Jamie Cullum | johnozed

Last night I watched Lost. It was good. Sayid was the main character. It looks like he may have crossed over to the dark side, but things being what they are and being a former comics book geek what seems apparent now, tain’t necessarily so later on.

It was enjoyable even though the plot seems to be getting murkier. They had better hurry up and make things clearer since they only have 10 episodes left for the series.

Oh this computer is acting up. I’m typing faster that it processes. Sometimes it’s OK. Sometimes it’s infuriating. Today it’s frustrating. I’m not complaining. I’m grumbling. But you get what you paid for.

Bill came home after his rehearsal. The play opens next Thursday He’s been exhausted He went right to bed almost immediately. I stayed up and watched Craig Ferguson.

In the Daily News yesterday was a review of Peter Gabriel’s new record, Scratch My Back. Orchestral cover versions of different artists like David Bowie, Radiohead and Neil Young as well as the song Book of Love which featured in the last episode of Scrubs.

The plan is for these artists to cover a Peter Gabriel track in return. Peter Gabriel covers Paul Simon’s The Boy in the Bubble and in return Paul Simon covered Peter Gabriel’s Biko.

Also reviewed was The Pursuit by Jamie Cullum. He’s a jazz guy from the UK and since it got a decent review I decided to go ahead and download both. I think Jamie Cullum is more Bill’s speed and before he went to bed I played a track or two and he definitely liked what he heard.

I didn’t watch all of Craig Ferguson and went to bed before it was over. I was working for Greg Stevens today and set my alarm clock for 7:30. I was scheduled to be there by 11:00 and I didn’t want to be late.

Apparently I shut off the alarm clock and woke up at 9:15, causing my first word of the day to be ‘FUCK’. I scrambled and made some coffee, poured some cereal and had a shower. Walked up to Washington Street just in time to see the 126 bus heading past me.

After a wait of about 20 minutes I was headed to the bus terminal where I decided to take the subway rather than walk across town like I usually do. It was cold and drizzly and I didn’t want to keep Greg Stevens waiting.

He was leaving for his winter home in Arizona with his wife and wouldn’t be back for a few weeks. That’s why he needed me to get some of his things together to ship out to Carefree. I was happy to be able to help out Greg once again.

I expect to get a phone call from him at some point while he’s out west, asking about how to do this or that on his computer. I don’t mind, he’s a nice guy and as long as politics doesn’t enter the picture we get along just fine.

After that it was a walk back to the Path train, enjoying a La Flor Dominicana and some tunes on the iPod. Just like old times.

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Last night was melancholy. It was a slow descent into melancholia. In the back of my mind was the anxiety of the job interview this morning. Well maybe it was more like a full occupation of my mind, the melancholia.

I had a fun phone call with Annemarie and a good time with Bill but I couldn’t enjoy things like Curb Your Enthusiasm. There were aspects that I did laugh at but most everything was clouded by the anxiety. And it wasn’t so much the interview, it’s the whole idea of being unemployed.

It’s really a drag and that is really an understatement. I’ve been unemployed before and knew it was only a matter of time before I would land another gig. But it really is scary out there. I didn’t know how scary it was until I became part of it.

I had an appointment for 11:00 this morning for an interview and felt that the tutorials I did a few weeks ago would help me out. I set the alarm clock for 7:00. Bill was up and out around 6:00, giving me a kiss goodbye and wishing me well.

He’s so great. Drives me crazy sometimes, but any relationship usually involves one party driving the other party crazy. The toothpaste cap. The dishes in the sink. Neither one of those issues concern us, just using it for an example.

He’s so incredibly supportive of me, believing in me when I don’t. And that’s a lot of the time.

Yesterday when I was at Tariq’s studio, the two of us were on the fire escape having a smoke. He had some good advice having been through a lot in his own life. It was advice that I had given to people from time to time and I had forgotten it.

There’s always someone who has it worse than you. As he was saying this I saw two people in electric wheelchairs in the distance headed to the light rail. How’s that for reality? I told Tariq I know I have it good. I have a roof over my head and I have someone who loves me. And some people don’t have either. So I’m grateful.

And if I am asked on Thursday to state what I am thankful for I can just point at Bill and say ‘Him’.

I reset the alarm clock to 9:00 and finally got some real good sleep. Woke up to the music of War singing Low Rider. I even said an affirmation. ‘Good day, good day, it’s gonna be a good day’ I kept repeating that to myself and I got myself ready.

Had to print out three references, got a nice suit & tie on. Braces, socks, sock garters (hate droopy socks), lightly polished my shoes and had my passport for government ID, my resume and I was out the door.

The light rail was at 10:38 and I thought I had enough time but by the time I was about 150 yards from the light rail I looked at my watch and it was 10:35. I ran through the terminal, jammed my credit card in the ticket machine, had it validated, time stamped at 10:38 and saw the light rail pulling away.

I called up the agency, getting the number through Google411 and dialed the number. No answer. I called Bill and asked him to go into my email and get the info from the email that the counselor Rainier sent me.

Bill was great and asked if I was going to call the counselor. Steam leaked a little bit from my ears but I kept it cool. He got the info and told me and I called, telling Rainier that I was going to be 10 minutes late.

He was fine with it, but I hate being late. Generally I’m early. Good day good day, it’s gonna be a good day. Got off the light rail in the middle of the Harborside complex which consists of a few post modern buildings.

Which one? I called Bill once again and once again Bill came through.

Got to the office, filled out paperwork. Took an Excel, Word and Outlook test. Oddly enough I did better on the Excel than I did on the Word. Outlook was a walk in the park.

I was in a tiny room with four other guys, all of us intensely focused on the computer screens in front of us. I was gassy. Not releasing gas mind you, but it was moving it’s way through my body and was a little bit noisy. At least noisy to me.

Don’t know if the others heard it. It was like an interview I had tears ago for a production company called Geronimo. Same thing happened but that was during the interview. No gas, just internal noise.

Finally met Rainier who was a crazy cute guy. We went over the tests and he remarked that I did better than most which was a pleasant surprise. I have a good feeling about this agency. Perhaps they’ll place me somewhere.

Maybe it was butterflies in my stomach from talking with Rainier, maybe it was gas. It went well and I wished him and the receptionist and Happy Thanksgiving which is the thing to say this week.

Even though it was cold and windy I decided to walk back to Hoboken through the Jersey City waterfront. I enjoyed a cigar on the way and listened to the iPod. Overall I think it went well. A positive way to spend a few hours.

I feel a lot better tonight and shook a rosebush when I got home.

Here’s some pics from the walk home.