Back in the day, the only people who smoked 100 mm of cigarettes were women. My mother was one of those who smoked Marlboro 100s, although she smoked more of our regulars for years before that. But she and her lady friends from the VFW sat at the bar smoking 100s. Nowadays, a lot of thuggish, ruggish bone smoke 100s. Usually Newport 100s, and it’s funny because it makes me think of them as more feminine than anything.

At the tail end of the work day yesterday. Jimmy Chile told me his harrowing history growing up and what he had been through. It also gave me some insight on Mike and his travails concerning officers of the court and the penal system, perhaps I was blinded by my liberal outlook that was edged with hope and that’s not how they operate.

And I am worried on Mike’s behalf. I don’t want to see him have to go back to where he came from, and I’m sure he doesn’t want to, but it’s not easy to get a job at the lowest rung of the ladder. Jimmy’s story followed me home and tainted my evening, leaving me a bit bewildered.

On top of that, I did not sleep well. Mike was in the bathroom. He was going to share the bed with me in the air conditioned room so he wouldn’t have to sweat on the couch, which was fine. But he was taking forever to get out of the bathroom and get into the bedroom, and I had my routine, so I nearly fell into a deep sleep three times.

Each time I woke up thinking that he was getting into bed and he wasn’t and so those three times where I was on the edge of a deep sleep turned out to be a hurdle since those three attempts went nowhere and then to top it all off in the middle of the night we lost power at least twice so I woke up wondering why it was so warm in the room. Of course, Mike’s slept through all that.

And that lack of sleep and Jimmy’s story carried forth into this morning leaving me somewhat not so much antisocial but just very quiet at work which is unlike me which got Marcus’s attention and Marcus kept asking me if I was all right trying to draw me into a proper conversation that I just was not having.

No, not because of him, just because of the way I was feeling overall. I still can fill a space up with however I’m feeling, and it’s not necessarily a good ability to have. Perhaps it’s more like a disability. I did see Adrian Weed last night, so that helped, but it didn’t help with the sleep; not much could help.

Mike suggested watching the movie Cruella and we did and it was good and I was surprised to see Mike not so attached to his phone watching a movie that he had seen a number of times. And he seemed quite happy that I enjoyed it.

He mentioned that I would probably know a lot of the music in the movie since it was from the ’60s and ’70s, and I generally did, and if I didn’t know, I asked my phone to identify whatever songs might have been playing.

So it’s lunchtime. I just had a decent salad, which is better than the halal food I had yesterday. I sit and smoke a mini cigar in the same spot where a bird took a shit on my pants yesterday. I thought it was.

Good luck, but the way last night went, maybe not. But maybe it was since things could have been a lot worse hahaha. I have to ask, what are the odds of a bird taking another shit on me today in the exact same spot? I suppose I will find out sooner or later.

Marcus is planning an early departure so we can go see the Superman movie. Whereas I still have to stay until 5:00 p.m. but I’m not complaining. Happy to have a job.Mike is making an effort to be happy, so I should do the same.

Walking around Union Square on my way to get my lunch. Heard someone talk about a technical writer, and that brought back memories of how I thought I would be a technical writer since I fancied myself a writer. Apparently, I do what I consider myself to be a writer, or would others consider me to be a writer? It’s something that I do. It’s something that I think I can do good at or do well, but ultimately I’m leaving it up to someone else to decide, which is very passive-aggressive, which is very John O’Toole

16 East 16th Street
Seems to be a boutique hotel that perhaps he might be able to get a job at since Jeff Bezos is jerking Mike around with a sandpaper glove.

It is Thursday, July 10th, 2025, a pleasant afternoon. Not as steamy as it’s been. It’s quite enjoyable. An interesting day to say the least.

15 years ago today Bill and I had a party at Maxwell’s to celebrate our civil union. We had maybe 50 to 100 people there. I don’t know, but it was all quite good and enjoyable. We bought pizza since the kitchen wasn’t open at Maxwell’s. We had it from noon until about 4:00, and it was enjoyable. Cash bar to cut down on drinking and driving, and then an after party at Rand and Lisa’s, which was somewhat muddled for me because even though I only had one or two pints, that’s pretty much out of it.

I think I took half as Xanax beforehand, and I may have molested Juan Brosales. I was feeling rather like Sonny Corleone at his sister’s wedding, if you know what I mean.

For no certain reason, I sense an apprehension in the air, or is it me? I went to the ATM to get some money, and twice my card was rejected. So since I was at my bank, I asked the woman behind the counter, and she said yes. That’s been happening quite a bit, so we cleared it up.

Apparently, I had gotten a text that I did not know about. That said, there’s some fraud thing going on, but since I was there and was taken care of almost immediately and I was able to leave with my money in hand.

I have some rather lackluster halal food today, which was disappointing from previous weeks of halal food. At least one day a week. I’ve been eating halal food, chicken, and rice. Today was rather bland, even though I had other ingredients added to it.

Mike is coming over tonight scheduled around 5:30. In fact, I’m going to give him a call in a minute to see how he’s doing. He’s been staving off depression, and I have to tell him that there was a run on his bank.

Don’t know what else to tell you. I’m going to see my guy around 6:00 in front of my building and then spend the evening with Mike watching TV.