I should clean this place up

I don't mind posting tragedies

I don't mind posting tragedies but I do mind postings that make me look tragic.

I think it's temporary or at least it could be if I said goodbye.


I wrote just to write and the following is what was written.


There are times that I wish that my talents could be more like someone else’s.

There are time when someone else wishes that their talents were more like mine.

I’m of the opinion that if I were to strive hard enough that I could match most anyone’s technical abilities. I have doubts about my creativeness.

I think that I would be happy soldering new waterlines all day long.

I don’t understand people who don’t think for themselves. I don’t understand people who don’t think ahead.

I don’t understand why I would be asked on Tuesday, which is the deadline for advertising for the Saturday paper, if I was going to advertise a Thursday event.

I don’t know why people are so willing to do things that just don’t make any sense.

I’ve lost some of my fight.

I would rather walk around someone than to try to walk through them; but that has nothing to do with the sentence above.


She looks at her map and then off into the horizon and describes the city of gold that she sees in that little glitter. I know that what is glittering might be no more than a broken soda pop bottle. Either or there is still that chasm between here and there.

Thirteen million in project money doesn’t mean much if none of it is going to reach my pocket. I ask myself “Wasn’t that other four and a half million dollar project supposed to have redeemed us?” I ask because I still don’t feel like I’ve been atoned; and I certainly don’t see any evidence of it. I just sit quiet and look past her through the large windows into the world beyond which ends about a block and a half down the street.

I was told bad things come in threes

I know checking my pockets for car keys after the door is closed is not the best time to do it but there I was, in the rain, fifty feet from my truck, checking my pockets. My pockets turned out to be car-key-less, no matter how many times I checked them.

There was only one place that they could have been so I didn’t even bother walking back to check. I got to where I was going a little later than usual but finished everything that I needed to and then asked to borrow her car. The round trip took about twenty four minutes and as I approached my truck, with my spare key in hand, I wondered for a moment about the noise.

The noise was that of a running engine. At least it was purring nicely but it wasn’t the best way to end the day.

The next day, I had put the wondering of how I could have left my vehicle running behind me as I chalked it up to ‘things happen,’ but things weren’t done happening. As I was turning around in the shower I slipped. Occasionally, I do slip but I’m always able to catch myself; what was different about this slip was that there was no way I could catch myself so I did my best to fall well.

The way I was headed I was going to catch my lower back right on the side of the tub and when the results of that got played in my mind: it hurt, so I changed the way I was going to fall, which launched me right out of the tub and onto the floor. I missed the toilet and the towel rack that stands on the floor and landed hard on my ass. It wasn’t the best way to start the day.

I got to work on time and besides a slight ache, I was doing fine, until my cellphone rang. It was my sister and she was crying and in a panic. It turned out that a plastic bolt that holds the toilet tank to the toilet bowl had broken off, which caused the tank to leak. My sister tried to shut off the water feed to the toilet and as she was doing such a joint in the copper pipe came loose which caused fresh water to come rushing out as fast as the pipe could shoot it.

She was calling me from the basement because she couldn’t find the shut-off. Eventually I was able to give her enough direction over the phone as to where it was located.

All the time I was on the phone I was making my way to a company car. I got home in about fifteen minutes.

The pipe gave way at a fitting and pipes only give way at fitting if they weren’t soldered correctly. I cursed the handyman before me for being a hack. The fitting was right where the copper pipe passed through the side of the vanity, as such I could heat the pipe up without burning the vanity so I had to move the vanity.

As I was moving the vanity, the plastic drain pipe popped off at an elbow. I just shook my head because I can understand not being able to solder a copper pipe correctly but plastic drain pipes only need to be cleaned and glued.

I fixed the copper pipe and then looked down at the drain pipe. I had cleaned it the best that I could and felt it would be tight when I glued it back on but I couldn’t remember exactly what the angle on the pipe had been. I could have put the vanity back in place and line it up with the drain on the sink but then I was certain I wouldn’t be able to hold the glued joint in place, with the proper amount of force, for the recommend thirty second. So at least I knew why the guy before me screwed up the glue job. I ended up just best guessing it and my best guess was good enough.

I got back to work within two hours. I was probably not even missed but I had had enough surprises for a Friday so when I had spent enough time at my desk, I took a half a day vacation which I spent at my favorite bar which wasn’t such a bad way to end the day.

So there I was...

So there I was standing at the edge of my deck, still avoiding cooking that Perdue chicken that I bought six days ago, eating a Turkey sandwich containing the last of the deli meat which I bought on the same day as the chicken. The cat was by my side, trying to get me to give him a piece.

It was a simple sandwich: iceberg lettuce, Hellman's mayonnaise, Sara Lee smoked turkey breast, salt and pepper, all on a piece of baguette.

It was good.

Things were good. All of my worries could wait until the next day.

But then I turned around and looked up at the outside stairway that leads to the roof of the second floor.

I don't know what made me look, but there were a few raccoons just lounging about much like some house bound kids who are dealing with the last hours of some 90 degree day the best they could. Kids who have been warned by their mother to "Not leave the steps."

They saw me looking and didn't seem to care. They looked at me much like I've looked at my landlord below. Yeah, it was my house but they live here too - was the vibe I got.

I went inside to get my camera and when I returned only one was still on the steps and he sauntered up to to the rest of his family. So, I went back inside to come out on the first floor roof, to walk up the very steps they were on.

I found the crew hanging out by the back door to the unused third floor. They seemed a little concerned at first but then they seemed to get accustomed to me, quicker than I would have liked. But then they probably kind of know me because I'm no stranger to the roof.

I am

I am mostly an asshole with goofball tendencies

My mom tells a story

That's my mother telling a story to her nephew, in the green, and his nephew, in the red. The other guy is my cousin's sister-in-law's husband.

The story doesn't seem to be riveting.

In part

Part of the problem is that I don’t know if she thinks I’m less petty than I actually am.

Part of the problem is that I don’t know how bad things are for her. I know that things are bad but she always seems to find funding for the things she needs but I also know some important things aren’t getting paid.

Part of the problem is that I’ve sacrificed non-needy friends to help the needy ones; she might be doing the same.

Part of the problem is that I don’t know if I’m being selfish or trying for self preservation.

Part of the problem is that I know I’ll never be fully compensated for my effort.

Part of the problem is that I’ve always suffered from the famines and never benefited from the feasts.

Part of the problem is that I may love myself more than I love her.

Part of the problem is that I don’t know if the effort I’m making matters much.

Part of the problem is that I’ve increased my worth even as my compensation has gone down.

Part of the problem is that I know she uses my abilities as a selling point.

July 3rd

I cut out kind of early; early for me; early for me when my favorite bartender is tending bar. Even so, early consisted of six pints of beer and two pints of a mixed vodka drink. Before I left I bought an assortment box of chocolates from Godiva for the bartender who was having a birthday and a smaller assortment for my favorite bartender. I told my favorite bartender that her gift was “Just because” but it was really just so she wouldn’t get jealous. Her birthday isn’t until December.

I don’t remember why I walked to a subway station that wasn’t the closest. When I approached the gate, I noticed someone having trouble with her subway pass; so I pressed my monthly pass against the sensor she was standing by and told her that I would wait. There is a fifteen minute wait each time you use your pass at the same station.

I didn’t wait though. Instead, I walked to the next subway station.

She was kind of cute and sometimes I have a need to be a small time hero.

My powers don’t work on family

As luck would have it, I was unlucky.

Usually, I don’t allow someone’s prettiness to get undue favors but sometimes I forget.

I know my blue eyes have gotten me more than I deserve at times.

Sometimes I turn on the charm to get what I want.

My sister used to doubt my powers but then one day she was a witness to it; she’s still a little dumbfounded to this day.

All this with a 32 oz McDonald's Sweet tea hidden in her bag

She asked me to the movies, so I moved some things around to free up my schedule. I got to her house on time and waited. When we got to the theater, they were already at capacity for the showing that her free pass would have worked on.

Her plan B was to buy a ticket for what was showing next to it and then sneak in; but she guessed wrong at where it was playing which left us the choice of seeing WALL E or the last half of Get Smart. We got up to get a refund on our tickets because unbeknownst to me, I was paged and had to leave.

Her plan C was much like her plan B only she was going to find out the correct screen, this time. She knew a girl that worked there and asked her to find out and to check to see if that showing was actually full or not.

Her informational source told her that what we came to see was indeed packed and also that some folks had waited four hours to get in. So, after some discussion, we decided to see Iron Man but I didn’t want to wait in line so I went to the kiosk. We would be missing the first fifteen minutes of the show but I didn’t care. When I presented our tickets, I was told that I would have to go to the desk to get new tickets because my tickets indicated that they were expired on one half which is what I guess happens when you buy tickets after the start time from the kiosk.

I walked to the desk and explained what I was told after I waited behind a couple that was there before me. I was told that my tickets should work and to let the person tearing the tickets know that it was indeed okay for her to take my ticket.

I turned to walk back to the ticket tearer but could find Lady G. I looked around the lobby and then outside on the street but she wasn’t anywhere I could see and when I called her on her cell phone I got no answer.

I thought of handing over my ticket and going up the escalator to the upper level but I figured she wasn’t up there because you needed a ticket to get passed the attendant.

I looked around some more and thought she might have ditched me even though she’s never done that before. Then I got a call asking where I was and I said that I was in the lobby wondering where she was; she told me she was upstairs waiting.

So, I offered my tickets to the same girl that told me that I needed new tickets and told her that John said she should take the tickets that I had; she seemed doubtful but she took them but then she didn’t know which half to give me. I suggested that she give me the half with the movie information on it and she should keep the half that said the ticket was expired. Fortunately she agreed.

“What happened?” is the greeting I got.

“You disappeared.”

“I told her to tell you I was upstairs.”

Not wanting some discussion I wasn’t ready to argue to win, I kept quiet.

“What about the tickets.”

“The desk said the tickets I had were fine, and I told her that and then she took them.”

“Oh, no they didn’t. Come on we’re getting our money back.”

We were at a point where we already had missed the first half hour or maybe even more of the movie. So, I said “I don’t want a hassle.”

“Give me the tickets then.”

I handed her the tickets and she told me to grab some seats because she would be right back. She wasn’t right back and when she was back she handed me back the tickets. Two tickets cost $21; I think a non horrible movie is worth the ten fifty. I think it’s worth paying the ticket price without going through a lot of effort to avoid paying it. She thinks differently.

I kept the tickets in my hand for the rest of the movie. I thought it was a good movie; definitely worth the price of admission if all you had to do was buy a ticket.

Heading to the lobby I looked at the tickets and on the back of each of them was hand written a little note that said “John, please give a readmit.”

So we walked to the desk and asked for John. John was paged and then radioed and then paged again, and then John finally appeared. When he asked what he was needed for I proffered the ticket and spread them between my fingers so that he could see that both had writing. John looked at the tickets and smiled as he said “I see,” and then he disappeared into his hiding room. When he returned he had two tickets for readmission.

We set a date for two days hence, and she has a plan for us to sneak into the first half of Iron Man.