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.

Blah blah blah. Am I right? Another day, low key at best. Ran around some, did some errands. I did not go to the bibliothèque, at least not yet. There’s still time. I did request a book the other day and as of yesterday it is en route. I figured it would get here by today and since the bibliothèque closes at 8:00 tonight I still might get an email letting me know it had arrived. It’s a lot like watching paint dry. It’s been a slow going day today with the sun finally making an appearance late in the afternoon.

I was in midtown Manhattan this afternoon and ran into my friend Jesse. Jesse had news to tell me about our mutual friend Marcus. When Jesse told me this news I feared the worst. But as it turns out it wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best either. It seems that Marcus has been deported. Apparently he was in custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the past year. That is certainly too bad, but Marcus is a survivor and I am sure he will be back one way or another. He does have family here.

I told Jesse to give my best to Marcus’ family. I was soon back in Hoboken and decided to have a seat by Pier A and read. It felt funny without my guitar. I thought I would be situated to be away from my usual spot so I wouldn’t be seen by the toddlers without the guitar. As luck would have it, there they were trooping around Pier A with their minders, asking me where my guitar was, and making the motions of strumming. I told them the guitar was home sleeping but they would see it tomorrow. Too much information for their minds.

I have been playing the guitar inside and trying to remember songs by heart. Not Ann & Nancy Wilson from Heart, but by memory is what I should have written. Lately after I’ve properly butchered a song enough, I’ve been going off on musical tangents which I think sound pretty cool. I have one on a Sound Cloud and I am sure I have posted it here before, around 8 months ago. So now I have the itch to do another and I might just post a new ditty tonight. I have no idea what it will sound like.

I listened to the older song on Sound Cloud since someone I used to admire in the 1980’s started following me on the Cloud. To me I think it sounds a lot like Laraaji, someone that Brian Eno produced back in the 1970’s. Not as melodious as Laraaji of course but conceptually it’s near that neighborhood. And also perhaps a little Feelies in the mix which is probably by osmosis. Having written that I can safely say that it is nowhere near Laraaji or the Feelies. Or anything else for that matter. I guess it sounds like me.

I just did a search online for this here blog and could not find the link to the Sound Cloud. So here it is again. NSFH or NSFW, and definitely NSFD. It may cause drowsiness and alcohol intensifies the effect. Use care when using the Sound Cloud. It may cause dizziness as well. Do use caution. And now, on with the shoe.

Another wishy washy day. And it’s a Wednesday and even for me it feels like a Tuesday. The holiday on Monday once again throws everything out of whack. I’ve been out and about, sometimes in the rain today. Not going far, just within Hoboken city limits and not even near the borders. A trip to the really big supermarket not just because it’s cheaper but because the workers at the other supermarket are just a bit on the snotty side of things. I wander around the really big supermarket with a basket singing along to the songs that are played on the store’s PA.

Another bibliothèque visit was in order. They did correct the problem with regards to the DVD return, it was finally taken off my card. As I suspected, the dear old lady who I talked to about it yesterday did not do anything about it. I brought it up again and by the time I got home it was taken care of. And I took out a new DVD, Infamous, the ‘other’ Truman Capote movie, this one starring Toby Jones and Sandra Bullock with Daniel Craig as the Beaver. I’d seen it before and figured why not again?

I also have The Decendants and The Apartment. I watched The Apartment a week or so ago on Turner Classic Movies and I didn’t think Bill had seen it before. It’s a great movie and I am sure he would love it. That’s two things I like to do with Bill, turn him onto new music as well as classic movies. And so far I am doing good. Last night we watched the Democratic National Convention on C-Span. It made so much sense to watch it on C-Span. No advertising. I tried watching the Repugnant Convention last week on PBS and even they had adverts. Adverts for themselves, but still…

Finally there is a blue sky after it being rainy and cloudy all day. Of course since the weather was most uncooperative there was no busking today. Despite that I practiced a bit and I think it went well. No complaints, no blood, just callouses. Oh and Harpy was right, both the new Bob Dylan and the new Cat Power records are very good. I would also add the new Tom Tom Club EP to the list. I heard it first via Chris Frantz posting via East Village Radio the streaming of Downtown Rockers. It’s light, it’s fun and it’s the Tom Tom Club.

I saw online that the National Guard is looking for a Human Resources Specialist and thought about applying for it, but upon further reading of “Job training requires nine weeks of Basic Training, where you’ll learn basic Soldiering skills, and seven to nine weeks of Advanced Individual Training and on-the-job instruction, where you will learn basic typing skills, how to prepare Army correspondence and forms, how to manage personnel records, and computer update and retrieval procedures.” I thought better of it.

I don’t need to learn basic typing skills, at least I don’t think I do. After all, I have posted 2,357 entries so far and I think I have the hang of it. It did seem promising (the job posting that is. This here blog seems promising every so often, but more often than not it seems somewhat needy). While it does occur to me on occasion that it is truly ‘De Profundis’ in the most banal way, I still find it worthwhile to continue on whatever path it may lead.

Bill and I had a talk about it over the weekend, with me bringing up Jimmy Seltzer’s name and the scheme to collaborate on something. But that was earlier this year and since I have not seen dear Jimmy since May, I can only guess that that collaboration has been shelved indefinitely. C’est la vie!

07 – Red Leaves