Sally Mae | johnozed

Well it was just one of those things, just one of those crazy things. But of course I must get through last night first. And what was last night all about? Not much really. Watched TV. Didn’t watch Rachel Maddow again.

Watched Lawrence O’Donnell filling in for Keith Olbermann and contrary to what some T shirt designers think, I don’t get my info from MSNBC exclusively, like they get their information from Fuck Snooze.

I watched the Watchmen DVD on loan from that fantastic socialist institution, the public library where one can pick up Mein Kampf or the modern day adaptation, Going Rogue by today’s distaff Yakov Smirnoff.

Bill came home and went to bed almost immediately. He’s up so early and off to work, then after to work he runs up to Harlem to stage manage a play then back here where he has me waiting for him. He does have the sleep apnea thing happening still but now has a mouth guard of sorts.

At first it worked well but the past 2 night’s he’s been snoring. I nudged the nudge last night, telling him he was snoring and he awoke and said, ‘I am?’ before falling asleep again. When he was kissing me goodbye this morning I mentioned that he was snoring again.

He felt like I was attacking him, and his response was, ‘Are you sure it wasn’t you? You snore too you know.’ I responded that I was sure it wasn’t me since I was awake when I noticed. He left, I went back to the usual as of late, uneasy sleep.

Lot’s of fighting in my dreams. Not very relaxing. Woke up and did my thing. Checked the email, a comment waiting for my approval. It wasn’t signed by Maurice from lamoes.com, or the Susquehanna Investment Group.

Nae, this was by Sally Mae. Same sentiment though. Some Beckian acolyte complaining that I get all my info from Rachel Maddow, and my ‘rant’ about Senator Bunning of Kentucky, blocking the extension of unemployment benefits was basically unfounded.

I’m sure Sally Mo likes the attention I’ve afforded her/him/it and I was feeling generous, enough so that I decided to help her/him/it with their t shirt/coffee cup/greeting card shingle on Cafe Press. I mean should she/he/it lose their job at Susquehanna Investment Group she/he/it will always have her/his/whatever rag trade to fall back on.

It’s no Sham Wow I’m sure but hey, charity is charity and some dogs should be thrown a bone every now and then. I’m not bitter and I’m not twisted and I certainly don’t drink the Kool Aid Tea that she/he/it seems to partake in. It’s all there under the other day’s Astronomy Domine entry.

See for yourself, you be the judge, Sally Mo will be the jury (and we know how that will end up). Other than stepping into the gutter to comment on her/his/it’s comments, it was a good day. Went to the Socialist building, you know, the library where I ran into Eileen Lynch.

You don’t see someone for years then all of a sudden you keep running into them. We had a nice talk for a while out on the sidewalk.

Then a phone call from Julio. He was on Washington Street inviting me to lunch. How could I refuse? Had a good time with him.

Been a while since we actually had a meal together. Lot’s of things talked about. Alexander is getting better, which is definitely good. Julio’s mom is getting better too. Julio & Stine are looking for a house to buy.

Somewhere close to Hoboken since Hoboken is out of their price range. I would suggest Bala Cyanide but well, you know, there seems to be something in the water out there.

Cloud

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.