it was rough today, i gotta admit, coming back to reality after being in paradise with a beautiful woman.
i applied for jobs i had never considered before. people are still giving me leads and thats so sweet of them. in the beginning i would drag my feet about it, but now im like, yep, lets apply, fine, who knows where this will lead.
one company was a tad annoying though, they asked for your LinkedIn url, and a resume… but then they made you manually redo all of that into another site.
why do you hate us?
one of the questions they asked was my high school address. do people lie about going to high school?
then the cubs lost. then my parking permit fell off my mirror and i got a ticket. then then then….
it wasnt a great day.
theyre not all gonna be stellar.
people are not returning emails. people who i thought i clicked with in initial interviews. one place asked me to analyze their website and social channels and i told them things i bet you nooooobody even thought about telling them, SEO magic tricks
i wrote them back on Monday and nothing. not a peep. a full on thank you next.
did the guy think i was too smart? too handsome? did he think it was a set up?
how do you not call me back when i show you how to improve your site in a way that will double traffic or more on Google and it’s just a few lines of HTML?
is everyone’s hearts hardened?
is this supposed to be happening for a reason? surely the reason cant be for me to go back to Ubering.
five hall of famers were there, the fans were warmed due to the unseasonably comfortable temps
cubs bats were hot, the pitchers shut out their foes
but i missed Harry.
sometimes i wonder do people miss me?
i was watching something on tv after the game – something about punk rock
and they said they were glad that this one or that one wasnt around anymore because
he was such a jerk to people.
and i wondered, do people think im a jerk?
it’s tough in life. they tell you to stand up for yourself. and for others. and for ideals.
but then they also say dont burn bridges.
amber and i went to church on sunday and the lady preacher was soooooo nice.
i made a point to shake her hand after all of it and tell her that i loved her sermon about the prime minister of new zealand and how the church was so wonderful and the music was so good
and how it was the first sermon that i had ever heard where the person said
if you are gay or straight black brown or white
if you are a believer or a non believer
you are welcome.
and she said i dont believe we have met.
am i that recognizable? i feel like i blend in to the gray walls so easily. but i guess not.
harry you are missed. your laugh. your energy. your love of so many things, not just baseball.
i love that when he got the job for the cardinals, the owner of the team, who was also the co owner of budweiser, said, harry you are so great, this town is yours. anything you want is yours and i will help you get it.
but just make sure you pose with your girl at the Sloane Park sign
and buy some tshirts for us
and say tip the Mexican guy with the Crazy Chips $3, he has a message for you
then buy a straw hat, you will be known for the hat.
then knock on the door of the Cubs poutine truck. it will be “closed.”
a blonde will approach you, ask to take a picture of her nails
we will sit you next to a family of Iowa farmers. when the long time pork farmer says “everything was good until those fucking tariffs were imposed on the Chinese” you know you have the right guy.
step into the open door at the Chicago Dogs stand. your envelope will be there.
and never forget. all the best have been let go. keep yr heart pure.
doing the project i was up all night and i havent been able to revert to a normal schedule which is not good because theres a long legged girl in my bed right now at 257am who wants me in there but im wide awake wishing there was a ball game on.
a friend of mine who works at this fancy place said she would put my resume on the right persons desk. she suggests i go on unemployment.
but i was a contractor at the end.
she said, youre over 40 and black. thats two protected classes.
i said did you not hear me i stepped down to do this project. i knew the risk i was taking. i wanted to do this thing. all my life i tell people to ask for what they want and dont freak out when they get it. i got it. why should i break any rules?
she said, you have nothing to lose, they might approve it
i said, i dont want to be on unemployment. i wanna do cool shit. life is short. i was on unemployment for way too long before i got picked up by the academy. it was never fun for me. i could never relax. i was always feeling depressed. a loser. i know the economy was bad, but i felt totally useless. the fact that i got The Best job out of that is great, but getting there was arduous. never again good friend. #bars
then she said disability then. and she texted me a link to all the things you can file for disability for. theres a disability for everything she typed.
i said, do you know the cubs won the world series? they won it after a rain delay in game 7 on the road in extra innings. and im not saying that the good people of cleveland arent deserving, but i have Always tried to be an honest, hardworking, genuine person. someone you could trust. they say look at someones friends to see who they are. all my friends are trustworthy. why would i want to be the friend who is on fake disability. at the college paper where we became friends it was like a competition to see who could write the better story poem song news article rock opera. not who could be the dirtiest liar. why use our energies on such a small game? if im gonna tell a lie i want to do it in a novel that sells for a ton more than a damn disability check.
she said, you should also stop blogging and stay off social media.
i said WE ARE TALKING ON FACEBOOK MESSENGER RIGHT NOW!
she said do you know how many rich guys i know and hang out and work with and work for. how do you think they got what they got?
i typed, right now im looking at my living room tv. under it are some old dvds an old broken desktop computer. a weird lamp. a broken Roku, a PS2. some autographed balls from people i know. i can look at all of those things and know i earned the money fair and square to buy them. i didnt cheat anyone. i didnt lie. i did the work earned the money bought the crap.
i could never enjoy looking at a tv that i had to lie to buy. i dont know how these politicians who take money from wicked sources actually walk into their mcmansions and sleep right. it would give me nightmares. in free solo that climber got an mri and it showed that he has no fear in his head. these dudes must have no conscious in there. mine is enlarged. and im glad. midwest represent.
she didnt reply. it was late and either she passed out or was bored.
then she came back on. what did any of that have to do with the cubs and game 7?
i said, oh. they barely won because of karma. we had slightly more than the other guys. i would never want to fuck up the karma for the cubs or my friends by doing shady shit. lets make good magic. lets lead by example. lets be the cool story people tell each other not oh that fool yeah he sucks.
my favorite movies are rock documentaries and either its someone doing something fucked up to the band or the band doing fucked up things to themselves. just be cool.
then she sent me the thumbs up sticker and i went straight to twitter against her advice. sorry.
as are the Brewers. imagine you host a fan fest… a convention for all your fans to come to celebrate the team, get autographs, buy crap, get up close and personable.
but then imagine that even though theyre wearing uniforms with numbers on them you also need them to use nametags.
poor poor milwaukee
cubs fans terrorize them. they flock up there for cubs games. it’s only a 90 mile drive. it’s closer than isla vista is to hollywood.
brewers knocked the cubs out of the playoffs this year, then lost to the dodgers, who then lost to the red sox.
but the cubs were hurt and the brewers played perfectly. which wont happen again. which is why they’re more salty about the cubs than vice versa.
the Cubs had two chances to avoid elimination over the last two days and they couldn’t hit, even in extras last night at Wrigley.
they lost Monday to Milwaukee who they shared the best record in the NL with, and they lost yesterday to the Rockies who had the disadvantage of arriving in Chicago at 2am after losing to the Dodgers in LA.
Jon Lester and the rest of the bullpen including a couple of starters held the Rockies to just a couple of runs but the Cubs had a hard time doing shit, and really blew an opportunity with the bases loaded late in the game.
this brings me mixed emotions because the Cubs were not dominate this season despite their great record. it was the 4th year in a row that they made it to the post-season but they seemed to limp in. Nobody was smoking hot going into these last two games except for Lester. KB was still hurting, Strop made a sparkling guest appearance but was hurt, Contrearas had to take a long pause after a swing at the plate, Yu never made a contribution to the team, nor did our actual closer whose name escapes me because HES DEAD TO ME.
so here’s what i would do if i was Theo, this offseason.
i would trade the following players to the Angels for Mike Trout and the Bears top 2 draft picks in 2020 and 2021:
Kyle Schwarber
Addison Russell
Joey Amalfatano Jr
Daniel Murphy
Ian Happ
And Yu Darvish and half his salary
I know the Angels already have Albert Puljos and that The New Babe Ruth at DH but I NEED TO GET HIM OUTTA MY FACE TRADE HIM AGAIN IF YOU WANT ANGELS HES A DH
This would be an expensive trade for the Cubs because Darvish’s salary is like 25 mil a year and hes got 5 years left. But the Cubs built a damn hotel over the McDonalds on Addison, don’t tell me they dont have any damn money.
After acquiring and signing Trout I would knock on the door of Mr. Bryce Harper and I would say, we don’t need-need you any more but we would like to have you because KB and Rizzo seem to like you, but you’re gonna have to cut your hair bc it’s ridiculous and you’re gonna have to accept a different offer than what everyone else is sending you. instead of 5 years at $25 mil each, how about 9 years at $19 mil each, with a million dollar bonus for each World Series we win? otherwise, have fun in NYC, no one will like you there and your life will be miserable.
if the Angels want David Bote too, fine. They deserve some young blood, but we get to take back one of Da Bears’ picks.
and because they won, and because they have the same record as the milwaukee brewers, and because the cubs beat the brewers more than the brewers beat them this year
tomorrow they will play each other at wrigley field
to see who is the champion of the NL Central.
now the good news is whoever loses tomorrow is still in the playoffs because their records are so good
but the winner gets home field advantage through the playoffs
and they get an extra day off
two things the Cubs could seriously use.
i feel good about tomorrow because the Cubs are playing a lot better than they have the last month
and they’re at home, and they tend to beat the Brew Crew
and the Bears played incredibly today
and good things are happening to me personally
and the weather has been great
so tonight amber and i celebrated by going to sushi. she had just gotten a really good tip. we had soup and sushi and edamame. it was really nice. but the whole time i had a hard time relaxing
because once a week i have to do these check ins and
all i want is to be left alone when im being creative.
all i want is to be trusted.
youd think after over 50 years of rock n roll people would look at my record and know not only am i responsible but imma kick ass at what i set my mind to.
when i was in high school i took an Iowan college up on an offer to visit their school.
a bus drove around suburban Illinois picking up kids like us who had signed up to spend the night in Cornell College. on the bus i saw two beautiful young ladies, Rise (pictured, left) and her best friend Tracy (not pictured). i enjoyed the college but i knew i was probably going to come to LA for my studies.
so before we got on the bus for the long ride back to Illinois i made sure that i sat near the two pretty girls, and i succeeded. not only that but we all hit it off. Tracy and Rise didn’t go to Cornell either, they chose, instead a school in Wisconsin. Since these were the days before the internet (!), we wrote letters back and forth and occasionally i called Tracy because i had, what the kids called, the hot for her, which i no disrespect to Rise who had the bluest eyes ive ever seen.
one day Rise told me she was going to spend a semester in Switzerland and i should visit her. i laughed it off because i was 20. who goes to Europe when they’re 20 simply because they were invited? i was selling TVs in west LA and i was doing pretty well at it. one thing led to another and i found myself not going to UCSB right away. i had 4 months to think about the bad job i had done at Santa Monica College.
so i wrote Rise and said, see you at the Swiss Army Knife Store! and i went to Europe for the first time and it changed my life. one thing i learned was travel is relatively inexpensive. another thing was that people around the world understand American politics better than most Americans. “Foreigners” are able to see past the racism that is intertwined within US politics and question it. miraculously. it made me feel guilty that i wasn’t as educated in politics as much as i should be.
from that trip i started subscribing to newspapers because all the smart people i met read at least one paper and often three. subsequently, each time i have visited europe i found that my first trip wasn’t unusual: europeans not only know US politics inside and out, but they also know their own, brilliantly. they also know several languages, how to drink, and how dangerous guns are in society.
looking back at this, now 30 years later, i feel so blessed that i went on that bus to a college i knew i was never going to attend, and had the courage to chat up the two hottest babes on that bus, and was in the position to be able to visit Rise (and her super cool friend Ae) in Switzerland, a trip that led me to visit several other countries on that journey… because it deeply shaped me as an adult. and i am so grateful. sooooo grateful.
am i here to give hope?
