Category Archives: Shed a tear

I’m Too Tough for Mister Big Stuff (Hot Pants)

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It’s Wednesday and it’s a day off. And it’s actually a pretty good day too. I did not go to the Cigar Night at the Eagle. Too much trouble, bringing a change of clothes and then a schlep from the 8th Avenue train to 28th Street and 11th Avenue.

Not worth my time. If they ask at work I’ll think of something to say. And I also had an interview of sorts this morning.

I applied for a position online and was under consideration for a few weeks. It was a tease mainly but today the agency had me in to meet with me to see if I passed muster.

Bill was able to print out the resume for me and I met him on the corner of 43rd Street and Broadway as he made the hand off. I walked right up to him and gave him a great big kiss (mwah!), then headed up to 56th Street.

I was dressed business casual and therefore did not sweat as much as I usually do. I sat in a sleek lobby and waited for Marisa to meet with me. I heard the click clack of high heels approaching and figured that it was my recruiter.

It was.

She was nice and looked at my resume as we chatted about previous salaries and bonuses, all the while she would complain every couple of minutes about the problems the keyboard was giving her. She left after about 15 minutes and in came Erica who also posted a similar job.

I met with Erica for just a few minutes and thanked her while wondering if there was any info regarding my status. Nothing I could do about that. I walked down to the Path train in the shadows of the skyscrapers on Sixth Avenue. Barely anyone headed back to Hoboken, leaving me to sit in an empty car that was fully air conditioned.

Came home, sent a thank you email and had a decent lunch before running out and dropping off clothes at the dry cleaners for Bill & myself and also picking up Bill’s laundry. After that I just chilled out at home for a few hours, watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report which I rarely see anymore.

It was too nice a day to stay indoors and walked over to the river where I read the news and New York magazine. Also talked on the phone with Meghan Taylor Mastro, whom I might see on Monday when she starts painting the new Guitar Bar which will be on 11th Street in Hoboken.

I was out long enough to meet up with the UPS guy parked outside the post office and picked up a toaster over that Annemarie’s friend Audra has been trying to send me for a couple of weeks. It’s a lovely toaster oven.

For some reason ‘He’s Got the Whole World In his Hands’ and ‘The Way We Were’ have been playing endlessly in my head today. I know ‘Whole World’ is in my head after reading the lines in an article about an English footballer, but Barbra Streisand?

“Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line? If we had the chance to do it all again, tell me would we? Could we? Memories, may be beautiful and yet, what’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget. So it’s the laughter, we will remember, whenever we remember…the way we were.”

Oh Alan & Marilyn Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch, what have you wrought?

I’m looking forward to watching Macca from his White House Gershwin Prize tonight on PBS.

I’m Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away the Key)

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It’s Friday! I made it through! And now I have three days off! And Annemarie’s flying in tomorrow! And I am going overboard with exclamation points! But I don’t care!

It was an decent day. My stress last night from work still haunted me enough, that when Bill was kissing me goodbye as I slept he mentioned that I would have a good day at work.

Work. The mere mention of it freaked me out. I didn’t have that good a night’s sleep last night and the last hour after Bill left was anxiety ridden. I rallied and got out of bed. Suit hanging up, more ready for the day that I was.

Shower, breakfast, coffee. Soon I was at the Washington Street bus stop. Not too hot out, it was in the 80 degree range. I had a smoke while I waited for the bus, away from a dad and his baby strapped to his chest.

He was hoping to catch the 89 bus but he didn’t wave his hand so the bus just went right on by. I figured he was waiting for a bus to take him up Washington Street and told him that another bus would soon be approaching. But it wasn’t the 89 bus so he walked away.

I was in the bus terminal in no time, and soon on the subway hurtling uptown. I had enough time to hang out but decided to be proactive and head into the shop to clear up the things I thought I neglected to do last night.

But apparently what I neglected to do was remedied easily enough, just a simple point and click. All that wasted anxiety! After that it was all easy and I bought some red grapes and shared them with Don
Some of the good customers came in today, meaning the customers I like. I also sold a pricey box of cigars and shipped them off to Connecticut. The day went well and I also picked up the latest Mojo and Uncut magazines.

Another favorite customer laid a Cuban cigar on me since I recommended he pick up You Never Give Me Your Money. He’s a Beatles fanatic as well. He too couldn’t put the book down and when he finally did he felt like taking a shower afterward.

It was awfully nice of him to give me a Cuban cigar and he asked when the last time I had a Cuban and I answered in the 1990’s. I’m sure someone, somewhere down the line gave me a Cuban stick. Probably at Right Track.

I enjoyed a strong, full bodied cigar at lunch time. My daily freebie. Raymond recommended it after I told him I wanted a cigar that would fuck me up. It didn’t really, but it was strong enough and a good smoke.

The afternoon went by rather quickly. I played a few Beatles albums, the Dark Was The Night compilation, Bob Marley & the Wailers- Kaya and Bob Dylan’s Bootleg series Vol. 8.

I turned a customer into Nick Drake enough that he ran out and bought a collection after hearing River Man.

I had no problems with closing tonight, Raymond was around to answer any questions that I might have had. It got me out of the store soon enough.

I couldn’t tell you the time it took to get from the cigar shop to the bus terminal since I played Feed the Animals by Girl Talk, the one continuous track. But I would say it was the average 16-17 minutes, me marching down the avenue like Harrison Ford chasing Joanna Cassidy in Blade Runner.

This gent was making a mandala at 3:55 at Columbus Circle.