Tag Archives: The Wrestler

B Movie

This might be the first entry that I’ve written before noon. It’s a little after 10:00 Sunday morning. I just got back from getting bagels and the papers. I get a call from Bill as I walk back to the apartment. He’s on a bus with his mother going to church, I’m on the street.

We’re talking about various trivial things, when Bill mentions that he went to see Slumdog Millionaire with his old friend, Fred. Bill’s known Fred for almost 20 years he says.

And as from what I wrote yesterday, I wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire. It’s not so much that Bill saw Slumdog Millionaire with Fred, it’s more that I have to be content with 5 minutes a day with Bill if I’m lucky.

I have to be content with Bill running off trying to further his acting career. Going to readings and practices, rehearsals and auditions while I sit at home hoping that he gets home safely, and by home I mean Stuyvesant Town. I support Bill in these endeavors, but just wish we could spend more time together.

The phone call on the street ended rather abruptly and I sent him a text saying that “I’m hurt and pissed”. His reaction? He called me, ‘Well you saw the Wrestler at Pedro’s house and I wanted to see that with you’. I explained that it was at a party and there were other people involved.

‘Well you could have said that you didn’t want to see that. You could have asked for another movie’ I explained again there were other people there and it wouldn’t be right for me to say, ‘Hey I want to see this with my partner, perhaps we could watch another movie?’

That night in Otisville we watched a boxing match, Gran Torino and The Wrestler. You could tell by the testosterone in those viewing choices that a romantic plea would not have gone down well. I did tell him when I got back that I would like to watch it with him but no plans were ever made.

‘Well you do things on your own. You go to art galleries on your own.’ I tell him I go to art galleries on my own because he’s rehearsing with his band, or has voice classes or whatever he does on Saturday afternoons that I am not privy to. And I would rather go to the galleries with someone.

I was surprised that he was upset with me because I was pissed off. He also told me he went to see The Wrestler on his own anyway. I do not like going to movies by myself. In his mind I think he feels I should be happy to be able to see him when I see him for those fleeting minutes.

And in those fleeting minutes, when I am on my way home, bundled up for the winter weather, he comes out in office wear, no coat, maybe a hat which when he goes out to see me is not enough to guard against the cold weather. So I only get a few minutes.

We don’t make the time to do anything together anymore. He has his things to do, sometimes for his career, sometimes just for a lark and I hear about it the next day. He seems to think that I want to monopolize his time and I certainly do not.

I just want to find time that might last for a few hours rather than a grouping of seconds. To his credit, he did offer to see Slumdog Millionaire with me but I told him no, that it was tainted. Plus to see movies nominated for an Academy Award is fun for me at least, but after the fact it sort of loses it’s cache.

I suppose I could wait for it to come on cable, but who knows? I’m not interested anymore really.

It’s not about the movie, it’s about the time spent.

All Together Now

Just got back from Otisville a few hours ago, and just woke up from a nap a few minutes ago. It was all in all a fun time with Pedro and Connie as well as with Excer and Lillian.

Always good to get out of town if only for a few hours, in this case I was out of Hoboken for about 24 hours. I do like Hoboken, don’t get me wrong, but an occasional change of scenery is the key to living a sane life.

Pedro and I spoke before I left for the train and he asked me to pick up some batteries. Unfortunately the line in CVS was too long and I was faced with a not so difficult decision, get the batteries and miss the train or get the train and forget the batteries.

So I opted to forget the batteries which wasn’t so bad. Pedro wanted them so he could light up some petrified wood sculptures through the house.

The train ride was pleasant enough, I dug into the final chapters of the John Lennon biography which is due tomorrow at the Hoboken Library. It’s been a good read, and so far Sean Lennon has been born and John has his green card, planning to visit his Aunt Mimi soon enough. We know how it will end though, sadly. He was a messed up figure to say the least and he himself recognized it.

Got off the train in Otisville, the next to last stop on the Port Jervis line. Pedro wasn’t around so I waited in the heated waiting area which smelled of a very strong disinfectant. Excer and his girlfriend Lillian were in the kitchen talking to Pedro’s girlfriend Connie when I got there.

I was starving and Connie was making a lot of food, chicken, potato salad, rice and beans. A big bucket filled with wine and beer was nearby and soon enough it was cheers all around with the clinking of wine glasses and beer bottles.

Some of Pedro’s friends also showed up in time to watch the boxing match between Shane Mosely and Antonio Margarito. Pedro mentioned that Margarito was favored to win, in the ninth round which made me root for the underdog Mosely who won in ninth round instead. Things wound down after that.

Two of Pedro’s friends who drove up from Long Island left soon after making some of us scratch our heads and wonder why they would drive three hours up to sit around for two hours and then drive back to Long Island.

More beer for everyone else and we drank and watched a bootleg of The Wrestler which was very good, both the quality of the copy and the movie itself. Still I would see it again in a theater if and when Bill wants to.

Then at 1:00 we decided to watch Gran Torino which despite Pedro’s hype was merely ok. Clint Eastwood doing his best Ted Cassidy as Lurch performance. He also reminded me of my father. In certain shots he looked like him.

At 3:30 it was bedtime for all of us. I was set up in the basement on a comfortable futon not too far away from a very warm fireplace. Woke up to a text from Bill wishing me a good morning and mentioning it was one degree below zero in Otisville. I texted back telling him it was nice to know but I was under a very thick comforter.

Connie made a very big breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes and lots of coffee. Pedro was incapacitated and did not get out of bed. I knew I wasn’t going to catch the 11:00 train back to Hoboken and the next train was around 3:30.

Instead I hitched a ride back to Manhattan with Excer and Lillian and got off at the George Washington Bridge bus terminal only to find the A train wasn’t stopping there and the 181 bus to Union City wasn’t running until 4:00.

I hopped on a shuttle bus to 168th street and caught the train to the 42nd Street bus terminal where I caught the bus back to Hoboken and took a nice two hour nap. Back to work tomorrow.

That’s it for me. Good to be back home, though it would be better if Bill were here.

en route to Otisville at sundown

en route to Otisville at sundown

Otisville 6PM

Otisville 6PM

Excer & Pedro

Excer & Pedro

Lillian and Connie

Lillian and Connie

The host with the most

The host with the most

T'is himself....

T'is himself....