FALL CLEANING

Another light day, however with the holiday they were makin' us pick-up packages if someone on our route needed it. Just so happened one of my stops had a package they couldn't get sent out, so once I finished my deliveries I had Shawn help me set my pad up fer a pick-up an' went an' got it. Shawn was out there 'cause Rory's pad died, so he brought one out to him an' I hadda help with a few of his deliveries. I tell ya, though, I am way outta practice with the pick-ups. This kinda job, ya don't keep at a procedure you definitely forget it.

Wish I could say cleanin' went as planned, but I was feelin' uber lazy. I got the chicken done, pretty sure I boiled it just enough. Straightened out my room an' got rid of some of the extra junk all around, but leavin' the sweepin' an' outside fer tomorrow mornin'. Fortunately, the apartment doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

MAYBE I AM TOO OLD FOR THIS SH*T

I was incredibly light today with only 13 stops, but I still had a lot of boxes. I was able to get done just after 10, sent out the help call, an' hadda head on over to 30th. Of course, a much closer help call came out when I was halfway there. Dammit. Anyways, tryin' to get through the crowds got me there with barely 10 mins to spare. I grabbed 3 stops sittin' on the floor of his truck, as the other two on his shelves were a block away an' no way I'd do them all in time. When I went to replace his keys, I saw a kid accross the street watchin' me, noticin' I grabbed them in the first place. Played a li'l bait an' switch with him, though, by subtlely returnin' the keys while makin' sure he saw me place MY keys in my pocket. Hope it deterred any thoughts by him. Made those deliveries, then it was back to my truck.

On the way, my legs suddenly started to hurt. Dunno why; didn't do nuttin' too strenuous today an' they were fine before. Maybe all my leapin' down the stairs at school yesterday caught up? I dunno. Was able to shake it off enough to get back to my truck. By the way, they swapped out diesels on me. The one I had today had no camera or workin' fan, but it did have keyless sensor entry, push-button startin', AND I came to find out that the AC in it actually WORKS to some extent. PLUS it was relatively clean inside. Fair trade-off, I think. It also helped me learn I can't wear somethin' on my left wrist. Tried to wear the sensor strap there, but got too irritatin'. It was my wrist 'cause I wore it on my watch one with no problems. Yeah, I pulled a BTTF2...not that anyone noticed.

Decided to pop off fer some White Castle, inspired by the monologue I wanna do fer my homework. Even though I was soooooo very tired an' weak, I stopped off an' got my food. Took a while, but that's expected. I went back to the train, an' the damn turnstile ate my ride. Told me to swipe again, then said it was just used. WTF?! I stormed out an' was gonna walk it, but the heat made me decide to try to catch the bus on 3rd...which never came. So after wastin' time waitin' fer that, I headed up to 45th street where I finally caught the train an' got home. Food wasn't as great...probably didn't help how long it took me to get to it.

Got some writin' done, did some touch-up work. Tomorrow I'm gonna spend all day cleanin' an' I gotta get to the bank. Well, not ALL day cleanin'. Gonna try to do it in 2 hours again like I did in my fatal date with Babs. Gotta boil the chicken an' pull the food out to defrost somewhat, though. Of course, if I don't recover my energy all that's moot. Well, guess I better take the first step an' get to bed then.

CLASS IS IN

As I read today's comics, I realized I forgot to mention somethin' about last week's. In two issues, FedEx was prominently displayed in books I read. One had a truck in a street shot (probably rendered from a photograph the artist took) an' the other featured a character as a little girl in homemade armor usin' FedEx boxes. On a show I watch Burn Notice, there was also a truck in the background of a scene 2 weeks ago. FedEx everywhere!

Fortunately I'm still a fast healer, so by yesterday my leg problem diminished enough to not be much bother, an' today it's almost enitrely healed. Which was good, 'cause I ended up accidentally takin' one of Rory's packages mixed with my own, so I hadda go into that buildin' an' deliver it. Of course, I tried to be smart by bypassin' the elevators an' used the stairs 'cause I saw a lady come outta them when I went in. Yeeeeeeeeeah, didn't happen. 23,000 stairs later to find the exit doors are alarmed. So I hadda climb allllllll the way back up to the floor I was on to catch the elevator down. Why even bother puttin' an exit sign if there's no exit?! Seriously...

Class tonight was a bit more eventful as the teacher showed up. Way she talked, acted an' dressed, I could guess at some point she musta been a hippie of some kind. Had to've been. Anyways, she explained Monday she got sent to the wrong place and got two classes fer one so they got our syllabus. She gave us the book we hadda get an' our first assignment, a monologue as spoken by a family member (soooo perfect fer me...blah) an' told us we hafta keep a journal where we verbally sketch out people we see. Oy.

REUINTED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD...

Apparently a package fer 131 got mixed in my 112 stuff 'cause it got handed back to me. I took it down to the truck an' closed up the top since they opened it before I dropped it off. Made the mistake of scannin' it fer a signature, though, instead of lettin' it ride which gave me an error. My tally this month fer check-in, or van, scans and delivery scans are horrible accordin' to a sheet they got posted. The vans, which we do in the station before we leave, were fucked this month 'cause of my havin' to juggle learnin' the route, sortin' the packages, an' fixin' up my truck. Of course, fixin' the truck was MUCH easier with Billy who actually put my shit close to where it all belonged. Rory doesn't know yet so things end up all over the place. An' Carlos is no help whatsoever. So basically I hafta bust my ass double-time to get my truck ready to go an' still do everythin' else in the same amount of time.

But ya know what? It's all good. Why? 'Cause I got my truck back. That's right, I was back in the diesel an' all was right with the world. Tell ya, all the supplies stuffed in back sure came in handy with that package. Seriously, it's so well-stocked with everythin' ya could need to do this job. Sure, I hadda sweep it out some 'cause my colleagues are PIGS, the passenger mirror was smashed an' the headlights, the whole reason I LOST the damn truck, still ain't fixed, but I love drivin' that thing so I could deal.

I made a li'l progress with my script, but opted to break an' try out one of my new games, Namco Museum. Not bad. It has the selection screen playin' 80s music like the Activision Anthology, an' the games were seriously harder than I remember. Couple duds mixed in there too...gonna see if there's any help fer games that old. Omar called me to let me know he's got some concept sketches fer my script, we're gonna work on that more next meetin'. Mark also called me with some news, but more on that when it's final. I also tried my hand at makin' an omelette with sis' help...yeah, last time I'm doin' that. I'll stick to sandwiches.

And Roy, marry the damn girl already. The hell ya waitin' fer, an engraved invitation?

SCHOOL'S...IN?

New guy started Billy's route, and as expected they all just shoved shit in my truck. Carlos is no fuckin' help 'cause he's the worst...I expect it from Rory since he's new to the area. Other'n that, day went fine. Had a li'l trouble parkin' but I left early enough it didn't make much of an impact. Only problem came from a box goin' to 132 W34th...there IS no 132. There's 130, then 134. No phone number to call, so I called Natasha to see what the procedure was fer that. Ended up bringin' it back to the station to be researched.

Came home, got some writin' done, did the garbage, then headed off to school. It was a short day bein' that the teacher never showed up. We all bailed quite happily. I did try to pass the time by gettin' the room socializin', but many were hesitant. I'll do it better next time. I ended up in a pretty chipper mood despite the fact that fer some reason my thighs became very sore an' raw. Dunno how the hell that happened since I was loungin' since I got home. I just hope it heals up decently by tomorrow or I'm fucked.

Such a pretty night...too bad I couldn't go out to hang. Blah.

SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside...

Best Buy an' Circuit City both had some good sales goin', so I bought stuff from both. Since I was gonna take the car to pick up food I figgered I'd swing by Best Buy after (an' it was agreed! Woot!) but since everyone ate all the eggs on me I was gonna bike up to Circuit an' then get the eggs on the way back (especially since tryin' to use their website is an exercise in futility). Anyways, I buy my DVD an' 2 out of 4 sale games, but somethin' screwy happens an' I only get charged fer 2 of the games. Honest idiot I am, I point this out an' it was said it hadda be done on a separate reciept. Alrighty then, 'cept she wasn't able to put it through fer some reason an' sent me down to the service desk. I get there to be rung up, an' who should I see behind the counter? Kristin! At least I think it was her...nametag was obscurred by her hair but I saw a "TIN" and it sure as hell looked like her. I needed her to open her large mouth fer a positive ID.

Okay, I know some of you dunno or remember who Kristin is. Waaaaaaaaay back when I worked at the store, she was the GF of my co-worker Mike. Hangin' with him usually meant hangin' with her...an' she was a serious pain in the ass. Big mouth, loud, obnoxious, an' just plain rude. Most of us tollerated her fer Mike's sake, but my final straw came the night we all hung at my place to eat some White Castle. She comes runnin' through the outside hallway at 1AM carryin' on that she needs to get home right then. So to avoid poppin' her one I held it all in an' called her a brat in my original blog. She saw it, got mad, Mike dumped me as a friend an' that was that. Li'l bitch. Hear they ain't even together no more anyways. Gee, who saw THAT comin'? Anyways, it was bad enough they were workin' in my neighborhood before, but now she's in a store I actually shop at. Oy. At least she either didn't recognize me or pay me no mind. Just keep on doin' that, darlin', 'cause I sure as hell don't an' won't take yer shit.

By the time I got home, had enough time to eat an' then head on out to the store since Best Buy closed at 7. We bought the food, hung out till Tommy was off, then hit the road. We both went in an' after I got my stuff he decided to pick up the Dr. Strange DVD. I'll wait till it's on sale like the Iron Man I just bought. I dropped him off home then returned to arrive a li'l late fer the chat...an' some drama.

When the fam got back from visitin' gma, they saw Bandit, my other gma's cat in the driveway. Couple days ago Jackie got out through the window but she was retrieved quickly. But, ma guesses that Bandit got out the same time an' gma never noticed 'cause she's gettin' really senile lately. We had a hard time tryin' to corrall him, so ma ended up just sittin' out there fer a few hours till she was able to coax him out an' get him back inside. Looks like we're gonna hafta make it a point to do a headcount of her cats on a daily basis from now on. Oy.

In other news, they're on vacation all week and I'm home alone. WOOT! The couch is mine, mwahahahahahaha!

BUT WHY IS THE RUM GONE?

Everett and Sue, two new CAG members, were in Small Press Idol with their book Sky Pirates. After a healthy lead, they lost to another entry thanks to mail-in votes. But, Matt's company, Free Lunch Comics, made them an offer to publish the book, an' that's what they were celebratin' at their home in Rhode Island.

I got up an' was out by my planned 10:30, after lacin' up my new Converse an' zip lockin' all my bathroom stuff. Got to Grand Central pretty quick, then was the long train ride to New Haven. I ended up havin' to share my section with half a large Spanish family, meanin' I was nice an' cramped in my seat. It was not a pleasant ride.

Got there 10 mins early, but Keith was there as soon as I got out of the bathroom an' got outside. On the way we had a nice comic an' CAG chat which made the slight bit of traffic more bearable. When we got to RI we stopped by a Walgreens we saw on the way to pick up some stuff to bring to the party; neither of us likin' showin' up to places empty handed. Back on the road, it took a bit of doin' fer us to make out the tiny street signs but fortunately Sue's directions were spot-on an' we soon found their complex. Shawnti an' her family arrived just after we parked, but Matt was already there.

The only problem with things like this is yer guaranteed to NOT know a good deal of the people...which was the case. We were only formally introduced to 2 of them, then the CAGers kinda milled about in their own li'l corner. Matt told me about some things he wanted to accomplish in the small-press industry through his company...all of which I agreed with...as well as that the next edition of his book won't be out till next year (if he has time) and that I hafta contact him to get the third book yet. Met another guy, Joe or John...forget which...who is a sculpter Matt an' Keith met before. Matt wants him to join CAG, and the dude offered to do a sculpture of Hell's Blood, character from a pending book, fer Keith an' Hector.

The party itself had it's quirks. A couple of people dressed in pirate gear while others sported pirate themes on their clothin'. I barely know Ev, but I kinda figgered he'd be in pirate gear. At first I was disappointed, but then he proved me right by changin' into it sometime later. Keith was even dressed in his pirate shirt with a bandana, his gun and a Sky Pirates Pin. There were also Pirates of the Carribean inflatable daggers an' two of those foam swords that the kids were playin' with. Usual BBQ food as well as clams an' two Sky Pirates cakes. There wasn't quite the Jam session Keith hoped fer, but we all set down to do some. Keith did one fer Ev an' Sue's sketch book as did Matt an' Shawnti, Matt also did a sketch fer one of the kids there. Ketih asked me to do a sketch fer him, which inspired two kids to ask me fer one (both of them crappy in my eyes) an' then I hadda do one fer the hosts as well. Good thing I bought that sketch book from Pearl Paints yesterday after work. Still can't believe it. Ya know, I AM a writer...how'd I get roped into doin' all these pictures? And boy, did they ever serve me a reminder why I AM just a writer...but the kids seemed to like 'em so whatever.

When I was finished, Keith had us hit the road. Matt had already left a bit before us, but Shawnti an' co decided to stay. It was early enough that I could catch a train, an' with all Keith hasta do tomorrow decided to give him one less concern an' opted to just head home. Ride back was a bit roomier. I did get another seat mate, but it was just one girl who was kinda cute too. Trains came fairly quick an' I got home a li'l before 1. Had a couple sandwiches, checked my mail, chatted a bit an' now I'm ready to recover from the exertions of the day. Blah. No wonder I don't travel much...

BYE BYE BILLY

Today was Billy's last day. By next week he'll be wingin' his way to Texas where he hopes to launch a music career while still workin' fer FedEx. Unlike the BBQ Rick got fer his send-off, Billy's send-off included breakfast fer all the mornin' guys includin' bagels, muffins, donuts an' juice. Everyone said their goodbyes, he even got a kiss from Lissette (lucky bastard!). I chose to say it on the sort seein' as we're right next to each other. Although, I did get to see him one last time on the street where we said it again. Shame. Just hope this Rory guy takin' his route will actually put my shit in my truck where they belong, unlike Carlos who throws shit in an' leaves me a pile to climb over. The hardest part of my day otherwise was that I had two suitcases fer one of my 34th Street stops. If not fer them, I coulda been done sooner but I decided to make two trips to the place to drop off the box they got, then the cases. I also turned in my Labor Day close sheet, which Carlos informed me was supposed to be fer TUESDAY. I was told Friday and Monday, so I covered both. Nobody said nuttin' about Tuesday. Ah well.

Finally able to play a game after so long before headin' to the bank. Spent the rest of the night BSin' around with work, chattin' an' gettin' my shit ready fer tomorrow. Would've loved to have been able to take the laptop with me, but ma won't let me without the travel case which is at her office. Maybe I'll get up early enough to grab it before the train tomorrow, we'll see. I was treated to another IM by Nancy from high school. She IMed me last week too, first time in a long time. Be nice if this was gonna mean we'd be connectin' more. Hate losin' track of friends. The Waldbaum's reunion is off to a slow start, only two people showin' any interest in it. Also, Tina's finally back from Greece, so after I give her some time to settle I'm gonna start to pester her about the vacation.

EASY

Management was out the buildin' today to attend a meetin' upstate, which meant we were all on our own. However, day went pretty damn good. Freight was light, so I was able to bring in everythin' in one shot and then bang it out. Had a few stops outside the buildin', but I was able to fit all that onto the luggage cart (even the big-ass box I had) an' just cart it around the block while makin' stops. I finished early enough to head over to 35th to try an' answer a call but turned out I wasted a trip. Ah well.

Was gonna go to the bank, but decided I was too lazy when I came home so I just went to get my comics. Readin' them took all night, mostly 'cause I sacked out on the couch again. Blah. Gonna do my reviews tomorrow, keep in practice fer when 215 comes back up an' fer my new review position over at Dimestore.

GOOD MONDAY

As far as Mondays go, this hadda be the best. We came in super early which meant we got out super early. There were no parking issues on the block thanks to that, so I was fairly close to the loadin' dock. Construction crews and various employees weren't in yet, so that meant I had pretty much free reign of the freight. In fact, my only glitch was one place wasn't open after 9:30 when I got there so I had to go back to re-attempt. I was finished just after 10 and got the word to come on back to the station, so I did. Plus, it was threatenin' rain and didn't until well into the night! Damn good Monday.

This weekend I banged out an 8-page barbarian horror script via request of Terry, a new member to the group. Sent it to him, we'll see what the deal is. Mark called me lookin' fer Omar, my possible penciler's, number to try an' get things underway. He was a li'l disheartened to learn Omar was more in contact with James than us, but expected with the language stuff. I'm gonna give D all the crap I'm gonna give Omar to translate out fer him so I can give him two versions to work from...maybe that'll help things. Also, I welcomed a new CT member to the group an' we ended up gettin' into a Myspace comment chat, which eventually involved into chattin' on AIM. Pretty cool chick. Maybe I'll get to meet her when I finally make a CT meetin'.

Called Keith after work to work out what's gonna happen fer the weekend. We got a time set, so we're good to go. I just need to make his corrections on the CAG script an' send it back to him. Also need to get myself a sketch pad so I can join in the jam session at the party they've planned.

CHALLENGE

Today was a bit of a challenge. I had 3 rather large items to deliver that would've required me to go around the corner usin' one of the hand trucks. Now, it's a bitch to go around with just the luggage cart, so you could imagine how it can be with a bigger thing. Actually, the crowd wasn't as bad as usual today, especially since I saved it fer last. The only problem there was tryin' to keep the truck steady as all the weight ended up on one side. Also, one of the customers decided to grab their box outta the hallway after I dropped it off an' then proceeded to disappear on me. I could see it right through the door, an' then on the table opened the second time I came back fer a signature. Fortunately he was there when I had only 4 minutes left an' was able to get that done. Good thing I did give away a couple stops, or else I woulda been screwed. Me an' Natasha worked out I'm gonna hafta start carryin' a signature sheet from now on 'cause if that happens till after 10:30 it'll be technically late despite it bein' delivered. Fuckin' computers.

We went to the Pathmark downtown tonight. Ma let me drive an' was actually quiet durin' the ride. The ride back, however, suddenly she hadda interject with li'l lessons an' shit. Grrr. Plus she says I don't exhibit confidence behind the wheel. WHAT. THE. FUCK. Seriously, can't win.

I wrote up the Wikipedia entry fer CAG an' sent it off to Bob an' Keith. Bob's gonna dull it up so it'll be acceptable by Wiki's policies so it won't be deleted again like it already was twice. Keith will be fillin' in whatever blanks he missed upon the initial write-up. This weekend gonna bang out a barbarian horror script fer this pushy guy from Dimestore who says he's got someone who'll supposedly pay money fer it, as well as finish up the 3rd issue of my Idol entry. Still gotta do that thing fer my cousin, an' I believe school starts next week. Blah.

TOO EASY?

I was worried with how easy this day went. It was too easy, made me wonder when the other shoe was gonna fall. My load was incredibly light, I was forced to take an alternate route which shaved about 10 minutes from my travel, an' I found a parkin' spot that, while not right out front, was immediate an' a lot closer than yesterday. I was finished with all my deliveries just after 10. I sent out help messages to see if anyone needed it an' waited fer either a response or an order to return. The only bad thing that happened was a truck tryin' to pull into a loadin' dock couldn't find it's angle so the block was jammed up fer about 15 minutes. Other'n that, it was all good.

I booked the car tonight. Enterprise sent me a special offer in my E-Mail an' I checked it out; saved us upwards of $30 bucks or more from the initial price quote. Not knowin' when it expired, I jumped on it. Booked it till 5 on Monday, which only ended up costin' us $16 extra. So, it's all wired. Around 3:30 Friday I'll go pick it up, load up my shit, pick him an' his shit up, then we're off and on the road by at least 4. Hopefully we can get there to have enough daylight fer me to do my thing with the set-up. 3 more days or so till we know Tina's deal. OOoh, anticipation!

No sooner do I get text conversations with Char that suddenly everyone's textin' me again. Went so long with barely any texts an' now I'm bombarded. Fickle thing, ain't it?

Found On Road Dead

I sent my truck up to get headlights, right? What I got back was a POS Ford. This thing has no gear indicators, half a passenger mirror, and you hafta do all these little tricks to keep it runnin' untill it warms up. That's right, I stalled 5 times till Natasha told me all the tricks. Not to mention the transmission is shot. I have two speeds; slow an' sluggish or hyper fast. The bitch is my truck is with someone else down the line. Bastards.

Leavin' super early did wonders since I had 22 stops. Unfortunately, I got stuck on 22nd street 'cause of police activity, then come to find 30th was free and clear. Why is it when I want an alternate route mine is good? That an' the freight left me finishin' with a minute to spare. Had those two things been good, I woulda finished nice an' early. Nobody was callin' any problems so guess we all had it easy despite the load. See what happens next Monday.

BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR

So either the 'rents' confidence in me has improved, or I'm just damn good at scammin' again. Hadda go to the store to bring Craig his books, so I was able to talk my way into takin' the car along with doin' some shoppin' as an added bonus. An' I got it! Well that was pretty damn cool. Discussed the BBQ with the guys, got plans with Tommy fer the week to head to White Castle, an' even got to talk to Lisa fer a while. Ain't seen her since I left, was surprised she was workin' so late on a Sunday.

Almost missed the chat 'cause freakin' Kozak decided to be belligerent an' sit in my chair, but made it so it was all good. That was all I could do fer the night since I have a very early start tomorrow. Gonna try to get some work done this week. I also decided to go to a colleague's victory party at their house in Rhode Island on the 25th. It's quite a haul, so looks like I'm gonna be stayin' over Keith's for the night then comin' back the 26th which is when I'll pick up the food fer the BBQ the next weekend.

CAG BBQ

Today was the CAG BBQ in Corona Park up in Queens. I haven't been that far North since the last time I went to a Mets game, an' I ain't never been to the park. So I made sure to bring the Kodak with it's advanced memory with me to document as much of the occasion as I could. It was a bit of a challenge to find the gatherin' spot, the CAG poster James made up was a bit too far off the road an' blended in with the background. But Michelle, who was already there, waved me over.



Unfortunately, the start was a bit delayed. James forgot lighter fluid an' his lighter was runnin' out of fuel. He hadda have Mark pick some up on his way in. I hadda make use of the bathroom, but James scared me by sayin' the park didn't have any; best there was were a pair of porta-potties near the golf course. It looked a lot worse than it was, I'll tell ya that...but the smell was actually pleasant. Smelled a lot like the bathrooms upstate. Now, either that was 'cause of all the plastic or I'm just gettin' antsy with a month left to go. I dunno. Got back an' Keith's lady friend Janet with her kid Danny. While there, a bird came down an' walked around lookin' fer some food. He got damn close to us too, like NYC squirrel close. Danny named him Tweeter an' he called him the real brains behind CAG. Keith soon joined led in by James.



Me an' James had to go get Melvin by the Unisphere where we waited fer Bob and his wife to show (apparently the easy directions weren't as easy as believed). We also enjoyed a quick race through the empty wadin' pool in front of it. While there, a crew filmin' somethin' fer the NY Times website interviewed James about the park. Another 15 minutes of fame fer him. Since I knew nuttin', I didn't even bother to be included. Bob an' his wife showed up an' we led 'em back to where Mark was gettin' the grill goin'. This guy Ken was also there; he's the one who does the art fer the Magic cards.



Day went on, two more CAGers showed up with a friend, followed by Ed an' his wife, the Crazee Comics crew an' eventually Alan an' that model Belkis. We all hung around an' talked as we ate, takin' turns on the grill. I played catch with Danny in between Mark's older daughter harrassin' him with her giant ball. As the day wore on decided to hit the World's Fair attractions an' get some shots, with Danny an' Keith in tow. We checked out the Unisphere, the Towers, the Queens Theater an' the Pavillion, as well as a couple statues. Didn't get everythin', but was still a good expedition.



After clean-up, Keith, Bob an' Mark all took their leave while a bunch of them got into a game of Uno. I got into a convo about changin' NY with one of the Crazee guys before bein' dragged into the last game where I proceeded to kick all their asses. James got a ride with the Crazee crew, Michelle went off with Ed an' his wife, while me, Melvin, Alan an' Hector (I think his name was) caught the 7 train back. Alan ditched us at the station to head the other way, Hector left halfway down the line, then I parted with Melvin at 42nd to catch the 5 down to 14th.



When I got back, I had D meet me outside his place since he called me fer a hangout earlier. Bought a soft cone then met him where we sat an' talked about things, mostly the impendin' vacation. I showed him the pics I took then took my leave 'cause I was gettin' tired an' sore. Came home, checked my mail, but I think I'm gonna turn in now....reeeeeeeeeally tired. Further pics are available in my Myspace an' Facebook photo sections.

CONDEMNED

Today was probably my easiest day ever. Freight was super light, so that even with a slight delay we were able to get out just fine an' get done quick. Only a couple help calls from the usual suspects, but those buildings are bitches no matter what kinda day it is. I did have a problem package, though. Morons sent it to 34th street instead of 35th street, no wonder me or Billy couldn't recognize it. I did the rounds, checkin' the addresses in my area before callin' an' findin' out the truth. Even if I didn't lock it in I woulda made it with two minutes to spare. The only other bitch was the rain. Wasn't too heavy when I started, but when I got to the outside stops I needed to make use of my poncho. Ironic I'm usin' a poncho from 3 jobs ago fer the first time now. Thanks Joe, wherever ya are!

I dropped my truck off on the mechanic level to get my headlights finally fixed. I was nervous about drivin' past the police station I usually do without 'em, not needin' to be pulled over an' delayed. In doin' so, I think I mighta found a quicker route there. Odometer changed only 4 miles instead of the usual 5, plus only took me 20 mins even with lights an' traffic. I'll hafta experiment with that durin' next week.

When I got home I took an intentional nap, unlike my sackin' on the couch again yesterday. Got up an' got right to writin' as well as watchin' the usual Friday shows. I had a hankerin' fer some, so I picked up some White Castle along the way. That was basically the rest of my night; restin' up so I can fully enjoy tomorrow, which is the CAG BBQ up in Corona Park. Been dyin' to get to that park an' now I finally have a reason. Got the camera all set to take pics of the festivities an' the park itself, since I dunno when I'll get there again. After talkin' with Steve don't think I much wanna attend the Fed Ex party...especially considerin' I'll only know the folks from my station an' most of 'em are too ghetto fer me to wanna hang with fer a long time. Unfortunately, pops decided to use our biggest towel fer his showerin' an' all our towels are apparently in the same limbo as all our forks now, so dunno what I'm gonna use to sit on as there's no tables. Hafta see what gma has in her apartment before I leave. Also gotta head downtown if the weather stays kosher to take some pics fer Ben.

The damage report ain't too good. Pops walked down 69th yesterday to find several of the houses flagged as condemned; the damage too severe fer simple repairs. Several more were flagged today, an' I walked down 68th to find at least 4 there. At this rate, they're gonna hafta level the entire block. Now, you'd think I'd be nervous about this, 'cause a lotta people go "oh that's scary!" an' such. Eh. Look, we lived through 9/11...after that nightmare, everythin' else is just...stuff. 9/11 was the worst...nuttin' will ever compare to that. Not in my world.

On another note, I tried Craigslist again. I put up an ad, all I got was a spam bot response. I revised the ad, got two hits an' another bot. One hit I've been back an' forth with so far, the other has yet to respond to my response. Ads I've responded to on my own pretty much left me cold, so that's that. I dunno, I don't think I'm puttin' enough effort into this. I mean, on the one hand yeah, I'm a tad lonely an' kinda miss the datin' thing. On the other hand, I really don't give a crap. I dunno, me bein' a dichotomy again. I'm stickin' with my thing; if it happens it happens, if it don't oh well. At least nobody can say I ain't tryin' no more. Although I do get a li'l sick of people tellin' me how great I am, or how attractive I am, when clearly if I was at least one of those things I'd be doin' a tiny bit better than I am. Shoulda pressed Babs more fer what I did wrong. I got my theories, but nothin' conclusive enough. Oh wells. Thinkin' I should also re-activate my personal E-Mail account an' stop doin' everythin' through the "biz" account...might improve things. I'll try that on the next round.

A TWISTER! A TWISTER!

The rain we were supposed to have fer a week now finally hit this mornin'. Hard. When I got outta the train fer work I was drenched seconds from leavin' the station. My umbrella was seriously useless. Hell, my sneakers were STILL soaked by the time I went home. Fortunately I got to dump my uniform shirt fer my sort shirt to let it dry, an' I had my extra pair of shorts in my locker, so all I hadda contend with was wet socks all day.

The sort was short an' sweet 'cause somethin' happened with the airline our freight comes in on so it was gonna be incredibly delayed. To counter this, they condensed several routes to send out early on an' kept everyone else to sort an' go out after that stuff arrived. I panicked a li'l when I was gettin' into the 30s with P1 stops between mine an' Billy's route till they informed me that service was suspended fer the day; meanin' they can get there whenever without bein' late. Think they knew I didn't know an' were havin' fun with me. Bastards.

No rain, but Billy's stops were a serious pain in the ass. Elevator delays, trouble findin' some places, tryin' to keep the meter fed... Ended up workin' until 3, havin' to take a 30 minute break. I was able to dump a stop back off on Billy by the time he got out there after 1 an' had some Nathans fer lunch in the mall. Also, got to see a nice lookin' Checker cab on the highway as I came out, so those parts were good. There was a fear that I wouldn't be able to get home 'cause of train disruption...and the fact I lost my Metrocard somewhere. Dammit. Gonna hafta use my Transitcheck a bit earlier than I intended. Ah well, at least I got it. Added the additional money to it an' just gotta hope I can leave early enough to get the card before the train comes.

After workin' a full day, I was pretty much shot. Didn't read any of my comics, wasn't even gonna TRY to review 'em. Knees were hurtin', shoulder's sore...I do NOT wanna do this job full time. Ever. Nooooooo thanks. I did manage to discuss the future of my websites with a fellow member from the boards who offered me space on the server he uses to upgrade an' get them lookin' a bit better. Think it'll be a good move...once I get over my ineptitude of website programming.

The real event of the day, though, was the warzone my neighborhood became. I heard that Brooklyn was hit by what they call a tornado, but I didn't think it was MY area. Sure enough, after I got my comics I finally took notice of all the news crews, fire trucks an' cops around. Two streets were hit hard. Mine, however, was not. Dunno if that means we're very lucky or our block is just too dull. From what I hear Lief Ericson park's trashed, as well as several blocks into the Sunset Park area. Even the chruch windows got blown out. The Waldbaum's banner was also gone from the buildin' (an' before I could steal it, too...dammit). What a friggin' mess. If I wasn't so tired I'd be out there gettin' shots to show you guys, but, alas...this Wednesday was just a bad day all around.

MAINE LINE

I come in to find one of the Fords in my spot, so I hafta wait on Shawn to get me the key fer that since nobody's in the room fer some reason. Then, it turns out that WASN'T the truck I was gettin'. Instead, I'm gettin' a truck similar to the one I trained on that was sittin' accross the street while I was trainin'. I recognized the license plates from Maine. It's a Diesel monster, moves an' sounds like a big ol' truck. Not fer nuttin', I actually handle it pretty damn well. The bigger the vehicle, the better my mastery of it. I hadda borrow Shawn's gas card since I still don't have mine an' with all the switchin' drama I didn't have time to pre-trip it 'fore Shawn was sendin' me downstairs to unload.

Aside from the gas gettin' stuck on 15th briefly, day went fine. Service was made, got some script work done an' even attended a Tuesday chat. Pretty good day.

DOA

This past weekend was filled with more bike ridin' an' writin'. Makin' a li'l progress on issue two, but think I may skip to issue 3 an' do touchups when I finish. I also made steps towards gettin' an artist fer the project. So we'll see what happens there. Also went by Circuit City an' picked up a few DVDs. Gotta love them sales.

Now, dumbshit me hadda come in extra early 'cause I forgot to check my schedule on Friday. Somethin' told me the universal start time was 6:20, an' I ended up bein' right. What I wasn't right about was my scheduled time was 7:45, an' here I am there at 5. But that worked out fine 'cause Carlos wanted me in fer the sort so I started same as everyone else an' got extra time. Also made SURE to check my schedule this time. Nice an' memorized.

Wasn't able to get my key till after so didn't get to find out that my truck finally bit it before we got too into the work. I had Shawn take care of that, swappin' it out fer one of the Penskes we rent instead of U-Hauls now. Lemme tell ya, that worked out JUST fine. Was just like drivin' a Blazer...better handlin', responsive, has SHOCKS, brakes, radio, AC< windows that actually let AIR in...li'l things ya tend to take fer granted. Only bitch is no shelves so sortin' out packages is a bit of a challenge. Got the hang of it now so I think I can come up with a new load chart till my truck's fixed. But frankly, they can take their time. They also sent Lissette out with me to help me make service since it was so late. She basically took charge, took all the smaller stops an' banged 'em out before I knew it, then went off to help others. Impressive.

Traffic was a bitch both ways, but made more enjoyable with some tunes. Came home an' just lounged. I usually take Mondays as a day off from everythin', although I did do some script work. Not much, but some. Tomorrow I'll get back to crackin' down. There's also some talk that when pops gets his new car I might get the Astro. Started lookin' up some quotes, an' so far Geico an' E-Surance got some good rates. We'll see when I'll need them an' how long it holds up.

LOST

Today could've been a good day...except a package went missin'. I remember seein' the box, but somewhere between my bringin' it into the buildin' and deliverin', it disappeared. An' 'cause I was in a rush to make service, I didn't really realize it till after. Well, I know nobody took it from the truck 'cause there was better an' closer boxes to take. I know Billy didn't take it as a P2 'cause it was scanned into my thing. Maybe it got mixed in with UPS' stuff since Brian goes up after me? Or maybe Rick's warnin' of customers takin' their stuff happened. Who knows. We sent Billy a message to keep his eyes open when he makes his deliveries, an' Monday I'll find out if he found it or if the customer did take it. An' it was such a good day what with me makin' service in the last moment. Although my truck did stall. Twice.

I hadda go to the bank, so I took the bike. On the way back, picked up some juices an' then got in such a mood fer a ride I did a quick change an' hit the trail. I'm LOVING these new rims. The bike has never worked better. Sure, the wind is still a bitch, but when I get a good run goin', I get a GOOOOOOOD run goin'! Plus I love the sound the bike makes as it rolls now. It's just cool.

Did some loungin' an' writin' the rest of the day till pops asked fer help gettin' wood fer the club. Went to Lowes about 10 an' go this wood just as lightnin' an' wind were startin' to pick up. Was gonna storm sooner than later. Original plan was to drop me home an' he'd deliver it, but wasn't gonna work so just went to drop it off. Fer safety he took the most bass ackwards way to get there, but we managed to outrun the brunt of the storm an' go throguh a slight drizzle. We got to the club, unloaded, an' were off an' home before the storm hit around midnight. Lucky break. Also, bein' in a Lowes had no affect on me, so even better. Woot!

WHAT'S UP, DOC?

Had ma make an appointment fer me, which she chose to make today...oy...so I was off to see the doc. Wanted to "consult my physician" about my hair loss an' options. However, apparently I misunderstood that an' he didn't really have much info fer me. All he could do was give me a quick physical to make sure I won't have any adverse reactions to treatments, an' tell me the topical stuff don't do shit. I'll hafta go to this other lab to get bloodwork done under my insurance now, so gotta do that eventually. Other'n that, I'll hafta go fer one (or more) of those free consultation things at the treatment places to see what's what an' use that info to my advantage.

It was too late to get to the bank, but since I took the bike I decided to swing by the shop an' get my adjustments. Quick 15 minutes it was done, an' they didn't even charge me! Woot! Decided to give it a good run by ridin' Shore Road all the way back. Shore can be a bitch with all the hills, but thanks to the bike lane bein' away from the cross streets, you can get up a great run an' the hills barely matter. It's just morons who block the lane with their fuckin' cars that ruin things. Bastards.

APPROVED!

I'm actually surprised I got my vacation request approved so damn fast. Came in today to find it in my mailbox. I mean, I been puttin' in fer 2 weeks now to have things fixed on my truck that still ain't been fixed. Took me threatenin' management with an impendin' traffic ticket fer my lights bein' out to get them to light a fire under maintenance fer that. Just waitin' fer the day my brakes give. Ah well. Point is, got my day off. Now everythin' else just needs to fall into place.

I read through all my comics, but then Andrew comes an' says he's able to put up reviews tonight. I, of course, thought that wasn't gonna be the case so didn't bother. Fortunately, he told me at 10 so I had an hour to do as many as I could an' send 'em off. This weekend he'll send us the stuff we need to get 215 under our control till he's freed up, so hopefully that doesn't make reviewin' more of a bitch.

In local news, a video store that's looked closed fer a few years has finally closed fer sure. Never went there, but sad to see another piece of the 'hood gone. At least they can't put a condo there.