The Nut Guy

Here in the office there are two fruit & nut stations. These stations are areas where every day a bowl of fruit and a bowl or nuts, raisins & peanut M&Ms are placed. One of these fruit & nut stations is on the file cabinet next to S.'s desk.

From where I sit, I can view S. without being seen. Every morning I watch him perform his nut ritual. As soon as the bowl of nuts has been placed by the office manager he takes the bowl and starts spooning through it. First he takes a few spoonfuls of some choice nuts and deposits them into a cup. I am uncertain what type of nut(s) he prefers in the cup. Next he spoons a healthy percentage of the peanut M&Ms into his hand. when he has finished he replaces the nut bowl on the cabinet and places the detoured M&Ms on a hidden spot of his desk beneath his monitor. He then mixes the nuts in the cup with some sort of instant oatmeal and adds hot water.

This nut ritual is done quietly but in plain sight. One can only imagine that M., who sits next to S., if no on else, notices. Yet, as is the unspoken office policy, no one speaks of the obvious transgressions.

My personal theory is that S. justifies his nut and M&M thievery as vindication for having the nut station placed on his file cabinet. It is by this placement that he is forced to suffer all sorts of fools standing dangerously close to his desk, spooning nuts into their hands and feeling the need to have nervous banter with S. who is mostly just trying to read up on schlocky horror films.

Left to right: Fruit bowl, nut bowl, S.'s oatmeal/nut cup, S., M.

The Dooch: On The Job

Dooch moved to NYC a few years ago. He spent a hot month on my couch while he sorted it all out, but that was it. Since then the Dooch has become an integral fiber in the fabric of the town and my life.

Dooch is responsible for good tunes at Union Pool on Tuesdays, and at Matchless on Thursdays. Most weekends he can be found manning his creation The No Bullshit Blunch at Kenny's. And on Sundays he's the grill man at Pete's Candy Store. Dooch is also learning to tattoo. He's practicing on a patch of his leg.


Please note the Ravi Shankar T-shirt, and the meat thermometer clip-on.

Amos Loves Capriccios

Amos has blogged about it. He's Yelped about it. And here he is, eating it:

The Persistence of Smell

When I was about 15 I got busy with a girl for the first time. I mean really busy. She was like a nude feast laid out before me. I enjoyed her body and she enjoyed being enjoyed. For weeks afterward I smelled her everywhere. I think it was her moisturizer. I smelled it everywhere, even sitting on the can. It was uncanny, as though the scent had lodged itself into my nasal passage and I simply carried it with me everywhere I went.

A woman's perfume or scent is like a brand. Once you've gotten involved with a woman, you can never encounter that scent without thinking of her. Women seem to have an awareness of these properties of scent which men do not. Do you think this awareness is cultural or innate to the sex?

Mediocrity and the Value of Trying

Ever think: "I can do that...only better?"
I think that whenever I see art I like. But the point really isn't the "...only better..." part, it's really the "...do that..." part which is the hardest. That's the secret to how that art got displayed in the first place. Most people can't get the gumption to make anything, much less have the talent to make something of quality. Those who do make things are often motivated by depression, despondence or confusion. These motivations can make their work difficult to relate to and confused.

And so it is that mediocre works are considered laudable. You can be mediocre too. All you have to do is try!

The Lonliest Man

Here I sit. A room filled with people. For minutes now not a word has been spoken. The only sounds are the clump of shoes on the floor, the hum of the air condy and the endless tapping of fingers on mouse and keyboard. We sit here like this day after day. So close, yet without contact. We are all lonely.

Quite Honestly

I am floundering. It's hard to keep coming up with amazing, insightful and entertaining content. I don't want to slack and lose readership here. Perhaps I should just be silent if I have nothing to say, but I at least want to say this so that the last 2 posts don't sit there dumbly during the hiatus.

Handy Instrumental is going South-East