Tag Archives: Juan

Time is really relative.

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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.
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I Never Knew Love Like This Before

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Another new page, or perhaps a new chapter. Who knows? Maybe it’s still being written. Time was spent once again volunteering at the bibliothèque. It went well, the staff wish I could get hired full time, I wish I could get hired full time, but not right now I guess. It’s a good gig, I like them, they like me. Only time will tell. They’re good people, some true Hoboken characters. I spent the time today putting away books and CD’s and DV’s, and also helping out people looking for items which I was able to do since I had just put most of those items away.

As I was putting away some of the audio visual items, I started talking to a young man named Esteban. He had taken out Television- Marquee Moon last week and I checked it out for him last week, Today I asked him what he thought and he was it was too much of a guitar record, which he wasn’t looking for but liked it. I guess he didn’t have a Stan Bogdansky in his life enthusing about Tom Verlaine and company like I did back in the day. I still remember Stan singing Prove It as I waited so we could go to a show.

Esteban did ask me for some suggestions and I asked if he was into something rock and roll, or something more on the chill out side of things. He was interested in the chill out side so I suggested Brian Eno, Another Green World. Half instrumental, half with vocals. He recognized Eno as being the producer of U2 and I told him there was so much more. We talked about Talking Heads and he recognized Remain in Light, having taken it out previously. He knew Once In A Lifetime from a movie.

He almost took out Remain in Light again but found Speaking in Tongues which is good but definitely pales in comparison to Remain in Light. I described it as more of a ‘pop’ record and he sort of looked disdainful. I explained there was nothing wrong with pop music, that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were considered pop when they started, and perhaps they still are pop 50 years later. He also expressed a fondness for Blonde on Blonde having taken it out a while ago, I Want You being his favorite song.

I made a remark about Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands being 17 minutes long, and he corrected me telling me it was actually 12 minutes. He asked how I knew so much about music and I explained I have friends (Harpy & Juan) and family (Frank & Annemarie) that turn me onto music all the time, plus I suggested getting Mojo and Uncut magazines. He never heard of those and was very excited when I told him that each month the latest issues of those magazines come with free CD samplers. Sometimes new stuff sometimes old stuff on the samplers but almost all of it is very good.

I guess I will have to volunteer next Wednesday at the bibliothèque so I can find out what Esteban thought of my suggestions. He seemed like a nice enough chap. There was another patron who is trying to get every record from Rolling Stone’s issue of the best 500 albums. That seemed a bit much, but then again it Rolling Stone which is better read nowadays for Matt Taibbi’s reporting rather than music coverage. Some of the bibliothèque staff saw a flier for the Hoboken Fair Rent Association benefit on October 25 at Maxwells and wanted to know if that was me listed on the flier. It is.

So right now I am walking a tight rope. The future is uncertain as well as unwritten and out of my hands.




07 Prove It