Posts Tagged ‘Brian’

Don’t Believe the Hype

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Well right now it’s 25 degrees and it’s supposed to be a major snowstorm, but I can still see Penn Plaza, I can still see Jersey City and Marineview Plaza in Hoboken. The streets are wet but it’s not really sticking.

The local news channels are on full alert, alarming people but so far there’s really no need. My brother Brian texted me and said that the supermarket up by his neck of the woods was a madhouse. Here in Hoboken it’s windy and cold but really nothing to be worried about.

I say that of course since I don’t drive. Walking proved to be no problem, and I even strolled to the end of Pier A in Hoboken and took a snapshot or two just to show that it isn’t so bad.

Julio is flying to Denmark tonight and that hasn’t been much of a delay. He did call to tell me Helena Christiansen was on his flight. We’ve seen her around the village, having dinner a few tables away from us at Benny’s Burritos on Greenwich years ago.

So they are saying the 15 inches are expected but so far less than an inch has fallen in Hoboken. Bill is in the city doing some theater stuff. Last night we watched 2 hours of Chris Noth in Lawn Hors d’œuvre on the Sleuth channel.

Bill definitely enjoyed it. I remembered who the bad guys were or bad chicks actually. Bill didn’t despite his claims to have the memory of an elephant. I told him he must have been right next to me when we first watched the show, since I don’t watch it on my own.

More weather hype with the Winter Alert in effect until 11:00 tomorrow morning. Bah!

The other night I had a dream where I had to drive around the Garden State Plaza in a car with Alexander Lopez as my passenger, not in a baby seat. The objective was to get him to 13 Riverview Avenue which I did, safely.

Last night’s cannabis free dream, I was in the Riverview Avenue neighborhood, this time as a passenger. The driver was President Gerald Ford. Nice guy. I told him I saw him speak in 1976 at the Garden State Plaza and almost shook his hand.

That was true. I was on the line outside of Gimbels after he spoke outdoors at the Plaza but the Secret Service caught off the handshaking a few people before me. He dropped me off across the street where I grew up and I walked into a house devoid of people.

I woke up at 7:30 and almost woke Bill up as well, thinking that he was late for work. Oh, I’m in the unemployment zone where the days blur into one another. Then I went back to sleep.

From that dream of Lodi, I wound up in Chelsea where I then had an argument with Bill. I wrote these down when I woke up. The last notes I wrote with regards to dreams were about me being in the Office and talking to Jim Halpert about coffee.

It didn’t go well and I felt slighted when awards were being given out. So I split that scene and wandered to a bar located in a empty lot at 16th Street between Park and Willow Avenues in Hoboken. Lot’s of commuters getting off their buses and passing through and sometimes sitting on rusty lawn furniture from the 1950′s. And it wasn’t that good a bar since there was no booze.

Oh these dreams go on when I close my eyes. Every moment I’m awake, I live another life.

Looking north, up Park Avenue, 3PM

Looking north, up Park Avenue, 3PM

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Looking souht on Park Avenue

Looking south on Park Avenue

Not so bad, is it?

Not so bad, is it?

On NBC News, some guy with a tan is pushing the snow hype, live from Times Square.

Cherry Bomb

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Well I know it’s Saturday because I wrote Friday’s entry earlier today. Obviously my powers of deduction are still functioning. It’s been a pretty good day despite intermittent rain. Been watching TV most of the day, including Bill’s favorite Lawn Hors d’œuvre.

The original series with Jerry Orbach.

Then we watched what is fast becoming another favorite of Bill’s The Closer. It’s our Saturday morning viewing lately. After that we started to watch Poseidon which is a remake of The Poseidon Adventure from the 1970′s.

My brother Brian and I went to see that when it first came out at the Century Theater in Paramus. It was a Saturday night and we bought tickets but as we tried to get into the theater we found that even though it was PG and we were of age, I was 10 and Brian was 15, we still needed an adult or guardian to accompany us to the evening showing.

If I recall correctly after we were dropped off at the theater by my father, we had to call home and ask to be picked up since we were turned away. We did see it another time at an earlier showing.

It was one of a few big Hollywood blockbusters with a few stars in the billing. Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, Stella Stevens and the Ernest Borgnine, as well as the former child star of ‘Al Green Was My Valet’, Roddy McDowell.

This one had Kurt Russell and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas. They were the only famous people I recognized. And Andre Braugher as the doomed ship’s captain and Fergie’s husband, oh and Richard Dreyfuss playing Dick Cheney.

That didn’t hold my attention that long so I wound up watching Woody Allen’s Manhattan. That I remember seeing with my sister Annemarie at the dollar movies a long time ago. Annemarie and I saw a few Woody Allen movies with her, starting with Sleeper when I was 11.

I distinctly remember 2 elderly women sitting behind us saying that Woody Allen’s feet (wrapped in aluminum foil) looked like baked potatoes.

Love and Death followed that, then Annie Hall when I was 14. We even saw Interiors, Woody’s first ‘serious’ movie, which I enjoyed. I think Manhattan was the last Woody Allen movie we saw together, the 2 of us misty at the end, Mariel Hemingway flying off to London saying, ‘You’ve got to have faith in people’.

I did see Stardust Memories opening weekend at the Century Theater. Sold out show and I found myself the only one laughing in the theater. I think that was when I started to realize that I was not going to live in Bergen County much longer.

I went with Ellen Schermerhorn and another girl and they didn’t laugh either. I heard a story about Ellen who was a sweet girl. A story designed to make her look bad but in hindsight she comes out quite admirable.

The type of girl any father would be proud of. Someone knows of what I write and I’m not going further into it.

That’s it. That’s my penance. I wrote over 500 words earlier today as well as 500 words now. Ta da!

Aftermath

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

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Let’s see. It’s Wednesday, that much I know. It’s definitely a lot cooler out. And it’s now 6:00 and I was supposed to call Juan between 4 and 5:00. I just remembered that. What else? I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

Tried going to bed earlier than usual but couldn’t fall asleep so I wound up staying up until the usual time. No it’s not caffeine. I don’t drink caffeine after noon. It wasn’t so bad in any event. I did fall asleep eventually after following my own advice, to get out of bed instead of tossing and turning and my advice proved right.

I’ve taken to going out and getting the paper in the morning, if only to put away the garbage cans I put out the night before. Last week I had a talk with Julio about it. How I put out the garbage most nights, including the recyclables, but no one can put back the empty cans in the morning.

Julio claims he did and I cut him some slack, saying that 9 times out of 10 I’m the one who does it. He is that 1 time. I did not bring that up with Bill since it took a while to get him to stop putting the recyclables in with the trash.

When I was employed, I would leave the building after Bill, I would reach in the garbage cans and pull out empty Vitamin Water bottles that were recently in the kitchen here. In a suit and tie yet. It only took over a half dozen times before he eventually got the message.

Today I decided to go to Shop Rite in Hoboken. The A&P is closer but Shop Rite is much larger and has better selections and generally better prices, though I usually spend more money at Shop Rite. I don’t know how that works. Also ran into Roda and his son Logan, food shopping.

Midway through my shopping experience, I get a phone call from Bill. I suggested that if he has to sing a song for an audition and he’s no so sure, that he should write out the lyrics by hand so he will, in effect own those words and make them more personal by writing them out by hand.

He was calling to thank me for that idea. It’s something I picked up when growing up and had to sit at the dining room table for 2 hours, ostensibly to do homework. Even if I had homework that could be done in 10 minutes, I would still have to sit there for 1 hour and 50 minutes.

My brother Brian would sit opposite me for those 2 hours. It was mainly because we weren’t the top notch students our father encouraged us to be.

That was a joke. Our father never encouraged us to do anything.

So while my father sat about 15 feet away, my mother 9.5 feet away and the TV blaring quite loud since my father was losing his hearing, I would get one of the books from the encyclopedia and start writing out by hand various pages that caught my eye.

Brian, sitting where he was, would try to steal a glance at Johnny Mann’s Stand Up and Cheer.

The 2 hours at the table didn’t achieve much but some improvement did have to be shown in our grades. I don’t know how that worked out, but I certainly benefited from social promotion.

Remember, I’m the guy who wrote an essay on his Algebra final. And I’ve held up my end. Haven’t used Algebra since.
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Hold Still

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Well I had better get started before True Blood starts. A bit tired after walking around the canyons of midtown Manhattan in sheer mugginess.

There was a threat of rain so I carried a big ass umbrella and wore my work boots. Last time I was in Central Park and it rained it was a mess, so I tried to be prepared. It made for a cumbersome walk around Central Park but I managed.

Summerstage is mainly over except for a few paying shows and lot’s of strollers had taken over Bear Hill. I guess there are a lot of people who couldn’t get out of town or were tired of being cooped up yesterday from the rain.

A lot more musicians and street entertainers all out trying to make that elusive tourist buck. Not many places to sit and chill out.

Before I went into the park I did stop by the office to see if there were any more updates on the project I’ve been assisting Greg Stevens with. Part of that is reading his emails and I was surprised to find that the project that I was doing under the auspices of it being under the table doesn’t seem likely.

I came across an email from the check writers in Los Angeles asking that I fill out an I-9. Which would not make it under the table, nor off the books. And it’s an uneasy position that I find myself in since the email was not one of the emails I should have been looking for.

Greg Stevens is on vacation and to bring it up to him could mean I invaded his privacy. I could email the check writer in Los Angeles directly and ask her the status then break it down t her without leaving a paper trail.

To them it’s not a lot of money, but for me it could definitely help me out. So I guess I will do that tomorrow.

Last night Bill and I watched The Panic in Needle Park, from 1971. Definitely the seedy side of New York City. It was good, not great.

I told Bill of how my Uncle Joseph would call every park in New York City ‘Needle Park’ and he was probably right about that, even though when visiting Uncle Joseph and Aunt Lil in the Bronx, Needle Park was where we would sometimes go when the grown ups had enough of me and my brother Brian being antsy from sitting around my Uncle’s house for so long.

Sad to say my Uncle Joseph isn’t the guy he used to be. It turns out that Brian visited him in his nursing home today and he didn’t know who Brian was. Sad, he was always a funny outgoing guy to us. I couldn’t really say how he was to other people though.

He was a bit racist and I used to make excuses that he was from the old school and resistant to change. Now he sits blind and legless in a nursing home, unable to recognize one of his few living relatives.

Almost time for True Blood. See ya.

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Time After Time (Annelise)

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

Nice and tired. Did a lot of walking last night and slept well, did even more walking today. Would have been a good day for a bike ride, but it was way too warm for that.

Since I did some work for Greg Stevens yesterday I decided to head back into the office and just tidy things up for when Greg got into his office tomorrow morning.

I did my usual Sunday morning thing, bagels, newspapers and whatnot. No murderous impulses towards my fellow Hobokenites, it was a warm morning all around. Bill was gone by 7:00 this morning, some big church function.

Came home, had a good breakfast and read the papers. After a while I figured it was now or never so I headed into the city around 1:30. Ran into Rand and Lisa on the bus, they were going to see Billy Elliot on Broadway with some of Rand’s relatives, already in the city.

I explained to them what was going on with me with regards to the Xanax and I was surprised to see Rand have a frown about it. Well it’s working well for me, even at half the dosage prescribed.

He recommended exercise, much like Annemarie did the other day, but there’s no one around to exercise with basically.

There are those Tai Chi classes in Bryant Park on Thursday mornings that I never had time for but now I might be able to find time. Well see about that come Thursday morning.

Made it to the office, wisely sidestepping the Madison Avenue street fair. No one in the office at all today and I was able to get somethings together and make life a little bit easier for Greg Stevens.

Grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and decided to head up to Central Park. I did not want to see or hear Dinosaur Jr so I walked over to the skate circle.

Found a seat by the flagpole monument and sat down, enjoyed a cigar and read the Tom Waits biography. Almost done with it and it’s due back at the library tomorrow.

A beautiful day, lot’s of people in the park. No bears on Bear Hill, but quite a few baby strollers. I guess the bear thing is a Saturday event. The music was classic disco mainly and when it started getting all housy housy I made my way out.

Still people were streaming into the park, lot’s of tourists. I strolled down Sixth Avenue to catch the Path train and one pulled into the station just when I got there. More reading about Tom Waits in an air conditioned train car.

It’s just been a nice, calm day. Really stress free, not even relatively.

I know why that is and I’m sure you have a pretty good idea as well. Feeling the way I am now is so much better than the internal rage that I carried around and never really wrote about except one or two times, which inspired my brother Brian to write that I sounded like our father.

Things have been getting quite intense for me and I needed something fast. And I think I found it for the time being.

So I’m cool.
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Suffer Little Children

Monday, June 8th, 2009

It’s Monday again. Fence mending day as well. First off I called that certain someone who drive me all over Brooklyn as well as driving me crazy on Saturday. I actually started it off, responding to that someones wife’s email.

She explained that a lot of his problem stems from the aphasia he suffers from. It was a good email exchange. As the day progressed I decided to call him and see how he was doing. Immediately we were able to clear that shit out of the air and get an understanding again.

So it was a good talk with himself on the phone and I am happy to report that things are back to normal or what passes for normal in our lives. Spoke with my brother Brian today as well. We talked about what was going on in his life.

The turning of a corner. Not necessarily the easiest thing to do, but it was definitely the best for all concerned.

It was a good day for communication. Exchanged emails with Annemarie as well. She’ll be here in a little over a month. That’s definitely something to look forward to.

Last night Bill and I renewed our Gay cards and watched the Tony awards from start to finish. It was actually a good show. Neil Patrick Harris was funny and entertaining. Sound problems marred some of the show but a highlight was watching Bret Michaels miss his mark and get clocked in the head by some scenery.

A broken nose and a cut lip was the result, nothing worse. Unfortunately he will live to sing another day. Roger Robinson won an acting award for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, after decades of toiling in the theater.

I said to Bill that one day that would be him on stage accepting a Tony award which made Bill’s bladder move that much closer to his eyes. We enjoyed the whole show. I would like to see Billy Elliot, West Side Story and God of Carnage and Exit the King. But prices of Broadway tickets being what they are right now it seems unlikely.

Work was busy today. More with dealing with the nightmare that is Greg Stevens Vonage account. A cheap phone service which is not worth the aggravation.

I was on the phone with Vonage a few times last week, all the time they were apologizing. Apologizing so much that it eventually meant nothing. You know they were trained to say I’m sorry whenever they’re found to be in the wrong.

Tomorrow is the run off election for the Mayor’s office in Hoboken. I’m voting for Dawn Zimmer who is the voice of change in Hoboken.

Running against her is Peter Cammarano who has ties to the present ineffectual Mayor, so much so that he voted for every plan that this present Mayor had.

Which left Hoboken so much in the hole that the New Jersey state government has taken over the finances of Hoboken and is suggesting a 47% tax increase.

Most of the people that were born and raised in Hoboken are voting for Cammarano since most of them have relatives working for the city of Hoboken, not to mention the housing complexes in Hoboken that were designed for the lower middle class residents in town.

Funny thing is a lot of those people living in these subsidized buildings have houses down the shore, so they definitely do not want change.

They would like to have their children get their apartments, not lower middle class people that actually do need the apartments, people that do not have second homes down the shore.

So they’re voting for Cammarano who says he’s for change despite his record and his co-opting of the Obama logo, where Obama had an ‘O’ with some red white and blue stripes, Cammarano yields a ‘C’ with a similar design.

Vote for Dawn Zimmer.

Hoboken, oh Hoboken, So much to answer for…