Where am I on a Tuesday night? I am in Hoboken. I started a new gig yesterday, and it has been going well despite the voice in the back of my head telling me otherwise. The coworkers and the manager have been so supportive and understanding.

I am a lucky guy. I was set up with this gig by a company that places people in various jobs, and this one was amazingly fortuitous. I’ve been trying to load my bank information for over an hour, and I have been getting a message saying: An error occurred while processing this request. If you continue to experience problems, contact your system administrator with the error code. Error Code: 100.

I sent an email to the woman who placed me at this job. She’s in Seattle, and I am in NJ. Perhaps this will be cleared up tomorrow. I hope so, I do want to be paid. The manager at this job has been reassuring me that I am not doing much of anything this week, just observing what my co-workers are doing. That is this week.

I am also meeting with other people in the company, interacting and doing my best to charm them. It is wholly 180° from working at Bratty McGrotty. I am surrounded by friendly, upbeat people as opposed to the back-stabbing vipers in the legal office downtown.

No Filipino former male nurse, set deep in a walk-in closet, married to a wife and a kid, to prove that he is not a homosexual. It’s only day two at the new gig, and I still have a way to go. If this continues, I would like to see if I can get Mike a gig somewhere down the line.

I think he could do well if everything falls into place. I mentioned this to Mike last night on the phone, advising him not to get his hopes up right now since this would be later in the year, if at all.

There has also been a problem with my phone. The slot where it gets charged hasn’t been behaving well and is not accepting the cord. This has been going on since last July i Ocean Grove. Lately, it has gotten worse.

I suppose it may be time to trade the phone in for a newer model. I was resisting that since I do love the Bloom 10 app, which was created by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers. I bought the newer phone in 2023 and returned it immediately when I found out that the new phone did not support the app. Nowadays, it might, but I want to know for sure.

I am waiting to hear from someone from the other side of the world to tell me whether or not it does. I am presently number 3 in line for chat assistance. So work was fine, it is just the machines at home, the PC, the smartphone, and Bill’s tablet that have been telling me that it will not go through or work.

I’m stressed, but not from the job. There was stress about that job, but that was from anxiety about starting a new job on Sunday. I did not sleep well, and I struggled to get through the first day at the new job, but I do not think that was noticed.

Sunday. Easter Sunday. Never a fan of the holiday. Growing up meant hard-boiled eggs and candy and chocolate bunnies. And new itchy suits from Robert Hall. Those suits were probably what put me off suits for the longest time. Then I started wearing them, figuring out that wearing suits gave me entry to better-paying jobs.

And I found myself attracted to men in suits. And that is how I met Bill. Back in the day, year 2000, there was a Yahoo Groups thing. Whatever you were into, there was probably a group for you. I belonged to the Men in Suits group and attended a few parties. Nothing ever happened for me at these parties. I usually had a good time, but never really connected with anyone.

In September 2000, I went to a party on Ann Street at the edges of the financial district, where many men in suits worked. I couldn’t really say whether or not some of the suited men came from these close environs, I think they came from all over the Tristate area. I know I did.

This particular party was in the penthouse of a 10 or 12-story building. There was a patio where I sat and smoked a cigar. I remember I was holding court with a few gentlemen, laughing at my bon mots. Across the patio, I spotted a handsome Puerto Rican man in a mustard suit. The suit definitely made him stand out in a field of navy blue and pinstriped suits.

I was probably wearing a pinstripe suit myself. Our eyes met, and later I walked by indoors, where this handsome brown eyed man was bopping along to the music. I walked by and said, ‘I see you dig Badu…’

We connected and even played around in front of the group, which is not my modus operandi. But inhibitions were tossed away, and I did things I had never done before. We left at the same time, and I couldn’t say if that was intentional or not. We rode the same train uptown and exchanged numbers. Bill got off at Union Square, and I continued up to Times Square.

And here we are, coming up on 25 years together. He’s been exceptional today. Tomorrow I start the new job, and over the course he’s seen the wholly neurotic side of me and knows what to expect. I think I was more anxious earlier in the week, and today is 4/20, which could explain my laid-back nature.

I embraced the 4/20 concept and have been feeling this way for about an hour now. Yesterday was a splendid day. Mike came over on Friday and left this morning. It was a beautiful Saturday, just about 80°. We wandered around Hoboken, taking photos of Bill and Mike with Manhattan as a backdrop. Mike certainly looked fly.

We walked for about 2 hours and made a visit to the really big supermarket. We saw our favorite cashier, Arti, who told us that her last day would be Tuesday. We were happy for her, she’s moving back to India with her daughter. It was a very good day. We finished the day, watching Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction.