Monthly Archives: August 2011

I Confess #2

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It’s a soggy Saturday and a day off. I was supposed to be working but with the shutdown of mass transit in this metropolitan area. With no way to get out there was no point of going in. So there was no work today. I was off tomorrow anyhow so it works out nicely I guess. Bill did some grocery shopping last night and I did some this morning after having a cup of coffee.

Last night Bill and I watched way too many reports on Hurricane Irene, and at some point we watched Jurassic Park. I really enjoy that movie and have seen it a few times, and I’m pretty sure this was the second time for Bill. It really is a suspenseful thriller, as good as Jaws.

Before you knew it, it was 2:00 in the morning. Bill went to bed a little after that and I soon followed. Slept fairly well, getting up later than usual on a Saturday morning. No work, no rush you see. Took a shower, made some coffee and after a bit, went to the supermarket.

It was crowded but manageable and I was able to get bread and a few other items that Bill could not get the night before. All in all I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes. Came home and had a nice breakfast. Of course after a few hours some cabin fever set in and I was eager to go outside.

Throughout the day it was raining on and off, not too windy either. I took a few pics as I walked up to Washington Street and since the batteries were slowly dying in my camera I had to get some replacements. Since I wound up downtown I decided to walk over to the river with my camera and fresh batteries, as well as enjoying a cigar.

I walked around Pier A and took some snapshots. Not many people were around but still there was a noticeable number. The streets were nearly devoid of cars. Plenty of parking spots available, much more than usual for a summer weekend. I walked around about an hour and came home to find Bill awake from a nap he had taken earlier.

All day long it’s been news reports on TV and posting YouTube videos of songs that are related somehow to rain. It’s definitely overload. Enough amping up fears and anxiety, I went back to the supermarket to get a few more things should we have to hunker down for more time than expected.

Then on the other hand I can’t help but think there is a lot of hype with regards to the present situation. In any event, I am content to stay home. The refrigerator is well stocked, plenty of water and food. Way more than usual. Also a few Stella Artois, just to save water. I think we’ll be able to ride this out, hopefully without a power outage.

I suppose it’s a good thing that I’ve written now.







I Confess #1

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It’s all about Hurricane Irene today. Hoboken’s mayor, Dawn Zimmer recommended that if you can leave the city, then you should. Bill and I aren’t planning on doing that. We really don’t have anywhere to go anyhow.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has announced their plan to shut down the transit system at noon on Saturday, NJ Transit is doing the same, buses will stop at 6:00PM, trains & Path will be shut down at noon as well.

A few customers at the cigar shack felt that the whole hurricane thing was merely hype. I felt that ever since Katrina, almost 6 years to the week- big cities certainly don’t want to be caught short.

I got to the cigar shack, early again and about a half hour after that the New York Times reported the MTA plans. I explained to Calvin who seemed relatively nonplussed. After phoning the headquarters of cigar shack he announced that the shack would be closed for the weekend.

That was cleared with the landlord of course. The landlord of the cigar shack is a major player in the shady & expensive real estate game in Manhattan. After the phone call I went to lunch, enjoyed a nice cigar and read a poorly written book about the making of John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy.

I can tell it’s poorly written from the first page which listed John Lennon’s birthday as October 8. Any Beatle fan will tell you that John was born on the 9th. Besides the glaring errors I was entertained somewhat. It’s a good beach read and works just as well on a bench near Central Park.

The week started with an earthquake and is ending with a hurricane. When I came back from lunch, it was Thomas’ turn to go to lunch. Everything seemed OK, but when Thomas came back from lunch Calvin started to nitpick on a few things. Looking at August 22 in the book, he noticed that I did not write the sales total.

It’s not that big a deal but to Calvin it was a slippery slope. Normally I would have corrected it the next day but Thomas closed the shop the next night and it was missing. It could easily be found with a simple check on the computer.

It was odd though since Calvin noticed those mistakes but it did not seem like Calvin paid any attention at all to Bradley’s constant fuck ups. Perhaps Calvin is appreciating the guy who’s face turned beet red when it was found out that Marcus was leaving and Calvin assuming the role of manager.

I didn’t see Bradley’s face when that was announced in May but Calvin sure did and talked to me about it afterwards. Red faces are easily forgotten in Calvin’s world and I listened to him as he slurred his words.

So Thomas and I were on the shit list for the night. I spoke to Calvin afterwards and asked him if he was alright and he just started going off on Thomas to me. I was about to text Thomas to look busy but there was no need. Thomas walked into Calvin’s line of sight and immediately put him to work doing menial tasks fora few minutes.

I myself was busy with customers at the time, racking up sale after sale, eventually surpassing both Thomas and Calvin’s numbers combined. I was happy with those numbers and was tempted to do a line with a regular customer who was discreetly sniffing powders in the man cave. I was invited to but decided against it since I don’t do that sort of thing anymore. Just another under performing day I guess.

Now I am home, happy to be here. Two days off, one day on and now two days off again. Bill’s play was scheduled to close on Sunday, but all weekend shows for the Fringe Festival have been canceled. Should be an interesting weekend for most people.