It is quite hummus out. I know I will be advised to change it to humid but I like hummus and substituting one word for another. I was at the main fruit stand today. I thought I would be filling in for Kimberly but was told Yancy likes Kimberley’s desk, and the day had some bold-faced names coming and going. I didn’t mind. That meant that Janis had to find a spot to work at since I was commandeering her desk next to Violet.

Janis was promoted a few months ago, and while she still does the menial tasks that I do, she has more responsibilities and is not shackled to her desk. Violet is closer to my age, and she’s a quiet type. Jimmy Chile insists that she is on medication, he claimed to have seen the tell tale eyelids fluttering. We get along fine and the only friction was deciding when each of us would take lunch.

I, being the noble sort, opted for 2:00 PM lunchtime, freeing Violet to have her 1:00 PM session with her therapist or someone like that. We were told no more late lunches like that. So Violet would have to have a non lunch and I will pull rank and take the 1:00 PM slot.

Bill is on the road and expected back tomorrow. Mike is here. He came over last night. It is good, the chemistry Mike brings fills the void, even if he just sits there looking at his phone. We watched some TV last night, alternating between Harry Potter Deathly Hallows and the last Star Wars movie.

Of course I have seen both before, several times and as Bill calls it, it’s comfort food, especially when compared to the awfulness of what is going on in the world these days. Familiarity breeds relaxation. By 10:30 PM I was tired but too tired to get a proper good night of sleep.

I did fall asleep on the PATH train home from the fruit stand, one end of the route to another. I nabbed a seat since I know where to stand when the doors open up and after reading Mojo Magazine a bit, closed my eyes and did some dreaming. I woke up in time as the train pulled into the Hoboken station.

Getting to and from the PATH station in Hoboken was a chore though. The NBA playoffs are going on tonight and most of the area surrounding Madison Square Garden was in lockdown with barricades and NYPD. The NYPD were somewhat belligerent as they’ve had to deal with rowdy crowds watching the games on the streets outside, and when the NY Knicks lost on Monday, they lost their shit and started fighting and jumping on cars and climbing lampposts. Not my scene.

In the 1990’s, I was more of a fan of the Knicks, and that was because of the people I was hanging out with. Julio, Miriam, Marcus, and a few other Rastas. But that was almost 30 years ago. Marcus is back in Guyana, Miriam is a married mother of three girls in upstate New York, and Julio is doing his paternal bit with his two boys. Those were the daze.

I suppose I need constant reassurance and even that might not work. I am working and Jimmy Chile always tells me I am doing a good job and would let me know if he heard otherwise. And I have been working on a project, a project that was labeled tedious when given to me.

I worked on it for a few days, and I found I was more than able to handle it, then at some point I worked on it long enough where it did not make any sense which was troubling. I had to walk away from it, to work on it the next day and that worked. But my self-doubt crept in, telling me that I had more than likely messed it up.

The time away helped and the first stage of the project was done. I was told to not do anything else until I heard from Marcus who was not around. Kimberly was a late addition to the project and supplied me with a template that she had made for this project, for me to send out to the people directly affected by it.

I took that as a green light as she had been talking to Marcus about it. I took the template, attached it to the names and sent it out, only to be asked by Marcus when he showed up if I had sent it out. I replied that I did, I had the template and it all seemed to go smoothly.

Then Marcus tells me that he and Yancy had an idea about the email that was sent, but I was told this too late. Not that big a deal, but I do feel I have egg on my face. If there’s a problem, it could be an easy fix, but then again, what do I know?

Tomorrow I will be working at the big fruit stand. Maybe filling in for Kimberly. I spoke with Janis about it, and she mentioned that Yancy really likes working at Kimberly’s spot, so that might be the case. I am fine with that. I would be working with Violet, which is fine by me. But nothing will be known until tomorrow.

Mike is coming over tonight, and that should be good. I haven’t seen him in what seems like a long time, but in reality it’s been a little over a week. His birthday is coming up, and then Bill’s birthday. It is doubtful that the beloved Wade will turn up for Mike’s birthday. Mike will probably be around for the weekend and perhaps a dinner at Grimaldi’s will be a birthday treat.

Things being what they are this year compared to last year, things will not be as expensive as they were. No Broadway shows this year. Low-key everything. Bill will be getting the lion’s share, I think, and even then there will be financial restraint. Tis the season to be broke I reckon.

I just had a phone call with Kimberly, and I probably sounded like an old fool.