Knotes! I’m stuck for something to write about so I consult the notes.

I’ve taken to wearing a mask on the Path train again. It’s getting crowded, people sneezing and coughing and COVID is still out there. But sometimes I forget and see some other people wearing masks and regret my forgetfulness. Then I wear a mask and suddenly I am the only person wearing a mask. I generally wear a mask in the morning and forget about it on the evening ride home. I must remember not to forget.

The smell of weed on the sidewalks. It’s a strong smell, so strong that it seems fake. I smell it in the morning while walking to the Path train and then in Manhattan en route to the office. I haven’t done that in a long time, smoking during the day. A few years ago I adopted the no smoking until 4:20 PM and held myself to it. Sometimes it’s 4:20 somewhere.

Back in the day, at my first job, guys would sit in a car in the parking lot and smoke for the 45 minutes before going back to the warehouse and operating heavy machinery. No one said anything though it was well known what the guys were doing. When I started smoking I joined them once or twice. They weren’t exciting or erudite and my hanging out with them did not last long.

Not from the notes- I have been hit with a few spam calls. I don’t recognize the number so I don’t answer. When it happens at work, I take the number and call from my desk phone and after one or two rings on the other end, the call is disconnected with a message saying it is a non-working number.

Just now I received a text from Sophia who is looking for her friend Lisa and somehow dialed my number. I respond in German, asking her what does she want. Why is she texting strangers? I tell her to go find Lisa and stop bothering strangers. The German might throw them off. I thought responding in Russian would have been too obvious. Just something fishy…

I walked around Tribeca up to Canal St. My friend Kathy is going on a trip and needs luggage. I noticed a luggage shop at Broadway and Canal a few months ago and today took a walk and took some photos of the spot so Kathy might do some research. I don’t know how the store actually is, Canal St does have a reputation for dodgy goods sometimes. Kathy might be better off going somewhere else, someplace with a better return policy.

As I walked down Canal St, puffing on a cigar I passed some African dudes one of them having a small table set up with some buds in a jar. He noticed my noticing and remarked that I should stop and check it out, ‘It’s better than your cigar’. I waved him off and laughed as I continued meandering around Tribeca.