Back to work again. Yesterday was a nice enough day, walked around the Village for a bit by myself. No one else wanted to go though I didn’t ask everyone. I should’ve asked Rand if he wanted to join me but he was probably working. Julio declined since he was doing chores, like shoe shopping at a shoe outlet in Secaucus. I found that out after the fact of course. But I couldn’t have gone since I did want to get some Valentine’s stuff for Bill and I hadn’t been to Farfetched in a while. Juan would’ve joined me if he were only around I’m sure.

Had a nice talk with Annemarie as I was making macaroni and cheese. I asked Annemarie if she’d be able to write down the recipes that our mother used to make. Not that she was that great of a cook, since she cooked to please my father. I remember telling her that if and when I got married to a woman I was going to make sure she could actually cook. I don’t think she was offended by that and I don’t think I was gay at that time. Ah those were the days, 13 years old with a life plan all laid out in front of me.

Watched part of the Grammy Awards last night. The Police are reuniting for a world tour which by the end of the tour they’ll be back to hating each other and carting wheelbarrows full of cash to the bank. The opened the show, singing ‘Roxanne’ which was good, and interesting to see Sting sing in his cod Jamaican accent again. I remember the first time I head the Police, riding to high school with Scott Miskuff who was playing his brother’s copy. I thought it was Boston actually. That was the time that the Police were considered punk rock.

There wasn’t too much after that to ensure me watching the rest of the broadcast. Julio called once or twice through the show telling me that Prince was on, and also that Arif Mardin had died last year. SOMEBODY doesn’t read the blog. Oh that Julio. I watched Rome on HBO which can be fun to watch while reading I, Claudius which is the story after what happens on Rome. Maybe 50 years later. Also read another chapter of I, Claudius on the ride into the city this morning on a very crowded bus. Most of the time my nose is buried in a book or magazine and I don’t even realize we’ve arrived until I see people getting off the bus en masse.

Work was ok. Fairly quiet. Wally was out, having had an ear operation on Friday and recovering over the weekend. He’s expected back tomorrow and a major snow storm is expected Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. I’m looking forward to that. I don’t drive and it does make everything look nice for the first 24 hours and people are generally nicer to each other. And we need the snow, if only for the reservoirs. I don’t want a drought this summer.

Here’s some pics for the sake of having some pics.

Last night went to see ‘Dreamgirls’ with Bill and we didn’t get home until 10:30 or so, and I didn’t want to get started on a blog. I just wasn’t feeling it. So here I am making up for lost time. The movie was good, not as good as ‘Chicago’ which was written and directed by the same guy I believe. Both are movies of Broadway musicals so the comparison is justified, especially with Bill Condon at the helm. One of the problems I had was that the songs that take place in the sixties, sound like they were written in the seventies.

Jamie Foxx was great as usual and Eddie Murphy was pretty good in his composite characterization of James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye and a touch of Ike Turner. The girls were good, Beyonce as Deena, the Diana Ross character, Jennifer Hudson as Effie, the Florence Ballard role, the third role is thankless, Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell or Mary Wilson. Of course this has a happy ending, Effie/Florence lives and rejoins the Dreamgirls for one last song. All in all it was an ok movie, something to see and get you off the couch and into the theater.

They can change the theaters on 42nd Street but they will still have an odd assortment of people that go to see movies and sometimes talk back to the screen. An interesting threesome in front of Bill and myself, I overheard one of them talking about Catherine Deneuve in Belle du Jour. Not the sort of people you’d expect to overhear talking about a Luis Buñuel film.

Came home and watched SNL with Bill for a spell before he crapped out. I watched the whole show, Forrest Whitaker was pretty funny. After that ended it was time for me to go to bed. Bill’s been wrapping his arms around me as soon as I hit the bed and if I don’t position myself correctly his arms which are so heavy can wind up squeezing my ribs which can be uncomfortable. It takes a few minutes of positioning and adjustment before I actually drift off to sleep. It is nice to be wrapped up in someone’s arms though.

Woke up at around 8:00 this morning, Bill getting ready for church, me getting ready for nothing in particular. I walked out and got the papers and some bagels, remembering to get Julio and Stine their paper and bagels to hang on their door knob as I passed the third floor landing. Bill was off to church when I got back and I had some eggs and read the papers and had my coffee. I was finally able to access my computer at work and did some data entry for about an hour and a half which will be counted as overtime.

Talked to my brother Frank for an hour on the phone, just shooting the shit talking about music mainly. That was fun. Don’t have too many opportunities to talk to him on the phone like I used to with Frank and Annemarie among others when I had an 800 number at Wanker Banker. But that was in the past and I’m tired of staying too long looking at it. Annemarie reminded me of that when I was talking to her on the phone a little while ago.

I walked around the city for a couple of hours, stopping into Farfetched to buy some Valentine’s Day paraphernalia for Bill this week. Some cards and an empty heart shaped box that I plan on filling with Starbursts which is his candy of choice lately. I hope I don’t have to pick up the wrappers.