Summer's Almost Gone [Quarantine 2021]

Hello world, 

It's been a bit of a hiatus but now I'm back and hopefully will resume my regular scheduled programming, aka the blog and keeping up to date with things via blogging. First off, I'll describe the scene in regards to covid and work. 

Things have been going pretty well at the store although things could be better of course. My one complaint is that we lost the $5 increased pay and now I feel ever so sad that my paycheck isn't what it used to be. Yes, we deserve that $20 per hour and I hope we get it back considering that we're still in the midst of the pandemic. 

In terms of covid and everything there's been no new cases at the store. However, in terms of social distancing in the lines there's none of that. In addition, there's hardly any cleaning of any kind except for when customers ask us to clean the register belts when they look dirty. However, most customers are wearing masks so at least there's that. But there isn't much social distancing of any sort. 

I've just been coping with the sustained quarantines. I've been reading a lot per usual, chilling with friends, and enjoying life in general while social distancing. 

Right now I'm reading Ulysses by James Joyce. This is an amazing work of literature. It reads like an off the cuff stream of consciousness. Like a jazz song. I can't go into all the details here but it's something of a monumental work in the western canon. It reminds me of Coltrane sometimes, that sheets of sound mentality in the words and phrasing. 

The direction of the company at work has become a more severe one, in which the workers get exploited just a little bit more. I believe its because of the pandemic that this has happened. The fact that we only got the hazard pay for three months is a shame, we should be getting that pay during this entire period of the pandemic, considering we are frontline workers, around hundreds of people each day, putting our lives on the line to make groceries sales, beholden to the company to give us hours and paychecks.

The name of the game for me since covid has been finding a new way to live and I believe I've succeeded in that. I have friends, family, my job, my reading, my games, my guitar playing, everything seems to be falling into place despite the pandemic. I'm the kind of person who never gets bored so I've found this entire quarantine experience to be highly enjoyable and I've been able to spend time doing a lot of different and new things. 

For example, I started working on a lot of language learning, particularly Spanish, but I've also been learning French, German, and bits of other languages. I'm not saying I can become a polyglot but it is quite fun, entertaining, and something different to do rather than my usual. 

I've also still been jamming once a week with my saxophone player friend Jason Thomas. It's been going quite well and I've learned a lot about comping [accompaniment on guitar, rhythm] through our duo jam sessions. My sense of guitar chords has become vastly more interesting. 

Lastly, I've been reading a lot. My goal for this year is to read 50 books and I've already read 32. Check out my goodreads account https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/56122996-og-space to see all the great works of literature that I've been reading and/or have read. In a world of chaos, reading is the one solace I that puts my mind at ease. 

Want to read more about what it's been like working grocery retail during the pandemic? Check out my plague journal, where I've documented my version of events starting from the day before the pandemic was announced, check it out https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html.

Gracias por leer 

Bonne Nuit

Sacramento Vacation trip

I took a my first hippie road trip in California. I took the Greyhound bus from LA all the way to Sacramento. It's a long ride, eight hours away from my house, my friends, family, and job. It was a big undertaking because it's literally eight hours of being on a bus, but hey it's nothing I can't handle. My usual work shifts are eight hours, and this is supposedly for fun!

Anyways, the first day I got home from the bus and I was pretty exhausted. We had dinner at a hip sushi place. There were these fried sushi rolls that were delicious. And the place was super hip in the main part of town in Sacramento. Lots of hot girls on dates, all young people there. 

The second day we went to Effie Yeaw Nature Center, which is a giant open land of sanctuary. We saw a lot of animals; an owl in a cage in the visitors area [my favorite, the true mvp], a coyote [which everyone went gaga over], a falcon on a trainer's arm [that scared me], a mother deer and her young, turkeys, small birds, and even the Sacramento River. We stood near the River for quite a while, I may have been mesmerized by the rushing waters. I don't usually spend much time outside in the Valley, and when I do, I'm just walking back to and from work. So to be able to enjoy nature that much was quite something indeed. Almost metaphysical, magical, in a way. Zen. 

That night we had dinner at a traditional Korean place. I got a meal my father would eat, in fact I got it because it's usually his favorite meal at the Korean place we eat at in the Valley: ginseng chicken [cooking] in hot broth. This meal was so delicious. It was the best meal I had throughout the trip. On top of that the meals came with about a dozen sides; everything from pasta, kimchi, noodles, anchovies, tiny crabs, and more. I actually don't think I could find a better or more traditional Korean restaurant in the Valley near me. On top of that, at some point while eating my meal, I looked up and the place was packed, and we were the only non-Koreans!

The third day we went to Sutter's Fort and studied up on the history there. I bought a cheap bamboo flute souvenir there at the gift shop. Hard to play but fun! We had lunch at a terrific Mexican place nearby my friend's place here. I got a carnitas burrito and it was the best carnitas burrito I've ever had. We had cheap Chinese food for dinner and I got the hot tofu with pork, not bad, but this place was Chop Suey all the way. 

On the last day, today, 7/8/21, we went to the California History Museum, which is located inside the state's main government building. We spent a lot of time there. There were many posters in which I read everything from women's rights, Japanese internment, Chinese railroad workers, natives peoples of California, the missions, Spain and Mexico's connection to California, and more. It was quite a fun learning experience and just learning from that small taste has me more interested in the history and culture of America's greatest melting pot of a city, and it really is/was/shall be!

Our final meal was at Angry Chickz Nashville Hot Chicken. This was another hip place with mostly young people eating there. The chicken was very good. I got one chicken slider mild and another medium but there was like six spice levels, and I chose the lowest for safety reasons [lol!]. I thought the chicken tenders were very tasty but as my friend said, "you can taste how unhealthy this place is," that being said, the place was probably either my second or third favorite meal of the trip. 

A healthy meal we had was lunch today. We ate at a place called Pita Q, a Mediterranean place. I got a gyro pita. Vegetables, sauce, and gyro meat. Healthiest thing we ate and also one of the best meals [yes I say that about every meal]. 

The weather throughout the trip was 100 degrees. Which made the Effie and park trips more tiring. It should me mentioned that on one of our parks visits we saw a giant group of young men [all white] larping. Perhaps their moms or grandma's were there too as we saw a lot of older women sitting with them there too. Which is kind of funny. I guess if you're larping maybe you don't have a hot girlfriend to bring with you. So you could bring your grandma instead. My friend took pictures because it's really rare to see a big group of people larping.  

On top of that we went to a used book store and I finally found a physical copy of Kant's Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic Of Morals. It's quite a hard book to find in the Valley area so it was awesome to find it and I even read the entire thing in one sitting. It's a short introduction to his categorical imperative, morality/ethics, as well as the introduction to his ideas into the critique of pure reason. Worth buying and owning, and its a small book that can easily fit into my luggage. Philosophy, even on vacation!

It's been a pleasure. My friend is happy and safe. As am I. The trip gave me a lot to think about and a lot of time to think about it. Life is good and this is probably the cheapest and also one of the best vacations I've ever been on. I didn't do anything extravagant but sometimes you just need a few days away in Sanctuary. This was it. 

Thanks for reading and if you haven't gone yet you need a vacation. Take a few days off and go somewhere nice. Treat yourself. This trip gave me the reset that I probably needed years ago. My mind is refreshed and I'm ready for work on Monday morning.  

Minor note: I listened to a ton of jazz music and some classical over the trip, everything from Telemann to Bird to Miles to Trane to Bill Evans to Monk, pure bliss. At one point I think Monk's music transported me into the heavens. The picture used is of Fort Sutter. 

Live performance 6/30/21

 Had a good jam session today with my friend. Check the video here.

Thank you very much for listening. Please share, listen, critque, feel free to comment, like, and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Check out some of my other videos on there as well. 

guten Abend

Covid Retail Experience, One Year Later

Wie gehts? Guten Abend.

This is compare and contrast post. To start, begin by reading the covid retail experience one year ago when it first began. You can find it here. In addition, please check out my plague journal, which you can find here. That links to all my written documents documenting life during the pandemic, starting as early as the day before the pandemic initially began. I was at a punk rock concert then. Anyways, without further adieu, here's a rundown of the COVID retail experience, one year later. Also, feel free to checkout my virus science fiction short story, which you can find here. The story is inspired by working at a grocery store during a pandemic of all things. 

First, customers AND employees are no longer required to wear masks. This is huge! Most of the staff have wisely chosen to continue wearing their masks, including myself, because safety first and we're around many people each day on the job. About 1/4 of the customers are coming into the store maskless but the majority of customers are indeed wearing their masks. Smart. 

Second, I've been given the main role of morning cashier dude. All my shifts are mornings, same times, same days off, every week. It's  hard gig to get, and a hard gig to hold. The early mornings are something I'll never get used to. With great power comes great responsibility.

Third, most of the staff is vaccinated and the incentive to do so was a payment of $100 by our store director. A shot to be safe from COVID and money from our employer. Not too shabby! 

Fourth, at this current stage of the pandemic there's no messages to the employees from upper management or the store director or from low management to employees. So it seems they're taking the route of the city of LA, that COVID is down, and that it's almost nearly over for the most part so they don't have to say anything. They didn't tell us we could ditch the masks, rather it's just something I've noticed. I've noticed certain managers not wearing their masks, which is bad because it sets a bad example for their employees, that our workspace is safe from COVID still, despite the fact that we're on top of people all day long in small enclosed spaces. Yadda yadda yadda. 

Fifth, the work at the store has become easier and more smooth. My position just involves working with customers, ringing up items, cash handling, that's it. Meaning work is pretty easy although it gets old quick. C'est la vie. 

Finally, it should be noted that at this current stage of the pandemic the work environment has proven safe, with or without the mask. I occasionally take off my mask as I walk through the store and I feel safe. Upper management could've done a better job in regards to making sure the staff got vaccinated, [there are some who refused or still haven't been vaccinated, despite the $100 reward] and in addition they could have been more open with us regarding the rules and timings and days when the masks mandate was uplifted not only in LA but in the store, mask wearing as regards employees, etc. 

The way I found out was that my manager just one day wasn't wearing a mask. Is that the way the leadership is there nowadays? The manager takes off the mask while his employees keep wearing their masks? Questions there for sure. But for another time under a different sort of philosophical gestalt, if you will [isn't that what all of these are]. 

Thanks for reading. Keep calm and read on. 

Gute Nacht

Summertime 2021

How is life treating you? Well, things are getting better all the time, as the Beatles sang. It's summer, 2021, and life is pretty grand. I was left unscathed by COVID my whole time at work, and now I'm vaccinated as well, getting it early via my employment. 

Sometimes life feels like a jazz samba tune. You could say this is one of those times. 

I've been spending a lot of time reading books. A lot of science fiction, classics, philosophy, western canon. Jane Austen, Hegel, Hemingway, Sartre, Huxley, Joanna Russ, Robert Silverberg, Keith Roberts. The good stuff. Checkout my goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/56122996-og-space.

I still jam once a week, playing electric guitar, with my friend Jason Thomas on alto saxophone, you can find some of our recordings https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIrIXpTdHVM0VLWMB7Y84Hw. 

I've been on hiatus on writing lately because of the pandemic, and focusing more time to life, work, and people irl. 

Compare this post with summer of COVID post from last year, https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-summer-of-covid.html.

Crazy enough, I've made my own recorded documents about life since the day before the pandemic began, where I attended a punk rock show at the Maui Sugar Mill Saloon. You can find all the blogs, http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html. At the time I jokingly referred to it as my plague journal, as I was reading books such as The Plague by Camus and The Decameron by Bocaccio. 

Now that COVID is supposedly ending soon in the US, I can't help but feel that things will never be the same. 

I listen to a lot of jazz and classical music nowadays. 

Peace and Love

Live Jazz Performance May 10, 2021!

Here's a livestream performance from this afternoon, featuring Jason Thomas on alto saxophone and Orlando Figueroa, yours truly on electric guitar and effects. It's mostly improv but we also added Miles Davis' Freddie Freeloader into the mix. Thanks for listening! Don't forget to like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. Stay safe! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUi49tbbhRM&ab_channel=MegaFigueroa007

A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms is a terrific and thought provoking novel written by Ernest Hemingway. It tells the somewhat story of love, death, and war that is based on Hemingway's actual war experience in the first world war. The book was published in 1929 but not in published in Italy until 1948 because the way Hemingway depicted the Italian battles were seen as anti-militaristic by the Italian government and could have been detrimental to the war effort. Hemingway wrote no less than some thirty nine different endings to the novel until he picked the one he ended up with. What makes this book great, terrific, and probably his best novel, and best known work?

Well, the book describes three different things superbly. Love, war, and death. These themes permeate the literature of the western canon and Hemingway's depiction of the first world war is probably one of the best descriptions of war in the western canon. Especially modern warfare. Remember, when this came out in 1929 there was no realistic depiction of modern warfare in fiction. You end up really living the life of this soldier, how he gets wounded, how he falls in love, how he talks to and works with his officers. You get the feeling that this was really how it was on the battlefield. A lot of the off duty time of the officers was spent on drinking, drinking, and drinking. Alcohol appears in endless scene after scene and it permeates throughout Hemingway's life, continuously leading to his suffering. 

Another important theme was love. We get the feeling at first that our young Frederic Henry is wounded and just wants a girl to pass the time until his recovery. What instead happens is that he falls in love with her, but is it really love? The circumstances of war were excruciatingly difficult especially with his war wound [a shell hit him in the leg], not to mention his surgery to his knee. So what we have is a wounded soldier and a lonely nurse. It's a match made in heaven. 

Lastly, it must be mentioned the theme of death. Death appears many times. A fellow friend and officer gets shot down out of nowhere for no reason, but when Frederic and another officer go out into the open, nobody shoots them, and they walk past both German and Italian soldiers unmolested. 

Now, the most striking part of this book for me was the ending. The nurse is pregnant and gives birth but nearly dies. Frederic hates the baby and states within himself, "I care nothing of fatherhood of it, it nearly killed its mother," which goes back to the Greeks, the idea of the father hating the son because he could take his place in the patriarch of the family. However, in this case I prefer to see it as Hemingway's allegory for war, meaning that war is a ghastly nihilism, no good will ever come of it, it brings only evil and destruction and misery. To add insult to injury, the baby ends up dying and our young father is relieved. 

That ending knocked my socks off because although it seems simple I found it to be philosophical, a display of existentialism in fiction format. It's an ending I will never forget. Something sort of like what Tolstoy did with War and Peace, it was a fictional novel but parts of it translated into philosophy, at least in my viewing. Obviously you can make the case that Hemingway's take on war is that it is terrible and must be eradicated at all costs. Although the first 140 pages focus on the romance, the rest of the novel is thrilling, moving, and mindful. A must read for the western canon, a must read Hemingway, a must read war novel, and a must read novel for all. 

Want more Hemingway? Check out my blog post about Hemingway's Spanish American war novel For Whom The Bell Tolls https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/03/for-whom-bell-tolls.html.