It’s Monday and of course that means back to work. Bill spent the night at his folks last night because he had to take his father to the VA hospital again for more tests. Everything is ok, but his father is 84 years old and check ups should be more frequent than they have been the past couple of years. Everything went well until Bill started butting heads with his mother, causing Bill to leave the apartment and head out into the cold streets of Stuyvesant Town. He didn’t go too far, just dropped in on his cousin and her family to see how they were doing.

What with all that is going on around him, Bill is turning into a most stable kind of fellow. Which is good. A step up. We all have our moments to be there for other people and now it is his turn and he’s handling it quite admirably. It was bitter cold out this morning, the morning news shows kept repeating the temperature of 9 degrees and how it’s actually going to get worse before it gets better. Once again I wore my late fathers silk long johns, which is a bit creepy but as long as he’s not in them it’s ok and I know Annemarie washed them before she gave them to me.

It was brutal waiting in the bus shelter for the bus. Strong winds stabbing you with cold air, no matter how many layers you might have on. Soon enough the bus did arrive and I assumed my place in the back of the bus. I really don’t talk to anyone until 8:30 when I get to the office. I walked the streets, listening to Neon Bible by the Arcade Fire which is sounding more and more incredible with each play on the iPod. I loaned the leaked version to Julio on Saturday night though he didn’t remember getting the first cd which I loaned him a few months previous. I guess I’ll burn a copy for Annemarie when the time comes.

Work was ok. Everyone seemed low key. Occasional comments about the Super Bowl floated around but no in depth discussions which was more than fine by me. Never much into football. My parents used to have season tickets to the Giants home games and they would drag me against my will. I never wanted to go. Too cold and boring, though when puberty hit, I usually found some reason to watch the field through a pair of binoculars which would be returned somewhat fogged up. And if I wasn’t watching the field, there was usually an alpha male in the vicinity to check out, sometimes close enough that binoculars wouldn’t be necessary.

At work, Stephen Daedalus was setting up a program so I could do work at home. The data entry work which is piling up despite my earnest attempts, could be done at home on my own time after work and it would add to overtime which is a good thing. It would be ok with me to do some data entry here, I tired a few times but never had the proper authorization, so after I write this, I have to log off and then back in as an administrator to see if I can get that ball rolling. Overtime is good, and overtime at home, while on my time seems to be much better. So I’d better get on that. Cheers!

It’s a bitter cold Sunday. Been indoors most of the day, except when I went out twice for food. I hung out with Stine and Julio last night. Stine had stopped working on the model and didn’t want to hang out by herself. She also had bought some Guinness which was enticing enough to get me to go down two flights of stairs. I went down after watching some Scrubs episodes with Bill around 8:30. We just hung out talking and drinking and eating BBQ potato chips. Julio showed up after working over twelve hours in a sound stage in Queens.

He was understandably beat but once he had a bottle of Stella Artois and some lasagna that Stine had made the other day he was in a decent frame of mind. We all sat around the table drinking and listening to Scritti Politti and the Beatles ‘Love’ cd. Julio had gotten me that cd for a X’mas present but Annemarie had beaten him to it by about a month. He didn’t have a chance to give it to me before he flew to Denmark for the holidays. I asked him if he had it yet and he said he didn’t so I re-gifted it to him right then and there.

It was good to have some reheated lasagna last night. It certainly hit the spot after a few pints, though by 11:30 I was ready for sleep. I did catch a good piece of Saturday Night Live but really couldn’t tell you what I saw. I woke up around 8:30 and after showering and some coffee I headed out to get the bagels. Stine said that she was going out for them as well as the papers but I didn’t see any shopping bag hanging from my doorknob with bagels and newspapers in it.

I didn’t mind as I wasn’t suffering really after last night’s pints. It was a cold dry arctic air with stabbing winds that made exposed skin instantly tighten up. There were very few people on the streets at 9:00 in the morning. Too cold for many. There was a lot of broken glass though as if someone had smashed their apartment window on the corner of 7th and Washington. Wrong night to break a window, that’s for sure. I got my bagels and the newspapers for Julio and Stine and myself and hung theirs on the doorknob as I passed their apartment.

That was my initial foray into the cold air. The second was when I went to the supermarket to get some dinner. The aisles were packed with a lot of people out buying groceries and snacks for what seemed like Super Bowl parties. I bought what I need and was out of there within 10 minutes, some sort of record I think. Now I’m just hanging out, dressed in layers reading and watching the telly. That seems to be the plan for the evening. Do any of you have a problem with that?

I didn’t think so.