Fuck You Talking 'bout?

Houston,
Standing by for second stage ignition. Things are looking dicey. Still preparing for the best and getting systems checked and rechecked. Without second stage firing we..... Houston, hold on... wait. We have a failure in the AE25 circuit. Repeat, we have a failure in the AE25 circuit.
Looking to see if another EVA is necessary. Stand by Houston.

The ride down to Brooklyn, where Perch is is a long one. It's no short trip by any stretch of the imagin- ation. I took one of my fat assed books to kill the time. After switching and switching, I finally made it to the F train which would take me the rest of the way. No boys and girls not an easy trip.

Upon getting to Perch, I find the back lounge empty, where the reading is supposed to be. I ask the waiter, who refers me to the bartender, they tell me that there is to be a reading there for sure. I head back out, it's a real nice night out so I have every intention on waiting outside when I walk past, sitting at one of the table, D2theL! It's great to see him.

We wait outside of Perch, talking until Douglas, one of the hosts arrive and the three of us shoot the breeze, and here I start thinking, Hell, it's almost time to head back, an hour has almost elapsed. No, not by a longshot. Douglas goes in and gets the bartender to set up the back for the reading.

One thing that can be said for Perch, it is very cozy and upscale, reminiscent of the Nightingale back in Manhattan. It is a railroad restaurant, meaning that it's built in a straight line, from the front door to the back. Dining area, bar, lounge, outside deck. One straight construction. We sit at the bar and wait longer. I'm thinking that we are waiting for more people to arrive, but Douglas tells me that we are waiting for the co-host, Ellen. OH! Now that gives the waiting thing a whole different paint job. I was getting ready to call it a night and tackle that long train ride back home.

But no, the plan is to wait longer, until Douglas can wait no more and we begin the reading, suddenly Ellen arrives and we are set to begin. I don't know. Call me a wastrel but when we have too few people at the SHOUT OUT, I put it up to a vote. Do people still want to read, or hang out, talk and have a few beers, or just go the fuck on home. Shit, we can even read some of our work to each other, but why do we need the stage and the circumstance? Know what I mean? I guess I'm this way because I'm stuck with setting up the stage week after week, which is not hard, it's tedious. To have a break from that works with me.

But we go through the show. I do my reading, the Open Mic starts, and D2theL, Ellen and Douglas do theirs and then we wrap it up. I walk right for the door and then an alarm strikes in my head. I didn't pay for my beer! I head back, and so does D2theL, and we settle our tab. It seemed strange though, the bartender seemed like he was about to let us stroll right out without paying. He was even waving us goodbye and everything.

Whatever. D2theL rode part of the way with me uptown, and soon I peeled off for the West Side Line. I made it home about Eleven, and checked the mailbox. I was overjoyed to find a letter from the HRA, the agency behind the so called Fair Hearing. I open it when I get home. It reads:

Mandatory Appointment for Evaluation of Work Activity. As a person required to participate in work activities, you must participate in HRA-approved work activities for up to 35 hours per week. A mandatory appointment to review your work activity has been scheduled.

It reads wrong. It reads as if I have to go through the evaluation program, the assessment program, the very program that I'm taking them to Fair Hearing about, over again. This would make null and void my action and wipe the slate clean for them to railroad me twice. That's the way I see it. Tell me if I'm wrong. Either way you slice it, I want my adjournment. If computers save everything, they've saved the last three tries that I attempted getting an adjournment online. They know about my issue and know that I'm not giving up that easy. Since this came two days after the fax, could they have mailed all this shit out the same day?

I don't know. HRA is like a multi-headed hydra if you ask me. Whatever the case, once again, like I said, they've created a monster. You see, this beats sitting around in a room, churning air, like I said. Fucking with their forms, their webpages, my documentation. It gives me purpose, and what are we if we don't have PURPOSE. That's Agent Smith from the Matrix, just in case you didn't know.

And this is the Matrix baby....

And I'm Neo.

Hobobob