The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Bad
I came home from work today and my front door was left wide open. I live in a very busy area here in New York, so needless to say, having my door left wide open for anyone that might want to enter pisses me off completely. I know who did it, that is not really the reason I am upset. It is not like I was robbed and someone stole everything and left the door open when they were leaving. I know exactly who left it wide open. That doesn't mean it pisses me off any less.
I am having a new bathroom put in and fixing my roof so one of those do it all handymen has been working at my house. There was one simple rule. DO NOT DO ANY WORK UNLESS I AM HOME. Well while I was at work today he decided to let himself into my house to work. He likes to leave the door open so if he needs to run down to his truck it is a quick in and out thing and he does not have to worry about a key and opening the door each and every time. I can understand that, but that is why I have my rule. He loves to leave the door wide open so with that in mind the rule came into effect. Never work on anything when I am not home.
For all I know he ran to the Home Depot for something he needed, which he had done before when I was here and left the door wide open, so I know he could have done it today. The first thing I did was look throughout my house for the things that would most likely be stolen. My laptop of course, my many DVD's and CD's on the racks I have all over the house, and a few piles of cash I had laying around, the ones I remembered at least. All were still there.
See I have this habit, and many that know me will bear me out, that when I order out I just throw the change on the living room table or an end table or my desk and leave it there. I know no one is going to steal it, it is just a matter of it being my house, why should I care if 12 bucks is laying on the end table. Thing is, I do that all the time, and then use the cash as my mad money when I want something or I wake up late and need to take a cab to work. Sometimes it can reach a hundred or even two hundred dollars in my little mad money piles. Another reason I do not just want someone in my house when I am not home and why I do not what them leaving the door wide open.
Lets just say the guy was working on my roof, which is part of what he was supposed to be doing and someone decided to just walk in. While on my roof he would never hear that. They could just walk around and pick up my little piles of money. Sure it normally wouldn't be more then 40 bucks but still it is my money. Or what if they grabbed my laptop or even my desktop, I have four of them. How about a few DVD's or CD's? What if the person knew anything about comics, in my computer room I have a shelf that has at least 40 comics worth 3,000 or more on it. Do the math, that is at least 120,000 dollars worth of books that could be carried out with one handful. I DO NOT WANT ANYONE IN MY HOUSE WHEN I AM NOT HOME. Even if they are repairing it. He has a key because he comes in and out and it makes it easier for him. I do trust him, do not get my wrong here, but I hate the fact he is always leaving the fucking front door open. I've told him countless times and he always says, don't worry I only left it open because you were home.
Well guess what, I was done with work early and came home early. I was not spying on him or checking up on him, he was not supposed to be there, I didn't even know he was there to spy on him. He was supposed to come when I got home from work. But when I got home my front door was wide open. I said something to him and he said, oh no, I was just leaving that's why. I don't give a flying fuck what his reason is. When I get home and see my front door open it is one of two things, a robber, or some asshole that doesn't know how to listen.
I did not find anything gone, which is good, but who's to say that I couldn't later. He could have went through the comic boxes and found something that was not in plain sight but still worth a few grand? I still can't find the first few X-Men issues that I know I have from way back when I left Naomi here with the workers. I do not blame her, but they could have grabbed them because they were right in the computer room and in the front of a box that didn't have a cover on it, so it could have been seen to anyone that looked in that direction. Anyone that knows the value of comics will know the first few X-Men comics alone are worth well over 10 grand, and they are missing. I know I have tons of comics and perhaps I did misplace them, but who's to say that for sure until I find them. I could find something gone a year later like I did with the X-Men and then I can't say anything.
I fucking hate stupid people. One rule, do not come when I am not home, and that is to much to handle. This, my friends, is someone that deserves to die. It is that simple. You can't follow one simple rule, you should not even be allowed to breathe.
It pisses me off even more that if I had not come home early, he would have been gone before I even got home. I see no changes to my bathroom. I see no changes to my roof. What the fuck was he doing all damn day in my house. His answer was, I was working and just finished, that does not cut it.
I am not asking for the key back, he could have made a copy. I am changing all my locks. I don't care even for a second if nothing is missing. He did not listen to me. If I ever see him again in my life I will call the cops and have him arrested. Even if nothing is missing, he was in my house without my allowing it. Last I checked, that was a crime.
The Good
Now to something considerable more enjoyable. I came across this great collection of books today. Someone handed me a box with a few Steven King books, original release hardcovers and some other outstanding things. Alice in Wonderland, first printing, Through the looking glass, first printing, Little Women, first printing, Little Men, first printing, and many others. First printing books from the 1920's and earlier. Everyone that knows me knows I love this shit big time. Classic books like those, I love it even more. Little Men? I never even knew there was a Little Men book just like Little Women. You learn something new every day.
As for the Steven King books, one really grabbed my attention for many reasons. First being I think it is the greatest piece of fiction ever produced and another being it is the original release in hardcover. A book I did not have in hardcover. The others I had already in hardcover. It was Steven King's "It". I had it in paperback. I lost it some 12 years ago when I loaned it to a female friend. She loaned me The Stand by Steven King and I loaned her that. She had a small fire in her house and it was lost. She told me I could keep the copy of The Stand I had as payment, I told her it was okay, I didn't need it, I was done with reading it. She felt it was right. That is how I got my copy of The Stand. I read "It" three times. The first time it took a few days, the second time, well, I read it in one night. Anyone that knows the book knows how long it is. A little bit later I read it once again while taking the bus to work. It helped pass the time. I had not read it science then.
Finding the hardcover of "It" was as if it were heaven sent. I always wanted to be a writer. I have stories from the time I was 10 and my first completed novel from when I was 13, but it was that book that made me want to write professionally. It came at a time where the depression has all but destroyed my dreams and aspirations of writing. The Club Kids excerpt was the first original thing I wrote at all this year. I do not know what possessed me to write it either. Perhaps it was the fickle nature of fate setting me up for the big hit. Finding "It" once again in my hands I started to read once more. I didn't have a great deal of time at work, and that is where I'll be reading it, but I made it through the first one hundred and two pages today.
It was like finding a long lost friend that you loved and had left you without ever saying goodbye and you never heard from, or of, them again. It was all I wanted, all I needed, a certain comfort in the arms of the one you love. It brought back a feeling like I was a kid again laying sideways on my bed with the light on knowing I should be sleeping but not being able to stop reading. It was a time where I felt all was right with the world and all was right with me. It was a long time ago, and it was a feeling I have not had in a dogs age. It was like a 70 year old man coming home again and finding the mother he left when he was 18 and never talked to since still lived there and missed him and thought of him every day. It was being thrown into welcoming arms for the biggest hug of your life. "It", just a book, felt as if I had just found a long lost friend, one I have longed for since I could remember. It restored me.
I know you all think I am daft for thinking the way I do about a book but "It" is not just a book, it is something more in my mind, always played out as that and always will. It is something I find a great deal of comfort in. Something I feel a certain protection in. Something I draw from as an inspiration. We all have that in life in the form of people, places, and inanimate objects sometimes. For me "It" is what does it for me.
They always say, never look for something or you will never find it and if you really need it, it will come to you. Today, it came to me. "It" really did.
The Ugly
Not sure if you would call this good or bad. I was told today that I need to go on vacation, I am starting to burn out. My weekends in the city have been good, but they are not holding me over. I have not been on vacation in years and the summer months are slower and a lot of my workers are going away in August, so I was told as politely as I could be, when they go on vacation, you are going on vacation, I am kicking you out. You need it. We can handle things for a week. I call this ugly if for no reason other then, I feel I have purpose to stay and I have a lot of things to do. I think this is a two prong attack from the owner however. He knows I need a vacation and the two people I have been trying to train to do some of the minor things I do while I am gone are fighting against learning as they already do their own things and do not want to learn. I can't even take a half day to go to the dentist and I need to. I think this is one of the reasons he wants me to go besides the need for vacation. He can force them into learning some of the things that need to be done if I am not there, not my complete job, most of my other duties he will cover, they just need to learn enough to cover for two hours if I have to leave for an appointment.
The thing is, what would I do, where would I go, perhaps I can take my laptop to some tropical resort and go alone and finish my novel once and for all. I could go visit family in Florida or North Carolina. I could visit a friend. I could go on a trip to some of my favorite ballparks and take in games at Camden Yards and Fenway Park. I know one thing for sure. I do not want to stay home. I want to go somewhere and just relax. I really love the resort idea. Perhaps the Bahamas, Bermuda, or Cancun or something. I have to figure it out. I've got a little time. I want to go to one of those full service resorts where you never have to leave it. Great restaurants, a pool, a gym, heck even a gold course and anything else they could imagine to put in. It has been a VERY long time since I pampered myself. I really think I would like to do that. Not so sure of the alone part yet, but that might be best, for me at least.
That's it for now, I know I talked well past my welcome again, but oh well, I babble, just be happy I did not have you on the phone, it could have taken me hours to say the same things I did here.
TTFN
I came home from work today and my front door was left wide open. I live in a very busy area here in New York, so needless to say, having my door left wide open for anyone that might want to enter pisses me off completely. I know who did it, that is not really the reason I am upset. It is not like I was robbed and someone stole everything and left the door open when they were leaving. I know exactly who left it wide open. That doesn't mean it pisses me off any less.
I am having a new bathroom put in and fixing my roof so one of those do it all handymen has been working at my house. There was one simple rule. DO NOT DO ANY WORK UNLESS I AM HOME. Well while I was at work today he decided to let himself into my house to work. He likes to leave the door open so if he needs to run down to his truck it is a quick in and out thing and he does not have to worry about a key and opening the door each and every time. I can understand that, but that is why I have my rule. He loves to leave the door wide open so with that in mind the rule came into effect. Never work on anything when I am not home.
For all I know he ran to the Home Depot for something he needed, which he had done before when I was here and left the door wide open, so I know he could have done it today. The first thing I did was look throughout my house for the things that would most likely be stolen. My laptop of course, my many DVD's and CD's on the racks I have all over the house, and a few piles of cash I had laying around, the ones I remembered at least. All were still there.
See I have this habit, and many that know me will bear me out, that when I order out I just throw the change on the living room table or an end table or my desk and leave it there. I know no one is going to steal it, it is just a matter of it being my house, why should I care if 12 bucks is laying on the end table. Thing is, I do that all the time, and then use the cash as my mad money when I want something or I wake up late and need to take a cab to work. Sometimes it can reach a hundred or even two hundred dollars in my little mad money piles. Another reason I do not just want someone in my house when I am not home and why I do not what them leaving the door wide open.
Lets just say the guy was working on my roof, which is part of what he was supposed to be doing and someone decided to just walk in. While on my roof he would never hear that. They could just walk around and pick up my little piles of money. Sure it normally wouldn't be more then 40 bucks but still it is my money. Or what if they grabbed my laptop or even my desktop, I have four of them. How about a few DVD's or CD's? What if the person knew anything about comics, in my computer room I have a shelf that has at least 40 comics worth 3,000 or more on it. Do the math, that is at least 120,000 dollars worth of books that could be carried out with one handful. I DO NOT WANT ANYONE IN MY HOUSE WHEN I AM NOT HOME. Even if they are repairing it. He has a key because he comes in and out and it makes it easier for him. I do trust him, do not get my wrong here, but I hate the fact he is always leaving the fucking front door open. I've told him countless times and he always says, don't worry I only left it open because you were home.
Well guess what, I was done with work early and came home early. I was not spying on him or checking up on him, he was not supposed to be there, I didn't even know he was there to spy on him. He was supposed to come when I got home from work. But when I got home my front door was wide open. I said something to him and he said, oh no, I was just leaving that's why. I don't give a flying fuck what his reason is. When I get home and see my front door open it is one of two things, a robber, or some asshole that doesn't know how to listen.
I did not find anything gone, which is good, but who's to say that I couldn't later. He could have went through the comic boxes and found something that was not in plain sight but still worth a few grand? I still can't find the first few X-Men issues that I know I have from way back when I left Naomi here with the workers. I do not blame her, but they could have grabbed them because they were right in the computer room and in the front of a box that didn't have a cover on it, so it could have been seen to anyone that looked in that direction. Anyone that knows the value of comics will know the first few X-Men comics alone are worth well over 10 grand, and they are missing. I know I have tons of comics and perhaps I did misplace them, but who's to say that for sure until I find them. I could find something gone a year later like I did with the X-Men and then I can't say anything.
I fucking hate stupid people. One rule, do not come when I am not home, and that is to much to handle. This, my friends, is someone that deserves to die. It is that simple. You can't follow one simple rule, you should not even be allowed to breathe.
It pisses me off even more that if I had not come home early, he would have been gone before I even got home. I see no changes to my bathroom. I see no changes to my roof. What the fuck was he doing all damn day in my house. His answer was, I was working and just finished, that does not cut it.
I am not asking for the key back, he could have made a copy. I am changing all my locks. I don't care even for a second if nothing is missing. He did not listen to me. If I ever see him again in my life I will call the cops and have him arrested. Even if nothing is missing, he was in my house without my allowing it. Last I checked, that was a crime.
The Good
Now to something considerable more enjoyable. I came across this great collection of books today. Someone handed me a box with a few Steven King books, original release hardcovers and some other outstanding things. Alice in Wonderland, first printing, Through the looking glass, first printing, Little Women, first printing, Little Men, first printing, and many others. First printing books from the 1920's and earlier. Everyone that knows me knows I love this shit big time. Classic books like those, I love it even more. Little Men? I never even knew there was a Little Men book just like Little Women. You learn something new every day.
As for the Steven King books, one really grabbed my attention for many reasons. First being I think it is the greatest piece of fiction ever produced and another being it is the original release in hardcover. A book I did not have in hardcover. The others I had already in hardcover. It was Steven King's "It". I had it in paperback. I lost it some 12 years ago when I loaned it to a female friend. She loaned me The Stand by Steven King and I loaned her that. She had a small fire in her house and it was lost. She told me I could keep the copy of The Stand I had as payment, I told her it was okay, I didn't need it, I was done with reading it. She felt it was right. That is how I got my copy of The Stand. I read "It" three times. The first time it took a few days, the second time, well, I read it in one night. Anyone that knows the book knows how long it is. A little bit later I read it once again while taking the bus to work. It helped pass the time. I had not read it science then.
Finding the hardcover of "It" was as if it were heaven sent. I always wanted to be a writer. I have stories from the time I was 10 and my first completed novel from when I was 13, but it was that book that made me want to write professionally. It came at a time where the depression has all but destroyed my dreams and aspirations of writing. The Club Kids excerpt was the first original thing I wrote at all this year. I do not know what possessed me to write it either. Perhaps it was the fickle nature of fate setting me up for the big hit. Finding "It" once again in my hands I started to read once more. I didn't have a great deal of time at work, and that is where I'll be reading it, but I made it through the first one hundred and two pages today.
It was like finding a long lost friend that you loved and had left you without ever saying goodbye and you never heard from, or of, them again. It was all I wanted, all I needed, a certain comfort in the arms of the one you love. It brought back a feeling like I was a kid again laying sideways on my bed with the light on knowing I should be sleeping but not being able to stop reading. It was a time where I felt all was right with the world and all was right with me. It was a long time ago, and it was a feeling I have not had in a dogs age. It was like a 70 year old man coming home again and finding the mother he left when he was 18 and never talked to since still lived there and missed him and thought of him every day. It was being thrown into welcoming arms for the biggest hug of your life. "It", just a book, felt as if I had just found a long lost friend, one I have longed for since I could remember. It restored me.
I know you all think I am daft for thinking the way I do about a book but "It" is not just a book, it is something more in my mind, always played out as that and always will. It is something I find a great deal of comfort in. Something I feel a certain protection in. Something I draw from as an inspiration. We all have that in life in the form of people, places, and inanimate objects sometimes. For me "It" is what does it for me.
They always say, never look for something or you will never find it and if you really need it, it will come to you. Today, it came to me. "It" really did.
The Ugly
Not sure if you would call this good or bad. I was told today that I need to go on vacation, I am starting to burn out. My weekends in the city have been good, but they are not holding me over. I have not been on vacation in years and the summer months are slower and a lot of my workers are going away in August, so I was told as politely as I could be, when they go on vacation, you are going on vacation, I am kicking you out. You need it. We can handle things for a week. I call this ugly if for no reason other then, I feel I have purpose to stay and I have a lot of things to do. I think this is a two prong attack from the owner however. He knows I need a vacation and the two people I have been trying to train to do some of the minor things I do while I am gone are fighting against learning as they already do their own things and do not want to learn. I can't even take a half day to go to the dentist and I need to. I think this is one of the reasons he wants me to go besides the need for vacation. He can force them into learning some of the things that need to be done if I am not there, not my complete job, most of my other duties he will cover, they just need to learn enough to cover for two hours if I have to leave for an appointment.
The thing is, what would I do, where would I go, perhaps I can take my laptop to some tropical resort and go alone and finish my novel once and for all. I could go visit family in Florida or North Carolina. I could visit a friend. I could go on a trip to some of my favorite ballparks and take in games at Camden Yards and Fenway Park. I know one thing for sure. I do not want to stay home. I want to go somewhere and just relax. I really love the resort idea. Perhaps the Bahamas, Bermuda, or Cancun or something. I have to figure it out. I've got a little time. I want to go to one of those full service resorts where you never have to leave it. Great restaurants, a pool, a gym, heck even a gold course and anything else they could imagine to put in. It has been a VERY long time since I pampered myself. I really think I would like to do that. Not so sure of the alone part yet, but that might be best, for me at least.
That's it for now, I know I talked well past my welcome again, but oh well, I babble, just be happy I did not have you on the phone, it could have taken me hours to say the same things I did here.
TTFN