Tag Archives: Cigars

Ego Tripping Out

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It’s Thursday though last night I could have sworn it was Thursday which would make today Friday but it isn’t, it’s Thursday and that’s a drag. It happens from time to time, getting a little ahead of myself on occasion. Today was a day of fiasco’s. Bill asked me to drop off a power supply for his laptop at his office on my way to work this morning. That was no problem. The actual problem was I brought the wrong power supply. I thought he needed the one with the Apple logo on it but no. So I have to bring the one Bill actually needs which is no big deal, not even a hassle since it’s on the way.

I watched two documentaries on PBS last night, the first was a new documentary on Marvin Gaye. Great story, deserved more than an hour, though I guess that is where Jesse Martin comes in with his bio-pic of Marvin in the works. Should be an interesting scene of Marvin on the beach in Hawaii trying to kill himself by snorting many grams of cocaine. A troubled life for the trouble man. Great clips throughout the show of Marvin in his uneasy prime. What a sexy guy he was but couldn’t dance for shit.

The other documentary was about Aretha Franklin which had even better clips from the sixties, but it was a documentary from the late eighties it seemed. Keith Richards was in it for a minute or two and he looked still alive. Still there were some clips of Aretha live that sent chills up my spine. A friend of mine and I had a plan a few years ago to drive to Detroit just to hear Aretha sing in her church. Obviously it never came to fruition, never making it to Motown.

Work was ok. Nothing much to report. The bookkeeper was back after a bout with cancer which seems to be in remission and that was good to hear. She’s a buffer of sorts between me and Tom Chin. I was planning on trying to get Juan a summer job in my office, but as usual communication is up to me. A month ago I mentioned that there might not be a need for a receptionist and Vivek said there would be.

Today I mentioned it to Greg Stevens and he said there would be no need. So I figure I have to get a definite answer so in case it doesn’t go well Juan could figure out something else to do. Greg cited the cost, but it wouldn’t be much of a cost since it’s the same as we are paying Lydia presently. I’ll find out more about that tomorrow.

I also dealt with the insurance company and NYU dental school, who didn’t have me in their records. At least the first of several numbers I had dialed. Then the same thing with the insurance company. It turns out they did send a check for the scaling and planing they had done on my left side of my mouth. But they sent it to NYU and not me.

NYU does the work and collects money from me. That’s it. All insurance paperwork has to be done my me, not the dental school. They’ve already gotten my money, and now my check covering a little bit more than 50% of what I paid which is better than nothing.

Serenity now!

Oh forgot this nice little bit. I had a letter published in Mojo Magazine. It was actually the second time they’ve published a letter, or rather email that I’ve sent. This month’s issue, #175 with Slash on the cover. I don’t like Slash. In the UK it was Paul Weller on the cover. My letter was about the previous month’s switch of covers for a US readership. Instead of a great picture of one of my all time favorite bands ever, The Specials, they had Neil Young. Great songs, but let’s face it, he’s a geezer. The Specials, interracial, young and handsome with a great political slant are much more easy on the eyes.

My letter is under the heading “We thought you were inferior” and the letter goes as follows:

“I love you MOJO, I really do. I buy your magazine every month. I was driving the newsagents crazy insisting MOJO 174 had the Specials on the cover. Then I saw Neil Young instead. I like Neil Young, but I got so much more from my beloved Specials. Just disappointed in the switch. I know you have to do it in the US since Neil is more famous that Jerry, Terry and co. And I still love you.”

What do you think about that? I had to admit, I thought it was great as I laughed out loud.
But that headline…
What do you think it means?

Please check out this link from the wonderful Dan Savage. Cut n’ paste:
http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/hello_straight_people

Pushing Too Hard

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It’s Wednesday. A quiet day. Nice though. Upper 60’s they say. Still no baby popping out yet for Julio and Stine. She’s sensitive in every way and Julio is keeping his distance. I have been communicating with Julio more in the past few days than I have in the past year. Any day now and I’ll be an ersatz uncle. Last night was pretty mellow again. Watched Scrubs, Daily Show and Colbert Report. Colbert Report opened with Steven Colbert and John Legend duetting on the national anthem, quite nicely. Colbert Report is in Philadelphia this week.

Bill came home last night as well. Quite nice. He was hungry though and I had nothing to eat. No tuna, no bread which meant I had to go food shopping today. I offered to make him some pasta, which we had but he said no. I wound up watching My Left Foot. That still is a great movie, Daniel Day Lewis, of course, phenomenal. Brenda Fricker won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Christy Brown’s long suffering mother. I saw a lot of my mother in her performance. Long suffering Irish women usually strike a chord within me.

It also features Fiona Shaw, who if you recall I wrote about a few months ago when I saw her in the Samuel Beckett play, Happy Days. As much as I enjoyed My Left Foot, and I have seen it a few times, it seems ripe for satire. Christy Brown with his amazing left foot, could be a kung fu fighter, his mother having babies throughout the movie. In real life Mrs. Brown had 22 children, 13 survived. I posted that on IMDB last night, and this morning no one commented so I deleted it.

Bill stayed up long enough to see the intense scene where Fiona Shaw’s character inadvertently broke Christy Brown’s heart. Christy finds out that his doctor, Fiona Shaw is engaged to be married to Peter, the owner of the art gallery that has just shown Christy’s art. He has a melt down and the look on her face shows the emotional maelstrom that she has unleashed in Christy. That for me, is very good acting and made me fall in love with Harry Potter’s Aunt Petunia.

After that I went to bed after hearing about how great it is that the pope is in the United States. Big whoop if you ask me. Kick his ass out of the country. This afternoon I had another dental appointment at NYU. It went well. I got along with Dr. Goodman this time. Last time I think we annoyed each other. I was exhausted from the stress of having a dental appointment so I was in no mood for that. It went well, just part 2 of the cleaning that started last month. Next month is surgery.

Now thats when I should be stressed. I asked if they have any special programs for hardship cases, for a certain friend of mine. They just laughed and basically said, we were all hardship cases. I tried to rephrase it and said it was for someone who’s really really poor, but still no answer. Sorry, I tried Gollum. It was a nice afternoon and I walked back to the bus terminal from 24th street and 1st Avenue. Lot’s of people out in the sun, and it seemed like every other guy was smoking a cigar. Everyone but me, I was to busy drooling.

Here’s something unsettling.

it’s actually from a WSJ spoof called My Wall Street Journal which is greatly upsetting Rupert and the trolls at Fux Snooze Corp.