Roda | johnozed

Well it was a strange day basically. Did I work? Sort of. I went to the office and did things. Did I work a full day? No. I was in at 9:00 and out by 1:30. Will it be the same tomorrow and other days? Yes I think so.

It will get even stranger when my sister comes to town. The plan for then is, to come in earlier and leaving earlier. I’m looking at being in around 8:00 and out by 11:30 or 12:00. And I don’t even know if I will be working 4 or 5 days a week.

I did not see Vivek at all during the hours I was in today. I asked the intern if she had heard from Vivek and she didn’t but one of the neo-cons piped up and said that Vivek had a meeting at 3:00. It was a good reminder of the bullshit of non-communication that Vivek excels at.

Someone who has nothing to do with Vivek knows more about his schedule than the people that support him.

I did get a green light from New York State and that’s a good sign. I was a bit worried about that. I do have a phone call to make on Wednesday to complete that process. I was fairly busy today and it was weird to be leaving in the middle of the day.

But it was a beautiful day and I got over it soon enough. There is still a mellow sense in Hoboken, like a pleasant hangover from the past weekend. The weekend was a three day holiday, but oddly enough it felt longer than that.

I came home and changed out of my work clothes and into the summer wear of shorts and a t-shirt. Fiddled around at home and then realized that I needed to get some food for dinner.

It was an nice enough day so I walked over to Shop Rite which is further away than the supermarket around the block from my apartment. It’s cheaper at Shop Rite and the employees aren’t as surly. Of course I walk through the door and forget what it was I was there for.

I recovered and picked up some pesto and a few other items. On the way home I walk by where Roda’s mother lives and I see Roda having a BBQ.

I hung out with Roda and his mom and his cousin Tony. Roda’s kids, Logan and Autumn were there of course as well as a few other friends and family members. They invited me to stay for dinner but I had a bag full of groceries.

It was tempting but I came home and made myself my usual weekend fare of pesto, chicken and pasta. It was good and I’m satisfied. I’m going to try and use Rand’s method of eating.

No food after 6:00 for him, but for me it will be 7:00 since I didn’t get started until after 6:00 so some adjustments had to be made.

Roda and Autumn

ps- I heard a club music version of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ this afternoon. It chilled me to the core.

Well I hope you are all having an enjoyable 4th of July. Independence Day. It’s been a lovely day here in the Hoboken area. Sun is shining brightly and there’s a nice breeze.

Some streets are closed in Hoboken since the fireworks will be on the Hudson River and the city of Hoboken is expecting huge crowds. At 8:00 it will be very difficult for cars to drive into Hoboken.

I don’t know how the other waterfront towns are dealing with it, but Hoboken does have it’s sometimes exaggerated self-importance.

I went for a ride today, solo. Rode into Manhattan and checked out Jenny Lewis who was opening for Conor Oberst. It was crowded but not like it was for the Feelies and Sonic Youth show last year.

I did see Meghan Taylor for a few minutes. She was in the guest area with her super girls, courtesy of Jim Mastro. I wasn’t on the list and didn’t want to lock up my bike. Jenny Lewis sounded good at some points in the park, I kept moving around and found the sound to be dodgy in some areas.

There was a hole in the fence which various hipsters were going through, but you had to have a 28” waist to get through.

I decided not to watch Conor Oberst and rode around downtown. It was fairly crowded with tourists on this holiday weekend. Caught the Path to Exchange Place in Jersey City and rode back into Hoboken from there.

Did about 15 miles all together. Last night I went up to McSwells where I met Eddie Narucki and his wife. Eddie used to work at McSwells back in the day.

Rand and Lisa showed up as well as Lois. Roda was managing the club. It was a good time, lot’s of laughs and a few rounds which we were only charged for one round. Quite nice. My brother Frank showed up with his friend Rusty as well.

Didn’t get a chance to talk with Frank much since he was often around people that wanted to talk to him and I was with people that wanted to talk to me.

I saw Guy Beard, former McSwells DJ who I never really got along with and his wife Zena whom I did get along with. She was friends with Arif Mardin’s family so that was why we got along so well. She’s a bubbly spirit when compared to Guy’s dour personality.

The night ended when it should have and I decided to walk home and enjoy a cigar. As I got to my building I noticed I didn’t have my keys.

I retraced my steps to McSwells, contacted Roda and asked if anyone turned any keys in. They didn’t. I came home and called Bill who was sleeping.

He let me in where I found my keys hanging on the hook where I always leave them. All I could do was laugh at that. Bill went to bed and I soon joined him there.

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