Monthly Archives: December 2010

I Don’t Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You

New day, new documents. Using Google Docs at the moment. Got burned by Microsoft Word last night and after 3 or 4 burns, decided to use good old Google. I thought I would have the whole Microsoft Office thing in the new computer, I am using Windows 7 now, no longer an XP kind of guy.

Maybe I do, I just have to find it, and who has the time when there are pictures of who knows what being sent to me continuously in my email.

It was back to work for me today and it wasn’t half bad. Perhaps the good feeling of the holidays are still upon us, good will and all that. It was me and Calvin most of the day with Sean coming in followed by the one known now as Fred.

I like Fred, he’s a nice guy but man can he talk your ear off. It’s OK though, it’s certainly better than the moody shenanigans that the Bradley played a few months ago. It wasn’t too busy and I was able to actually sit in the back room and enjoy a cigar after having something to eat for lunch.

It was a good cigar but stronger than I remembered when I last smoked it over the summer. It made me a bit woozy afterwards but I soon recovered. Calvin was having a discussion with a screenwriter when I finished lunch and he introduced me as a writer as well before Calvin went off to do something else.

The screenwriter bloke and I hit it off somewhat well, discussing various methods of writing. I explained how I write at least 500 words a day and though some of it might not be worthwhile, I still have a decent collection of writing and in that collection there are probably a few choice lines or phrases that I could use at anytime.

I also explained that I was good at dialogue, mentioning how 20 years ago I collaborated on a script with John Bruce who called me a few days later, telling me that my writing made him cry, it was that good.

Perhaps I am rose tinting the past, but that’s how I remember it, getting a phone call from Mr. Bruce at the video store where I worked at the time, or maybe Mr. Bruce showed up to tell me.

It was back to the earlier schedule tonight, closing the store at 9:00. I didn’t rush down to the bus terminal, it was too messy streets filled with cold slush and it’s quite slippery out too. No Hyman Gross either.

Last night Bill called me. he had gotten off the bus a few stops earlier than usual, he was worried about Hyman Gross. Neither of us had heard from or seen Hyman in a while so Bill decided to knock on his door.

When he got off the bus he saw a Hoboken Emergency Services Unit nearby and thought it best if he told them what was up. They drove Bill to Hyman’s apartment where a neighbor mentioned that they hadn’t seen Hyman in a while.

The Emergency Services person did some detective work and found out that Hyman was in Massachusetts near his family, in a hospital. We still don’t know where exactly, or what put him in the hospital but the Emergency Services person took Bill’s information and told Bill they would be in touch with him if there hear anything else.

That is just one reason why I love Bill. Doing something like that, in the cold, checking in on a senior citizen who just happens to be a friend.

Two more days of work for me, then two days off. A weekend. On a weekend. Who would have thought?

I Don’t Know Why

OK. I was using Microsoft Word to write and three times I tried to past the word bibliothèque into the text. It caused the document to close and the whole program to shut down. Don’t know why, but here I am writing again.

I wrote about Calvin sending me email asking me to come in today since the trains were running as was NJ Transit buses. He wasn’t sure if the Bradley was going to be in and did not want to work 12 hours by himself. Oh the price of being management.

Then there was a second email about a minute later, telling me to ignore the previous email, since the Bradley was in the cigar shop after all. I ignored both messages and set about getting busy, cleaning up the apartment as much as possible.

My niece Corinne mentioned stopping this afternoon while we were both in Hillsdale. It sounded like a fun idea and I was game. I started cleaning last night but there is only so much you can do while people are trying to sleep.

Corinne caught a train from Garfield, winding up in Hoboken around 1:15. I was planning on meeting her at the station but she was on here way to the apartment when she contacted me. We hung out for a while before I had to run some errands.

A trip to the dry cleaners as well as the bibliothèque where I returned Whatever Works, the Woody Allen movie starring Larry David. I enjoyed it, Bill loved it, laughed out loud several times. I also returned The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks. Recommended reading.

We walked through snowy Church Square Park and had lunch at Oneal’s Restaurant, across from the park. It was nice, burgers and a pint for each of us. We came back to the apartment after that, watching Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Corinne had never seen it before and it may have been a bit of an eye opener. Still a good, fun movie and I’m sure she enjoyed it. She had a train to catch back to Garfield so I walked her back to the train station, on the way leading her into a deceptively deep puddle of slush and getting her Uggs and her feet wet.

I felt bad about that and let Corinne lead the way after that. We got to the station and I bought three pair of socks from a push cart vendor for $5.00, so that Corinne could at least change into dry socks on the train, an attempt to minimize her discomfort.

We parted ways at the station after I made sure she got on the right train. They’ve been changing the schedules at the last minute and they did it again, operating on a weekend schedule but not mentioning it on their website.

Good old NJ Transit. Last night they canceled the train Bill & I were going to take and we found out once we got to the station, needing to take an earlier train than planned. But it all worked out and it was good to have Corinne around, bringing her energy and color to an otherwise drab day off.

Walking back through the train station I was reminded of when I accompanied my father to work in 1977. I didn’t want to go, he probably didn’t want to take me but since he took my brothers at some point in their lives (and maybe my sister) I had to go.

I was reminded of this since it was around the same time of year, 33 years ago. Different times indeed, all those years ago.