Otisville | johnozed

Let’s see. What’s new?

Not much actually.

Earthquake, a 6.0 off the coast of Northern California. Annemarie felt it while home for lunch. Bill knew about it before I did. I found out when I called him just to say hello. He was quite serious on the phone.

Apparently he had just sent me a text about it. I called Annemarie who was back at work and she told me about it. I guess it wasn’t so bad that she went back to work after the earthquake.

Today I spent a good couple of hours pounding the cyber pavement looking for work. Even went so far as to apply for a job that required a four year college diploma for doing the same bloody job that I’ve done for 10 years.

I mentioned that in the cover letter, just did not use those exact words. Would be bad form you see. I’m definitely aiming a bit higher than I did. No need to spit in the face of employers.

I had a somewhat busy day. After pounding the cyber pavement I was in the library, visited Jim Mastro at the Guitar Bar and wandered around Hoboken a bit today. No sightings of Stine and Alexander today. Did clean the apartment some.

Still more to be done.

Bill started cleaning a bit last night, then we watched The Dead Zone. The David Cronenberg movie, starring Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen, not the TV show starring Anthony Michael Hall. I read the book ages ago, enjoyed it quite a bit while I was in the midst of reading most everything Stephen King had written.

I remember seeing the movie when it released. It is one of the better versions of a Stephen King story. When The West Wing was on TV starring Martin Sheen as President Bartlett, I couldn’t help but think of him as Greg Stillson, who ran for Senate and eventually occupies the White House.

Too creepy, but the future was altered despite the name change and eventually Jimmy Smits occupied the Pennsylvania Avenue address and the word was safe.

Lot’s of 1970’s/80’s actors in the Dead Zone. Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe, and Brooke Adams who is now Mrs. Tony Shaloub. Colleen Dewhurst is in it for about 5 minutes as well. That actually stopped Bill from his cleaning routine.

The other night Bill and I watched 3 hours of Lost. First the recap before the two hour premiere. After 6 seasons, Bill is into watching the show. The recap helped Bill catch up and he was oddly silent for three hours, except for his Craig Ferguson impersonations. “I know!”

Time moves on and the unease I felt at the beginning of the week is dissipating.

I was invited to Otisville on Sunday for a Super Bowl party but I am sticking closer to home in case Greg Stevens rings that bell for some work on Monday. Other than that, I would be totally clueless with regards to the Super Bowl. I have no idea who is playing anyhow.

I do know it is not the Jets.

JOT RAY

Well I’m back. Been back for a few hours actually. Came home, showered and took a nap. Woke up to the sound of the St. Ann’s feast band marching through the streets, and stopping in front of my building for a blessing.

Not the way I wanted to wake up but it worked nonetheless. Still a bit groggy. Many beers were drunk last night and I woke up still buzzed.

Getting to Otisville was pretty easy, got on a train and just took the two hour train ride. Read most of the New Yorker including an interesting article on organ donation for altruistic reasons. Compare that to the organs for cash scheme which was revealed the other day as part of the NJ corruption arrests.

The scam was reportedly going on for 10 years, run by some Rabbi. Nice. I made it up to Otisville with no problems. A few girls making some noise was easily ignored. There was a hitch once I got off the train.

No cellphone service at the station. I stood around for 20 minutes trying to call Pedro & Connie, on their land line and his cellphone to no avail. I didn’t panic. It was a nice day, clear skies and I enjoyed a cigar while I tried to get through. Even tried a pay phone but that was out of service as well.

I finally got through and Pedro was on his way. A few minutes later a car pulls up and I was expecting it to be our friend Excer. No, it was Ulysses, someone I hadn’t seen in years.

Ulysses started working at Murdoch Magazines the day after I started in 1986. We hit it off immediately back then, so much so that I was DJ’ing a friends wedding and Ulysses and his late brother Tony rented me their equipment for $100.00.

I hadn’t seen Ulysses since Tony’s wake in 2000 or so. After Ulysses started working there, in came Pedro and Tony and eventually Excer. Harpy was there by that time as well.

Last night was all about Stella Artois and dominoes Ulysses didn’t play dominoes, he was too busy downloading various programs for his music studio. Pedro, of course dominated the dominoes, I was a drunken second place.

Every one crashed by 1:00, the only 2 staying up were me & Ulysses, chatting away until 2:30 when he decided he had to head home despite Connie setting a bed for him.

I tried to convince him to stay over but as Pedro explained this morning, he never stays out, always heads home before sunrise. I woke up bleary eyed, hearing Excer and Connie talking in the kitchen.

Excer offered me a ride back to Hoboken so I figured he would want to get moving soon. I got out of bed and had some pancakes and scrambled eggs that Connie made as well as some coffee.

Excer and I were on the road at 10:30, taking Route 17 all the way down to Route 3 where I directed him to Hoboken, specifically right in front of my building.

Came upstairs, Bill was cleaning the apartment. I showered and took a nap. After being awoken by the St. Ann’s feast band, I went for a stroll with Julio.

We stopped in Radio Shack when all of a sudden, the skies opened and it started pouring and hailing. We were inside the store for about a half hour waiting for the rain to stop.

The staff didn’t mind, they were too busy laughing at the soggy people walking down the street avoiding cafe umbrellas that started flying on the sidewalks.

That is about it. I’m sure I will sleep well tonight. Here are some pictures from last night.
7.26.09 weekend 005