A Monday and it was bearable. Mainly because I was able to spend a few minutes with Bill while I was on my lunch break. He was with a gaggle of German tourists, he picked them up in Bayonne and then it was off to a madcap Manhattan afternoon. They were visiting the Freedom Tower, I guess they went all the way to the top since there’s really nothing to see at the bottom.

I ought to know since I exit the Freedom Tower on my way to the office in the morning. It’s a short walk from One World Trade Center to wherever my office is. I even took a photo with my man though it was feeling and WordPress is not as photo-friendly as it used to be 11 years ago, but then again, who is?

The walk to the train this morning had all traces of the Art and Music Festival yesterday erased. Like it never happened. I admit it was guilt that made me attend with Bill. There was a photo of the earnest faces fighting to save rent control in Hoboken. Once again rent control is under attack and these people are stepping up.

Bill spoke to one of the faces as they were closing down, I usually communicate with them online. We will vote NO in NOvember. Bill and I were glad we made the attempt and attended the festival even if it was only for about an hour. The guilt was assuaged.

I was hoping for a good day but wound up calling the driver of one of those hybrid commuter vans an idiot for blocking the intersection and for stopping right in the middle of a crosswalk. I looked him in the eye and called him an idiot a few times while shrugged his shoulders, seeming to say ‘What can I do?’. He wasn’t an idiot now that I think of it, he was a dumb ass.

My plan for an easygoing day squashed before I got on the train. I rallied and did my best to avoid most people as I headed to the office. It being a Monday meant the train wasn’t crowded. Tomorrow will be a different story, more people going in, 98% looking at their phones, all plugged in.

I used to wonder why are they so captivated by their devices, but then again, they paid a lot of money for those devices and want to get their money’s worth. I don’t have that great a plan but it’s manageable so I’m not using up data all the time.

I realize that I have an imagination and I had forgotten that a lot of people do not. I guess an imagination would be cumbersome so they would rather have things delivered to them, be it a TV show or a movie or whatever it is they look at.

I only see what they’re looking at sometimes when I am behind them as we climb they stairs. I look at them, they look at their devices.

Sunday night coming down. That’s for Kris Kristofferson. He died yesterday. Kris Kristofferson wrote Sunday Morning Coming Down. I found out he passed away this afternoon. I’m wary about this turning into an obituary blog, what with Maggie Smith the other day, another bold-faced name.

It’s been another rainy day today, the first weekend in months that I did not go bike riding. I’m not too happy about it. Roads are wet, vehicles tend to slide into stops. Bicycles too. Everything is wet and the sky is gray. I’m sure the yellow grass in Liberty State Park is turning green for the time being, before going to whatever color it gets during the autumn and winter.

I slept well last night, and dreamt of Corey Williams and Susan Sher, separately yet in the same part of Herald Square around 37th Street and Sixth Avenue where Skyline studios used to be which is where I first met Corey Williams.

At one point in a dream, Bill and I were sitting near Susan who was heading back to NJ. I asked for a ride back but she said no, ‘didn’t I remember last time?’ It seems Bill and I were too large for her car which may have been a two-seater.

She did have a two-seater at one point, I remember going to a party my dear friend Jet was having up on Washington Terrace in the Heights. Susan drove while Rand sat in my lap. It was highly unsafe but we didn’t know any better, we were in our twenties.

It drizzled most of the day today and Hoboken had its Autumn Art & Music Festival. It was a dreary turnout. They did have a raid date just in case but most of these vendors would be in another location during the rain date and they had probably been planning this for weeks if not months.

Rock & Roll is not the predominant music anymore so it was different types of music, salsa, bluegrass, and R&B. It’s all good and if the weather was better they probably would have had a better crowd. I made it a point for Bill and me to do a walk through and it was worthwhile, though seeing a set up for L’Orange Merde was as offputting as one could expect.

We came home and caught up on the shows we watch together, Saturday Night Live, John Oliver Last Week Tonight, and Jeopardy, as well as the Jon Stewart episode of The Daily Show. Bill is back to work tomorrow so he’s in bed already.

I too am back to work again and we’ll see how that goes. Last week was OK, not the best but not the worst either. I just have to keep my head down and do the work. Also to watch what I say and how I say it. It was three years ago that my sweet friend Juan passed away.

He was a good kid and always had a good time. I wish I was more active for him, like going to his favorite bar in Jersey City. Instead, I stayed in. The last time I saw Juan was in January 2021 when I was working at the dreaded Trader Joe’s.

I was so happy to see him that I took off my mask and gave him a kiss as well as a hug. Promises were made to keep in touch but we know how that often goes. My birthday came and went with no word from Juan but I wasn’t hung up on that.

His birthday came in November and I looked him up with a Google search. I don’t know why I didn’t use the social medias to check him off but a Google search offered his obituary from September 29.

I was gutted. It was like he died twice, once in September and also when I found out. 33 tears old. Much, much too young. I miss him and hope to write more about him some other time. He does feature often in the earlier postings from 15 years ago.