Category Archives: Cool Cold Reality

Where it is and what it came from. The end-all, be-all, and all-for-a-dollar.

What You Need

2 Replies

Another rainy day. I had better not hear anything about a drought this summer, I tell you. So yesterday was a busy day work wise. I had errands to run and even had to return to Wanker Banker which is no more so I can actually call it Putnam Lovell. We had deals going on which from what I heard went well. Now that Moe Stooge is out of the picture somewhat I have to rename the other two, so Allen and Rossi will do. Marty Allen was working on some reports that had to be printed in color, and then they had to be bound.

Well we ran out of Cyan ink, which is the fancy name for Blue, and we ran out of clear plastic covers for the reports. I scrambled, making phone calls trying to get these items. I was able to get the ink, a bargain at $100.00 including delivery, to the office by closing time. Marty Allen was going to have to stay and print out what he needed. I made a phone call to the great Gazoo, my friend Gazi who is the IT guy at Putnam Lovell.

He sort of hooked me up with some plastic covers. I knew they had them since I used to order them when I worked there. They were probably still in the same place. Gazi hooked it up and I chatted with him for a spell. It’s still a ghost town on the 34th floor. Saw Diane W who I tried to introduce to Martha G, since both work in film, Martha looking for financing and Diane looking to finance. But one of them never got back to me so the ball was dropped and my producing career went down the drain. I just don’t know anyone in the building except for the cleaning staff and one or two other people besides Gazi.

Even though I didn’t have to do all that running around, I did it anyway as a way to perhaps me look good. A sterling job as the CEO of Omnicom told me when I worked for Wolff Olins. Of course that compliment didn’t sustain me that long. The CEO’s like me mostly, Don Putnam liked me and offered me a gig in San Francisco when I went out there in 2004, Brian Boylan from Omnicom telling me that I was doing a sterling job, Greg Stevens always looking out for me. I’m in a fortunate position through some sort of providence I suppose.

Thisclose to finishing God Is Not Great but it was due back at the library. The head librarian, Diane likes me and was able to extend my second renewal for another week. So Christopher ‘Love him or hate him. Most people hate him’ Hitchens gets a week’s reprieve. Bill was here last night and we watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I saw it initially in the theater and it was really a movie unlike any other. It certainly deserves to be seen and I think Bill was glad that he was able to see it.

Still an amazing movie, great acting all around and great cinematography. The book was even better, it had me choked up outside the library as I read the final pages before returning it. Spoke with Billie in DC last night. He’s recovering from a bout of bronchitis as well as really bad allergies. With a compromised immune system it threw him for a loop, with all the coughing he was doing he pulled a muscle in his chest which hurt when he laughed. And unfortunately I always make Billie laugh.

I think my sister made it out to Cleveland today, and I think my brother in law’s procedure is tomorrow. I’m crossing my fingers as I type.

Just found this….

Da Butt

5 Replies

Ok, I have a swollen face. Well it was really swollen this morning. It’s gone down considerably. Things have improved a lot between Bill and myself. Last night I took a nap from 5:30 to about 10:00. Saw Bill and went to bed an hour later. So it was cool. Still have some ways to go but he’s working on it.

I haven’t had a cigarette in over 24 hours and that is an accomplishment. I do enjoy holding one, but no lighting. Holding one is enough. If I could get off cigarettes I would be impressed. The cigars are an occasional thing though.

I certainly don’t mind being around smokers and in midtown Manhattan, outside of most office buildings there are a lot of smokers mingling. The thing is I always liked smoking. I wanted to do it when I was just a kid. I was surrounded by smokers since most everyone smoked back then. It was alright. In junior and senior year of high school, we could smoke in out designated smoking area.

Smoking saved my butt also. In summer school between junior and senior year having cigarettes helped me win favor from the ‘cool’ kids so much so, that when the regular sessions began in the fall, I wasn’t picked on so much since the cool kids liked me. For my cigarettes of course. Having 2 parents that smoked made sure that I wouldn’t be out of cigarettes. I must have had my first cigarette when I may have been about 10 years old.

Johnny Serpone, a neighbor and I plotted out stealing a pack of cigarettes from his parents and riding down to Industrial Lane on a Saturday afternoon and have our first puffs. I barely had a puff before I was wracked with guilt and fear and rode my bicycle home, gulping in as much air and running to the kitchen faucet when I got home to drink as much water as possible.

At various points in my childhood I was hanging out with juvenile delinquent smokers. At the Boys Club which was supposed to be where boys could get away from bad influences, I went out of my way to find the bad influences. Also outside the VFW where my parents hung out. Found myself outside with some naer do wells sneaking illicit puffs. I was found out though, but I doubt my siblings remember.

Everyone smoked. It was everywhere. You could smoke in the bank, in the supermarket, movie theaters were great places to smoke. Hospitals, doctor’s offices, buses, trains, restaurants. They frowned on places of worship, though one had to wonder where they got the ashes for Ash Wednesday. Having a cigarette was a good way to meet people, and not just oncologists.

You could ask someone for a light, and perhaps strike up a conversation or more. Or when cigarettes were cheaper you could bum a cigarette from someone or they could bum from you. Nowadays, people offer you money for a cigarette, sometimes a quarter, but lately a dollar.

Me, I rolled my own. Sometimes people would ask for a cigarette and I would offer a ready rolled cigarette. More often than not they would refuse, proving that beggars could be choosers. So, it’s been over 24 hours, been holding a cigarette, not lighting it. Feels good just to hold it. I guess it’s like Baretta. All I need is a cockatoo. Or was that a typo?