I went to the Decatur Street spot to play. I didn't have a strap, and I wasn't going to stand up, but I was going to crouch and lean on the wall behind me, so I wouldn't be technically sitting, and I did. I thought that I played pretty well and the nine dollars in my case agreed.
Sue chose not to go with me. I thought that it might be just as well.
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| Will he bring a snack...? |
I started my case out with about 59 cents.
I was hoping that my "g" string wouldn't break, because the tuning machine attached to that string has totally stripped. I have to tune all my other strings to that one, because that one is frozen at one pitch.
I don't mind doing that, especially since, as that one string slowly drops in pitch, it help my singing voice.
However, if that string were to break, then I would have a seriously compromised guitar and would have to improvise things based upon having a missing "g" string, which is a "hit and miss" proposition; mostly "miss," I have found.
I started to walk to my spot, without Sue in tow.
I found an almost full and cold 24 oz. can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, sitting on the sidewalk, as if someone hadn't wanted to take it into their car; drank it; and then went to my spot and played and made about 9 bucks.
I knocked off about 9:45, which was about the time that I had told Sue that I would be back at the sleeping spot.
I was happy to have 9 bucks; it could have easily have been 0 bucks.
I got back.
Sue was there. She had her head covered with her blanket in a fashion which I had seen before and which before had meant "don't bother me."
I already had my shoes off and my sleeping bag unrolled when I touched her on the shoulder, intending to ask her how her evening had been. She gave me a quick glance and then rolled over, facing away from me and re-covered her head.
The last time she had done that, back at the Occupation site, my reaction was to leave and sleep elsewhere.
I rolled my sleeping bag up, put on my shoes and was just walking off when she called out and told me to "come here."
I told her that it seemed like she didn't want to be bothered and that I was leaving...I'm not going to kiss your ass just to share a bed with you....
The first thing she asked me was if I had brought any "snacks."
I hadn't, because I had been burned so many times after spending good money on things that she had refused to eat, so that I didn't feel like trying to divine what she may have been in the mood for.
She woke me this morning, in time to go to the Rebuild Center to do laundry. After cuddling a bit, we went and did just that, taking only 4 hours out of the day for it. I grabbed one of Howard's shirts and added it to the load.
Sue was hungry afterwards. I suggested that we grab some noodles at the nearest Walgreens and microwave them at the Tulane Medical School cafeteria. She seemed enthused about that idea and became adament about us hurrying, so as to not miss the closing of that place.
Then, I thought about how I had been craving a special meal that I had once created, consisting of coconut milk, rice noodles, vegetables and a lot of ginger and some sesame oil. I suggested that we go to the new Rouse's Market, the huge one with everything, because I knew that I could get the ingredients there.
Sue became the leader, rather than the follower at that point. She started walking very fast, mostly in front of me, towards Rouse's Market. When I told her that I wanted to stop for a beer, which was a little bit out of the way, she seemed annoyed. I wondered why she was so intent upon getting to the market when she supposedly had no money of her own.
It became somewhat of a farce.
Somehow she had lost the tupperware bowl, which I was going to use to heat up relatively cheap rice noodles in, which necessitated us purchasing the kind which come with a bowl at about 3 times the cost.
I couldn't open the coconut milk, because I had left my can opener at the library in all of the sudden fury over rushing to the market. Sue loves Rouse's because they have "everything," including free samples of cheese, crackers, sushi and other items, all of which Sue quickly found and began to spoil her appetite with.
So, we ate the more expensive noodles out of my food money, seasoned them with ginger which I could have probably gotten cheaper elsewhere, and sesame oil of which I bought a large bottle, which I will have to safeguard against its coming open in my backpack, like its predecessor did. Somehow she had lost the tupperware bowl, which I was going to use to heat up relatively cheap rice noodles in, which necessitated us purchasing the kind which come with a bowl at about 3 times the cost.
At one point, Sue was begging me to buy her a can of iced tea or something because it had Bob Marley depicted on the front. I think someone spoiled her somewhere along the line. She seemed to think that we had the entire balance of my food card at our disposal upon this one day.
I am way over budget on it, with 28 days left in the "month."
Sue and I got back "together," coincidently, right around the time that my card got re charged, but I don't think she pays attention to such details...
Take Sue with you hitching out here to California. A cute gal with a cat == win for hitching.
ReplyDeleteLots of panhandlers in Santa Cruz use cats, I've seen a lady put a $20 in the hat of a gal who had a black cat, I was hanging out with her a bit (which can be problematic, since panhandlers are not allowed to panhandle in groups, and they can get a ticket). Her boyfriend would work the other side of the street, with another black cat. There's also a guy (who can walk fine) in a wheelchair, he peddles it along with his toes, and has a big basket on it holding a cat and a sign, something like NEED MONEY FOR CAT FOOD, I think the cat is kept halfway zonked out on tranquilizers.
Puppies are always good too, when they get too old drop 'em off at the shelter and get another pup.
OK if you're not going to use Sue and her cat to beg and make some decent money, then you need a strap "yesterday" can you take an old torn T-shirt and string, anything, and make a strap? All you need is to fasten it to the guitar at each end, and it's nice if it doesn't dig into your back. That's why I'm thinking, use an old T-shirt rolled up, or part of one, and then use string on the ends to attach it to the guitar. That will get you playing standing up right away.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think you'll make about 2X as much if you are standing. Maybe this is why my experience (I mean, other than letting some kid "hold" my trumpet which to the kid apparently meant sticking the WHOLE MOUTHPIECE into his mouth, having a horrible case of the shits over the next week and losing 10 lbs and actually crapping my pants twice.....) playing trumpet was rather good, because you just can't play one of those sitting down unless you're Chet Baker and pumped full of heroin.
ReplyDeleteThe truth of the matter is, to make good $ you have to stand up, play "to" people etc. Since I have the ability - unusual in a beginner - to actually modulate my playing and play quietly, I used to pull shit like, seeing someone on a cell phone walk by, decrease my volume by about half until they'd gone by. I doubt they noticed but I like to think others observing me doing this would think it was cute. You also can't hide behind dark glasses because people can't see your eyes.
Every photo of your self you put on here, you always look ticked off. That's probably costing you $ too.