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.

Thursday 12.4.2025

1978 Barbara Williams driving home from the book Warehouse, it’s nighttime time, it’s winter, Toto is playing Hold the Line

Or else we’re listening to Steve Martin, a wild and crazy guy. It was an interesting time 47 years ago.
Barbara was one of my first friends, and we were friends for a while, at least I thought so. She outgrew me, and I went up hanging out with her little brother, Scott.

But a few years later, we reconnected, working for the same book company and the same warehouse in Saddle Brook. And she was driving, so she’d give me a ride home at the end of the day, around 6:00 or 7:15 p.m.

I was definitely aware of my sexuality and was soon to cross paths with her father, Edward L, who was a security cop at the Garden State Plaza.

One night, when he was driving out the men in the men’s room who were spending much too much time masturbating in the stalls, I was one of those men, and he looked me in the eye as I tried to look askance and walk by.

I’m sure he told his family who he was separated from to not have anything to do with me. But I’m fairly certain that was a few years later, after Barbara was driving me home after work.

Don’t know why that popped into my head, probably because I heard Toto singing Hold the Line somewhere.

I last saw Barbara at my brother’s wake in 2019. She seemed taken aback at my enthusiasm for seeing her, telling her she was my first friend. I don’t think she was impressed. Perhaps she was more embarrassed than anything

For the longest time, I thought the Williams family was so cool and had it all together, but I’m closer inspection, they were in worse shape than my family. Sad stories.

Parents divorced, just strangeness abounds, so I hung out there quite a bit growing up, I can still see their house inside out.

I am presently at my desk listening to David Bowie and Young Americans. My brother Frank gave me the cassette in 1975, and I was only interested in the title song and the hit single Fame.

The title song was the first song on the cassette, and the hit single was the last song on the cassette. Those were the only things I played so much that the tape folded upon itself, and so, except for those two songs, everything else was played backwards on cassette.

It’s not my favorite David Bowie record, though it is the first.
My former roommate William gave me a copy of the CD in the ’90s, and that’s how it’s been digitized in my streaming service.

Right now, David Bowie’s Station to Station is playing, which is a preferable album. I believe that between Young Americans and Station to Station, David released his greatest hits, ChangesOneBowie.

The dilemma of eating when it’s lunch time or eating when I am hungry goes on, though it is not much of a dilemma, actually. I have a banana leftover from yesterday, which I will probably leave later on this afternoon.

My lunch break will entail walking down to 8th Street from 16th Street and going to the UPS store to drop off my good and faithful servant, pixel 6A.

Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Don’t Stop’ is playing in my head, but I do feel obligated to use Toto’s Hold the Line as the title of this post

Puravida Miami

So I walked around the village at lunch time trying to get things done like dropping off the good and faithful servant to be returned back from whence it came and as I was walking I was struck by how hungry I was I knew I had a banana and I had some other snacks and I figured that would get me through the afternoon but even though I ate those items I was remarkably hungry even afterwards so much so it felt there was a hollowness inside of me.

I had some lackluster chicken. It was a nearby restaurant that was good the first time, but each successive visit has left me wanting. The rest of the day was alright. Passable at best.

For some reason WordPress is not posting the photos that I have uploaded. They exist.

A good and faithful servant

Lover boy
I ruined your day. I broke your heart.
I don’t know where I was going with those lines. Perhaps a poem or a song lyric.

It is Wednesday, December 3rd. The new phone is supposed to be delivered today. Other items were delivered last night after I had come in from the inclement weather in Hoboken, knowing that I could pick them up today, and that is my plan after work.

While Yancey was in the midst of my morning, I tried to find proper music that would be inoffensive and listenable for his sensitive ears. I started out with Towa Tei, followed it with Michelle and Me’Shell Ndegeocello, and some Luaka Bop.

After Yancy left, I played the Velvet Underground Live 1969, Cocteau Twins, and the Cure. The morning started off yesterday with Before and After Science by Brian Eno. Today it was Supertramp- Breakfast in America.

Demos, the very handsome UPS guy, delivered by phone; actually, I went and got it. I would have hopped in the back of a truck for him if he had asked. He knew me, at least remembered me. He was handsome enough for me to remember, but on this occasion, I didn’t.

It’s been a satisfactory day, mostly. Fun talk with Mike on the phone, a few laughs. Work was a breeze, relatively speaking. I had halal food from the truck on Sixth Avenue, which was good but not as good as the first time a few weeks ago.

Bill’s spirits were somewhat deflated. He thought he’d be on the road, but those plans shifted. So he’s housebound until the weekend, when a road trip is planned. A trip to East Orange, which isn’t a ‘fun’ road trip. It is a memorial followed by a repast. He mentioned it to me last week, and I begged off.

I regretted it and told him soon after that I would attend with him. I’m sure he appreciates it. He reserved a ZipCar, to which I will contribute. I’m not sure he knows about that. I certainly pointed him in that direction. His original plan was to take a ride share from Hoboken to East Orange, but that did not seem feasible. This seems affordable, especially with my own contribution.

The new phone seems cool. Some things are similar; the Pixel 9a is a definite update to the Pixel 6a. It’s been a few years since I had it. A few things were different: homescreen widgets had moved, and I did my best to remember where they were. New positions for some of those widgets.

I await the delivery of the phone case, which is expected on Friday. It’s not an official case as sanctioned by the Alphabet company. It’s the same model as I had for the Pixel 6a, and I like it very much. I’m being extra cautious with the Pixel 9a until the case is delivered. Not that I drop my phone frequently, but it does happen.

I’m on a plan with the price added to my bill, which I try to keep down. It’s a 2-year plan, $20 a month. Of course, it costs more than some of the cars I used to own.

The Pixel 6a has been a good and faithful servant.