Monthly Archives: August 2008

All The Young Dudes

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Well the past 24 hours have been quite nice. Yesterday I went into the city and met up with Bill in Bryant Park. We caught the 7 train to Flushing, to Shea Stadium. I wanted to go since it’s due to be torn down and it was a chance to say farewell. The ride was entertaining since I’d never taken the train to Shea Stadium before.

Bill

Pretty crowded with Mets fans who are a quiet sort. Bill noticed that. The Yankee fans are louder and more rambunctious. Mets fans are more well behaved and loyal but not rabid. We walked off the subway with hundreds of Mets fans. We missed the National Anthem as we climbed the escalator to our seats. Got some 2 hot dogs and a beer and the total was $20.00/ $8.50 for a Budweiser and $4.50 for each hot dogs.

Vendors now expect a tip. Give them a twenty and they ask how much do you want back. I suppose they earn it for lugging beer and hot dogs around so an extra buck or two is a nice gesture. It really makes a difference to see a baseball game live as opposed to watching it on TV. The excitement of the crowd, the whole atmosphere beats watching a game on a box.

Our seats weren’t bad, we were in the upper tier. It was cramped in our row and since no one was sitting behind us we climbed back and were able to stretch out a bit. The Mets were playing against the Houston Astros and they won 3-0 which definitely made everyone happy.

I took a snapshot with my camera phone and sent it to a few people who basically all asked the same question, ‘Where are you?’ I sent a pic to Pedro who couldn’t believe that I was at Shea Stadium. He said he was at Shea too with some corrections officers (CO’s) he works with.

After the game we wandered around trying to find him and his buddies but to no avail. He jokes around like that with me from time to time and after a while we gave up at my insistence. We did talk on the phone but he kept hanging up and thats when I gave up.

CO’s

He sent me 2 pics that could have been anywhere and it wasn’t until I saw them on my computer did Bill tell me that he was in the parking lot as Bill could see the 7 train behind the CO’s. I didn’t believe Pedro and he called me a jackass and a jerk.

Oh well.

It would have been a strange scene anyway since the CO’s are mainly right wing reactionaries. And Bill and myself are, well… Bill and myself. I told Bill that we might have been shanghaied to a strip club if we met up with the CO’s.

Took the bus home, happy and cozy with each other and made it to Hoboken safe and sound were we both slept really well. I woke up around 8:00, went out got papers and bagels and had breakfast while waiting to hear from Chaz.

Chaz

We planned on going down the shore to Sandy Hook. Chaz called around 9:00 and by 9:20 I was in his car headed down the shore. Wide range of topics we talked about, no music, but talk about music.

Some traffic but not too bad and we were on the beach itself a little after 11:00.We found an area with not too many people around but as the day progressed more people showed up and sat around us.

Whoops!

Chaz made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which were perfect and brought some baklava that his Aunt made last night. Played some Frisbee and I have to admit Chaz is a very good Frisbee thrower, and considering it had been over a year since I last threw I wasn’t so bad either. I did take a spill in the sand which I thought was rather humorous.

After getting sweaty we jumped in the ocean which was a little bit dirty with some trash that Chaz had collected and gave to me to toss in the trash. Every litter/little bit helps. An enjoyable ride home, listening to music on the radio, singing along to I Am The Walrus and Superman by the Kinks on the progressive modern classic rock station.

Stopped off for way too much ice cream, yes there is such a thing. I followed Chaz’ lead and got the double hot fudge brownie sundae with whipped cream. Ugh. A meal in itself.

Trimester!

Now I’m home, watching the History Boys again since I chatted it up with Chaz this afternoon. If I see him tomorrow I should make sure to have it on me so I could loan it to him, with the latest Mojo magazine that I just finished. Also finished 2 short stories by Alan Bennett and promptly started his autobiography, Untold Stories.

So far so good.

Anna (Go To Him)

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Friday comes and Thursday goes. Last night was a lot better than the night before. Good feelings all around. Nothing much happened and judging by the comment, nothing much happened with you. That’s what I’m writing about today. You. How are you doing? It’s been a while and I hope you are well. Feel free to get back to me when you figure out how you are doing.

Tonight Bill and I are off to Shea Stadium which is being torn down this year to make way for a new stadium, to be called Citi Field since I guess Citibank put up some money to rebuild. I wonder how the Shea family is dealing with it. I mentioned to Bill earlier in the season that I would like to attend a Mets game for old time’s sake.

I used to go to Met games every now and then with my family, with the Boy’s Club of Lodi, and sometimes with a bus load of drunken veterans with a garbage can filled with cans of beer.

There’s also the thrill that the Beatles played Shea Stadium. Once in 1965 and again in 1966. I wasn’t at either show since I was too young, and neither were my brothers or my sister. It was actually 42 years ago tomorrow that the Fabs played there.

I’m pretty much excited, I haven’t been to a professional baseball game in decades and I’ve never taken the train there. It should be a fun time all around. Bill is a Yankee fan so who knows how he’ll deal with it. I have a feeling he’ll be fine, putting up with it because of me.

I went to work today and took a half day so I could go home and nap, get ready and do some laundry as well as pick up 2 tickets for myself and my brother Frank for The Bird and The Bee at McSwells in October. Hoboken is deserted again, most residents went down the shore already, so if you’d like to park in Hoboken, now would be the time.

Tomorrow the plan is to go down the shore with Chaz. That was all his idea. I bought a new umbrella and this will probably be the only time this season to use it. Sandy Hook I guess will be our destination and who know, perhaps meeting Connie will be in the cards. That is if Connie will be back from California.

Speaking of California, today is my sister Annemarie’s birthday. I planned on burning some cd’s as I’ve done the past few years, but I can’t seem to burn a cd anywhere. Plan B was getting a copy of the new David Sedaris book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

I hope she likes it. I plan on getting a copy from my library as soon as it is no longer labeled as being a new book. So a very happy birthday to my favorite sister. That’s a safe thing to say since she’s my only sister.

Happy birthday Annemarie. You don’t look like a monkey, and you don’t smell like one either.