Saturday afternoon at 35°. Snowstorm approaching. Doom scrolling ensues. Though I really don’t care, I am having a ‘chat’ with Allen Russ about Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album and the #1 chart position.

He claimed it never hit number one so I provided links that it actually debuted at the pole position. I also provided a link to Billboard about the same topic. He claimed that he read Billboard in the 70’s & 80’s and things were manipulated.

I replied that that was true when he read Billboard 40 or 50 years ago. I was around the music business back then when SoundScan was introduced showing actual sales and chart positions. Why do I keep getting drawn into these ‘conversations’?

Today I walked to the big supermarket. Some provisions in case a snowstorm occurs so I sort of expected that it might be crowded. Tomorrow is also the day of obligation to the superb owl. It was crazy crowded with people stocking on on party snacks or foodstuffs to hunker down with.

Mike was coming over tonight to hang with his Dads, me & Bill. We tried to do it a few times but I was sick or Mike had to work or Bill was away, and I wanted to pick up some last minute items and I did just that. I got on the self check out line which while long, was moving.

I even had some food samples while in the queue, the salesmen had their spiels down pat, one for crunchy peanuts and the other for local red sauce, Hoboken Farms. I came home looking at the greyish-white skies and relaxed.

My phone rang with Mike sounding awful. It seems he woke up with nausea and all that brings with it. He wasn’t coming over and was not sure if he’d even make it to work tomorrow. Part of the reason for him coming over tonight was so in case the snowstorm hits, he would have a somewhat easier time commuting to his job than having to rely on public transportation or ridesharing with Lyft.

He said he thinks he has what I had the past couple of weeks but with the nausea, it seems like the flu. He did not get a flu shot so it’s possible. I just had a really bad head cold with some respiratory symptoms, when I thought I was rid of it, it came back for a curtain call.

Now I feel a whole lot better though I was looking forward to Mike hanging out with me & Bill. We have all the future to hang out. I usually make my Penne, Pesto, and Chciken dinner on Saturdays but Mike requested the meal I made on New Year’s Eve, Ziti, cheesy tomato sauce, and meatballs.

I made the Penne, Pesto & Chicken the other night for Bill and me since Saturday’s menu would be different. I still look forward to it and I am getting hungry. Bill is napping and the Simpsons plays on behind me. That is all for now and probably later.

Allen Russ has deleted his replies to me leaving it to look like a one sided convo. I’m still keeping my side up since it was relatively informative. Dumb ass MAGA, now he’s erased all of his comments.

Friday night in Hoboken, 32°. I had a dream last night. My mother and I were down the shore, possibly Asbury Park. The only places I had been down the shore with my mom were Wildwood Crest and Cape May, never Asbury Park which would have been on its knees when my mother was still alive.

In the dream my mother and I were sitting near a building, trying to find some shade. Across from us was a family with a gigantic umbrella that they were sitting under. I asked them if we could join them and they said yes. It was perfect since the building my mother and I were sitting near had a few hornet nests very close by.

The obliging family sat back and I went into the water and when I came out I could not find anyone. It seems that my mother was at a motel called the Edge. It was a maze of hallways and staircases and not easy to actually see anyone I knew though they were around somewhere. It was then I set out trying to find my mother as I walked the boardwalk.

I somehow finagled a taxi on the boardwalk and we drove through a pavilion or arcade, stopping at a 2 or 3-story house that was half buried in the sand. I changed my clothes at some point and never found my mother again.

Bill kissed me goodbye as he left for work and I eventually roused myself out of bed. I generally make the bed as soon as I wake up. It is sometimes the only accomplishment of the day. I heard from Mike today and decided to head to his crib in Chilltown. That was fun.

I hadn’t seen him in about 2 weeks even though we talk daily on the phone. We hung out mainly, me being the father confessor. It’s fun and he’s adorable. Been through a lot and he reveals things through drips and drabs.

He loves to hear me talk. He really loves to hear Bill talk, and man can Bill talk. With my undiagnosed ADHD sometimes don’t hear everything Bill says but I do know the cadence of his speech and I recover nicely I think. Not always though.

I do find myself drowning in the pool of words and mentally grasping wildly trying to figure out what it was that he was talking about. I suppose that could be said of most couples who’ve been together for a long time, though sometimes it happens with Mike too, when he goes in deep with his handy tales of his past. It’s not them, it’s me and my undiagnosed ADHD.

At least that is the excuse of the day. Right now I am watching Play It Again, Sam. Tony Roberts died today and I mainly know him through Woody Allen movies. This one has Tony Roberts, and Diane Keaton and was written by Woody Allen who is the lead. It’s free on Kanopy but my first choice was Annie Hall, though Tony Roberts has more lines in Play It Again, Sam.

Dick : [On the phone] Let me tell you where you can reach me, George. I’ll be at 362-9296 for a while; then I’ll be at 648-0024 for about fifteen minutes; then I’ll be at 752-0420; and then I’ll be home, at 621-4598. Yeah, right George, bye-bye.
Linda : There’s a phone booth on the corner. You want me to run downstairs and get the number? You’ll be passing it.