Now:
Last trip to Ashbox before I move to Baltimore.
Very pretty tea and best egg salad sandwich with corn and peas. An hour ago:Now it’s clear why Second Stop Cafe dude was so stingy with the refills. It was time to leave. And his mean-to-customers policy guaranteed me never to return, even if I wasn’t moving.
Yesterday:
Van Owners in Long Island City was a most awesome experience. I just needed a few boxes for what wouldn’t fit in the collection of liquor store boxes. It’s in one of the more accessible industrial areas of Long Island City. So accessible that when driving by to see if I had the right address, the various workers standing around outside waved me in — to park in their warehouse.
me: “Yeah?”
the guy: “Yeah.” While waving me in, a little further, a little further, keep going.
me: “Really? I park inside here? With all your boxes? and rolls of bubble wrap? The only car? Inside?”
the guy: “Yes.”
me: “OK.”
They’re wholesale guys. I felt a little bad troubling them for my five medium boxes, three rolls of tape and some bubble wrap. But the guy was very accommodating. And then, the most amazing thing happened. He TYPED me a receipt on this typewriter. Completely unplugged, off any grid typewriter. Isn’t it beautiful! And when he was done he pushed away the whole cart and caboodle, told me to give the pink copy to the guy and I keep the white.
I got to keep the top typed on copy!
The movie I’m working on has one location at a strip mall office (for an email marketing company) that is next to a deli. Now it’s going to be on this industrial block next to Van Owners. There actually was a graphics place on the corner that also did email blasts. So, it’s all good. Anyways, old typewriters are nice and all, but this one was on active duty. All day. They had piles of these receipts. And, another reason why I’m in love with this company was the plate of oreos and chocolate chips cookies by the door. Since my car was in their warehouse, it was hard to miss. One woman who worked there especially liked it and it’s red color. When I was out waiting for my boxes, she had a cigarette and asked me if I was an artist or if I’m moving.
“Oh, Baltimore? My dad was born there.”(Apparently every other person was born in Baltimore.)
She recently went to a wedding there and she said it’s beautiful down by the water.
“Why are you moving?”
“I’m getting a job in DC.”
“For Obama?”
“Ha ha, no. I’m…”
“I hate him. I hate him.”
Then she told me why. There wasn’t much of a chance for me to interject how politicians are puppets. But then she was glad to learn I was a writer for audio/video business and installation.
She directed some traffic so I could easily back my car out of their workplace and then was impatient with her “Come on!”s.
Monday:Van Owners was suggested to me by a mover rep who came over for an estimate on my one-bedroom move. He was right on the money about where to get the boxes, which lends some credibility to him, but this guy told some fantastic tales. If they were all true, that would be amazing. What was also amazing was that he worked all of this information into an hour that also included the details about a very pricey move. 1. His mom coined the term “simulcast.”2. His mom worked for an education trade magazine and exposed the deadly asbestos in schools situation. 3. His dog died last night. I was very sorry to hear this and he said, “These things happen.”4. He had a dream last night that he had to get his dog and cat to the vet across the Long Island Sound. Of course in his dream he had no car so he had to swim (backstroke) across the sound with the cat on one side and the dog on the other. They were both paddling. He looked at me a minute as if asking me what I thought and I offered, “It says good things about teamwork.”5. His son is not interested in playing the guitar but he plays the flute and he’s taking up the violin. 6. His whole family sings together — church choir type of stuff. He sings bass.7. He’s a big fan of records and was a little disappointed the Robert Zimmerman albums weren’t mine. 8. His father transplanted many plants. The two of them used to cut down many trees together with two-person saws. 9. He did a move for the guy who originated Law and Order. Out of all of these, I can’t believe his mom invented “simulcast.”Last week:Last week was the first week with my brand new car. The week before that:I got my tarot cards read on Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday had to deal with car salesmen.These two groups of people has a few similarities. They both deal in telling people what they want to hear. It’s just their levels of finesse.The tarot reader pulled some interesting stuff out of nowhere. The taking risks part was pretty general. The opening your world. OK. And then she told me I was looking into buying real estate. That was pretty cool. I tried to keep a poker face to see how far she was going to go with it. She asked if this is my first property. No, it’s not. OK, but you are going to feel more comfortable with this new place. You’ll be able to identify with it more. The last place you owned was not the right fit for you. You didn’t quite fit in with those surroundings. True, true and true.Then she started the relationship section of her reading with: “I don’t know how to tell you this…” That was encouraging. Then she said this doesn’t usually happen to her, but she was tongue-tied. Even better. It turned out to not be so bad, but apparently it was very complex and hard for her to explain.But everything is going to be ok. sweet.Car salesman in Mamaroneck on Thursday night with my brother.Blech. The whole time sitting at the salesdude’s desk I was wanting to wash the hand that just shook his. And his 21 years of experience selling Toyotas and his ability to walk in to any Toyota dealership and get a job TODAY, and the plaques on his cubicle wall that he said he did not find on the street because they only give those to sales guys with all this experience. None of that made me want to give him a commission.I did feel better about Demond Jones at New Rochelle Toyota. We spent a couple of days working out this lease and he just wants to be invited to my movie’s premiere. But I’m ready to write a part for him so that “Demond Jones” can be on the movie poster.
