johnozed

About johnozed

I'm 50+ years old, 210-ish#, 6'2", reddish blonde, blue eyes with glasses (and without) masculine, funny, relatively intelligent, enjoy the company of assorted friends and family especially sordid friends and family. I love music, reading, writing, conversing, laughing, going to films, shows, concerts and smoking cigars. And I also enjoy looking nice in a suit and tie. Looking more like Lewis Lapham than Tom Wolfe. I'm sure there is more, but we'll just have to find out when I write about it. In a lifetime relationship with partner Bill Vila.

Well Juan just left after providing me with a night full of extraordinary enthusiasm. I had dinner with Julio last night at O’Neills in Hoboken. We made plans to go to the beach which sounded like a good time. Umbrellas chairs and coolers all packed up. Juan came over around 10:00. We hung out with lysergic tabs a melting and watched the last two episodes of Weeds.

Then Juan got hungry and was itching for a walk. I rarely go out at night, just prefer to stay in so Juan was instrumental in getting me out. He ran into McDonalds and I hung out on the sidewalk, nerves starting to tingle. Lot’s of people out on Washington Street at midnight.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Juan emerged from McDonalds and we walked over to Pier A.. A few people roaming around as Juan and I lay on the grass and looked up at the few stars that were visible. Quite enjoyable and mellow. It had been a number of years since I had done this and I let it all go, and just enjoyed the ride.

We lay there for a while, listening to various people from around the world talk in their native tongues or singing an off key version of Happy Birthday in the distance. I suggested getting up and walking around, mentioning Stevens Tech but Juan wasn’t that into that idea at first.

We started walking in that direction when Juan suggested going back to the apartment. We were both somewhat clammy and soon we were in the apartment, me languid on the coach and Juan being a most able DJ.

Of course time flies while you’re in the state that we were in and for me it was all quite lovely and mellow. Juan would play some song and I would close my eyes and feel like I was in Versailles, a place where I had never been before.

It was a lot of fun just laying there in the dark, the only illumination being the holiday lights which give off quite a nice glow, contrasted with Juan’s silhouette in front of the computer monitor. Things got so mellow that we lay in the air conditioning with ambient tunes floating through eventually drifting off to sleep.

I woke up around 6:00 and texted Julio that I wasn’t going to the beach. It was spoiling to rain today so it was going to be a wash out. I went back to bed responding to a text from Bill asking me to record the US vs. China basketball game.

Then it was back to bed, waking up finally around noon. Rain clouds on the horizon. A beautiful ride, a blast from the past, something out of the ordinary, all courtesy of Juan. When we were going out for the walk earlier in the night, I asked Juan if I should bring my camera.

Juan being Juan mentioned that it was dark out and that I’d need to use the flash, saying ‘Don’t be that guy.’ Good advice indeed from a beloved good friend like Juan. Back to work tomorrow, and back to reality for real, after spending hours among tangerine trees and marmalade skies.

According to the counter for Word Press, the publisher of this blog, this has been entry 1,001.
Woo hoo! Let’s trip!

Well I just got back a couple of hours ago from Ship Bottom, Long Beach Island. All is well. The ocean was like bathwater, it was that warm. A few jellyfish but that’s sort of expected in August down the shore. There were reports of lots of jellyfish off the coasts of NJ and Long Island, but it wasn’t too bad at least in Ship Bottom.

Thursday morning Bill was off to work after a nice dinner with Casey and his wife. It was at McSwells and it was a bit on the loud side. I don’t recall Steve Fallon allowing music that loud to be played in the restaurant, but these tattooed kids today…

Roda was managing and we saw him for a spell before heading home, Bill went right to bed and I soon after, after realizing that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Plus I had the trip down the shore the next morning. Bill was gone after a nice kiss and I was up getting things together.

Made sure the iPod was charged, had plenty to read and headed off to the bus having decided to avoid the stress of the morning rush hour which I deal with every day. Why should I have to deal with thousands of people on my day off? It was a lot less crowded and I was able to walk outside to see if the latests Mojo and Uncut magazines were on the stand yet.

They weren’t, and I still had the New Yorker and Rip It Up by Simon Reynolds. Got on the bus to Toms River where I would have to transfer. Listened to Scritti Politti and read the sad article about the gay soldier killed in Iraq. Then some of Rip It Up and soon I was asleep, waking up just outside of Toms River.

The Toms River sky

About 20 minutes later the transfer bus shows up and I’m on that heading down the back streets of Highway 9. Contacted my sister in law Elaine and let her know I would soon be in Manahawkin. I was unfamiliar with the route and the map on the schedule was no help at all.

The bus driver told me she would drop me off at the Manahawkin library but I got out a before that at Lake Manhawkin, walked 100 yards and found Elaine with her friend Irene. Got to Ship Bottom where Frank was on the couch watching TV, much like he does on Garfield. But it’s his vacation and he’s entitled to do whatever he wants to do.

Elaine and I walked over to the beach around 4PM. Still hot and bright out and the water must have been in the 70 degree range. Elaine’s not one to play in the ocean so I floated around and got beaten up a bit by the waves, which I definitely enjoy, though it’s always more fun if there’s someone else with you getting knocked around by the tide.

Frank and Elaine

After an hour or so of that we headed back home, Frank in a different position on the couch, Irene on the porch reading a book. I showered and alternated sitting outside with the women and sitting inside with my brother. We microwaved some vittles and watched some TV, Frank and I going for a ride in his car, looking for some place featuring a Grateful Dead cover band the next night.

Thankfully we couldn’t find it. No Deadhead me, whereas Frank used to be and still is somewhat. We talked about music and somehow Pat Boone came up. We also talked about how he is trying to be more positive and stop being negative which in an amazing coincidence for someone who looks a lot like Frank, I am trying to do the same.

I had gotten an email before I left from Casey who said he had a good time and that Bill was one of the most positive people he’s ever met. And it’s true Bill is so damn positive and I’m not. Sometimes a conversation between Bill and myself goes,
Bill: Isn’t it great that so and so had this happen to them?
Me: No. No it isn’t.

So to hear Frank talk about trying to be positive was a weird thing to hear.

I took a walk by myself when I came home, to the beach where I was a bit intimidated by the vastness of the ocean, at night, seeing a boat far away in the darkness. Looking north I could watch a lightning storm miles away, all the while amazed by the hundreds of suns far away in the universe, some dying, some dead with the light just reaching us now.

The beach at night

I am always in awe of just looking up in the sky and seeing all that, but you really can’t see it in Hoboken due to the light pollution of New York City. I came home to Elaine and Irene soon going to their bedrooms and I stayed up with Frank watching some of the Colbert Report but the waves beating me up in the afternoon took it’s toll and soon I was asleep in bed.

And that’s where I had this odd dream about Pat Boone coming onto me, wanting to get a threesome going with Scott from Stevens Tech, unseen in the next room. In the dream Pat Boone was really hung. I woke up just then, and no I didn’t try to go back to sleep.

Got out of bed, and went and got coffee for the coffee drinkers. Went to the beach around 10:00. Not too crowded save for a group of Christianists praying in the sand. A youth group actually repeating whatever it is they were told. There were about 50 kids ranging from about 8 to 16, led by slightly older teenagers, cheerleaders for god.

Took a while for the water to warm up again, Elaine, Irene and myself enjoyed ourselves, the two of them collecting shells. After getting lunch for everyone I jumped in the water. We were sitting in the surfing area so I had to walk about 100 feet north. By that time there were a lot of people on the beach, a lot of families.

When I would go to the beach with Julio and Stine, we would make a point to get as far away from people as possible. It was impossible to do that at Ship Bottom but I made the most of it.

Elaine and Irene left around 2:00, I stayed until about 5:00, going back in the water and occasionally silently freaking out when my hand would brush a dead jellyfish. Dinner was Italian take out which was mediocre.

Just sat around and watched TV with Frank and drank sangria with Elaine on the porch. Since I was beaten up by the ocean so much more in the afternoon I wound up falling asleep at 9:00.

This time I dreamt I was driving the brown Ford Econoline from my HBJ days, driving in Manhattan with Zed my late cat and the namesake of this blog. Like I used to do, in the dream I was driving through Central Park and heading for Farfetched which was now located in a glitzy store in Times Square.

It seemed to be quite a success, enough so that neither Susan nor Lois, not even Harpy were working. I had to pick up something behind the counter and though I didn’t know the girl behind the register, she knew me. Zed and I were back heading through Central Park when I woke up and took a picture.

Then went back to sleep, waking up a little while later, Elaine and Irene cleaning up since we needed to be out by 11:00AM. I went out and got coffee and helped clean up when I got back. Took a walk on the beach, just a handful of people, fishermen and surfers out so early.

We were on the road in two cars, Elaine and Irene in one car, Frank and myself in his. Had a nice ride home talking about familiar subjects in every sense of the word. Now I am home and ready for a nap. Tonight’s plan, dinner with Julio and hanging out with Juan. So perhaps a disco nap is in order.

No nap, second wind, more pics…