It’s a day off for me. And it’s been somewhat busy. A visit to 2 supermarkets, some errands on Washington Street, 2 trips to the bibliothèque and the dry cleaners. It was also a day filled with communication problems.

I had some coffee after showering and padded around the apartment, deciding to go out around 10:30. A trip to the dry cleaners and dropped off a few shirts. I was running out of coffee and decided to go to Dunkin Donuts and pick up a few pounds of coffee.

I went and stood in line behind a guy who works in a local pizzeria. There were 3 women behind the counter and all 3 were totally infatuated with the pizza man. He wasn’t good looking which made me think they were angling for jobs at the pizzeria.

I had to pick up the 2 bags of coffee and display them in front of the women before I got the attention of one of the women. The total for 2 pounds was $11.99 and I gave her $12.00. She didn’t even look at me as I placed the 2 pounds in my bag and threw the penny in the tip jar and crumpled up my receipt.

I asked for both the penny and the receipt, which surprised her. If she paid attention to me instead of the pizza man I would have walked away, but since she didn’t…

Dunkin Donuts has printed on every receipt an invitation for a free donut if you fill out a questionnaire about service. After that I got the newspaper and some bagels before walking over to the supermarket. There were several items I wanted to get that wouldn’t fit in the hand basket so I needed a shopping cart.

I walked over to where the shopping carts, where an elderly woman was arranging the bags of groceries she just bought. She was in the way of the other carts so I asked if she could step aside for a moment while I got myself a cart. Oh, the look she gave me.

Someone was waiting for her in a nearby car, not helping her out. I said that I needed a cart and excused myself as I maneuvered around her. She cursed me, so I told her god loves her but I certainly don’t. Then she told me to drop dead to which I replied she was more than likely going to do just that before me.

Not much chicken at the supermarket, perhaps it was due to the fact that the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company had declared bankruptcy a few weeks ago. I paid for my groceries and stopped by the dry cleaners again.

There was a shirt that has been hanging in the shop for over a year now and I frequently commented on how nice a shirt it was. Earlier when I dropped off my shirts I noticed the shirt wasn’t there anymore. I asked Mona, the shop owner if the person who owned the shirt came and picked it up and it turned out they hadn’t it had simply been moved.

She pulled out the shirt and showed it to me. There was another shirt with it, which Mona said would be too small for me, but the shirt I had my eye on, a pink shirt with a contrasting collar, seemed about my size. It was a custom made shirt so there was no size tag on it.

She offered it to me and I tried it on. It fit quite nicely and with that, Mona gave me a shirt that no one wanted after a year. I plan on wearing it to work tomorrow.

I came home and dropped off my shirt and groceries in the hallway and then went to the bibliothèque and picked up a few CD’s and a DVD as well as Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Finishing the Hat’. Bigger book than I expected, still I will lug it around if I need to.

Came home, started some laundry and talked on the phone. First off a call to my brother Frank. I brought up Steve Fallon who to the surprise of a lot of people, logged into Facebook the other day. Steve told me he was writing a book and mentioned if I had any stories about Maxwells I should send them to him.

I mentioned it to Frank who mentioned the sordid aspects of the 1980’s, and that was not the angle I was thinking of. I mentioned about how Steve and Bill Ryan had gone to WFMU and were on Frank’s show when the Coyote Records sampler ‘Luxury Condos are Coming to Your Neighborhood’ was about to come out might have been a more interesting story. No need to visit stories of AA or NA.

Then I headed out after the phone call to Shop Rite. If I wanted chicken, I would probably have to go there instead. It’s a much bigger store and basically a much better store. The other supermarket is right around the corner from me and usually gets my business since they’re that much closer.

I came home again and spoke with Bill on the phone who heard from a bus driving friend that Hyman might have attempted suicide. It’s been a rough year for him since his companion passed away at the end of 2009. Bill didn’t know how accurate this story about Hyman is and there’s been no word from Hyman after texts and emails from Bill and myself.

All in all it’s been a weird day with regards to communication. I communicated with Steve Fallon who thought I was upset with something he wrote and I had to set the record straight.

I love Steve Fallon and never had any problems with him. He’s always looked out for me, and even though he constantly busted my balls, he was also very kind and generous. He could have, perhaps should have, fired me a few times, but despite that I would never have a cross word about him and would definitely defend him against anyone who did have something bad to say about him. So there is nothing but love for Steve Fallon in my heart, and writing that here places it on the record.

I’ve written over 1,000 words and it was not my intention, but there you go.