Monthly Archives: December 2009

The Hangover Strikes

Well here we are, the first day of Winter. I came home last night before Bill, leaving him at the game so I could start the blog and uploading the video which was a chore.

The initial attempt rendered the video split in two. I attempted to rejoin them but there was a drop out of a second or so. So I decided to tack on the sound check but still I wasn’t satisfied.

Midway through Bill made it home, the Knicks won leaving us to believe that Bill was their good luck charm. We stayed up and watched some TV while I continued working on the video.

I was finally able to get the video up in one piece which was a relief. The only problem was that I was only able to shoot the video between the heads of two guys on the basketball court. Still it was a good performance by Bill.

Something different than the previous times when Bill sang the National Anthem before the NY Liberty games. The set up for those games were a lot different and there was no Steve Schirippa or Spike Lee to be seen. Schirippa is not as heavy as he was when he played Bobby Bacala on The Sopranos, he must have dropped 100 pounds or so.

I went to bed once I figured it all out with the video. Bill had a doctor’s appointment so he was sleeping in a little later than usual. I of course stayed in bed groggy. Didn’t sleep as late as I had been and was up before 9:00.

I had a hangover but it wasn’t from drinking, it was more from familial frustration and also resentment on the lack of job front. I’ve been searching all hours of the day, after midnight whenever seems right.

Nothing is happening and I wasn’t expecting anything to happen despite the New York Times saying that looking for a job during the holiday season is the smart thing to do since employers are generally in a good mood.

Of course I have to wonder if the recently laid off employees of the New York Times took comfort in that tidbit.

I was generally cranky and went about my daily routines. Coffee, cereal, shower and sit in front of the computer. Most of the day I was irate.

Made it to the post office to drop off a package to send to Annemarie in California. The line was long and I left my iPod home so I had to listen to various people complaining about how long the line was. What did they expect? It’s the last days before Christmas for goodness sake.

I saw Bill Ryan at the window but he didn’t see me so I didn’t say hello or anything like that. Nothing against Bill Ryan, but like I said I was irate.

I walked around a bit, tried to enjoy a cigar but it was too windy and didn’t light it properly. Just came home from all that, nothing worth taking pictures of.

After surfing around for a little while I decided to take a nap which was nice.

A winter’s nap, the first of the season seemed to dispel whatever it was that was bugging me. Woke up hungry and finished off the penne pesto and chicken that I set aside for Bill yesterday.

Decided to make more for the rest of the week. I enjoy it, and chicken has been on sale lately. I’m not complaining and neither should you since you’re not eating it, I am.

Now I’m doing laundry.

Juan called earlier in the day, he’s coming up to this neck of the woods. I was fairly distant on the phone, explaining that I was somewhat depressed and I was. I told him he could stop by but chances are I wouldn’t be good company.

Now I think I would be good company but if he doesn’t show up, that’s fine. If he does show up, I would hope he doesn’t show up with one arm longer than the other. It doesn’t have to be anything big, something that could be concealed in a cigarette pack would suffice.

I love this song. Anyone know where I could find it? It’s by lene Lovich’ former backing band, fronted by Jimme O’Neill, Fingerprintz, Wet Job. A WPIX-FM classic which makes it 30 years old….

Basketball Jones

This is one of those moments in life where a joint would be most nice. But of course I am lacking in that department. What started as a fine day almost degenerated into crap and it wasn’t my fault. I do have to thank the makers of Xanax for taking a major edge off the trouble I found myself in this afternoon.

I suppose it’s true, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In that case, to quote AC/DC I’m on the Highway to Hell.

Last night was quite pleasant enough. Bill came home and we watched The Baroness of Jazz, about a woman, an heiress to the Rothschild fortune who left England and wound up being a major supporter of Thelonious Monk and a few others in that Jazz scene.

I recorded it since Bill has a connection to Thelonious Monk in some regard. Right now, my patience is sorely being tested by the sound card I guess on my computer.

Right now I’m trying to listen to some Kate Bush on iTunes, while also trying to upload the videos I shot of Bill tonight. Unfortunately with every keystroke on the computer the sound goes to shit.

Apparently I cannot do more than one thing on the computer without something going wrong. You get what you paid for I guess. Be ru-un-nni-i-i-nn-ggg u-u-u-p-p t-hhhhaaa-tttt hi-ll-ll is not how Kate Bush is supposed to sound. A 5:01 song gets stretched to 6 and change.

And the one clip I had shot of Bill was somehow turned into 2 clips, so I decided to add the sound check making it a 2:36 clip. I know I would be feeling a lot worse if it weren’t for the Xanax which is merely making me frustrated rather than angry.

Anyhow, The Baroness of Jazz was good and Bill really enjoyed it. After that, Bill and I watched Saturday Night Live. I generally enjoy the holiday episodes of Saturday Night Live. I often wondered if it was Lorne Michaels generosity that lets some truly strange sketches go on air.

I loved the digital short, it was hilarious and definitely weird. No more pajamas for me. Bill went to bed during Weekend Update, I stayed up to watch the rest. Muse were the musical guests and I thought they were alright.

Soon I went to bed as the snow continued falling. I woke up around 8:30, Bill was off to church for the first time in weeks, delivering the liturgy. I soon had my boots on, walked up to Washington Street where the bagel shop was empty. Yesterday the line was out onto the sidewalk.

In and out in under a minute, I made my way through sloppy streets to the supermarket. Cute cashier, reminded me of Karen Kuhl from Gutbank, 20 years ago.

The rest of the day was OK, until I responded to matters regarding Christmas presents. Where I planned and saved to get these presents I was left feeling foolish for getting these meager presents. Whatever good feeling I had was soon gone.

Bill was home by then and taking a nap, I had an early supper. That’s when I had the Xanax which couldn’t activate fast enough for my nerves. Eventually it did and talking to Bill about it certainly helped.

Things will have to be done differently and certain plans will be changed within the next five days. C’est la vie, that’s just the way that it goes.

Bill and I ran into Rand and Lisa as we walked to the Path train, good to see them. They wished Bill good luck with his singing. We also ran into Kathe Charas who is leaving New York and heading to Florida to help out some relatives. Glad to be able to see her on the day she was leaving though it was quite inadvertent.

We were set up nicely at the Garden, had dinner in the Press Room and Bill had a small dressing room. We had passes that allowed me to walk through the bowels of the Garden and shoot Bill’s sound check and the pass came in handy during the actual performance.

Unfortunately, someone bumped into me during the actual performance which left the video slightly disjointed. I posted it on YouTube as johnotoole99 as well on Facebook and also here.

Our singer

Our singer

'Just the facts, ma'am'

'Just the facts, ma'am'