Ok, I'm at the Royal Coffee House,
and I have already lost the connection because I think that since I DIDN'T buy a coffee they are waiting until I finish my entry and then manually disconnecting me before I hit "publish."
@Alex in California: Don't rule out the 5 dollar fuel pump that can make it seem like it is the fuel pump after a butterfly flies into your tank as soon as you remove your gas cap and turn your back for "one second"
25 Bucks
Last night I made around 25 bucks.
Sue was with me but we had a falling out, after I said "lets go to Brother's Market to get something to eat, and she started to make a beeline for that place, walking way ahead of me and to the side, as if she didn't want any of the rich tourists to think that she was "with" me.
I stopped at one point and she walked a full block ahead before realizing or even caring enough to turn around and see that I wasn't with her anymore. I hate that. I like loyalty in a woman.
I finally just stopped and let her get way ahead of me, in her drive to get to Brother's (where I "would" spend $3.24 on a large batch of fries for her) and then I banged a left onto a side street, and went to Uniques for a last beer, letting her walk on with no desire to be seen with me or to talk to me or to have anything to do with me, until we got to Brother's, that is...
She will probably say that she had some good reason to act like she didn't know me on Bourbon Street, maybe it was for my own good, but, that is my peeve in a woman; when she acts like she doesn't know you. after she sat next to you all night and watched 25 bucks go in your case; and then became hungry from looking at it.
A lot of people stopped to pet Cookie, and I think one lady might have slipped a bill to Sue ("for cat food"). She would not tell me about it, I have found in the past; she would let me buy fries for her. None of the cat petters threw anything in my case.
It was just a half-assed night musically, I will admit. Tuning problems with the string that I have wound backwards on the machine.I am off to play now, It is Sunday and I woke up with $18 and change.
I have enough to go back to Baton Rouge and be miserably poor, at this point. This might be the start of the "slow season" here in New Orleans...time to thumb a ride to Texas (for real, this time, honestly...
I'm just about to walk to the front of the property where my car is right now and pull the fuel pump relay, since I talked with the guy I got the car from and he'd just replaced the fuel pump AND filter which is nice, but not the relay. And apparently those go out all the time. But it gets better: Seems what actually goes out in these relays, which are not relays but a module with a circuit board with a relay on it, are a couple of 22uF electrolytic caps on there, and I can pick up a pair of those at Radio Shack or anywhere. I can order the relay for $40 or so, but I kinda like the poetic justice of just re-capping it (and even if I end up getting a new one, I'm keeping the old one for a spare).
ReplyDeleteYou know, you sound like every homeless-guitar-guy ever, but if I were suddenly on the street I don't have the skill you have. I'd sound FAR worse. I tooted a bit on my new Lee Oskar harmonica in G yesterday, but it just doesn't "speak to me" and who knows, it may end up in a care package some time. I'm doing a fair amount of "soul searching" lately, for 3 reasons:
(1) I plan to take a week in Santa Cruz once the land-owner's back and have a little vacation time of my own - I want some activity to do there.
(2) I truly want a "lifeboat skill" in case I lose everything and become homeless again. Begging sucks!
(3) Right now, my alternative to living here is the homeless shelter. Pretty stark choices here. I want there to be a third choice. That means I want a way to make enough $ to afford a room or something, without having to own a lot of "stuff". I do great buying and selling stuff, but I don't want that to be my only bag.
Turns out it IS the fuel pump. Maybe the guy I got the car from just replaced it, maybe the replacement pump is a "rebuild" or something. I don't know. So, $70 for the new "relay" actually a module with a circuit board in it etc., and another $400 or so for a new fuel pump I think. That's what they are online. Of course online is ALWAYS more expensive so I'm guessing the fuel pump will cost me less than $200. That's what the guy I got the car from says they cost.
ReplyDeleteThere may be a fair bit of sense about being professionally homeless. I remember when my income was VERY low, realizing that I could have my motorcycle or I could have some savings in the Mason jar, but not both. It could be that a person can have a home, or they can have free time, but not both. Free time is by far the most precious commodity in our culture. Almost no one has any of it, not even the fairly wealthy. If I were homeless I'd have hours and hours a day to sing, write, draw, do caricatures, play the harmonica, anything.
First I have to pay off the money I owe to the land-owner here. Then, I can consider staying or leaving. It's just far too much work to simply exist here. And I've realized it's not a matter of doing some stuff and then life will get easier. It's going to be the way it is now, forever.
I loved your article.Really looking forward to read more.
ReplyDeleteI loved your article.Really looking forward to read more.
ReplyDelete