It's Been So Long.

Since I've written on this here blog. Oh man do I miss blogging. I am going to visit all of your blogs today, I am very sorry that I've been out of touch. It's weird, none of us have ever met but I miss you all. I have been so busy. I am going to have one full day a week to write, to blog, to pursue my dream. It has all worked out rather nicely, it's like hitting the lottery. I know I'm rambling, disjointed, all over the place etcetera. I really have to do this, get back on track, spew forth the flotsam and jetsam from the shipwreck that is my overworked, limited to start with brain, as it were. It's right thing to do. It's the only thing I can do.

Yeah, so did I tell you about my new Springsteen CD? Well if I did then I apologize for the redundancy. I have wanted to buy a Springsteen CD for quite some time now. I saw the recently released "Essential Springsteen" double CD at the store for twenty-five dollars. I waited until just after Christmas when it was reduced to eighteen dollars, I was ready to make my move. Of course I have to check out all the songs listed on the back of the CD case. "She's The One" was not listed there. How can you have the "Essential Springsteen" without "She's The One"? So I head over to the FYE store at the mall. I hate the mall. I found what I was really looking for. "Born To Run", the album on CD. I bring it up to the counter, I'm stoked. I hand it to the smiling twenty something clerk at the register. He scans it while I proudly explain to him that "Born To Run" was the first album I ever purchased when I was in eighth grade, back in 1975. Well no, it was the second album I ever purchased, the first was "Brothers And Sisters". The hapless young clerk was looking at me, his expression read the following:

"Please go away old guy. I don't know what any of this means. I don't know who Brothers And Sisters are. You remind me of my father. I hate my father because he's just so old, like you."

So I pay for the CD with cash. The cash transaction seems to annoy the hip young record store clerk. His expression gives him up yet again.

"Nobody uses cash anymore. This old guy is so totally out of touch. Doesn't he know how annoying this is? Now I have to open the drawer and make change. I hate these old guys and their old music."

Yeah so now I'm kind of diggin' the whole thing, annoying the crap out of this kid. So that's when he asks me, with his forced fake smile, if that will be all. I know what he's thinking, it's written all over his little metro-sexual punk ass face. This kid should never play poker.

"Please say yes, please let him say that's all. Please, just make this annoying old guy go away. Doesn't he know I've got text messaging to do?"

No, I ain't lettin' him off that easy. I ask him if he can look something up for me. I want to know if they have "Toys In The Attic" available on CD. He asks me if I looked for it on the shelves. I just said no.

"I hate this job. Why can't they have a music store that's just for these old guys?"

I have to tell him that "Toys In The Attic" is the name of the album. I have to tell him that the band is Aerosmith. I waited until he looked on his computer screen first. That just seemed to annoy him even more. He seemed to know who Aerosmith was, that's one point for him. He tells me that they do carry that, he says it should be on the shelf. I say thanks. I tell him I'll be back for that CD some other time. I smile. I leave the store and head for the closest exit from the mall. I have to walk half way around the mall to get back to our old Jeep. I don't care. I'd rather walk around outside than inside. I light a cigarette and watch the traffic roll by. I take my time. Life is good.

That was a couple of weeks ago. Two days ago I purchased a copy of "Toys In The Attic". I did not buy it at FYE. I bought it at Wal-Mart. When the register person was ringing me up at Wal-Mart I asked her to leave the CD out. I told her I was going to listen to it on my way home. She seemed like she was around my age. She smiled and said that she loves that album. She said her husband bought it for. She didn't seem to mind that I paid cash. I cranked up "Sweet Emotion" and took the long way home. Life is good.

Hey Tommy, what's goin' on?.......Yeah, can you believe that kid?.......I know. Hey, we just had sort of an anniversary......Yeah, the sixteenth. That was one hell of a night but the seventeenth was worse........Yeah, "Hell's Bells" right?.......Yeah bro, sixteen years ago man............Oh yeah, that thing at work? Yeah I'll fill you in man........Okay, it's like this. You know that technically I'm considered a "part time" employee down at The Dock.....Yeah, so's they don't have to pay me as much and I don't get any benefits......Right, I got insurance with my pension so that's cool. Well anyway, it's been driving me crazy.......Right, I want full time but I ain't gettin' it. Well my wife says to me yesterday why don't I be part time?.....Yeah, exactly. So I talk to the foreman last night and he's totally cool with it. Fridays are always real slow anyway. I called The Dock supervisor this morning and he's totally cool with it too.......That's right baby, from now I work Monday through Thursday, like a real retired guy........That's right bro, she said I need to devote my Fridays to my writing. I am actually going to have one full day every week to devote to this dream of mine......Yeah man, she really does believe in me. I love her so much Tommy, and what makes it even better is she really loves me........Yeah bro, it don't get no better than this.......Yeah well the money is less of an issue. She just had her first evaluation and she got a seventy cent per hour raise.....No shit man, seventy cents an hour. She will have two more evaluations between now and November when her first year is complete. Her boss told her that if she keeps working as well as she is she'll probably get seventy cents more at each of those......Yeah, after the first year they are evaluated once per year.......Yeah I was goin' to say annually but I know how your mind works.....Don't say it!.....Good......Yeah, hey I almost forgot to tell you. Do you remember that guy we called "Yosemite Sam"? Yeah, dangerous little guy we met in Panama back in like, what was it, 1983 or '84?......Yeah, that's the guy. Well anyway, my wife was telling me about this new guy at the plant. He trained on her shift then they moved him to second shift. She said she recognized this tattoo he has on his forearm......Yup, that's the one. Anyway, she's tellin' me about this guy. I give her a few key questions to ask him. It turns out that we ran in some of the same circles way back when. He says he knew "Yosemite Sam".........No shit bro, the guy was an instructor down there and said that "Yosemite Sam" ran through the course....Yeah, I'll probably be meeting him at some point. He didn't go to their company Christmas party or I would have met him already.....No, he didn't go because his wife and he had a prior family commitment.....Yeah, I'll let you know. Hey Tommy, I gotta run man. I've got some blogs to visit, I've been negligent in that department because I've been so damn busy........Yeah the book is coming along, probably about a third of the way finished. Hard to tell though, you know how that goes.......Cool, later bro.