After four days off, it was back to work today. There was not much apprehension, as I woke up in an OK mood following a good night’s sleep. Bill was up already of course, making coffee and staying out of the way as I shuffled to the shower. And about 45 minutes later I was on the street, resuming the routine that I have ably performed for the past couple of years.

I have a few routes to take to the Path train and I took a somewhat scenic one, a block from the Hudson River after a stroll downhill through Stevens Park. I opted for the empty train rather than get on the train that was a bit crowded and about to leave.

I am almost finished with the Nick Cave issue of Mojo. I can only wonder what other people think when they see Nick Cave looking polite on the cover. Then again these people stare at their phones so not much at anything that is not on a screen. It was a good issue, just the Questions page and the last page to go in that issue, then it’s on to the Bob Dylan issue.

That is what I read during the morning ride, in the afternoon it’s usually a book. Now I am reading interviews with Stephen Sondheim. It’s a fine read, Sondheim is tolerating the interviewer who is writing for the New Yorker which never really treated Sondheim right.

The last bit I read involved Sondheim, Meryl Streep, and the interviewer at the American Museum of Natural History for a P.E.N. gala. Lot’s of in jokes between Sondheim and Streep, leaving the interviewer on the outs seemingly.

At work today there were about a dozen or so Birthday messages and that was nice. Yes, I noticed that my supervisor’s supervisor didn’t do any such thing like that though I did send him a birthday greeting when it was his birthday in August. C’est la ve I reckon, not everyone can rise to the wonderfulness that is me.

Yes I actually wrote that. Tongue in cheek with Bill in my ear. Do I have a new attitude towards this job? I can’t really say. As I wrote earlier, there was no apprehension. There is still the thought in the back of my mind that if it’s going to happen, if they’re going to let me go, then they should do it and get it over with. I won’t be happy about it but it beats this cruel charade that has been going on since July 9.

But if it was hard looking for work in my fifties, it certainly won’t be easier now I am in my sixties. The thing is, I sometimes see job listings and think, ‘Oh I can do that’ but the cold water in the face is ‘Who is going to hire someone in their sixties?’ I should not have watched Robert de Niro and Anne Hathaway in The Intern. I didn’t see the whole movie but enough to give me an idea of a silly little hope.