Wasting time with Jet

Sunday morning and the sun is still with us, *Yay*...Mom comes back from church and says there's only one elevator working in the building...*Pooh*. To make it worst, it's the elevator that skips our floor (Yeah, I don't know HOW or WHY it does it, but when you have 2 out of 3, you don't mind...). So, you could tell I didn't wanna head downtown today with MOM and my Niece en tow...MOM wanted to FINALLY get my birthday present (After years of buying something I didn't WANT or NEEDED, she went back to her old ways, trying to change how I LOOKED!) which would be a few pairs of slacks from the Big and Tall store down in Chelsea. She also wanted to get a new fall jacket from Burlington Coat Factory.

We headed to the A train at 12 noon, taking the stairs down my mother (The social butterfly) bumped into a neighbor and started a conversation. When she was done and we exited the lobby, she then offered her condolences to another tenant of the building whose husband just died. After we moved on she turned to give me a look.

"What?"

"You just back away into the background and wait when I talk to people, you don't even wave or smile, look at them or even say hello....why do you do that!?"

"What, these are YOUR friends not mine!"

"But is it SUCH an effort to even smile?, A smile doesn't cost any money, it's doesn't have to be taken out of your pocket, you're so anti-social that way, just like your grandfather!"

"Hey, people are intimidated by me, okay?, they see me, they think I some big mean monster that's going to scare them, the city is a scary place and to them I'm just another bad person...they judge me before they even know me, who could smile to that?!?!"

A smile doesn't cost money, BAH! My mother the psychologist. She's the one that's been in this building long enough to be reveared like Don Corleone, that has nothing to do with me! And as for me being anti-social?...I'm trying, damnit. There are only four people in this city I consider friends, and I've loss touch with three of them. JOE of course is the only one I keep in touch with now, but even he can be a dick at times. He's nothing compared to the "Beavis & Butt-head" wasteoids Trevor and Omar that went to SUNY colleges upstate and got snobby. We were close in Junior High, kept in touch while going to different High Schools, but after that, things changed. Then Omar met his live-in girlfriend Tanya, who is a complete total opposite of Omar (I'm not just saying him being PR to her Black, I mean personaity wise.). While Omar and Trevor belittle me like some marx brother/three stooges sidekick, Tonya understands my pain and tries to bring order to our chaotic foursome.

Tonya even gave me Indiana when he was a kitten, the guys used to hang out at my place when I first moved, but then something happened and we drifted apart. It's my fault really...the falling out is just another one of those sad tales of my life that I'll have to recall another time...but as for me being anti-social...I repeat, I'm trying damnit!

So, moving on, back to the trip. We headed to the A Train station. My Niece still doesn't know how to act on the train so me and mom go through the usual headaches. When we got downtown we decided to split up so MOM could get her coat faster, I took the lil drama-queen to Barnes and Noble next door. I kept my niece in front of me at arms lenght while checking the Humor books for the latest graphic novels for Garfield, Foxtrot, The Boondocks, and other newspaper cartoons. I then looked in the children's section for a picture book mom wanted my niece to read, she saw it on the Today Show, it was the called "Sam the Cat Detective". I asked information about the book, they didn't have a copy, guess it was real popular. A half hour later, mom called my cell and we went back to meet her outside, we then moved crosstown to MY Causal Big and Tall store on 3rd Avenue.

Now, me, I know what fits me and what doesn't, but since SHE was paying for the clothes I had to try everything on. I found two pairs of slacks that were perfect, she went through SEVEN different pair of pants before I settled on ONE! It was like that Fresh Prince "Parents don't Understand" Music Video! I hate pleats!, I am not TALL enough for size 34 lenght pants!, I don't need CARGO PANTS with special pockets near the knees!, AGGGGGHHHHHHH. With three nice "George Foreman" Slacks (And I thought his GRILL was making him money! His clothing line is crazy expensive!) I was contempt, but then MOM came up with the idea of buying me jeans.

"You don't have a nice pair of comfortable jeans, you know to wear around the house when you're not working, you can't wear slacks everywhere..."

WHY THE HELL NOT!?!!!?!?!?!

I hate jeans. I haven't worn a pair of blue acid wash jeans since the early 90's, when assholes were snatching LEE patches for sport.

So I go through 3 pairs before I settle for a pair I like. We ring up everything, mom flips. Apparently my two we a lil expensive whereas the jeans and mom's choice were on sale. She wanted to send one of the two I picked back, I wanted to ditch those damn jeans! Thank god it was a sunday afternoon and we were the only ones in the store. Finally she caved and accepted everything, hey, how often do you turn 30?...next time buy me something I WANT! (Not that I'm ungrateful for the new clothes mind you...)

With the mission accomplished we then moved to plan B, taking my niece home in the bronx. Mom wanted to see "The Gospel" with my sister at a movie theather near her in parkchester so I showed her where she could get the 6 train uptown and took ALL the bags home myself.

"Mom buying her stupid coat and not carrying it home, making me do it" I grumbled, then I realized when I got home, that I'd had to take the steps! I cursed under my breath and started my way up carrying the heavy bags. By the time I made it home, I wanted to strangle my mother. I threw her coat in her room, dropped my bag and crashed in my room for a nap. By the time I woke up, mom was back and she said "The Gospel" was a good movie. I checked the box office for the weekend and was shocked to see "The Fog" was number 1. I was hurt to see "Domino" come in at number 6, I really thought that movie would kick ass, I plan to see it during the week anyway.

As the day came to an end, I looked ahead to what to do this week, I really need to get a lil' somethin' somethin' but first, I think I'll head up to Westchester finally and catch up on some former co-workers...