My buddy and his wife arrived from the woods around the time I got off of work. They found a parking spot right in front of my building, and that was very good luck since he had to lug his musical gear out of the car for security.

He’s in town to play two gigs, tonight and tomorrow, at a nice venue in Midtown.

They came in and presented me with a giant bottle of Jack Daniels, my favorite (though I don’t drink much of it) and we caught up for a little while before going to eat.

The guy has a natural, NH strength from working hard every day. I remember in middle school he was quite scrawny, but when we got to high school he started growing muscles everywhere. He didn’t get very tall, but his shoulders just morphed into giant bowling balls and his forearms like giant… squashes (?)

We had a shot of Jack and then headed down to my favorite BBQ place about 10 minute walk from where I live. I invited the girl to join, and another friend, and my NH mate had his wife, so there were five of us in total. We had a great time. Dogfishhead 90 minute IPA, x 3. That will wreck you, and it did. Each pint is almost 10% alc.vol, so three of them is actually more than a six pack of your standard brewskie.

We walked home the back way, along the dark road under the giant bridge, and up the giant stone steps that wind around. We passed some kids hiding out there, on the staircase, and I said “hi” as we passed, to make them uneasy. That’s a good way for someone like me to prevent any conflict. For some people it’s better to keep looking away and just walk past. For me, it’s better to look up and say hi. They’ll probably think it’s not worth it, once they get the sense that they’d lose a confrontation.

Once we got up to 135th, my buddy’s wife asked if my neighborhood was safe, and I said it was one of the safest. As we walked up 135th from Riverside we passed the usual groups of people standing around on those stoops, watching people go by, doing their thing, which was probably drugs. I said again that it was a really safe area, and that the dealers don’t really mess with anyone besides themselves.

We made it up to my place pretty tired out. My friend’s wife headed into Hollow Way to crash, and we stood out on the balcony, chatting. He smoked and I declined.

As we were talking…

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

“Holy shit, is that a gun?” My friend asked. While I was about to answer,

BANG BANG BANG

There was a gunfight down on 135th between Broadway and Amsterdam, and we watched the last couple of shots fired. It’s strange to be around that stuff in other parts of the world, and to suddenly see it practically on your doorstep. The shooting took place on the sidewalk we had just walked up, and ironically right where I had said the neighborhood was one of the safest.

I don’t see any news updates on it yet, but I received this email from the Community Relations Officer for our precinct early this morning:

This morning on my walk out, the area was ribboned off for the investigation. And I’m trying to get this guy to come visit me more often, and his first night here there’s a shooting within a single block, visible range.

Come to think of it, we should have ducked down.

Two more big meetings to go this afternoon, and then free. I’ll head down to the venue with my friend and help them set up for the gig, and then we’ll see what happens. The girl is coming with me, we’ll see how that goes. Trying to be a good guy. I think she might be a bit naive and I don’t want to take advantage, especially now that she’s said she wants to try something together.

Damn conscience.

Off tomorrow, monkeys, and I bet I’ll be needing that for recovery. Hope you’re all great and I’ll check in soon.