The midweek shuffle bored. It is Wednesday, June 17. Slept well. Part of my sleep routine is a tincture of thc. Previously, I had purchased the Soothe tincture, which was not as effective as I had hoped. I did not do what was expected and left me hanging in nocturnal limbo too often. Now I have the Rest tincture, which does the job and enables a good night’s sleep.

Of course, writing that and tempting the fates leaves me wide open. Once I hit 7 hours, my body clock alarm goes off and I open an eye to check the time. This morning I had an hour to go, then about 20 minutes. Once again, I am up just a few minutes before the clock radio makes its presence known.

I knew I would need to get in earlier than usual since it’s been a fortnight since Yancy was last here and this morning Yancy was expected at the fruit stand once again. My job starts at 8:00 AM and I was in at about 7:35 AM. I would not be surprised if Yancy was actually in before that but he was not so that was good.

I was able to butter my bagel and enjoy it before he made his appearance. The desk phone is still kaput, so Yancy and Connell did what they could to fix it, but nothing could be done without perhaps some major deconstruction, like taking apart my desk and following the wires into the cloth covered wall.

It took them a few minutes to figure that out. And a visiting tech guy from the big fruit stand came to the same conclusion, that nothing could be immediately done. There has been no word from the people on the other side of the world since 9:35 AM and it is now 2:06 PM.

It’s not a pressing matter and the phone maybe rings 2 or 3 times a week. I was using the desk phone to contact Bill or Mike before I was told not to by Marcus. And Marcus was just here telling me he had about 3 or 4 cups of coffee this morning which is odd since he usually has 1 or 2. He’s trying to live a good life despite his woman problems, also from the other side of the planet.

I guess I should be honored that he occasionally spills his guts to me, perhaps there is no one else at this fruit stand that could or would listen to him, or at the very least provide some sort of objectivity.

It is a beautiful spring day and I had some halal food for lunch. It had been a few weeks and it was good, just a little bit boring but that’s on me, not the halal food vendors. They do treat me right and always remember me when I show them I have the same plastic bag from my last visit.

It is nice to be remembered by fellows who see hundreds of people a week. I’m sure they don’t smoke weed.

Today has started out alright, or so that is what I tell myself. It is a four day work week and of course, that means everything will proceed oh so slowly. Sunday night was spent watching Ted Lasso, the first season.

So enjoyable, so positive. So needed at this point in time. And having watched it a few times already, seeing how the characters develop, how their relationships grow and change. And knowing how things turn out for some of the characters sometimes shows something overlooked or forgotten.

A local news anchor has retired due to early onset Alzheimers. It was unnerving to read of their symptoms. Forgetting names and faces is something that occurs to me on occasion though I attribute it to 45 years if smoking weed.

A young woman who I grew up next to, Audrey Iwanicki Lisi passed away from early onset Alzheimers. She was just a few years older than me, though I am certain she did not partake of the weed like I had. So, it is a fear for me, but perhaps not enough of a fear to make me stop smoking weed.

Bill announced the other day he would be returning from the road on Friday, the 19th, Juneteenth. Mike also heard Bill say when he was returning so it’s proof that I am not going crazy. He told me last night he would be returning tonight. Someone dropped the ball regarding the schedule and itinerary.

I am glad he is returning but Mike sees this as time for him to go home, claiming he is giving Bill his space.

Just had a walk around the fruit stand area. It’s a warm spring day and I should have enjoyed it but I was waylaid by some sadness. Thinking about Audrey Iwanicki which is odd since I hadn’t thought about her in a while. The fear of what happened to her happening to me crept into my mind.

And the work things at the fruit stand. There’s no air conditioning, the desk phone is still not working.

I was thinking of jobs that I had years ago, specifically the Murdoch Magazines job. I worked with Catherine Cloud, Ann Boyles, Jimmy Lee, Ulysses and his brother Tony, Excer and Pedro, as well as Steve Saporito. I can’t forget Harpy or Jon Fried and Wolf Knapp nor Anne McIntyre or David Ebony!

I remember these people from over 30 years ago and have some difficulty remembering people I work with today. I blame the weed though on my lunchtime excursion, I did go to a dispensary to replenish my supplies. I am my own worst enemy.

I am thinking once again of taking a break from the social media. It’s all such bad news all the time. People behaving badly and it’s all on camera. Or people doing their skits badly and on camera. As I sometimes watch it, I find myself saying ‘why am I watching this crap?’ and there is no clear answer.

Sometimes it is a clip of someone that I did enjoy once, but not so much these days. Everyone is angry or aggravated. And I follow it, falling down an anger hole and making me angry or despondent or a combination thereof.