Category Archives: Love Love Love

I.C.B. (John Peel Sessions)

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And now we find ourselves on Monday, November 8, 2010. It’s my friend Maurice’s birthday and also Scott Williams birthday. Both of them are 42 years old today. I haven’t seen Maurice since I saw Beck with Julio at Radio City on Valentine’s Day in 1999. Another world ago.

And I haven’t seen Scott Williams since the early part of this century at his mother’s wake. I might have seen him once since he may have been a police officer being interviewed on the television a few years ago.

I sent a Facebook message to Maurice and sent him birthday wishes. Alas I have no information regarding Scott so if he searches for himself, the grandson of Nanny Williams, best wishes Scott.

Yesterday was a busy day. Spent part of the day with my brother Frank, his wife Elaine, their daughters Meghan and Corinne and Meghan’s husband Rob. Meghan ran the New York City marathon last year and this year it was Rob’s turn.

I met up with Frank, Elaine and Corinne in front of Stack’s pancake house. Meghan was in the city already, cheering Rob on. We waited a good while to get some pancakes and after 20 minutes we decided to head out sans pancakes.

We opted for bagels at Panera Bread further down Washington Street, closer to the Path train. Not much of a wait to get on a train. From the 33rd Street Path train we were on the R train heading to 5th Avenue, the Plaza Hotel.

From there we could head into Central Park and wait for Rob to run by. We walked up into the park, and at one point we were in the roadway. We decided to step over the 2 foot wooden barrier, first went Elaine, then Corinne, and me with Frank bringing up the rear.

Unfortunately Frank lost his balance and took a tumble backwards. I grabbed his arm but I was no match for gravity. He landed on his back and boinked his head. I didn’t think it was so bad but there were a few people around who saw him hit his head and were concerned.

There were also a number of Emergency Service Technicians (EMT) nearby and a few of them made their way over. They asked Frank a couple of questions, do you know where you are? What year is this? And he answered correctly.

Speedy pulse and all that, caused them to sit with him for a while. It would have been worse I think, if I wasn’t grabbing Frank’s arm, he would have fallen a lot faster and really did some damage to his skull. The roadway was intact by the way.

We made our way to the other side of the park, trying to connect with Rob, post finish line. After some waiting we saw Meghan and Rob coming towards us, Rob looking in sore shape. Despite being the #1 track coach in New Jersey, he was wasted from the marathon, his time being 3:28, swearing that it was his first and last marathon.

We met up with Rob’s parents who dutifully got their car and drove Rob & Meghan home, leaving us to get the subway and the Path train back to Hoboken. Frank was OK, everyone was tired.

I made my way to the Hoboken Artist Studio Tour, but decided to only see Hiro Takeshita. He’s been living in my old apartment building at 2nd and Madison Streets for the past 26 years. It was nice to see him as he showed me his latest works as well as things from the past.

By that time I was tired and also needed to do some grocery shopping, so after a half hour I headed out. Hiro did say that he sold a few pieces and that it was very crowded the day before, and that was good to hear. I do enjoy his work and he’s a genuinely nice guy.

Came home, made dinner and talked with Frank to see if he was alright. He was and we rehashed things from earlier in the day and earlier in our lives. A few minutes after that, a phone call from Annemarie, more chatting.

Bill came home during the call and for some reason, was sitting in the kitchen not making a sound. After I got off the phone with Anne, I went over to Bill who was out of sorts. He had gone to see a friend sing in a cabaret, and since there was a 2 drink minimum he had 2 Absolut and cranberry cocktails, then after the show went to the gym where he promptly over did it.

He had a ringing in his ears, was dehydrated and generally disoriented. I brought him down to earth somewhat and kept a close eye on him throughout the night. He rarely drinks and this is why. Sleep followed after a while, after Boardwalk Empire and Bored to Death.

Bill went first and I was asleep an hour later.

I’ve realized lately that I have a job. Not the job I want, but the job I got. So I’m likely going to take a break from frantically looking for something new. Perhaps next year.

It’s just as well since Don came to the cigar shop on his day off, to give his 2 weeks notice. So now, behind Marcus and Calvin, I will be the longest serving employee. Into my 6th month. Sean is a part timer so he doesn’t count.

By Hiro Takeshita.


I Can Be Cool

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Well let’s see. I’m writing this right now, but unable to post it, or at least, unable to access any browser. The browsers I use are mainly Firefox and Chrome. Neither is allowing me access to the internet. Bill isn’t getting action on his Mac-book.

Now it’s working but we were seriously offline for a while there. For a while means about 15 minutes. I tried my usual tricks. Turn that off. Turn this on. Look the the south while itching to the north. I blame the goddamned GOP.

They’ve won a few seats today, but what brings me satisfaction is that Linda McMahon, Christine O’Donnell and Carl Paladino all lost the races they were running in, and Brown & Boxer are predicted to have won their races. That brought a smile to my face.

This morning was all about going back to work. And the fear that I had done something wrong, was warranted. Apparently I overcharged a phone order. Not the end of the world and easier than undercharging a customer.

So I started out with negative sales. If I was really concerned with the 1/3 of 1% commission I would be bothered, but I’m not, so I wasn’t. It was Don and Bradley today featuring the Marcus who just would not leave.

It’s been fairly cold, too cold to go out and smoke, making me a prisoner. Not that I minded. I had my music playing, and the company in the backroom wasn’t so bad. Answered many questions about the music I was playing.

It wasn’t so bad, but I do prefer the chance to sit on a bench near the park and read and watch people go by, as well as not having to look at the same walls all day long. Both scenarios involve the smoking of cigars, which is the perk of working in the cigar shop.

Bradley is prone to saying the most absurd things without any wit or irony attached. He reminds me of me when I was 16, but I used wit & irony to my advantage. Or so I thought. Here I am, 32 years later and reluctantly happy to be working. Still the resumes go out.

I was surprised when I checked my Google Analytics that one of the most visits to this here blog was through a search for that investment bank’s personnel whom I named. So that left me feeling a bit queasy so I went and changed the names of Malcolm McConnell and Mary O’Shaughnessy who worked for the Whitney Partners Investment Group.

If I had gotten the job I would have more than likely written about Malcolm and Mary, after changing their names. For now the names will be changed, if only to protect myself.

If you do a search for those names, they will not appear. There were 37 searches for Malcolm McConnell and Whitney for the month of October. Perhaps I’ve edited things a bit late, maybe I shot myself in the foot.

The scenario that springs to mind is Malcolm and Mary or someone they know did a search and saw what I wrote which really wasn’t so bad when you look at it. And whomever it was, they did not have the cojones to leave a comment.

The scenario continues where Malcolm and Mary get in touch with the recruiter and ask where did I get the nerve to write their names on an obscure blog like this?

Juan made an appearance last night for a few hours. Surprised him when I said I really don’t drink anymore. That didn’t stop him from having some wine and a shot of bourbon I have laying around. It was great to see him for the few hours that I had.

We picked up like we only saw each other last week. We’re BFFF Best Fuckin’ Friends Forever. He may be moving back up here when his lease expires in January. That would be nice.

We shall see I guess.

My BFFF