Tag Archives: Gas

Most of The Time

Last night was melancholy. It was a slow descent into melancholia. In the back of my mind was the anxiety of the job interview this morning. Well maybe it was more like a full occupation of my mind, the melancholia.

I had a fun phone call with Annemarie and a good time with Bill but I couldn’t enjoy things like Curb Your Enthusiasm. There were aspects that I did laugh at but most everything was clouded by the anxiety. And it wasn’t so much the interview, it’s the whole idea of being unemployed.

It’s really a drag and that is really an understatement. I’ve been unemployed before and knew it was only a matter of time before I would land another gig. But it really is scary out there. I didn’t know how scary it was until I became part of it.

I had an appointment for 11:00 this morning for an interview and felt that the tutorials I did a few weeks ago would help me out. I set the alarm clock for 7:00. Bill was up and out around 6:00, giving me a kiss goodbye and wishing me well.

He’s so great. Drives me crazy sometimes, but any relationship usually involves one party driving the other party crazy. The toothpaste cap. The dishes in the sink. Neither one of those issues concern us, just using it for an example.

He’s so incredibly supportive of me, believing in me when I don’t. And that’s a lot of the time.

Yesterday when I was at Tariq’s studio, the two of us were on the fire escape having a smoke. He had some good advice having been through a lot in his own life. It was advice that I had given to people from time to time and I had forgotten it.

There’s always someone who has it worse than you. As he was saying this I saw two people in electric wheelchairs in the distance headed to the light rail. How’s that for reality? I told Tariq I know I have it good. I have a roof over my head and I have someone who loves me. And some people don’t have either. So I’m grateful.

And if I am asked on Thursday to state what I am thankful for I can just point at Bill and say ‘Him’.

I reset the alarm clock to 9:00 and finally got some real good sleep. Woke up to the music of War singing Low Rider. I even said an affirmation. ‘Good day, good day, it’s gonna be a good day’ I kept repeating that to myself and I got myself ready.

Had to print out three references, got a nice suit & tie on. Braces, socks, sock garters (hate droopy socks), lightly polished my shoes and had my passport for government ID, my resume and I was out the door.

The light rail was at 10:38 and I thought I had enough time but by the time I was about 150 yards from the light rail I looked at my watch and it was 10:35. I ran through the terminal, jammed my credit card in the ticket machine, had it validated, time stamped at 10:38 and saw the light rail pulling away.

I called up the agency, getting the number through Google411 and dialed the number. No answer. I called Bill and asked him to go into my email and get the info from the email that the counselor Rainier sent me.

Bill was great and asked if I was going to call the counselor. Steam leaked a little bit from my ears but I kept it cool. He got the info and told me and I called, telling Rainier that I was going to be 10 minutes late.

He was fine with it, but I hate being late. Generally I’m early. Good day good day, it’s gonna be a good day. Got off the light rail in the middle of the Harborside complex which consists of a few post modern buildings.

Which one? I called Bill once again and once again Bill came through.

Got to the office, filled out paperwork. Took an Excel, Word and Outlook test. Oddly enough I did better on the Excel than I did on the Word. Outlook was a walk in the park.

I was in a tiny room with four other guys, all of us intensely focused on the computer screens in front of us. I was gassy. Not releasing gas mind you, but it was moving it’s way through my body and was a little bit noisy. At least noisy to me.

Don’t know if the others heard it. It was like an interview I had tears ago for a production company called Geronimo. Same thing happened but that was during the interview. No gas, just internal noise.

Finally met Rainier who was a crazy cute guy. We went over the tests and he remarked that I did better than most which was a pleasant surprise. I have a good feeling about this agency. Perhaps they’ll place me somewhere.

Maybe it was butterflies in my stomach from talking with Rainier, maybe it was gas. It went well and I wished him and the receptionist and Happy Thanksgiving which is the thing to say this week.

Even though it was cold and windy I decided to walk back to Hoboken through the Jersey City waterfront. I enjoyed a cigar on the way and listened to the iPod. Overall I think it went well. A positive way to spend a few hours.

I feel a lot better tonight and shook a rosebush when I got home.

Here’s some pics from the walk home.

9/11 Memorial @ Harborside

9/11 Memorial @ Harborside

11.23.09 Jersey City area 002

11.23.09 Jersey City area 003

11.23.09 Jersey City area 004

11.23.09 Jersey City area 005

Tiny terracotta warrior @ a Cooperative school

Tiny terracotta warrior @ a Cooperative school

Elephants by an ice rink

Elephants by an ice rink

11.23.09 Jersey City area 008

11.23.09 Jersey City area 009

11.23.09 Jersey City area 010

11.23.09 Jersey City area 011

11.23.09 Jersey City area 012

Just keeping it Gully.

Just keeping it Gully.

Bamboo Banga

Another hot day. Right now in the apartment the thermometer says 94 degrees. On TV it says 91. I am sweating profusely wearing only boxer shorts. A thrill for some, much needed for comfort. It’s drizzling right now, barely. It’s drying rapidly. Bad news for drivers and the cost of gas.

Scooters are in now. And there’s a prediction that by July 4, a barrel of oil will hit $150.00, translating to $5.00 for a gallon of gas. ‘I got some downers and speed, all the drugs that you need, but I can’t get a gallon of gas’ sang Ray Davies in the 1980’s.

Juan was here for a spell last night. He looked great, showing off his new American Apparel shorts. He lost weight but he didn’t seem to agree. I fed him some pasta and chicken and we watched the last episode of Lost on the DVR. Always good to have him around. Lost was good, saw some things I missed the first time around. Juan seemed to enjoy it too.

Around 9:00 he headed back to Trenton. I watched a documentary on Glenn Gould which was only an hour then watched the last half of Hannah and Her Sisters. I was asleep by 11:30 and sleep soundly under two fans blowing at top speed.

Woke up and went out. It wasn’t that hot at 8:30, only in the 80’s. No run ins at the bagel shop and I was soon back in my apartment wearing my third t shirt of the day and it was only 9:30. I watched a 2 hour documentary on Atlantic Records, or more specifically, all about Ahmet Ertegun. Only a mention or two of Arif Mardin so that was disappointing. Kid Rock was talked about more than Arif.

It was a very fast 2 hours though. Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant were just a few of the talking heads besides Aretha, Ben E. King and Solomon Burke. After that I watched Almost Famous again. Still a very good picture, surprised it didn’t do as well as I thought it did according to wikipedia. I think Cameron Crowe as well as many many others really identify with music on an intense level. I know I do.

After Almost Famous, my usual Sunday walk to mail the Netflix dvd’s. It was really oppressive, so much so that I was feeling woozy despite drinking a lot of water and having a couple of bottles on me. I wound up sitting by the river, trying to catch some breezes off the water.

I couldn’t focus to read a book and all I could do was just sit there and stare across the river. That’s never happened before. I remember about 10 years ago it was even hotter and I wound up riding my bicycle to Prospect Park, where it was too hot to even wear a light shirt.

Now today, it was difficult to walk down the street without feeling a bit dizzy and I was in the shade. I’m better now, back home and sitting in the dark. Nice. Tomorrow promises to be more of the same until later in the week, temperature-wise.