Another part of my childhood left this plain of existence today. John Amos was 84 years old. He died in August but his death was announced today. I don’t know why but there had been some family squabbles.

I think I first saw John Amos when he was Gordy the weatherman at WJM-TV on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But the impact for me was when he played James Evans on Good Times. He was so masculine, so handsome like no one I had seen before. He stirred something inside me that I did not know I had, and I really didn’t know I had it until about 3 years later.

He was a strong, powerful head of the family. Took no shit from anyone but was there to tell his family he loved them. After his ignoble departure from Good Times, I saw him next on Roots. He played the adult version of Kunta Kinte, of which the younger version was played by LeVar Burton.

A tragic character but inspiring and opened my white eyes to the evil of the slave trade back then. We weren’t taught that in school but I’m sure we talked about it in class after each night’s episode. Nowadays they go out of their way to discuss the evils of the slave trade it seems.

After Roots, I would see John Amos pop up from time to time in various TV shows and movies. He was the father of the woman Eddie Murphy was in love with in Coming to America. He was in the sequel years later but I haven’t gotten around to seeing it.

He was a bad guy in Die Hard 2 and I think one of his best roles of the late 20th century was as Admiral Fitzwallace in the West Wing. Man he looked great in a uniform. He had a gravitas in that and the other characters showed him great respect. Sad to see him go.

It was an OK day besides all that. Bill spoiled me yesterday, seeing him for a few minutes at lunch. I hoped we could repeat it today but those things if they happen are never what happened previously. He was in midtown and I was in Tribeca. I did go to that spot and sat by the Freedom Tower at One World Trade Center puffing on a cigar.

That’s when I got a text from my sister telling me about John Amos.

I spent a lot of time looking for work, more time than I had actually worked. The supervisor complained about how I would spread my work throughout the day and I did do that a few times, for moments like today.

And even with all that nothing, I was able to accrue some overtime since there was an event going on and I was asked to stick around to 6 PM just in case some of the event attendees needed to be attended to.

One of the attendees had a walker and I was escorting him to the event. He said he did not need the help but I told him that I didn’t mind, as I was getting paid by the hour. That got a hearty laugh.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0025309/?ref_=tt_cl_t_6

A Monday and it was bearable. Mainly because I was able to spend a few minutes with Bill while I was on my lunch break. He was with a gaggle of German tourists, he picked them up in Bayonne and then it was off to a madcap Manhattan afternoon. They were visiting the Freedom Tower, I guess they went all the way to the top since there’s really nothing to see at the bottom.

I ought to know since I exit the Freedom Tower on my way to the office in the morning. It’s a short walk from One World Trade Center to wherever my office is. I even took a photo with my man though it was feeling and WordPress is not as photo-friendly as it used to be 11 years ago, but then again, who is?

The walk to the train this morning had all traces of the Art and Music Festival yesterday erased. Like it never happened. I admit it was guilt that made me attend with Bill. There was a photo of the earnest faces fighting to save rent control in Hoboken. Once again rent control is under attack and these people are stepping up.

Bill spoke to one of the faces as they were closing down, I usually communicate with them online. We will vote NO in NOvember. Bill and I were glad we made the attempt and attended the festival even if it was only for about an hour. The guilt was assuaged.

I was hoping for a good day but wound up calling the driver of one of those hybrid commuter vans an idiot for blocking the intersection and for stopping right in the middle of a crosswalk. I looked him in the eye and called him an idiot a few times while shrugged his shoulders, seeming to say ‘What can I do?’. He wasn’t an idiot now that I think of it, he was a dumb ass.

My plan for an easygoing day squashed before I got on the train. I rallied and did my best to avoid most people as I headed to the office. It being a Monday meant the train wasn’t crowded. Tomorrow will be a different story, more people going in, 98% looking at their phones, all plugged in.

I used to wonder why are they so captivated by their devices, but then again, they paid a lot of money for those devices and want to get their money’s worth. I don’t have that great a plan but it’s manageable so I’m not using up data all the time.

I realize that I have an imagination and I had forgotten that a lot of people do not. I guess an imagination would be cumbersome so they would rather have things delivered to them, be it a TV show or a movie or whatever it is they look at.

I only see what they’re looking at sometimes when I am behind them as we climb they stairs. I look at them, they look at their devices.