Posts Tagged ‘126 Bus’

I Can’t Quit You Baby

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Wow. It’s Thursday. It’s interesting for me at the cigar shack. There are days when I feel I have a grip on things and I think things will be alright, then I go in the next day and all that is forgotten and tossed in the rubbish pile. Today is one of those days.

Yesterday was good, me and Calvin and joined by Jerry Vale, then today with Bradley & Thomas. Thomas is great, Bradley has the amazing propensity to be a pain in the tuchis.

Just had an interesting chat with Jimmy Seltzer who basically schools me on matters economic. He says things are going to get worse than they are now. I can see it, I can feel it. I used to look at Don and Raymond and wonder how they could work in the cigar shack for two years, and now I find myself in the same position.

No, it hasn’t been two years but I am over one year. That is simply the situation I find myself in. The mantra continues ‘at least you have a job’. Some people don’t. Some people are still looking. Danny the K and Greg Stevens have not responded to my email. It’s disappointing but what can you do?

More disappointing is the twenty something young man who was so fucking self absorbed, he wouldn’t move half an inch so someone could sit next to him on the bus. He was so fucking engrossed in whatever stupid game he was playing on his cellphone. A regular C U Next Tuesday type.

I was the unlucky guy to try to sit in the seat next to him. Oh how I wanted to punch him in the skull, but instead decided on saying ‘wanker’ when he got off the bus at 14th and Washington. He probably didn’t hear me and if he did he didn’t know I was talking about him, or more than likely did not know what a wanker was. Go ahead, look it up, I’ve got time.

It could have been a better day, but it wasn’t. Calvin was out of the cigar shack most of the day, attending a meeting across town. When he did eventually came back he was all doom and gloom which did not help matters in the cigar shack with Thomas and myself. Bradley usually plays the role of being aloof so how he felt was relatively unknown.

On August 22, the staff has to meet at 8AM across town to renew our tobacconist licenses. I don’t have a tobacconist license and frankly I wasn’t looking to get one. Perhaps I should. It doesn’t look like I am going anywhere else really.

A friend of former co-worker Raymond stopped by, Frank. Nice guy, he’s been out of work for nearly three years, and he has a wife and kid to support. He was looking to buy a gift for someone and after looking at a few items, said he would come back another time.

Before that I had to look at pages of what might be ordered for the store, such expensive items, no one I know would want or buy these things, but I guess a $14,000 humidor is just right for some. It really is a tale of two cities.

Bill just came home from rehearsal. He was feeling ill most of the day, took off from work and slept a lot. I checked in, in the morning and told him I would call again at lunch time. And I did just that, only I got his voice mail at the beginning and ending of my lunch hour.

So he’s alive and able to go to rehearsal, and leave me wondering if I would be coming home to a corpse in the bed. But he’s fine and I guess feeling a whole lot better.

Squirrel!







CVS Careers.net is a scam. Chris at vidivo.net writes like lazy teat Greg.

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I Belong to You/Mon Coeur S’Ourve A Ta Voix

Monday, June 13th, 2011

It’s a Monday and it’s a day off. It’s been a pretty mellow day, last night I took off my wrist watch before I went to sleep. I always sleep with it on but last night I wanted no ties to the real world or real time. It worked well, and waking up was certainly different. But I got out of bed and started the day nicely.

Some coffee, some bagels and a nice breakfast. I decided to just clean up the apartment today, which meant mainly cleaning up the table next to the desk on which this computer rests. Lots of mail and bills that needed to be shredded. I did that for a while, filling up a few bags of shredded paper. It was certainly a better way to start the day than yesterday.

Yesterday started out alright, met Bill at the bus stop for a few minutes before I boarded. Bill had just gotten home from driving a bus to and from Atlantic City. It was too short a time but better than nothing. The bus soon filled up somewhat. I was sitting in the middle of the bus, across from the back door.

Next to me was a guy who promptly fell asleep after a minute. It was crowded as we drove through the tunnel. As we were exiting the tunnel there was a commotion. A passenger, seemingly from Europe accused a black man of taking his wallet.

The black man said that it was his wallet and the European yelled for him to show it then. After a very long minute the black man said he was sorry and offered the wallet back. The European said he was going to call the cops. The bus approached the bus terminal and the ramps leading up to the gates had quite a few Port Authority police on them.

There was a construction project going on and the cops were there to make sure no cars were going through as well as making sure the buses would queue up correctly since there was only one ramp available. The bus driver signaled the police and they came over to see what the problem was. Both the European and the black man got off the bus to tell their sides of the story.

Other buses passed us going in and out of the bus terminal as we sat on the ramp for about twenty minutes. After that the European got back on the bus apologizing for the delay and outside the black man could be seen walking up the ramp in handcuffs with a Port Authority police officer on each side. It was a strange situation, since there was no escape for the black man.

We were on a bus in traffic and there was no way off the bus until we got to the gate. It seemed to me that he almost wanted to be caught. Needless to say I wound up being late for work and texted Bradley to let him know. It was only about 15 minutes but I do not like being late at all.

The day was a breeze and it was fun competing with Bradley for top sales. At one point I was in the lead by about $30.00 but I wasn’t having that. It was too close a margin and I have to admit I became a shark, greeting customers as soon as they stepped into the cigar shack.

At the end of the day I was in the lead by about $300.00. I did lose the coin toss and wound up having to close, but since it was a Sunday and the cigar shack closes early on Sundays- I really did not mind.










Here’s the top ten cities that visited in May 2011

New York
Hoboken
Chicago
Toms River
Bala Cynwyd
Arcata
(not set)
Bilbao
Philadephia
Los Angeles

and here are the bottom ten

Riyadh
Bucharest
Wantagh
Madison
Osaka
St Petersburg
Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh
Doylestown
Kingston
Wallasey

1,229 visits came from 536 cities

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I Believe I’m Gonna Love You

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Back after a 10 hour shift. It’s 11:11 right now. Been home about 15 minutes. Just have to get through one more day then I can have a break, a day off. Today was a long day. I was up around 9:00 this morning and had to thank Bill for going to the supermarket last night and picking up some 2% milk for my coffee and cereal. Made life a little bit easier and cooler.

Soon after that, I was at the bus stop with Bill waiting for the 11:15 126 bus into Manhattan. I learned my lesson last week after the 11:30 bus did not show up. Tomorrow I have to catch the 8:00 bus since there is no 8:30 bus and I have to open the shop at 9:30, thanks to the magic of Calvin’s management skills and schedule making.

Today I worked with Sean and the Bradley and let’s face it- the Bradley is an incredible asshole. We have very little in common and since Don who served as a bridge of sorts between is no longer working at the cigar shop the bridge is over.

He’s a terrible phony and I only communicate with him when I have to. He doesn’t pick up after himself and rarely, if ever, cleans up the backroom. He’ll sit in the tiny pantry on a folding chair eating his lunch and not put the folding chair away and doesn’t throw out his trash.

In warmer times between the 2 of us, we had once discussed Xanax. His prescription is a stronger dose than mine and he recommended snorting the Xanax, like Nurse Jackie. I don’t do that and I won’t do that. Xanax chills me out considerably and doesn’t seem to have that effect on the Bradley.

He’s quite hyper, banging away on the counter top like he’s playing congas. I have to wonder, why did he leave South Carolina to take a job at a cigar shop in midtown Manhattan? Did someone or something make him leave? A Crystal Meth habit perhaps?

Yes I know it’s all speculation, but it’s a fun speculation.

I let the Bradley handle the music for the store since I am tired of customers complaining about some of the music choices I play. The other day I played some of Phil Spector’s Christmas album as well as The Roches’ We Three Kings. The Roches made me think of happier times for all at Farfetched.

Some of the customers complained about too much Christmas music. And that even includes the Mix Mas CD that Harpy burned for me a few years ago. So instead of all that, we heard Sheryl Crow, which is really not my cup of tea.

After the customers left the backroom tonight I played Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Yes, I’ve forgiven Reg. No one was around to complain and if they did I really wouldn’t care.

The Bradley left, a bit freaked out over his drawer being short $3.00. He brushed aside my suggestion that he could take the money from petty cash to maintain the balance and asked which drawer I would use to open tomorrow morning. Since his register was short $3.00, I figured I would use the same drawer I used today.

Now Saturday Night Live is starting and I am tired and really not typing all that well tonight. Oh well. No posting tomorrow, unless there is something worthwhile to post and I’m really hoping there isn’t. I’m working with Sean and the Bradley again so who knows?

What’s Up With That?!?

Chaz Bono?





Sean

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I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

Man, sometimes I just don’t like people. I know, I am one of the people and someone somewhere might be writing the same thing about me. But lately I’ve been finding people are mostly annoying and inconsiderate things.

You hold the door for them and they don’t say thank you. They stop and stand right in the middle of the sidewalk, or walk 4 or 5 abreast down the sidewalk, making it impossible to pass. And then there are the bus people, who will wait for the bus and never ask anyone how much the fare is, or will not have their money ready until they actually get on board, then it’s time to dig through their pocket books or wallets, sometimes asking if anyone has change of a ten or a twenty.

Tonight as I was heading home, I got on a crowded bus and found a seat in the second row. There was a guy sitting there, skinny enough for me to think it wouldn’t be that tight a fit. As usual I said excuse me as I was sitting down.

He sat there, legs apart reading the salmon colored Financial Times. I said, ‘tight squeeze, eh?’ and he replied that it was. I noticed he had about 3 inches on his left and could have easily shifted over a bit making it more comfortable for the both of us and mentioned the fact that he had a few inches to move over.

He said he didn’t have space to move. Now I’m sure the space was larger than his cock, but no- he wouldn’t move and instead huffed when I sat. So he was going to be like that. I decided that I too will sit there with my legs apart, not really caring if our legs touched.

Also adjusted my pea coat so that it wasn’t hanging over the armrest, increasing his obvious discomfort. More sighing from his side as I put my head back and closed my eyes for a minute. Then I decided to play some Siouxsie and the Banshees which I hoped would annoy him.

Whether or not it did, I’ll never know. He got off at 14th Street and I wasn’t surprised at that. Most newbie know nothings in Hoboken live up there, paying for nice addresses but not considering that they will always stand on the bus since by the time the bus makes it up to 14th Street, it’s standing room only.

He got off the bus and I spread out, enjoying the space. I don’t go looking for trouble but I can usually find it. Maybe it’s living in this metropolitan area that makes everyone tense and nervous. I can’t say I’m above it, but usually by the end of the day, I’m tired and just want to get home. Pretty much in a mellow mood since I’m too fatigued for anything anyway.

I make my beeline down the avenue, avoiding most everyone and everything. If someone actually needed my help, I’d be sure to help them out if I could. But some people are just shit, to paraphrase William S. Burroughs paraphrasing a madam from a whore house.

That’s about it for today. Tomorrow I’m going to cheer on my niece Meghan’s husband in the New York City marathon, and after that I hope to check in on Tim Daly and Hiro Takashita’s studios on the Hoboken Artist Studio tour.

I doubt I’ll be writing, but one never knows, do one?

Sean


Can't help, lovin' that man of mine...

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Uneasy Sunny Day Hotsy Totsy

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Well today it was in the 90′s again, temperature wise, not decade wise. Last night was back to routine of watching Keith Olbermann followed by the Daily Show and The Colbert Report. After that, it’s all a blur. Maybe it was a documentary on the Who. That seems likely. Then it was the news and then it was off to bed. Been sleeping ok, missing Bill sleeping next to me.

Pillows don’t make for good spooning. I toss and I turn and I miss his snoring. He’ll be back in a week or two since he’s looking after his mother until the housekeeper returns. This morning, was more of what you’ve read before, showering, shaving, breakfast and no power outage.

Just don’t like that new morning team and though Otis Livingston is phoine, there’s not enough of him to get me to stay until 7:00AM. So I headed out early and caught what I thought would be a less crowded bus. Two stops later, 25 people got on making it instantly crowded. I sat there and counted each head that got on the bus.

I was reading Stuff White People Like, a book I won from The Onion. Juan hipped me to the blog, Stuff White People Like a few months ago. I was reading it, a handsome guy, could have been a bear, sat next to me. He looked sort of like Andrew Sullivan, but didn’t have the cloven hoofs.

As I read I noticed this guy trying to see what it was I was reading. I started to show him when he asked. He laughed and was familiar with the blog. I told him I won it from the Onion and went about explaining how you can win things from the Onion. I get a few newsletters each week.

If something interests me I usually enter the contest. Just send an email, with the contest listed in the subject line and voila, you too can win. I was hoping to win tickets to see Ricky Gervais live in concert, and I was going to take Harpy, but no go. Sorry Harpy.

It was a good ride, nice chatting with he who’s name turned out to be Curtis. He had a claddagh ring on which made me think he might play for my team. We parted ways and I wished him a good day. I got to work about 15 minutes early. Listened to Nick Lowe on the way.

I was busy working with Tom Chin today. We’ve been getting along lately. I wouldn’t say we were buddies, but we’ve been getting along. I sent an email, reminding everyone that I would be out on Friday. Bill and I are going to a free concert at Brighton Beach tomorrow night. Brian Wilson.

That should be fun. I was surprised Bill readily agreed to go. It promises to be a sweltering evening and it will be the first time I see the ocean this year. I was a bit bitchy this morning to various customer service people on the phone as well as the guy who makes bagels and spent some time trying to flirt with girls from Japan who don’t speak too much English.

For some reason I was singing The Bitch Is Back by Elton beforehand, so maybe I set things in motion.

I had run a few errands and soon enough the day was over. Then I walked across town, smoking a Padron and listening to Ian Dury and The Blockheads, Do It Yourself, one of my desert island discs.

That will be the subject of a future blog, like it or not. And you all better get ready to respond. 10 discs and why you would bring them along to a desert island. Not yet though, I’m giving you advance notice.

I stopped by Bill’s office, he had somethings for me and I had somethings for him. Good to see him. He looked tired though. He doesn’t sleep well on a sofa bed designed by the Spanish Inquisition.

Got on the bus as it filled up and who do I see but Curtis. Deja vu of sorts. He pulled out a copy of High Times, a bit concerned that I would turn up my nose at it. I told him I’d probably be listed in there somewhere. So we have that in common.

Curtis is a lawyer, works downtown. We talked politics. We’re on the same page, in fact he was saying most of the things that I would be saying. JFK/Obama connection, taxes, education, health care, the slow death of the middle class and of course the war.

He’s married but that didn’t matter I wasn’t into him like that. He doesn’t like being a lawyer and fancies himself a writer. I told him I had a blog and that I too fancy myself a writer. I wound up giving him advice, courtesy of Louis Lapham who gave me some advice three years ago.

So I might have a new friend, or at least a bus buddy. Not like the bus buddies I had when I lived in Weehawken. They don’t play like that in Hoboken.

Ugh. McCrazy at an NAACP convention today. Previously the NAACP gave him an F grade. Voting against the MLK Federal Holiday seven times and definitely not supporting it in Arizona. Generally not a friend to black people. Ugh.

This jerk off pulls right over the crosswalk & forces pedestrians to walk into oncoming traffic.

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