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’m Your Money

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I can’t go on. I’ll go on. And here I am, going on again. Been awhile since I wrote that, a couple of days, weeks, months perhaps. Last night, made it home earlier than usual and went to bed at a decent hour, like around 12:30.

And fell asleep but once again, not a restful sleep. Not Bill coughing, just unable to get a good night’s sleep. And I had one Stella Artois before bed. It didn’t help, but it didn’t hurt either.

One more day of work, making Sunday, Friday. Funny how that worked out.

Bill was up and out this morning once again. Not driving a bus though. A photo and video shoot for his band. He’s been growing a beard this week and being Puerto Rican, it took him an hour or so.

But the beard was flecked with gray and the video/photo shoot was supposed to show the band in the 1970’s up to the present day. So the gray had to go and thanks to Just For Men, he dyed it out this morning, leaving some of the supplies on the sink. Or actually the directions taped on the bathroom wall.

I’ve actually thought about using Just For Men myself but being of the ginger persuasion I am not sure there is a proper dye kit for me. It didn’t really matter, my gray speckled goatee suits me just fine I think.

I made my way to the bus stop in time to see an early bus pulling away. I didn’t hustle since I knew there was a bus coming soon enough. A ride into the city with a full bus. I got off at the bus terminal and headed up the avenue.

Stopped off at a branch of my bank, and used the ATM. I intended to only use the ATM for a Balance Inquiry and to get $20.00. I hit balance inquiry on the screen and received the Fast Cash of $60.00 which is what I didn’t want.

I went and spoke to the guy in the suit on the floor and he said, ‘Oh yeah, that ATM is broken.’ Why don’t you put a sign on it, or even unplug it? ‘We put a sign on it, but someone keeps taking it down’. Nothing about unplugging.

‘You can always make a deposit and put the extra money back into your account.’ Why would I do that? I don’t have the time, which is why I used the ATM. Just what I didn’t need to deal with in the morning feeling sluggish.

I did find some silver lining in the fact that I wouldn’t need to get anymore money in the next few days since I had more than I needed at the moment.

I made it to the cigar shop once again after buying some organic chocolate chip cookies at the Farmer’s Market. Everyone seemed sluggish at the shop. They stayed and worked the event, drinking whiskey and smoking cigars. I wisely went home.

The day crawled, few regulars coming in and few customers at first. At lunch I smoked a cigar by the park, spoke with Annemarie and read Uncut magazine which has been dissatisfying the past few months.

Back at the shop things still were a grind and not a sexy grind. I snuck out for a quick break a little while after that and called up Ann Patterson nee Boyles. It’s a landmark birthday for her today but she didn’t answer her phone.

While I left a message John Cleese walked by. I couldn’t take a cell phone picture fast enough since I was leaving a message. Who knows how the message came out? I mean, who besides Ann?

The day’s end at the cigar shop couldn’t come fast enough. I sold some cigars to some French blokes who didn’t speak English but understood my pidgin French.

I made it out of the shop and to the bus terminal in 18.4 seconds thanks to the Clash and the first 6 tracks from their first album (US Version).

Not fast enough to catch the 9:35 bus leaving me to wait twenty minutes for the next one. A quick stop at the supermarket and now here I am, writing.

Taking tomorrow off for this here blog unless there is something to write about.

that gray flecked goatee

I’m Your Villain

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And here we are on what other people call a Friday. Heck, I even call it a Friday myself, but it’s the middle of the work week for me in retail land, so it’s a Wednesday. And the mantra continues, ‘At least you have a job’.

Last night was OK, came home a minute after Bill. He picked up some milk for me which was awfully nice. I asked him when he asked me to pick up his laundry this morning. He was soon off to bed leaving me to surf the internet for an hour or two.

Not much to see, no one updating or posting anything really worth writing about. I did enjoy the live stream of Arcade Fire from Madison Square Garden last night.

Soon I was the other lump in the bed. Fell quickly asleep but about 20 minutes into it, Bill coughed loudly waking me up and making it difficult to fall back asleep. So following my own advice I got out of bed and sat in front of the computer for about 20 minutes.

Killed some time before finally being able to go back to sleep which was all about tossing & turning. Bill was up and out as usual, leaving me to get some sleep while avoiding the sun as it tried to creep through the blinds.

Finally I woke up, a little later than usual, remembering to get Bill’s laundry. That is what got me up and out of the apartment, after showering and before having coffee. Mona, the dry cleaning lady was quite nice as she saddled me with all of Bill’s laundry & dry cleaning.

I made it back home and up the four flights of stairs where I then had my coffee and started my day. And I was out the door a little while after that, stopping off at the Bibliothèque where I returned the Duke Ellington biography.

Way too dense for me, who is also way too dense. I did pick up a biography on Leo Castelli which is more to my liking than Duke Ellington. I was on the bus and headed through the tunnel, getting to the cigar shop about a half hour early.

I sat in the lounge before it opened and started the Castelli biography. It was slow enough, me and Don Birch and Sean manning the registers. Marcus was soon out, headed to New Orleans for the big tobacconist convention next week.

The usual customers came in, mostly nice. The crabby ones I avoided like so much pubic lice. My friend my friend came in and said hello and quietly remarked that he had read this here blog. And apparently it didn’t put him off too much. It was encouraging to hear.

There was an event that Raymond had a big hand in putting together so he came in towards the end of the day. Air Bender cigars, Kung Fu movies, whiskey and Chinese food.

Since it was payday I already had a plan to get a burger and fries and a chocolate shake from Good Burger around the corner which made my co-workers think I was being holier than thou.

I explained to them that since I didn’t pay $70.00 to participate in the event it didn’t seem right to eat the food, plus I let them in on a secret. I’m not that fond of Chinese food. I mean I will eat it if it’s in front of me, but it’s really not my cuisine of choice.

I did my best ringing up over $1000.00 in sales, really doing my best to get that 3% commission. The co-workers stayed, making overtime and working the event. I was out a few minutes after 9:00 after closing up my drawer.

A nice walk on a lovely evening to the bus terminal, in 17.8 minutes. From Love Will tear Us Apart by Joy Division to Slip Into Something by Kinobe. Not a bad day overall. Two more days, my personal Thursday and Friday, brought on a Saturday and Sunday.

At least I have a job.