Random Thoughts

The Street Hustle

 

The first rains of the season are falling, releasing what is left of the summer from the sidewalks of New York.  Unfortunately, there is no steam or fog being released, just the final musty scents of the miserable summer now gone. Outside my window, I can hear the gentle pitter patter of the crisp fall ahead.  On this day of humidity and change, I’d like do something new; offer some random, not deep, thoughts.

 

* If posting an ad on Craig’s List looking for an employee and asking all applicants to come to the establishment to apply for said position, it would be helpful to give the correct address.  Case in point: there is no 798 9^th Avenue at 53^rd Street in New York City. 

 

* When attempting to pick someone up in a bar, straight up conversation is the best bet to making that connection.  The use of lines, new, old or improvised on the spot usually is the hallmark of desperation, bad social skills and/or intoxication.  I have been an major offender of this rule in the past; I once tried the tired ‘would you like a pizza or a fuck’ routine just to see if it would work back in my early 20’s, but I overheard one of the worst uses of a line on Thursday.  A rather attractive young lady walked up to a guy reading a paper at a bar I was trailing at, ran one finger down his neck and said “I want to suck you but not like that, I’m a vampire.”  He didn’t want achieve immortality but the second guy she talked to did as they left together shortly after her similar invitation.  I think the HBO ad campaign for its new show True Blood may have found a target audience.

 

* My summer has been a miserable one.  Shoulder surgery, a firing, semi-employment in bad economic times put me in a mood that alternated between anger and self loathing.  As I have walked from joint to joint looking for a new gig, I have found myself wondering if/when I will have any luck that isn’t bad or odd.  Today, as I was running around doing errands and job hunting I stopped by my favorite hole in the wall sushi place in the ‘hood for a quick tuna roll.  There were three large fluorescent yellow signs on the window with blue lettering. ‘Closed by Order of the NYC Health Department,’ they read.  If the Health Department closed the place down, this was the fourth time these operators had failed an inspection.  I have a tuna roll from the place at least three times a week and I haven’t gotten sick once.  I guess sometimes good luck isn’t always in front of you but is working behind the scenes.

 

As the summer changes to fall, what random thoughts do you have about your town or summer?  Send them to me and I will post them.