Place holder

I lived in a basement apartment once with exposed pipework running above in the ceiling. The guy above would flush the toilet and it sounded like a tub of Hot Wheels poured down the sewer. 

There were big double jointed spiders that just hung in corners until they decided to sprint across the floor. Here I go! I swear I saw them twirl their legs in full 360 circles once. The old landlady left doily lace curtains in the half window wells. They were yellowed, the color of coffee rings on formica. The spiders spindles website through them to make all encompassing nests.

My budget covered Wegmans brand vegetarian vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches made from an All Clad pan I pulled from bulk pick up. 

Once the bathroom ceiling leaked until water poured through the break in the plaster. Brown and laced with webby film must have been stuck there for days. I fixed the hole with duct tape and a layer of acrylic white paint, all bought at the dollar store.

It would have been haunted. A woman in the walls if not so boring. Placed on Foothill Avenue behind the Dennys.

The whole place was just ok. 

Time Sheets

Haunted by a lack of things to do

The cleaners decides to triple bag

All the cans. Bartenders drill deep shines 

Into wormwood. Red, brown, old blood

On sheets for the cleaning lady to scour

Baking soda and Dawn dish soap

Not on the list. So not in the Instacart 

Your mistake, not mine. Waiting

For things to do. To fill up the time sheets

Five minutes chatting with Kaitlynn with two n in her name. A meeting someone canceled.

A post with many exclamation points

Someone sent me a meme reel with no context. "White American NBA players!"

I replied thanks and haha. They replied they had been let go from their job. 

"Their loss," I replied. This is a line I honed after years of emphatic trial and error. I once worked with sooner who loudly proclaimed how, over an inconsequential weekend, how she got engaged. "And I got this!" she said flashing a silver ring with a square cut diamond. 

A year later, I learned through an ersatz meeting at copier she wad no longer with that fiance. "His loss!" That got a laugh. A flash of Baikal blur eyes and snuggle tooth smile.

I had said this to myself. Usually after not getting a job. I have been turned down for myriad jobs. I drive through greater Cleveland, OH and it's a laundry list of all the places that didn't hire me. 

That pie baking bastard! Those stiffs in the office park! The philanthropic foundation! The massotherpay clinic above the vacuum store! The local public theater! The coffee shop here and the coffee shop there! All didn't callback. Their loss! "A real sad story of opportunities lost," my wife says as she can't endure another tale of riding the bus for 45 minutes just for a no from the raw food cafe. Their loss!