johnozed

Editrix Harpy called last night with some more suggestions that I don’t recall at the moment. Maybe a bagel will jog my memory. Nope. It ain’t happenin’. It’s awfully hot out. 87 degrees and thick as hummus once again. It’s gross out. Hardly anyone on the street. Shade is a commodity outside. Inside too. I suppose I’m in my man cave. It’s relatively dark and musky. No wait, not THAT man cave, I mean the apartment. It’s usually nice with a cross ventilation going on but not right now. It’s a warm breeze that flows through, which is better than no breeze.

I made my errands early before it started scorching and I decided to head over to Governor’s Island to see the ‘In the Pocket’ series, featuring a Bhangra vs. Reggae Inna Sound Clash planned to meet Carla the receptionist and her friend Millie. It was supposed to start at 1:00 so I decided not to do the laundry until later so I could leave the apartment around 11:45. I didn’t know whether or not to take a bus or the train so I made my mind up when I got to Washington Street and went for the bus. Air conditioned and less people.

Here’s selections from today’s notebook.

On the 126 to Manhattan. Going to Governor’s Island to see the Sound Clash that Carla has been talking about. She went to see Camera Obscura last night at the South Street Seaport, and I begged off, because of the pissy mood I was in yesterday, not feeling better until about an hour or so after I wrote last night’s blogarama. Never been to Governor’s Island before so it seems out of the ordinary, not out of the way.

Saw Ally Politkowski riding a bike on Washington Street not wearing a helmet and sweating profusely. We mainly chatted about Steve Fallon. Ally goes down to Rehoboth to visit Steve and Arnold from time to time. Ally is now working for the Associated Press. He’s a nice guy, but I don’t think he’s a writer, or creative like that. I don’t mean that as an insult. He’s a sweetheart.

Got a phone call from Pedro inviting me up to Otisville. Why does he wait until the last minute to invite me? I mentioned next weekend, since I already had plans. Next weekend is Labor Day weekend so that might work though Pedro is not so sure if it will. He’s trying to get as much overtime as possible.

Also got a phone call from Julio who was talking about going to the beach, having loaded up his trunk with beach equipment. When I heard that I was all set to jump off the bus. But I knew deep down that it was too late to go to the beach. It was after 12 noon and most of the beaches would be crazy crowded by the time we would get there. Tomorrow is up in the air, hopefully like a Frisbee.

Saw two children with lousy parents or guardians on the train this afternoon. One kid got hit in the neck accidentally by his one eyed, toothless guardian who told the kid to watch were he was going. The other kid was a few minutes later who was standing up until his father put him down really hard on the train seat making the kid cry. One of the kid’s brothers was trying to calm him down, but the boys teenage mother told her to let him cry, he only wants attention. The little kid just sat there after he was all cried out giving his father the death stare. I just hope these boys don’t wind up in the New York Post.

Here’s some pics of Governor’s Island.
Leaving Manhattan

Approaching Monster…ummm…Governors Island

Radical Ferries

A walk a way

Girl on stilts with her Dad

Ol’ whatsername

Some people

Carla and Millie

Me and Carla

Keepin it Gully

It’s Friday and I’m in a bad mood. I suppose I was due for a bad mood, things had been going relatively ok the past few weeks. Now I hold most everyone in disdain. That includes friends, and it almost includes Bill. He’s thisclose but since his father isn’t doing so well, he’s not on the list of the disdained. I figure if no one wants to hang out with me, fuck ‘em. I don’t want to hang out with them either. It all fell apart, or fell together these feelings I currently hold. I didn’t want to go to work today but of course I had to. That was the initial feeling I woke up with. A disappointing way to wake up if you ask me.

Here’s some notes I wrote in my notebook. It comes in handy for moments like this.

On the Path train. To my right is the conductor doing chin ups as the train rolls from 33rd street to 23rd street. The office closed early today which for me is too late. I would have preferred leaving the office at 10:00 after putting in two hours. Once again the AMEX bill I thought I finished two months ago comes back to bite me on the ass. Such a waste. The paperwork I submitted can’t be found, it’s gone missing. People can be such stupid scumbags sometimes.

I walked to the bus terminal after work, taking my time, enjoying a Padron on my way. Once inside the terminal, I turn a corner and see a very long line of people waiting for the bus to Hoboken. I am in no mood to wait on line with these fucking idiots and I decide to walk to the Path train instead. Trying to walk on the shadow side of Eighth Avenue since the sun is finally beaming and it’s 85 degrees out.

I passed so many people looking for money, for drugs, to get home, for whatever. I am in no mood and glide on by. I get to 32nd street to catch the Path train when I spot an elderly gent who’s blind trying to walk against the crowds of people who want to get to Penn Station. I ask him if he needed help and he said that he did. I offer him my arm and it’s off we go. Bog old me, shielding him from the salmon swimming upstream to their Long Island trains.

His name was Ed and being an old man, he takes baby steps, or in this case old man steps. What should have been a 10 minute walk to the corner turns into a 30 minute walk. He did appreciate my assistance and also probably appreciated having someone to talk to and look out for him.

Ed was from Newark and now he lives in Port Washington. He used to work for B. Altman for 35 years and he was in the city for a haircut from the same woman who has been cutting his hair for close to 30 years. It used to be $2.00 for a haircut. Now it’s $14.00.

I walked Ed to 33rd Street and Broadway where there was less people and he was comfortable enough to continue on his own. I hope he gets back alright.

Now I’m back in Hoboken and I don’t care to see or hear from any of my friends. It’s easier to say that now, than to be disappointed when they don’t call or show up later. And what I mean by later, I mean over the weekend.

It’s a few hours later and I’ve mellowed somewhat. Most chill.

Thursday again. Started out 62 or something like that, and very humid. Work a suit jacket and nice trousers and a green striped Gap shirt that Julio got me for an Xmas present a few years ago. By the time I got to the office, it was drenched. I am happy to report the cell phone fiasco has been taken care of and I am off the WiFi, back to regular celliness. The connection at home wasn’t that good and I found myself standing outside of T-Mobile or Starbucks where the cell phone company has hot spots, standing there for 5 minutes trying to get hooked up into their WiFi zones. I don’t think I’ll be listening to David Pogue in the New York Times technology section anytime soon. He’s the one who turned me onto the idea of going WiFi, so enthusiastic he was. Pogue Mahone David Pogue.

Work was busy and once again quiet. Vivek, who has toned down his ranting bought pizza for the office which was nice. Back to salads tomorrow though. Boring yet healthy, which is so like me. There were a few errands around midtown today which I gladly did. Not that I don’t like being in the office, but come on, an opportunity to get out of the cube and just wander around midtown is nice. I do enjoy Turtle Bay, if I had the money I’d take up living there. I can see myself, knocking on Stephen Sondheim’s door, asking to borrow some sugar. I can see myself, being served a restraining order to keep at least 50 feet away from Stephen Sondheim.

Had two realizations today.
One was while walking across Third Avenue and realizing that the sidewalk or the street under my feet could explode at any moment, much like what happened on Lexington Avenue last month. I like to think that I’ll be fast on my feet and run the hell out of there. That’s what I’d like to think, meaning I’d have some sort of control over the situation. Of course, there is no control, only chaos.

The other realization was related to Generation X. I read that book by Douglas Copeland in the nineties and didn’t really like it much. There were some parts that I did enjoy and agreed with. Like how the baby boomers (of which I am at the tail end) had a lot going for them, then when they had kids, Generation Y if you will, had all things focused on the offspring. It’s true and I see it more and more these days. Once again, my age group has been totally passed over. It could be our fault, waiting for things to happen instead of making it happen.

Yeah I know whine whine whine. But it was a realization, and not definite since nothing is really ever definite is it?

Bill is staying with his mom who is flipping out over the fact her husband, Bill’s dad, is in the hospital. Bill’s dad is doing better and will be staying in a Veteran’s Administration hospital in St. Albans, Queens the next two week. I explained to Bill last night it might be a good idea for him to spend more time with his mother while his father is away. It’s a better idea than recording a cd with his voice on it so his mother could just play the cd while Bill is at work so she won’t be too lonely.

This is from a group I get emails from. I haven’t participated yet, just due to laziness and/or forgetfulness. Oh but I plan to.
check it out, cut and paste

http://www.improveverywhere.com/2007/08/22/the-mp3-experiment-four/

and these were from 15 minutes ago

Today is Wednesday. Today is Annemarie’s birthday! Happy Birthday to Annemarie! She saw Talk to Me over the weekend and I think she loved it. I burned a CD of 70′s Soul hits and put it the package with the David Sedaris recommendations (Dorothy Parker, Flannery O’Connor) and other CD’s as well as The Word magazine from the UK and a few other things, some still to arrive. A pretty good issue that I was more than glad to send over to the west coast. I would have bought a new copy but it was two months old when I bought it already and other copies of the same issue were in really bad shape. But who cares? It’s Annemarie’s birthday!

Work was good, not too much to do once again. Wound up leaving the office around 3:15 to go to Chinatown to order some business cards for someone in the office and for myself. I guess it’s official, I am an office manager. Once again it was a gray day, and though it wasn’t raining it was humid humid humid. Everything damp, water in the air, but not falling down. It was also 58 degrees this morning so I dressed up again, though not with a tie this time. I looked good, maybe a little too Sopranos. Gray suit, black pinstriped shirt, gray thick and thin over the calf socks. All I needed were some gold chains around my neck and maybe a nice gold chain for my wrist. But no, not my style. Not into the bling.

I did enjoy a nice Padron 5000 natural after leaving the printer. I thought I would have enough time to smoke it walking from Centre Street to the World Trade Center Path train. It turns out I didn’t so I sat in a concrete park under a tree by the various courthouses downtown and happily puffed away. After a while I was able to time it and finished it by the time I got to the train. It’s little things like that, that make it worthwhile. Got to Hoboken, all safe and sound.

I was walking up Washington Street when I decided to send a text message to Annemarie, to wish her a Happy Birthday once again. Not so fast. The phone wasn’t on. Did I turn it off somehow? I just got the phone 13 days ago and still trying to figure it out. I turned it on. It turned itself off. I turned it on again and it turned itself off again. That’s odd. Luckily I just passed a T-Mobile store so I turned around and walked in. I spoke with Jennifer Malik who couldn’t help me since I didn’t have the receipt on me, nor did I have the box the phone came in.

Apparently I was supposed to carry them around, both the box and the receipt. Jennifer tried to plug in the AC to see if the battery was dead, but couldn’t figure out how to plug the adapter into the phone. Since I didn’t have those things I couldn’t be helped. I asked for a number to call and Jennifer gave me her card. I then asked to use their phone since mine was kaput. Jennifer reluctantly let me use the store phone.
Feel free to email Jennifer, jennifer.malik@t-mobile.com and let her know that she should have continued the course and gotten that GED.

The first person I spoke to on the phone, Angela 2972 was of little or no assistance and hung up on me when I asked if I could get credit for the time that my phone will be out. They offered to send me a battery and that would take 3 or 4 days. I called another number since Jennifer dialed some number that got me to Angela. It seemed like an odd number and I thought so when the next person I spoke to had no record of my conversation with Angela 2972.

This guy tried to help me, really he did but somehow I was passed off to someone else who couldn’t do that much. I came home and plugged in the new phone and that worked, but the battery was getting to be quite warm. I called up again and they tried to convince me to get a new phone. I told them I wasn’t too happy with the WiFi plan. Bill phoned in and suggested that I try the old phone. I did and the old fan was working just fine. I thanked Bill and got back on with T-Mobile and told them to cancel the WiFi. It wasn’t really working as good as I thought it would, or as good as the New York Times said it was. Stupid gray lady!
So I’m back to the regular cellphone and I’m pretty much happy about that. Actually I’m happy that I’ll be able to call Annemarie later and wish her a Happy Birthday once again.

Happy Birthday to Annemarie, the best sister in the world!

Rainy Tuesday. Relentless. Woke up this morning and it was 57 degrees out. I wore a suit yesterday since it was in the 60′s and since it was below 60 degrees this morning I wore a suit again. A different suit at that. I do love wearing a suit, though I am sure it throws some people off since basically for the past two and a half months I mainly wore casual collared shirts or a guyabera with khakis. This look is almost the exact opposite and it’s also the most comfortable look for me. And I get compliments for it.

Last night was a lot of fun, seeing Jim and Meghan and Lily and Ruby and the Jack of Hearts. Oh wait, the Jack of Hearts wasn’t there. It must have been the Guinness. I took about 60 pictures last night, and I had to pick the best and edit them down so they would be the right size for the blog. And on top of that, I had to write at least 500 words like I’ve been doing since October 2005. Tomorrow is Annemarie’s birthday and she got a package that Mina Theta sent her. Good old small mouthed Mina Theta brought to you as a courtesy of her parents and McMann and Tate. Thanks Mina!

I had nothing to read on the bus ride home tonight so I wrote instead. Old school, pen to paper. Here’s a bit of that.

On the bus, nothing to read so plan B. Write.

The usual Hobokenites pile on the bus, each body increasing the temperature inside. People are balking at having to stand for the 20 minutes rush hour ride back to the Jersey side. It seems old fashioned to be writing with a pen and paper. Most everyone else has their crackberries or their PDA’s, and one or two of them have laptops. I have a notebook and a black pen. Old school, that’s me.

Lot’s of rain today. Someone online in Colorado wants to make me rich. With my luck it’s probably a resident of the Overlook Hotel.

Work was calm, good and busy. Actually had things to do. Tomorrow I have to go down to Chinatown to order business cards for myself. Woo hoo. Hadn’t been in Chinatown since May.

I just texted Carla the receptionist about a FedEx I needed to send to Greg Stevens out in the Hamptons. She dropped it off for me. Carla is good. So much for being old school. One foot in the waters of the 21st century I guess.

“Alright, I’ll meet you there around 6:30”, the guy a few rows behind me talking on his cellphone.

Had a quick talk with brother Frank today, mainly about the Sunday night shows on HBO which we both watch. It was good and brief and almost like old times.

My handwriting isn’t as bad as I thought it would be (you can’t tell here) despite writing on a crowded bus rolling and rocking through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Finally back in Hoboken, the home of the vain. Saw quite a few cute guys on the street today. Even caught the eye of one of them who was checking me out as I lit my Padron cigar after work.

Have to learn to take photos unobtrusively. Sometimes I’m so self-conscious I don’t take the camera out. Other times if I feel that something is Art, I have no problem. I think it’s a Duchampian ideal. Or even Warhol-esque. Doesn’t matter since they are related after all.

Here’s something you may have seen before. Or maybe not. I haven’t seen the whole video from start to finish but it’s oddly compelling. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE VIDEO…..

A little later than usual though it’s still Monday as far as I can tell. Last night, Juan came over, watched Big Love with Bill and me. Juan was sangria’d out. Bill and I were pretty mellow. Juan couldn’t take another hour of polygamy so he split half way through and headed up the hill to Union City. Bill went to bed soon after that leaving me to watch the bad news broadcast on my own. I didn’t sleep well. Woke up earlier than usual, needed to pee, Bill on the toilet so it was hello empty Poland Spring water bottle.

Went back to bed after that only to wake up a half hour later and get ready for work. Bill was gone by then and before you know it I was out the door and headed to the bus stop. I passed Mr. L, my barber who’s barber shop was undergoing a make over by some company. Maybe it’s going to be broadcast on TV. Last week they created a man cave in the basement of a firehouse on Washington Street. They started yesterday and I guess today is the conclusion. Saws, drills and kleig lighting in the neighborhood.

Work was quiet, final weeks of summer make various people take them off, so a few people were out which made for a quiet office. I ran around doing errands for the office and also for myself. I felt a bit sad walking by Billie’s store since Billie went back to Washington DC on Saturday, with his training completed. I texted him wishing him a good morning. The other Bill, Bill’s father is slowly making progress after a tense couple of days. Thats a bit of good news. I left about 10 minutes early which was twenty minutes later than I wanted.

Came back home and changed my clothes. The Guitar Bar All Stars that I mentioned a few weeks ago were playing tonight. Unfortunately, it was drizzly so they moved the show indoors. Indoors to McSwells. I didn’t want to go there that’s for sure, but I rarely get to see Meghan and our daughter Lily, and Meghan’s daughter with Jim Mastro, Ruby. I should have contributed to Lily’s upbringing, but I couldn’t be bothered. Showing up once a year is alright by me and it seems to have worked out fine for the Mastro clan.

Meghan and I don’t have a daughter, it’s just that Lily looks like Meghan’s and my offspring. Ruby looks more like Jim. Just an odd fact.

So despite my mild protests I made it up to McSwells. It was British Invasion night and Lily got up on stage and jammed to London Calling by the Clash, and Ruby jammed to Submission by the Sex Pistols. Such talented kids. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt if dad (the other one) owns a guitar store. It was a lot of fun, albeit somewhat deafening at first. Took a few snapshots, though next time I’ve get to get up closer.

Here’s some pictures, not all from McSwells, but recent snaps.

Friday’s Clouds

Saturday Morning Sunrise

Stella,a sweet puppy belonging to Mike and Nicole next door

one more Stella

Ruby and Lily

Fred Smith and Jim Mastro

Sneaky shot of Meghan

Lily playing Sub-Mission

Ruby playing London Calling

3 out of 4 Mastros

Buzzed on two Guinness and tired after writing and editing photos I’m outta here.