Stories from the YMCA locker room

i smoke cigarettes, very moderately, and i know quite a few smokers as well. very rarely do i detect that smoker smell on someone i know, it's pretty rare. the other night i went out for a cigarette, and when i came back inside, my girlfriend remarked that it was the first time that she remembered me smelling like smoke. that said, i think we all know this guy: smells like there's a strong chance that he has a burning cigar from 1846 inside of his coat. a major fan of cigars and standing extremely close to me/you. older gentleman. we know this guy, eh? so, last place i expected to see this guy? crammed next to me in the locker room at the Y.

things i've done while unemployed

today i got a job. just a temp job, but a job nonetheless, so i'll be off the bread lines until january or maybe february, depending on how busy my temp job gets. seems like a familiar atmosphere, as my new job is working at an academic office at a university. while i was interviewing, i thought that i should make a list of all the weird, fun, unproductive & crazy productive things i've done over these past 6 months while unemployed. just as a little reminder.

• interviewed for a job at new school university. didn't get it
• interviewed for a job at an ad firm, working on my dream account. didn't get it.
• interviewed for a job working on the show ugly betty. didn't get it.
• had 3 emergency lunches with my girlfriend, working out how we were going to deal with my new job, after the 3 aforementioned job interviews.
• created, with my 2 best buds, a vegetarian cooking show for the internet.
  
• became intimately acquainted with a website called twitter
• spent entire days at movie theaters
• became such an expert at movie hopping that i can now not only jump from theatre to theatre without having to wait more than 5 minutes for the next show to start, but not only that, can execute such a maneuver while watching the 2-3 movies i plan on seeing in that day in the order in which i want to view them.
• multiplied my previous blog output x 100, at least
• came in 2nd place in my fantasy basketball league, won my fantasy baseball league and am currently a front runner in my fantasy football league
• coincidentally, spent way too much time working on my fantasy sports leagues
• became a much better cook
• coincidentally, got fatter
  
• took my appreciation of fine whiskeys along to include the appreciation on fine gins, rums, vodkas & scotches
• coincidentally, got even fatter
• applied for at least 5,000 jobs, of which i heard back from maybe 5. one of which, a job for the NYC Park Service, sent me a postcard to let me know they'd received my job application via the internet, giving me an even greater understanding of how the state government could get itself into a financial crisis
• was admitted to grad school
• rode a sea-doo for the first time ever.
• of the previous two achievements, it's hard to say which one i'm most proud of.
• became marginally dependent upon my girlfriend and my mother, making 2009 the first time i've been financially dependent upon anyone besides myself since 1994 (i.e., the year after i graduated high school)
• got cable
• after watching step brothers for the 4th time, developed an obsession with making microwave nachos
• coincidentally, got fatter
• moved into the nicest apartment i've ever lived in with my nicest girlfriend i've ever had, and feel pretty good about that
• ate at el compadre in echo park twice in one day
• went on an unprecedented number of weekday day trips
• went to the beach in NYC for the first time, went to Cape Cod for the first time, saw San Jose for the first time since I was 1 year old
• got a job working 1 day a week at a retail clothing store, and surprisingly had a lot of fun while working there
• worked 5 days working with my buddy bradley beesley, and not surprisingly had a lot of fun working with him
• spent a monday guiding my mother & other ladies from oklahoma around canal street area purse shopping
• had my folks over to my house/apartment for a dinner party for the first time ever
• worked every connection i've ever made, begged every friend i have, and generally sniveled up to everyone imaginable trying to find work
• got hooked up with awesome work opportunities, including the best job prospect i've ever had, from a friend...of my girlfriend's
• burned 1 full day watching 7 UP & coke commercials on youtube
• got hit on at union pool by the daughter of a noted nyc family whose family's last name is also the name of the street 2 streets over from the one I live on
• quit playing basketball
• coincidentally, got even fatter
• got really depressed
• felt really great about not having to work & having the time to work on anything i wanted to

this list could be twice as long, believe it or not.

test - deer tick

When listening to Born on Flag Day, it's really hard to tell that Deer Tick front man John McCauley is from Rhode Island. No, seems like the casual listener would take one quick listen to the Red Dirt songs and McCauley's predilection for taking his songs out onto the vast, open midwestern skies and bellowing a big ol' howl at the moon, and said listener would guess Mr. McCauley is from T-E-X-A-S. This version of Red Dirt or Americana (an distinction i'd guess the band wanted folks to take from the record, based on it's Mellencamp-esque album title) is what the kids in Dillon, Texas listen to when they're driving their beat up pickups down a dirt road, looking for direction, and a party to boot. The album sounds a little like it was recorded to sound good and a lot like it was recorded to sound like

Album Review

See my reviews on Discosalt. Here's the new one for the new Joe Pernice solo covers album.

Stories from the YMCA Locker Room

"Jimmy" - Westside Y, NYC
While dressing, and still partially nude, man comes by the row of lockers where I am. I recognize man and have been giving a courteous nod hello, mostly because when I first saw him walking around I thought he was veteran character actor Ray Wise. I'm dressing quickly as he gets on the scale.
"Well, i've lost 5 pounds"
me - "well congrats, pal. i've gained 5"
"oh, but you don't need to lose any weight. you. look. great."
he then chats me up about where i'm from & where i live. i somehow did not mention that i work(ed) at Sesame Street, which would've had Single White Female potential if i would've. given my habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, it's a miracle i didn't. anyway, he then says:
"here. let me give you my card. give me a call, i'll take you out to dinnah"
2 days pass, i walk into room with machines at the Y. he's on the first one, facing out towards the door. i walk to the farthest, most hidden machine in the room, and one that is facing a wall, and i have my iPod on & headphones in & volume UP. i'm using said machine when i feel a tap-tap-tap on my shoulder. i say:
"hey jimmy, what's up?
him - "oh, i was just thinking about you today...i went to the post office today, i went there because, because i had to get some stamps. i went there because i, i wanted to get some Love stamps, but then i thought of you, because i saw that they have Oklahoma stamps."
"great. i'll tell my friends back home"
him - "hey, when are we gonna get that dinner?"

Stories from the YMCA Locker Room

Park Slope Y
VERY Brooklyn dude walks up to me as i'm getting dressed and sitting in front of my locker. I put on my T-Shirt, which has a logo and the name of a band, The Deathray Davies. Dude checks out the shirt, says:
"Hey, what's your shirt mean?"
me - "oh, it's just some band"
"Oh yeah? Never heard of 'em"
me - "yeah, it's a friends band from Texas"
"Oh yeah? Still never heard of 'em"

lunch at the ball fields, anyone?

and, we're back!  still unemployed, still cash poor, but back in business nonetheless.  the return of the ballfields couldn't be more timely given the state of economics here at the red hook diaries, and we're looking forward to the first taste of the nopales laden huarache, and the pupusa with the loroco flower.  

as an addendum, here's a live blog of the national championship game.  

1st Q, 3:00 left - UNC 48, MSU 25

total snoozer...

the bread lines are long and lonely

unemployment....

bittersweet, but kind of funny, no?