Category Archives: Happy?

I Will Wait For You

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I know, I know it’s Sunday. Why am I writing? Doesn’t John Ozed take Sundays off? Well after last night’s maudlin report, the suicide hotline called me to see if everything was alright. I was despairing last night over $49.50. It was pointless.

After writing I just wallowed. Bill came home and noticed my emotional absence. We watched Saturday Night Live and Bill laughed a lot. I was hollow in my wallow. I also took half a Xanax to help me get over it and thought it helped a little bit.

Bill went to bed as I watched Chris Brown as the musical guest and realized that all auto tune songs sound like they all have the same singer, which is pretty stupid when you look at it, or listen to it.

Bill was soon fast asleep in bed and I stayed up to watch the whole show. It was not worth staying up but I was waiting for the Xanax to kick in. Eventually I too was in bed, taking my position on the left. Bill was wearing his sleep apnea mask which interrupted my sleeping, the air was leaking out quite loudly and to me it sounded like a tornado at a beach resort.

Whatever stage of sleep I had reached, the sound of the apnea mask quickly brought me to the surface. And the Xanax did not achieve its desired effect for I was pissed.

I once again followed my advice and got out of bed and after about 20 minutes of sitting in front of the computer I went back to bed and found Bill had adjusted the mask and it now sounded like a steady hissing which did not interfere with my sleep.

I still only got about 5 hours of decent sleep. I was awake a little after 8:00 this morning and got myself ready for work. Bill had just gotten out of bed a few minutes before I left, and kissed him goodbye as he sat on the edge of the bed.

The 9:30 bus arrived and I got on, another uneventful ride above ground and under ground. I was opening the store with Der Fred (the Palindrome) who was scheduled to come in at 11:00. I got some breakfast and coffee and recounted all the money I was in contact with and it turns out that I was so burnt out last night that it was my miscount over and over was needless since I wasn’t getting it right, at all.

This morning, after some rest and fresh eyes, I found what happened. A few misplaced/miscounted bills were found and a $49.50 weight was lifted off my shoulders.

John Ozed Shrugged.

I was able to watch some of the morning shows as I ate my egg sandwich and drank some coffee. A little before 11:00 the Palindrome arrived and announced himself by knocking on the glass doors. Soon after that the Palindrome started complaining.

It’s too cold. I’m bored. What time is lunch? Whine whine whine. I’m reluctant to touch the thermostat in the cigar shack and so I suggested he do some work in the humidor where it’s always 70°.

It’s too humid in there, the Palindrome whined, and what would I do?
Straighten things out I suggested.
Straighten what out? The things I straightened out before I left last night?

That is the cigar shack experience. The Palindrome was so upset that he actually stopped talking, after he mentioned that he felt like quitting right then and there. If you recall, he constantly mentions how he is the assistant manager at a big hotel and doesn’t need the part time money.

I even offered my suit jacket so he would be warm. But he was method acting the role of martyr. Little did he know I teach a master class in martyrdom.

The Palindrome has worked weekends before and it’s generally colder for some reason. You would think that he would figure out how to dress when working a Saturday or Sunday. And not wear a tight black sweater and black trousers which show off the muffin top quality of his 33 year old torso.

Overall it was like working with an old woman. And he was dressed all in black so you can probably figure out what kind of old woman the Palindrome resembled both inside and out.

The closing went well, everything accounted for. Bill stopped by before closing with some Hoboken chocolates that he picked up after he say Hyman Gross in the hospital. And also harpy made an appearance in the cigar shack and so it was a very nice day after all despite the old lady dressed in black.

I really appreciated the fact that the Palindrome didn’t really speak to me for the next 5 hours.

Oh yeah, one more thing…it was Beatles day today. I played Live at the BBC, Let It Be, Abbey Road, 4 Tracks from Yellow Submarine, White Album, Magical Mystery Tour, Sgt Pepper, Revolver & Rubber Soul. That definitely helped my day along.

That’s it. A Sunday Edition.






You can't out martyr me.

I Whistle A Happy Tune

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10:00PM and all is well. Surprisingly it has been a good day. No time spent at the hospital since I had to go to work, but Bill was in contact with Hyman Gross who they were keeping for one more night. I spoke to Bill a few times today since I ordered some flowers and a teddy bear to be delivered today.

In the past I always had problems getting whatever it was I ordered to Bill’s office, so I decided to be proactive and had them delivered today so they would be on his desk Monday morning for that Valentine’s Day thing. And it was cheaper too.

So I kept calling asking if anything arrived and finally they were properly delivered. I don’t know why I was in such a good mood today, but I didn’t question it, I merely accepted it. I wasn’t exactly whistling a happy tune all day but nothing really bothered me.

It was like a fresh pair of eyes looking at the world. A fresh pair of eyes, still using the same corrective lenses. It was me and Calvin most of the day, with Der Fred coming in, in the late afternoon. Calvin and I got along fine. It was like I mentioned to Pedro last night on the phone.

I get anxious before going to work but once I’m there, everything is generally manageable. And by the way, I thought about taking a Xanax this morning but forgot about it, remembering when I had started walking to the bus terminal. It was fairly busy today as well.

Quite a few women buying cigars and accessories for their husbands and boyfriends and whomever. And even Keith Olbermann came into the store today. He was basically trying to be unnoticed but I noticed him. Calvin had mentioned a few times in the past that Keith Olbermann would come into the store from time to time, and since Calvin waited on him then, I figured Calvin should wait on him now.

That meant interrupting Calvin’s lunchtime smoke, and for once he didn’t mind. No dirty looks. I even told Keith Olbermann that it was good to see him, he was missed and shook his hand. No big fanfare, all quite self-contained.

He is going to be on Current TV in a few months, and I did not tell him that where I live, there is no Current TV available. Unless it gets picked up by Cablevision, I’m sure I will hear all about it.

An interesting thing happened as well today, with a different customer. She was buying a pen for her husband and wanted to see various pens. I showed her, since it is my job and she liked this one and that one but wasn’t sure about either.

I showed her another pen and she said it looked kind of gay. I mentioned that I was gay and it didn’t look gay to me at all. That made her very embarrassed and after a while she decided she wanted to think about the pens and left the store a bit flustered. I loved it.

So that’s about it. Nothing else to report. Bill is still at rehearsal, should be home by midnight. I have to work tomorrow, as well as Sunday and Monday. I don’t mind (at least right now I don’t) it’s something to do.

For those playing at home, or merely trainspotting, the past couple of weeks have been titled using songs sung by Frank Sinatra. Just mainly from a list from Wikipedia. Tonight’s title, I Whistle A Happy Tune was also mentioned tonight, in regards to my good mood and I only noticed the song title was next in the list of Sinatra songs after I had written tonight’s entry.

True story!