe he was waiting for someone. 

I had my can of coffee on the bus since I was getting tired, and got off across from Whole Foods and other than using the bathroom, just passed on through to my bike and got going. It was about 8:30 and the Amazon place closes at 9, so I figured I'd go by and see if I can find any bubble mailers. 

I did, obtaining 3. Then I just rode home.  

Forgetting things

 Ken came by last night an hour earlier than usual  That's OK though, I had the place in pretty good shape and didn't have things piled all over. We talked about things and he'd brought pizza (a small one that he said had cost him about $20, ouch) and I had a few slices, ate the toppings only of course. 

I got my check so that's good, and could have taken it to the bank today but didn't. Instead when I got up I packed things and got them to the post office and FedEx. 

I also had taken the bunch of Payday candy bars I had, put 'em in a bag, and left them by the door of the small office sort of space that the local lunch truck operators have set up as an eating area. Those guys, and their clientele, always have scads of kids and kids like candy bars so ... 

Except I mentioned this to Ken and he said, "I like payday bars" and I said I could go get them and he said not all of them, but "some" so I said "give me a minute" and hopped on the bike and went over and got 24 of the candy bars and brought them back. 

Although he'd come by at 9:30 instead of his usual 10:30, he managed to stay here until midnight. Highlights include his getting involved doing updates on his phone, and for a good long while not really being "here" since he was so intent on his phone. Finally I started to wonder, and he showed me the games he'd been playing on X (X as in Twitter? X.com?) so that was weird. 

After a bit more talking etc left, and I was  picking up his used cup from the soda I'd given him etc., and there was his phone. He wasn't gone for long, and soon I heard his truck pulling in. I took it out to him and said, "I didn't thing you'd take long". 

Once Ken had left the 2nd time I spent the rest of the night taking things apart that I wanted to get out of here. I left a lot of scrap metal and parts and stuff out front, and Lo and behold, when I left for the post office everything was gone. 

So when I came back, I noted that the box of circuit boards and aluminum pieces I'd left out by the main road was still there, so I actually took that back to put out in front here since it's the same kind of stuff they just took. Plus I put about 12 boxes of heavy-ass drawer slides that are not worth that much and a pain to ship, out and those went quick. 

 

 

San Jose or Basel? Decisions, decisions...

 u/michaelmoby on Reddit (too bad I can't post links on this) put up a pretty good post, having experience in both places, for Basel, Switzerland, being easier and cheaper to live than San Jose. Yes, including supermarket prices for food. 

This does not surprise me. The cheapest place I've lived has been Hawaii, followed by Colorado, Arizona, and then finally Southern California and taking the top, most expensive slot, here where I am in the Bay Area. 

I was up all night packing things to get caught up and then getting 20 things ready to list. There's a hell of a lot of stuff here that just won't sell, or will sell after a few years for a super low price. But open the things up and take them apart and there will be IC's, other components, gold-plated parts, etc. 

It means more work for me, taking things apart, but that's actually kind of fun and it's easier to ship small things than large ones, and it especially stings packing a medium or large thing knowing it's only for $5 or $10 profit if that. 

I got the stuff to FedEx and the post office, got stuff at 99 Ranch and H Mart, relaxed with a can of coffee and some nuts brought from home, and looked for my homeless pal. He wasn't there. Oh well I'll have another chance to find him tomorrow as I'll be on the same route, delivering packages. 

 

Working the system

 I was up doing stuff, then went to bed, then woke up and ... did more stuff. Ho, hum. I was up around 3, packed some things, and got going at my usual time around 6. I just had post office things so I went there, dropped the packages off, then headed to 99 Ranch. 

I got a big package of boiled peanuts (having those available is almost like being back in Hawaii although of course the ones in Hawaii are better) and some cilantro. 

I went to H Mart next for a can of coffee, and settled down to eat my peanuts and drink my coffee. And people-watch of course haha. 

When I was done I started to leave, and then as  I was riding past, realized my homeless Asian guy acquaintance kind of "lives" in front of the bagel shop now. I had 5 Payday candy bars with me because with so many on hand, I'd decided I'd try to give away 5 a day. 

We talked about things... he's tried applying for work at H Mart and McDonald's as well as other places I'd guess. I said the economy is terrible right now and he might consider going into business for himself. I went through what it would take to get started on Ebay and as I was telling the guy about that, I realized that even for people with homes, it's too hard for most. 

Then I started to think of other things, like being a handyman. I said all these little shops have people working there who will pay a few bucks for someone to do a job they hate, like taking out the trash cans and cleaning them, picking up trash in the parking lot, cleaning the windows and the fingerprints off of the door, etc. 

He doesn't have a smart phone right now (writing this, what happened to the one he had, that I gave him a charger for?) and I said I have some old tablets in the shop that aren't selling, so I'll try to dig them out and see if they're any good and if so, take them off of Ebay and give them to him. And I said I'll see what kind of resources there are around here and print the information out. 

So here I am back here, and I've already got a very strong impression that if you've got the skills and gumption to get out of homelessness, you're probably not going to be homeless in the first place. The place I've chosen to tell this guy about has a neat web page but it can't really be printed out. I wrote out some information about it on an index card, and fortunately it's got an easy to find address, just xxx N. First St. just north of the college. 

I mean, it's hard to just be a regular person. Being at work on time, budgeting, handling all the bills, in most cases owning and operating a car because in the US you're not a person without a car, keeping your place maintained and clothing and appearance in general, and having a "good personality" so your neighbors don't hate you, etc. 

Well, being homeless is harder than this. Unless you're willing to shift 100% to a "vagabond" or "hobo" lifestyle, you'll be in a hole you can't get out of. 

Going vagabond or "hobo" means being in a different hole, but at least it's generally considered a more fun hole. Panhandling shamelessly, giving much less of a damn about looks and perhaps hygiene, getting by on an iffy diet, perhaps being a drunk, etc. It's not a game for the old or even middle-aged. You're going back to the "dead by 40" life humans lived a couple thousand years ago. 

Anyway, I'll give the guy the index card and probably some more candy bars, tomorrow. 

 

Windy to less-windy Sunday

 I got out of here a bit after 4. I started in busking at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at 6:20 so I figured I'd just call it 6:30 and play until 8. 

The wind was still strong so I resigned myself to playing in the parking structure. It was slow, what what else to do? I was playing this song that's from some anime or another that we learned in the shakuhachi class, and some Asian people going by started to sing along. I asked them if they knew what it was, and to them it's "A Japanese song; we're from Taiwan" so I really need to dig through my shakuhachi stuff and see if it have the sheet music because that will have the name or what anime it's from written on it. 

Later, a group of 6 boomers were charmed as hell with my "Autumn Leaves" and hung around to listen, and clapped when I was done. They tipped a whole $3 which is a lot for boomers since in their day that was the down payment for a new Ford Fairlane, or a house. 

It was finally 7:30 and the wind seemed to have died down. I decided to play the last half-hour up on the sidewalk and see how that goes. It went pretty well in that I got the odd tip, then a guy came up and I think put in a $10 after I'd played "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens, and I'd said it's by Cat Stevens who was huge until he adopted Islam and the US music industry disowned him.

We got talking about busking and things, and I described how I'd played at the Christmas Marker in Mountain View, the only time I'd seen other buskers, with myself playing on the South end of Castro Street from the main market, and all the other buskers turning out to be at the North end, all with guitars and amps. 

Finally the guy got out another $20 and said I should treat myself (I'd mentioned "treating myself" by taking the train instead of the bus) and we said, "See you later" and I packed up. And while I was packed up and counting the money so I'd have a number in my head to record when I got home, a guy came up and handed me a $10, "Here you go buddy" and I thanked him. 

So I'd made $77 and that was $40 of it at least, in the last half hour up at street level.  

I walked over to Baraka Market and got olives and my yogurt drink. walked to the bus stop and got on a #22 back to my "home" Whole Foods. I put $20 on my clipper card which will take care of bus fares for the next week or two, got some nuts, etc. I also gave a dollar to a bum who asked, while I was putting things away in my bike bags. He said, cheerfully, "Someone already bought me a beer!", holding up a tall can. "Steel Reserve, that'll get the job done!" I said. 

I rode home and, crossing Santa Clara to get to the entry to San Pedro Square I had to stop abruptly to let someone walk past, and while I was stopped I noticed that a dark lump in a corner by a planter was emitting music. 

It turned out to be a guy playing some pretty cool guitar grooves, left-handed no less. I got out a dollar and gave it to him, and said he needs some lights so people can see him, and that I'd only noticed him because I'd had to stop to let someone past. Also that he really should try playing at the Whole Foods on the Alameda. 

Then maybe 10 yards further on, I was riding along and a group of people called out to me, asking if I had a match or a lighter. "I think I have a lighter," I said, "People are always dropping 'em and I pick 'em up". I dug around in the bike bag and found one and handed it over. That solved their emergency, the lighting of a spliff it seemed. They gave it back and I tried to get them to keep it but they were insistent. At least I know it works now. 

The rest of the ride home was nice and boring.  

Haha I take a look at Reddit and people are bitching about the high gas/diesel prices they voted for, due to the failing war with Iran they voted for. Why, the last time I paid $7 or more for gas was back in Arizona in 2008, when hmmm ... yes, that's right, a Republican was in charge. Funny how that works. 

 

Celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers

 ... is what the small-hats were doing yesterday. Their New Year's day, "Rosh Hashana" which is why 9/11 was done on ... 9/11. 

Fortunately more people are waking up to this. 

I photo'd up 20 things but was just too tired to list them, got some practice in which went surprisingly well considered I hadn't practiced all week, and went to bed. 

I woke up a bit before noon, halfway fell back to sleep and woke up again around 2. Sounds like but it's very early on my old schedule. 

I got out of here around 4:15 and was at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at a quarter after 6. It was really windy. I started out playing out where the wind was, but it took a while to get even a first dollar. I went into the parking garage and it was stuffy, but I made a few more dollars. I tried out in the wind a couple more times but tips were super slow and it was the first time I actually worried about the money being blown out of the tip box so I just went back down into the parking structure and stayed there. 

It turned out kinda OK though. The funniest part was the old guy smiling and praising my playing. I'd been playing "Frank Sinatra" by Cake. When 8:00 rolled around I was ready to quit as it had been kind of wearing. High notes were working well for me though and now I'm a bit better at playing "Frank Sinatra" by Cake. 

I was mostly packed up and was counting the money so I'd have a figure in my head I could write down the the little book I use to keep track of such things, when a fat gal with a couple of other people with her came up with some money in her hand. "You're not playing ...." she said. "Nope! I'm packing up for the day!" was my chipper reply. She pulled the money back and walked away to catch up with her friends, who were likely headed to In-N-Out Burger or maybe Jamba Juice for one of these 1500-calorie health drinks. 

"That's an interesting take on things" I said to her broad back as she retreated. It's certainly a first. Having someone see that I'm done for the day, hand m the tip they've have put in the tip box, isn't unusual. They'd already made the decision to tip me, and it's a matter of, "here's the money I'd have given you earlier except I didn't have change/was in a hurry/wanted to get my shopping done first/etc." I've had people hand me money after I've packed up and was inside the store doing some shopping, myself. So this was kind of comical. 

I had a nice boring bus ride back to my "home" Whole Foods, bought a couple of things, had a nice boring ride back here, and did a count up. I'd made $59, had $1 in my wallet to start out, and amazingly still had $49. The cheese and can of tuna I'd bought at Whole Foods had been $8, and my yogurt drink from Baraka Market had been $3, and sure enough I came home with $49. 

And 72 "Payday" candy bars. I'm not sure what I'll do with at least $100 worth of candy bars, certainly not eat them. I guess I'll donate them here and there. 

 

Now I know

 When 9/11 happened, honestly, my first thought was, Who did we wrong badly enough to impel them to do this thing, and How can be make up for it? That was my initial feeling, before all the rationalizing. 

Of course now I know. I know how much "netanyahu" raves about how great it was for "israel", about the dancing Jews celebrating etc. 

Jews were and are, overwhelmingly in favor of the US laying waste to innocent people in the Middle East. They love war, as long as we goyim are doing the work. 

I stayed up all night last night in an attempt to correct my night-own schedule. I packed things and finished the load of laundry I had soaking, and as the night became morning,  I decided to go downtown first, taking the small things with me, and deposit my latest pay check into my bank. 

So I took off around 9AM, and first off stopped at Nijiya and got a can of coffee and a bento that had a huge piece of salmon in it. I didn't touch the mound of brown rice, of course. 

Then I went to the post office, crossing St. James Park which was covered with Canada geese. I should have saved my brown rice for them. They're such cook birds. I noticed that the ones nearer the post office were eating these huge acorns, apparently. I've seen round acorns and long pointy acorns that were quite bit, but these are amazing - round and huge. That's the kind of thing I'd like to plant around town. 

I dropped off the packages and went to the Amazon place where I got one bubble mailer. Better than none. 

Then over to the bank to deposit the pay check and the numbers all agreed, theirs and mine, and there's no hold on any of the money so nothing's bounced. Cool. 

I went over to Whole Foods too but now I can't recall what for. On the way back from there I stopped in at Good Karma Bikes which wasn't open since they don't open until 11AM. I was 5 minutes early. When they did open, I went in and found a nice Sugoi jacket, a light summer/mild weather type, all yellow of course. That was $11 out the door. 

Next I went to Sakura Market and got two bottles of Lipovitan because it's actually cheaper there, it's nice and cold, and I can buy singles. I drank those out front and then went back over to the Amazon place where I got about 5 more mailers. 

Then I just rode back here. One thing about being out in the middle of the day is, there's a ton of road work going on, plus the police had various streets closed off. 

I got back in here and I had one box that's quite large, but to be sent by the USPS "ground saver" or whatever they call it, since it's going to an Ebay international mailing hub and then to mainland China. The shipping on that thing had been something like $200 and I'd refunded the buyer about $50. I really wanted to get that sent off. Plus I found a few small things the pack that had just sold, might as well get 'em off and away too. 

So I dropped those off and rode back here. I stopped at H Mart for some cold black coffee and spicy peanuts. There was a gaggle of Hispanic workers all clustered around by the bike racks so I'd carefully parked my bike there, and then came out with my coffee and peanuts and sat there and enjoyed my stuff while they gabbled away in Spanish. If there's one language that would be easy to learn around here... 

I found some bubble wrap on the way back, actually really high quality stuff that just had to have clear tape peeled off of it so that was a nice win. 

I got back in here and coffee and Lipovitan regardless, I really, really, wanted to sleep. So I set up my bed and slept from 4-6, woke up to pee, then 6-8. (Not 6-7, kids!) 

It's nice that Ken's checks aren't bouncing. My savings are actually at an all time high right now. And ideally I'll have twice as much in the bank when I bail out of here in a year. 

 

War is Wonderful

 I just watched a Wall Street Journal YouTube video about how the Ukraine war is making the economy much better in Russia. Just like WWII brought good pay and social mobility to Americans, coming out of a Depression during which Soviet scientists determined the US lost a good 10 million to starvation, the Ukraine war has been really good for people in Russia in all these small towns. 

Sure you might get killed, but at least your family gets "coffin money" as opposed to families of US service people dying in our war with Iran because it's "not really a war" and you're not really a Gold Star Mother and you can go pound sand. 

Plus the sign-on bonuses in Russia are huge.  We're talking amounts to $150k, which the video dismisses as "not life-changing money" sorry, lady, but for 99% of us in the US it would be life-changing money. 

So the upshot is, Russia is losing about 1000 guys a day and they're probably "undesirables" in many cases, or they're people from "hick" areas, but the economy's great and if they die then their families are happy to get that "coffin money" and other than the one who's been chosen to be "it", everyone on the playground is having a great time. 

It all sounds horrible to someone in our modern culture, people who swarmed to the theaters to see "Saving Private Ryan" but hasn't it always been this way? How many whalers thought they'd die peacefully in their own beds? Coal miners? WWI was a slaughter, and when WWII started it was probably assumed it would be the same. Instead, WWII was a fucking party except for those who became "it", yeah, not so great for them but for the rest? Studs Terkel called it "The Good War". Guys got to travel the world, make lifelong friends, rise into the middle class, get a college degree. 

Someone on Reddit just said that the US-Iran war will be lost as slowly as possible "just like Vietnam and Afghanistan" because war is so profitable and benefits so many people. This is how things are, once you remove the layers of faux-sympathy and hypocrisy. 

As old people with dementia generally do, the pedophile-in-chief is simply being brutally honest in calling US service people "suckers and losers". You're not supposed to just come out and say that. When I joined up, it was because (a) I didn't want to be homeless and (b) we weren't at war with anyone. But if that time, the early 80s, had been a time like now with wars started at the drop of a hat, and I were to end up disabled in a wheelchair, I'd have to be the first one to say cheerfully that I'm a loser. That I'd bet and lost.  

The thing is, you're not supposed to SAY that.  

And it made sense for some humans to be "expended" fighting cave bears and sabre-toothed tigers if the tribe overall could live, or die fighting the other tribe from the next valley over, so the rest of the people could live. But now it's been removed a few levels, and we've got people being "expended" so the rest of us can live a little better. If you asked people if that would be OK, that some randomly chosen person in their neighborhood has to die but they'll be able to buy a new car, they'll act horrified. But more than a few would consider it.  

I was up overnight taking some stuff apart and then getting things together to pack today. Just two big boxes, one with a single thing and one with a bunch of things that I was afraid might end up being too heavy a box, but it was minor, only about 36 lbs. 

On the way back I checked for packing stuff and didn't find much, then on a whim checked "Trackonomy"'s dumpster and took out some really prime stuff, and more than I could carry in one load so I took the first load home, put things away, then loaded up some electronics scrap to take out by Old Bayshore then went back over to Trackonomy and picked up the last of the stuff. 

 

Caught up sort of

 Last night was spend photo'ing and listing 30 things. I mean right around until 8 or so in the morning. Got it done, though. And credited it to last Sunday because that fills out 50 things for the week which is kind of the standard. 

Now I have to find more things to list to make up the quota for this week. 

At least now I'm comfortably above the $10k level in my bank, and I hope to have twice that in there when it's time to leave. 

It's been really hot, in the 90's F, and today's thing once I woke up, was to pack all the small things that need to go to the post office, of which I packed I dunno, 10 or so? 

I took 'em up there, got stuff at 99 Ranch and H Mart, the usual yadda yadda. 

There just wasn't any room last night for practice so I didn't. This is the thing, here I am in my early-mid 60s and it's kind of like being in intermediate or high school and being in Band but only having mayyyyybe an hour a day to practice. Because there's everything else for school, chores, etc. Plus maybe some fishing to get some protein into my diet, and foraging a bit of fruit or veggies. 

Getting back to what's in the bank, I sure wish I'd known to avoid the college scam. A degree, even if I were able to go into 3X-4X the amount of debt to get one, would have had me earning the same $9.50 going up to $11.50 an hour I did without one. The real key is to take whatever job you can get, and save save save. 

 

 

What 95% of us do on Labor Day

 Yesterday I did what 95% of us do on Labor Day - labored. I got 30 things photo-ready, then realized I have a lot of shipping to get out, so I spent the night shipping things. 

All in preparation for today's plan, which was to get out of here by 4, with the small post office things, drop 'em off at the post office downtown, then deposit the $1600 check I'd gotten from Ken. That went great - Ken had goofed and dated the check for a month ago but I think checks are good for 90 days. So that went fine. 

Next I went to Sakura Market and got what might be their last two bags of UCC pour-over coffee at $10, because those were what was on the shelf and I have a feeling that now it will go for the going price or a bit more, $14 or $15 a bag. And a single sugar-free Lipovitan and a small T-shirt because I'd wanted to get one. The T-shirt was made by Jerzees so it might be a pretty good one.  

Then I went down to Walmart and got things, and stopped at Nijiya on the way back for a Coke Zero and since they didn't have the baked cold mackerel I was hoping for, just got some salmon that looked good, to portion and freeze, and told myself I'll just have some pepitas with the coke. 

But then I got back I just wanted to get things done so I put things away and loaded up the big FedEx things and took them up there. I had a can of coffee and a couple of chocolate cookie things from the "Try Me" basket. 

I got back here and offloaded things, and loaded up the bike trailer with the stuff I'd left out last night. In addition, the guys had put in what I think is a starter motor, and a big power supply I'd never seen before. Gee, thanks, I think. 

I took it all out by the main road in my usual "free stuff" spot and took some big boxes and cardboard and junk that was there and put it into this one dumpster on the other side of the complex, that they've replaced with a bigger dumpster holding about 2X as much, so these days there's generally plenty of room. And got back in here. 

Before bed last night I'd practiced, and it went really well. I'm starting to get a feel for high notes and it's not a matter of pushing harder = higher. It's more a matter of getting a feel for them and the best way I can describe it is when you're sucking on a hard candy and you've got it down to a small streamlined piece and you have it in the front of your mouth to taste that last bit better. 

There are a million tutorials on high notes and trumpet playing in general on YouTube, especially if you show any interest in them, because then the algorithm serves up tons of them. I think each person has a method that works for them, personally, but while there are generalities that are always true like Don't use too much pressure and Always try for good tone, it's kind of up to each person to work out what works for them.  If thinking about "tasting" high notes is what works for me then so be it. 

The thing is, I need to keep up the work on being the best trumpet (or cornet right now I guess) player I can. When/if something happens to Ken I need to at least have Taps on tap, and preferably both that and Fanfare For The Common Man. 

My having in the back of my mind being a sort of public resource, a person who can play Taps, is what makes me feel kind of cop-proof. Because while I've never been anything worse than smiled at, I'm always thinking I can play at their funerals and ceremonies. 

I know the acronym ACAB but I think the cases where they do good are underplayed. Yeah I think some people become cops because they want to be in power over others, but I think some genuinely want to help, and do. The Right thinks we of the Left want to get rid of them but that's crazy; you have to have them. How they do their work, what training they get,  and so on make a huge difference. That US cops are a bunch of yahoos doesn't mean that cops in general, worldwide, are. And it doesn't mean ours can't improve. 

 

$123.25 Sunday

 I actually got out of here at a bit after 4. 4:30 is what I'll say. I rode over to Whole Foods, left the bike there, and got on a bus, since the next #522 at 20 minute or more out (I'd just missed one) I got on the #22 that was arriving and in the end,  I got to the Sunnyvale Whole Foods and started busking at 6:15. 

I felt like it was slow, but as I always remind myself, it's paid practice and I'm here to learn. As usual I got some nice encouragement and got to talk to some interesting people, some of them ... "interesting". 

Like the homeless lady who came up and tried to talk with me about a guy named "Brazil", apparently. I thought she was asking if I could play a song about Brazil, but no, it was a guy who's street name was Brazil, passed away now and he was nice to everyone, yadda yadda. She was fingering a coin, and since I didn't want to talk for the next hour about this Brazil person, I started in on a song and she dropped the coin in the box and moved on. 

The coin was a 5-peso, kind of neat, but I chucked it into the short hedge that's there, so the next person digging around in there will find it. 

A bit later I heard a sound like something heavy falling down, and it was a guy, not an old guy either but maybe in his 40s, who'd stepped through a little gap in the hedge that people step through, and gotten his foot caught in the little slot between the hedge and the curb. And over he'd gone. He wrecked his glasses, too. With only about $7 in the tip box I felt fine about walking over and making sure he was OK, and helping look for anything he might have dropped. He was a fairly good sport about it, too, as much as you can be when you really hadn't planned on falling over and trashing your glasses on a Sunday evening. 

I played along, most notably a song I had stuck in my head a few days ago, that's one of the ones we played in the shakuhachi club. It's a neat sounding theme song to some anime, and I'm pretty sure the title is "Arigato" but there are a ton of songs named that. I'll had to dig through my shakuhachi music and see if I can find the title because I wrote it down. 

There are tons of kids, because people really like to take their kids grocery shopping and doing general things around there, and "Eentsy Weentsy Spider" seems to be a real hit with them. The Sesame Street theme is a fun one to play also. So I had a fairly good time because after all, other than these busking sessions it's just work, work, work around here. Just like life is supposed to be here. 

Pretty soon it was a quarter to 8 and I was talking to some guy on a bike and telling him to be safe and about how the guy had tripped and fallen and wrecked his glasses so you never know, and it had gone pretty dead. 8PM is late around here. So I played my sign-off song and did a count up: $123.25. That's really good. 

I walked out to Baraka Market and got olives and my yogurt drink, went over to the bus stop and a bus came maybe 30 seconds after I got there, and it was a #522 so it was just about perfect. 

I put things into the bike bags and used the loo and walked around a bit inside "my" Whole Foods but there wasn't anything I could think of that I needed. 

I rode around downtown just to see if much was going on, and there kind of was, and wasn't. I didn't see any other buskers. At Whole Foods while I was distributing things into the bike bags, a bum came up and did a lot of fiddling around with plastic bags and then asked me when Whole Foods closes and  I said 10, and he had to ask this a few different ways, always getting 10 as a reply, then he concluded that he had until 10 (it was now about 9) to set up and beg. So that's a performer, I guess. 

There's been one of those scam booths set up, Save The Animals or something, with one guy who obviously has a lot of "community service" work off or a lot of debt or something, because he's been at it the last couple of nights and I'd hate to have to compete with him. People *do* set up booths at the Sunnyvale Whole Foods but in that case I can always play in the parking garage. So Mr. Bum will have to compete with him, and maybe will get the money he needs for his drugs and booze. 

 

$74 Saturday

 Last night I photo'd 20 things and listed 10, as usual. Then I practiced and it went pretty well. I got decent sleep. I still didn't get out of here as early as I wanted to. It was close to 5:00 when I left. 

I rode right over to Whole Foods and only had to use the loo and then walked right over to the bus stop. There was some kind of concert going on and traffic was at a crawl, including the buses. I got on a #22 bus and got off at the stop opposite 5 Guys because the #522 stops there, and a few minutes later there came a #522. 

I actually got to the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at 6:30 although it took me a few minutes to get set up etc., so it was probably more like 6:45 when I started. 

It went pretty well. I got to talk to some interesting people, mainly an Indian guy who didn't have any cash so I said some people buy gift cards, and he went in and got one. When he came out he handed me one, for $20 which was pretty cool. I asked him if he played an instrument and it came out that his background is in sax, and he's been trying, a bit, to play trumpet. 

And having the hardest time! He can play G in the staff and not much of anything else at all. He bought a cheap trumpet somewhere, and I advised he take at least a couple of lessons at West Valley Music, and get the trumpet checked over too. I explained how he could have one valve piston turned around the wrong way and it might feel OK and play a G in the staff but not do much else. It's just universal best advice to, if you want to try the trumpet, rent one at your local music store and get at least a few lessons. The nice thing about renting is you know the horn doesn't have problems, and unless you do something really dumb, minor repairs are covered. 

At another point I had a family walk by and go up the stairs, and at the tail of the group was a fat kid, who smiled at me and I kinda did the smile with my eyes thing. A few moments later he came back with a tip, and I asked him if he plays an instrument. It didn't sound like he did, so I said he ought to try one, trumpet or maybe try a few and see what he likes, maybe the sax or the drums, who knows. So that was cool. 

I was offered food twice. One tall European-accented couple tried to give me a box of those cookies with chocolate inlaid into the top. I said I'm on a diet, no sugar or starches so I can't eat them. Another guy, later, tried giving me a little package of Driscoll's half and half blackberries and blueberries. I said No thanks. The cookies were kind of neither here nor there and maybe I should have accepted them, to pass off to someone else. The berries, I dunno, I hate the though of depriving a guy of the enjoyment of those berries. 

All in all it went pretty well. I think I'm trying to brute-force high notes less and that's good. And when my tone started getting rough I relaxed and played something really easy and the roughness went away. 

Once it was 8:00 things got dead though. After all, it's getting near bedtime for everyone in Sunnyvale. I counted up and I'd made $74. 

I walked out to Baraka Market and got my yogurt drink and some broccoli, and walked over to the bus. A #22 came and I didn't get on, waiting for the #522. I waited a bit and a guy who was playing rap music on his phone came and asked about the bus. I said I'd been waiting 15 minutes or so but that a #22 had gone by about 5 minutes ago. 

Then another #22 came and I decided Screw it and got on. Mr. Rap Music played his music loudly until the bus driver used the intercom, with some kind of creepy echo effect going on, to play it quietly, and he did, and then got off the next stop or so. 

I got back to "my" Whole Foods at about 9:20, and went in to spend the gift card. It turns out if I buy a bag of macadamia nuts and a bag of hazel nuts, it leaves $1.50-odd on the card. I went out and looked for the pretty rough looking homeless guy I'd seen outside, to give it to, but he was gone. Who was not gone was a homeless lady who Kenny, the Whole Foods worker, talks to. I gave it to her. 

Then I just rode for home but by way of downtown just to see if anything's going on. The answer is, not much. No other buskers. A busker might do pretty well playing in front of the "panda wall" because there were a ton of people around. Or San Pedro Square, assuming anyone carries cash there any more. But, nada. 

I stopped at Japantown and the little yakitori/kushiyaki table was out, and I ordered the pork belly. It's a sort of "pop up" thing being run out of "Aloha Fresh" which is a poke place, but the guy told me they're working on moving into their new place, which I believe is going to be the store front on 6th that used to hold a Hawaiian dance supply place, hula skirts and uli-uli's and such things. That will be great because they'll likely have some tables or chairs or something. As it was, my order was bagged up in a black plastic bag like it's a drug deal or something, and I ate it back here, by which time it was cold, but still delicious. I'd been meaning to try them out. 

 

We're just gonna keep winning

 I can tell how the "Iran War" is going to go. We're just going to keep on winning and winning and winning, year after year, until we're kicked out of there. Just like Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan etc. Perhaps with a bonus of tens of thousands of US service people killed and there won't be any Jewish casualties. 

I stayed up all night taking more things apart, then did a practice that went a bit better than the night before. One thing I'm starting to see is, in trying to hit a night note, there's a point where I'm pushing too hard, and by backing off, the note comes out. In other words there's a sweet spot and it takes quite a bit less pushing than I previously thought. 

I woke up around 4, had coffee and nuts and got cleaned up a bit, and went down to Walmart and paid the electric bill. That went fine. They have a whole sort of menu board on the wall showing what bills can be paid there, like the water bill. Also things like, if you're a jailbird and owe the jail haha. 

 

Playing close to the financial kill line

 The Chinese have a clever saying for how Americans live. They call it the "American kill line" and it's a term from video games. A player is close to the "kill line" when their personal power is so low, that any attack or misfortune will kill that character. 

Americans live this way. 90% of us are one or two missed pay checks, an auto accident, an injury or illness, away from becoming losing everything and living on the street. 

So why tempt this with bad money management? 

The day started with my checking the two envelopes the mailman had put in through the slot, one being a water bill that's overdue and needs to be paid by the 30th, and one an electric bill that needs to be paid before this Tuesday. For the water will, the 30th is far enough in the future to not worry about right now, but while I can work here without water and things just get less convenient, without electricity I can't do any work and that means Ken loses the sales that keep this place going. We piss off some customers, our rating goes down, etc. It's not good. It's approaching the kill line. 

I had 4-5 small things packed and on my way up to the post office I thought this out. It turns out there are places I can pay the electric bill, including the Walmart I go to all the time. They don't take checks but they take cash, which is good because if I pay using my card I'm afraid the electric company will set my card to be the payment account and I'll have to get Ken to reimburse me each month. It's enough of a hassle to just get paid. 

Since I've been lazy and not kept a cash stash lately, I figured I'll do cash backs at places and in that way amass the $248 I needed in short order. Since I got a bit of an early start, I went up to Dai Thanh Market first since they close at 7. 

It turns out Dai Thanh does do cash back, but it's limited to $40 and the cashier really didn't want to give me $40 cash back on the $3 purchase of a can of black coffee and a couple small bundles of cilantro. So I just forked over $3 cash and moved on. 

I went over in front of Tram Coffee where it's fairly quiet and told Ken about the bills and that I could pay the electric bill and he could just pay me back, since things are tight right now. He thought that idea was great, and "I can just pay you back next week". So now to just collect the cash. 

99 Ranch is now limited to $40, so that's new. I got $40 there, cash back on some boiled peanuts. 

I stopped at H Mart to hang out and eat my boiled peanuts and drink my can 'o' coffee, then went over to Sprouts. They ought to allow $100 back since Whole Foods does, right? Wrong. They're limited at $40, although I did that twice, getting some beef sticks for the weekend and then some sausage I've wanted to try. 

I went over to Lowe's next and gt some batteries which I need anyway, and yep, limited to $40.  

This is ... not so great, I thought. I might as well ride over to Whole Foods while it's cooler and the traffic is calmer, so that's what I did. I got some hazelnuts and $100 back there, and counting is all up, I have enough for the bill and "walking around" money besides, plus a $20 bill to put in a new cash stash I can add $20 to each week.  

I'd spent the night taking stuff apart, and as usual had put the scrap metal out front. Overnight people had picked through it but when I left there was still plenty out there. So when I came back here I thought I'd have to hitch up the bike trailer and take the stuff out by the side of Old Bayshore so it would get picked up, but when I got back here the stuff was all gone, so that was great.  

The thing is, Ken told me last night that one of his bank/checking accounts was closed on him because he'd gone into overdraft too many times, and he's changing over to the same bank his employer uses, in the hopes that his pay checks won't be held for so long. So he's been paid, but it's the usual thing with people who don't manage their money well; delays and holds and deciding which overdue bill to pay first etc. 

I wish I'd understood the money game better when I was young. Don't set foot on the huge scam that is every college campus, as college is only worth it if you're already so wealthy that you can afford to toss 4 years of your life and these days, maybe a quarter of a million dollars down the drain. You make the same minimum wage with a degree or without one. And save, save, save money. Never have any debt, and save, save, save, And amass self-sufficiency skills, survivalist skills, etc. But at least I don't manage money as badly as Ken, who seems to never worry about it because somehow, it's always coming in. Except it's not, as much, these days. 

I practiced before bedtime last night, and will spend tonight taking more things apart, and practice, and am glad to be in out of the rain, which started as I was almost all the way back here. 

Wednesday, might actually get paid

 I know, I know, it's high tech (or at least selling high tech stuff on Ebay) so getting paid is not a given. 

I just have to keep holding on until mid-September 2027, then I'm outta here. 

I'd been up all night packing things and was too tired to practice and slept in until 4. Then I woke up, packed more things, and got outta here. 

I dropped off the things, and got some char siu at 99 Ranch which turns out to not be so good, kind of dry. I ate half and ended up freezing half. 

I checked as usual behind the gym and didn't find anything, other than two bums with their bikes and stuff, looking for stuff also. One guy had a big roll of stickers, and he said, "Cheaper than buying tape!". I offered some whole wheat English muffins I was going to leave for the birds to the cheaper than tape guy, which he was glad to get and offered his hand to shake - it was black with grime. I kind of made a little "hi" gesture and said something about germs, that I'm just getting over COVID. Then the other bum came up with some kind of ice cream things, for him and the first bum, which was great. It's nice that the frozen yogurt place is smart enough to buy 'em off with some cheap treats, and keep in good odor with them. And sugar's bad for health so I'm happy to see bums living on it. 

I found a bunch of packing stuff at the circuit board place then, headed home, took a detour to get around some road work and thus, checked the "trackonomy" place, and found a bunch more good stuff there so I had a big stack of stuff on the bike trailer haha. 

I got back and put it all away. Whew that was a lot of things to ship, too! Probably 30 things. 

Ken came by, and I got my check for 4 weeks, so $1600. I'm not supposed to deposit it until next Tuesday, but at least he brought me a hamburger, today. 

It turns out the vacation had been on a cruise ship, yes it'd been paid for by his wife who has her own money and who was a travel agent, and it hadn't been to see the eclipse but just for the heck of it. Ken's own finances are as dodgy as ever, hence the check not supposed to be deposited until next Tuesday. Plus he dated it for the 2nd of August when it's the 2nd of September, but that's not too far out of date. 

Plus Ken's driving his truck because, he told me, he was driving his Toyota Corolla and somehow managed to pop the tires and ruin the rims on one side, due to hitting a curb at about 35MPH. It's a place he turns in all the time but this time .... oops! 

So yeah, it's maybe one more year Ken can hold himself together and then I'm outta here. And I managed to put in a comment, as we were talking, about how good an idea it is for me to stick around here for 4 more years, exactly the length of the new lease, until I'm 67. Not that I will do this, just that it's a good idea. 

 

 

Americans are cars

 I've been thinking this concept over for a while, and over the long term it holds up very well. Americans are cars. 

Someone online did a whole run-down on this; the point that stuck with me was that Americans think of their cars as their bodies. This explains reading all the time things like, "I scraped my oil pan" or "my girlfriend needs new tires". 

It also explains why, when say a bicyclist is bothered by a driver or even lightly bumped, and hits or slaps the car, it often results in an angry chase, the driver getting out to start a fight, etc. 

It explains why Americans are so averse, as a group, to exercise and health. Who needs those when all you have to do is press a gas pedal? 

It explains why Americans are LOUD. It's been observed that cities are not loud, cars are loud. American cities by definition are for cars, not people, and are full of them. Hence American cities are quite loud, and so are Americans. Louder is better, and this is why the quality of music is based, here in the US, by how loud it is as much or more than any artistic merit. 

It's why a friend of mine down in Los Angeles bragged to me about buying a new Rivian, possibly one of the ugliest vehicles ever devised, as if it's some life-changing event. As if I could give a damn what the guy drives.  

I follow Reddit sup-reddits like r/homeless r/povertyfinance and so on, and I read every day how people who are very poor, which it's very easy to become here, are killing themselves to keep one or more cars going. 

I wonder if this is yet another arrangement encouraged by the small-hats since if the US were not so car-centric, we'd not need oil from the Middle East so much and we'd not fight their wars for them. 

I think it's likely also a big thing with Boomers because the Greatest and Silent generations would have grown up with cars, but also many forms of public transportation and also, walking, bicycles, etc. 

The people = cars thing may have gotten a big boost in WWII because an army fights a lot more effectively if you can put your soldiers in vehicles vs. doing everything on foot or even by horse, which the German Army for all their neat tanks and so on, was very much horse and foot propelled. 

So the Boomers would have grown up with parents who were very pro-vehicle. And during the "golden 30 years" from 1945-1975, it was pretty affordable to exist so that you were only a person if it was you + a car. 

My older sister, born in 1957, one told me how rough her life had been, that she only had a small car when she was first out on her own. Somehow I bit my tongue, as I didn't have a car at all, and wouldn't until I was almost 30. 

I was 12 at the end of the golden 30 years, and ended up very skeptical of cars. A car was a thing that sucked up any money that was around, so that my mom's boyfriend had money to try to fix whatever car was sitting on our lawn at the time, but we kids didn't have food (unless I went out and earned some by weeding someone's lawn or something). So from my formative years I was car-skeptical while also yearning to have a car and hating that I had to take the bus, walk, etc. 

I like to think people younger than me are even more skeptical.