Archive for July, 2010

« Older Entries

I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

It’s another late day, or rather late night. Not much to write about. So I’m doing a recap of previous July 31′s. Deal with it yo.

July 2006. I was working at Wolff Olins (McMann & Tate) and my final attempt at returning to Putnam Lovell NBF (Wanker Banker) was ending. Helen Angelakos put the kibosh on the situation which actually turned out to be a good thing.

It would have been too weird to go back anyhow. I suppose lifting the pox on the house of Angelakos should be lifted but I’m tired and it’s quite a heavy pox. It was a Monday and I think I spent the previous day at the beach with Julio & Stine.

July 31, 2007 was a Tuesday. I rode the bus with a woman who had dragon breath. I wanted to tell her but I didn’t. I guess there was no one in her world that was close enough to tell her that her breath was certain dead.

I heard from my Rasta pal, Marcus just catching up. It was probably the last time I heard from him. I hope he’s doing well.

I wrote about hanging out with Marcus at some West Indian ballroom somewhere on Church Avenue in Brooklyn as well as a brief history of hanging out with Marcus, Jesse and late Poncho.

July 31, 2008 was a Thursday since I guess that 2008 was a leap year. Stine and Alexander were in Denmark, tentative plans to go to the beach with Julio were in the works. I was working at Bio-IB, rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Sweating a lot. I wrote about crossing paths with a rolypoly guy who mirrored my every step. Trying to side step him, I wound up fingering his flabby gut. Not a nice feeling. The wonderful Andres Duque gave me advice via a comment about how you don’t look into the eyes of the person you’re trying to step around.

Useful information which I use to this day and the mirror effect of trying to sidestep someone rarely happens anymore thanks to Andres. Blabbeando indeed!

Last year’s July 31, involved my dear friend Billie getting his car stolen (later recovered I believe, and trashed).

I met an online friend named Tom at the Cigar Inn on Second Avenue. Nice guy, just a chat and a smoke and no funny business. His birthday was just the other day and I wished him a happy bidet.

I was just finishing my first month of being out of work and I guess it still really hadn’t set in. It really wouldn’t until the holidays when there was no work at Farfetched to be had since there was no more Farfetched.

I still had hope that work would be around the corner, I just hadn’t realized how long the block was that I was traveling and the corner would still be about 10 months away.

And now here I am in 2010 and the possibility of a new job looms on the horizon. Just a possibility of course, but hope remains.

John Ozed, July 31, 2007

Still taking Sundays off. No post tomorrow!

Tags:
Posted in What's for Dinner? | No Comments »

I’m Not Down

Friday, July 30th, 2010

A long day, and now I am tired. It’s been an interesting day but then again so are most everyone’s days, it’s just that they don’t notice how interesting things can be. Actually they’re probably not so interesting. I was just trying to make them feel better but it went nowhere.

And nowhere’s now here.

Bill was driving yesterday to the Catskills I believe, dropping off young Jewish women to a camp for Jewish women. He didn’t get home until late last night, early this morning while I was fast asleep. It was nice to wake up with his body next to mine.

I was up before Bill this morning which was a switch. He’s usually gone an hour or two before I wake up. I came home last night on the Willow Avenue bus and totally forgot that I needed to buy some coffee at Dunkin Donuts.

That meant I needed to take a shower and somehow deal with humanity without any coffee, and go out and buy some. I walked up to Washington Street and dealt with the idiots on line while joining the queue.

Took longer than I expected and then I walked over to the bagel shop where the line was too long and parrot face was behind the counter. Came home and fried an egg and finally used the new toaster oven then Bill and I had gotten for our civil union. It was decidedly toasteriffic.

Bill had gotten up and soon sat in the room while I watched the Today show and started getting ready for work.

Yesterday I had gotten an email regarding an interview for this upcoming Monday, and this morning she called me while I was on the bus headed into the Lincoln Tunnel. She asked if I had gotten the information that she had sent and wondered if I had any questions.

I do feel good about this position, albeit a little bit nervous. Not for the job, since it’s nothing that I hadn’t gotten before, but for the interview itself. I have to hit the right buttons, be on the mark.

There is still plenty of time to freak out about that. I was early getting to the cigar shop and settled right in. Marcus was in and told me my email was being set up as well as my business cards being prepared.

Oh, the guilt. I couldn’t say anything since I don’t know anything with regards to the other, well paying job. But it felt like I was settling in after 2 months of working at the cigar shop and now I was making moves to get out of there.

A nice discount on cigars is not really a reason to stay at the shop. And also my left knee has been hurting somewhat after having to stand up for 9 hours a day. Having to stand for 9 hours a day has been instrumental on my losing weight and that’s a good thing.

But the hours aren’t so good and the work week changes every week. I miss having a 9 to 5 or an 8:30 to 5:00 job, Monday through Friday.

I don’t enjoy this secrecy that I must maintain. I’m getting along with my co-workers quite well lately. It’s a strange position to be in.

There was an interesting thing that happened at the shop. When I came back from lunch, some live Jazz was being played and it wasn’t exactly melodic. It was quite noisy, discordant Jazz. So much so that I realized that I would be reprimanded if I played the equivalent from the Rock & Roll genre.

Like I said, it was interesting.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Shed a tear | No Comments »

I’m Waiting For The Day (Mono)

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Tonight it was 17.3 minutes from 58th Street to 42nd Street. A trail of bodies in my wake. Tonight’s shuffle down the avenue was courtesy of Beck- Midnight Vultures. Sexx Laws to Get Real Paid. I like Beck, liked him for awhile.

In fact while listening to Mixed Bizness, the third out of four songs, I remembered going to see Beck at Radio City with Julio on Valentines Day 1999. A great show, I was dancing in a suit & tie, standing in the middle of the row, no one else around me dancing.

I certainly enjoyed the show and ran into friends I hadn’t seen for a while, all of whom seemed to be working for Beck on the tour. But that was 11 years ago, and here I am in the 21st century.

A wild and an untamed thing.

Well I heard from the people I met with yesterday in the day off and apparently I made a good impression. Good enough that I have another meeting on Monday at 1:00. I am certainly looking forward to it and I am also trying not to get my hopes up too high.

It certainly is something that I would like to get. More money, normal hours, good location, free lunch and all involving things that I’ve done before.

I am hoping my friend, my friend can keep quiet about this. My friend my friend is a customer at the cigar shop who is one of the more intelligent types that come in almost daily and it’s always a pleasure to converse with him.

He asked me if I wrote and I mentioned that I write at least 500 words every day, excepting Sundays (for the past 2 weeks I’ve not written on Sundays, preferring to keep the day wholly for myself). And in explaining that I write at least 500 words a day,

I told my friend my friend about this here blog. I should have explained that it’s sometimes worthwhile to read, that after sifting through so much coal, you sometimes come across a diamond.

Sometimes it’s a column, sometimes it’s a letter, sometimes it’s a journal or a diary and sometimes it just 500 words. And sometimes it’s a call for help.

With the information percolating in my head with regards to the meeting on Monday I was definitely in good spirits, and that certainly made the day go faster. I worked with Calvin, Don Birch and Raymond.

Both Don Birch and Raymond have an eye on the door as well. It’s just that management is shoddy and not much will ever be done to make it a better place to work. And management is too busy to recognize their maltreatment of the staff, which could lead to a sudden exodus of employees.

In this day and economic climate it shouldn’t be too difficult to replace departing workers, just a drag to have to retrain newbies.

I certainly hope to leave on a good note and even considering coming back to help out during the holidays though I have a feeling my suggestion would be spurned.

But nothing is set, nothing is concrete and I’m talking (or rather, writing) through my hat.

It certainly is a nice night though.


Tags:, , ,
Posted in STFU | 1 Comment »

I’m Too Tough for Mister Big Stuff (Hot Pants)

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

It’s Wednesday and it’s a day off. And it’s actually a pretty good day too. I did not go to the Cigar Night at the Eagle. Too much trouble, bringing a change of clothes and then a schlep from the 8th Avenue train to 28th Street and 11th Avenue.

Not worth my time. If they ask at work I’ll think of something to say. And I also had an interview of sorts this morning.

I applied for a position online and was under consideration for a few weeks. It was a tease mainly but today the agency had me in to meet with me to see if I passed muster.

Bill was able to print out the resume for me and I met him on the corner of 43rd Street and Broadway as he made the hand off. I walked right up to him and gave him a great big kiss (mwah!), then headed up to 56th Street.

I was dressed business casual and therefore did not sweat as much as I usually do. I sat in a sleek lobby and waited for Marisa to meet with me. I heard the click clack of high heels approaching and figured that it was my recruiter.

It was.

She was nice and looked at my resume as we chatted about previous salaries and bonuses, all the while she would complain every couple of minutes about the problems the keyboard was giving her. She left after about 15 minutes and in came Erica who also posted a similar job.

I met with Erica for just a few minutes and thanked her while wondering if there was any info regarding my status. Nothing I could do about that. I walked down to the Path train in the shadows of the skyscrapers on Sixth Avenue. Barely anyone headed back to Hoboken, leaving me to sit in an empty car that was fully air conditioned.

Came home, sent a thank you email and had a decent lunch before running out and dropping off clothes at the dry cleaners for Bill & myself and also picking up Bill’s laundry. After that I just chilled out at home for a few hours, watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report which I rarely see anymore.

It was too nice a day to stay indoors and walked over to the river where I read the news and New York magazine. Also talked on the phone with Meghan Taylor Mastro, whom I might see on Monday when she starts painting the new Guitar Bar which will be on 11th Street in Hoboken.

I was out long enough to meet up with the UPS guy parked outside the post office and picked up a toaster over that Annemarie’s friend Audra has been trying to send me for a couple of weeks. It’s a lovely toaster oven.

For some reason ‘He’s Got the Whole World In his Hands’ and ‘The Way We Were’ have been playing endlessly in my head today. I know ‘Whole World’ is in my head after reading the lines in an article about an English footballer, but Barbra Streisand?

“Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line? If we had the chance to do it all again, tell me would we? Could we? Memories, may be beautiful and yet, what’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget. So it’s the laughter, we will remember, whenever we remember…the way we were.”

Oh Alan & Marilyn Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch, what have you wrought?

I’m looking forward to watching Macca from his White House Gershwin Prize tonight on PBS.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Shed a tear | No Comments »

I’m Gonna Love You Too

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

It’s been a long day. Didn’t start out all that well either. Apparently there were one or two things that I neglected to do at closing last night and when I came in I heard all about it.

Calvin asked me if I was in a rush and oddly enough, I wasn’t. Sheer bloody absentmindedness I reckon. It’s really the only excuse. It only took a couple of minutes to fix under Calvin’s watchful eye.

I felt I was being punished though and was sent to take inventory in the humidor. About a half hour later, a large shipment of cigars came in via UPS and rendered my inventory count obsolete. I was also told that Marcus wanted to see me about something.

But Marcus flew the coop before I had a chance.

I’ve been on the ‘under consideration’ list on a website for a job that I am well suited for. A job that I want. A Monday through Friday job, either 9 to 5 or thereabouts. And the money is better than what I am making now.

Though I’ve lost weight doing this job at the cigar shop, it really isn’t what I want. A few weeks ago I got an email from one of the counselors at this website, requesting a meeting.

I told her I would be available on July 12 but never heard from her. So today I sent another email and she replied immediately with a phone number. So I called and arranged a meeting with her tomorrow morning at 10:30.

I asked Bill if he could print out some fresh copies of my resume and he said he would and leave the copies on my computer. I had a nice cigar at lunch that was recommended by Marcus and sat on a bench near the park as is my wont.

Not much to do but sit and smoke after I chatted with Bill on the phone. A homeless woman walked by muttering that some Wall Street types smoke cigars and suck cock. She meant me I was sure since I do look like a Wall Street type even though I was quite a ways from Wall Street.

Then she tried to light her cigarette butt which she found on the street and couldn’t before muttering and cursing and walking away. I was back in the cigar shop a little while after that and found Calvin putting the new cigars away, saying that he wanted Raymond and myself to deal with the customers.

That was fine by me and Raymond didn’t care since he was off to smoke his lunchtime cigar. I wasn’t that busy, though there was one or two assholes that came into the shop. Time moved as it often does and I helped a young couple buy some cigars for the girl’s father.

The young man had what sounded like a thick burr and I asked him if he was from Scotland. No, it turned out he was from Liverpool. He and his girlfriend were in New York with the British Navy and were heading back to ol’ Blighty on Saturday.

It was a pleasure helping them out and I saw them off just as Marcus reappeared. I still didn’t know what he wanted to see me about but I think it had something to do with a Sommelier class he has from time to time. It involved cigars this time which is why I was asked to sit in on it.

Basically so I could run and get whatever things Marcus needed during the class. I sat on an uncomfortable bench in the backroom and stifled several yawns as Marcus went on. Occasionally I ran and got items that Marcus needed and finally was able to smoke a cigar with a room full of people that never smoked cigars before.

Eventually I was able to close the shop, taking my time and making sure all the things were done properly. Marcus stayed in the back with his students as I headed out. I decided not to go to the Eagle for cigar night.

Actually decided this morning not to go. I didn’t want to lug around a change of clothes and with this interview tomorrow morning I made the right decision, inadvertently. Which is how some of my decisions come to be.

I started to listen to Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Armed Forces as I left the shop and midway to the bus terminal I saw the Liverpudlians, Paddy and Haley. I decided to slow my pace and direct them to a comedy club.

The comedy club I was thinking of was actually closed which was odd since it’s almost always open. I directed them to Times Square where there are dozens of young wannabe comics handing out fliers for their prospective clubs.

No copies of my resume available. Bill didn’t tell me he couldn’t print them out.

Tags:,
Posted in Interesting Things as of Late | 2 Comments »

I’m Not Scared

Monday, July 26th, 2010

So yesterday was Sunday. And it was the second Sunday that I decided not to post. And it was also a day where I didn’t do anything. I did laundry so that’s something I suppose.

Yesterday, I heard from Pedro who was planning on spending his Sunday off (similar schedules, he at Riker’s, me in retail) with Connie and going to Summerstage. I would have liked to have gone but I had laundry to do, a bath tub to clean and Summerstage was too close to the cigar shop for my liking.

I politely told him no and he was cool with it. After the laundry and the bath tun scouring I was going to head over to the river and read The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore.

Unfortunately storm clouds rolled in and it rained steadily and violently on and off for about an hour. By the time it stopped a lot of the humidity was gone but everything was wet and still the storm clouds lingered.

I watched a Monty Python marathon on IFC instead and also played some guitar inside. I recorded something that sounded somewhat interesting a few months ago when I was unemployed but now I couldn’t figure it out. It sounded good to me and of course could use some work.

After that just watched some TV. While waiting for True Blood I did wander over to the supermarket and bought somethings for lunch this week. Working Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, off next Sunday and Monday.

I arranged to have off on Wednesday since in order to drum up some business for the cigar shop, I mentioned that I would go to a cigar night at The Eagle in Chelsea.

I have been invited several times before and never went but figured that now that I’ll be in the city at a late hour, what harm could come from going to a gay bar’s cigar night? Might as well go and see what it’s all about.

Of course I’d rather just go home, but it will be an experience. And considering my history of visiting gay bars it could just be a waste of time.

The store today was fairly busy which was surprising since from what I heard regarding Sunday it was quite dead. I guess Calvin, Sean and myself made up for it. Marcus was back from his Italian honeymoon looking dapper before he headed out for the day.

Once again there was no Moroccan Princes shopping for their father, the King. I did have a nice cigar while sitting on a bench by the park. Today’s brisk walk was courtesy of the Psychedelic Furs Talk Talk Talk album, from Pretty in Pink to Dumb Waiters, done in 16.4 minutes.

Avoided the clots on the escalator and climbed the staircase once again, two steps at a time but taking my time at the same time. And I did not fall on my hands and knees. Even caught the Willow Avenue bus and was home before 10:00 tonight.

Bill fast asleep already, poor baby, so tired.

True Blood was truly bloody last night and that’s all I have to say on that matter. I also saw Captain Fun hugging his girlfriend at a downtown bus stop this morning.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Iron my Shirt | No Comments »

« Older Entries