April | 2012 | johnozed

Well yesterday turned out to be a washout. It started with me sleeping in bed, Bill hovering over me at 6:45 telling me we were going to have to get a move on. I told him my alarm clock was set for 7AM and to leave me alone for the next 15 minutes. I was able to get another few minutes of slumber in before I trudged through the apartment and into the shower.

Bill had the cereal all set up for me as well as some coffee brewing. I showered and got myself together and threw on a pair of jeans. Outside it was gray skies all around. Soon we were waiting for the bus under threatening skies. Bill had butterflies in his stomach, I had coffee and raisin bran. We walked over to the subway once we got off the bus and out of the terminal.

A 7 train was waiting for us and soon we were en route to Flushing. People getting on and off as we sat there staring out the window. We got off at Willets Point/CitiField, with no one else getting off there. We walked to the Gil Hodges entrance after a few cursory photographs, and were told that we had to wait until we heard from the guy who Bill has been communicating with.

We waited, it drizzled. Bill talked to his cousin Carmen on the phone and I looked around the empty parking lot. Finally Bill got in touch with the guy and we were finally allowed in at around 9:45. We were escorted to the Guest Room and Bill did his warm ups and I read the New Yorker. I also had a cup of coffee thanks to Bill who had to take a walk just to get out of the claustrophobic room.

The guy Bill had been dealing with reappeared and it was time for the sound check. Bill did great in the sound check, sang the National Anthem and God Bless America. They threw God Bless America at Bill at the last minute and Bill was up for the task. It’s a lousy song by the way and I much prefer This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie, written in response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America.

I did record the sound check and tried to upload it to Facebook and the internet but it didn’t take, in fact I lost everything. My smartphone has been acting up lately much to my dismay and I was upset at the loss. About 45 minutes later with a knock on the door we were told that the game had been called due to rain.

So it was back outside to the subway, past hundreds of fans trying to get their Tom Seaver bobble head dolls. We were both disappointed but not surprised. All week long the forecast had been for rain and now it was raining. A bus ride home, and some bagels were bought once we were back in Hoboken. I ate breakfast and Bill relaxed.

He was fine most of the day, even going so far as to be ME in dealing with my phone service. It turned out I had a corrupted SD Card which we replaced after a walk to Radio Shack. Bill handles the customer service reps better than me. I seem to come down with Tourette’s Syndrome when I have to deal with these people. The day ended with some Grimaldi’s Pizza. It was good to spend the day with Bill but overall we would have preferred to have heard him sing in front of thousands of Mets fans.

02 – Dancing Barefoot

Listening to Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True at the cigar shack. That really could sum up a lot of things. How I feel about work mainly. I’m not spending all my time in a vanity factory like old Declan. No I am standing in a cigar shack, working with dunderheads and I can’t think of any other word that could describe these boys.

Boys. That’s it. That is the phrase that pays. They are boys who spend so many minutes of the day staring out the window, passing comment on the women that stroll by. How this one likes Asian chicks, or Latin chicks, how that one likes women in work out gear, specifically yoga pants. And they are fixated on a woman they call Little Italy for some reason.

True I stare out the window at men sometimes but certainly not with the frequency that these boys do. Occasionally I might say woof when a hot man walks by and that gets their attention then they realize that I am woofing at a man and they make disgruntled comments.

This is the second blog I am writing today. The first was the official blog for the cigar shack, an attempt to get people (guys) to attend a cigar breakfast next week. Meet up at the nearby restaurant, have breakfast and then retire to the cigar shack man cave for cigars, all for $75.00.

This event has been promoted and mentioned throughout the past month or so and there has been very little interest in it, and some people who have expressed interest in it, decided they weren’t that much interested in it after all. So instead of cutting our losses and perhaps rescheduling, it’s a full court press on people who were not interested in the first place.

‘Shit rolls downhill’ as Bradley mentioned today, and since he is number two, the shit is rolling from Zack to him and now from him to Jerry Vale and myself today, and who knows if Thomas will get shat on tomorrow. I doubt it myself. I’m sure I will find out more on Monday since I am off tomorrow.

And tomorrow does not promise to be an easy low key day. Bill is singing the national anthem at CitiField before the NY Mets/San Francisco Giants game at 1:15. Soundcheck is at 10:00 which means we have to be out of the apartment at 8:00 and get on a train to Flushing. So no sleeping in, in fact I am getting up earlier than I would like. Earlier than I would if I had to go to work.

Oh the things we do for love.

Meanwhile, back at the cigar shack, once again I was off the floor, cleaning up the back room not making any sales. I am safely under my goal and at this moment it doesn’t seem likely that I will reach it. I work with some really shitty co-workers. No recognition for helping out with a sale, that $170.00 cigar case that I showed to a customer that Bradley was helping went to Bradley, not the guy who got the whole thing together.

I have to either get out of this hell hole of retail or get a stronger prescription of Xanax. And thanks to Bradley’s lack of foresight, I had to stay at the cigar shack, an hour later. And I will be standing in front of the fan on Monday when they bring in the shit to throw at said fan.

Forewarned is forearmed isn’t it? Better wear a raincoat.

That is it, I am done with this day. No post tomorrow.