Cool Cold Reality | johnozed

Happy 4th of July, Independence Day or whatever it is to you. Presently at work, Jerry Vale stands vigilant a few feet away. Nobody stands around quite like Jerry Vale. I was late this morning, getting to work. It being a major holiday all bus & train schedules were messed up and I waited in the humidity for about 45 minutes for a nearly empty bus.

I suppose the reason there were so few buses was the fact that there were so few riders. Right now one of my least favorite doorknobs is in. An aging hipster, trying to hang on to the last vestiges of his boyhood. I think he’s a major asshole and that’s not just from interacting with him, but also the vibe he gives out, a vibe like the odor of a skunk, dead in the road a few miles away that intensifies as you get closer and closer.

Last night as I came home after work, my knee started acting up, probably from being on my feet for 3 days and it was so damp and humid out that that probably had an effect on the joint. I was invited to go to Maxwells to see the Feelies as my brother Frank’s plus one but backed out an hour beforehand. I’m not even sure if he went to the show. He did.

Old friend Alirio apparently showed up and sent me a Facebook message that I was missed which was nice to know. I should have gone to Maxwells regardless. I figured Bill would be home but he wasn’t and I have no idea where he was.

No response to my text asking where he was. I figured he was at the Townhouse, the gay piano bar in east midtown singing with his piano playing friend, or with his pal Fred for whom the torch was carried for oh so long, or anywhere really, just not at home.

Disappointing to say the least as I was hoping to spend time with Bill, since Friday I had seen him for about 10 minutes and that includes today. 4 days, 10 minutes, well that is just what makes our relationship so damn special. This morning for the few fleeting minutes we saw and spoke to each other he mentioned that he was at work. I guess that meant the day job.

So today is a short day at the cigar shack, store closes at 6:00 which is nice. Getting home might be a nightmare since the fireworks are on the Hudson River and thousands of people are expected to descend on Hoboken. And they are encouraged to use mass transit and I of course am discouraging them from doing so, but no one listens to me really.

It’s been slow today in the cigar shack, but in 10 minutes the Bradley did better in sales than the sum total of July 3. The Bradley sold a $2500.00 lighter. Now the Bradley is off to lunch and Jerry Vale stands around, hands in pockets, earring in left ear. My lunch is an hour away and of course it can’t get here soon enough. I wish it was Thomas working today but that will be tomorrow alongside the Bradley. Definitely things are more fun with Thomas in the mix.

A funny and interesting thing, before Calvin went on vacation (which explains his absence lately in this here blog) I asked that since today, July 4 is a holiday can we dress casually. I heard him say yes, the Bradley heard him say no and so I am dressed casually, blue guyabera and my pinstriped trousers and the Bradley is in a suit & tie. Jerry Vale is what I would suppose to be the medium. Shirt tucked into trousers, with no tie.

A former employee is here (whose nom de blog I cannot remember- Raymond) and I asked him about how they would dress on holidays. He said it was casual, so I think I am right. I’m sure the narcs that I am working with will tell Calvin about my supposed fashion offense.

Tonight, if & when I get home I plan on doing nothing. Certainly not planning on watching the fireworks with the unwashed thousands like I sort of planned the other day. I was invited, Bill & I actually and it sounded like fun, but now? No, not my thing. Staying in and watching TV seems to be just right. Less people and who knows, Bill might not be around anyway. So just me is fine with just me.

Later:
The bus home was so crowded with people that I opted to get off the bus at the first stop in Hoboken and walked the eight blocks home. I do not want to be around people. Any people. Bill is home. I’m just quiet. And so is he. The only sound is the TV.

I am glad the 4th of July holiday is almost over.

For some reason, people have been asking me where I am from. I tell them Hoboken or North Jersey and they usually say, that’s not it. I do not sound like a person from those places.

TV still out and about. No info on when it’s coming back and Bill doesn’t have much of a clue about it either. Last night without TV I surfed a lot online as well as watched the extras disc of Citizen Kane. Informative stuff, especially the parallels between William Randolph Hearst and Orson Welles. Hopefully Bill will be able to watch it soon since it does have to go back to the bibliothèque.

I wound up staying up later than usual since I had off today. I didn’t write about this yesterday, but I received a phone call from the company I met with last Thursday. I was up and ready this morning, not much going on besides that.

No way to tell what the weather forecast was going to be. I didn’t turn on the radio, and merely looked out the window. Rain, grey clouds and some cold breezes going on outside. I wore the same suit as I did last week and headed out to the cold, damp streets.

I walked up to the bus stop about an hour later than I usually do and rode into the city. I talked to Bill who had just come back from meeting with a grief counselor, regarding Bill’s co-worker who was murdered by her grandson over the past weekend. I was on the phone quite a bit before I left the apartment and before he headed to his meeting since I had no internet when I woke up.

Now I have it but I was quite worried earlier. Also surprised at how much I depend on the internet. I always give myself enough time and with the knee acting up I give myself more time, but sometimes it isn’t enough.

This morning I was waiting on an already crowded subway platform waiting to go uptown. A few people had been waiting and exasperated threw their hands up in the air or slapped their thighs before heading back up to the street.

I was about to do the same thing (one hand in the air, the other slapping my thigh) when I headed to the elevator and saw a bunch of maintenance workers coming in off the tracks which meant that possibly a train was approaching. I waited and sure enough another train pulled in.

I rode to 59th and Fifth, sort of my old stomping grounds, near the Wanker Banker offices. I was early enough to kill time and use the bathrooms in Trump Tower. I still had a few minutes to kill and waited outside after that.

I headed up to the 21st floor of a skyscraper and for the first time in months, the receptionist showed me where I could hang up my coat as well as offering me a bottle of water. That is what I always used to do when I had that job, and nowadays receptionists don’t do that sort of thing.

I had my meeting, it lasted about a half hour. Most of the questions were from the previous week so they were easy to answer. One of the questions was regarding me having a bad day, how would the clients perceive such a bad day?

I told the interviewer that last week, on my way to the interview, I popped my knee. Still I rallied and the interviewer then did not know that I was in pain. She understood that and overall I think it went pretty well.

I was close enough to the Wanker Banker offices and decided to call my old friend Vinnie. A really good guy, very supportive. He was heading out for the day since he had come in early this morning. We chatted for about a half hour, catching up on this and that, where is so and so.

It was good to see him once again and once again he said I could use him as a reference. I told him I did that already. He said that was fine, just give him a heads up next time.

Now I’m home, writing. Still cold and grey outside and plenty of damp to go around. That’s about it for this end.