Thursday, January 1, 2026

Thursday, January 1, 2026. Better get used to writing 2026. Then again, I sometimes lose the plot with regard to time, especially decades. I can’t believe that the 1990’s were 30 years ago. It is a fact that they were, but lost in the corridors of my mind, feeling like I am in my forties, or on good days, my thirties. I am perplexed by the calendar year.

Whereas in the past few years, I’ve generally had a Beatles calendar, or a Warhol calendar, this year I got a Banksy calendar, which is more or less unlicensed, I’m certain. The Gifted Stationery Company, developed in Great Britain, was printed in China. A little bit of buyer’s remorse.

Bill is on the road, south of the Mason-Dixon line. Presently, in the state, kids like to spell out. He’s been flying all over the place and is on the last leg of this current excursion. Then there is another immediately following.

In his place, our son, Mike. He’s been outstanding. Just pleasant to be around. He does his thing, I do mine, eventually they overlap. It’s been fun. We’ve been having a good time. We’ve shot videos for the groups on social media that we are a part of.

I sometimes wonder what people that I have introduced Mike to think. We were out briefly yesterday and ran into the delightful Eileen Quinn. We chatted briefly, and I introduced Eileen to Mike. Sometimes, when Bill and I introduce Mike to someone, we sometimes tell them that Mike is our son.

And in so many ways, he is. He calls Bill and me his Dads. And we call each other Son or Dad when in the apartment. Spillover is to be expected, I suppose. It been most pleasant having Mike here. Being alone does not do me any good, and Mike ably steps in. Gone are the nitpicking arguments and the resentment that followed.

This past Sunday, I hung out with RoDa, which has been something I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time. I brought some Christmas cookies, some THC seltzers, and a prerolled flower. Of course, RoDa had his own offerings. We sat, we smoked, we drank seltzer, and talked. I was quite smoked out. RoDa was gracious enough to allow me to smoke a cigar while there.

I lost track of time and space as RoDa talked; I was all over the place in the corridors of my mind. I never noticed before that when RoDa tells a story, he also does the voices of people he was talking about, which, in my clouded state, was amazing.

And before that, on Christmas, Mike, Bill, and I went to Garfield for yet another lovely dinner prepared. We were joined by my niece Meghan, her husband Rob, and their awesome daughter Shelby. I came prepared with a gift, something I bought near the fruit stand on an excursion into Manhattan with Mike.

Wait, I wrote that already. The Mary Had a Little Lamb post. I guess I am caught up. I’ll just watch Sherlock again, drink a Wild Cherry seltzer, and smoke an Asylum cigar that my son Mike gave his Dad.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

8:27 PM, Christmas Eve 2025

Just had a thought. A scenario ran through my mind. I’m planning on hanging out with RoDa tomorrow night after the Garfield expedition. The scenario is the following. I’m going to hang with RoDa. Bill and Mike, while invited, probably won’t join me. One of them, either Bill or Mike, will think I am fooling around with RoDa. Which is not the case, since I don’t have sex with friends. And the other side of that, I’ve never really been friends with anyone I had sex with. Mike is the standard bearer. So it goes…

Now it is Saturday, December 27. Bill is in Pennsylvania, Mike is asleep in bed. It snowed last night, enough to plan on staying in all day and night and not heading out. We have plenty to eat. Last night we polished off half of the care package that Elaine sent us home with.

Thursday was Christmas day and it was pleasant. Bill, Mike and myself exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve and we we all satisfied with our presents. Mike’s gift to us has been kicked down the road until Bill returns from his road trip, which will be in 2026. Mike is taking us to dinner, more than likely in Hoboken.

On Christmas Day the three of us took a train, an hour earlier, from Hoboken to Garfield. It was a smooth ride, not too many passengers. We usually arrive around 2:00 PM but Elaine asked for an early arrival so her daughter, my niece Meghan could make an appearance with her husband Rob and their daughter, my grand niece (?) Shelby.

Mike thinks Shelby was a little bit afraid of him. I reassured him that Shelby was a bit shy, even with me who she hadn’t seen in about 2 years. I bought a kid’s DJ kit for Shelby, some keyboards and preprogrammed sounds in it. She seemed to have figured out how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb which may be a very surprising accomplishment.

We made it back to Hoboken a bit before 6:00 PM which was good but we were tired, at least I was, and the temperature was dropping. I had a plan to visit RoDa but texted him to postpone to yesterday which did not happen. So I texted him letting him know I will be coming over on Sunday when he is not working. I’m waiting to hear if it acceptable to RoDa.

It snowed last night. About 6 inches they say. I will have to take their word for it as I am not interestested in going outside with a ruler to measure the accumulation. Mike is asleep in the bed. I’ve been up for a few hours. He had gotten up and did what he does, shoot some videos, then he came back to bed.

I got up about a half hour later. Made some coffee which I admit, I am spoiled by the coffee Bill makes for me daily. He’s in Pennsylvania so no coffee from hime for close to two weeks. I’ll get by. Mike says he’s going to stay here so I won’t be alone, suffering from separation anxiety.

I think Bill appreciates it, I know that I do.