Archive for May, 2010

Day After Day

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Well a week from today I will start working for the Symbionese Liberation Army. I’m understandably nervous. Tomorrow I am going in to see Cinque who has some paperwork for me to fill out and also a photo session of me wearing a beret and standing in front of a poster of the Hydra.

I’m sure there is really nothing to be nervous about, I’ve worked retail before. There are some routine things to do when opening up the store, things that I’m sure I’ve done before. I will find out more tomorrow.

Last night I didn’t do much of anything. I made sure Lawn Hors d’œuvre was being recorded for Bill, but Bill had set the timer beforehand. And Sure enough, just as the show was starting Bill walked through the door, saying it was a coincidence that he was home just as it was starting.

Yeah, right.

Whatever he wants to believe but I have a pretty good idea that Bill hustled to get home in time. It was a good episode, the series finale. It really did not seem to be a good idea to pull the plug on it when if they had one more year they would have broken the Gunsmoke record for longest running show.

But that’s the way they did things. And the Lieutenant got a positive message from her oncologist at the end.

I spoke with Harpy a little while ago. He loved the Lost finale whereas I loved all of it except for the last 5 minutes. Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?

And I could not help but think of Mary Provost when Vincent appeared in Jack’s last moments. It’s the natural order of things. Sooner or later that smell of blood will overcome the Labrador’s hunger pangs.

What else is going on? I’m not participating in whatever performance will be taking place in Hamilton NY like I was asked months ago. It was the impetus for my playing guitar every day. But even though I think I’ve gotten better on guitar, there will be no performance.

I sort of found that out the other day when I decided to talk to one of the friends that was really bumming me out and making me feel resentful. This friend kept making plans for me to act in a movie, or lend my voice for a voice over or perhaps even join me when I would play by the river.

All three situations, I made myself available. Things fell apart on their end and I did not appreciate not hearing about it, just basically leaving me twisting in the wind.

And so goes the performance in Hamilton. No Art Hams reunion. C’est la vie. I’m just glad I practiced.

Today being a gorgeous day, I went out to the Pier A area with my guitar and strummed for about 3 hours. I have about 10 songs under my belt that I know inside out, though singing those songs is a different story.

Like I’ve written before, when I’m alone (and I’m alone 99.9% of the time) I just strum and do not sing. If Tariq is there I sing, if Rand is there I sing. But solo, no singing.

The plan was to strum and perhaps even busk, once I was good enough, in the vicinity of Central Park. Now with the weather getting to be splendid, I won’t be doing that. Or maybe I will on my days off.

At this moment, 18:56 on May 25 2010 it doesn’t seem likely but then again, anything is possible. Last autumn, it was that kid Tim that lit the spark and got me outside with the guitar, perhaps there will be someone else to inspire me once again.
NJ Governor Chris Christie: "Where's my CAKE?"
NJ Governor Chris Christie: ‘WHERE’S MY CAKE?’

Day-O (Banana Boat Song)

Monday, May 24th, 2010

The day after. The first day of the week. As Bill put it last night, my last week of freedom. Oh I hated to hear that, but then again it wasn’t like it was a sweet freedom. Nae, far from it.

Stress upon stress and the occasional depression. And working at the Scientology Center seems like the way to go. Got my E-Meter all set and I have the Dianetics book and audio book.

I played guitar for about an hour or so before it got drizzly. Tariq stopped by, he was on his way back to his studio. He hung out after playing a song for a young hottie from the Wiley building. The song was Staind. Or by Staind. I don’t know. He did a good job of it though.

After young hottie moved on Tariq asked me to play some songs so I did. Each time I finished one he would ask for another. We wound up leaving together, I left him at 7 Star Pizza as I walked around the park instead of through it. Too many kids just out of school.

HERE BE SPOILERS.
Last night was the Lost finale. I am of two minds of the show. There were some truly touching scenes, tear inducing segments. Jin & Sun, Charlie & Claire, Sayid & Shannon. Juliet & Sawyer was the reunion that gt me misty as well as having me applaud at the commercial break. The separation of the two of them was truly heartbreaking and it was so emotional when they met again.

I think it was even more resonant than Jack & Kate. Their sad farewell on the cliffs was quite nice, better than their own reunion in the alternate universe.

The look on Jin & Sun’s faces when Sawyer walked into the hospital room was humorous. The best though was definitely Jack & Hugo. The anguish of Hugo when he realized that he would probably never see Jack again was so sad.

The bond, the love between them for each other was palpable. And even the scene between Hugo & Ben was nice, in both universes, sadder outside the hall. Ben staying outside, Hugo going back in. With all the shit Ben threw on the Lost people, there’s no way they could justify having Ben in there, even though Ben had a few changes of heart the past season.

The score reminded me of Lord of the Rings, specifically the ending of Return of the King. Maybe that’s just me, but it seemed quite similar though the emotions the music conjures were certainly very close.

I read on JoeMyGod, a comment that mentioned it was 6 seasons of Our Town. For me, it was An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, the longest nano-second. Chris Stein of Blondie wrote on Facebook that it was a cop out, using The Sixth Sense plot line.

Did anyone notice Sawyer & Miles on the plane, when Sawyer boarded as they were escaping the island?

Miles: Way to wait till the last second.
Sawyer: Good to see you too Enos.

Sawyer called Miles, Enos in the alternate universe and as far as I know on the island life, Miles was always Miles.

With all the good performances from the cast, the ending was rather flat. I would give the acting an ‘A’, but overall it gets dragged down to a ‘B’ with the ending.

I’ve seen it twice and I appreciated it a little bit more today than I did yesterday but then again once again I was moved by the performances.

I never saw Star Trek: generations but it was remarked that Locke’s death resembled Kirk’s passing. I will have to ask Bill about that.

What did you all think?
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SO, when does the movie come out?

For Today I Am A Boy

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

So tired. I’m pretty sure I am more tired today than I was after bicycling yesterday. Today’s fatigue is mainly from chasing Alexander around. Yes, he’s now in his 2′s. Stine once again planned an excellent party at Van Saun Park in Paramus NJ.

She had a party there last year and today was even better. Lots of food was prepared. All of it good. Stine is an excellent cook. The day started early, Julio and I with Alexander riding up to Van Saun Park to set up everything, move picnic tables and unpack various coolers.

I volunteered to help since I knew Julio would need my help and any opportunity to spend time with Alexander is always a good thing. After we unpacked everything Alexander took off to a play area, designed for 4 to 6 years, but Alexander doesn’t like to play in areas designed for his age group.

That left me chasing after him to the best of my ability. It was like that most of the day. Julio was busy grilling, Stine busy setting up the tables and making sure everyone had food to eat and beverages to drink.

It was up to me to play my part as the ‘manny’. And it was mostly a pleasurable experience. He held my hand when needed, and paid attention to me when he had to. The weather report mentioned scattered showers so I wore jeans and work boots since in case it rained, I wouldn’t want to get too muddy.

No one likes a muddy manny.

But despite the gray storm clouds in the distance it didn’t rain. It was quite muggy though. The food was excellent, the standard picnic fare, hot dogs, hamburgers, cole slaw, potato salad, salad salad. And a few birthday cakes which were quite good.

Stine definitely made a lot of food and of course I stood to benefit from the overabundance, which I did since my refrigerator now has a lot of food in it. I ate a lot today so I’m not hungry now, but it certainly won’t last past tomorrow. I’m looking at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I will be sated.

I helped them lug all the food and presents upstairs. Though the day was pleasant enough, I did find Alexander filling the role of the terrible 2′s. At one point he had one of his cousins toys, some cart that gets pushed around and Alexander pushed it around and around.

I didn’t want to stray too far from the group so I tried to get Alexander to circle back but he was most resistant to the idea, enough so that he was screaming ‘Ni ni ni’ pronounced ‘nigh’ it’s Danish for ‘No’. I did get my way and we headed back and I situated him amongst his family.

About 5 minutes later I was looking around and noticed Alexander missing. I mentioned to Stine, ‘where’s the baby?’ and she looked around frantically as did I. We spotted him about 50 feet away pushing that cart and headed to a play area on his own.

I ran over there and got him, gathered him up under one arm and carrying the cart in the other. He was screaming ‘Ni Ni Ni’ and wheat I believe was ‘Let Me Go!’ really putting up a fight. He looked at me as if I betrayed him badly.

Basically he was overtired, over stimulated and still trying to figure out his boundaries. I felt bad but as I had hoped, he forgot all about it 20 minutes later.

That’s it for me, I wanted to write before Lost comes on tonight and I do not expect to answer the phone or do much else but watch the show for the next 3.5 hours. Under the Wire.
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For the Turnstiles

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

Well Bill just came home. I’ve been home for a while. Went bicycling this afternoon. First time in a few weeks. Rode up to North Bergen, a little north of the Galaxy apartment complex.

I rode along the Hudson Waterway. The neglected side, the New Jersey side, not the Manhattan side. It’s changed since last summer when I last rode up there.

Buildings sprouted up, fences erected. Still could use a lot of work. It’s not a continuous walkway. There are parts where you have to ride on a sidewalk next to River Road. The cars go very fast on River Road, almost but not quite highway speeds.

I believe the law states that the people should have access to the river. The developers and I suppose the residents of these new buildings would rather the people did not have access to the river, so parts of the walkway are incomplete. Suddenly ending.

No signs saying the walkway is ending. It just goes from pavement to rocks. That’s fine if you have a mountain bike, it’s fine if you have a hybrid, but I have a street bike with thin tires so it doesn’t make for an easy ride.

I made the most of it of course, carrying my bike on my shoulder when needed. I went as far as I thought I could without having to deal with cars zooming past and then turned around and headed back south.

On a break I sat on a bench and looked at the river. Another cyclist clad in a Campbells Soup cycling attire stopped by and was taking pictures of Manhattan. I saw he was trying to take a photo of himself with the city in the background, so I asked him if he would like me to take his picture.

He was grateful and I took his picture. We chatted, his name was Chris and he was from Belgium. He was staying at a hotel in Jersey City and I remarked I was on my way to Exchange Place. He didn’t know about the waterfront walkway and had ridden up through the streets.

Luckily Weehawken and Hoboken was better suited for bicycles and I showed him the way back, past where I am usually strumming my guitar by Pier A. There was some event going on Pier A and it was crazy crowded. I was glad I wasn’t there.

We walked our bikes through the train station and I got Chris headed in the direction of his hotel. He went his way, I went mine and sat for a little while in the Exchange Place area just chilling and watching the river flow.

After a little while of that and talking with my sister on the phone I headed back up towards Hoboken. While riding through Newport I passed Juan Melli who I know through Facebook and we chatted for a little while.

I congratulated him on his new job in Hoboken City Hall, telling him that I too have a job, being the director of a new Manhattan Project, being a nuclear physicist and all that entails. Juan was headed to Liberty State Park and headed off in that direction and I headed north to Hoboken.

Pier A was still hopping as I sat an a bench nearby. Some guy asked if he could take my photo with a professional camera and I said sure. I asked him what it was for and he said it was for his own use so I guess I might be a pinup in Nuclear Physicist Fancy one of these months.

Came home, helped Julio bring in some stuff for Alexander’s birthday party tomorrow in Van Saun Park. I also saw my friend Lois. We had a much needed talk and things were ironed out quite nicely.

That’s about it. Right now watching a recap episode of Lost before the big 3.5 hour finale tomorrow night.

I will start work in one of these buildings on June 1

I will start work in one of these buildings on June 1


Or maybe one of these buildings

Or maybe one of these buildings


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Self portrait

Self portrait


Clarice Starling

Clarice Starling


Hoboken from Jersey City

Hoboken from Jersey City

For Once In My Life

Friday, May 21st, 2010

You’d think that since I got my OB/GYN license and will start my practice next month I would be in a good mood. And I was in a good mood for most of yesterday. Pretty much happy, texting with friends and generally living in the moment.

I sat on the front steps, smoking a cigar and reading Uncut magazine with Kate Bush on the cover. Saw Rob La Rosa walking by and chatted with him. Talked to Julio on the phone before I came upstairs to watch some comedy on NBC.

Community was good, but not as good as the Paintball episode. Parks and Recreation was OK, merely OK. The Office was good, mainly because of Kathy Bates. That was also when Bill came home. Sitting on the couch he remarked how that woman reminded him of Kathy Bates.

Then came 30 Rock which was pretty funny, perhaps the best of the four. Had the classic line, ‘I’m suing you, I’m suing Vagisil and I’m suing this baby.’.

I saw that there was a documentary on Tito Puente at 10:00 so I changed the channel so Bill would enjoy that. He did. It was his father’s era, and apparently his father grew up on the same street as Cuban Pete who it was said was the greatest dancer back then.

Bill went to bed after that, I stayed up and watched whatever was on. A little before 1:00 I decided to go to bed after taking a melatonin.

It was quite warm and with my thick hair, (hair, not head) it wasn’t easy to fall asleep. Bill was feeling cuddly last night for the first time in a while and after a half hour I got back out of bed, argued with some Libertarian online and took another melatonin.

When I finally did fall asleep it wasn’t restful. In fact I had some awfully violent dreams. Too gruesome to write about, I’d rather forget them.

In the morning, as he left for work, Bill was a prince, kissing me goodbye and telling me how happy he was that I found a job as an OB/GYN.

Eventually I got out of bed and started my day, but a melancholia settled in and I found myself terribly depressed.

I decided to head into the city and check out some art, specifically the ‘Remember the Upstairs Lounge’ at the No Longer Empty art space on 447 w 16th street, next to the Highline Ballroom where Bill, Juan and myself had that ‘ecstatic’ night last summer. Or rather Juan and I had the ecstatic night and Bill chaperoned.

Remember the Upstairs Lounge was based on a fire at a second floor gay bar in New Orleans in 1973. 37 people died in the fire. Gasoline was in the air, leaving people to think it was arson but the New Orleans Police didn’t care enough to pursue any detective work and the case went cold.

The exhibition was a recreation of the Upstairs Lounge, photographs of some of the patrons and some 1973 beefcake photos of Burt Reynolds and Mark Spitz.

Since it was 1973 and gay liberation hadn’t really caught on besides NY, San Francisco and Los Angeles, no identification was found on the bodies since the victims were more than likely closeted.

Another sad fact was that the Catholic diocese absolutely would not allow any church services for the victims. Scumbag motherfuckers they were and still are. Actually that’s not right, they’re not motherfuckers, they’re child fuckers.

The Reverend Troy Perry of Bill’s former church, the Metropolitan Community Church stepped up and performed whatever religious requirements the community need. Bill and I met Troy Perry a few years ago.

Nice guy, has to travel with bodyguards since an out gay man ministering to the LGBT community might as well have a target on his back, even though I think he might be retired now.

I definitely did the right thing, heading into the city and seeing some awesome (in the truest sense of the word) art.

It was a beautiful day and not too many people around. And I’m feeling a lot better.
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Fortune (cookies) on the go

Fortune (cookies) on the go

For No One

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Well it’s been a special day for me. I am quite glad. Susquehanna here I come, right back where I started from! Yes indeed. Broad Street, where the broads are is in the future. Not my future perhaps. But the future nonetheless.

I was offered a job and I took it. Leaving Sally in the alley. I’m quite happy. Not so much for the money but the incentives and whatnot should make up for it.

Suckling at the teat of the United States, though refreshing and I admit a bit kinky, hasn’t been the roll in the hay as they might say in Bala Cynwyd.

I’m sure to know all about Bala Cynwyd down the line once Susquehanna Investment Group shows me it’s spread sheets, at which I excel.

It was a comedy today. I decided to take the subway rather than sweat my was to the offices and found a rest room to freshen up in since I was early enough.

I decided to use some paper towels to mop myself up and in so doing cut my hand. I didn’t think it was so bad but then it started to bleed. I was trying to tie my tie and in so doing the back of my hand rubbed against my shirt leaving smears of blood.

That couldn’t look good. And the tie was a mess and needed to be tied. There I was in the mens room muttering ‘fucking hell’ loud enough for the stall set to hear. I didn’t care, I was bleedin bleeding.

So I wound up using water to rinse out the blood stains and eventually did tie my tie. In the interview, we sat, we talked, me with suit buttoned up to cover the blood.

I was offered the position we talked about last week and I played coy.

Actually I played Koi, doing my bit of the interview like a fish, my hands flapping on the side of my face, gill like, and my mouth making ‘O’ shapes, resembling a fish. They loved it and I believe my jumping into the pond is what set me apart from the other applicants.

A nice walk to Times Square was in order where I saw Bill who was positively ecstatic about the job offer. So ecstatic that we walked over to Godiva and he bought me a bag of dark chocolate truffles. Yum.

Not exactly fish food but celebratory in any event. Rode back to Hoboken on the Path train and getting off in the Hoboken station, who do I see heading into the city, but Tariq. Twice in two days.

He was off to Washington Square and I was headed to the rest room. I wished him good luck busking in the park and I continued on my way.

Stopped by the Guitar Bar where I told Jim Mastro and he too was quite happy on the job offer. Texted Brian, Julio, Harpy and Pedro. They responded in order, Great news!, Great!, Hooray and ‘LOVE IT! You’re the man Son Son.

I don’t know why, but Pedro always calls me Son Son despite the fact that I’m a few years older than him.

So all in all it’s been a good day, the weather has been gorgeous. Already I’ve gotten the ‘welcome to the family’ email from the Susquehanna Sallies. It’s been a good day, wouldn’t you say?

That's my Bill

That's my Bill


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