A Bike Tomorrow

• 33 Dollar Follow Up To 169 Dollar Night
• 35 Dollar Night After That (Saturday)
• Ben Lambie Three Days Away

I sit here outside the Starbucks at the casino, using their wireless, "grasping it," but not sipping coffee. They are closed, yet the rest of the casino is in full spin, to use a roulette analogy.

I left the Uxi Duxi last (Saturday) evening, a bit after 8 PM, and after it had stopped raining.

We had gotten a surprise downpour, one of those "Holy cow, look at it come down out there" moments, just a little before 8 PM.

My really nice umbrella was still leaned up against the wall at the apartment.

I thought I was going to have to wrap the laptop in a plastic bag and then just get soaked along the 2 mile walk home. The trolleys weren't running, due to the "Endymion" parade, which ran along Canal Street, and past my apartment.

The new guy at the Uxi Duxi, whose name escapes me, allowed myself, along with the girl who often wears equestrian boots and her husband to sit in the place after closing time, as he had chores to do which would keep him longer, and we are all regular customers, so he wouldn't have to worry about the characters that he was locking in the place, along with himself (who would be counting cash, for one thing).

The girl who wears the equestrian boots had gotten married right there at the Uxi Duxi, to a young guy who hardly speaks because he is self conscious about his English. He speaks French.
So does the girl with the boots, but just a little. Enough to keep a marriage going, I guess they both think.

I walked back to the apartment, past crews with rakes who were cleaning up after the parade.

I found cups, balls that flash florescent light when you bounce them, an unopened bottle of Sprite, two unopened bags of pizza flavored bite sized snacks made with "real cheese," and more balls and Frisbees, and an unopened can of Rolling Rock beer, which I took with me, and then later gave to Carlos, who lives on my floor.

I knocked on Bobby's door at about 10 PM, thinking that I would just make a short social call, perhaps to apologize for having reacted angrily after he had implied that would naturally spend the whole amount that I had made the night before on the electric guitar which is on layaway at Guitar Center.

He didn't answer the door. He knows my knock and my schedule and thus who was there with 99% certainty, but he didn't answer. I figured that he was still stewing over the night before.
I still had weed left over. After having paid full price for it, I was using it a pinch at a time, no stopping to see "Hey, Daniel, please tell me you have some weed!" David the water jug player.

I got to the Lilly Pad to discover that the bar had set up some speakers and was cranking mostly rap music out into the street for the benefit of its mostly white patronage.

I had to move down a block to across from The Quartermaster, where I was able to make 33 bucks in a couple hours, not 169.

I went back to the Lilly Pad a bit before 1:30 AM, where the mostly rap music was still blaring.

After waiting to see if it would stop at 1:30, as if on a schedule, I left a few minutes later, after it hadn't.

An ounce of kratom, a pack of American Spirits, another shot at the Uxi Duxi (so I could sit there and use their wireless) along with a pack of batteries, can of cat food and coffee had set me back 25 bucks for the whole day.

I came out about 8 bucks ahead, "at the end of the day."

And Bobby is talking about me spending 165 bucks on an electric guitar?

I still haven't gotten over that, but am working on it.

I've been trying to "observe" the thoughts that come into my mind, not identify with them (as per the advice in "The Power of Now,":book that I'm reading) and also try to objectively perceive the emotions that I have, which are reflections of the mind, according to the author.

To realize that your thoughts come from your mind, which has been conditioned by past recollections and is under the influence of fear, produced by an imagined future, which might be horrible, and then to not identify with them...my mind is thinking this but my mind isn't my true self...is the point of the book, so far, at least, I'm only in the 5th chapter or so...

You can't go back and change the past, and the future doesn't exist, the only thing we have to work with is the present.

One of the most useful things I have found in the book is the advice to focus upon the present moment which might seem very boring, when your thoughts might be fixed upon what you are anticipating doing in a little while, or emotions that are hangovers from past experiences, rather than that particular boring moment. Focus intently upon the sounds, the smells and every aspect of the present moment, and you will encounter stretches where you are at peace and your focus is no longer upon the distractions of the future and the past. This might only last for a few seconds at first.

I have been kind of surprised by the thoughts and emotions that I have observed in myself.
Thoughts like "He's probably a bum and is going to ask me for something for free," is a good example of how I have been robbing myself of my own peace of mind.
After I become aware of the thought, but don't identify with it, I am actually able to look the people in the eye and seem to be relating better to them, in general.

But, off I go to the Lilly Pad now.
I should be set up and playing by 11:15 PM.
I hope the sound system has been squelched at Lafitt's.
I have done a shot of White Borneo kratom and have some weed to smoke. But, with all of this living in the present moment, maybe stuff like that will fall by the wayside.

A Bike

And, Ester, the Israeli woman whom I see on the trolley a lot, has a bike to sell.

My days of paying 3 dollars every morning on an all day bus pass may be over, once again.

She had mentioned it to me about a week ago. I forgot all about it and missed meeting her the next day, after she had ridden the thing to work for that very purpose. But, she stashed the thing there, where she will be working tomorrow (Monday) and I guess I will buy only a one way fare on the trolley to get there, planning upon cycling home. And to think Bobby's knee jerk reaction to my having a killer night was that I needed to spend it all on the guitar (while I had the chance) and forego things like the saving of 3 bucks a day for the foreseeable future on bus passes, a toilet bowl sanitizer, cat litter...etc. I guess it's a good thing I didn't listen to him.

Tomorrow, I will go to the coffee/cigar shop where Ester works to look at it and hopefully buy it, for hopefully not much more than 20 bucks. "Hi, Ester, I made 169 dollars Friday night...so how much do you want for the bike?"