Listening to Cesaria Evora, Miss Perfumado. I bought it about 20 years ago and haven’t really played it since so I guess today is the day.

I got my bacon and egg sandwich this morning and I thought I’d be banned from the joint but apparently I’m not and I tip them a dollar.

It is Friday August 15th and I’m happy about that. The train wasn’t too crowded this morning. Bill has rehearsal tonight, Mike is coming over tonight. I am meeting up with Jimmy Chile after work to do a number or two. All in all it promises to be a quiet day but having said that I probably just jinxed it. That’s me a superstitious atheist.

In the office Marcus is as Moody as he is in the morning which means he probably won’t be communicative until this afternoon at which point I wouldn’t care. I think I caught my bald-headed coworker stealing work for me, especially after I noticed he intentionally replaced my green flag on a certain request and then I saw him undermining that request. I generally ignored what he was doing and continued on my way.

I have thought the past couple of weeks that I was going crazy because I could have sworn I put my flag on things that I was working on only to find that he was doing them and it was always him. And today I seem to have caught him in the act. I almost contacted him about deciding not to and just to proceed with the job that I was doing.

This day is just crawling along. I have listened to Tricky, Bob Marley, Caesaria Evora. I spoke to Mike. He’s not coming over tonight which means he’s not getting money from me which is nice. Left a message for Bill. All in all it’s very quiet, it’s very slow, not that I’m complaining I am happy to be here.

Marcus and Jimmy were entertaining somewhat. Jimmy is claiming not to be feeling well so he’ll probably be leaving early. The first thing I thought when I woke up this morning was to roll a number for Jimmy but that ain’t happening. The second thing I thought of when I woke up was how I just wanted to stay in bed and keep sleeping but it’s not a bad job it’s easily handled and I would be foolish to just throw away a day.

Whatever efforts I made into eating better yesterday with an improved diet have fallen by the wayside today with the crap that I’ve been eating all morning long chocolate mainly chocolate
I know I’ll have to pay for it one way or another.

I hopefully will be sitting on my usual perch for lunch and today being Friday smoking an actual cigar not a mini cigar like I am prone to Monday through Thursday.

I anticipate the possibility of someone complaining about it but there’s always a chance that nothing will happen as no one will complain.

Bill just swung by as I’m sitting outside smoking a cigar at 16th and 5th. It was a momentary thing; he was here for more than 3 minutes, but that was enough.

Mike is not coming over tomorrow because he has to be in Newark in the morning to get furniture or to pick out furniture. I was going to offer my services, but they were not asked for.
There’s a thing about Mike and me when we’re walking down the street and having a conversation if people that are as melanin-packed as him, he will stop talking and sort of act like we don’t know each other.

And I mentioned it to Jimmy Chile today, and Jimmy has a history of people with history like Mike. And that history, which existed for 12 years, and Mike’s life still dictate how he behaves in this day and age. Which makes sense and frees me from having to help pick out furniture or move furniture.

Three miles to go…actually, that was New Order for me. I have 3 hours to go.

Atlas Battles

Sitting at the desk, 9:53 AM. Listening to Atlas by a band called Battles. The last time I heard it was in 2007 walking to work at Bio IB through Bryant Park and it seemed to drive me to a nervous breakdown. Perhaps I’ll cut it but it was disorienting at best.

So here it is 18 years later and I’m finally hearing it again and it is an odd song and it’s 7 minutes and 7 seconds long. The vocal is a bit sped up sort of like the Chipmunks by Alan Sherman.

Marcus is an odd duck. Sometimes he’s distant and irritating another time she’s somewhat humble. It’s hard to tell it changes like the weather every hour on the hour.

I had a lovely time talking to Mike on the phone last night. Bill was at rehearsal. Mike is genuinely worried when Bill and I are traveling between work or rehearsal to home. Mike considers us elderly and potential victims for bad deeds to happen.

It was touching and here’s Mike calling me right now. The ringtone had an arrow of desperation to it. He needs to “borrow money“.

Yes I know I’ve been down this road so often that I remember when it was all farmland before it was developments. If I can do it I will do it and I can do it but it’s not going to be too much…

It certainly stormed quite a bit last night so much so that the windows were closed and made everything stuffy for a few hours. Much of the storm relented and windows were opened.

It is Thursday and I am happy that there’s just one more day left. We’re in the middle of Thursday now but might as well write it off as being completed although anything could happen the next couple of hours to make me look like an idiot with egg on his face.

So I ordered the salad online this morning for 12:30 pickup and at 12:23 I got a message that the order was ready so I took my time going over there and took the long way to the salad joint only to find there was no salad. Somebody apparently stole it off the shelf.

This is what people do and they’re hungry so I stood around and waited for a new salad to be made which was okay I suppose but it wasn’t too overwhelming right despite the fact that it is an attempt at healthy eating. And that I had pizza yesterday and today a salad.

That was a topic that Mike brought up last night on the phone that I eat like a bird and I told him that I try not to lose actually try not to put on weight I try not to eat past 7:00 at night at the very latest 8:00 just the food just lies in your stomach and doesn’t burn away sigh…

I am old enough to remember that some guys mainly got tattoos because they were tough guys but now that tattoos are legal and anyone can get one so everyone is getting them and generally they’re not so tough. Even my nieces have tattoos! And they’re not tough! Or are they?

I just played the Zombies, Odyssey and Oracle. I heard so much about it for years and years and finally played it from start to finish. It’s a good record, not the landmark that I thought or was told it was. Still it was enjoyable, Time of the Season is still an amazing song.

Now I am listening to The Who, Tommy. It’s been decades since I’ve heard this one from start to finish and I’ve just started so who knows if I will finish. I finished and knew almost every word.

I have spoken to my men at lunch time, Bill and Mike. Bill was effusive. Mike was in the middle of the video thing for the job, so there was that.