So how’s band camp? | johnozed

Here I go again, back at the cigar shack, standing behind the counter next to Thomas. It’s a Thursday night I believe. It’s another slow day, some sales are good, some sales aren’t. Some are a waste of time and others are just tire kickers.

Nearby the slutty women’s store is having an event and loud club music is playing. Right now We Will Rock You by Queen is on, supposedly mixed by an in house DJ but I can’t tell. Fuck Me pumps seem to be the footwear of choice for those shoppers and Calvin, Bradley and Thomas like watching the women walking in and out.

Actually not so much for Calvin since he’s a married and loyal man, plus his wife would probably kick his ass. Calvin & Bradley have left for the day leaving Thomas and myself.

Did not sleep as well as I would have liked last night. And it was odd, usually when I am trying to sleep, scenes from my past come to the surface and haunt me between the click of the light and the start of the dream, generally horrifying me and making me feel guilty. Shit from 35 years ago, why did I do that?

Last night was different. It seemed like I was watching coming attractions which are fun to watch most of the time, but last night it seemed there was no feature presentation, just previews. After a half hour I had to get out of bed and get some melatonin in me. Finally I was able to sleep only an hour and a half after I went to bed.

And after all that, the day to day dragged in parts. Good team to work with and I have to admit it was tempting when I saw a customer sniffing illicit powders away from the eye of the camera. No I did not partake, that is certainly not my scene anymore. No fun, and not worth the after effects which are ill advised. I’ll pass and shred the rain check thank you.

35 minutes left here, Thomas is closing freeing me up to leave a little after 9:00 which is nice. Tomorrow I do the same for him. One hand washes the other, only his hands can be quite filthy at best.

Moonlight Mile by the Rolling Stones plays on here and it’s one of my favorite Stones tracks. And speaking of tracks I have to get started on Annemarie’s present asap. Her birthday is Monday.

Now I am back home, just had a crappy slice of pizza which turned out to be the right thing to do since there was nothing to eat at home. Bill is already ni bed and asleep. He had a doctor’s appointment since he sliced open his hand a week ago during rehearsal and though it seems to have healed somewhat he has been having difficulty typing as well as playing the keyboards. Damaged tendon is what has been said, ultrasound and x-rays were performed, results should be coming.

One more day, then off Saturday which I hope will be nice.

It’s back to work for me today. Day one out of five. Oddly enough I’ve been in a good mood. Of course this morning there were some blues, it being a holiday weekend a lot of people are heading out of town for a three day weekend. I’ll be working. Of course I would rather have a Monday through Friday job and all that entails, but obviously it ain’t happening this week. Maybe next week.

Last night Bill and I finally had his birthday dinner. Not a steak at Arthur’s Steakhouse, but rather we split a pizza at John’s Pizza in midtown. We’ve eaten there before and always enjoyed it. I think the last time I was there was with my sister in law Elaine and my niece Corinne after we saw an exhibition of artifacts from the Titanic.

The restaurant was quickly packed, lot’s of tourists and out of towners. Bill and I didn’t drink though. Bill had ginger ales and I had diet Pepsi’s. We devoured the pizza and had chocolate mousse pyramids which lacked a birthday candle even though I mentioned it to Sam our waitron.

Bill and I walked around a bit after dinner. I lit up a cigar and we stood watching the tourists. I noticed Fran Lebowitz walking down the street and say ‘Hey Fran’ to which she wittily replied, ‘Hey’. Then a few minutes later, we saw Dean Winters from OZ & the Allstate commercials. I blanked on his name and said ‘Dude!’.

I am pretty sure Fran Lebowitz was off to see the same show as Bill & I. We had tickets to see The Motherfucker with the Hat. The play stars Bobby Cannavale, Annabella Sciorra & Chris Rock, and also features Yul Vasquez and Elizabeth Rodriquez. It was a very fast 90 minutes with no intermission. We had seats in the second row of the mezzanine. Fran Lebowitz kept kicking my seat.

It was funny, and heavy and will probably end it’s run in a few weeks when Chris Rock’s contract ends. Chris Rock was good, but I would watch Bobby Cannavale and Annabella Sciorra in just about anything. And now I will have to watch out for Yul Vasquez and Elizabeth Rodriquez. The dialogue was excellent, I know or knew quite a few people who sound just like that.

Bill and I were back in Hoboken about 10:15, he went to bed a little while after that. I watched the Colbert Report and surfed the web before I turned in. I woke up later than expected, 9:00 which lit a fire under my ass somewhat. Still I was on time for work. Lots of guys buying cigars for the weekend. All of them heading out of town or at least having staycations which for me a long time ago would have been fine, but I would rather leave town.

A week from tomorrow my sister comes to town and I am excited about that. Bill might join us one day at the beach which would be super great.

Now I’m home again. Juan might be stopping by. He asked me to wait for him at the train station, since he was still in Princeton but I just wanted to get home and write this. Of course if I had a normal job, getting home around 6 or 7:00 sure I would, but after 10 hours in a suit & tie, one of the last things I want to do is hang around a train station on a Friday night.

It will be cool to see Juan. Hadn’t seen him in some time and I might also see Pedro this weekend. He told me he might be in the area this weekend. Would be nice.