It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day and it’s a Wednesday which today is known as New Year’s Day. Been a long time coming and hopefully the yoke of depression from 2024 can be lifted from my un-Atlas like shoulders. It wasn’t easy and it is still murky.

Tuesday was an awkward morning. I had been after Bill to clear off the couch since Mike was coming over for a New Year’s Eve hangout and would crash on our couch. I asked Bill to do this for a long time, usually using humor and asking him if he knew where our couch had gone.

It was crowded when Juan was visiting but after Juan’s visits ended, Bill’s couch domain had greatly expanded. Bill’s method was entirely a last minute action that drove me up the wall. I did try to help but Bill was in a zone and when Bill is in that zone it is best to leave him to it.

That meant I was out and about before noon. And that had me wandering all over Hoboken, from Newark Street to 14th Street. I busied myself picking up items in preparation for Mike’s visit. I stopped at Guitar Bar and spoke to Mr Wonderful- Jim Mastro, and explained my regret at not being able to see his daughter Lily perform at the 503 Social Club.

That is scheduled for January 5, this coming Sunday and I was going to go but instead, I will attend my dear friend Connie’s going away party, leaving Highlands NJ for Oxnard Shores CA. Connie does not want to go but there is really no alternative. Connie is quite ill and there are more days behind her than ahead of her and her sister Jennifer is the only one able to take care of her. So it will be a bittersweet farewell.

I got some cigars and spoke with Imram and also decided to shoot some video, landscape style, just recording and offering my opinions on various subjects as I trod around Hoboken. I haven’t watched it yet so I have no idea how it is or how much this heavy breather sounded walking down the boulevards and streets.

I also stopped in Trader Joe’s for some sweets for the evening gathering. Off to the supermarket after that. Our favorite cashier now mans the express checkout, no longer on self-checkout. We had a nice brief chat and as we were talking the woman behind me set her stuff by the credit card machine before I checked out. She was embarrassed and I made light of the fact that if she wanted to pay for my items, I wouldn’t mind one bit. Laughter all around as I walked off.

I shot some more video on my way home, a bit apprehensive about Bill’s state of mind. I picked up a six-pack of Corona since Mike likes Corona, even shooting some salacious videos as he drinks Corona and smokes a cigar. I came home and saw the missing couch.

Bill had done a good job and was not as frenetic as he was when I left an hour or so earlier. I settled down and got very comfortable when I realized I had to go meet Mike. He’s come over in the past and we would walk around Hoboken indirectly as we were walking to my crib. Since Mike was sleeping over and going to work in the morning I thought it best to show him a more direct way, just 3 straight lines that he would have to repeat in a reverse direction in the morning.

Mike was so enamored of my look as I walked with him he took some photos of me smoking a cigar. We were soon home, Bill and Mike sitting on the couch and me in the kitchen making some dinner for the three of us. Ziti, meatballs and a cheesy tomato sauce which actually turned out to be one of the better dishes I ever made.

They sat on the couch and watched TV as I sat in the kitchen where I like to eat and read, telling them the chef eats in the kitchen. We watched Dr Strange In the Multiverse of Madness and a few episodes on another Marvel show, What if… I wound up drinking 1 bottle of Corona with Lime and 4 pints of Guinness.

I was feeling good not knowing how it would affect my sleep. Bill was off to bed, Mike sacked out on the couch leaving me with nothing much to except attempt to go to bed. It was not a good sleep, having to go to the bathroom every now and then, more than usual. I even stirred Mike somewhat in my trips. That was fun though.

6:30 came soon enough, Bill’s alarm going off and me going out of bed to see Mike on his way. He was able to get to work before 7:30 and phoned to let me know. I eventually had 2 or 3 good hours of sleep, including one dream where I had reconciled with a dear old friend that I had a falling out with a few years ago. In the Dr Strange movie, it is said that dreams are glimpses of the multiverse, so that was a good feeling.

Monday evening. Last Monday of this rotten year 2024. Bill and I went to see A Complete Unknown, the Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan biopic. Edward Norton was very good as Pete Seeger, I found the Pete Seeger role to be heartbreaking.

It portrays Pete Seeger as a true believer in the folk music world and he recognizes Bob Dylan as someone who can greatly popularize folk music. But Bob was a rock & roller at heart and after a few years in the folk world, crossed over to rock & roll.

The legend is that at Newport in 1965 when Bob went public with an electric band, Pete was ready to get an axe and cut the power to the stage (which could’ve injured or killed Pete Seeger). In the movie, he is stopped by his wife, Toshi.

Some parts of the movie were filmed around the block from us in Hoboken as well as other spots around town and in Jersey City. The movie is being touted for Oscars but we’ll see how that goes.

I know the mythology of the times regarding Dylan and Bill did not, but he still enjoyed it nonetheless and a friend of Bill’s is in the film briefly, playing Paul Griffin on organ in the studio as they’re beginning to record tracks from Highway 61 Revisited. O

n the last Saturday Bill and I went to Manhattan to meet up with Mike and go see the tree at Rockefeller Center. The original plan was to go on Friday but Mike had some mishaps and couldn’t make it.

The weather was better on Friday since Saturday was drizzly and damp. Mike loved meeting Bill. Bill was a font of information about various buildings and locations that Mike didn’t know about. Apparently, we filled out the roles of Bert (Me) and Ernie (Bill) quite well.

After seeing the tree, Mike wanted to visit the Louis Vuitton store which was looking like a stack of Louis Vitton bags. But it was the Louis Vuitton headquarters that looked like that and across 57th Street was the actual store which had a line of people outside waiting to get in. I wasn’t feeling it and neither were Mike and Bill.

But before that, we all needed to relieve ourselves and the nearest public restrooms were in tRump tower. So holding our breath we rode that infamous escalator to the basement of the tower to use the facilities.

The restroom was at the end of the hall and one had to pass the propaganda store for L’Orange Merde. I kept saying to Bill and Mike to avert their eyes and not too look. I am sometimes pee shy in a public restroom but all I had to do was close my eyes and imagine I was peeing on la tombe de L’Orange Merde.

A visit to the Applejack Diner where we all ate well except for Bill who in an attempt to eat healthy ordered a turkey burger that resembled a brown doorstop and according to Bill tasted like it. Photos were taken and we strolled back down to the Path train. Bill and I to Hoboken, and Mike eventually to Jersey City, where he now lives.

Mike needed to transfer so he did that in Hoboken where Bert and Ernie kept him company until his train arrived. I am glad Bill and Mike liked each other since Mike is spending New Year’s Eve with us, and crashing on the couch so he can just bounce over to work on the morning of New Year’s Day.

Nothing has been set regarding entertainment so I guess we will wing it.