Woodstock...
Exhausted, last night, a long week. Early (ish) night, home to change then go out.
Where to? Someplace we can sit and recover...
A***** and I, parking near 10th Ave and 2nd St SW, we'll do a pub crawl...
The first one, Backlot, upstairs, Lesbian bar resembling a good house party filled with girls. I'm thinking Gertrude Stein. Lesbians, every one, a very few attractive, midgets, BBW, the surprisingly straight looking ones, they're friendly enough, a beer here...
He hasn't taken his mushrooms, he's not as tolerant. I've taken a mere cap, but it was a good cap...
We give it up. He's not doing so well...
Walk down the street. Night Owl, $30.00 cover, fuck that. Next bar, HiFi club, $15.00 Cover, let's try this...
We'd done this before, on unsuccessful nights out, not a good night, tonight, we'll ride it out, it'll be different...
And it is...great DJ, Greazus & Sinisstarr, great bass, I'm loving it, feeling it...
Turn's out he still hasn't dropped his 'shroom. And clearly one wasn't enough, the music, the bass, it's eluding him...I recognize one of the Beano Barista's there, don't acknowledge her, not snobbery, only the understanding that we all want our moments of anonymity..
He's tolerant, rides it out, for the vast majority of the crowd it's a rave, for a few of the more rednecked Calgaryians it's an excuse to get extra-drunk...
Wrong meds, folks,...
I'm loving it, as are 80% of the crowd, but they're not buying drinks, they've other treats, I have too, only not with me, already dosed, could use some more, especially for A*****, who's not getting it at all, describes it as "The Inferno", a reference to Dante, the music impossible to dance to...still, everyone, on their medication of choice, is friendly, very friendly, and the music, the bass, it's filling the soul...
I compromise, halfway, 1:15 We go to the gay-bar, the music here, the women, however bad, he can understand...
Same-old Same-old, and from here, the late night Chinese, then home....
...The next day, later, recovering, the internal monologue silenced, quietly at Beano, the Barista from the night before is off, relief, I would have wondered how she could have done it...sitting, staring, drinking my morning coffee, and I meet "Howard", maybe 60, he sees me sitting quietly, contemplative, gathering myself together...
"Were you at Woordstock Man? !970?" Clearly I've been partying a little too hard, obviously hard, it's in my eyes...
"Janice Joplin...now wasn't she ...." and he nods, winks and gestures to indicate his 45 year old obsession....
I gotta stop partying so hard.
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- Category: Miscellany
The Alpha Male
He's got that Willy Loman "Death of a Salesman" air of desperation about him, short, obviously dyed brown hair combed over in thin wisps, pointy features, thick glasses...maybe my age but somehow seems older, bad tweed suit, solid gold version of a cheap wristwatch, elbow patches, ...
He's J***'s protege, the vice president of his 100,000,000$ per annum + national company....
You look at him, maybe 5'2", badly dressed, 95 lbs soaking wet, not at all an Alpha Male, I know, we get a lot of CEO's, Presidents, Vice Presidents, Etc. in the restaurant. They fit the stereotypes, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, the successful types...larger than average, muscular, handsome, socially fluent...
He's definitely not one. But he's an old schoolyard chum of J***'s, and sometimes that's all it takes...
You look at him, you think of a Chihuahua, he's got the same general look, the general excitable disposition, he's analyzing the company's staff with J*** and he's describing them all as "Fraggles" or "Muppets..."....
He's the sad caricature of a sad, worn out little man, selected not so much for his vision or competence as his ability to say "Yes" or "No" as J*** requires. He's the pathetic little axe-man.
Imagine a less cool and shorter father of Marty in "Back to the Future"....I wonder how he found him, in his Zen like reveries, watching the Chihuahua being run to the ground by a pack of wolves and mistaking the prey for the leader, thinking to himself "That's the man I want...if he can lead those wolves, he can run my company...".
You'd have to be there...
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- Category: People
Bankview...
And by now, how long? 8 months? 10? Living in Bankview, a few impressions...
...the ambient, background noise: Car Alarm. At any time of day, if you're lucky the owner will seek out and find it within the hour. If you're not it could be 11:00 the next morning...
...Everyone has a dog, and conscientiously picks up after it. But every morning there are definitely non-canine piss stains on the snow in/against/or even just near any sheltered service...like the front door...
...The background smell, in the halls, of bacon, sizzling, tasty and occasionally repugnant ethnic food, but predominantly marijuana....
All in all, it's a good neighborhood.
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- Category: Calgary
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