Olympics | johnozed

Saturday evening, Bill is off in Philadelphia once again for some acting seminar thing and I am in the swamps of Jersey. Hoboken actually was partially a swamp when Henry Hudson came through all those years ago. I think Bill and I are situated somewhere between the former swamp and the solid ground. And when it rains it really rains, especially in the swampy part. Sewers back up, gutters flood and the city has pumps which pump the water somewhere else, perhaps into the Hudson River. Today it threatened to rain, then it rained and now it’s nothing but hummus.

Last night Bill and I were part of the global village, watching the opening ceremonies on NBC and listening to the incessant prattle of Bob Costas and Matt Lauer. Costas I can usually bear, with Lauer it’s less and less with each syllable that falls from his smarmy thin lipped mouth. It was a nice spectacle produced by Danny Boyle. No zombies involved, no 28 Months Later. I was surprised while listening to the years of British rock and pop there was no Elton John involved. Perhaps Danny Boyle isn’t a fan of Elton John. I did post Elton being MIA on Facebook.

A Facebook friend, Hugo- posted that there was already one old queen at the event. I thought it was pretty funny and I bet Reg Dwight would have had a chuckle at that. Arctic Monkeys did make it on, playing two songs though only one made it to the American broadcast. Their big UK hit, ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ was cut but they did show the cover of Come Together which had a strange spoken word bit by Bob Costas over the singing and playing of the earnest young band from Sheffield.

I did not see the Beijing opening ceremonies in 2008, having been down on Long Beach Island at the time with my brother Frank and his wife Elaine. I do remember talking to Bill on the phone after that event and he was blown away by the precision of the whole ceremony. So all I had to compare between last night in London and Beijing was Bill’s four year old enthusiasm which in four years had waned somewhat. He didn’t bring it up, perhaps because he loved watching the Queen jumping from a helicopter with Daniel Craig as James Bond.

It was nice spending time together watching a fun spectacle. Bill was off to bed after Paul McCartney sang Hey Jude. Paul sounded a bit shaky at first on the vocals, maybe its age or maybe he was overcome with emotion. I think Macca’s publicist explained it was emotion. I stayed up and watched the news and soon headed off to bed in the air conditioned bedroom. Bill was up and active before I was this morning. He made coffee which was nice since he hadn’t done that in a while. I walked him to the bus stop, holding hands from time to time.

A nice couple of hours and a great way to start the day with the one I love.

expensive crap I used to sell

04 Talk Of The Town

Just woke up from a Xanap. It was good and longer than the 15 minute allotment I’d been having lately. This was deep and restful. Glad I did it. In fact I probably could have slept a lot longer if I did not have the foresight to set the online alarm clock two rooms away. The online alarm clock sounds like a slippery rubber puppy yapping and makes one get out of bed before it piddles on the floor. No dreams to recollect from the Xanap. It was quite a muggy day and I enjoyed the sleep in the air conditioned room.

Last night I did go out, and I was a few minutes before the storm, the derecho that was fast approaching. iTunes came out with a new Beatles collection, 14 songs that I of course had already, so I made my own version of Tomorrow Never Knows. I listened to that on my iPod on my way and had an umbrella as well as my camera stashed away in my bag as I strolled down Washington Street with my head held high. The show was scheduled to be in Sinatra Park by the Hudson River but was moved prior.

It was moved to a pub directly across the street from the Guitar Bar which Mr. Wonderful Jim Mastro had posted on Facebook. Still some people are not plugged in all the time like I usually am, and someone posted signs at Sinatra Park directing them of the relocation. With ominous skies approaching from the west, I threw the cigar I was smoking into a puddle and walked into the pub. It was in a side room, not the main part of the bar and I was directed through a door which had put me onto the makeshift stage.

Nimbly stepping over chords and wires I found Jim Mastro and asked him where Meghan was. It turned out she was not coming. She did not want the girls, Lily & Ruby hanging out in a pub, not that hanging out in a bar or a pub or a VFW Post ever did anything wrong for me. I was disappointed and went out to the sidewalk to call Meghan. She was on the other line and after explaining why she wasn’t there told me she would call me back. I stood at the sidewalk and took some pictures of the storm clouds.

The Guitar Bar All Stars started with a rip roaring version of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. I thought it was a little loud and went outside for a minute, after saying hello to my friend Karyn. It wasn’t raining yet and when I came back in Karyn was talking to someone else and I saw another friend, Alice who sometimes plays bass in Karyn’s band. I bought myself another Corona and bought one for Alice as well.

I did have a quick chat with Alice who asked if I was working. When I told her my situation, she remembered and wondered if there was a way to make money from this here blog, “Perhaps some advertising?” I remarked that this here blog is too personal, and the only adverts I could hope to attract would be pharmaceutical companies pushing antidepressants. Alice laughed. It would have been nice to talk to the both of them, Karyn and Alice, but it was too noisy and after the third song I bid my goodbyes.

Of course as soon as I opened the door I saw the deluge. I was off to meet Bill and luckily I had the umbrella. I rearranged my shoulder bag and opened the umbrella and headed out. The skies were full of lightning and the streets and sidewalks were rapidly getting flooded. I was a little worried about being struck by a falling tree branch rather than lightning though that was in the back of my mind. I wisely wore boots instead of sneakers so my feet were relatively dry.

The shorts I was wearing did become see through, so my black boxer briefs were plainly visible. I made it home as the storm raged, and immediately got out of my wet clothes, the boots drying out in the hallway. And that was it basically. It would have been a different, more fun scene at Sinatra Park but since we were at the mercy of the elements there was nothing else that could be done.

Today as dry once again and muggy as all hell. I had a few errands to run and after that was done I walked over to the river and did some busking. The toddlers love to stop by and watching me play, saying hello and doing whatever dances toddlers do under the watchful eyes of their guardians. Not too many people out today though I did make about $1.45, which when added to what I made the other day surpasses whatever monies I had made when I first started busking a few years ago.

Then I came home and had a Xanap which brings us to the beginning of this here blog. Currently watching the Olympic opening ceremonies with Bill and enjoying them. Former roommate Kevin has been a bit pissy about the whole thing, snarky comments on Facebook. I remember going to clubs and making fun of people who were dancing and having a good time. Then eventually I realized they were having a much better time than I was as I sat there making fun of people that were having the fun that I wasn’t having. Though I’m not dancing I am having more fun than Kevin it seems.