Bill | johnozed

Yesterday was all about rain and wind and I only left the apartment once. Today has been somewhat better and I’ve been out a few times. Listening to the new David Bowie album, The Next Day and I am loving it. It’s good to hear him again and the songs are first rate of course. Presently Where Are We Now is playing and that was the first track that was released. The whole thing is great and listening to it on the iPod has been an adventure. Of course I highly recommend it.

So they’ve got a new pope. Just as ass backwards as the other ones, against same sex marriage, contraception, sex education. This new guy might have been a little too close to the military junta that ruled Argentina, but sighs of relief were heard that it was not a former Nazi.

I ran into my Rasta friend Jesse today. He asked how my job search was going and I answered that it was going too slowly. Jesse has a few kids and he’s freaking out over how they’re all plugged into their smartphones and computers. He wonders what kind of world they will have when they grow up. I wonder about the world I am in now, never mind later on.

We have water again. It was shut off earlier today so repairs could be made on the 140 year old pipes could be fixed or replaced. It was supposed to be back at 4:00 but I think it was worse than was imagined.

Whether they’ll be doing it again tomorrow I couldn’t say. I’m sure they will, though right now they are putting things away, filling up holes and smoking cigars and rolling up hoses while a policeman makes a pizza delivery.

We were notified that the water would be shut off so that helped a bit. I had tremendous difficulty sleeping last night and knew that if I wanted to take a shower this morning I had better do it before they shut the water off. I don’t think I’ve adjusted to moving the clocks ahead an hour on Sunday morning. So when my usual 1:00 bedtime comes up on my watch my body is thinking that it’s midnight.

And also my body clock was really screwed up by the infernal schedule from the last job and I haven’t gotten that back either.

Bill was so nice this morning as he was heading out and all I could do was grumble ‘leave me alone, I’m trying to sleep’. I’ll make it up to him somehow.

It’s been a weird couple of days. My Timex stopped working and I figured I would do without a wrist watch. Of course it was not a good idea but I tried to persevere and overcome the feeling of nudity without the wrist watch. It didn’t take and I wound up wearing the broken watch for some semblance of normalcy in my life. Still there are clocks everywhere, the cable box, the TV screen, the smartphone and various clocks in the apartment, on the wall and one on Bill’s side of the bed and one on my side.

And not wearing a watch to bed was uncomfortable since I usually have my wrist an inch away from my eye in the morning so I know what time it is without having to get out of a comfortable position to see the digital readout on the alarm clock. I mentioned to Bill my plan of not wearing a watch and he thought it was not a good idea. In November we had no electricity so most of those clocks were useless. And of course maintaining a charged up phone was inconvenient at best.

And I really did want a new watch. A new Timex, this time without the date on the face since it was a pain in the tuchis almost every month. I was going to go to the mall yesterday and asked Rand if he wanted to go and he politely declined. Then the Credo bullshit occurred and I was in no mood to go, so once again I stayed within the Hoboken borders.

Juan was in town and was planning on coming over last night. I had been in communication with him the past few days and his situation was dire. Bill and I offered our futon to crash on if he needed to, but he was staying with his family nearby. Juan came over and Bill went to bed. And Juan did have a harrowing story to tell, harrowing enough that I yelled at him. It didn’t help but it was my first reaction and I resolved to just shut up and listen.

Words were flying fast and furious from his mouth and I for one am glad he is out of that most unprincipled situation. Juan’s sister came by to drive him home a couple of hours later and a plan to hang out today was set. I slept fairly well or so I thought. Bill told me I was talking in my sleep, coherently but he didn’t remember what it was that I said, and that I also was punching the bed, two things I have no recollection of.

I woke up after Bill had left me with a good bye kiss, telling me it was 6:00. I looked at my wrist some time later and then looked at the clock. I roused myself and started my day. I had the talk with Bill about watches at this point, and following Bill’s advice, headed to the mall.

A major storm is approaching and the river was very choppy. The winds were strong enough to push this guy on the wrong side of 200 pounds around on the sidewalk and pier. I made it to the mall and found what I was looking for, on sale in Kohl’s. I went there since my friend Lois works in Kohl’s out in the wilds of NJ. It’s a nice Timex. Not flashy, quite understated with military hours as well, so when someone says 20-oh hundred hours, I’ll know they mean 8PM.

When I was in Kohl’s Bill called. His friend Tom is getting divorced and needs a place to crash. Since Juan turned down our offer, the futon is Tom’s if he needs it. Thing is, Tom might need to crash for a few weeks, so that should be interesting. Already there has been a slight head bump between Bill and I on this matter and I am sure we will talk further about it when he gets home.

That’s it. More words, this time I had something to say, relatively speaking. And I am getting my Credo bills mailed to me rather than using their online service since apparently their online service is fucked up. I will pay by check.