Today is Friday, February 23, 2024. Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and there is no end in sight. Because of Republican intransigence, American aid to the beleaguered country has been put on hold until we convince these Putin lovers to release the much-needed aid.

It’s quite late here since I spent most of the day with my Astoria friend “Seth,” first meeting him close to 12 at Sanford’s in Astoria and then meeting him at Second Stage Theater on Broadway in order to select tickets to Appropriate starring Sarah Paulson and Corey Stoll for a future performance at 5:30. We were informed by the ticket agent that the play was only running until March 3 and then was changing venues at the end of March at the Belasco Theatre, on West 44th Street. Also, the price of tickets cited was too expensive, so we decided to wait until later when the play is at a larger venue.

Then we took the subway to West 4th Street where we had a bite of dinner at the Washington Square Diner, located across the street from the IFC Center. From there, we walked to Rockbar, the same site which hosted the horror movie trivia contest this Monday. It was early, not even 7, so there were few patrons milling inside. We ambled up to the bar and Seth bought me a cranberry juice. He had a beer. We spoke intermittently with two young men sitting next to us. I couldn’t tell if they were in their 20s or 30s. RuPaul’s Drag Race was playing on the television set by the bar and I was just blown away by the costumes being worn by the contestants.

Within twenty minutes or so, Seth got antsy, so we said goodbye to our new bar companions and walked to the Monster, another gay bar located across the street from the Stonewall Inn. Here we entered the bar and sidled to the bar and this time I bought Seth a Stella Artois, while I sipped a glass of water. I couldn’t finish my cranberry juice at Rockbar, so I didn’t feel it necessary to have another drink. At Monster, the crowd was more mixed, with people closer to our age milling about. We struck up a conversation with a middle-aged man sitting next to Seth whose name was “Michael.” He mentioned that he lived in the Bronx, in a neighborhood called Norwood. He said he was quite near the New York Botanical Garden. I mentioned that Elliot and I like to drive to Arthur Avenue for Italian food. Of course, the conversation touched upon what we were watching and we discussed various series on Netflix and other streaming services.

It didn’t take Seth long to say he wanted to go home, so we said goodbye to Michael and now walked back to West 4th Street for me to take the E train back to Queens and for Seth to walk back to take the 1 to the N going to Astoria.

The ride home was uneventful, thank God, but the train stopped in between stations for no reason and the line went local in Queens. So I got back a little after 10 and I said hello to Atticus who came up to greet me from the living room.

Tomorrow is the South Carolina primary and I’m fearful of who is going to win there. In Nikki Haley’s home state, the indicted ex-president leads her by thirty-six points, so the outlook for her winning the primary looks rather grim.

Have a great weekend.

Stay safe and be well.