Monthly Archives: April 2010

Hotel Yorba

Totally disjointed. Cohesion makes no sense. I can’t go on. I’ll go on. It’s been yet another out of the ordinary day. And yet every day is out of the ordinary since there are truly no ‘ordinary’ days. Each one is different from the one that precedes it.

Oh the depths I am plunging. Must be the white wine I have just shared with Julio and Stine. It’s been a good day.

Last night I played some songs by the Marine Girls and decided that was a band that Lily Mastro should be aware of. So I burned her a CD and made sure to meet up with her today. She was playing with the Street Corner Mourners around Pier A this afternoon.

Bill came home this morning after driving a bus to and from Atlantic City. He’s doing the same thing tonight. I went off to the bibliothèque this morning and ran into Julio and Alexander in the park across the street.

When Alexander saw me, he came running towards me with arms wide open for a hug. So sweet. He’s never done that before. And not only can he identify me, when you say ‘Where’s John?’ He points to me and says ‘there’. Now when he wants my attention he yells ‘Don’. Still needs to work on his ‘J’s’ you see.

After spending time with the father & son, I headed towards the river while Julio & Alexander went home for a nap. The Street Corner Mourners where playing near Pier A and I decided to record a few of their songs.

When I got there, Lily came running up to me. Apparently some of Tariq’s dodgy acquaintances found their way around them and it was a bit unnerving for these 16 year olds. I played the role of responsible and sober adult.

I humored Lily while Tim and Cyrus played guitars with Tariq. Tariq was only around for a little while before he headed into the city. After he was off the Mourners and I headed down a few benches, best for collecting change from passerby.

Having drunkards around doesn’t really entice young urban mommies and daddies to throw change into an open guitar case.

I recorded about 7 songs, as well as getting duct tape so Lily could do a quick repair on her accordion strap and some batteries for her flip cam.

After a while I headed home to pick up Bill’s dry cleaning while he slept the day away before heading to Atlantic City again.

Had a call from Julio who asked if I wanted to go to Ikea with him. I met up with him and went to Ikea on a weekend afternoon. Last time I was there was sometime last year with Juan on a weekday. Definitely not as crowded. Today, jam packed.

It did tire me out somewhat, Julio bought a bookshelf for Alexander’s toys and books and I dealt with the crowds. Then there was traffic coming back to Hoboken.

Stine invited me over for dinner and being the fine cook that she is I certainly couldn’t resist and nor did I want to cook dinner for myself.

It was a wonderful faux Mexican dinner, Alexander doing his best to get my attention by running back and forth showing me every book that he has. Like I said, it was a fun day but now I am tired.

And surprised I was able to write this. But here it is.

More videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/johnotoole99?feature=mhw5

Que Te Quiero

Just woke up from a nap. All of a sudden I was tired and felt a nap would be the way to go. Could it have been the turkey sandwich I ate? The tryptophan?

It was a nice nap though. A nice half hour. Didn’t seem like it though. Left the TV on in the next room, so as to act like a life raft and I would drift too far off into the land of sleep.

Last night I had 2 weird cannabis free dreams, one was about Lost and in the dream it turned out that Sun was pregnant with Jin’s baby, and the baby was Jin’s! Yes that doesn’t make sense but I’m talking about Lost here and that show defies the rules of logic and physics. And dramatic structure.

But like I’ve been reading in various articles regarding the 20th anniversary it all stems from Twin Peaks and how that show went so far into left field with it’s dramatic theme. A direct line through the X-Files can be drawn to Lost and it’s meandering plot and into my dreams!

It’s a conspiracy I tell you!

The other dream involved me being in a Yeshiva with some of my male co-workers and getting thrown out. My last words to my fellow Yeshiva students were, ‘Goodbye. I always liked you guys, and not in THAT way.’

I told you they were weird dreams.

Last night Bill and I watched Saving Private Ryan. He had never seen it from start to finish and I figured that since we were both watching The Pacific on HBO he should watch Saving Private Ryan.

I saw it when it first came out at the Ziegfeld with Rand. I figured that since both our fathers were in World War II it might be worth checking out.

The first 40 minutes are still as harrowing as it was the first time I saw it. Great characters, good cast. Bill was tired at first when the movie started but after the invasion at Omaha beach he was at the edge of the futon.

Probably one of Senor Spielbergo’s best. Bill really enjoyed it and I did too and I’ve seen it a few times.

Tonight Bill is back to bus driving. He claims it’s to give me a break from his snoring. The other night he was snoring again and it woke me up.

I woke him up and told him he was snoring. Then after that he was eerily quiet. Too quiet. I was worried and I woke him up again. He was irate and snarled, ‘What? I’m not snoring!’. I told him I wanted to make sure he was still alive.

The sleep apnea thing, death. You understand.

So he’s back to driving a bus to Atlantic City and I know it’s not to give me a break from his snoring. Bill loves to drive a bus. He’s always been fascinated by buses ever since he was a kid and now when he has the chance he wants to drive a bus.

I don’t mind.

And the weather seems to have gotten back to normal.

Claire!

Claire!


Not Claire!

Not Claire!


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