Bill | johnozed

Well today had been a day off and I was somewhat busy. But first last night. I left the cigar shack about a half hour earlier, had some cigars in my pocket, some business cards and I was on my way. Bill recommended taking the M11 bus down Ninth Avenue to get near the Eagle. I thought the Eagle was on 27th Street, but it’s actually on 28th Street, just a block and a half from where the bus dropped me off.

On the way I was listening to Nirvana, Nevermind. I hadn’t been since October of 2010 and it was different from when I was last there. Last time I had to check my shoulder bag on the first floor, but not last night. The first floor was closed and there was a bloke sitting on a chair in the stairway on the second floor. He said I could just walk on up so that is exactly what I did, to the third floor.

There was an outdoor rooftop lounge, about a couple of dozen guys standing around smoking cigars. The guys all had some kind of leather on, jackets, pants or a full outfit. There was I in my wool overcoat over a suit & tie. I was out of my element but then again I’m not really into leather anyhow so no matter what I was wearing I would have been a bit out of place.

Still I put on a brave face and ordered a Corona and lit up a cigar. The guys were mainly in groups, talking amongst themselves and I just wandered back and forth. I did make some small talk with guys that were wandering around and handed out some business cards for the cigar shack. I met a guy named Mark, from Bordentown NJ who I was friends with online.

He’s a lot bigger than his thumbnail photo and took it upon himself to say hello to me which was good since I didn’t recognize him at all. I had another Corona before they closed the bar on the roof deck, it was still too cold on an April night. Some more giving out cards before I finished the second Corona before I finished my cigar and headed out.

I caught a cab and took it to Sixth Avenue and got to the Path station just in time to see the Hoboken train pulling out. It was only a 15 minute wait until the next one so I bided my time and walked in circles on the platform.

The next train pulled up and I sat and read more of Retromania by Simon Reynolds. A lot more scholarly than I hoped and in my buzzed state I sat and read, and soon I was in Hoboken running up the stairs to the train station to use the men’s room since I had to get rid of the Coronas as soon as possible.

There was a bus headed up Washington Street and since I really didn’t want to walk I got on board. Bill was fast asleep in bed once again and I stayed up for a while, watching the television. Woke up later than usual since it was a day off and took my time getting things done.

Emails sent out, rejections accepted, dates postponed all before a trip to the supermarket. And there was no mighty Isis at the supermarket today which was a drag. Home again, breakfast and whatnot before heading out to the bibliothèque and the dry cleaners. It was an OK day, nothing spectacular. Tomorrow is back to work at the cigar shack. That’s it.

Really nothing to write home about though that is what I just did.

Powder Finger

Back home after a day back at the cigar shack. On board today were Zack, Bradley and Thomas as well as myself. It was a long day, and not because of the cigar shack. I went to bed earlier than usual last night and did not sleep well. At 1:30 I was up again at the computer just to get out of bed since trying to get to a deep sleep was proving to be impossible.

I took a melatonin but it did not do what I hoped it would do. About 30 minutes later I was back in bed, tossing and turning and having vaguely violent dreams. Luckily I did not hit Bill. But I kept waking up every hour and tossed and turned again. Kept thinking about the cigar shack and kept thinking about two phone interviews that I had earlier in the day.

Nothing was guaranteed but I could not help but think about the combination of jobs and job offers and it didn’t exactly make me relax. I had to get up early in the morning and start my day with a meeting in midtown. A familiar neighborhood with unfamiliar faces. It went well though nice space, nice people and now it’s all wait and see.

Of course in the back of my mind it’s all ‘you’re in over your head here’ even though it is all about things that I had done before and did them quite well. Will Google (oops!) call me back? Who knows? It would be nice though. The hours promise to be a bit crazy but manageable.

And throughout the day I kept getting phone calls from the really cool company with the ping pong tables in Newark. I’m not taking them too seriously since I am way cool enough and they’ve been stringing me along for a number of months already. The whispering tones of Jerry Vale waft through the air, singing ‘you may not like it here, but you do have it good here’. I will ask him to elaborate more on that tomorrow when I work with him again.

Today was pretty good at the cigar shack. I did get top sales though Bradley did grab the official title since he had the big money account from a rinky dink cigar lounge a few blocks away. The rinky dink cigar lounge orders several times a week, dealing mainly with Bradley. Scott Raspberry runs the rinky dink cigar shack and when he calls he asks for his ‘boyfriend’ Bradley.

And the guy who works at the rinky dink cigar lounge and picks up from the cigar shack occasionally makes ‘fag’ comments when he talks to Bradley. For these two reasons I don’t have anything to do with the rinky dink cigar lounge and won’t set foot in there ever again.

I did have my going away party at the rinky dink cigar lounge when I was leaving Wanker Banker but never knew of the goings on behind the scenes, like how the the guy who picks up the cigars for each order can procure young women for sex if a customer wants one. Apparently you can get in a limo and cruise the streets and get a blow job in the back seat as the driver makes his way through the streets. No, it’s not my scene.

Now I am home and happy to be here. Bill is asleep once again and Bill Maher prattles on the television behind me. Back to work tomorrow and hopefully Sunday Bill will be singing the national anthem at CitiField, if the weather permits.