Category Archives: Yesterday’s News Tomorrow

I Need Someone to Lean On

Wow. Just had a nap, went longer than I expected but it was well deserved since I was up earlier than usual this morning. I could probably sleep some more, perhaps through the whole night but now that I am up, I am up. And it’s been a crazy day today.

Last night wasn’t so bad. There was the visit to Maxwells where I did not spin after all but I did see David Byrne and Fred Armisen play with Ira, Georgia & James. It was crazy late when I got home and a little bit buzzed.

And I was still able to get up early than I usually do. It was about 7:00 which is probably de rigueur for most of y’all. For me it’s the start of the last hour of sleep. I got up, made some coffee and poured some cereal.

As I was drying myself off, the lights went out. I wasn’t sure if it was just our apartment or the whole building or the whole town, but it was just us. I dried myself off and put on some clothes and walked down to the basement and flipped the circuit breaker.

I wasn’t sure if it took since Bill was long gone and there was no one I could have called to see if the lights were back on. So I climbed the five flights of steps and was happy to see the lights back on. The coffee that was being made was stopped so I hit the start button and then proceeded to get dressed.

The coffee making was completed and I had a cup of what was quite mediocre coffee. I had no time to start over again as I had to go catch an 8:00 bus, 2.5 hours earlier than I usually do. At that hour there is a bus every five minutes guaranteeing that the buses would not be too crowded.

I was soon in the bus terminal and walked through the cold with a thousand other commuters. I was soon in front of 1700 Broadway, a building I had worked in 25 years ago for Friedman Alpren and Green (F.A.G.).

The building used to also house ABKCO as well as the Screen Actors Guild, now it houses George Soros foundation. I met with a woman with Daisy and had a nice talk with her, the interview lasting about 20 minutes. It was a struggle to promote myself, I mentioned that I was intelligent, that I often think out of the box and also that I was an artist. (!)

An artist that sees most things in an off center way. When asked what I expect from the company, I mentioned that I would like to support the people I would be working with and if asked for some ideas I would likely have something to contribute. I think it went well but I really couldn’t tell with the lack of caffeine in my system.

I stood outside the building and called Bill when I saw a fairly regular customer to the cigar shack walking in my direction. He’s a drinker and I turned and faced the building, holding the cellphone to my ear and hoping the fairly regular customer would be a bit hung over and not notice me at all. And he did not.

Bill gave me a pep talk as well as some advice with regards to the jobs that I had in the past. How things that seemed great between the interview and before the actual start of the job, turned into something else once I started. I explained that I did like working for Putnam Lovell and if it weren’t for Zelcah Farsijani I would have probably stayed on.

And with Wolff Olins, I was overwhelmed and when I found the memo stating that my job actually needed 2 people, and that they weren’t going to have 2 people working my desk like they had suggested to themselves I knew it was time to go.

And with BIO-IB, I would have stayed there but things went south as the company went under. It was good advice and I paid heed. I rode the bus back to Hoboken, 2 hours after riding into the city. I picked up some bagels, got the paper and stopped off at the bibliothèque and picked up the Keith Richards autobiography which I doubt I would have time to read the whole thing since I am still in the middle of Suze Rotolo’s book and the latest issue of the New Yorker came in.

I did get some things done in the apartment, and headed out once again to run some errands. Saw Martin Kelly at CVS, and headed to the supermarket for some other items.

While in the supermarket I got some text messages from Ron and Dave (Don & Raymond- former cigar shack employees). Ron asking me if I was still working at the shack since there was a posting on Craigslist showing that the cigar shack is looking for both full & part time positions.

Then Dave texted me asking me if I was alright. I got paranoid and that basically became the rest of my afternoon. To which I took a half a Xanax which made me drowsy and prompted a nap for 2 hours. Now I’m better, still groggy but not paranoid.

Bill is home and we just watched Community which is likely my favorite show on TV. I love Abed. Now I guess I have some dinner.



I Got Stung

A day off for me. And yesterday was a day off for you. You didn’t have to read this blog. Of course you never HAVE to, I mean, it is nice that you do and I’m grateful for it. As far as I know you or someone might have been to this here blog and read SOMETHING yesterday. That’s fine.

Today has been gray and chilly. Not exactly welcoming to go outside. Plus after having to deal with people at work in the world of retail, dealing with people on my day off does not appeal to me.

I think I got the hour that I lost with the daylight savings thing. It was well deserved. Yesterday I worked with Calvin and it was alright. Not much to report on that front. The day did go fast but that was probably because the body was saying that it was 4:00 but looking at the clocks it was now 5:00.

It was an agreeable illusion, but with five days in a row of working at the cigar shack, I was pretty much toast at the end of the day. So today was mainly about recharging my batteries.

And speaking of batteries, last night I decided to listen to some Madonna as I headed from the cigar shack to the bus terminal. I heard maybe 2.5 songs before the iPod crapped out. I originally got the iPod from Bill in 2005 and in 2006 I’m pretty sure I got it replaced since it crapped out then.

I was working for Wolff Olins or McMann & Tate and wound up at the Apple Store on Prince Street. I remember having just purchased Bob Dylan’s Modern Times and soon after that the 2005 iPod crashed. The girl at the Smart Bar in the Apple Store made a remark about Dylan burning out just like my iPod.

I’m pretty sure I wound up getting a new iPod. I’ve had it for a few years now and it has served me well, but now I think it is about to shuffle off its mortal coil. I do have a back up courtesy of Julio & Stine from a few years ago, so it’s not the end of the world, but it only holds so many songs.

I’m going to save my money and get a 160GB iPod to replace the 30GB. I blame it all on Madonna. I mean, I should have known better.

And like I wrote on Facebook, if that is the only thing I have to complain about, then I really don’t have anything to complain about. Not with what is going on in the world today.

The news from Japan keeps getting worse and worse. The nuclear power plants are exploding or melting down. Bad news indeed. Hopefully it will get the US to rethink its policy on nuclear energy.

Kaddafi’s killing the Libyan rebels, Saudi Arabia has sent in troops to Bahrain, Wisconsin and Michigan have been going through labor troubles and I’m complaining about my iPod? Oh boo hoo. Woe is me. And I know the same thing could be applied to my employment situation.

Lots of people are still out of work and at least I still have a job so why complain? It’s true, things could be better managed at the cigar shack and despite some nibbles elsewhere I should be happy with what I got.

‘Easier said than done’ he wrote.

The world continues to spin on its axis, albeit a little more wobbly than it was before the earthquake. I’ve been catching up with Big Love on HBO. A very good show, great acting all around. If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth watching on DVD.

You know who you are.


that's my Bill