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.