Category Archives: Wonderful World Beautiful People

The Big Country

Well things have calmed down, quieted down. Not that it was frantic or anything. Just running from Manhattan to Hillsdale to Hoboken to Garfield back to Manhattan and returning to Hoboken in the past 24 hours.

So I guess maybe it was busy, but I wouldn’t say frantic. Bill’s mother met my family for the first time, my brothers and their families. Annemarie is in California so she was unable to be here. It was a good time, lots of food, plenty of Guinness for me.

Good to see the relatives, if only for a few hours. An interesting thing, I’ve found concerning my brother Frank. We don’t see each other so much and when we finally meet we immediately get on each other’s nerves.

He gets snippy and I in turn, amp up my snippiness and for about five minutes things are tense. Then after that things cool down and are relatively normal. My brother Brian has the same thing happen to him when dealing with Frank. Just something interesting.

Yesterday after I had finished my shopping, just one or two last minute items I wanted to get, I ran into Lois DiLivio who mentioned that all the stimulation that Bill’s mother would get from being around so many people could be good for her and it certainly was. I did hang with Juan yesterday for a few beers and some jazz riffs which was great. He’s an adorable kinda guy. And Also heard from Pedro who is also adorable and called to wish me a happy crimble.

And according to Bill, last night she wouldn’t stop talking about what a good time she had and how she appreciated all the love and attention that she received. Of course there was some drama, there always is. But it’s not my drama to write about so I won’t.

I did my best to bolster some heartbreak though by not overtly putting down anyone, but rather by building up the one with a broken heart. But young love is complicated to the one who is in love and sometimes words of comfort go unheard.

Like I said there was lots of food and I was able to snag some Care packages for myself, though I did give one to Bill’s mom. The package I shipped to California got there in time, but the cd I ordered from Amazon, scheduled to be delivered yesterday, Christmas Eve did not get delivered.

I called Amazon this morning and of course was speaking to someone in India who apologized enough that it eventually had no meaning. She was merely someone who answered the phone and has no pull at all.

The cd was to be shipped from Texas to California but with the seven days of bad weather, it’s still in Texas. I was glad that I disobeyed my sister’s edict and also got my nephew Earl an iTunes gift card since the cd is now scheduled to be delivered by December 31.

I can ship a package across country with no problem, but the US Post Office cannot deliver a cd as promised. I really don’t like using Amazon at all but it seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Bill and I exchanged presents, I got him some cuff links, a tie with buses on it and some festive red braces (suspenders), which he loved. He spent a pretty penny on a set of braces for me with a cigar theme on it, which I of course love. And I do love Bill and after all this, it’s good to chill out.

I posted some pics on my Facebook page, here is the link for that:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13159&id=1037999596&saved#/album.php?aid=13159&id=1037999596&ref=mf

And fare thee well to Harold Pinter and Eartha Kitt.
Santa Baby goes to The Birthday Party.

Across the Universe

A Saturday night and a later posting than usual. It’s after 9:00 and I’m only just getting started. It’s been a busy day for me. Last night wasn’t. Didn’t go to McSwells with a holiday hug for Roda. Way too ugly out, snow, sleet and rain. I was content to stay inside and watch TV.

O & RM again, followed by the second half of the DVD of Stop Making Sense, the live concert film of Talking Heads. Been a while since I saw it and started watching it the other night when Bill was here.

He knew right off the bat that it was Talking Heads, just from looking at David Byrne’s sneakers as he performs Psycho Killer by himself. I had stopped it that night as they were about to do Life During Wartime and that’s where I jumped in again.

Still a great film, they were a great band that will probably never get back together again, which may be a good thing (no pun intended).

After that I did watch the news and the Simpsons following with Scrubs and then I went to bed. Woke up to the sounds of people digging out their cars and shoveling sidewalks. Soon enough I was outside walking past them with trepidation since it was quite icy outside.

Came home after some early errands, walked by Mr. L’s. Tony, my barber was busy with customers and it promised to be a busy day for all concerned in the barbershop. Last weekend before the holiday.

After a few more errands I saw Tony’s chair unoccupied and walked right in. There were a few other guys waiting but they didn’t want Tony’s expertise so I jumped into his chair.

About 45 minutes later he was done, my goatee trimmed nicely, he does a great job of snipping out whatever gray hairs he sees. He doesn’t like gray hairs. His hair is white naturally but every month he dyes it, sometimes magenta, sometimes a reddish brown like today.

He’s about 70 something and lives with his wife in South Hackensack. His son, Nick also cuts hair in the barbershop. I did some laundry at home then had to run out when the wooden clothes rack I use snapped and I lost few rungs. The story of my life.

Bought a new clothes rack as well as a flashlight for the Same Sex Marriage/Anti Rick Warren Rally in Manhattan. Around 4:30 I hopped on the Path train and rode to 33rd street where I was supposed to meet Bill at 5:45. I was there at 5:15 and needed to pee.

Ran into the Manhattan Mall where I found there were no bathrooms due to reconstruction. I had no choice but to go into a pub and have a pint and relieve myself in their facilities.

After the pint I went out and had a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero and waited for Bill who was in great spirits despite the cold. I too was in a good mood and we walked to the staging part of the rally at 35th and Sixth Avenue.

After standing around for a long time in the cold, a few hundred of us chanted and marched up to 42nd st and Seventh Avenue where we chanted some more shone our flashlights and lit our candles and listened and cheered to a succession of speakers.

A good friendly crowd, LGBT people well represented as well as some of our straight supporters. It really made a difference for me, to have Bill at my side marching for equal rights. It made all the difference in the world actually.

He walked me back to the gate at the bus terminal where a bus soon pulled up. We kissed goodbye and he was heading back to Stuyvesant Town as I settled into a seat on the bus and read the New Yorker, which I am practically finished with.

Ran into Chris, who used to be a waitress at McSwells back in the day. She was in the Jersey Journal the other day protesting the 47% tax hike that homeowners in Hoboken received due to the tragic ineptitude of the Mayor, Dave Roberts who basically screwed the Mile Square City raw.

I did see Jim Mastro who told me Ann Boyles will be in town on Monday or Tuesday and we might just meet at McSwells for all those people in Hoboken who would love to see Ann Boyles once again and it will give me a chance to say hello to her on behalf of bhikkhu.

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