Tag Archives: McSwells

Dead Flowers

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Wow it certainly has been one of those days. It’s a Monday which makes it perfect for a crap day. It didn’t start out that way and last night wasn’t so bad. Watched TV of course, but didn’t pay much attention.

On MSNBC there was a documentary on the Manson Family which should have been scary and chilling but actually was so so. Manson is still an fucking asshole. Shouldn’t he have died already? Then after that I watched the news which was boring.

It was just a boring night. Read some parts of a Beatles bio which was a welcome distraction from the humdrum even if I do know the story inside and out.

Lot’s of footage of Bush under attack from a pair of shoes thrown by a justifiably angry Iraqi journalist. Lot’s of discussions on that online today. Some angry about it, some feel it’s justified.

Not like the shoes hit Bush anyway. And he was able to make jokes about it. I feel Bush should do a walk of shame when he leaves the White House in January. Not that he feels any shame about the damage he has done.

I’m almost finished with The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Still makes me angry but now that I’m near the end, it’s almost hopeful. I highly recommend it.

Heard from Roda who told me about the McSwells holiday party tonight. I’m not in the mood and plus it’s an awkward thing, being there with employees that I don’t know and have disdain for people that don’t work there. I guess that might be how it used to be when I worked there. I told him thanks but no thanks.

Also heard from my brother Frank who was surprised I didn’t think Saturday Night Live was as funny as he thought. He also liked Kanye West which was weird. He was surprised that I didn’t like him or the show but then again there wasn’t much that I liked today.

I heard from Casey Chasm via email. He was just checking in to see how Bill and I were doing. Comme ci Comme ca basically is what I told him.

Work was crazy and once again no one communicates with each other, nor do they communicate with me, which is what they’re supposed to do.

It was in the 60-degree temperature range today which made for a sweaty errand. I needed to get milk and whatnot for the office. Of course as I come in all sweaty, Tom Chin appears needing my attention in his office.

I didn’t even take my coat off and left the groceries in the bag on the floor as he proceeds to ask me questions about last week. He was out Thursday and Friday and I was out Wednesday which made Tuesday the last time we saw each other.

He was being a jerk and Vivek was almost as bad. They both thought I was out today and Vivek had no idea that I am generally in the office by 8:30 every day.

His silent partner who really isn’t so silent had asked me 2 weeks ago to get some business cards made. Of course there was a glitch and instead of me running back and forth on the phone with the printer and the not so Silent Partner I gave them both each others numbers so they could hash it out.

Did they? No. And when does he need his cards? Tomorrow. The printer says he can do it by 4PM tomorrow, the not so Silent Partner says he needs them by 3PM.

And of course I’m supposed to book the conference rooms and a few weeks ago I printed a memo telling people if they need a conference room to contact me. Do they? Some do, most don’t.

So when a room is booked, another group has decided to take it forcing the group that booked it to find another conference room. So I have to go in and kick people out.

On the plus side, I did get to see Bill for about 15 minutes after work. I mentioned that we should have lunch some time and he agreed. We didn’t say when though. We stood in the balmy evening rush hour, me smoking a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero which was bigger than I anticipated and would take longer to finish. Hanging out with Bill helped that out.

He was worried about my state of mind after work and he starting to get my modus operandi. I told him years ago that both Pedro and Julio know that if they ask me what’s wrong and I say “nothing“, if they wait 10 minutes they’d hear all about it.

And so with Bill, after asking me how I was doing and me saying, I don’t want to talk about it, ten minutes later I was telling him all about it. Apparently he has days like mine all the time.

Just saw that the wonderful Pat Longo is DJing at the McSwells holiday party and for an instant I thought that I would like to go. Then I realized that I was home and didn’t want to deal with anyone at all.

One more thing…I brought my camera to work, thinking that I would simply upload the pics that I’ve taken the past week or so, but couldn’t upload anything due to Word Press, the program I use to post this blog. So blame them, you know I do.

Oh, I’ve taken to commenting on the comments with each comment, much like they do in magazines. In case you haven’t noticed.

Like tonight! Thanks to bhikkhu.

Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can

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Well here we are on a Saturday. Day of the dead or Dia de los Muertos for those playing at home. So far it’s been a good day which promises to be a good evening. Last night I did go out after all. Walked up to McSwells where Rand was dressed as a zombie cracker pimp and Lisa was his ho. Lois was dressed as a zombie cannibal Wall Streeter.

I of course didn’t have a costume. It took a lot for me to get out of the house. Bill had gone to be early and I was content to do nothing. Rand called and texted me, effectively cajoling me to go out. So I got my act together and headed out. It was a Friday night and walking up to McSwells I thought about how rarely it is that I go out.

I used to work at McSwells on Friday nights as a bar back so I didn’t really know how things were on the outside. Perhaps it was different then, but last night there were mobs of people in their Halloween costumes all queuing up to get into various bars and pubs. When I lived in Weehawken I really didn’t go out on Fridays. I was definitely content to stay in an do whatever it was that I used to do, which was watch TV and play with Zed.

I had my ID checked at the door which should have been flattering and then waited for a pint of Guinness. $6.00 a pint and with a tip it made for $7.00. Found Rand and Lisa and Lois in the back all dressed up. On stage was a woman dressed as Sarah Palin singing what may have been a Carpenters song.

It was my first time at karaoke and it wasn’t quite what I expected. Not that it was bad or anything like that, just that I expected something different. I felt a bit out of place not being in a costume but then again I wasn’t planning on staying long. I didn’t understand whether people are really bad singers, or just mangling a song because they could.

I’m sure there are different types of people that go to karaoke. There are the ones who do their best and take it very seriously and then there are those who are simply out for a laugh. I understand both camps. I did entertain the idea of getting up on stage and singing a song, whether faithfully or interpreting the song as a way of overcoming my terrible stage fright. But last night wasn’t the night for me to do that.

After a long wait for a second pint I saw Lois sing Money (Thats What I Want). Money as well as human flesh is what she actually wanted. Rand and I joined in from the audience with Lois’ request for human flesh. Unfortunately the karaoke machine broke down in the middle of Lois’ song and as a way of making it up to her offered another song to sing.


Unfortunately the song was One Eyed One Horned Giant Purple People Eater which wasn’t the same thing and a bit lame. Who knew there were actually lyrics to that song?

I had enough by then and didn’t feel like waiting a long time for another pint so I made my exit after wishing Rand and Lisa and Lois a good time. I would have stayed to hear Rand and Lisa sing but I was getting cranky. Two pints seemed to be enough for me and I wandered on home, avoiding groups of costumed revelers.

Bill was still fast asleep, he didn’t even realize I had gone. I watched the rest of Bill Maher and then went to sleep myself. Got up ran some errands, saw Linda the former cashier at the supermarket who hung on my arm as we walked into the store. She then went her way and I went mine.

After a few hours I went out and bought myself an Obama as Superman t-shirt to wear to the B-52’s tonight, then walked over to the Obama Headquarters where I phoned over 100 people in Kearny to remind them to vote on Tuesday.

Mostly I left messages and only spoke to two McCain supporters who I still reminded to vote on Tuesday and to have a good day today. So now I’m just getting ready to see the B-52’s which really should be a good show.