Category Archives: Mood Mambo

In Bloom

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Back to life, back to reality. Reality is not for me and it makes me laugh. One of those two lyrics sum up how my day was. Still too early to tell at 6:13PM. Last night I was still buzzing from the matinée of Sunday in the Park with George. I love having my brain stimulated. I was determined to see if I can catch the show again for free.

I explained to my sister in law Elaine that my desire to see the play again is sort of looking at the painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Just looking at it once, or watching it once you won’t get a lot from it. It requires different points of view, both physically and mentally. I was determined to see if I could pull it off.

Juan came by last night as I was watching the Tony Awards. Sunday in the Park with George didn’t win anything, South Pacific and Gypsy won most of the awards though In The Heights, a new musical about life in a Dominican neighborhood in Washington Heights won best musical, August: Osage County won best play and I want to see both.

Passing Strange, which Bill and I saw last year at the Public Theater won best book. It was fun to watch the Tony Awards, I haven’t watched them in years. Seeing the play yesterday afternoon and knowing that it was up for some awards was the reason I watched. I also want to see Xanadu which looks perfectly silly and high camp and I know a few of those songs by the Electric Light Orchestra and Olivia Newton John.

It was good to see Juan again, just hanging out talking shit and watching the awards. Bill came home midway through and he was in quite a sad state. It was his first Father’s Day without his father and I have to admit, I forgot it was Father’s Day since it’s something I hadn’t recognized in a long time. I think he was dismayed to see Juan here, so he felt he needed to keep up a front. I gave him a hug and I stroked Bill’s back, letting him cry on my shoulder.

Bill soon was able to relax and enjoy the show. Juan stayed later than Juan expected and left a little before 11:00. Bill and I watched the news and both went to bed at the same time which is something we hardly ever do. At around 6:00 this morning as Bill was getting ready to leave for the day I laid in bed telling him that there was no internet. He didn’t understand what I was saying, and neither did I.

I headed out for work, more people riding the bus since gas prices are so high. I figure these are the single passenger drivers who ride through the tunnel solo each day, and now they’re unable to afford that, gas over $4.00 and the toll is $8.00. It adds up. I’m sure NJ Transit will jack up their prices even though Hoboken gets the worst buses. No air conditioning, no overhead reading lights and undependable service.

I have to put in my vacation notice soon at work since it looks like I’ll be able to spend a few days down the shore on Long Beach Island. That’s something to look forward to, but it’s still going to be a bummer summer without the annual visit from Annemarie, Rex and Earl. Work was interesting. New people in the offices. I still have to get used to their faces. They know me and I usually just give them a blank stare for some very long seconds.

In fact this morning, one of the new guys, Patrick Quinn was out on the street having locked himself out of the office. He saw me first and waved. I probably gave him the ‘what do you want from me?’ look. Had a slight chip on my shoulder since they raised the price of a buttered bagel to over a dollar now. I figured out who Pat Quinn was and got him access to the office again.

No one seemed to care that I wasn’t in the office on Friday though I certainly sweated it. I was busy but still found time to talk to my brother Frank on the phone and exchange emails with Annemarie. I was also able to call the Roundabout Theater Company and get information on their volunteer usher program. They still have it and I just have to go to the box office and put my name in. I’m aiming for Friday night. And maybe another performance next week if I’m lucky.

Today was the first day that same sex couples are able to get married in San Francisco and maybe California as a whole. Gavin Newsom, the SF Mayor should have married Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin by now. Phyllis and Del have been together for about 700 years and they want to be legal. They were scheduled to be the first gay couple to be legally married today. You couldn’t tell it was such a big day at least if you watched NBC Nightly News tonight. Tim Russert was a super guy, they’ll tell you all about that though.

See you later agitators.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist one more.

Happy Bloom’s day

There Is No End

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I love New York but I also love being able to get out of New York and back to the relative safety of Hoboken. It always amazes me the difference one river makes. Things in Hoboken are somewhat normal and quiet, whereas across the river it’s go go go all the time, no chance to rest.

There was a time where I would go out after work, drink, see a concert, do whatever and it didn’t matter what time I was finished with whatever it was that I was doing, the Path train runs all night and I didn’t mind waiting for the train at whatever time I happened to be in.

I didn’t like waiting in the bowels of the Port Authority though, after 1:00AM all buses leave through the basement and it’s horrible down there. Time crawls, and there’s no real escape, plus I was usually in an altered state which didn’t help the waiting at all. The scenes I used to frequent are over or changed, clubs have closed and things cost a lot more money now than they did then.

Funny thing is I make more money now, but then again my expenses have grown. No more cheap rent in Weehawken, lower rent than most in Hoboken and I have a job that’s not in the music business and they frown on coming into work hung over or still drunk from the night before. And everything is more expensive now that it was then. Even more expensive than it was last year.

I’m not complaining, that is just the way things are lately. Somethings I’ve noticed lately that I hadn’t noticed before, like the fact that so many young men are going bald and have taken that preemptive strike and shave their heads. Really, a lot of guys in their twenties are going bald. Was it like that in my twenties?

I wasn’t in danger of losing my hair at that age. Bill’s in his forties and that seems to be the ripe age to start to lose one’s hair. Just something I’ve noticed. No longer a stigma, the male pattern baldness, and they mostly shave it all off rather than assuming the role of Lord Comb Over.

One thing that has been driving me crazy is the Blackberry. A lot of people have them, I don’t and I don’t want one. What I do want to do is smack them out of people’s hands as they walk down the street not paying any attention to anything going on around them. They walk and stare at that two inch screen as if their lives depended on it.

Maybe their jobs depend on it, but to ignore everything that is going on around you is just insane in this day and age. Oh if I only had the cojones, which by the way is not a song cut out of the Wizard of Oz.

I have a feeling that another blackout will occur in New York City this summer. Just a feeling. I hope I’m wrong. And if I’m not wrong in the off chance, I hope it’s only a blackout, nothing worse though that is still pretty bad. That was a thought I had in my head last night as I lay in bed listening to Bill saw concrete as he slept.

I voted today, partly for the democratic machine, partly for an independent. We shall see how that turns out. I met the independent when she was handing out fliers at the Mother’s Day 5k run that Meghan and Rob participated in. So my fingers are crossed which makes typing difficult.

The haters have got the anti-same sex measure on the ballot in November in California. And a christian legal firm has sued to bar New York State from recognizing same sex marriages that were performed elsewhere.