Hoboken | johnozed

Yesterday was Sunday and today is Monday. Yesterday was Easter and today isn’t. Yesterday was work and today is a day off. It was a long and slow day at the cigar shack and not much money was made. I would go so far as to say more money was spent paying salaries for Zack, Jerry Vale & myself than what came in. Maybe, it was a stab in the dark.

It wasn’t too bad. I wrote the cigar shack blog yesterday and added the photographs of David and Joseph and me in the humidor, as well as some other photographs. Zack usually makes some editorial suggestions and I follow them, but there wasn’t much in the suggestion department, just an idea to remove something that was a joke. Once I told Zack it was a joke he didn’t bring it up again. He thinks I am a good writer and I accept his praise. He’s published a book of poetry a few years ago so he certainly has a leg up on me.

The day did crawl and Jerry Vale nabbed the lion’s share of sales. I walked down to the bus terminal after work, 19 minutes, 49 seconds is what it took. From Modern English’ Life in the Gladhouse to Echo & the Bunnymen’s Heaven Up Here, I blazed a trail, avoiding tourists (tons of them) and walking in the street to avoid them.

The usual problem with my fellow commuters, on weekends courtesy is thrown out the window. People don’t seem to realize that schedules are kept and missing a bus could happen by mere seconds. It was a long day like I wrote and I had no patience for my fellow riders. And my antipathy was palpable. I sat by myself and ignored the people that pissed me off. I probably pissed them off as well anyhow.

Bill was fast asleep when I was home by 8:00 last night and I just let him sleep. He needed the rest and he wound up sleeping throughout the night, about 9.5 hours. I watched Bob’s Burgers which is one of the funniest shows on TV, then the season premiere of Nurse Jackie which blew me away. No spoilers here, but Bobby Canavale was on it and I would watch him in anything.

After that I watched The Big C which I totally missed last season and I enjoyed its return last night. It was good but not as good as I remembered. Still I was happy to watch it. After that was Mad Men which was very good and intense at parts. I did guess one thing right, though I did have to rewind the DVR to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.

Today was mellow. Bill was up and out as I lay sleeping, giving me the customary good bye kiss. I got up got some things together and headed out after a few cups of coffee, getting a hair cut from my barber Tony. His arm isn’t getting better and I fear the opportunities to get groomed by him will be running out soon. He was cheerful as he cut and cleaned me. Trimmed down my goatee, which was laden with white hair.

Then a trip to the supermarket. My favorite cashier, Isis was training someone so I got on a different line which took forever, but I didn’t mind. I came home to a nice breakfast before a stroll around Hoboken. I went in a different direction this time, heading north and winding up above 14th Street. A walk back home, then followed by a nap.

I woke up a little while after that and decided to head out. People coming home, walking up Washington Street from the Path train, me walking in the opposite direction. I picked up last week’s New Yorker since it wasn’t delivered to me and did some window shopping. A meatball hero purchase was the goal which I got and brought home for dinner instead of cooking.

Back to work tomorrow with a staph meeting at the end, followed by a visit to Maxwells to say hello to Steve Fallon. I am more excited about seeing Steve than anything else. Will I write? Will I have time to write? I do try to get a few words in while at work, but with a full staph and Thomas lurking about it seems unlikely.

No guarantees.

05 Computer Love

Today has been a good day. I was off and I didn’t over sleep too much. 15 minutes was about all I needed and 15 minutes was about all I got. Bill was up and out hours before I got out of bed, leaving me with a farewell kiss and a pot of coffee to remember him by. He makes the best coffee. There were no real plans today except for laundry, a trip to the supermarket and the dry cleaners as well as a visit to the bibliothèque. It all went well I am happy to report.

A walk around Hoboken after the library included a stop at the local record store where I got the latest Mojo & Uncut Magazines from a very indifferent guy behind the counter who was more interested in labeling the latest used dubstep cds than being helpful. On the way out I saw Bill Ryan who used to run the late great record store Pier Platters. It was a brief ‘hello how are you doing’ said in passing. Good to see him though, I see him maybe once a year rather than almost every day like it was all those years ago.

The building that was on fire a couple of weeks ago is now down to two floors left. It’s been a steady demolition and the streets around the building are still closed to traffic. I think the benefit that was held this past Friday went well and clothing and other items are still being donated via the Rotary Club.

It was a beautiful day on Hoboken, the sun was shining on a clear blue sky but it was also quite cold. It was good to get out this afternoon. I was going to stop by the Guitar bar and say hello to Mr. Wonderful, but it was after school so the place would be busy with kids taking lessons or parents waiting to pick up their kids. I did make it back home and watched some TV which I eventually turned off and opted to hear music instead.

There was a plan to meet with my friend Lois tonight and pick up some socks that she has. But once I got home I was pretty much settled in and luckily able to meet with her on Friday instead. Now Bill is home and I can’t type for shit. No really. It’s taken me quite a while to get this far. So many typos which you won’t see since I will correct them all before it goes online. It’s so much easier to surf the net or read friends postings on Facebook than it is to write.

Once again Dorothy Parker’s axiom rings true, ‘I hate writing but love having written’. And that applies right now to a project that I am going to be involved with. I have the ingredients but need to get started on it. And the five ideas I have are subject to change as are the subjects themselves. I know I can do it, I have done it already. Some tightening up, some clear headedness and of course time is the main requirement.

No distractions. Bill and I watched a Spalding Gray DVD the other night and Spalding spoke of being in a writers colony, the McDowell Colony, where he was afforded the time and space to work on his project. Of course I do not have the access to such an environment but it would be nice. But right now the artist colony is where I am at, right in front of the computer. It’s not where you’re from it’s where you’re at.