March 19, 2026. One day until Spring. Technically, it’s good, though it does not always make any difference whatsoever. It was cold this morning. It was cold yesterday. Today I wore thermals. Yesterday I did not. Work is as it has always been. I prefer to sleep. In fact when en route to the major fruit stand, I did fall asleep on the train. I closed my eyes for a few minutes and found I had slept through a stop. I was at the end of the line so it did not matter to me but I was surprised nonetheless.

Right now, I am listening to whatever songs I may have liked on YouTube Music. Most of these songs are fleeting, and some songs hold up weeks later, sometimes though, it’s more like ‘what was I thinking?’ I just had Yoko Ono ‘Walking on Thin Ice’ playing, and I still know most every note and nuance 46 years later. What We Got On is playing now by JID and Don Toliver. I have no idea where I heard it from, but there it is.

It’s a Thursday. Slept OK last night. Got up 3 times to pee. Every 2 hours it seemed. Each time was less than a minute. I would have preferred to have slept uninterrupted, but that’s not how it worked out, obviously. At 4:15 AM, I did think it was time to get out of bed, but I realized I had 2 more hours to go. It was an uneasy 2 hours for what it’s worth. I do hope tonight will be different. Then again, I hope that every night.

8 minutes until Noon. The dividing line of the day. Midday they call it. I knew a guy named Midday back in the day. He was popular around the ski set of Maxwell’s. Also had a big package that he would show off when wearing spandex. It looked like he had a grapefruit in his crotch.

One day when Bill and I were walking the boulevard, we crossed paths with Midday, and his reaction to Bill was upsetting to Bill. It was to me as well, but it affected Bill a lot more. I did see MIdday years later. We both cleaned up our acts, he settled down with a woman who would not tolerate his dealing in powders just like Bill and me.

Now it is 5 minutes until noon. Time flies when you’re typing, I guess. Mike says I type fast, and when compared to Mike, I do. Bill’s typing puts me to shame. Juan used to fly all over the keyboard; he was born to it, whereas Bill and I had to learn it and overcome the stigma of men typing.

Oh I just can’t wait to go to sleep tonight. Funny how that was the last thing I wanted to do growing up. And when I was going out regularly, my attitude was I will sleep when I am dead. I don’t think that way anymore.

Marcus was just here for a moment. Not in one of his conversational moods.Brusque basically which is Marcus most of the time.

I had Wedny’s for lunch today and it was mediocre. Tomorrow I am going to have Halal which was good the past couple of times.

March 18, 2026, 2 days until the arrival of spring, though winter is still hanging in there. Cold this morning, and this time last week it was pushing 70 degrees. I was at the main fruit stand today, working mainly with Yancey, with Kimberley jumping in when needed. I was able to get through most of the day with no problem, and Yancey kept making announcements, ‘I have to go and audit this. I need to go audit that.’

But he never left, he never audited. I am coming up on a year at the fruit stand, and let’s face it, things that I was taught last year have fallen by the wayside, mainly because I have not been using these methods or tools as often as needed since the smaller fruit stand where I usually sit does not use those things.

Case in point, one guy drops off about 10 cards that are used to access the fruit stand. They were handed off and I incorrectly thought that the department that creates these cards would be the ones to inform the recipient that their cards were ready. I was uncertain and as I placed the cards in their protective sleeves I put them on the side in each slot just in case.

I saw a young woman who submitted her photo for this card and asked Yancey if I should just email her to let her know her card was ready. Yancey was surprised that I hadn’t done that already and felt that I just put the cards with the rest of the cards waiting to be picked up. He was upset and I tried to reassure him that it was no big deal. I would work off a list of the most recent requests for the past 2 weeks.

Whether or not he thought that such a thing could be done I don’t know since he walked off and I sat and emailed the ten people whose cards I held in my hands. It was really no big deal and when the big hand on the clock hit 12 and the little hand was on 5 I was out the door with Yancey not to be seen at all. He did mention that he needed to leave at 4:50 PM to get his things to the dry cleaners, it was just another announcement from Yancey that went nowhere.

About 44 years ago I worked in this neighborhood. The Statler Hilton Hotel used to be right across the street and HBJ had a division with offices in that building. It was a 2 man job that only had me working on it. I needed to find a parking spot to unload about 40 boxes of law books for the BAR/BRI review, get them on a palette, and get them up to the offices. No one to help as I tried to maneuver the streets.

I made it into the building and then had to wait for the elevator operator to finish their lunch hour and carry me up to these offices. It was not one of my better experiences, and a cockeyed memory from 44 years ago. I don’t think HBJ ever had someone to accompany me on this job, and I was left to do it on my own.