Monday back to work, first time I left the apartment in about 23 hours. Not much had changed, just that everything was wet. And it was quite muggy. Not much fun, and of course, as soon as I hit the street I was covered in hummus. That’s what I call being stuck in humidity. It’s seems most apropos. Got text messages from Felicia who has a high fever and wasn’t making it in to the office today. Been so long that either one of us worked a full week that I really wasn’t too surprised. Actually I would have been surprised if she showed up.

I saw Plantain Man sporting his wood as I bought two bananas from him. I asked if he went to Jersey City Pride and he didn’t know anything about it. Too bad, he would have fit in perfectly there and probably would have scored. I walked to the Path train listening to Justin Timberlake. Juan recommended it and I scoffed but at Jersey City Pride, I heard it on a huge speaker system and it sounded good. Real good. Good enough to think it was someone other than Justin Timberlake. I was intrigued enough to download both the dirty and clean versions. It is that good.

I also downloaded Sean Paul, ‘Temperature’, two songs to remind me of what a good time I had with Juan at Jersey City Pride. I went last year by myself and that was no fun. I wound up drinking too much crap beer and walking around by myself. This year, Juan made all the difference. He got my jokes and was a very good drinking buddy, the Gilligan to my Skipper. Juan has been turning me on to some really good Pop music, and luckily for me, when Pop music is good, I tend to love it. Under Juan’s influence I also downloaded the Pussycat Dolls with Snoop Dog and Christina Aguilera, and for my own taste, Plastic Bertrand and some Supertramp. Guilty pleasures indeed.

Work was ok, nothing special. Busy enough and also learning to relax which is easy when Felicia isn’t around. Most everyone asked how my weekend was, especially since I had a funeral to attend. Everyone had the same type of weekend, wet and dreary. Work was ok, it was looking like it was going to be a slow week. No clients coming in with a possibility of an early departure on Friday since it is a holiday weekend coming up. The celebration of labor.

The afternoon flew quickly and I was soon out the door smoking a cigar and headed to the World Trade Center Path train. In remembrance of the upcoming 5th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks they had placed various large photographs of that day, of the victims and firefighters and survivors. Tastefully done and gripping. I walked around and looked at the photographs while finishing my cigar. After that I walked down the stairs to the train station that was obliterated that September morning, I looked at the pavement and then at most of the people who all had the same look on their faces.