Monthly Archives: April 2009

Behind Bars

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Well it’s been an overcast and blustery day today. It’s a Saturday and it’s definitely an improvement from yesterday weather wise. I Bill and I watched TV last night O & RM actually. It’s a been a while and we caught as RM & O since we caught Rachel Maddow first. Bill went to sleep soon after the O show which wasn’t hosted by Keith Olbermann last night.

I stayed up and watched Bill Maher which was so so, I can’t stand David Frum, so smug he makes Christopher ‘itchens look ‘umble. Tried catching Letterman after that but couldn’t get into it. Went to sleep feeling good and woke up pretty much the same way.

Quite nice waking up next to Bill who has a lot on his mind. I just try to be there and listen. He was still sleeping when I went out and did the morning supermarket thing. Planned on getting a hair cut but my barber Tony was busy at 9:00.

Bagel shop was crowded again so maybe I have been catching it on down times and they’re not hurting from the economic climate. Nice breakfast, Bill up and about, cleaning. It’s an ongoing struggle. I figure once his end is cleaned up I’ll do my bit. Really!

And it won’t all go under the bed, out of sight.

I tried again for a haircut and I lucked out. Tony’s chair was vacant and he was puttering around in the corner making some French Vanilla coffee which I was offered and declined. Tony noticed I did get my monthly haircut last month and I explained how my work week has been shortened.

He understood and asked for some encouraging words. I guess he turns to me for information about the present situation and I did my best. Not so much doom and gloom, little or no sturm und drang. Y

ou have to be careful with that sort of thing when there’s someone standing over you with sharp objects. Tony did a good job and also trimmed my goatee.

Bill was gone by the time I came back and I did various things around the apartment meaning listened to music and surfed the net. I decided to head out after watching the Broken Hearts Club which was a movie that Bill and I saw when we first met. A gay date movie, and it’s actually pretty good. I liked it more now that I did 9 years ago.

It was pretty windy and cool out but I didn’t mind. Had a good talk with my nephew Earl which was fun. I look forward to seeing him this summer, hopefully I’ll be able to take some time off. As I was walking around I ran into Karen Kuhl who I’ve loved for years.

I first saw her in Gutbank which was a local Hoboken band in the 1980’s . I found her charismatic and I loved her songs. Then Gutbank broke up and reformed as Sexpod with some new members. Now she performs as herself, in the Karen Kuhl Band.

She was feeling a little down and I was pouring on the positivity. Something about her and few other women that I just get energized by and love to make them laugh which I did with Karen for a few minutes this afternoon. I should make it a point to go check her out next time she plays.

Other than that, it was just a gray Saturday afternoon in Hoboken.

I also heard from Juan on the phone today. He might be stopping by tonight. He wanted to go out, perhaps in the city but I had to bring him down to Earth with explaining to him that money was tight.

Buds

Buds

moving out

moving out

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Down From Dover

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It’s a late Friday posting. And what a day it’s been. No word from Harpy all day so I guess I’m on his shit list. I couldn’t tell you if it’s a long list or a short list or even if there is a list at all.

Still he’s back in the good graces of Susan and so I guess I’m out of his good graces, or graces period. A gray cloud of Harpiness hung overhead through most of my day.

I did enjoy sleeping until 9:00 this morning, woke up checked some email and found I had a new T Mobile bill. A bill that is over twice the usual amount. Apparently according to them I went over my 600 anytime minutes.

I suppose that was possible since there was a few long calls with Harpy before 9:00 and I found out today that mobile to mobile calls aren’t free. And a few long calls with my brother Frank during daytime hours too.

Plus a $9.99 text charge which more than likely came from the ‘IQ’ test I took via Facebook and had the answer sent to my phone. Apparently having an ‘IQ’ of ‘145’ isn’t smart enough to outfox a texting scam like that so be forewarned and learn from my mistake.

So a part of my morning was arguing with Tiffany and Chris from T Mobile. Actually there was no arguing, it was me venting as I drank my first cups of coffee and Chris and Tiffany thanking me and apologizing.

It was a drizzly gray morning as I did my laundry which now hangs on racks and in the bathroom drying in the dampness. I had a plan to meet up with Mr. & Mrs. Casey Chasm this afternoon. Casey Chasm asked if I liked lasagna and I said I sure did.

Around 1:30 it was still drizzling out as I headed over to the Chasm residence. It wasn’t so bad when I left my building but as I walked a few doors up the block, the sky opened up and I reached for my umbrella which didn’t do any good besides keeping my upper torso and head relatively dry.

Everything below the waist was wet. I needed to run to CVS and when I left CVS it was still pissing out. I decided the best thing to do would be to head home since the sneakers, socks and blue jeans I was wearing were quite soaked. Up four flights of stairs for a quick change and then I was out on the street again where it had stopped raining.

I hung out with Mr and Mrs Chasm, chatting. They even got me to play Wii which I did for the first time. I did good on bowling, on tennis I won over Mr Chasm though Mrs Chasm wiped the virtual tennis courts with Johnno’s body.

Then came boxing and it wasn’t foxy boxing to my chagrin. Casey Chasm went easy on me but my left uppercut was most ineffectual which was understandable since I didn’t think an uppercut was actually possible.

He set the Wii for training after a practice round, me throwing punches all arms akimbo, Casey Chasm all tight and controlled. I was getting hungry, looking forward to some lasagna when Bill called.

His mother was being moved from Beth Israel hospital to a center on Roosevelt Island. He asked if I could go with him and of course I said yes. I made a hasty exit from the Chasm abode and on my way home had a slice of lackluster pizza which while filling couldn’t compare to homemade lasagna.

I went home again, up four flights again and unloaded some crap and got some new crap. I needed something to read since I was going to be back on the bus on a late afternoon on Friday.

That meant some rush hour traffic which like last time, brought me closer to 34th street rather than 42nd street where the bus terminal is. Two other passengers and myself persuaded the drive to let us off on 35th street and I once again navigated the crowds milling towards either the bus terminal or Penn Station.

I got to Bill’s office building and he came down a minute or so later. We then caught an F train to Roosevelt Island. The plan was to have Bill and I there at the facility when he mother arrived, to have two friendly faces to make her transition a little bit easier.

We got there a little after 6:00 and waited for nearly two hours when we found out that Bill’s mother wasn’t going to be transferred tonight after all. Bill handled that news admirably and we had a pleasant walk to the Tram which we took back to Manhattan.

I had never been to Roosevelt Island so I took a few snapshots.

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from the Tram

from the Tram


We got off the Tram on 59th street and would have walked back to the bus terminal smoking our cigars, but of course that wasn’t going to happen since it was raining once again. We rode the subway to the bus terminal and caught a waiting bus. And now we’re here. The day ended better than it began oddly enough.

Where are you?