johnozed

I was off today and it’s been a good day so far. I am heading out soon to have dinner with Bill at Julio & Stine’s. I haven’t been to see them since maybe February and I’m sure it’s been longer since Bill had seen them. Today has been alright. Last night Bill and I finally sat down and talked about a lot of things and cleared the air. Things are as they should be.

I slept fairly well last night and woke up close to my usual wake up time this morning. Just as well since construction began on the apartment below soon after I got out of bed. I told Bill that he did not have to make coffee for me this morning, I could do it myself. So after a shower I had some coffee and headed out into the world. It was a warm enough day but lately you never can tell. I headed out to the supermarket and got a few things.

I did see Isis, my favorite cashier. The reason that I hadn’t seen her was because she had accompanied her son to school (sophomore year) and stayed there all day, all week since he was suspended. That was the only way to get around his suspension so that he could continue going to class. A pain in the ass for Isis and humiliation for her son no doubt. She must have had her son while she was still a teenager since she can’t be much into her thirties if you ask me.

After a hearty breakfast I was out and about. I ran into David Cogswell on the street. Now David Cogswell isn’t someone I know very well. He’s been in Hoboken for quite a while, perhaps even longer than me. He used to be a partner in Rogers and Cogswell, a bookstore in Hoboken back in the day. We have many mutual friends but I am quite sure that the two of us never really had a conversation, just a friendly nodding of the head whenever we would pass each other.

Thanks to being friends on Facebook, and admiring each other’s posts and photographs we now speak to each other, or at least started talking to each other this afternoon. Not much beyond small talk but it was nice to speak. He was just in Jordan on some tourist job and his photos were quite nice. He seemed to enjoy himself. I was off to the local record store to see if the latest Mojo and Uncut magazines were in.

They were. The Beach Boys on the cover of Mojo and Paul McCartney on the cover of Uncut. Both look like interesting reads, then again they usually are, which I why I buy them each month. I walked around Hoboken for a spell, overdressed though, in a leather blazer. I am still not sure if I should wear it when I walk up to Julio and Stine’s. Don’t want to be sweating like a horse when I get there. But the temperature will drop once the sun goes down I’m sure.

Well the sun went down and the temperature barely dropped a degree. I met Bill at the cinemas near where Julio & Stine live and there was a short line for the Avengers movie. We went up to their condo, Alexander as adorable as ever. Stine made a big pan of lasagna which despite two gavons like Bill and myself, there was still plenty left over.

Alexander was busy trying to get my attention or any attention from any adult nearby. Most every toy he had was brought out with much rolling of the eyes from Julio & Stine. 2 bottles of wine, some quality talk between Julio & myself like the two old friends we actually are. Stine and Bill were discussing Bill’s audition tomorrow and in doing so realized that if Bill was going to this audition tomorrow morning, we had better leave.

A walk home after very pleasant farewells, Bill & I passing by Hyman Gross’ old apartment. Hyman passed away a year ago this Sunday, so it was nice to pay some sort of respect. Now we’re home, I’m pleasantly buzzed, Bill’s ready for bed and Bill Maher prattles on. Back to the cigar shack tomorrow.

Rest in Peace Adam Yauch/MCA of the Beastie Boys




11 Sure Shot

Well today was a day off and after how things went asunder yesterday it turned out to be a good day to have off. The plan to go to upstate New York and visit with Bill’s cousin et al fell by the wayside for reasons to be revealed at a later date.

So we were home a lot earlier than expected and wound up cuddling on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, followed by Hannah and her Sisters and then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. We didn’t watch all of Deathly Hallows Part One sine we were both very tired.

Juan took a chance and texted me to see if we were around but it was mere minutes before we both headed to bed so I had to tell Juan no. I’m sure he understood, or at least I hoped he did. Bill and I slept well and he was awake before I was this morning.

He was busy doing something as I showered and made some coffee before heading out to the grocery store. Since Thanksgiving plans were mislaid Friday plans were now nonexistent, leaving me with nothing to do. I was sort of fine with it but still I would rather have had something or somewhere to go that would be fun and or at least enlightening.

Instead, laundry was done after breakfast. At the supermarket, Isis cashier supreme told me how her plans had gone awry and she too had wound up being home much earlier than she expected. She also mentioned that a few other customers had told her of their holiday plans gone to seed. I guess yesterday was a bit of a fiasco for a few people.

I was soon home, Bill shredding a lot of papers trying to clean the apartment. There is a lot to be done in that regard and I do my bit and he does his bit and still it is a Sysephesian Sisephesian task. It’s just as well that Juan is just about the only person that ever visits and here we were turning him away the night before due to our exhaustion.

I was able to get out and about for a while this afternoon, very sunny and warm in the 60 degree range. Not that crowded on the streets of Hoboken and still plenty of parking due to it being a holiday weekend. There was some texting going back and forth between me and Julio this afternoon culminating in a dinner invite for me and Bill with Julio, Stine & Alexander.

They had gone to Julio’s cousin’s house for dinner and now ere relaxing after a day trip to Bear Mountain this afternoon. Alexander played shy for a few minutes when he came back from the supermarket with his dad and then it was gloves off.

Out came the toys which were just put away an hour before. We had a wonderful spaghetti and meatball dinner with some nice white wine and quite a few laughs and applause when Alexander completed the alphabet. A very nice and enjoyable time followed by a nice walk home with Bill on the quiet streets of Hoboken.

We did not walk down Washington Street so we couldn’t say the bars were crowded but still the few bars we passed on Willow Avenue were not crowded at all. We are both happy to be home nonetheless.


Romantic Me

Back to work after a really nice day on Sunday. Sunday was spent sleeping in a little longer and then getting up and going out. Bill was sitting around the apartment as I headed out after a shower and a cuppa. As I was walking down the stairs, I heard some commotion below me and to my delight it was Stine and Alexander.

They were gathering things from their old apartment and I gave my Chewbacca holler to Alexander’s surprise. On the street was Julio waiting for them. We chatted for a while and made tentative plans to meet up later in the day. I left it up to them since they always have things to do.

After a trip to the supermarket I came home as Bill was getting ready to head out for the play he is stage managing. A nice breakfast was had, followed by coffee and emails and whatnot on the internets. Despite having some coffee I was feeling sleepy a few hours later so I thought that closing my eyes for a few minutes would do the trick.

But the coffee had other things in mind so I got out of bed and saw that Julio had phoned and texted wondering where I was. He and Alexander were in the park and were heading back to the building so Julio could collect his bicycle as well as Stine’s bike so the three of them could be a bike riding family. Alexander, 3 years old is already riding a bicycle with training wheels.

I have a key to the basement where the bicycles are so I went down and let Julio in. I recommended putting air in the tires so it would be a little easier to walk them up to their new apartment. That done we walked up the sidewalk Julio walking his bike, me with Stine’s bike and Alexander a few yards ahead on his bike, heeding Julio’s command to stop a few feet before the corner.

Within a little while we were in the garage were we parked the bikes. Then we walked over to a biergarten on 15th Street in Hoboken. I had heard of this place but hadn’t made a visit, mainly since I really don’t drink anymore. We sat and Julio and I had half liters of German beer while Alexander drank some milk.

Maybe it’s because I was out of the habit of drinking, maybe it was the really strong German beer but I was positively buzzing. We walked back to the apartment where Stine had made some lasagna. Stine is an excellent cook so of course I devoured everything on my plate and had seconds, and then with some prodding from Julio, thirds.

Then Alexander entertained us, well mainly me since Julio and Stine have seen his antics time and again. After all that it was time for me to go home and time for Julio and Stine to get Alexander ready for bed. Alexander and Julio walked me out and Stine gave me a care package of yet more lasagna to bring home.

The buzz wore off as I walked home, past Hyman Gross’ last residence. Totally unrecognizable, looked in better shape than it was when Hyman was alive. Then again how many home improvements could an 80 something man on a fixed income make on his own?

Bill was being photographed with Cornell West after a question and answer period after the day’s show so I watched Boardwalk Empire on my own, surprised at how violent this particular episode was. Then it was time to watch Pan Am, a guilty pleasure for sure which Bill walked in on halfway through.

A friend of his was in the show last night so I made a point to record it for him. We had a lot of laughs as we described the action as we triple fast forwarded to the scene where his friend was. It was a good day all around. Today was back at the cigar shack and it wasn’t so bad. Zack and Jerry Vale were in and it went well despite a few glitches in the system.

And with all that in the past, I am quite glad to be home now.