Monthly Archives: March 2011

I Really Don’t Want To Know

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Today is Tuesday which means yesterday was Monday and tomorrow is Wednesday. And it was another day off for me. The next day off will be Sunday and the following Sunday I will be expected at the cigar shack to work inventory at the unholy hour of 7:00AM. But that’s then and not now so I am trying not to think about that.

Lately I have been getting messages from former customers at the cigar shack, asking me how I’m doing. They’re not coming to the cigar shack anymore, instead going to different cigar shops in Manhattan that have lounges. When I had that slurred meeting with Marcus & Calvin, I mentioned the name of one of the cigar shops, calling them our competition.

Marcus was adamant in saying that such and such a place was not our competition. No of course it wouldn’t be if you consider yourself the tobacco equivalent of Hermes or Louis Vuitton. Of course those are actual stores not a boutique that is shoe horned in between a pricey store to buy boots and belts and an eyeglass shop.

Today was a decent day, I did some laundry, ran some errands. A trip to the bibliothèque was in order, returning DVD’s. Last night I watched Annie Hall. I saw that in the cinema, at the Century Theater with my sister.

We made it a point back then to see Woody Allen movies together, starting with Sleeper, Love and Death, Annie Hall, Interiors and Manhattan. Manhattan we saw at the dollar theaters, possibly in Ridgefield Park or Leonia.

We’d travel for a cheap movie. I remember getting weepy at the end of Manhattan when Mariel Hemingway was telling Woody Allen to remember she was only going away for 6 months.

Annie Hall was great to watch last night and I was glad they included the subtitles, showing what Annie and Alvy were thinking when they were having wine on the terrace of Annie’s overpriced ($400.00!) apartment in midtown. With a terrace.

Harpy called in the last 20 minutes so the Los Angeles scenes were not seen, no Alvy crashing his car in the parking lot, no driving through plutonium and no play based on Annie and Alvy’s relationship. Still it was good to hear from Harpy, he calls so infrequently these days.

Bill came home from his writer’s workshop and he helped me out with my leg which had been causing me some discomfort the past couple of days. He helped me stretch it out somewhat as I lay on the floor, Bill holding my foot as my leg was fully extended and helped pull it back to me. It helped quite a bit, and so did the ibuprofen.

I slept really well last night and woke up early enough this morning to catch the Today show which I turned on before stepping into the shower. I need a shave, haven’t shaved since last week and the hair that is popping up is white. If I don’t do something I run the risk of looking like that idiot John Bolton.

The resumes continue going out and I received a call back an hour or so ago while I was in the supermarket. I completed the call once outside with the sounds of buses and other traffic going by. It seemed to have gone well and a meeting is scheduled on Friday morning.

I should be attending that before heading into the cigar shop that day. I also spoke with Casey Chasm who commented last night, mentioning that his phone was destroyed in training. It was a nice brief chat, Mrs. Chasm is due to deliver another child in May and then Casey is off to Afghanistan. I’m sure he’ll be alright.



New Order – Fine Time

I Need Your Loving Everyday

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A long slow lazy day has been had and it actually still goes on. Yesterday was spent at the cigar shack, working alongside Calvin and it wasn’t so bad but it certain wasn’t the hijinks that occurred on Saturday with Thomas and The Bradley.

Still, it wasn’t so bad working with Calvin. I lead most of the day in sales, ahead of him by almost $1000.00 before the day was half over. Still he rallied, admirably and soon passed me by about $3000.00. For a Sunday those are excellent numbers.

I also dominated the music. No jazz thank you very much. I got to the shop before Calvin and started the day with the best of the Ronettes after walking up the avenue and picking up breakfast listening to Public Image Limited. After the Ronettes came a smattering of songs by Johnny Cash, followed by Marianne Faithfull and her magnificent album, Strange Weather.

I asked Calvin what he thought about Marianne Faithfull and he felt it was too mellow so I followed that with Ray Charles’ Greatest Hits.

One of the semi-regular irregulars came in, Pollen Zones. Pollen Zones came in the day before and sat by himself in the backroom. I never much cared for Pollen Zones. He was more friendly with Raymond and Sean, one time shaking both of their hands, and when I offered mine, he sneered.

Yesterday when he came in I said ‘Hey Pollen Zones, how’s it going?’ to which he ignored me. I remarked, loud enough for Pollen Zones to hear, ‘Well good for you. I’m happy for ya.’ And walked away.

He’s no longer waited on hand and foot and he must have left sullenly but I didn’t care since I was probably with more conversant people rather than mediocre friends of Bill W.

Since it was just Calvin and I working that meant lunch was to be eaten in the cigar shack. I ran out and got some fast food since Whole Foods is too crowded on weekends. I came back and ate and enjoyed a nice aged cigar while finishing up Suze Rotolo’s A Freewheelin’ Time.

Seems she was friends with Bob after the break up, perhaps he realized that since she knew him before he became ‘Bob Dylan’ and was there when he became ‘Bob Dylan’ she could always be a trusted confidant.

It’s a shame she passed on a few weeks ago, she seemed like she would have been an interesting person to have meet. Who knows? She could have just as well have been a customer at Farfetched.

Today was mainly about errands around Hoboken, dropping off my shirts and picking up Bill’s dry cleaning. And a trip to the grocery store where I ran into Linda, a sweet woman who used to work at the supermarket but retired a year or so ago. I could barely keep up since I had only one cup of coffee in my system and I was coming down fast.

Luckily she saw someone else that she knew so while she was distracted I said good bye and continued shopping before heading home to make a late breakfast.

So mainly it’s been that kind of day. I watched Shameless last night and though I enjoyed it I was a bit whelmed by the ending. And I could not get into Mildred Pierce at all, but then again I didn’t try very hard.

Too much of a showy soap opera for my tastes. I think I saw a spoof of it on the Carol Burnett show way back in the 1970’s. I preferred that.