Goal!

“Do or do not... there is no try.”

-Yoda

I booked 11 appointments this month (the last one after 4 PM today,) so I earned a very nice commission. I'm the first salesperson to hit goal for a month, and our team, The Buffalo Soldiers, beat the Dream Team (lame!) with my sale, 21 - 20. 

So it was a good day. But I am exhausted. I will shower and then fall asleep to 3 hockey games, all game 7s.

Freestyle

Mum reminded me that it had been a while since i blogged, so apologies.

When I set up two more phone appointments by the end of April, I will have gotten into the commission zone, which will be awesome.

I walked 6 miles today. I own walking. I've been walking since I was 2 (see Mum for details and accuracy.)

My sound track for today's walk was Traffic: Shoot out at the Fantasy Factory and The Pineapple Thief: What Have We Sown.

Mullly, the cat, is sittting on the bed, waiting for me to call it a day. He is my best budd. 

Okay, wearing these pants is getting old, so I am throwing them to the wind. 

With that, I bid you a pleasnt evening and a happy mañana. 

The Lamb Lies Down

A ghost of a mist was on the field
The grey and the green together
The noise of a distant farm machine
Out of the first light came
A tattered necklace of hedge end trees
On the southern side of the hill
Betrays where the border runs between
Where Mary Dunoon's boy fell

Easter here again, a time for the blind to see
Easter, surely now can all of your hearts be free

                                                               -Marillion
                                                     

Easter is so late this year. Stupid moon. It's all your fault. Work is going well. I set two appointments this week and we hired a new sales person who starts on Monday. 

Tales from Hood
Norm, the other salesman, coaches an AAU basketball team in East Haven. These kids come from rough backgrounds and are trying to get college scholarships. The stories are outrageous. One kid had a full ride to UConn and a bunch of other schools. Then he and his friends decided to rob a pot dealer (because drug dealers NEVER have guns.) Cops were staking out the place and grabbed them the minute they walked back outside.

Another kid, a sophmore, got shot in the hand on Sunday. He claims he accidently shot himself, but the bullet was lodged in his left hand below the pinkie, so the cops said that's impossible. The director of the AAU paid the $2, 500 deductible for his father.

But the kid is going to lose all feeling in his pinky and maybe the ring finger, which puts his basketball future in jeopardy. Norm said it's just one heartreaking story after another. There are 15 boys on his team. Collectively, they have 6 fathers. Fucking hell. That's 60% of the team without fathers.

I can't imagine what it must be like to not have a father. 

Just kidding! But I had a mother who stopped at nothing to give us everything we needed. I'm not sure these kids' mothers have the education or means to do that. 

                            Peter Gabriel as Rael, From The Lamb Tour, 1975

Mel and Jan are coming up mañana for the last holiday at Mum's in CT. I am making drunken rack of lamb on the grill, along with yams. I'll marinade the lamb overnight in a pinot noir, rosemary, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper mixture. Yum! I'll listen to Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway while prepping and cooking, just like last year. Ahhh.... memories.

HIt me harder!

I was verbally chastised by my seester for not blogging in a week.

I said, "I didn't know you read the blog." (Pause.... ) "I didn't know you could read!" 

The Mets are above .500. And then they had a day off, so it actually lasted for two days.

Work is good, and I have done quite well, but it's a body and soul commitment. It'll take a while for me to adjust. But I really like it. 

And the hockey playoffs have started,  the second season. The first round of the NHL playoffs is the best. 

Learning to Fly

I'm learning to fly but I ain't got wings

Coming down is the hardest thing

-Tom Petty

I set two appointments yesterday and one today. I need to average three a week and that's the first time I've done it, so woo hoo!

April is whizzing by. And Easter is so late this year. It'll be May before we know it. 

At the Bridge

All those nights when you can't sleep

Your heart and mind is racing
 

Are you standing on that bridge


Which way are you facing?


My heart is full today


For the recently departed


Of sorrow and of sympathy


Into that land uncharted.

-Suzanne Vega

On January 17th, I lost one of my best friends, Ellen. She loved life. She was a good women and a great friend. She had colon cancer and was severaly depressed (who wouldn't be?) She took her own life, and I can't imagine how much pain she must have been in to do that. Mum and Mel knew her ver well, and it is not consistent with any of our memories of her. Obviously, she was in a very dark place. I honestly can't even imagine how bad it must have been for her. 

I've tried to right song lyrics to remember her, but I haven't been able to..., yet. It'll come eventually. It always does. 

If life has taught me anything (and it hasn't,) it's that we all go through periods when we are engulfed in darkness. The key to survival is to never stop searching for the light.

I love you, Ellen. And that will never end.

April

     

It's April. Praise Jah! And it's getting warmer. Mom is selling the house and moving back to Jersey, so that process has started. Exciting!

      Set an appt. today at work,  so all is well.

       The Mets are losing to the Nats. The Mets don't look bad, but the Washington looks great. These are my two favorite teams- the NYM, then WAS.
       
       Top 8th -  WAS 4 NYM 1

       Juan Legares (NY) is awesome. The Mets need to get rid of Lucas Duda and Ike Davis. Ike might do well somewhere else, but he is not a fit for NY.

       Monday, it took 3 hours to get to work. It was raining when I woke up. Then it was sleet when I left. And then it snowed. ESPN 1300AM Radio said "There's too many accidents to report." The Toyota wheels were freezing to the slush as I sat in stand still traffic.

        But let us never talk of that day again, my friends.