Monthly Archives: May 2011

I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train

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Two days off from work, one day back and once again I cannot stand people. I can’t say I fear for the future since we’re already doomed. Luckily there is plenty of blame to go around, more than enough so I don’t have to write about it here. I don’t have to write about people that are so involved with whatever mechanisms are in their hand they don’t know how to respond to an ‘excuse me’ as you try to pass them on an escalator.

It was certainly a strange day today. Temperatures in the 80° range and it’s not even the unofficial start of summer yet. I was early enough to see Thomas walk right past me, all slick in a dark suit and wearing killer shades.

I walked into the cigar shack just a minute after he did. He asked if he could close tonight, which eventually means I will close tomorrow. No big deal. Six in one, a half dozen in the other if you ask me. Alvin was flitting about, seemingly stressed. He made a remark about how I had such a nice day off yesterday and he sounded resentful.

Some big wigs were expected to be in the shack today. One showed up about 30 minutes after I got in, a nice guy who made a bee line to Calvin. He also blessed Thomas and myself with some free cigars so that was nice. The afternoon progressed as expected, a few customers coming in and out.

Since today was Miles Davis birthday, Calvin insisted on playing nothing but Miles Davis today. Ho hum. The afternoon crawled quite a bit thanks to the jazz. Calvin had an appointment so that meant he was going to have to leave early, like around 4:00.

At about 3:55, more big wigs arrived, about 5 of them altogether, examining the computers. Not that they were in a hurry to replace the Soviet garage sale computers the cigar shack uses, from what someone told me, they were probably making sure that Marcus doesn’t steal files or customers from the cigar shack, moving them to a cigar hut a few blocks south.

The someone who told me, mentioned that Marcus probably did that already, a little each day. Whether or not that is true, I couldn’t tell you. The truth is Marcus will be gone from the cigar shack, come June 1. And Calvin is stepping up to the plate, already taking somethings over, and a little bit anxious and nervous as well. He’ll be fine I’m sure, some bad habits seem to have ended or at least put to the side by just about all concerned.

I heard from my cousin who said they’ll be in touch with me next week and I heard from Joe Monaco, a recruiter I met with about 2 years ago. I used to send Joe Monaco emails every Monday, letting him know I was still looking. Eventually that fell by the wayside and here he was calling me to tell me about a position that maybe just right for me. And it may be local too.

I don’t have any expectations with regards to Joe Monaco. Despite my excellent scoring on the tests back then, he has not done a thing for me. OK, offering me a job in Livingston NJ was something he did, but really, how the hell am I supposed to get out to Livingston?

In any event, I am home now, and quite happy to be here. Bill is here too, telling me he loves me and that I am wonderful. It is nice to hear, sometimes hard to believe, the latter, not the former.




I Became A Prostitute

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And it’s the second day of a two day stretch of having time off from the cigar shack. An even better day than yesterday, with blue skies and warm breezes. It’s been warm enough that the clothes I washed yesterday were dry already. Sometimes it takes a day or two.

We don’t have a laundry line outside so the clothes hang in the bathroom as well as hanging on racks in the kitchen. I do my laundry at home while Bill prefers to drop his clothes off to be laundered outside. If we weren’t living on the top floor (and of course if we didn’t have a washing machine in the kitchen) I would be doing my laundry at a Laundromat, since there are several all within walking distance.

I was out and about a few times today, trying to get the most out of having 48 hours off. No visits to the galleries again, I reckon I can always do that next Tuesday, the second of another two days off in a row. Perhaps Harpy can join me if he’d like. We had a good time last time. This time with my dodgy knee and Harpy with his dodgy ankle we should make a good pair.

No running and an avoidance of stairs should work well for us both. I’m counting on Harpy to read this and decide whether or not to go with me. I heard from him last night, of course he called when I was watching Frontline, a story about Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks. After 20 minutes of Harpy I ended the call and wanted to see what I had planned on watching.

I also started watching The Social Network after the 11:00 news. I enjoyed it, Jesse Eisenberg was quite intense as Mark Zuckerberg. Quite a smart fella, very arrogant and very much a dick. It was good, don’t know how much of the story was actually true, but with an Aaron Sorkin script and David Fincher directing it was definitely highbrow entertainment which isn’t bad at all. I recommend it. Is Jesse Eisenberg one of the best actors around today? As good as Joseph Gordon Levitt?

Tonight is Hoboken’s Memorial Day parade and where I went last year and was moved enough to applaud the veterans and current servicemen, this year I’m not so much interested in attending. I just had a couple of hamburgers from Stine, left over from Alexander’s birthday party, and not really into going outside.

And also today was the first day that I am wearing shorts. It’s in the 80 ° range today so I feel somewhat justified in showing off my pasty white legs. I think the knee brace lends me some street cred.

Today I also heard from the bibliothèque. The head librarian wrote to me, saying that something may be opening up, part time and they would keep my resume on file. Even though it’s part time, it’s a foot in the door and since it’s a block away from where I live, I would definitely save on the $200 a month commute that I am currently paying.

And there is also some communiqués from the Maxwells crowd, with even the wonderful Steve Fallon chiming in on occasion. So it’s been an interesting kind of day, reconnecting with old friends and perhaps getting a lead on a local job.

Today I picked up a whole lot of Velvet Underground music from the bibliothèque. Stuff I own on vinyl that I just converted so that I can play them on my iPod, including the box set, Peel Slowly & See. I also bought Raphael Saadiq’s newest, Stone Rollin’ and also Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding.

It’s been a pretty good day.