Sandy Hook | johnozed

Yes indeed, this has been a strange day. It started out normally enough, waking up before the alarm clock. I slept fairly well despite Bill not being around. I was up and shuffling around doing my usual morning routine, shower, coffee & breakfast before heading out to deal with the world. A trip to CVS where I ran into Martin Kelly again. He was working and very funny as he usually is. Good to see him. Then it was off to the nearby supermarket and on the way I ran into Julio outside of his workplace. He was funny as well.

We texted each other last night and mentioned that Stine wants to have me over for dinner again. Julio of course joked that I eat all their food and drink all their wine. I remarked that I show up with a bottle of wine which Julio called rat poison. Still he drank the rat poison and it wasn’t so bad after all it seems. He went back to work and I ran in and out of the supermarket. No Isis to be seen. I haven’t seen her the past few times I’d been there so I guess she is on vacation.

More resumes sent out, revamped resumes. I decided to go with details rather than bullet points. I have a feeling that the detailed resume would go over better rather than the bullet points which require a quick scan before it goes into the circular file. Of course my detailed resume resembles something on par with James Joyce’s Ulysses. If there are no responses then perhaps I will hybridize the two and come up with something closely resembling a Brion Gysin cut up. If I put it to music it could sound like an outtake from David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs.

I decided to go busking this afternoon since I hadn’t since Tuesday. I was all set to go and had the guitar case and my shoulder bag as well as a bag of garbage. I eyed the keys hanging on the hook as I walked through the door and as soon as the door closed I realized I had locked myself out. I knocked on the neighbor’s door on the fifth floor, with the hope I can go through her window and into my apartment via the fire escape. But there was no one home. On the fourth floor I knocked again.

No one there either, nor on the third floor or the second floor and I knew no one was on the first floor. Apparently I am the only one home. I went outside and effectively locked myself out of my building. I texted Julio since I have a copy of his keys from the third floor apartment and he has a copy of ours. He knew he had a key but didn’t know where it was. He contacted Stine and instead of me standing around I started to walk to the waterfront to do my busking. I also tried calling Stine myself but there was no answer.

I walked past Tariq who was on his cellphone and set myself up about 20 yards away. I started tuning my guitar when my phone rang. It was Stine and I missed the call but got back to her right away. She was by Julio’s workplace and since I wasn’t around she was going to leave the keys with Julio. So I packed up and headed towards Julio’s place of work. Sure enough, there was Julio full of wisecracks about me getting old and forgetting my keys. We’ve been calling it ‘going Hawaii Five Oh’ since that will be my age soon enough.

I had the keys to the building and my apartment and climbed the stairs once more, putting away the guitar since it didn’t seem like busking would be part of my afternoon activities today. I did some practicing at home instead and dropped some change at my feet for effect.

Bill is back on the mainland, winding up at Dulles Airport and taking a train from Union Station to Penn Station. I was planning on seeing my friend Alice play tonight but I think I will stay in and wait for Bill to come home from his 24 hour journey.

And there is a chance I might go to the beach tomorrow. My niece Meghan and her husband Rob are going to Sandy Hook and I’ve been asked. They plan on going early and that’s fine by me. Meghan mentioned a while back that if they were going down the shore and if I wanted to go it would be easier for me to go out to them via public transportation rather than have them come to Hoboken. I don’t know if that’s the same plan. I would have a chair and a beach umbrella to bring with me and it could be cumbersome.

But it’s not that big a deal and I am sure I can make the most of it if I have to.

And now I have a key in my wallet.

This just in: there will be no beach for me tomorrow.

Julio’s workplace

2 – Downtown

Yes I am back so that means it is a Monday. Yesterday was a Sunday and I don’t write on Sundays. Even Nick Colas could tell you that. It being a Sunday that meant being Hoboken bound mostly. A reunion was planned for later n the afternoon, the usual gathering of the tribes when Annemarie is in town. It also coincides with a slew of birthdays in July, also keeping Bill’s June 29th birthday in mind. Annemarie picked up Bill yesterday morning in Wally World and brought him to Saddle Brook at my niece Meghan and her husband Rob’s house.

I kept busy most of the day. It was quite humid out as I strolled the shady streets of Hoboken and when I got where I was going I was quite sweaty. That was alright since I was soon in a nicely air conditioned place and cooled off that way. Soon Annemarie stopped by and a little after that I was in her rental car headed to Saddle Brook. It was still quite humid and the rain was promised but had yet to arrive. Once at Meg & Rob’s house I went up to see Bill and there he was awake and online.

We settled down in the living room while Meg & Rob got things together and refused most offers of assistance. Bill played with the dogs Kara and Hunter and I mainly stared off into space. My brother Brian and his wife Karen showed up with their daughter Hillary. Their other daughter had to work. We sat outside in the warm air, Rob being the grill meister and Brian getting some beers for me, him and Bill. Burgers and hot dogs, kielbasa with sauerkraut and sausages were all scoffed down. My brother Frank also made the scene too.

Frank’s wife Elaine couldn’t make it, she had to stay with her father at home. Frank and Elaine’s other daughter showed up a day after her birthday and her cousin, Brian and Karen’s son Brian showed up a day before his birthday. It was all quite nice and friendly as the dark clouds started rolling in. After some photographs outside we went inside for the Happy Birthday song and some cakes. Annemarie was driving Bill and I to Hoboken and I did not want her driving in the upcoming thunder storm. We headed out as did everyone else after cleaning up Rob and Meg’s house a bit.

Corinne rode with Annemarie, Bill and myself so Annemarie would not have to drive back home by herself. A ton of traffic by the Lincoln Tunnel meant that a short tour through Union City and Jersey City was in order. It made a difference in time, and as Bill and I got out of the car, the skies really opened up and we were caught in a downpour. Annemarie and Corinne made it back safely to Saddle Brook and Bill and I settled in on the fifth floor.

Too late to watch True Blood, so we watched a documentary on PBS about John Leguizamo and then we watched The Newsroom on HBO. After that bedtime for Bill and I soon followed, tired from the heat and the beers that I had earlier in the evening. I slept really well, waking up when Bill kissed me goodbye for the day and getting out of bed an hour later. A beach day was planned with Annemarie. The last beach day for Annemarie and possibly the last beach day for me this season, unless someone asks me to join them on the sand by the sea.

Meg and Rob had something they had to do down the shore and they joined us later in the afternoon. Annemarie and I went in the water a few times, the water at first was a bit cold but our bodies acclimated soon enough. Rob and Meg took naps on their towels as I finished the third volume of Love and Rockets, Perla La Loca. It did not have the Death of Speedy in it, which apparently in the second volume but still it reminded me of how much I love Love and Rockets.

Dark clouds rolled in but that didn’t stop any of us from jumping in the water. It was getting close to the time to go and when the flies once again started biting my legs, I hastened the departure and said ‘Fucking flies’ many times. Rob went back to Saddle Brook to take care of Kara and Hunter and Annemarie, Meghan and I went to Rumson for some Crazee’s Ice Cream which of course was very good. We made it back to Hoboken with no problem and went to Mamoun’s Falafel once again, the third time in a week for dinner.

Now they are back in Saddle Brook and here I am in a very hot apartment in Hoboken at the start, day one of the fourth heat wave this summer. Annemarie leaves on Wednesday morning so tomorrow will be a low key day. Perhaps a movie, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. That’s all we have planned. I will miss Annemarie once again, the phone calls on Saturday and Sunday afternoons just aren’t the same as hanging out with my wonderful sister. But that is modern life I suppose and it’s best to enjoy the time you have got with the ones you love.