Author Archives: 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.

Survey Says

Today is Thursday and feels like a Wednesday sort of. It actually has hints of a Thursday-ness to it. Tomorrow is Friday and that is the prize I have my eyes on.

I am back to typing on my desktop keyboard rather than dictating like I have done the past 2 days. I do dictate notes, and ideas into the phone but that’s it. Granted I can spew forth over 500 words in about 15 minutes, but hunting and pecking takes time and there are the distractions of TV and life in the apartment with the man I love, Bill. And he’s a lovely distraction.

Things have cooled down temperature-wise. I guess that is something worthwhile with regard to the so-called end of summer. I’m a stickler for the proper date for the autumn equinox on September 22 and not a moment too soon.

Leaving the apartment this morning and being close to 2 grammar schools it looked like a parade of parents marching off to drop their children off at the schools. No children crying, screaming and clinging to their mother like I used to do up until senior year of high school. I went the other way as I always do unless the bagel shop is closed for vacation.

3 years ago it was nice. It was during the pandemic and there were a lot of days where I was the only one in the train car headed into Manhattan or back to Hoboken. Now it gets crowded again and the youngsters have no problem letting their bags take a seat next to them. Then I show up and say excuse me which gets them to move their bags.

Sometimes it’s accompanied by a heavy sigh and a dirty look. Sometimes there is muttering under their breath. It’s mostly women that do this but every now and then it’s a man. The other day there was a heavy set man on the way back to the mainland.

I sat next to him and on the other side there was an empty seat. The heavy-set man could have easily moved an inch or two in the direction of the empty seat but he decided not to, in order to make me uncomfortable, which I wasn’t. Some slight discomfort which faded as the train left the station.

His attempt amounted to nothing and made him look a bit stupid with emptiness beside him and trying to squeeze me on the other side. I didn’t care, I was finishing ‘Happy Go Lucky’ by David Sedaris.

All summer long I opted for humorous books and so it fell to David Sedaris. When I was picking up ‘Happy Go Lucky’, I noticed a book by Edna O’Brien, ‘Girl’. I had read about Edna O’Brien as she had passed away a week or so before. Impulsively I added that to my books I was taking out.

And tonight I started reading it, knowing nothing about the book. I was hoping for more lighthearted fare. This was not that. It’s a book about the kidnapping of young girls in Nigeria by Boko Haram. Hair-raising, not light-hearted. In for a penny, in for a pound.

We’ll see how long I can last with that.

every little thing

Whereas yesterday I dictated directly into JohnOzed.com today on dictating directly onto Google Drive which should help with editing and spell checking later.

I sit on Thomas Street which is even better than Murray Street since even fewer people walk down this narrow avenue between Church and Broadway
I sit and I smoke a cigar and there’s nobody around to complain about it or give me dirty looks not that that ever happens but you know that’s what they’re thinking…

So yesterday’s method I posted over 700 words and it wasn’t as bad as it usually is when I talk hahaha typing afforded me some separation but this is straight into the beast.

Today feels autumnal and it’s a time of season that I’m not particularly happy about but I really have no say in the matter.

I saw Sean Marruy this morning as I was walking to the train. Sean is someone that I graduated from high school with 44 years ago and I have not spoken to him in 44 years despite seeing him several times and occasionally being mere inches away from him I make no connection whatsoever and I don’t think I register on his radar either.

I don’t know whether or not Sean is a good guy or what but he is a realtor which is questionable even though I know some realtors that are really good good people I can’t say whether or not Sean is though.

Shlomo is in Manitoba until Monday and no one’s doing work on their end because there’s nobody to tell them to go to work.

Bill comments that when he meets me at the train after work and that time is used so I can decompress and get all the bad stuff from work off my chest by the time I get home…but I’m not really myself until after I have eaten then I become normal once again.

Bill also has recognized that he is a day person whereas I am a night person he is up and thriving during the day whereas I am dragging my butt around and then nighttime comes in I’m okay. there are more hours for him in the day than there are for me at night. I’m not sure if that makes sense but there you have it…

Is it possible that I am getting very tired of Tribeca?

So it’s the laughter we will remember whenever we remember the way we were.
Let’s face it I’m writing this for myself anyone else finds it that’s great if they like it that’s even better but if they don’t I’m writing this for myself.

One two buckle my shoe
3 4 closed the door
5 6 pick-up sticks
7 8 Liam Street
9 10 start again

This is an edited post that I didn’t intend to edit. But it seems that I did. There was a bitterness which when I was reading I decided to put it aside for the time when I will be standing on the corner screaming my screed. Wouldn’t it be ironic if that ever happened and here I am writing
About it…forecasting…oooh!

Anyhow, I think I will use the dictation when in a pinch or whatever. I do enjoy the engagement of my fingers, hunting and pecking on an oily keyboard. There’s also a whole mishegas with regards to writing(?) on my phone and having to jump through a few hoops to get it to my desktop.

Now where did I put my abacus?