The woman on the bus next to me had killer morning breath. I wish I could tell her. She was too busy talking on her cellphone the whole ride back to Hoboken. And it was crowded. She possibly carried that morning mouth with her all day. I could smell it even though I just finished smoking a Padron 5000 Natural. Someone should have told her, but not me. I don’t know her or work with her. But I am the type of friend that would tell you that your breath stinks, or you have a snot hanging out of your nose. A bat in the cave as it were.

I heard from Marcus today. Actually I called him. I hadn’t seen him in years. He’s a true Rasta pal. I’ve known Marcus since about 1992, when I started working for Skyline Studios. Marcus was hustling on the street around the studio so naturally we hit it off. My friend Miriam and I hung out with Marcus, Jesse and the late, lamented Poncho. I remember the owners of the studio allowed me to have a small party in one of the lounges that weren’t being used. Miriam, the Rastas and myself, blazing away. One of the owners walked through the clouds, tsk tsk’ing, but nothing was said.

I hung out with the Rastas quite a bit, even after the studio was sold and I went to another studio. Marcus had many jobs and one of them was driving a dollar van up and down Flatbush Avenue, or Kings Highway. He was also the group leader of the Rastas and would put his stash in his van in Manhattan going to it on occasion to replenish supplies. After their work was done, meaning after the commuters passed by and picked up their needs for home, we would all hang out in the van getting quite jazzy.

I had the idea that I should drive since the police wouldn’t look twice at a white guy driving a van around midtown Manhattan rather than a jazzed up dreadlocked Rasta. It worked, we never got pulled over. I would just drive and drive around midtown and after an hour I would drop myself off a block or two from the bus terminal and get on line for my bus, not noticing that I reeked of jazz, and my eyes were quite bloodshot while wondering why people were staring at me. The dreads told me I looked Chinese. I was oblivious.

A few times I made it out to Brooklyn which was a major accomplishment. I went to a few parties, believing Marcus when he said that he’d meet me at some Ballroom on Church Avenue at 10:00PM. I would show up at 10:00 exactly only to find no Marcus there. One time I showed up on time and a large group of brothers were hanging out watching a boxing match on TV Everything stopped when I walked into the ballroom. I was the only white guy in the vicinity. At least the only one that wasn’t a cop. I was wearing a suit and tie because Marcus asked me to. Everyone else that went to these parties were from Guyana or Suriname and dressed to the nines, albeit flashy, so Marcus felt I should dress up too. But he wasn’t there yet, so he sent one of his brothers, either Clarence, Kenneth or Jamal to entertain me until Marcus showed.

He showed, and I soon left. Making the acquaintance of two young men on the train, headed for NYU. They didn’t know where they were going really so I instructed them to get off at West 4th Street. They were most grateful and when they asked my name I told them Allen Goldfarb.

This has been an experiment for myself since I heard that some people are tired of reading about my routine in the morning. Apparently I write the samo samo in the beginning. It usually gets me started and obviously I jump off from there. So no more bagels and papers, showers and cereal, at least for the time being. I also heard that there might be other readers besides Annemarie, Kathe, Harpy, Juan and Song. Maybe brother Frank, possibly Bill. So I am content with these seven. It would be cool if other people said hello in the comment section just to know who is reading this……hell, it would be cool if any of those seven wrote something in the comment box.

Looking into the future through a dirty window

Back to work because it’s Monday again. Yesterday I didn’t do much of anything. They rains finally came. No beach this weekend. Saturday would’ve been nice, but Billie wasn’t up for both Coney Island and a movie. We wound up doing neither. Early evening dinner at the Film Center Cafe, which was nice. Then it was a quiet ride home after seeing Billie off to his gate, Bill sleeping on the bus, me reading the Onion, then back at home where Bill fell asleep on the couch. Then I sent him off to bed where I joined him soon enough.

I went out Sunday morning around 8:00 to get bagels and the papers and it was a beautiful morning. A perfect beach morning. It changed a few hours later, lightning, thunder and rain for a few hours then it stopped, but I had no motivation to go out. I stayed in and watched some DVD’s. I watched Creature Comforts, but it was weird. It was the Christmas episode, and it was hard to connect since it was the end of July. They did cancel the US version after three episodes. Stupid CBS. We’ll see if I watch them before I turn 65.

I also watched Apocalypto. Not your average Disney flick. It was barely ok. The scenery was nice, the lead actor was a handsome guy once you got past the piercings, the story was compelling and Mel Gibson was actually right by having it acted in Mayan. You do get more involved with the story with a different (read:dead) language. I wouldn’t know about The Passion. I didn’t see it since I knew how it ended. He dies at the end. I guess I should have written Spoiler Alert, but I didn’t so there. Very Jeezy Creezy indeed! In case you were wondering about Apocalypto, the Spanish show up at the end. There goes another Spoiler Alert. Oh well.

I tried watching Love is the Devil, starring Derek Jacobi and Daniel Craig. It’s about Francis Bacon and the thug who gets caught breaking into his house, and the relationship they soon fell into. I like Francis Bacon’s paintings, but I just couldn’t get in the mood for a harrowing, shrill dark movie, though the weather outside certainly lent itself towards the lack of frivolity. Bill came home halfway through it and I decided to turn off the movie since if I wasn’t into it, I had my doubts that he would be.

Then we just chilled out. Bill slowly getting ready for his trip to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the National Black Theater Festival. Bill, being black would definitely fit in. Me, not so easily. He goes every couple of years and it makes for a nice time out from each other. I’m sure I get on his nerves sometimes, and he gets on my nerves sometimes so that is why the time out is a good thing. I know I’ll be hearing his stories (and perhaps you will too) when he comes back.

Work was busy and quiet. I was actually given something to do which was good. A lot of the time I have nothing to do. I just do my work too soon and wind up lolly gagging during different periods of the work day. Tomorrow it should be more in depth, regarding what I have to do and believe it or not, I am looking forward to it.

Here’s a picture of Stella, the puppy next door, courtesy of Mike and Nicole, our neighbors.

And here’s a picture of Daniel Craig in a Speedo.

they’re both soooo cuddly.