i did a lot of running around manhattan today, and one of the slightly more interesting things that happened is that i ran into jerry adler, who plays "hesh" on the sopranos. i didn't know what to say to him as i exited the train he was boarding. i looked him in the eye and nodded my head, pretending as if there was some sort of unspoken understanding between us. i doubt he gave me a second thought, but i can pretend he did.
this is my last remaining week of unemployment, and i want to make use of it, so i had huge plans for today. i had some errands to run, most of them south of 20th street, but i somehow managed to run around like an idiot and waste most of my time. i had to get a new cell phone, get fitted for a tux for my brother's wedding and get a present another friend of ours who is also getting married. i tried getting the cell phone first (this was necessitated by the fact that my old phone, which was already suffering from a fractured hinge, finally completely snapped in half, thereby rendering it useless because the screen was no longer attached to the keypad), but unfortunately when i looked up the verizon store last night, i failed to take note of the fact that the verizon store i planned on going to only existed in the mythical realm of things to be, or that once were...either that or i wrote down the address wrong. either way, i had to scrap the cell phone idea for a while and go looking for the present. i got to the store where the present was supposed to be, but they didn't have it. i couldn't call suzanne obviously, because i didn't have a phone.
so, i now needed to go up to union square and go to the verizon store at circuit city that i didn't want to go to because any time i'd been there in the past the people were dicks. i got there and was pleased to find that they had moved things around and apparently hired someone who wanted to help. i got in and out in a half hour and even got the phone i had wanted so long ago, the LG chocolate.
pretty sexy, right? suzanne pointed out to me that when this phone first came out i was so excited to get it that any time the commercial came on we had to be silent so i could really take in the full majesty of the phone (i have a thing about cell phones...i think they're sexy). anyway, in all the hullaballoo of getting a phone and trying to get in touch with suzanne (which ended up being really difficult because when they renewed our cell phone contract it screwed with her phone, and she wasn't able to receive any text messages until she restarted her phone, and she couldn't answer my calls because she was at work) i merely mentioned that i had successfully gotten a phone, and made no mention of the fact that it was one that i had coveted mere months ago. this longwinded tangent is only pertinent becauuse it is indicative of my fleeting desires. i had wanted this phone so hard, for so long, and eventually had to give up on the dream because i couldn't afford it, or didn't need it or whatever...basically i gave up, and even though i ended up finally getting it, and practically getting it for free (after mail in rebate) it no longer carried any real joy for me. which is just plain stupid because i've wanted a new phone, and since i just recently destroyed my ipod, i am in serious need of a conveyance for mp3s. this is so unbelievably convenient at this point that i should have been doing fucking cartwheels, but i wasn't.
anyway, i wasn't able to get in touch with suzanne, but after getting the phone, did a little research online at school and was able to figure out what plan b was for the present. so, i then began heading back down to where i started (after calling the store this time to confirm that they actually had the item in question) to purchase this present. when i finally got there, i asked them for it, and what they presented me with was incorrect. it was an item with the exact same name as what i was looking for, but was in fact entirely different. this pissed me off, and i left in a silent huff.
at this point, i'm sick of all the bullshit, but i still need to head uptown to get fitted for the tux, and was still hoping i'd have a little bit of time left to explore central park for a few minutes before i met up with suzanne all the way up at 98th street. but when i get to the tux place, there is only one dude doing tux measurements (despite the fact that there are several other employees standing around, one of whom is talking on the phone right next to me, carrying on a conversation that seemed borderline improper to have in front of a customer) and the measurement guy is a little snotty. while he's doing my measurement another dude comes up and wants help, and despite the fact that the guy literally has a tape measure around my neck, he starts asking questions about getting tuxes for some even that he's planning. as i am now a new york resident, i almost felt justified in turning to the guy and politely saying, "hey jackass, why don't you shut the fuck up and wait your turn, we're kinda busy over here and you're pissing me off." but instead i kept quiet, until he was told to start filling out forms and he reached for my pen. in the most passive-aggressive tone i could muster i said, "that's actually my pen, and its a fountain pen, so you'll probably just get ink all over your hands." i grabbed my pen, and the rest of my stuff and moved it away from him.
by the time i finished getting measured it was already 4:30 and i was supposed to meet suzanne at 5. at this point i'd be lucky if i got up to 98th street by 5, so central park was totally out of the question.
its a big fucking park, and demands a bit more than 10 or 15 minutes.
i ended the day sitting on a bench at the corner of 98th and broadway, reading a book, waiting for suzanne. as she approached me with a smile on her face it made the rest of the day seem a lot less important. but as i retell the story now, it still manages to make my ass twitch.
i hope you enjoyed all of the parentheses and pictures. kisses!
