Category Archives: Interesting Things as of Late

isn’t it all?

Small Talk

It is as expected, the only people in the office are the housekeeper and me, not sure if Jimmy Chile is in. I’m sending him a message right now to find out.

So it’s Jimmy, me, and the housekeeper. The gentleman who looked older than me, but I can never tell these days, strode by my desk. He was in the office for about 10 minutes at most, and then he left. Employees who work for the fruit stand are off, but people who are contracted to work at the food stand.

Bill and I saw a play called The Popes of Farragut Street. It was a good play, it was better than the play that Bill was in August. There was a plan to have Mike join us, and I tried calling him five times on Monday, five times on Tuesday, and for those 10 times, he did not answer the phone, so any offer for him to join us did not come to fruition

Bill was a bit anxious about Mike and his 15-minute attention span, that if he wasn’t feeling like playing within 15 minutes, he would pull out his phone, but he’s not that type, he’s very much into the theater and would like to know more about it, and the play was just that good that it would have drawn his attention.

During the first act, a few women, a couple of rows ahead of us, pulled out their phones and looked at them in the darkness of the seating, which was an annoying distraction, and I knew Mike would never have done something like that.

And Bill and I met Ralph Carter, who played Michael Evans in that 1970 show Good Times. Ralph was a gentleman and happy to know that he had fans and people who appreciated him all these years later, like 50 years later.

The play was in the afternoon, so I was home by 6:45, and Bill had to head out to the garage to pick up the company car since he had to be at the company garage at 2:00 a.m., actually get up at 2:00 a.m. to be at the garage by 3:00 a.m.

So there has been a plan for Mike to join Bill and I and a trip to Garfield on Thanksgiving that was the plan, and then this morning, talking to Mike on the phone it seems like his Beloved is making plans to come here for Thanksgiving, flying in on Wednesday leaving on Sunday which would take Mike out of the equation of traveling to Garfield.

It seems the beloved just begins things at the last minute, no matter the cost or the difficulty, in a booking for an airplane ticket for 48 hours in advance

After I finish this rigmarole, I’ll get Mike to call to find out the status of this situation. I’ve gotten off the phone with Bill and did not mention it to Bill because I have a feeling Bill would get very upset with this turn of events, and he’s working, and I’m working, but neither one of us needs that smoke
45 years later, actually more like 50 years later, I am reminded of something that happened with William Murphy. I believe the first time I met him, I immediately made fun of him, telling him that his face looked like it had been set on fire and put out with a fork. Which is something my brother used to say as a joke…

From that day forward, William Murphy had it in for me and did all he could to make my four years of high school hell. He succeeded somewhat, but I got through it unscathed and years later remembered that I probably said something really snotty like that to make him hate me and want to kill me, that’s it, and it was cruel. He may have been a nice guy, but I instantly made an enemy of him. I regret that.

Bloom in 10

34° on A Monday night in Hoboken. It’s been quite an out of the ordinary couple of days. It’s March 3. Friday night had Bill, Mike, and myself watching Ted Lasso. Mike seems enamored of the show as Bill and I had been in the past.

Bill did his last minute packing thing, running around the apartment before he went to sleep for an early departure Saturday morning. Mike soon fell asleep on the couch, I turned everything on low on my computer before turning in.

Bill gave me a goodbye kiss and I went back to sleep. I regret not walking to the door to see him off. I was up an hour after that, Mike was up already. Mike had expressed a desire to shoot some photos in Jersey City and I was game.

The day before we discussed it and he had packed a bag with his wardrobe and accoutrements so I wasn’t taken by surprise. And Saturday was a nice day, the temperatures reaching 60°. We took a Lyft to Jersey City since the baggage was too unwieldy to walk over, though we agreed we would walk back.

Between Mike and myself I have a better cameraphone and I wound up taking shots of Mike in different shirts, sneakers, and even a leather harness. He has his admirers online and I provided artistic direction while I took the photos.

It was fun working underneath an overpass that had some wonderful graffiti that Mike ably posed in front of, smoking a cigar that we shared. I wound up taking a couple of hundred photos, with maybe a dozen of myself smoking the shared cigar. It was a good time.

We walked home as it had started getting chilly and windy. The walk was enjoyable. Mike just takes it all in, the view and whatever it is that I was saying, my personal history of Hoboken. He never says anything.

It was like that in December when Bill, Mike, and I went to see the Rockefeller Xmas tree. Bill giving his spiel about midtown Manhattan, me interjecting and Mike just listening to our history lesson.

So it was more of the same on Saturday with just me spilling my guts about Hoboken, how it was, and how it is now. I made pasta for the both of us and we finished watching Ted Lasso. Mike works on Sundays so he was off to bed and I too was off to sleep soon after.

Bill wasn’t around so I had Mike sleep in the bed instead of the couch. Mike was up early and off to work. On Sundays, I just stay in bed until it’s time to watch Jane Pauley and Sunday Morning on TV. It was a lonely day and I am just no good on my own.

Bill was on the road and mostly unavailable, Mike was at work and sort of unavailable. I wandered off to the supermarket to get various items. Mike was coming over again, the plan was to have him sleep over so I wouldn’t be alone. Bill agrees that this is a good idea.

We watched the Oscars on TV and texted with Bill back and forth. It was enjoyable, Mike was disappointed that Wicked didn’t win much. I was disappointed that A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan movie got nothing. Bill has a copy of the evening’s winner, Anora which we will watch on his return.

Today was not such a good day. Bill was fine being where he was, Mike was at work, and I was home climbing the walls. There was a drastic mistake of chatting with Mike online before I had enough coffee and it went south soon after. Nothing bad was said but nothing bad was said with me being argumentative and Mike being somewhat accusatory.

Then it turned into Mike saying he was just going to go home, the hanging out here in Hoboken had run its course. I was a bit hurt by that and told him his bags were packed and he could call a Lyft home. The phone call ended badly obviously.

I talked to Bill about it and he suggested seeing Mike and talking about it face-to-face. Mike brought it up earlier and I said no, but after Bill’s idea, I changed my mind and met Mike after work.

We met and it was good. He had a bona fide problem with his work situation so we discussed that. It went well and seemed like a remedy to our conversing on the phone earlier. We came back home and ate some Mexican food, and just talked.

I did my best with advice, knowing that I couldn’t really say much but be supportive. He needs a new job so I will help him with that as I myself look for work. I’ve set him up in the bed again, we cuddled, which he desperately needed. He soon drifted off to sleep as the Brian Eno Bloom 10 app played its notes. I am two rooms away writing on the computer as he sleeps.