And it went as little something like this. Bill spent the night at his parents and I had to get to work early once again. It was Thursday and I had off on Friday, due to the fact that Bill and I had tentative plans to go see the B-52’s out by Coney Island. I say tentative since Bill had been sick with a cold the past few days and neither one of us was sure about whether or not he could make it. I did my usual puttering about the apartment, making coffee, taking a shower etc. As usual I also sat down in front of Bill’s computer to check whatever emails I might’ve received overnight.

I sat in front of his screen, a cup of coffee at my side when suddenly his wireless mouse fell to the floor, separating into two or three parts. I was upset by this and tried for a few minutes to put it back together, hoping that I wouldn’t have to buy him a new mouse. I couldn’t do put it back together as I sat there and sweated in my underwear with one eye on the clock. The weather report stated that there was a chance of thunderstorms but I didn’t put too much faith in that despite hermetically sealing all windows in the apartment before I left.

I had to make some stops before work since with Felicia being out sick and me being out on Friday McMann and Tate would be short staffed. It wasn’t so bad, just had to buy a lot of organic milk and wound up buying myself some cookies for my troubles. Cookies almost always reduce my troubled quotient. The day started also with reports of a plot to blow up several jetliners flying from England to the US. A bad scene indeed but caught in time by MI6 in the UK. Cheers to them. This also meant that the various big wigs from the UK offices visiting would be in the office a bit longer than I had anticipated, though I could be wrong since I had no idea what their itineraries where.

There was also a casting call at McMann and Tate, which meant that various children and their stage parents were walking around my desk waiting for their headshots to be done. One of the parents accidentally left behind a FedEx envelope and kept phoning me to see if and when they could pick it up. I told them that I would be here until 6:00 and they had until then. An hour or so Malik Yoba, formerly of ‘New York Undercover’ shows up asking for his envelope. He seemed like a nice guy and I felt bad for thinking he was a knucklehead to leave behind his important papers.

After a run in with a messenger, him yelling at me, me phoning his company, I left the office at 6:00 as planned. I had a plan to walk over to Prince Street to catch the N train to Coney Island. I had heard from Bill who had sounded incredibly better and was really looking forward to the show. He had gotten on a train in Times Square and was on his way to Coney Island as I stood at Prince Street and every train but the N train stopped by. Turns out the N doesn’t run all the time there, despite the sign on the stairway saying that it was an N stop.

Somehow I was able to get a signal for the cellphone in the station and told Bill who suggested that I get on an R train and switch to a Q train at DeKalb Avenue. Bill is very good at planning travel and sure enough came through with his righteous suggestion. The show was scheduled to start at 7:30 and I got there in a morose mood about that time.

Bill was as fantastic as ever, bolstering my spirits considerably. We met up after finding that Martha Wash, formerly of the Weather Girls was opening but they were waiting for a report on whether the approaching storm was going to last. Martha sang admirably to a backing tape, singing her club hits and finishing with ‘It’s Raining Men’ just as it started to pour.

Bill and I found some shelter under our umbrellas as water started to rise all around us. We hadn’t heard of any canceling the B-52’s show so we decided to stay. We ran into my former neighbor, Charlie and a friend of his who did not have umbrellas before it started to rain and wondered if we’d be able to hook up via cellphones. Charlie and his friend went to a bar as me and Bill stayed outside in the park. There was a large police presence but when it really started to rain all the police vanished and Bill suggested I light up my jazz cigarette then and there.

I followed his suggestion and mellowed out considerably. After about 20 minutes of rain it stopped and the show eventually went on. I sang all the words to all the songs, and to my surprise Bill knew a few of the songs. I suppose after 6 years of being together he was bound to recognize some of their music. They all looked great on the jumbotron, Kate, Cindy, Fred and Keith. We danced a bit in torn sheets in the rain. Actually it stopped raining and there weren’t any torn sheets. But dance we did. The cops stood around laughing at the various people dancing on the muddy grass and singing along to Love Shack, Deadbeat Club, Dance This Mess Around and a whole lots of other songs.

Set List courtesy of Chaz:
9:24PM
Strobe Light (“kiss your Coney Island” instead of Pineapple!)
Private Idaho
Dance This Mess Around
ROAM
Channel Z
Mesopotamia
Dead Beat Club
52 Girls
Quiche Lorraine
Cosmic Thing
Love Shack
encore
Planet Claire
Party Out of Bounds
Rock Lobster
10:34PM

We walked back to the Q train that just pulled in, couldn’t find Charlie or his friend but went along with the good train karma. We rode that all the way to 34th street where we had a Path train waiting for us, more good train karma. This is payback for good things that have been done by us and having a train waiting in the station made all the difference in the world.

We were home by midnight and Bill was able to put his mouse together, reassuring me that he dropped the mouse a few times and the same thing happened to him. I didn’t feel so bad, but too tired to stay up late to write this last night, so I’m writing this now.

It was great of Bill to rally his health, and make it to the show. He knows how much I love the B-52’s and I know how much he loves me, and he really wanted to be at the show with me. He is truly a great guy, the love of my life. Te quero mucho, I think.

Wednesday. Humpty hump day. Had to get up earlier than usual and get to the office since there were a lot of meetings and guests expected. I was out the door at 7:15 after having my shower and coffee and trying to help Bill find his cellphone. I couldn’t find it and I tried calling it but apparently he turned it off last night before going to sleep. That was odd since Bill usually has it on just in case. I remember this since we had an argument about the cellphone months ago, and how his mother couldn’t reach him since I insisted his phone should stay in the other room.

But he turned it off and somehow the phone fell onto the floor. He called me as soon as he found it, which was about two minutes after I left the apartment and was walking down the street. Last night was a bit odd. Had a couple of beers and a chilled shot of vodka, eventually winding home in a polite buzz. Juan came over as expected and somehow wound up drinking half a bottle of Absolut. I was perturbed by that. He was drunk. He said so himself, while also being astounded at his comprehension of the Spanish language, while watching a Spanish film. Methinks, he’s never seen a film by Almodovar. I have to rectify that somehow in the next couple of weeks before the lad goes back to school.

Bill came home, coming down with a cold. He had some yogurt and hung out with Juan and myself. He had a bad session with some casting agents in a seminar and it didn’t go as well as he had planned. He was dejected and congested. I tried reaching out to him, surprising him by putting on ‘Rescue Me’ the Denis Leary firefighter show. There was Bill in the queue for the bus right behind Denis Leary. It cheered him up a little bit but still he was somewhat morose. I found out that that particular episode was on when my brother Frank called me to tell me that he had just seen Bill on the show.

After Bill’s appearance and Juan’s departure, I went to bed. I slept alright and like I said, had to get up earlier than usual. Bill searched for his phone I left. I got on the Path train and actually had a seat when I ran into Julio’s cousin Anna, and Stine. Stine who graduated from architecture school last year is doing some work with Anna who has her own architecture firm. I mustered enough energy to walk over and sit next to them chatting away, then getting off at Ninth Street. Got the usual bagel and then set about starting up the office. Today’s text message from Felicia was that the infection that she has has spread to her central nervous system, which is definitely not a good thing. Everyone in the office is understandably concerned and is trying to think of something nice that the company can send her.

I shone like the sun today running around setting up and taking apart conference rooms and shuffling guests. I was noticed and appreciated. It felt good. Another good thing is that I got my camera back. I also heard from Rand and we made tentative plans to meet up on Friday so that he might be able to install the goddamned network card since it doesn’t seem like Song will be here anytime soon to help me out.

I am also wishing for good weather, as I plan to take the train after work to Coney Island to see the B-52’s play at a free show at Asser Levy Park. Cross your fingers.

Do it!