Cham featuring Majic
Eighty Five Riddim
Tammy: The Final Chapter
Yes, katz. That is Tammy. And this is the final chapter.
I know it's been weeks since I told you there was one.
But the story had to come full circle, before I could present it to you in its entirety.
Long story short, after the whole incident with the Sunday meet that never happened, she stopped by my job, and pulled my rib about it. From personal issues, to not feeling right about dragging me in her mess, and everything in between. I had brushed it off, and decided to move on past that. She must have thought different, because she stopped coming to my job. I thought nothing of it, perhaps assuming that the ride is over. One of my co-workers also noticed her absence, and thought I should find out what's going on. Co-worker-pressure forced me to S&D, where I was treated to her side of hell. Apparently, she and her manager can't get along, the other employees don't like the idea of work, and she has the late night thieves to work with, complete with death threats and physical confrontations. And she must stay at her location now, or else all hell breaks loose. Totally understanding of the circumstances, I agree to pass through every so often to check up on her during my lunch. Up until this point, I have been very committed to this deal, and have chilled with her for a little while a day (no more luncheons though; she's been denied party favors). Phone calls wouldn't fare so well, one of us (her more times than me) had prior arrangements, and never fully sat down for a full length conversation. It had gotten to the point that she knows she messes up in that department, and would make solid efforts just for phone conversations, even when drunk.
The Saturday that just past, she called me to ask me to stop by after work. Thinking okay, why not?, I headed over there; and to my utter shock, she was getting off work! Hang out time? Get-to-know-her time? Oh yeah, I patiently waited for this one! Now, I will finally find out what the deal is with my new friend here...
Yeah...
...
All I can say is this, we walked around BK, and it didn't take the night, in fact, it didn't take too long, to find out exactly what was her story. As time progressed, her voice grew louder and louder, to more of a ghetto dialect. I requested we head to the next bus stop for a walk & talk since the bus wasn't there yet; she cries that the distance (all of one Brooklyn block) is too long for her. She let her guard down too quickly, and her real self surfaced too quickly. As I headed to the bus, my metrocard's location evaded me, and she quickly offered to swipe me in. I dismissed her many times, insisting I'd find the card...
"Listen here! It's only two dollars! Stop being so stuck up and let's go! I got things to talk about."
It hit me like a bolt of lightning:
This chick is A BRAT!!!
All through the ride, she talks about how funny it is that one thing she didn't like the most (school) is the one thing she needs to get to London with no problems. She discusses her finance problems outside her small bank account (let's say it's very small, with many persons involved in it, because some outside sources are trying to get their dough back). And in the end, she brushes it off as though it's nothing. The typical story of a teenage brat running every which way out of the very problems she's created, with little concern for anything else. I can actually understand why she and her manager have issues, why her employees don't believe in work, and why phone calls with her are one in a million. She plays a huge role in all of it, and what's worse, this brat wants me to believe she's in the right!
Okay Terry, she can't be that much of a brat...
Truly she is, and she knows it! Looking discombobulated, I could only shake my head, with her only reply being, "Yeah! I'm a brat! I know it."
I called Dennis right after dropping her home. All I remember was me asking, what was I thinking!?, and he responding, "at least the two of you didn't have sex..."
True indeed, dude. That would be a travesty so big, mi mum would disown me. She was having a hangover, she said. She wasn't feeling all that great, and started contemplating that due to her "vacation," she might have a bun in the oven...
Oh, the thought of that.
Thank God, this truly is the last chapter...
Flame
Al Jarreau
Tomorrow Today
The Bret Hart Story
I thought about sitting at my laptop, and crafting this miracle story of how I met Bret "Hitman" Hart, how I finally shook his hand, and thanked him for all the memories he gave me as he signed my Bret Hart 3-disc DVD set. The journey there, the journey back, and how New Jersey tax is so dirt cheap...
But it didn't quite happen that way.
It'd be quite unfair to paint such a picture, especially since it can still occur.
In any event, I bought the DVD set Tuesday at Best Buy (rating: 9 out of 10), along with the magazine; and started to reminisce about the old times watching the guy. I went home and read on WwE.com that Bret Hart would be at an FYE in New Jersey that very Thursday signing autographs! I remember at that point thinking, since NJ isn't that far, I just might make it after work, and finally meet the guy! I called Tavie, for directions to Wayne, NJ. She gets back to me that Wednesday; it's a NJTransit bus away. Good.
I called FYE at Willowbrook Mall, and confirmed that he'd be there. They told me not only would I have to buy the DVD from them, and I had to be there by 6PM, but I needed a tag of sorts when I bought the DVD, otherwise he wouldn't sign anything. Okay, my obstacles; cool...
That Thursday, I took the morning shift, and worked from 8AM until 4:15PM non stop, no lunch breaks, no side notes, no phone calls; any and everything to ensure me leaving at 4:30PM.
I end up leaving at 4:45PM, and arrived at the Port Authority 5:40PM. Ten minutes later, I'm on one of their NJTransit buses heading to Wayne (round-trip for $11) in one long bus ride.
I get off at a cold Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, NJ. 6:45PM.
I go inside, and while everything seems pleasant, I run into some rather hostile mall employees who found the clientle present at FYE rather annoying. I really couldn't blame them either; I didn't say I condone their rather hostile behavior, I said I couldn't blame them. Here were all these Bret/Wrestling fans interfering with the quiet and normal lives of these mall employees; yeah I'd be a little t'ed off myself. No matter.
I arrived to FYE; they say while it's not too late to buy the DVD, it is too late to get the tag; so I won't be able to get Bret to sign my DVD. And these jackasses had the gall to encourage me to buy the damn thing, even though I don't get to meet the man behind the DVD...
** calming down **
Something told me that fate didn't find me here to be totally defeated. So I went on the line anyway, and chilled with the locals. They got to read the Hart magazine, and we got to talk about how we have wrestling and football, while women have their soap operas and Desperate Housewives. They asked my logic in staying on line: Essentially, Bret won't sign anything unless you have the tag. Nobody didn't say anything about not being able to meet the guy. I paid $11, traveled some long distances to get here; and if he won't be able to sign the DVD, at least I'll get to shake his hand and thank the dude. Inspired, I made a bond of sorts with these guys that knew me from any other Bret Hart fan.
Ten people away from the promised land, one of the people in front of me asked about meeting Bret without the tag. The security informed him that you won't be able to be admitted inside without that tag. You don't even get to meet the guy without that tag. I could only stand there and think, how unfair. I took this once in lifetime opportunity to meet a legend, traveled through great lengths, and just because I don't make it in time for some tag, I don't get to have that happen. I could've very well got stuck there in Wayne, NJ, and the ending would have been fitting to this sour note. I felt the look of disappointment across the line (I was kinda at the end of the line). 8:45PM, I made one final plea to the dudes I was hanging with. Since I couldn't get to meet the guy, at least see if he could sign my DVD. One of the dudes took my DVD, and said, they'd see what they could do.
Thirty minutes, and the above camera shot later, they re-emerged from the media frenzy. They handed my Bret Hart DVD...
Unsigned.
"They only allow one thing to sign per person. The logic is that the man has to sign his name 500 times that night. It'd be unfair for one dude to bring a whole bunch of shit to sign, and minutes later, he decides he's too tired to sign. It'd be unfair to those still waiting."
Naw, it's okay. I got to be within ten feet of the guy. For now, I can live with that. Thanks anyway...
I ate at this place called The Cheescake Factory. They had great buffalo wings. Awesome Bistro shrimp. And the cheap NJ tax is always excellent. I had to somehow bring closure to this rather crappy feeling of not getting this one thing accomplished. I took twenty steps back (figuratively, not literally), and realized that I just spent the day chasing a wrestler for an autograph. No, I acted on the spur of the moment, went to a place I've never been before, got to be with an earshot of a man I enjoyed watching for all of my adolescence.
No, I wasted time, and now I gotta pray that NJTransit runs past 11:00PM. No, I took a trip, and am taking full advantage of my new surroundings.
Bullshit, I tried to accomplish something with little time, and now I've been beat.
Actually, there's a silver lining to all of this; because I, by myself, took the initiative to get here, even though I wasn't certain of the outcome.
Dude, what silver lining? No handshake, no autograph, just some picture; don't even kid yourself. Why do you think you are sitting here, by yourself, in this restaurant? Because only you are crazy enough, stupid enough, to do this...
Ten minutes to eleven, as the restaurant prepared to close up shop, I headed up to the bus stop. I remember it being much colder, like a typical winter night. I remember waiting a while for that bus. There was a ten minute roadblock. Aside from that road block, the ride back home was very fast. I passed Giants Stadium. The Continental Airlines Arena. I saw the Empire State building from a completely different perspective...
I got home around midnight, and while still defeated, I felt pretty okay about it. Perhaps I'll still meet the man before he passes on. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. If it doesn't, then I still had a great time getting nothing done for $11...
I'm okay guys. Trust me on that.
About the DVD, it's a very classy presentation. I appreciate how brutally honest he is about why he got into wrestling. I do appreciate his selection of matches that show just how good he really was. It's just that so much is still missing from the collection. His tag team title wins (even though the Hart Foundation's second was the more stellar of the two), his WCW world title win, his match with Randy Savage that set him apart from the other tag-team wrestlers. He and Owen did have excellent matches, so what about his steel cage match at SummerSlam '94? He took us back to his Stampede matches; so how come none of them were showcased?
Okay okay, it's only three DVDs. Aside from my only gripe, it is still a great collection.
We Belong Together
Mariah Carey
The Emancipation of Mimi
Some jabroni at my job said that this album is Mariah's best work. All I could do is shake my head, and recall Vision of Love, Without You, and Underneath The Stars...
My viPod rebuttal, and current upgrades
Well, I tried to dismiss the new iPod.
But between it's new features (video capability, CD quality recording, bigger screen yet slimmer casing), and it being the new it of popular culture, almost everyone is on my case for not getting it, and/or wanting it. For a time, I was firm and assertive in my opinion of the new mp3 player. I was content with what I have, and with it almost being a year & I never had to get it serviced (oh, it acts up at times, but they never told me to leave it with them for three days and later), I was proud my new acquisition.
Then, I started playing around with my laptop; taking music videos from Mariah Carey's Emancipation of Mimi platinum edition bonus DVD. Then, I ripped theatrical trailers from my Star Trek and Dune DVD's. Then it went to Michael Jackson & George Michael DVDs. Then I took scenes from Alicia Keys' Unplugged dvd. I bought Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity music video for $2. And I sat at my laptop thinking, what if I could watch all this on my iPod? That'd be really cool.
Then, my brother got fed up with his iPod mini.
And all of a sudden, I found myself wanting this brand new iPod.
Damn.
Meantime, I finally acquired the Vaja case and the Shure e3's for the iPod. And while I should have chosen a different color in the case, it still does a damn good job of protecting the iPod from scratches and what not. Also, the e3's have lived up to the hype of being the best set of earphones for the buy. Not only does its design camoflauge the fact that I'm iPodding, but the sound quality/sound isolation capabilities are astounding!
A nice tale accompanies these acquisitions, too. As you can recall, I refused to wait a month and spend $100 for the vaja case, and would not go beyond the $150-$200 limit for great sound. By the time the cases was available on eBay, the price would be jacked up to like $120 something. As with the earphones, one had to be weary about eBay, because I wasn't buying them used, and warranty had become an issue. Will Shure honor products bought via eBay? Or would repairs (God forbid) cost me an arm and a leg? I hooked up with Rennie (the guy from the Rippingtons cruise), who told me that he could a deal on them for $120-$130, even though warranty was uncertain. I thought about it for a while, and figured, hey if something goes wrong within the year, I'll know that they were a bad investment anyway, so just go for it! I get back in touch with him, and tell the dude to forward my order...
Rennie cannot follow through. And now I'm back to square one, on eBay.
I sift through the sellers, promoting the earphones at $130, $140, $150. Then I ran into a eBay-er, who was selling the e3's (e3's are gray as shown, e3c' are white) for $120 plus tax & shipping! I thought hey, that Rennie's offer, let me jump on that! Instead of going through the whole auction process, I call the eBay seller directly; it turns out he runs a store on Coney Island Avenue! Minutes later, I hopped on the bus, and for $125 with tax, walked out with brand-spanking-new Shure E3 earphones! Days after that, my Vaja case arrives! I'm good to go!
For the case (9 out of 10), my one & only gripe is that the white leather requires cleaning almost every week. I bought the thing to care for the iPod, not the case! All dat aside, it's still a good case.
For the E3's (9.5 out of 10), these are near perfect sound-reproducers. If you're looking for bass, you may want the E4's or E5's. But if bass is not as important as clarity, the E3's are your best bet. These are the kind of earphones that make you encode your music at higher bit rates...
This is a lot. Hopefully, I'm making up for lost time. Next up, that freelance...
The Griffin iFM review...
The Motorola i860 review...
And other ramblings and such.
