It’s Monday. I had the day off on Friday and today. A birthday break for myself. I’m glad I did it, though it was up and down for me somewhat. Nothing bad, just weird, unsettling feelings that popped up every now and then, and I kept those feelings to myself. At least, until now.

Over 1400 words posted on Friday. I made it to Kidding Around, a charming little store on West 15th Street. Came home to Bill who was so great this weekend. He went out of my way to make sure I was having a good weekend, and thanks to Bill, I did. It was those times alone when the oddness crept in.

Odd dreams occurred as well. Sometimes disturbing. One had a song by Boz Scaggs, Love Me Tomorrow. An attempt at reggae, I guess. The album Silk Degrees came out in 1976, and reggae was still relatively new to white North American ears. Not the best song on the album, and it played over and over in my dreams.

Saturday morning, Bill was on his way back, and he told me what the plan was for my birthday night. I had a feeling it was a show of some sort. At 5:42 AM, he sent a text: we were going to see ‘In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat. A one-man show by Roger Guenveur Smith.

Roger Guenveur Smith was in a few Spike Lee movies. I reminded Bill that his character ‘Smiley’ was the one who started the fire at Sal’s Pizza in Do the Right Thing. The show was about his friendship with Jean-Michel back in the day, initially meeting at a club in Southern California where Roger was rapping and Jean-Michel was dancing.

It was enjoyable, but what was even better was getting off the Path train at Christopher Street and walking across town to the East Village where the show was. It was a pleasant walk, me smoking a cigar or course and having good conversations with Bill.

The show was about an hour long so the walk back was pleasant and we wound up at Grimaldi’s in Hoboken for what is turning out to be a tradition. We both like their pizza very much so everyone wins!

Sunday was a trip to Saddle Brook where my Grand Niece Shelby turned 6 on Thursday. It was supposed to be a barbecue but there was a crazy rainstorm on Sunday morning and though it ended by the afternoon, everything was wet and it was terribly humid.

The food was barbecued, and we ate indoors. My nieces Meghan and Corrine, Meghan’s husband Rob, did the cooking; Shelby was entertaining. Elaine was there as was my brother Brian and his wife Karen, and their daughter Hillary and her boyfriend Seth. Hillary is living in Lodi now.

We were on the train back to Hoboken at 6 PM and had another nice walk home. Bill has been so great. I look in his eyes and see the love he has for me. I hope he sees the same in my eyes. Not much sleep despite all of my attempts. I wisely got out of bed when unable to sleep. It was better than trying to sleep and getting frustrated.

Sleep did come and I slept a little bit later than usual on my days off. I had a plan to go bike riding today since I did not do my usual Sunday jaunt. And I got a haircut. It had been over a year since the last time and Nick the barber also trimmed my beard considerably.

The bike ride was lowkey. Instead of riding to Liberty State Park, I headed to North Bergen. I figured the streets would be crowded with business and traffic in Jersey City where getting to North Bergen is pleasant and has a walkway along the Hudson River which was easily accessed.

I got home and Bill headed out a little while after. The past week or so we had a problem with the bathtub drain. Whereas it would take an hour to drain, the past few days it did not drain at all. Bill used the wet-vac the past couple of days and I wet-vacced today.

Roberto, the handyman finally showed up after Bill was in contact with him for a few weeks. And Roberto fixed it within 15 minutes and then I made my usual pesto, pasta and chicken dinner. Half for tonight, the other half for lunch tomorrow, when I go back to my fruit stand.