Category Archives: Wonderful World Beautiful People

The One Thing

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Here we are in the middle of the week, which isn’t such a bad place to be. I would have rather it be Friday, but here we are and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Last night was pretty quiet. Just me and Bill watching O & RM, then he went to bed and I watched The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Colbert had Yo Yo Ma on as a musical guest and Yo Yo was pretty funny. I wonder if Jane ever met him? Watched the news and I was going to go to bed but turned on The Simpsons which had an episode I didn’t expect to ever see on TV again. It was the episode where the Simpsons go to New York City.

Since a good part of the action takes place at the World Trade Center it made the premise dodgy at best. Barney drops off Homer after being the designated driver and goes on a bender with the car eventually leaving it parked for weeks between the two towers. It really is one of their best episodes, featuring the voice of Officer Steve Grabowski and fresh Kal-Kalash.

So I stayed up and watched the whole thing. It was followed by an episode of Scrubs that was on Comedy Central earlier in the evening. Slept and eventually woke up and dragged my ass out of bed as the Supremes sang I Hear A Symphony.

It promised to be another cold day so I broke out the winter coat. It would probably look good with a fedora and I do have one from about ten years ago when my Rasta pal Marcus gave me a very nice felt hat which I’ve kept in a box, it’s that nice. Before I left I downloaded African and White by China Crisis.

Just a song that crept into my head and I immediately needed it on my iPod to listen to as I walked to the bus stop. It was a later bus than usual so it was a different crowd and not as crowded. Once again I walk into an empty office.

I found out that Greg Steven’s wife Lorraine went home last night, everything seemed to be alright. She has a thyroid problem which is what gave everyone a scare yesterday. I kept myself busy throughout the day.

Worked on Greg’s computer, grateful that he has zero computer skills and enabling me to prove my worth once again. Tom Chin and I remain civil yet frosty to each other which seems to work just fine. Also helped Vivek out with the scanner, showing him how to use it and convert documents to pdf files. Two feathers in my cap, or rather fedora.

It was a nice quiet day. I walked across town, enjoying a Padron and listening to Prince, Sign ‘O’ The Times which is probably his best. Too bad he’s gotten flakier as time progressed. Right now I would care less if he got back together with The Revolution.

Too much water under that graffiti bridge. You may groan now.

Looking forward to Barack Obama’s infomercial. It should break up the evening nicely.

I Believe in You and Me

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Well it’s Friday and I had hoped that I would be fully functional, but no, still in the 90% range. But no, that’s not how it works out. Still I am better than I have been most of the week. I am glad I made the decision to do nothing at all this weekend as opposed to the unconscious decision of not doing anything at all.

Last night I broke my ‘fast’ and watched O & RM. Both were entertaining, mainly with Olbermann in the wings at the Letterman show, looking like he was ready to jump in after Biff Henderson measured the size of his ample skull.

And Rachel Maddow had live clips from the Alfred E. Smith dinner at the Waldorf Astoria featuring John McCain and Barack Obama making fun of each other. It was actually very funny, Bill and I were laughing out loud. Whoever wrote their lines did a great job.

Went to sleep and didn’t beat Bill up again which was nice, I know he appreciated it. He was up and out once again leaving me to sleep for a few minutes before I stirred and got out of bed. Had some coffee, showered and was soon at the bus stop.

Missed my usual bus which Casey might have been on if he didn’t catch the bug I may have accidentally given him.

On my way across town this morning I was prepared in case Obama was still around. He wasn’t staying at the Marriott like I thought, he was staying at the W Hotel. Sure enough he spent the night at the hotel.

I had my camera out and loitered on the sidewalk making small talk with a security guard at a smaller hotel next door. She was ready with her cellphone camera. I wound up standing around for 45 minutes then told to stand behind a barricade far away enough to totally miss Barack Obama getting into his car. So once again I got pictures of secret service agents and detectives who were a lot more interesting to look at yesterday.

Work was quiet yet again. I was able to get a birthday card out to my brother Frank for his birthday on Sunday. After lunch and finishing whatever tasks I had I was out on the street at 3:00.

Walked across town, got on the bus and was soon back in Hoboken, where I am now- doing laundry. Had a phone call from Vivek who was trying to figure out how to use the scanner. I tried talking him through it finally telling him that it was pretty much intuitive and he could figure it out.

Just found out that Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops passed away in his sleep at 72. He had a great voice and I always had a soft spot for the Tops, more so than the Temptations. When Bill and I started going out, one Sunday when I knew Bill would be rehearsing at his church, I decided to surprise him.

I got dressed up in a suit and tie and rode into the city from Weehawken. He was surprised to see me and after talking he went to the piano and started playing a song, I Believe in You & Me. My first thought was, ‘oh god, what a corny song’ since I was more familiar with the Whitney Houston version and not the Four Tops even though it was the wedding song for my brother Brain and his wife Karen years before.

Bill really put his heart and soul into it, he’s such a joy to watch when he’s playing the piano and singing. By the end of the song I had tears running down my face. It’s sort of ‘our song’ now with Bill sometimes sending me text messages saying ‘I believe n u & me’ which is still sweet years later.

Here’s a clip that I found on YouTube after finding out about Levi’s passing. Very touching, have the tissues ready.