At the library, being impressed by the daily presence of an individual I recognize but am not certain of his identity. I have mentioned him here before. Stout bald guy who I recognize either from Sunswick or RaR. Whichever person it is I do not know what he does that he spends all day every day here doing it. But his level of concentration and focus are admirable.

Another person here, a woman librarian, looks like a young version of my friend Pete, from high school. One time Pete, Mike, and I got pulled over by police. I was driving Pete’s car on an unopened stretch of Interstate 75. I got onto the highway by driving past a barricade and up an exit ramp. This was illegal and we all knew it. It was entirely my initiative to do this, and it is damn lucky we didn’t get into a lot of trouble for it. I lied repeatedly to the police officer, saying that some kids had removed a barricade and that I drove up the ramp thinking it was the right thing to do. The officer repeatedly said “You can’t tell me that because I know it’s not true…”

Somehow or other he let us go, even waving off backup police who showed up in a squad car.

Reason I relate this story now is because the police officer saw Pete in the car and asked me “Is that a boy or a girl?” He really did have a monstrous mane of hair, and he put blush on his face. I never thought anything was unusual about that because I took it be part of his rock star look.

Pete was really irritated when I told him the police dude had asked me that. I thought it was funny but Pete was seriously irritated by it.

Oddly enough I thought of this encounter earlier today, before seeing the woman here who looks like Pete did back then. I don’t remember the stream of consciousness but it may have come from seeing police and ambulance response on 34th Avenue to a guy who looked like he got hit by a car, and knocked off his bike. His face was covered with blood but he seemed OK. The driver of the car that (apparently) hit him was standing by and they were talking calmly. No anger seemed to be in the air as I would have expected from a bicyclist.

I think it was the appearance of the police car that somehow led my thoughts back to that incident on the unopened stretch of Interstate in… must have been summer of 1985 or 1986. It would have to be before that Interstate bypass route opened to the public. It was under development for freakin’ ever and I think it opened soon after my ill-advised and stupid little excursion.

OK, that random recollection is now done. I need coffee.

…

“Hercules In New York” is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. It was introduced to me by someone in response to my asking if he knew any interesting movies set in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. I think “Hercules” is 1969 but whenever it was released it is an utter dog. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, who apparently was asked once if he had any regrets from his career in show business. He said this movie was it, no doubt about it. Its only redeeming value is the NYC backdrops, though even that looks kind of stupid in the context of the surrounding stupidity.

This library shakes and rattles when the subway trains pass by underground.