A failure of discipline. Nothing earth-shattering but didn’t think of writing until it was late, too late. I had to go to bed. Annemarie, my sister spoke with her husband and her son and they both thought a podcast would be something I could be good at.

She felt that she should text me that info, adding that she feels the same way and conceded that she didn’t say it in our phone call. I texted her that it would have meant a lot if she did. Oh, the lack of support from those former denizens of Riverview Avenue. I guess all is forgiven, wounds are healing.

Bill and I went to see our friend Karyn Kuhl and the Gang at 503 Social Club, which is run by everyone’s friend and today’s birthday boy, Jim Mastro. It was a benefit for the Hoboken Shelter, so it was for a very good cause.

The compere was another friend of everyone, Jack Silbert. Debbie Schwartz opened the set with a few of her own songs, backed up on bass by Larry Heinemann. Poetry was read by some local poets and that was pleasant.

And then Karyn Kuhl and the Gang were up. A short set, maybe 8 songs, including a John Lennon cover ‘Gimme Some Truth’, and a Radiohead song, ‘Optimistic’. Karyn and the Gang were in fine form. The songs were strong and not overpowering since it was quite a small space, maybe 30 people in total. They raised over $1300 for the Shelter.

After that, a nighttime stroll to the supermarket, nighttime being 5:00 PM lately. The supermarket is different when the sun goes down. A totally different vibe. Bill and I are both homebodies lately so everything seems different to us when we’re out at night.

We finished watching The Madness starring Colman Domingo. Bill liked it a lot, and I hid my disappointment in the fact that it had nothing to do with the London 2 Tone alumni, Madness. I mean, no songs at all. And it took place mainly in Pennsylvania, perhaps one of the only states that cannot skank to anything Ska-related.

Then we watched The Diplomat which is fun and definitely lends itself to a streaming binge. But we did not binge the whole thing, just started season 2. Bill was off to bed soon after.

Online chatting with Mike was fun. I have videos that he enjoys so I sent them to him on whichever platform could handle the heavy load. Mike is moving to Jersey City, from Newark. Another step in his life.

Mike’s looking forward to having me over. He also invited Bill (through me) at a later date. Bill is playing a few songs in Jersey City, not far from Mike’s new place. The Light Rail Café on December 18 from 7:00 – 10:00 PM. I’m hoping Mike can make it.

It would be an interesting first meeting for these two. I just sent Mile the details so I guess all we have to do is wait. That’s about it for tonight I reckon.

Let’s face it, my opportunities are limited. When Bill and I saw the Luther Vandross documentary a few weeks ago, while waiting for the screening to begin, I was riffing on something about zombies and brains. I was surprised at the speed of my riffing and said to Bill we should do a podcast.

I see other people that are not as quick-witted as me and they seem to be doing alright, so why not me? I’m the real thing.

I texted a friend who is knowledgeable in matters like this and he acknowledged his knowledge and it went no further than that. That was disconcerting, not that I imagined this friend to jump up and down telling me what a brilliant idea it was. I said to Bill that we can probably do it ourselves, Bill is technically inclined anyway.

I just got off the phone with my sister was not receptive at all to this idea. Not that she was against it, she had nothing to say about it. I guess from our mutual childhood, growing up in a house where ambition was unheard of and dreams were discouraged.

I would never dissuade anyone from their dreams, no matter what they may be. My former friend from back in the day, after we had worked together, told me of his plan to become a corrections officer.

We had mutual friends and out of all of us, I was the only one who encouraged him to follow his dream. He went ahead with his dream and did very well for himself. I asked one of the mutual friends why they didn’t encourage our mutual friend and they said it quite plainly, that they knew he would become an asshole.

And he did become an asshole, so much so that we are no longer friends. I admit I could be an asshole as well, so the label applies to me too.

Bill has dreams, Bill has ambition and I back him up wholeheartedly when he needs the encouragement. Julio was also someone who was encouraging back in the day, now he has 2 boys that require such things and rightly so, they get it from Julio.

When Bill is encouraging to me, I generally think he is crazy and doesn’t know what he is talking about since the concept is so foreign to me. It’s not a good thing at all. I do come around to it sometimes, but not always in a timely manner. More often than not, I am usually denigrating myself, if only for a laugh.

I have to say that hearing nothing from my sister hurt me. Maybe if she even said it was an awful idea, that would’ve been something. I don’t come up with ‘crazy ideas’ all the time, in fact, I don’t think I ever do. I think it has only been in the past couple of year have I been hurt by her.

It’s probably me, being sensitive and it’s probably her being who she is. Not a clash but I leave our conversation feeling wounded and undercut. Time is running out and so is unemployment.

The podcast idea still exists. I have to sit down with Bill and try to figure out how to do it. He was receptive to it at least I hope so. Stranger things have happened.