Monthly Archives: November 2009

I’m Not Scared

Yep, it’s a Monday again. Some of you had to go back to work. Some of you just had to get out of bed. I of course am in the latter category. Last night was the testing. Still no feedback on it.

I didn’t get much of a chance to watch anything on TV until Bill went to sleep. I did watch the second half of Pulp Fiction since there was nothing else on. It’s a good movie still. Certainly inspired quite a few other movies.

I saw Pulp Fiction when it came out with Julio at a run down theater in Times Square. The ticket seller outside kept calling it “Pole Fishin'”

Did Tarantino ever reach that level again? Maybe Kill Bill in moments, but as a whole it missed the mark. It ended around 1:30 in the morning and that’s when I went to bed.

I didn’t fall asleep though. Bill wasn’t wearing his sleep apnea mask and was snoring. Funny that I wrote how I missed the sounds he makes when he was away the night before. I take it back.

When he was leaving this morning Bill was apologetic. I just wanted him to go so that I could finally sleep soundly without sound. He called later in the morning apologizing again and promising to wear the sleep apnea mask tonight.

I will hold him to that.

Other than that it’s been a quiet day. Sent out some resumes, communicated with a fellow named JohnsonTech in the comments section of Revolution #9 which I wrote a week or so ago. He felt I was stressed out when I wrote about the gay bashings and murders.

Funny thing is, most of the entries are quite boring and tedious and finally I write something that I was passionate about and I wind up being told that I’m unnecessarily stressing.

It’s actually the boring everyday entries that I stress out about. What am I going to write about? Will I reach 500 words? What will my brother Brian think? Yes this is what I stress out over.

Like right now.

Didn’t do much today except what I wrote about. Am I at 500 words yet? I usually try for 600 hundred, but will be happy with 500 if it’s been one of those days.

I also played some guitar today. Since I played outdoors yesterday with ace guitarist Tim I felt inspired enough to scrape the rust off my guitar strings. And I also became friends with him on Facebook which was nice.

Tonight Bill is at his theater group meeting up in Harlem. I have got nothing scheduled for myself. I’ll watch Heroes and I’ll likely be disappointed.

I returned Adventureland today. It was a day late and cost me a dollar.

I’ve been weaning myself off the news programs since I have enough upsetting things in my life and do not need anymore.

Still I watched a few minutes of the idiot Sara Palign on Oprah this afternoon. Why is she liked? Why are people dumb and lazy and not willing to see that she has nothing to say. A true definition of vapid in my book.

I like the word ‘vapid’ even though it has a harsh meaning and once called a woman I was friends with vapid one drunken evening. She called me up the next day and told me she would never be my friend after calling her that. And she stayed true to her word, I’ve never heard from her again.

I was the vapid one and proved it by my careless use of the word.

It’s one of my regrets. It’s one of those things that floats in my mind as I’m laying in bed listening to Bill snoring.

Just Like Heaven

It’s a late entry tonight due to the fact that I was taking some office skills tests from the interview. I’ve been doing tutorials for Excel, Word, PowerPoint & a typing test for the past few days.

Finally felt comfortable enough with Excel which was my main sticking point. Word I was good at, Power Point I never used before and abandoned after being stuck on question 6 for about 20 minutes.

Bill was here, trying to to coach me during various parts but it was also during Lawn Hors d’œuvre followed by Curb Your Enthusiasm so I didn’t have his full attention. Surprisingly enough Excel wasn’t as bad as I thought. Not bad for learning it on the fly.

Bill did his best, but both of us were waylaid by Power Point. It was sort of like coming home after having fun outside on a Sunday and then having to do the homework which was put off a few times. But my frame of mind was best for it as the previous 24 hours were very good.

Last night I watched Adventureland which was mostly enjoyable. Nice refreshing look on the 1980’s. Some bits of that decade I remember and that was through the songs they used in the movie. One song in particular stood out, besides Rock Me, Amadeus.

Just Like Heaven by the Cure. I’ve liked the Cure, have one of their greatest hits collections and some of their vinyl somewhere. I remembered hearing Just Like Heaven over and over at McSwells when I was a bar back.

Hearing it last night was like hearing it for the first time and it sounded easy to play. I looked up the chords online and yes, it was quite easy to play. A E Bm D with the chorus of F#m G repeated and followed by a D & E. That’s it. I played it a few times last night and downloaded it since it wasn’t on the Staring At The Sea Greatest Hits compilation.

Saturday Night Live was alright, funny in parts. The Black Eyed Peas were OK. After that I wound up watching ‘How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin’ which was about how the Beatles were a major force in the cultural upheaval and eventual downfall of the Soviet Union.

Before I knew it it was 2:00. Bill was driving a bus back from Atlantic City so he wasn’t home and I missed his snoring/sleep apnea mask noises. Woke up around 9:00 this morning. Message from Bill that he was driving back to Atlantic City. Then another message that he wasn’t driving back to Atlantic City.

So he was getting the bagels after all. He came home and promptly went to bed while I ate breakfast and read the paper.

I decided to enjoy the nice day outside and called Julio who was napping. Called Rand and left a message. Walked around town, headed towards Pier A.

Up ahead I saw Tim, a 15 year old red headed guitar player who I saw a few weeks ago. He was doing some Dylan songs last time. This time he was also doing some Neil Young.

There was another guy who bummed a cigarette off me, Tariq. I saw Tariq playing the other day and he was a decent player as well. While Tim played Tariq and I talked about how good Tim was. People were throwing change and dollar bills into his guitar case.

Another guitar player showed up but I didn’t get his name. He sort of took over whatever was going on which was a bit of a drag. Stones, Skynyrd was the direction he was trying to go towards.

Earlier I mentioned to Tariq that I sort of play the guitar and he offered me his guitar. I begged off. He insisted and finally said, ‘Listen man, I gotta take a piss. You can hold the guitar for me, alright?’

So I did and sat next to Tim. I asked Tim if he knew any Cure songs and he asked which one. I said Just Like Heaven and he said it was one of his favorites. So we played that for a while.

Another guy joined us reading lyrics off his Blackberry to whatever was being played. As I sat and played I looked across the Hudson River and the city had turned green. The sun reflecting off the water was very impressive and I had to ask the others if they saw what I saw, that’s how impressive it was. They saw it too.

I found out that playing outside isn’t so bad after all and these guys were supportive which was something I wasn’t that used to regarding my guitar playing. I was even asked back and I told them I would bring my own guitar next time when the weather was nice.

Then I caught up with Julio and Superboy. They were on Washington Street and we strolled along. Alexander hung onto his rubber ball even when we made it to the park and he would climb the kiddie slide.

It’s funny to see Julio and Alexander together. It’s like Julio has his own Mini Me. A walk home with Alexander flying with Julio and I grabbing each of his hands and lifting, one, two three!

Tim the guitarist

Tim the guitarist

Tariq, Skynyrd guy, Tim

Tariq, Skynyrd guy, Tim

11.15.09 Hoboken Alexander 009

11.15.09 Hoboken Alexander 002

11.15.09 Hoboken Alexander 008

11.15.09 Hoboken Alexander 010