Astronomy Domine

The clouds have been rolling in. Yesterday was blue skies, today cream colored. Not complaining. Been around for a bit this afternoon. Had to get a new smoke detector because the one we have is about 10 years old and had to go.

They don’t last forever you know. Take one off your ceiling and you will see a date stamp on the back. Over 5 years, it’s advisable to ditch it. I did the smart thing and went to CVS and bought a new one since the hardware store sells it for $10.00 more.

Today on the news, it was mainly about Jim Bunning the Senator from Kentucky and his blocking the unemployment benefits and extensions. One or two other Senators chimed in, saying that people that are collecting unemployment benefits are living high off the hog.

I was surprised to see that other people thought that way, if thinking can actually be used to described these pigs. And I do understand their resentment, the high off the hogs sentiment must hit too close to home because I can only imagine that these people are fucking pigs.

It’s similar to what fuck tard someone from Bala Cyanide wrote last month when I got out when I could in that tar pit of a scam of a job. That I (and the other unemployed people) enjoy being out of work, without benefits and having to subsist on a much lower rate.

It’s lard asses people like that who seem to think like in that manner and by mentioning thinking as a verb for that kind of person I am showing a largesse that they rarely afford to others.

Today has been a day where I thought about people from the past. I do that most every day, but today I decided to write about it. I was thinking about some people I used to work with at HBJ. There was Annie Carroll who was a lot of fun, quite a lot of fun to be around.

She worked in the Psych department. Last I heard from her was a letter sent almost 20 years ago. She was living in Lodi. My father got the letter and angrily insisted that I immediately inform her that I no longer reside in Lodi.

Carlos Baez was also in the Psych department. He was from the Bronx, a former junkie and having an affair with Flo Ligouri who worked in the PO department. Carlos was one of those people that stopped being my friend when word got out that I was gay.

He thought it was disgusting. More disgusting than shooting up heroin and screwing around with someone’s wife while his own wife was home in the Bronx raising their kids. A class act that Carlos. He then started cheating on Flo with Maria Maldonado.

Looking back I am glad he stopped being my friend. People that lived in shooting galleries on Adultery Lane really shouldn’t throw stones.

Bill Wrice was a great guy that I worked with though. A true friend from those HBJ days. He couldn’t care less if I was gay or not.

We even stayed in touch once I left HBJ, even friends long enough to attend a party I threw in Weehawken. Last I heard he was a corrections officer and like most corrections officer and those in law enforcement he is off the grid.

But perhaps if he Google’s himself, perhaps he’ll find this and drop a line.

That’s about it for now. Anything happens I’ll let you know. You know I will.

25024_1354012683869_1037999596_1109783_3152801_n

Let this be a warning to you if you're planing on attending Fake Patricks Day this Saturday

Let this be a warning to you if you're planing on attending Fake Patricks Day this Saturday


ozedBanner(2)

The Underdog

It helps if you pay attention to EVERYTHING. I should have done that today. It would have spared me a lot of frustration. It started at 9:23 this morning. Bill at work being snarky and feigning surprise that I was up at that time.

Then he ‘caught’ himself, realizing that I was going to help Greg Stevens today. Mindless chatter back and forth. I mention that I would be able to swing by his office and pick up a money order from him. He asks what time and I suggest 2-ish.

No, he didn’t use the standard line, ‘Funny you don’t look 2-ish’. Not his type of humor, didn’t grow up at 13 Riverview Avenue.

He suggested that 3:00 would be better.

The thing with instant messaging is that sometimes you write and focus on what you’re writing so much so that you don’t read what the other person is writing. In this case, I did not read the 3:00 he wrote and just continued on what I was writing.

Totally missed it. So there I was, helping Greg Stevens and I was finished early. I called Bill a little after 1:00 and got his voice mail.

I continue walking my way down towards his office, enjoying the day as well as enjoying a La Flor Domincana cigar that I picked up. Bill has 3 phones. His work phone, his iPhone and his former T-Mobile phone which is now Verizon. Same number as he had when I signed up with T-Mobile.

Every couple of blocks or so, as I got closer and closer I would call one of his phones and leave a message. Eventually I made it down to his office and stood outside, killing time and enjoying the cigar. If it weren’t for the cigar I would probably be freaking out, but I was mellow.

After waiting outside for about 45 minutes I decide to head to the Path train. No calls, no messages, no texts forthcoming. I finish the cigar a block away from the Path train and head downstairs. Finished a New Yorker from January and came home.

The phone rings and it’s Bill. He must have gotten all of my messages. He asked if I had gotten his text and I didn’t. He mentions that we had chatted this morning and then I answered yes, that I did get his instant message.

I pulled it up and there it was at 9:26, Bill saying that 3:00 would be better. I felt like a schmuck. Bill’s message did not register at all, I was too wound up in what I was writing instead of what Bill was writing. No, it’s not the end of the world.

I’ll get the money order tonight when Bill comes home.

I watched the first half of ‘Oliver!’ when I came home. It was a funny thing. A Facebook friend mentioned that she saw a production of Oliver last night at Bloomfield High School and I commented ‘Consider yourself at ‘ome!’.

It was one of the first movies in a movie theater for me so it has a special memory for me. It was also on Turner Classic Movies last night which I recorded. I’m not sure whether or not Oliver or the Jungle Book was the first movie, at least the first movie I can remember.

I’m sure I was at the double feature of A Hard Day’s Night and the Last Man on Earth at the drive in with my family, but I definitely do not remember that at all.

I was probably paying too much attention to what I was writing and not paying attention to what was going on before me.

3.1.10 etc 002
3.1.10 etc 012
3.1.10 etc 016
3.1.10 etc 024
3.1.10 etc 038
3.1.10 etc 039