A rainy Monday in May. First Monday at that. The weekend went astray. Whatever ideas or plans I had did not work out. I adapted, a bit clumsily. No one else noticed but me, though, or so I would like to think. Mike was supposed to come over on Friday, but could not, and his inability to come over carried over to Saturday.

His laundry was here in Hoboken, and he asked if I could bring it to his crib in Jersey City. And I did just that. We hung out for an hour or two before I was in a rideshare back to Hoboken. Bill and I love having Mike over, but we adapted to Mike’s absence.

I try to maintain the sleep schedule that I keep during the week, maybe staying up a little bit later before heading off to bed. Bill was up and on the road hours before I stirred and shuffled through the apartment. Saturday was the sixth anniversary of my brother Frank’s passing, and I called his widow, Elaine, on Sunday.

She told me how she was doing, I told her how I was doing, when Bill called. He was done for the day and on the road back home. While I was waiting on Sunday morning after watching Jane Pauley and company, the doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and I certainly didn’t order anything, so I ignored it.

The doorbell kept ringing, and I carried on ignoring it. Finally, a text came through. Mike. It was Mike at the buzzer. He had a half day at work and thought he would surprise me, which he did. Luckily, I had enough coffee and breakfast to be mostly human, and he was soon in the apartment, waiting with me for Bill to come home.

Bill came home, and soon Mike and I were en route to the really big supermarket where Mike was able to cash in over $100 in coins at the coin changing machine. Then it was home all day since it was raining on and off throughout the afternoon and evening. Mike likes Hoboken, and I try to indulge his fascination despite my jaded hindsight. Mike doesn’t mind, he just takes it all in.

It was also May 4th, so that meant May the Fourth be with you was the buzz on social medias. I added my two cents to the online postings and had a good time doing that. We streamed Rogue One, which is a very good Star Wars flick, but had to compete with the smartphones in Bill and Mike’s hands. Midway through, I paused the movie and instead of going back to it, played John Waters’ Hairspray from 1988.

I think Mike had only seen the musical from the 90s, so this was new, and it had his attention. He enjoyed it, and I explained that I prefer the 1988 original to the musical from a few years later. It had more grit to it and was funnier. I own the 1988 version on DVD and also purchased a digital version, which we streamed.

I started the work week at a new location from where I was the past two weeks. Same company, different location. I do my best, and I hope to do well. And my coworkers seem to think that I am. A shorter commute, too.

It’s a summer night in Hoboken, first Friday in May. Work was fine, I got through it with no trouble. A good majority of the office was out, working from home. The Path train into the city was relatively quiet as well. A few times this past week, I was left alone on the bridge. There are usually two of us, but things being what they were, I was solo.

And apparently I did a good enough job that was noticed. I felt appreciated by Anise and Kimberly and even Yance chimed in with encouraging words. I had an appointment with Yance’s supervisor, a nice young woman named Merry. I had two previous appointments, the first one I had totally forgotten about, the second appointment was cancelled by Merry.

Today was the make-up date and it went well. A few laughs and a chat about how much we both enjoyed watching Ted Lasso. Merry had a ‘Believe’ banner hanging in her office. The whole thing last about 30 minutes and soon it was time for me to have lunch.

Yesterday on the way home I bought a cigar so I could smoke it on my lunch hour. I enjoyed it as I smoked and walked around midtown talking to Mike on the phone. I told Kimberly and Anise I was going to smoke a cigar at lunch, and that I might smell like a cigar when I returned. They did not seem to care and if I smelled like a cigar, they did not say anything.

It was quiet this afternoon and when it’s quiet, there’s not much work, and when there’s not much work, the afternoon slows to a crawl. Fair enough. Towards the end of the work day, plans were made to meet up with Mike. There’s a job fair in town and Mike is looking for a new gig. The plan was for him to come over, hang out and then head over to the job fair in the morning.

Alas, the plans fell by the wayside. Things out of his control came into being and thwarted any ideas on hanging out. Things might improve tomorrow, perhaps in time for Mike to attend this job fair. We won’t know until tomorrow.

Last night while soundly sleeping, I had a leg cramp. For a while, I was drinking Coconut water once a week. I stopped over a month ago and things were going well. Until 4:00 AM. Bill was asleep and my right leg felt like it would snap in half if I made any sudden moves. I laid on my right side, I laid on my left side and neither side had any relief.

Sleeping on my back did the trick and in my troubled sleep, made a note to get some Coconut water on my way home tonight. I walked down Washington Street and stopped into what used to be called Aspen Market. Maybe it is still Aspen Market.

They had the large 33 ounce container of Coconut water and I thought I could do better than $5.99 and walked over to Acme after picking up a shawarma sandwich for dinner and bought a 33 ounce container of Coconut water, for $5.99. So much for doing better.