WTF | johnozed | Page 63

Last night was a mellow Fourth of July. No complaints. It was raining and very muggy out. No need to go to the river to see the fireworks since you couldn’t really see them anyhow. You could see different colored clouds and fog flashing.

From the 5th floor perch where I sit you could see North Bergen and Jersey City blowing up. No interest really. Bill phoned and though he and his mother were about 100 yards from the East River, they wound up watching it on TV.

Before Bill went over to Stuyvesant Town, we watched Galaxy Quest, which Bill had never seen before. That’s the Star Trek spoof with Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. It’s really a funny movie and a wonderful send up of the Enterprise enterprise. After that we started to watch Psycho.

I hoped Bill had never seen it before, but he did. I looked out the window and a few miles away I could see a plume of smoke so we watched the local news which didn’t have any information on it. The plume eventually dissipated .Bill was busy, shredding boxes of documents and papers that he had accumulated over the years and threatened to collapse ala the Collyer Brothers from way back in the day.

Juan came over last night and we watched what else but Walk Hard. Juan had never seen it before, and for me it was the third time in two days. I made some summer cocktails which were basically vodka and diet Sierra Mist with a slice of lemon for a summertime qualification.

It seems I can’t make a proper drink anymore these days, and I should leave drink making to a professional. The second cocktail proved to be the last as it kicked my ass as well as Juan’s. I made us each a hot dog on the George Foreman grill which allowed me to regain single vision, able to read with both eyes open.

Fittingly we watched Weeds after Walk Hard. Juan hadn’t seen the latest episodes and I had only seen two out of three. Still watched two out of three because midway through the second episode, I was fading fast. Juan walked back home and I went to bed. Had a good night’s sleep, woke up around 8:30 which was quite nice.

Texted Julio about bagels but didn’t receive a response. Stine made it a point to tell me the other night not to post her picture anymore, she was very uncomfortable about it. So no more pictures of Stine then. I think that was prompted by the cd I gave her of all the photos of Alexander that I had taken. That’s too bad, but I don’t want to make waves so I’ll respect her wishes.

Today’s weather is reminiscent of the 1977 Fourth of July which was bound to be a letdown after the previous year’s bicentennial celebration. I remember going to the Garden State Plaza, which was still an outdoor mall then and running around in the rain with my friends through Sam Goody’s and Bamberger’s.

Eventually I broke off on my own for a little while doing some exploring from the tearooms of Mars to the surfaces of Uranus. I’m amazed at how I can remember these things.

Now where did I put my keys?

This afternoon I wandered around Hoboken, bought a used cd of Walk Hard which is just as much fun as the movie and I’ll try never to mention Walk Hard again. I just loaned the dvd to Rand and Lisa and they’d never seen it before.

I had a nice stroll up Washington Street with them, they ran into stores while I hung outside smoking a Padron 5000. Quite nice and the humidity keeps the cigar fresh. Almost had a Mojito with the two of them, but Bill had just came home and I wanted to see how he was doing. He’s fine.

A Cardinal 50 feet from my window

Hoboken Holiday weekend

Well it’s been an odd week certainly. Me being sick the first two or three days was out of the ordinary. I feel like I’m 100% better. Talked with Harpy on the phone (which resembled listening to talk radio) about body temperatures. I think my average temperature is in the 97 degree range which means I’m cool most of the time. I always knew that deep down, my being chill, well it was in the blood all along. You can stop laughing whenever you’d like.

Bill spent the night at his mother’s apartment last night. So I was alone which was ok. Nothing on TV at all, and Olbermann and the Daily Show and The Colbert Report eats up the evening. I’ve prepared a cd of pictures of Alexander Lopez. That kid just makes me smile. He’s going to be something else when he grows up, and I’m glad I’m an uncle of sorts.

Tomorrow is Julio’s birthday. He turns 40. Tomorrow is also Bill’s mother’s birthday, she turns 85. Today was so slow at work that I was able to catch a crosstown bus and go to the box office to pick up the Xanadu tickets for Bill’s birthday.

I walked back across town and stopped in the soon to be shuttered Virgin Mega Store in Times Square. I got the new B-52’s for Julio as well as a decent Elvis Presley 3 disc collection from the UK for 10.00. Elvis is always a giggle between Julio and myself.

Got a nice salad for lunch and after that, with my work being done for the day I left the office at 2PM after putting in six hours. I expect next week to be slow again but I only have to work 3 days (like this week).

I was taking off this upcoming Monday, thinking and dreading that Bill and I would be in the Gay Pride parade on Sunday but things being what they are with his mom, and the fact that we wouldn’t be marching (or rather walking) down Fifth Avenue until 2PM, we wouldn’t be finished until 5:00 if things went smoothly.

I was asked to come in since the office would be empty on Monday so I switched my day to Thursday, July 3. So I’ll be off from Thursday until the following Tuesday. I took July 7 off as well. Tomorrow Stine has planned a surprise luncheon for Julio’s birthday at Charrito’s which used to be Ricco’s, an Italian restaurant on Washington Street at 1:00, followed by cake on Pier A if the weather is permitting. Sunday is the first anniversary of Meghan and Rob’s wedding and they’re having a BBQ on Sunday afternoon.

Not making the BBQ on time was also a factor in deciding to forgo the Pride parade. It’s all good so far. Back on my feet relatively, work was slow yet productive and now I’m home writing this. I slept like a rock last night and hope for more of the same tonight. That’s it for now, anything else I’ll let you know.

Here are some pictures from this afternoon.

Panels from the AIDS quilt in Saks Fifth Avenue windows