Author Archives: johnozed

About johnozed

I'm 50+ years old, 210-ish#, 6'2", reddish blonde, blue eyes with glasses (and without) masculine, funny, relatively intelligent, enjoy the company of assorted friends and family especially sordid friends and family. I love music, reading, writing, conversing, laughing, going to films, shows, concerts and smoking cigars. And I also enjoy looking nice in a suit and tie. Looking more like Lewis Lapham than Tom Wolfe. I'm sure there is more, but we'll just have to find out when I write about it. In a lifetime relationship with partner Bill Vila.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

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It’s a muggy Tuesday. Yesterday I received word that the job I interviewed for last week was going to someone else, that I was out of the running. It didn’t really affect me until today.

I’m disappointed of course, and my mantra continues: At least you have a job. And I do have a job. I’m off from the job today and will be back there tomorrow, standing on my feet for 9 hours and selling cigars.

Last night after writing I did leave the apartment and walked over to Rite Aid where I bought some canned air for my computer and some blank CD-R’s. Then stopped off at Napoli Pizza and had 2 slices and a diet coke, before heading home in the balmy air.

Nothing on TV last night, though when I came home Bill was watching The Closer which he enjoys for some reason. I stayed up until 1:15 watching videos of The Roches on YouTube. Slept just as late today as I did yesterday, waking up at around 9:45.

If there’s nothing to do, then why bother? And I had nothing to do so I didn’t bother. I did go out and paid some bills and got some bagels & the paper and also got a haircut. Trying not to feel sorry for myself in the fact that the job I wanted I did not get.

Tony, my barber was on Cake Boss last week and was very disappointed that most of his footage wound up on the editing floor after cutting hair for 49 years. The show is all about Buddy, the Cake Boss rather than the people the cake is being made for.

Lines outside the bakery where the Cake Boss is taped crawl down the street where people wait in the hot sun, waiting to get into the bakery to buy some sweet cakes.

When I saw Tariq yesterday there was the tentative plan to meet up and strum for a bit today. I guess I didn’t make it in time since when I trucked over to the river with my guitar, he was nowhere to be found. And I wasn’t that inspired to play.

I did play guitar for almost an hour but my heart wasn’t that into it. I finished the New Yorker from June and came back home after treating myself to a chocolate therapy milk shake from Ben & Jerry’s.

Now I’m just killing time before I meet up with Bill and his friend Fred at the Rocking Horse Cafe in Chelsea for dinner before we go see Inception at the cinema on 23rd Street. It looks like a storm is approaching so I guess I will have to wear my boots instead of sneakers when heading into the city.

At least I have boots.

All in all it’s been a rather blasé day. Walking around I saw a few people walking around who I guess are out of work. I was one of them up to a couple of months ago. Now I am employed and still looking to better my position.

Trying to hang onto hope. I did interview with 2 recruiters a few weeks ago and one of the sent me on the interview last week. The other recruiter replied to an email I sent telling me that I was still under consideration, it’s just that with August vacations, decisions have not been made as of yet.

Against my better judgment I did check Craigslist for some job postings and saw the job that I walked away from in February, the one that got Sally’s panties in a bunch is available again. Such a terrible job. I guess they keep losing people for the position.

It was such a crap job and seeing the position listed again shows that at least I made the right decision in abandoning the position despite what the Cafe Press maven seems to have thought. Must be something in the Bala Cynwyd water.


I’m Glad There Is You

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Oh what a lovely day. It’s a Monday and it’s day off. Things have been mild and nice which of course is good. Last night was good too.

Worked yesterday and home a little after 8:30. Watched True Blood which was intense. Some dream sequences and some interesting character development. Regarding the plot, I can’t give it away since some people haven’t seen it yet.

After that I watched Mad Men which I enjoyed somewhat, which is more than usual. I’ve watched the show several times but can’t really get into it. But last night was a departure of sorts I suppose, and not just because I enjoyed it.

Bill was driving back from Atlantic City and I wound up going to bed around midnight. Slept quite well. So much so that I didn’t wake up until 9:45. I didn’t mind since I really didn’t have much of a day planned.

Almost as if it were a Saturday morning, I had a slow and easy breakfast. Eggs and toast and coffee. After lounging about I headed out in the afternoon sun. A trip to the Guitar Bar to give the wonderful Jim Mastro a very good cigar for being so kind to accept the packages from the cigar shop.

Saved some money by shipping out of state. All legit, nothing underhanded so there’s no need for the Lady Sally Maurice to get it’s panties in a bunch.

Right now listening to Undercover of the Night by the Rolling Stones and I’ve forgotten what an exciting song it actually is. Perhaps their last exciting song, and it’s from the late 1980’s at that.

I remember watching the video several times at 923 Garden back in the day and also recall then roommate Jimmy Lee having the LP and playing the song incessantly.

Hung out in the Guitar Bar for a few minutes talking to Jim and that Swingin’ Neckbreaker Jeff . So many gorgeous guitars, A Rickenbacker certainly caught my eye, but it was way out of my price range.

And Rickenbacker while great, to me seem to always have that jingly jangly sound to them which is cool, but el limitado if you know what I mean.

I also picked up a paperback from a garbage can, apparently someone left in a hurry on Willow Avenue. Quite a few empty DVD boxes, and I almost walked away when I saw Viggo Mortenson’s on the cover of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I almost saw the movie, but it wasn’t in release that long.

Also heard it was a downer and I do my best to avoid those things lately. SO I’m sure the book will be a laugh riot along the lines of Mad Magazine’s Guide to a Post-Apocalyptic World. I’m not sure but I think Denzel Washington’s The Book of Eli did better at the box office.

Walked over by the river and ran into Tariq who has a head of previously unseen gray hair. He almost always wore a hat. Today the hat was on the bench next to him. His Takemine guitar is broken and he had an Epiphone acoustic instead.

I played it for about an hour while he fell asleep. It sounded great, the guitar that is. I played some songs that if not committed to memory, are committed to my finger placements. My playing couldn’t have been that bad if Tariq fell asleep to it. I think if I was playing dissonant chords, it would be difficult to relax to, so therefore my playing was agreeable. Perhaps even easy listening.

Now I’m home obviously, and might go out for a walk.

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