Interesting Things as of Late | johnozed

Well today has been a day off, and a mostly rainy day off at that. Still I was glad to have some time to myself and set about doing the things I had planned. Last night I came home, Bill was staying up for me and I walked in with a bit of anxiety regarding how many things I had to do today.

It’s true mostly that depression is from living in the past and anxiety is from living in the future. Last night I was a few hours ahead of myself so I was a little bit anxious. I calmed down soon enough thanks to Bill’s support. He went to bed a while after I came home and I stayed up watching some TV.

I slept fairly well last night and woke up at my usual time even though I had the day off. I had a meeting at 11AM so I had to follow my daily routine once again. I trimmed my goatee somewhat last night and shaved this morning after a shower. Bill made a nice pot of coffee for me again. He’s really enjoying making me coffee even though he doesn’t drink the stuff.

I was dressed and out the door once more, this time headed to the Path train. I stopped at the bibliothèque to pick up a biography on Marvin Gaye written by Michael Eric Dyson but I was too late. I ordered it but you only have five days to pick it up and today was day seven. I wasn’t sure what day I received the notice, so I was too late.

It wasn’t raining when I went into the bibliothèque, but it started to pour when I left. I hopped on a bus to the Path train and got on board a train to the World Trade Center. It was still pouring rain when I got downtown and made my way through Zuccoti Park where Occupy Wall Street had it’s start in September. Now it was empty and it was just me and one other guy walking through.

I made it to the meeting right on time and it lasted longer than I expected and I think it went well. Soon I was back on the street, talking to Bill and walking around Wall Street, killing time. I had plans to meet up with RoDa at 1:00 and it was only 11:45. I bought a Brian Eno EP at JR Music and hopped on an uptown train.

I got off at Union Square and thought about walking past where Farfetched used to be but figured that would be pointless and a bit of a downer so I mainly stayed on 14th Street. What used to be the Virgin megastore is now a Chase Bank.
Bleecker Bob’s which was one of the first places where I used to buy my import singles and albums as well as clothes is being shuttered to become a Starbucks. I hadn’t shopped in Bleecker Bob’s since the early 1980’s and I suppose my lack of loyalty is a contributing factor in it’s demise.

RoDa was only 15 minutes late which wasn’t so bad and we proceeded to walk over to Chelsea. I really wanted Roda to see the Doug Wheeler installation that blew me away a week or so ago but where it was nearly empty that Tuesday afternoon, today it was quite crowded and very stuffy. We decided to head out and wander around a bit, eventually deciding to give it another go next Tuesday.

We wandered to a few other galleries, RoDa being quite impressed with a few things we saw. We walked around a bit more before we both decided we were pretty tired from trooping along in the damp weather.
Then it was back to Hoboken where everyone knows RoDa. He can’t walk down Washington Street without a lot of people greeting him, he is so beloved in this town. We parted ways with a nice hug and made plans to try to hit Chelsea once again on Tuesday.

I was glad I was able to help lift his spirits since they were quite low the other day.

RoDa says 'Peace'

Killer Queen

I am writing this knowing that it will not be posted tonight. Today was the Internet protest against SOPA and PIPA, all the major websites like Wikipedia, Google, Reddit and a few more went dark as a way to show how the Internet would be lacking should these laws come to pass. For me it was back to work today.

After quite a splendid day yesterday, today was bound to be a come down. I rallied though, got myself together and was out on the street, in the cold. My usual bus driver, my second favorite bus driver wasn’t driving on my schedule today, or any time soon. He mentioned it to me last week and I have to say I am sorry to see him go.

He’s driving a different shift and may be back in April. I rode in silence, downstairs Deborah wasn’t on board this morning. From the bus terminal I once again walked up the avenue to the cigar shack, stopping off to get my iced coffee and a quick phone call with Bill. I got to the cigar shack where Zack was considerably under the weather and Thomas was getting screwed again.

He’s scheduled to work six days in a row in the upcoming weeks and he’s not looking forward to it. He’s 25 years old so if any one can handle it, it would be him. Zack was looking tattered and spent most of the day in the office. He’s supposed to be heading down to the Caribbean in a few days and I advised him to head home early. Who wants to be sick in the Caribbean? I’ve never been, but I figure that it would not be any fun.

So now things are winding down in the cigar shack, Thomas and I just had a good chat with a very rich man from the midwest. Nice guy. I offered to be adopted by him but he wasn’t having it. I could easily call him Dad if need be. He restores cars for a hobby and lost a few fingers on his left hand doing so.

NOW it’s the next day, back online, back to the beat, back to the blog. It’s been an interesting day. As I waited for my bus, the new driver flew right by with two cops cars flying fast behind her, lights and sirens a blazing. Whether the two were connected I don’t know but I hope so since the bus driver did not stop for any stops it seemed.

I got to the cigar shack a few minutes late and walked past Zack and Bradley and Thomas having a semi-heated discussion. Thomas was cool, but Zack and Bradley were heated and loud. After about a half hour it all seemed calm and I was glad I wasn’t involved.

Jimmy Seltzer made an early appearance. I mentioned I had a dream about him with a porn stache and he mentioned we talked about that a week or so ago. I didn’t remember but in hindsight he’s probably right for where else would I get the idea of Jimmy Seltzer with a porn stache?

Oh yeah, almost forgot that Juan stopped by last night. It was hard to believe I hadn’t seen him since maybe September or October of last year. And of course it was great to see him, wonderful to have him over. He was funny and cutting as ever and I really should put more effort into meeting up with him, not being so tired, such an old fogey. He is really such a good guy and both Bill and I really enjoy having him around.