Tag Archives: A Day Off

I Hadn’t Anyone Till You

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A day off again and it’s been quite nice so far. I slept in, later than I expected but figured why not? I had nowhere to go and no one to see. Actually I did have places to go and there were people to see.

Last night after writing I watched The Great Ziegfeld. I had never seen it before and it was entertaining. Big sets, William Powell, Fanny Brice and stage and dance numbers that I thought were choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Very elaborate scenes were created by Seymour Felix.

It’s the type of movie my mother probably loved. Glitz, glamor and Hollywood, or in this case, Hollywood’s version of Broadway. It was quite a long movie on Turner Classic Movies and I didn’t watch the whole thing, opting to go to bed at 1:30.

I didn’t wake up to anything on the radio since the clock radio also had the day off. I roused myself out of bed and showered, made some coffee. On my days off I do like to have eggs for breakfast and that meant I needed to go out and get some eggs. And bagels. And the paper.

On my way out I gathered up the mail I collected for Julio & Stine and dropped it off. I spoke with Julio yesterday and he complained he was sick. Alexander had gotten sick in Denmark as did his grandmother. Some type of flu. They all recovered and Julio had gone to work when I stopped by.

I sat with Stine and Alexander for a little while, while Alexander played with his Play-Doh, making ‘snakes’. His vocabulary has gotten bigger, and his English was very good. According to Stine when he was in Denmark, he spoke nothing but Danish, as he speaks to his mother in her native tongue all the time. When Alexander saw me, he switched to English. And he is still the cute lad.

After leaving Stine & Alexander I walked up to Washington Street, got the paper, some bagels and then it was off to the bibliothèque. I picked up the new LCD Soundsystem CD and returned Florence and the Machine’s last disc. Also picked up Inglorious Basterds on DVD which I had seen already and figured I might watch it again.

The other night I watched most of The Book of Eli which was incredibly lackluster. I am a sucker for apocalyptic movies and this one was made for suckers. Mila Kunis was the best thing in it. There is no one to root for in the movie, except perhaps the nuclear war that occurred before I tuned in.

I just watched Hot Tub Time Machine since I am also an occasional sucker for dumb, low brow movies and this certainly was dumb and low brow with just a few laughs thrown in. Maybe there were more than a few laughs but if they occurred, they happened when I was out of the room making dinner since I had lost interest in the movie midway through.

A quiet night, Bill doing a reading in midtown. I just had dinner and don’t plan on doing much of anything for the rest of the night. A simple plan for a simple man.

I Believe in You

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Well today would have been the day I started the new job. I was supposed to be training for a week during the day, then I suppose next week I would switch over to the 5:30PM – 1:00AM shift. We all know how that turned out don’t we? The home office in Bala Cynwyd undoubtedly chuckles at the outcome.

Instead I had a day off. And it was a day off where I got somethings done and other things were postponed. I stayed up last night and watched a crap movie, Legion. I’m an occasional sucker for biblical apocalypse stories. They’re almost always bad and this was no exception.

Like the night before I was physically tired but mentally awake. But unlike the night before I was able to fall asleep rather quickly rather than tossing and turning and then getting out of bed for a melatonin tablet. Bill was fast asleep of course by the time I hit the hay.

I woke up hours later when Bill was getting ready to go to work and while his was in the other room, his alarm went off a few feet away from my ears. Somehow I managed to switch it off without smashing it to bits. A few minutes later, Bill was kissing me goodbye for the day as I lay there trying to get back to sleep.

It was relatively successful as I eventually got out of bed around 10:00, later than I anticipated. I shuffled about, made some coffee and showered. After a cup of coffee I decided to head out. I walked up to Washington Street and got some bagels and the paper, then headed over to the bibliothèque to pick up some things that were on hold.

I forgot the Patti Smith book at home and figured I would drop it off later in the day or tomorrow. I picked up The Dead, a movie on DVD directed by John Huston, starring Angelica Huston, based on a James Joyce short story in his book, Dubliners.

After the bibliothèque, it was off to the supermarket. A visit to the dry cleaners was not needed since the shirts I dropped off, were picked up and paid for by Bill. He loves taking care of me. It’s quite a nice position to be in. I came home, had some breakfast and watched The Dead. It was as I expected, a very good DVD, and I believe it was John Huston’s last movie.

I also packed up and left at the curb several empty boxes of cigars. I accumulated quite a bit and was only hanging onto them in anticipation of a gate sale. That usually occurs in the warmer months and since we’re starting the colder months, rather that keep them stacked up it was time to get them out.

All in all I left the apartment twice. It was too cold to do much of anything and I was content to stay in. It’s not like my phone was ringing off the hook anyhow. I didn’t have any plans. Now I am full of distraction, Jeopardy is on TV, Scritti Politti is playing on YouTube, I’m writing this.

I’m content but a bit anxious about going back to work tomorrow. No particular reason but this is how insidious the retail experience is. It really takes a lot out of you. Of course it helps if the people or badgers you are working with get along with you. If not, then it’s perfectly arduous.

Tomorrow and Wednesday I am opening up, then it’s off Thursday and back to the late schedule the days following. It’s quite a drag but I’ll get through it and start a new search in January.