Tuesday, didn’t sleep well the night before. I was upset with Bill, upset with myself. There really wasn’t much of a reason to be upset. Misplaced two jazzies which I blamed on Bill who was merely vacuuming. It’s one of the few things that I look forward to after work, for some it is a scotch, for some it’s their kids, for me it’s a jazz cigarette. It really should be decriminalized and made easier to get so I won’t be stressed like I was last night. Bill was apologetic, I was uptight. Not a good combo in any event.

I had some wine which soothed my jagged nerves and went to sleep earlier than usual. I was surprised I was able to sleep with that chip on my shoulder. Bill came to bed soon after and woke me up, making it difficult to go back to sleep. As I nuzzled and lay next to him I mentioned something that made him take a shower. I was able to drift back to sleep but when he came back he smelled like a candy cane factory. He’s been using some peppermint oils for his back and applied a little too much which had the effect of smelling salts on me.

I couldn’t sleep after that and wound up watching television at 1:00 in the morning. Eventually sleep called and I answered and had very strange vampire dreams. This is what happens when my beloved jazzies go a missing. Last time the dreams where on an apocalyptic level. Horrible dreams that shook me awake. So I’ll take a jazz cigarette over those dream scenarios every time. So after fighting hordes of vampires I woke up to find Bill up and about and going to work around 6:30. I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to spend too much time with me. I didn’t want to spend too much time with myself either.

Work was ok. I actually sat in on a management meeting, not meaning that I am part of management, but they asked for my ideas and I gave them. The mandatory suit and tie regime would’ve been shot down had I brought it up. That was a joke. Ok not a good one. But I contributed to the meeting and left not feeling stupid, but glad that I had the ear of the CEO, Heinz Hasselblad, who happens to be a nice guy that I am older than. Whee!

Tonight, I am content with a jazzie. Bill just came home and I gave him a great big hug and kiss. We’re watching Spike Lee’s documentary, ‘When the Levees Broke’, special 4 hour showing on Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of New Orleans. It all happened a year ago but I was oblivious, for Bill and I were in our own emotional maelstrom. And like New Orleans we are still working out our way out of the emotions that crashed last year. It’s a tragedy that New Orleans is still a mess a year later. Too bad the American people are tired of the story. Why aren’t they fired up about the malfeasance of this administration? What the hell is wrong with them?

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.