Tag Archives: Cigar Shack

I Just Called To Say I Love You

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A late start tonight after an amazing day. It started out once again, Bill kissing me goodbye as I lay sleeping. A nice way to start the day. I soon stumbled out of bed and shuffled along to the kitchen, making coffee, pouring cereal and getting in the shower.

It was a bit nippy in the apartment and I then set about closing a few windows that were left open in the night, no squirrels as of late. It was cool enough that I wore the wool suit, grey pinstripes instead of the sharkskin.

I was working with Thomas and he certainly ups the ante with suits and I do try to hold up my end. A ride into the city, riding with downstairs neighbor Deborah who’s just so sweet. I hadn’t seen her in a while but I saw her yesterday and she was just a supreme boost to my ego after telling her about the interview on Monday.

The whole nonsense of ‘oh you would be bored after 15 minutes’ made her chuckle. She said something that a number of people have said over the years. I have too big a personality, though I’m sure the ¼ Xanax suppressed that enough.

According to Deborah, I’m just too interesting a person, not as nondescript a person as a lot of people are. I could only agree. I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drummer, or drum machine and I will more than likely to be that way for the rest of my ever lovin’ life.

I made it to the cigar shack, safe and sound. It was Calvin and Thomas working today and it’s been slow lately. The regulars have been in and hanging out all day. I was in the humidor when a rather large gentleman came in, I did not see who he was with until they passed the door.

The large gentleman turned out to be Stevie Wonder’s minder and he was escorting Stevie Wonder to the rest room. Apparently Stevie was in need of a pee and wandered into the cigar shack after asking a neighboring shop if they had a loo.

Luckily, the neighbors frequently use our loo and recommended us. Calvin and I were quite excited, Thomas was as well, but not like us. Stevie came out and thanked us, shaking our hands. I asked if I could take his photo and he said yes, so Thomas took my picture with Stevie Wonder and I in turn took pictures of Calvin and Thomas, both with Stevie.

More handshakes, more thanks given. I asked Stevie if he smoked cigars and he said he didn’t but his son does. And with that they were out the door. The minder asked where the really big and expensive supermarket was and I walked them towards it. Not many people in the neighborhood recognized Stevie Wonder except for a man and a woman and they were noticeably overwhelmed.

It was the highpoint of the day, followed by a few hours of Stevie Wonder songs. That’s all I need to write today. The photos are on my Facebook page so go there if you want to see them.


I Do #2

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And it was back to the cigar shack for me today. The previous 48 hours were quite good, though of course Tuesday definitely paled in comparison to Monday. The alarm clock came to life at the usual time, I couldn’t tell you what song was playing when it went off, and that might be because I woke up before it went off and was in the shower at the time.

After making coffee and having cereal I was dressed (in the same suit that I wore to the ill fated meeting yesterday) and checking email. Nothing coming in, I contacted the people I met with yesterday and asked them to return something that was mine. They offered to scan it and send it but I insisted on the original document.

Perhaps that was the burning of a bridge but as the hours go further from the meeting I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that did me in. They had my papers, and when they asked me about my past previous to the paperwork, telling them about my work in the music business and People magazine might have put the kibosh on it since you know, working in music and publishing is so glamorous and both industries are nearly extinct.

The line that ‘I would be bored after 15 minutes’ of joining their team shows that they basically forget or did not read the CV and had glazed eyes once they heard about my music business/publishing experience. I think they were actually letting me down easy. Perhaps the brass ring was not so close to my grasp as I had originally thought, though the rejection was one of the nicer rejections I’d ever had.

The cigar shack was humming along as it usually does, three full timers on with Calvin playing the role of manager. Tonight was a dinner that had been planned about a month and a half and the tickets were not selling. The staff duly contacted the clients and not many were forthcoming with cash in hand.

Calvin pressured us to contact the clients as second time and so we did, with not much of a different result. The fact is that a lot of people don’t have the disposable income for dinner followed by cigars. That’s a concept that Calvin would rather not hear especially since most of his clients have deep pockets, but not enough of them came forwards looking for food and a smoke.

So that made Calvin a bit bitter today, saying that we were under performing. That was abjectly false but it’s his house so what he says goes. A lot of the day was everyone trying to stay out of Calvin’s way with the exception of Bradley, who owned the idea of dinner and cigars tonight. I busied myself off the floor today, taking in stock and organizing the back stock so that kept me out of the watch of Sauron’s eye.

Some other nonsense was mentioned that I heard about through a third party, some disappointment on Calvin’s behalf that Thomas and I were not attending the dinner and smoke out after work, but we are closing the store and it seems a bit hypocritical for all parties to attend such an event, especially if we were under performing in ticket sales.

It’s just that no one has the money, that’s about it. I didn’t think it would be a good idea after cultivating clients to hound them into buying tickets to an event that they were not at all interested in attending. It’s not easy being so far ahead of the curve.

Music business crippled, publishing on it’s knees, Financial world in tatters. Am I the kiss of death or what?

Despite all that silly speculation, whenever my hearts sinks, it soars when I think of Bill. He’s a good man and I told him today my life is full with him in it. He’s at rehearsal once again and probably won’t be home until later. I look forward to giving hm a great big hug and kiss, for he is my man.

For my Bill.