Ghosts of the Present

The Mets are in the 10th innning, trying to salvage at least one game from the series with the red hot Dodgers. 

I got home at 22:30. Two more days and then the weekend!

I forget what day it is. Thursday? Yes. And what year it is? All of the 21st century seem unreal anyway. 

Almost all of my friends' children were born in the 2,000s. Do they really exist?

Is there anybody..., out there?
-Pink Floyd

And then you repatriate and become a stranger in your own land. Bizarre. But been there before. Not so bad, once you get used to it. 

Somewhere Else

I interview for an ESL position in North Dakota on Fri, via telephone. Meanwhile, I work the phones for the Spa company from 15:00 to 22:00, which is mind-numbingly long when you don't get a lot of people to talk to. I have created doodles more expansive than Picasso's Guernica. It's a living, kind of. It's somone else's world, i'm just trying to survive in it. 

One world is enough, for all of us
-The Police

The bitch is back

Is it me, for a moment, for a moment
-The Who

I've been working at ThermoSpa for two weeks and it's going well. I'm working about 25 hours a week. Mañana, I will have been home one year. Crazy. I've had five jobs since then; EduBoston, UNH, For You Flowers, Working Families and now, ThermoSpa. But they seem nice, so I am hopeful.

The moral of the story? Repatriation is a bitch.

Thank you to Mum and the Seester. Not sure how I could have done it without ye. And Pat, Jimbo, Kev and all my friends here.

Our band, Wayward Platypus, will be putting out our fifth studio album this month, The End of the Whole Mess. It's 70 minutes of progressive instrumental madness with a few keyboard segway pieces and one song with lyrics from the back catalogue; Heaven and Earth. I'll post a link when it's all mixed down. 

The Road Forward

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.
Lewis Carroll 

I got a temp job setting appointments for ThermoSpa, the hot tub people. We'll see how it goes. They seem like nice folks. It's hourly plus bonuses, so I'm cool with that. I find it hard to believe there is a demand for hot tubs in this economy. But then again, lots of things surprise me. 

things get stranger

I have applied to Samsung jobs (seester works there) in places such as California, Kansas and Texas (bleck!) And now I am applying for an ESL job in Minot, ND, just two hours from the Canadian border.

How did it come to this?

North Dakota is preferable to S. Korea, I guess.

I guess.

The Winnipeg Jets would be the local hockey team, I suppose.

Something

Looking at jobs in many places - it's surreal. Who knows what will happen. 

Something. Something will happen. It always does.

Until then, i'm just along for the walk.

Back to the Drawing Board

You may ask yourself, how do I work this? 
You may ask yourself, where is that large automobile? 
You may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful house 
You may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful wife
-Talking Heads 

And so the die is cast. After 11 months of looking for a job in the USA - any job; Target, Subway, Lowe's, waiter/bartender, customer service - I give up. I just sent my CV for a teaching job in S. Korea. May the god i don't believe in have mercy on my soul.

Jobs are flying out of CT faster than bats out of Hell's basement (where Hitler, Genghis Khan, Oliver Cromwell and Ronald Reagan play Texas Hold'em.) I a masters degree and I can't get a job making sandwiches. I have tried to repatriate. I have tried to make a go of it here. But there is truly nothing for me. So to quote Jimi Hendrix, Good-bye everybody!

I was brought up to believe

Belief has failed me now

The bright glow of optimism

Abandoned me somehow

-Rush

The American Dream

4th of July! My 1st in the USA in 7 years! And how am i spending it? I am spending it applying to an ESL teaching job in Dubai.

I lost my job at working familes, which i had known would happen. Raising $600 a week by going door to door is impossible. And I have been looking for jobs for a year now. So, if I can get a good paying job in Dubai, maybe i'll take it. Give up booze and women for a year and write another novel. Walk into the desert for 40 days and be tempted by the Devil (which is probably the ONLY way to have fun over there.) The middle class is dying on the vine here, and i'll be damned if i'll die with it. I have to do a Skype interview and i'll ask lots of questions. I have nothing to lose and a job to gain. 

Either way, life goes on. I have to do something, and I've had just about enough of the waiting game.

LIFE FOR THE 99%

As i've always said, repatriation is a bitch. It's been a rough ten months. And what i've learned while canvassing for CT Working Families is that things are much worse for the 99% than I thought. Kids are unemployed. Adults are unemployed. Taxes and expenses keep going up. Tax dollars, OUR TAX DOLLARS!, go to big corporations who keep our money even if they don't create the jobs they promised they would. 

So now I go out there and talk the talk, while walking the walk, quite literally. The middle class has to fight back or we will be swept away lke debris down the river. There may be nothing I can do to change things. However, I have to believe there's a chance, that there's hope. Otherwise, why wake up each morning?

Shadows of the Past

Almost done with my second week of front-line fuindraising. Knocking on doors - wow. Never thought I'd have to do that again. But in a way, it's second nature. And it's a young man's game, yet I can hang with the youngsters. 

Be yourself is all that you can do

-Audioslave

Dry

(left) Waterless Urinal

For only the 2nd time in past two weeks, I did not have to work in the rain. It was unbroken sun and high 70's, maybe cracked 80F. It was gorgeous. It was a nice day to be walking around, raising money for a good cause. It should be dry through the end of teh week.

Watching game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals and hoping like hell that CHI can tie the series 2-2.  The B's have been awesome, but I can't live here while a Boston team wins a title. That's too annoying to even imagine. 

Sometime, when I'm less exhausted I will tell you some tales of canvassing. It gets kind of bizarre.

Buenos Noches, my friends. 

a life within a day

One minute to midnight
A life within a day
In the heart of the forest
A life within a day
A thousand threshing windmillsA life within a day
-Squackett

New job is good. Kind of crazy, but that's canvassing. Or sales, as they call it in the for-profit world. 

I walked 6 miles today at work. I suppose i will lose some of the 15 pounds i've put on since I returned to the USA. I walked a lot in Madrid. People always do when they live in a city. You use public transportation but you still walk a lot. But you don't really feel it over the course of a day. 

So things are weird, but good.

Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
-The Talking Heads

Canvassing

Got home at 22:00. I'm watching the Mets/Braves game, it was delayed almost four hours by rain. I got caught in a 15 minute downpour canvassing up in Hamden. I was under an awning, luckily. It rained like mad. Then it hailed. Then I saw a beaver, because only a beaver can enjoy such weather. There were 30 mph winds. Then it stopped and I went to getting contributions. 

I have a pedometer on my ipod and I walked 5 miles today. Damn! I had no idea it was so much. 

Only Breathing Out...

Help me now
I'm screaming out
to reach you
But there's no sound

I'm only breathing out
my feet don't touch the ground
I'm only breathing out
No one will find me
-Sound of Contact

Life has changed in the past week, a lot! I am now working for CT Working Familes, a small middle class political party that works in grassroots ways. Our campaign right now is to make sure that corporations that get tax breaks (to the tune of millions of $s) to create jobs actually have to create jobs. Imagine; accountability! I am a canvasser, which means that I go asking for donations, door to door. It's rough, but it's a job. And a great cause. And they pay me in money.

                                                

Planting, Sports and Farting Around

The hibiscus are transplanted into the front yard. They've been lovely; they are red and peach. After living in Jamaica, i have always grown hibiscus when i can. It's their national flower. Trust me, they grow everywhere! It's awsome. They are elegant flowers. And they remind me of Jamaica. 

The Kings are hanging on in 2OT. If they lose, they are done and Chicago moves on. Playoff hockey is awesome. I love it! And it's been such a long time....

And the Mets and Marlins played a 20 inning game, and the Mets lost. It was a primer on futility. Both teams sucked and could not score.  

And the Kings just lost to the Blackhawks. Screw this, i'm going to bed.  

All the same, it was a great day. 

Holes

We got several inches of rain last night. Thus, the saga to open the pool continues. And continues. I've cleaned the leaves of and siphoned the water off of the cover all week. My brother-in-law can finally come over tomorrow with his eldest to help me take the cover off. Right now I have to go out and dig a few holes to transplant the hibiscus into a garden box. The dirt in there is old and crappy. The first crops I planted in there all died. So out with the bad dirt and in with the good. That's the plan.

Echoes

I hear echoes of the past whenever i have a birthday. It's nice. You think about where you are going and where you have been. 

I've been in better places, but i've been in many a worse place. 

So cheers to that. 

Central Park

My first birthday back in the USA since 2006! Damn! Where does the time go? Bonkers. 

Went to NYC and walked around Central Park with the Family. We saw Strawberry Fields, one of the lake, street musicians playing classical music - it was great. Hit an Irish bar or two. It was a gorgeous 72F day. My repatriation takes another step forward. It was a blast. 

I am 45. How the f#^k did that happen?

The Colossus of Rhodes, Yoga and Interviews

Rhode Island Flag

Carolyn and I went to RI this weekend to visit her friend Juliette at her dad's beach house. It was awesome. She's a yoga instructor and I did yoga for the first time on Sunday. We were out in the yard. It was great. 


On Saturday we walked along the beach and then stopped for lunch. I had the seafood trifecta of oysters, Rhode Island clam chowder and a lobster roll. Delicious!

I had an interview today and one more mañana. Then Wed. is my birthday and the family and I are going to NYC. My first birthday in the states in 7 years! Crazy. 

Emails from the Edge

I been to the edge, an' there I stood an' looked down 
You know I lost a lot of friends there baby, I got no time to mess around 
Mmmm, so if you want it got to bleed for it baby 
-Van Halen

I am fairly broke. At least I have 2 interviews next week. And then Wed. is my Bday. 45. Sheeesh. I've been around a while. Still doing the best i can.

The Mets have taken 3 straight from the Yankees! Woo hoo!

It is HOT today. 88F. I siphoned a lot of the water off of the pool cover today. Tomorrow and i will pull of the leaves. In essence, I guess I am the cabana boy. Another thing to celebrate!

Summertime

Summer in New England = Lobster

It's Summertime, but you wouldn't know it by the weather. It was in the 40's this weekend. Sunday was windy as hell and Monday finally crept into the low 70's. I went golfing with Mum and Mel and we played 9 holes at Short Beach in Stratford. 

The Mets beat the Yankees 2-1 in the first game of a four game, home and home series. This 4 game stretch is essentially the Mets season. 

in the summertime - Mungo Jerry 


The heat is supposed to begin on Thursday, when i will start to uncover the pool. Let the summer begin!

six years

Did some kayaking today. I didn't know it was going to be 88F! It was hot as hell. Humid. But it was great. The Housatonic is a beautiful river. I've been kayaking that river for 6 years. It'll be back to 70F mañana, which is good. It was too hot today. 

A Bridge to Somewhere

My stint at the flower company is done, praise Jah. 

I've been sending out CVs and talking to headhunters at temp agencies. It just continues on and on. Mañana i'll take a break from my quest. The seester and i are taking Mum to the Yankee game for Mothers Day. I've never been to the new stadium. That will be fun. 

Down in the Galley

I was let go after just 3 hours today.  The calls finally stopped. But the lady who trained me said manana will be holy hell. Something to look forward to. But it's my last day, so screw everyone. 

But i got home in time to see Game 6 of WSH/NYR. Caps need to wrap this up today!

WSH 0 NYR 0 first period. 

Exhausted

Okay, I have been temping at a call center for flowers for Mother's Day. It is a grind. I think being a galley slave would be easier and pay better. But it's only til Wed. I think. The temp agency has their head up their ass and keep telling me different things. However, I think i could work all week if I want. 

But it is constant. They don't give u enough time to key in your notes (written and comp.)  No breaks. The lady, Greta, who I worked with and learned from yesterday, has been there since Valentines Day. She is awesome. She says you get used to it and it becomes rote. I am sure it becomes rote, as she said, but I won't get to that point in 8 days. But it'll be easy to do customer service after this. 

So I am exhausted. But, it's work. 

It's like serving a prison sentence. It's only for 5 more days. 

Brutal

The Rangers and the Caps series has been brutal. NYR played well in DC and lost two close games. Washington has made some bad mistakes (including a lot of penalty minutes.) They lead the series 2-1, but trail in game 4, 2-1. Holtby let in a soft goal but otherwise has been stellar. 

With my heart going boom boom boom...
-Peter Gabriel 

Brower scored with 17 seconds left in the 2nd. 2 - 2!!!!

The NHL Playoffs, when your team is still alive, is like doing shots of adrenalin. 

Don't ask me how I know this. I'm asthmatic. Doctors gave me a lot of adrenalin in the 70's. It arrests an attack very well. Except that you've had 3 shots and you weigh 70 pounds, there will be no sleeping. So, you get to read all night and enjoy the ability to breathe. 

Start of the 3rd. Rangers start with a powerplay. This has been a hell of a series. FUCK! Girardi scores. Fucking penalties. The one Chimera took to end the 2nd was needless and led to a NYR goal. 

Have I ever mentioned that i loathe the Rangers?

NYR 3 - WAS 2. 

Most disturbing, this news is.
-Yoda

Washington is lucky to still have a shot in this one. They could have been crushed.

Fuck me! 4 - 2. Like i was saying...

4 - 3! Goal by Azner.  

These teams are beating each other to a pulp.

7:26 left. 

Honestly, i don't see how the Caps win this. 


We had rain today for the 1st time in two weeks. We need it. More to come. 

Ugh. Caps lost. My liver hurts. 

World Domination

Today was lovely. Maybe 70F and just so nice. I watched Brendan's baseball game with Pat and had a great time. Brendan played a tremendous game. He had a triple, a double, a throw out as short stop and as catcher. He caught for 3 innings. 

It's been a nice Spring, but i'm ready to get back to work and make progress on my insipid plan to take over the world. 

May the 4th be with you

Happy 36th birthday to the Star wars franchise. Hopefully, JJ Abrahms can breathe some life and intensity into the new movies. 

And happy birthday to American Laura, my dear friend. Her and Tim's baby is due in June. Exciting stuff. 

And me? I just keep planting stuff in the garden. My feet and legs hurt after a good two weeks of yard work (i am getting old.) But the yard looks great. 

The Caps won game 1 of the series with the Rangers. Game 2 today. I watched Thursday's game with Kevin and Colin (Colin is a Caps fan because of me, poor kid!)

Japanese Cherry Tree in the side yard

In the Sun

In the sun, Rolf Krohn

I picture you in the sun
wondering what went wrong
and falling down on your knees
asking for sympathy
and being caught inbetween
all you wish for and all you seem
and trying to find anything
you can feel that you can believe in

may god's love be with you
always
-Peter Gabriel

23:01

NHL playoffs are here! I missed the NHL. No Caps/Rangers until Thurs. I am watching LA/STL game 1. 

I got some part time work starting next week doing customer service for an inbound call center that sells flowers. They are ramping up for Mother's Day. It's up in Saybrook. 

I used to sell roses 20 years ago. Just when i think i'm out, they suck me back in.

And then I have an interview with a tutoring academy on Thurs.

Jonathan Quick makes a bonehead play and STL wins in OT. 

CHI beats MIN in overtime. 

DET/ANA are 1 - 1 in the 2nd. 

All 3 games have been physical and nasty. I saw a hockey game last year in Austria. It was freaking awesome!

I play hockey with Colin (Kevin's boy) all the time. He loves hockey and it's a lot of fun shooting around with him. He's a good offensive player. 

MIERCOLES

Today is planting because the threat of frost is over (hopefully!) Time to plant tomatoes, string beans, cucumber (to pickle), squash, and this year's experimental crop; watermelon. Let the games begin!

The Second Season

The Washington Capitals (3) will face the NY Rangers (6) in the first round of the NHL Playoffs. Bring it! I missed hockey while in Madrid. It's just not an ice hockey kind of town. Must be the 95F heat.

I am reading American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett. It's about a town in Wink, New Mexico. A woman inherits a house from her mother (whose been dead 30 years) and tries to go claim it. However, it turns out that Wink is not on any map. When she finally finds her way there, life seems unreal in some way. And there's something else that lives there that isn't human. Or normal. 160 pages in and it's pretty mysterious and bizarre. No one remembers her mother from 30 years ago, yet they all had to be living there because it seems as if no one ever leaves. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Today- put the screens in the screen house and listen to the Mets try to salvage at least one game against the Phillies.

Shades of Yellow

More sunshine! It was like 67F today. Perfect weather. Mum worked in the flower beds and I took out the glass panels and hosed the screen house down. I cleaned the bottom panel of the BBQ as well, where all the fat and seasonings fall. That will cut down on grease fires. Bring on the outdoor season!

April will be soon closed for an eleven month makeover

The weather has been great and i've been piddling in the garden, cleaning up after a brutal winter. Soon i'll have to give the grill a good cleaning before summer. It gets constant use and the fat builds up

Next month i'll be opening the pool. 

The Mets are losing 4 - 0 to Philly in the bottom of the 8th. Bummer. Gee pitched well and then had a bad inning. Oh well. The pitching has been good this year, so far. 

Weekend! Yee ha!

Scenes from the Garden

Had a few more interviews today. Same as it ever was. 

Here's some shots of tulips from the yard today; 

The strawberries and lettuce are already in the ground. 

It's been beautiful and in the 60's. It actually is a true spring. In Madrid, we often had a few cool days and then the days became brutal. By July and August, it's brutal at night as well. Sell your soul for 60F weather, you would. But New England is a very different climate, and I've enjoyed it. Still, after 6 feet of snow this winter, I am happy it is done. After living in Northern VA and then Madrid for the last 14 years, I am not used to the cold nor the snow. 

In the fullness of time,
A garden to nurture and protect
(It's a measure of a life) 
_ Rush 

Just a little green...

Life keeps on moving. Had a few interviews today with another mañana. 

The Mets are trying to beat the Dodgers in the 10th. All they need is a sacrifice fly to win it. Just a long fly ball.... Valdespin at bat. Bases loaded. A walk-off grand slam! Me encanta béisbol!!!

And the Amazings pull out a squeaker! That was awesome. 

Spring is doing its thing. The dogwoods are in full bloom. They are gorgeous, exploding in white. 

And me? I keep moving along with life and spring and the job hunt. Which is just fine. 

Past, Present and Future

April 23rd. Pat O'Neill's Bday. I still remember him so clearly. It was a different era of our lives. It seems like a different lifetime. But Kev and Smith and I are still good friends. Like brothers, the both of them are to me. The four of us lived togther in an FU townhouse in 1988 - 1989. That was 25 years ago. NONE of us were even 25 yet. I was 20.

Back to the Present; the Mets have been a pleasant surprise. Mel, Jan and I had a great time at Citifield on Sunday to see them play the Nationals. It was a great game.

And the Washington Caps have won the Southeast Division and will be the 3rd seed in the playoffs. Luckily for all of us, that division is going the way of the dodo next year. The league will be in 4 divisions, possibly with new names.  A divison with the Caps, Carolina and two FLA teams was always an idiotic idea. Washington will go back to being in a divison with the NY and PA teams, the way they were when I first moved to DC. The former Southest Div. will send two teams each to one of the new Eastern divisions.

So there you have it; the past, present and future.

To Serve Man...

 "Mr. Chambers, don't get on that (alien) ship! The rest of the book To Serve Man, it's... it's a COOKBOOK!"
-The Twilight Zone, To Serve Man, 1962

I have my first interview to be a server mañana in Bridgeport at a Mexican restaurant. Then off to New Haven for another one. 

It's a brave new world. And somehow, I'm the guest star.

And tonight's the Washington Capitals can punch their ticket to the playoffs with a win over Winnipeg.

Back to the Motherland

Later today i shall get in the Toyota and boogie down to Jersey to see Mel and Jan. Then mañana we'll head to the Nats/Mets game. Woo hoo! Then i'll drive back to CT in the evening. 

Oh baseball, how i missed ye! And it's always great to see my twisted sisters. 

Don't F*@k with Bean Town

The Chowderheads and the FBI got the two Boston Marathon bombers. Kick ass job everybody! Boston was locked down for the day and a police officer died, but they got them. Surprisingly, they got the younger brother alive. 

So let me tell you how it will play out; they'll interogate him, and find out why they did it. Then he'll be tried and executed. It's going to be a media zoo. But the dead deserve justice. The injured deserve justice. Boston deserves justice. 

And gratefully, Boston can go back to being Boston.

Back in the Land of Baseball

Oh baseball, how i missed ye. 

The Mets are playing a double-header in Colorado. Yesterday's game was canceled because Denver got 8 inches of snow. They will probably be snowed out mañana as well. It's like watching people play baseball in snow globe. 

Mets dropped the 1st game. They are up 8 - 6 in the 6th in the second game. It's been 2 games in horrible conditions and it's been a war. Me encanta beisbol! 

Although playing it in the snow is a bit f*%ked.

Patriots Day

A very sad scene of bloodied people and missing limbs in Boston. Horrible. I don't have anything else to say. What the hell can you say to a thing like that? My thoughts go out to all those affected by this senseless tragedy.

Healthy or insane

Someone finds salvation in everyone, another only pain
Someone tries to hide himself, down inside himself he prays
Someone swears his true love until the end of time
Another runs away, separate or united, healthy or insane

And to be yourself is all that you can do
-Audioslave

Sending out CV's. Fun, fun, fun. Saw the Adults play at Proud Mary's in Newtown with Smith on Friday. It was a great show. 

New Flaming Lips album mañana - yeah!

Sunday Night

i am listening to Julie Slick's first album. She is also in Adrian Belew's band and she is a monster bassist. The album is extremely progressive and weird. I love it! 


I walked 3.5 miles today and i feel it in my entire old body.

open your eyes

Spring is starting to take hold. Here's a pic from the cherry blossoms down in DC. Our Forsythia in CT bloomed this week. Nature is opening its eyes after a long cold winter. I've already kayaked once and played hockey with Colin and Kevin. I plan to kayak again this week. It's good to be out and about. Then next weekend it's down to the Motherland; New Jersey. I'll see Mel and Jan and we'll see the Nationals come in to play Los Mets. I haven't see a Nats game yet this year. But the Mets are off to a good start and that is fun.

This is this

Looking for jobs... about as much fun as having the flu. Oh well. It is what it is.

Stanley, you see this? This is this.
-Robert DeNiro The Deer Hunter

I am expanding my search to nationwide. Wherever, however, whatever.  I was contacted the other day by a recruiter about a technical writing job with a company that looks very progressive. It's in Madison, Wisconsin and would require my moving there. Wherever, however, whatever. 

YES or NO

Saw YES last night at the Beacon Theater - they were awesome. It was Pete, Kevin, Paul, Mark and I. Great show! It's great to see the old prog rock geezers jam out.  And old friends.        

Otherwise, things progress in normal ways. Same as it ever was. Goodnight and have a pleasant mañana.