I was off today and it’s been a good day so far. I am heading out soon to have dinner with Bill at Julio & Stine’s. I haven’t been to see them since maybe February and I’m sure it’s been longer since Bill had seen them. Today has been alright. Last night Bill and I finally sat down and talked about a lot of things and cleared the air. Things are as they should be.

I slept fairly well last night and woke up close to my usual wake up time this morning. Just as well since construction began on the apartment below soon after I got out of bed. I told Bill that he did not have to make coffee for me this morning, I could do it myself. So after a shower I had some coffee and headed out into the world. It was a warm enough day but lately you never can tell. I headed out to the supermarket and got a few things.

I did see Isis, my favorite cashier. The reason that I hadn’t seen her was because she had accompanied her son to school (sophomore year) and stayed there all day, all week since he was suspended. That was the only way to get around his suspension so that he could continue going to class. A pain in the ass for Isis and humiliation for her son no doubt. She must have had her son while she was still a teenager since she can’t be much into her thirties if you ask me.

After a hearty breakfast I was out and about. I ran into David Cogswell on the street. Now David Cogswell isn’t someone I know very well. He’s been in Hoboken for quite a while, perhaps even longer than me. He used to be a partner in Rogers and Cogswell, a bookstore in Hoboken back in the day. We have many mutual friends but I am quite sure that the two of us never really had a conversation, just a friendly nodding of the head whenever we would pass each other.

Thanks to being friends on Facebook, and admiring each other’s posts and photographs we now speak to each other, or at least started talking to each other this afternoon. Not much beyond small talk but it was nice to speak. He was just in Jordan on some tourist job and his photos were quite nice. He seemed to enjoy himself. I was off to the local record store to see if the latest Mojo and Uncut magazines were in.

They were. The Beach Boys on the cover of Mojo and Paul McCartney on the cover of Uncut. Both look like interesting reads, then again they usually are, which I why I buy them each month. I walked around Hoboken for a spell, overdressed though, in a leather blazer. I am still not sure if I should wear it when I walk up to Julio and Stine’s. Don’t want to be sweating like a horse when I get there. But the temperature will drop once the sun goes down I’m sure.

Well the sun went down and the temperature barely dropped a degree. I met Bill at the cinemas near where Julio & Stine live and there was a short line for the Avengers movie. We went up to their condo, Alexander as adorable as ever. Stine made a big pan of lasagna which despite two gavons like Bill and myself, there was still plenty left over.

Alexander was busy trying to get my attention or any attention from any adult nearby. Most every toy he had was brought out with much rolling of the eyes from Julio & Stine. 2 bottles of wine, some quality talk between Julio & myself like the two old friends we actually are. Stine and Bill were discussing Bill’s audition tomorrow and in doing so realized that if Bill was going to this audition tomorrow morning, we had better leave.

A walk home after very pleasant farewells, Bill & I passing by Hyman Gross’ old apartment. Hyman passed away a year ago this Sunday, so it was nice to pay some sort of respect. Now we’re home, I’m pleasantly buzzed, Bill’s ready for bed and Bill Maher prattles on. Back to the cigar shack tomorrow.

Rest in Peace Adam Yauch/MCA of the Beastie Boys




11 Sure Shot

Well today was a day off and after how things went asunder yesterday it turned out to be a good day to have off. The plan to go to upstate New York and visit with Bill’s cousin et al fell by the wayside for reasons to be revealed at a later date.

So we were home a lot earlier than expected and wound up cuddling on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, followed by Hannah and her Sisters and then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. We didn’t watch all of Deathly Hallows Part One sine we were both very tired.

Juan took a chance and texted me to see if we were around but it was mere minutes before we both headed to bed so I had to tell Juan no. I’m sure he understood, or at least I hoped he did. Bill and I slept well and he was awake before I was this morning.

He was busy doing something as I showered and made some coffee before heading out to the grocery store. Since Thanksgiving plans were mislaid Friday plans were now nonexistent, leaving me with nothing to do. I was sort of fine with it but still I would rather have had something or somewhere to go that would be fun and or at least enlightening.

Instead, laundry was done after breakfast. At the supermarket, Isis cashier supreme told me how her plans had gone awry and she too had wound up being home much earlier than she expected. She also mentioned that a few other customers had told her of their holiday plans gone to seed. I guess yesterday was a bit of a fiasco for a few people.

I was soon home, Bill shredding a lot of papers trying to clean the apartment. There is a lot to be done in that regard and I do my bit and he does his bit and still it is a Sysephesian Sisephesian task. It’s just as well that Juan is just about the only person that ever visits and here we were turning him away the night before due to our exhaustion.

I was able to get out and about for a while this afternoon, very sunny and warm in the 60 degree range. Not that crowded on the streets of Hoboken and still plenty of parking due to it being a holiday weekend. There was some texting going back and forth between me and Julio this afternoon culminating in a dinner invite for me and Bill with Julio, Stine & Alexander.

They had gone to Julio’s cousin’s house for dinner and now ere relaxing after a day trip to Bear Mountain this afternoon. Alexander played shy for a few minutes when he came back from the supermarket with his dad and then it was gloves off.

Out came the toys which were just put away an hour before. We had a wonderful spaghetti and meatball dinner with some nice white wine and quite a few laughs and applause when Alexander completed the alphabet. A very nice and enjoyable time followed by a nice walk home with Bill on the quiet streets of Hoboken.

We did not walk down Washington Street so we couldn’t say the bars were crowded but still the few bars we passed on Willow Avenue were not crowded at all. We are both happy to be home nonetheless.


Romantic Me