10:30-ish // Eddy’s awake before I am, something that never happened at the beach. Now is groggy-sleep time, the TV is on am I’ve opened the curtains to reveal the brightness outside. The city looks bright but a little hazy and looks warm enough to wear shorts outside.

12:11 // Time to leave the hotel. The bits are at Astro having diner food and after a nice long shower, it’s time to join them. Maybe we’ll check out the High Line today?

12:16 // Ah, the sidewalks.

1:16 // After a brief walk thru the park, we’re now at Tavern On The Green, having bloodys/screwdrivers. Feels good.

3:49 // We’ve walked and walked. Now we’re thru The Bowery, thru Chinatown and down near (what I believe is) City Hall and to the Brooklyn Bridge. We’re going to walk halfway across the bridge and then back. Then back to Canal and then I need to drop by and see John at Record Runner. He’s got the new a-ha and a video bootleg of DD’s Songbook sessions they did last year (?). Also on order for (unfortunately) next week of the Rio release that contains all original 1982 mixes and demos, an the 1981 Hammerstein concert DVD. I wish they would have cone out this week so they’d be waiting but oh well.

10:30 // Record Runner purchases secured! I’ve put two more upcoming DD purchases: the Rio Masters DVD which came out in the spring and the Hammerstein DVD. John was able to give me the advance copy of the Rio re-release which isn’t officially available until Tuesday.

We reconvened at Gym Bar with Scott & Mikey who drove up from DC today. Dinner reservations were secured at Landmarc in Tribeca. Back to the hotel for another street gyro (nothing to eat all day) and then a nap and showers.

12:33 // Grilled skirt steak salad on watercress with roasted peppers, gorgonzola cheese and chimichuri vinaigrette.

4:27 // Back at the hotel room now. After dinner we went to Rawhide which was boring. Between us all there was a battle to where we’re going to go next. Half of us wanted to The Eagle and half wanted to go to double-headed Disco at Nowhere. It was raining and cans were sparse so once we made a commitment we needed to stick to it. Instead, we looked in a guide and found that Barracuda was only a couple of blocks away so we walked there and spent the remainder of the evening there. Logan Hardcore was performing in the back and we had a fun time having cocktails and hanging there, meeting people and watching the show. No street-vendor gyros tonight, time for sleep!

5:09 // Goodnight.

This morning I woke up an extra hour early to prepare six brownbag lunches. I’m going to NYC with Jeff (his bday weekend), Chris, Eddy, Shawn & Doug. Since my frig was stoked this week I’ve volunteered to make lunches for everyone for our bus ride. Orders have come in and there are sandwiches to make! I’m adding surprises to everyone’s bags: Twinkies and chocolate candies.

Chris is needing to go downtown and file some paperwork so I go with him to drive around in the car so it doesn’t need to be parked. I cruise around downtown/N Cap/Rhode Island Ave and listen to MTV VJ Mark Goodman on 80s on 8 on the satellite radio. Apparently Martha Quinn starts the morning show and Nina Blackwood is up next. They referenced Alan what’s-his-name so I’m hoping JJ Jackson also had a job there. Funny how they’re all working together again.

Back to the trip: we all make it to the bus ontime and get seats together. They have electrical outlets in each seat so we can all arrive with our phones and laptops fully charged. Nice.

Once the bus is moving we break out our picnic-sized amount of food. We also have countless bags of chips and Slim Jims. We’ve take over the aisle as our open-bag picnic storage space. Doritos? We got ‘em. Sun chips? Got those too. Kit Kat? Why sure!

1:53 // Three of us are asleep. The other three are clicktapping away on a laptop, an iPhone and an iPod touch.

2:44 // Eddy’s playing SimCity on his iPod touch. And cranking on it, as a matter of fact. He knows the interface wells and narrates his city’s history as he plays. He has 37,304 residents and $478,887 in his bank.

3:25 // After a bus break at the Woodrow Wilson Recreation Center and Stop we have reached the split in I-95 North. Those that have traveled this will know what I’m talking about.

3:49 // We’re getting to the point where, over 20 years ago, the World Trade Center first appeared on the horizon for my first trip to New York. On that trip I remember driving down West Side Highway and taking a picture straight up out of the sunroof of the twin towers. I wish I knew where that photograph was today. It’s probably in the basement of my Dad’s house, packed away in the box it’s been in since 1986 when my parents moved. I still have the picture in head though; that will have to be enough.

This is Eddy’s first time to the city so it will be fun to play semi-host and watch someone else be starry-eyed like I was all those years ago.

5:16 // In Manha’an! We walked the 20 short blocks north of where the bus dropped us to make it to our hotel. A great, short walk that took us right thru Times Square. Good thing for Eddy to witness. We’re staying at the 4-star Hilton a block away from the MOMA. This is world’s away from the cheap hostel I usually stay at on W83rd.

5:23 // Our rooms are on 32nd floor!

9:39 // At Stonewall, where the Pride movement began.

10:54 // These things that go through my head seem to not matter in personal conversations, and this is why I share them here.

12:37 // After Ty’s, Hanger, now a limo ride to The Eagle.

4:20 // Bedtime. After yet another trip to the corner gyro merchant. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of him in the next few days.

4:40 // In bed. Talking with Eddy about the Towers and about old Manhattan and new Manhattan and what that all means. Can you relate?

4:42 // Eddy’s game stats: Population 113,336 and his bank is $653,689.

4:43 // We’ve opened the windows to sleep to. There is a pleasant rumble from the city coming up, and sirens and honks seem distant because they are so far below us. I love this city.

As shown in the previous post, my iPhone didn’t come back from Rehoboth the same way that it left. Luckily, it still works. Even the touchscreen aspects are still functioning properly although there is a little bit of “scratch” on some parts of the screen. It’s not enough to scratch my finger but it’s still friction.

This is how it happened:

We all woke up on Saturday and did the normal routine: coffee and computers on the back deck. It’s such a great time, those mornings, usually nursing a slight hangover, bedhead, clacking away on keyboards, talking & laughing about the previous evening’s activities.

We decide to head out for breffus and we go to Sunshine in Dewey Beach. There I have a gyro omelette, which sounds crazy but was delicious. Afterwards, we split for errands. Christopher is going to do some shopping so I decide to hang out with him, driving around in the top-off Jeep. Well, I’m texting, checking status, etc while we’re stuck in traffic and instead of putting the phone into my pocket which I normally do I put it on the seat, between my legs, figuring that I’m only going to be breaking out to do something else soon. Of course I forget about it there when we stop in the parking. I open the door, slide out of the slide and crash goes the phone on the pavement. Crakt.

After much cursing I decided to not let this incident destroy my beach weekend. It works, deal with the mess later.

Now, dealing with the mess later, I’m exploring options on what to do about this. I first go the Bethesda’s Apple Store because I could secure a quick appointment the afternoon of “The Crash”. I hadn’t been to that one before so it would be an adventure. I even saw cutie John King from CNN there at the Genius Bar. But the Genius told me it was $200 for a glass screen/sensitivity chamber replacement which is the cost for a new 3G/S. Next.

Then a friend sent me notice of takeitapart.com which is a great little site that demonstrates how to, um, take things apart. In true Web 2.0 fashion there is a YouTube clip with each instruction so you can watch along. Really nice. But unfortunately the first generation iPhone is as easily accessible as the newer ones and the voiceover on the instructional video was “yeah, this is kind tender here… don’t do this unless you’re really sure… ” something like that. I check the price of the parts and they’re practically $140, which is comparable to the cost of a new model.

Now what to do?

Today my Aunt & Uncle who live in Stephens City, VA (near Winchester, the home of Patsy Cline) are having a horseshoe/BBQ in honor of my Mother. I guess it’s a Father’s Day thing, too. I’m going to ride out there with my cousin and it takes a few hours to get out there so it’s going to be a long day.

Last night I went to bed early, taking a sleeping pill to assure a long night’s rest. Well, I woke up around 1:00 after a couple hours of sleep. Laying awake until about 5:00, the 8:30 alarm resulted in waking from a groggy sleep to Courtney wanting to be the girl with the most cake and Peter’s heart going boom-boom-boom.

A bit of explaining: Years ago, I guess in the early 90s or thereabouts my Mom would always organize a horseshoe tournament over Thanksgiving or the holidays when all the family was around. I was away at school for some of these but they were always fun and a good way to work off some of the huge meal we had just eaten. There was a plaque with a list of winners and I think some trophies were handed out too. These games ended when my Grandfather had a stroke; my Mom’s efforts were centered elsewhere than horseshoes. My Uncle (my Mom’s brother) is trying to start this tradition back up again, which is nice.)

Back to today. On the way way out west we drive through the vehicular mess that is present day Tyson’s Corner and I’m amazed at all of the closed car dealerships that line Route 7. I once test drove a Mustang at that one. I test drove a Fiero at that one. I sat in a DeLorean at that one. Hello, new economy.

Several hours later we’re in at my Uncle’s house and three grills of burgers & dogs are cooking, with a whole spread of food inside (my Aunt Waima makes the best potato salad). I’m paired up with my cousin Rick for horseshoes which is good because I pretty much suck and I’m hoping Rick will carry our team. We won our first game but then lost our 2nd. That’s fine, it was all fun to play. It’s like billiards or bowling: you don’t have to be good at it to throw some metal and have fun.

The winners: my brother Chuck and cousin Don (Rick’s brother). It did turn out to be a long day (getting home around 9) but it was great to see everybody and get out of the city for the day.

Taking advice from friends and talk show hosts, last week I decided (after 14 years of residency) to obtain a DC Library card. The main reason for doing this was to have a new book to take to the beach with me. A supplemental reason was because it was free. They’ve got DVDs there too and I’m cranking down my Netflix to the minimum (cash-saving move) and I can pick up supplemental discs from the library.

I decided to checkout Douglas Coupland’s “The Gum Thief” which has been out for a year or so but I never got around to purchasing and, of course, there’s no way I can pay for a book now.

I took it to the beach but because of having too much fun with the dozen friends there, I didn’t even crack the cover. I did start reading it in the car on the way back though.

———

The above was written almost a month ago, May 29. I barreled halfway through the book but then had to slow down. I finished it a couple of weeks ago but held onto it in case I needed to reference it this post. In true fashion, it sat there collecting dust like the characters in the book-within-a-book Glove Pond, written by Roger, the main storyteller in TGF.

As it sat there and I pushed back it’s due date I started to think more and more about Roger. Roger is in his early/mid-forties (I think he’s 43—this is why I wanted to keep the book awhile longer for reference). His life is in freefall: his wife has left him, a son has been killed in a car accident and he’s lost his job. He’s forced to take a mind-numbing job as a stockboy at Staples, but you get the sense he’s okay with this since he can drink on the job.

Minus the failed relationship and the deceased son, I can relate to Roger’s situation. Forced to take a McJob and half-sleep out of his car (at least he has one) he retreats into the book he’s writing, picking up character traits for his fictional characters from his old-enough-to-be-my-offspring coworkers and what few adults remain in his life.

I have not uttered a word in 43 hours.

Last week I passed the six-month mark of being unemployed. The majority of jobs I can find that I’m qualified for are positions or employers I don’t want to hold/work for. I’ve received notice that my food stamp benefits are to be cut at the end of this month, unless I can convince them otherwise when I have a meeting with my case worker next week. I’m not sure how long my unemployment benefits will continue; it’s supposed to be a year now but I haven’t heard any word and I’m hoping that’s a good thing.

But it may be time for this to come to an end, and not a happy ending. I may be Roger, having to take whatever is available at any level, working at Staples or Best Buy or some other immediately-hating and soul-sucking McJob. Do you want fries with that?

No job, no car, no cash to buy food. I do have the food stamps though, on my EBT card. Normally a trip to the grocery store consists of what I can carry the eight blocks home, usually amounting to one of those handbaskets full and and maybe a little overflowing. I would do this trip a few times a week. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

Since I’ve been away the last three weekends and all last week I was trying to get lean on the groceries in my cupboard and fridge so that nothing would go to waste. I didn’t see the point in making grocery runs since I was going to be away for many days. Add to that another monthly deposit into my EBT account, and I have a whopping $373 on which to spend on groceries. It was time to spend $15 and rent the Zipcar for a couple of hours.

On today’s trip I was actually able to push a cart through the grocery store. I’m buying crazy stuff that I never would have dreamed of before: gallons of milk, 12-pack of paper towels, Odwalla chocolate protein shakes, three boxes of cereal, eight cans each of 28-ounce crushed and diced tomatoes, two magnums of Fresca & a 12-pack of Diet Dr Pepper, a five-pack of Mac & Cheese and over a gallon of laundry detergent.

Because of the humongous balance on my account I was buying things I normally wouldn’t, items that weren’t on sale (gasp!) or multiple items that were on sale and will be used stored and used eventually.

Purchase: $231.89
EBT Card Balance: $141.57
Club Card Savings: $76.17 (23% of purchase)

This week I’m twenty minutes outside of Culpeper, VA. Don’t ask me where it’s at, but it’s “out” there. Just google it for the map. If you’re familiar with H8ST8 geography, it’s somewhere south of Manassas, north of Charlottesville (at least I didn’t think we passed Cville) and I think Warrenton is closeby somewhere west of here. There are turtles here. Both domesticated and wild, crossing the roads. There are cows in the field across the street and I haven’t heard a siren since getting here. Dairy Queen’s and Arby’s abound.

What the hell is a self-proclaimed cityboy doing all the way out here? I’m being an au pair, or manny, whichever you want to call it. Friends of mine’s French au pair is on vacation in NYC this week and I’m filling in. Which means I get to spend all day hanging out with cute li’l Avary, who is will be two later this month.

Monday, my first official day of duty, I stated close to the house just to keep Avary in a somewhat familiar routine, as everyone had just returned from a week at the shore.

Tuesday I was a little braver, and took Avary into a downtown Culpeper excursion. We walked (I pushed, she strolled) around for a bit, but it was too dang hot outside and we retreated to a diner for lunch, iced tea and air conditioning.

Today I inflated her kiddie pool and tried to get her into that because I wanted some sun and time in the big, grownup pool. The water in her pool hadn’t been heated by sunshine, it was straight from the tap, so it was a little chilly. Avary wasn’t going for that too much. But she did stand in it and splash around for a while but didn’t want to sit and really play around in it. Maybe tomorrow.

This day has been filled with so many friends, so many wonderful experiences and I’m so far removed from my miserable daily drudgery that I had to write this short post.

That’s it.

I don’t think I’ll be able to do live blogging this weekend like I did last. I’m headed to Rehoboth (in Delaware, like last weekend) for sunshine, seafood, cocktails and a great time with about 15 friends. Most of these people I know pretty well, some I’ve met a couple of times and there are some newbies thrown in there as well.

We’re all staying at my gracious friends Jeff & Christopher, the same dudes who own the pHabulous pHierce School. They throw a Memorial Day theme party, dubbed “Tiki” and that will the main event on Sunday, but we’ve got a couple days before then to spend some time in the sun and attend happy hours and laugh and eat and sleep-in. Is it okay for the unemployed to take a vacation?

2:42 Passing one of those new Kia Cube cars, or whatever they’re called. It’s white and looks like something off of a Space:1999 set.

3:32 Lady Gaga on the system.

3:53 We just caught some air going thru an intersection. The bike is still safely secured to the roof, in case you were wondering.

3:57 We’re stopping at Elmer’s Produce to pick up a watermelon!

4:13 Quote from Eddy: “Disco is the shit!”

4:53 We’re here!

6:48 Everyone has arrived, four cars. We’re having a cosmo here at the house before heading to Aqua for happy hour before sundown. Cheers!

8:30 Quote from Lana: “Dont be a stranger with that vodka.”

10:26 At Finn’s, just finished a fabulous seafood sampling dinner. Mussels, clams, oysters and shrimps. All fresh from the bay/ocean, the preservatives had not killed the fresh taste of mercury.

1:26 Reliving the nights fun and giggling. How many people are in this car?

3:03 Nite.

Out of the next 24 days, I will be in town for seven of those days. This weekend is a trip to Wilmington, DE, “A Place To Be Somebody”, Memorial Day weekend I’ve been graciously invited to Poodle Rehoboth Beach and the following week I am going to be gainfully employed as an au pair.

Of course I realize this as I’ve already make a trek to the grocery store. I’m thinking of things I should consume at home that are already cooked or produce that will spoil, so this trip is a stocking-up of items that have a shelf life or that I can freeze: chicken ($0.99 per pound—bargain!), boxed & canned goods. I even used the self-checkout. I am a man in motion.

Purchase: $29.16
EBT Card Balance: $193.25
Club Card Savings: $12.25 (30% of purchase)