Monthly Archives: August 2010

I’m Your Villain

And here we are on what other people call a Friday. Heck, I even call it a Friday myself, but it’s the middle of the work week for me in retail land, so it’s a Wednesday. And the mantra continues, ‘At least you have a job’.

Last night was OK, came home a minute after Bill. He picked up some milk for me which was awfully nice. I asked him when he asked me to pick up his laundry this morning. He was soon off to bed leaving me to surf the internet for an hour or two.

Not much to see, no one updating or posting anything really worth writing about. I did enjoy the live stream of Arcade Fire from Madison Square Garden last night.

Soon I was the other lump in the bed. Fell quickly asleep but about 20 minutes into it, Bill coughed loudly waking me up and making it difficult to fall back asleep. So following my own advice I got out of bed and sat in front of the computer for about 20 minutes.

Killed some time before finally being able to go back to sleep which was all about tossing & turning. Bill was up and out as usual, leaving me to get some sleep while avoiding the sun as it tried to creep through the blinds.

Finally I woke up, a little later than usual, remembering to get Bill’s laundry. That is what got me up and out of the apartment, after showering and before having coffee. Mona, the dry cleaning lady was quite nice as she saddled me with all of Bill’s laundry & dry cleaning.

I made it back home and up the four flights of stairs where I then had my coffee and started my day. And I was out the door a little while after that, stopping off at the Bibliothèque where I returned the Duke Ellington biography.

Way too dense for me, who is also way too dense. I did pick up a biography on Leo Castelli which is more to my liking than Duke Ellington. I was on the bus and headed through the tunnel, getting to the cigar shop about a half hour early.

I sat in the lounge before it opened and started the Castelli biography. It was slow enough, me and Don Birch and Sean manning the registers. Marcus was soon out, headed to New Orleans for the big tobacconist convention next week.

The usual customers came in, mostly nice. The crabby ones I avoided like so much pubic lice. My friend my friend came in and said hello and quietly remarked that he had read this here blog. And apparently it didn’t put him off too much. It was encouraging to hear.

There was an event that Raymond had a big hand in putting together so he came in towards the end of the day. Air Bender cigars, Kung Fu movies, whiskey and Chinese food.

Since it was payday I already had a plan to get a burger and fries and a chocolate shake from Good Burger around the corner which made my co-workers think I was being holier than thou.

I explained to them that since I didn’t pay $70.00 to participate in the event it didn’t seem right to eat the food, plus I let them in on a secret. I’m not that fond of Chinese food. I mean I will eat it if it’s in front of me, but it’s really not my cuisine of choice.

I did my best ringing up over $1000.00 in sales, really doing my best to get that 3% commission. The co-workers stayed, making overtime and working the event. I was out a few minutes after 9:00 after closing up my drawer.

A nice walk on a lovely evening to the bus terminal, in 17.8 minutes. From Love Will tear Us Apart by Joy Division to Slip Into Something by Kinobe. Not a bad day overall. Two more days, my personal Thursday and Friday, brought on a Saturday and Sunday.

At least I have a job.

I’m Happy Just To Dance With You

It’s a Thursday I believe. It’s also the second time I’ve written that, and a few other lines.When the computer gets too warm it shuts down and it just shut down right in the middle if a classic line.

I had written about how it took me 17.4 minutes to get from the cigar shop to the bus terminal, courtesy of the Wailers songs from the Bob Marley boxed set, Songs of Freedom. From Judge Not to Put It On.

As I climbed the stairs at the terminal, taking them two at a time, and taking care not to trip and fall onto my knees, I heard Bob, Bunny & Peter singing ‘I rule my destiny’. And I guess I did rule my destiny since I did not fall onto my knees.

I made it to the gate where the Willow Avenue bus is and found several women standing there, no discernible queue. If I stood behind the woman at the back it would have seemed awkward so I moved closer to the door instead.

I’m sure that raised some eyebrows but when the bus arrived I did the unthinkable. I stood there and held the door for the women who were all there before me and by rights, had dibs on the seats. I know they didn’t expect that and I certainly didn’t mind doing such a nice thing.

Before that the day was relatively alright. It was Calvin and Don Birch with Marcus there for half the day and Sean coming in and then heading out to work an event the cigar shop was sponsoring across town.

Don Birch isn’t as introspective as he used to be, he’s actually quite funny and acerbic. Calvin was Calvin. He’s been alright too. Could it be I am settling in and being one of the team?

Right now Arcade Fire is streaming live on YouTube from Madison Square Center. It is one of the first times that I’ve listened to Arcade Fire since my meltdown 3 years ago. They truly do strike a somewhat disturbing chord within me.

Three years ago and how far I’ve gone from then. Seems like a good show. I wonder if other people get such a disturbed feeling from them.

Nothing much else to report.

I have to hook up with Rand and perhaps he can figure out why my computer gets so overheated. I do my best to keep it clean but Hoboken is a dust bowl and no matter what, dust will get into the computer.

Tomorrow I will see if he’s available on Monday or Tuesday so I can bring the computer over to his apartment. I’m sure he can get to the bottom of it. He’s good like that.

And I do have to write a letter to Todd at Maxwells to thank him for letting Bill and myself have a party there last month. It went off well and I keep running into people who told me they had a really good time.

Hope you did too.