Afterthoughts: This Past Month

2026 had started off strange.  Here are the details.

Thursday, January, 1, Last night I passed out way before midnight, and then I woke up about ten minutes after midnight.  Because of that I didn't watch any of the countdowns.  But today I found a post of Anderson Cooper addressing the subject of being alone during New Year's Eve, and beyond.  His speech was touching.  He assured us that we are not alone.  In a year of loss all we have is each other.  There was no celebrating this New Year's, because 2025 was such bullshit.  Anderson said that we are not alone.  We collectively shared the bullshit of this past year, that's for sure.

My top nine for 2025 featured four bad traffic videos.  My bad driver videos do seem to get the most views.  I already have a couple of videos for future posts.  What I also need to do is post pictures of bad parking jobs.  I used to do that on a different platform, and people would always comment.

While at supper my aunt turned to me and asked me something I could not understand.  When I asked her to repeat it she mumbled through it again.  Frustrated I just looked away.  I could tell she was wondering why I didn't answer.  I wanted to tell her just not to speak to me, because I can never tell what she's saying.  It wasn't a weekend off today, but it was a day off.  I need to revisit the idea of getting a job on Saturdays in order to not be home with my aunt.  She annoys me to no end, with stupid comments and questions.  And that's when I can actually understand what she says.  She makes a lot of comments that I do understand, and they're just stupid.  Also, I could use the extra money to pay down more bills.

Friday, January, 2, After a day off I was back to work today.  Because there was no traffic I got to work a little early.  That meant I got a jump on the route this morning, which meant I had some extra time this morning to go up to Oakmont View park.  I was inspired by the way the foothills looked in the clean air as I drove up to Chevy Chase.  I figured that the view from Oakmont View would be good, and it was.  I was only up there for a few minutes.  Just long enough to get a few pictures.  One of these days I need to have a picnic up there.

Misa told me a story when I got to Brand today.  She said that Shannon wanted to set me up with one of her friends.  This was years ago, but it fell through because I was older than she knew.  This is the story of my life.  As always, something happens to screw the whole thing up.  I know Shannon from work, but I met her years ago when her friend Carrie was working at San Marino.  I'm wondering if the fix up with was going to be with Carrie.  I liked Carrie back then.  I thought she was cute.  I even thought to ask her out, but my coworker Ed asked her out first.  Now they're married.  I love how all these fix ups never work.  It seems to be for various reasons, but at the end of the day it's always a fail.

I haven't had much to write about these days, mainly because I've just been working and sleeping.  I haven't had a Tuesday Adventure because I've been working on Tuesdays.  I don't have many plans, though I do want to ask TheGirl when she wants to go out to Claremont.  This coming Tuesday I don't start work until 1pm, so I could go do something before work.  But, it might also be raining.  I did have plans on going to the Natural History Museum.  I could do that and still go to work on Tuesday.  We shall see.

Saturday, January, 3, After my shower this morning I checked my foot to see if the glow was lessening, and sure enough my feet were almost a normal color under blacklight.  The Neosporin has done its work.  I'll keep putting it on until every bit of my toes look normal.

I haven't worked at Chevy in about a year - maybe more.  I thought that because of the rain people would stay away today even more so than normal.  It turned out I was wrong, and it was pretty busy today.  We had about fifty patrons today.  My coworker Antonio was saying that it was busier than a normal Saturday.  Just my luck.  It was fine though.  Even busy, Chevy is not that tough.  We pretty much cruised the day after 4pm, when everyone left.  Probably went back home to have a nice warm dinner.

For dinner I was debating about getting a pizza, but I settled on getting fish and chips from Fish King in Glendale.  I've been told for a long time that it's yummy.  It is good, but I have had better.  For sure I will return, but maybe no fries next time.  I like steak fries rather than skinny fries.  Skinny fries don't travel well, and they were hard when I got home.  I had to soak them in some malt vinegar in order to soften them up.  Next time I get the fish and cook up my own steak fries in my air fryer.

Sunday, January, 4, I have a huge TV crush on the weather lady on channel eleven, Maria Q.  I've been watching her for like twenty years.  I don't know what potion she's using to not age, but I need to have some.  I think she is stunning.  Today she posted a short video of her in a one piece on social media.  Va va va voom!  Guess she went to Mexico for the Christmas break.

Monday, January, 5, Mala asked me to cover at Casa today.  That branch doesn't open until 11am, so to not lose my hours she had me start my day at Central.  I really didn't have anything to do.  The schedule had me at Central from 8:30am to 10:15am.  Not long, so it was easy to kill some time.  I basically cleared the bookmobile of some of the items put on for the Christmas parade last month, and put them in a box.  I tidied up the cabin of a lot of junk, like N95 masks that no one will ever use.  Next thing I know it's time to go to Casa.

I brought Chandaka into the library, because hims always comes with me on a Monday.  Vivian saw hims and I had to tell her the story of how Chan came to be.  I told her how he's unique because of getting re-stuffed.  I looked online for another one of hims, and I did find a couple that do look more like Chan.  But they look like hims pre-stuffing.  I still want to someday know who and how they designed this monkey.  Because Chan is quite cute, and even ChatGPT said he had a mischievous face.  Chan is the perfect stuffed monkey.

Tuesday, January, 6, The first Tuesday Adventure of the year was a two parter.  The first part was visiting my Grandmother and Godmother at Forest Lawn.  Last week I watched a video on the YouTube channel called German in Venice, who was recently up at Forest Lawn visiting some famous people's graves.  He visited John Ritter, among others.  I hadn't visited my Grandmother in a long time, so I thought today was a good day for a visit.  And inspired by the German in Venice I went to check out John Ritter's grave as well.

After visiting Forest Lawn I still had some time before work, so I decided to get my steps in Chinatown.  I also had my trusty AF35M camera with me to take some photos of Chinatown.  Along the way I saw that the old French Hospital was being torn down.  That hospital was established in 1860, and now it's gone.  An anchor of the Chinatown community, now gone.  What a shame.  I just hope that they don't attempt to build a stupidly huge apartment complex.  Chinatown needs housing, like any other part of the city.  But Chinatown doesn't need apartments that start at $3,000 a month.  The area needs good affordable housing that enriches the community.  I'm afraid of the gentrification that will happen in Chinatown in the years to come.  I know that the city changes, and the Los Angeles we have today is different from the Los Angeles from a hundred years ago.  The area still needs affordable housing, no matter what era.

I think it was about fifteen or maybe close to twenty years ago I went with Talia to Cassell's burgers in Ktown.  It had been listed as one of the top ten burgers in Los Angeles, when the idea of the top ten burgers first started.  I went to all the burgers back then.  Cassell's was good, but their main gimmick was the idea that they would give you the burger plain only to have you put the condiments on yourself.  It was Fuddruckers style.  They don't do that anymore.  I wanted to try them out since I found out they had a second Cassell's in Chinatown.  I wasn't super hungry, but I still wanted to try them out.  So I walked from where I was at the French Hospital up College on a steep hill and got my steps while going to Cassell's.  It was good, but it wasn't amazing.  I will go back to try out their patty melt.  Supposedly that's the specialty of the house.

I was telling a story to my coworker at Casa about wanting to do a Vlog on YouTube about my photography.  I mentioned my search for the photographs I wanted to talk about, and mentioned that the first one is going to be My Maxfield Parrish Attempt.  It's a photograph I took way back in 2007.  I was in San Francisco for the first time in my adult life, and I wanted to see all the sights I had seen on previous trips with my family.  The picture I took was at the Palace of Fine arts, a building that was left over from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.  It has a unique look for an American city.  There was a couple that was sitting under a tree, and those two framed the picture perfectly in my eye.  At the time I was talking to the Silmarillion on the phone.  We were making plans to have dinner when I got back to Los Angeles.  I've been thinking of her for the last few days, specifically yesterday and today.  Today because of the connection to this picture.  I couldn't help myself, I googled her using her maiden name.  I've done that in the past and found nothing.  Today I got something.  One of the first results was a page that had her picture on it.  The preview showed an aged Silmarillion.  I clicked on the link and it took me to a page on the Forest Lawn website.  It was an obituary.

The first part of the obituary read, The Silmarillion, "Was born on January 24, 1986.  She departed this world on January 6, 2025.  Her journey through life was regrettably marked by a courageous battle with cancer.  She left behind a profound legacy of love, kindness, and resilience.  She was defined by extraordinary qualities.  She was not merely an individual; she was a beacon of warmth and intelligence, embodying beauty both inside and out."

Amen.  I was at work, so I couldn't read the entire obituary until I got home.  She had kidney cancer.  The eerie thing is that she passed away exactly a year ago today.  It hasn't hit me yet, but I know that I'll take the hit of the knowledge later.  I just can't believe that she's gone.

Wednesday, January, 7, Not much to report from the route today.  It wasn't a busy day.  The weather was super nice today.  As the book above says, it is a magical world.  I've seen Calvin and Hobbes books being checked out these days.  I'm glad, I love that a new generation is checking out these books.

The highlight of the day was going on the Griffith park holiday train.  It's one of my favorite things to do during the holidays.  I didn't really want to celebrate Christmas this year, because of Cheyenne.  But I was drunk one night shortly after her passing and I bought TheGirl and I two tickets.  It's the one thing we did this year that was Christmasy.  I think it being so far after Christmas helped.

TheGirl had suggested that we have dinner at Morrison, which is located around the corner from the Griffith park trains.  We got there and found that the restaurant was closed for maintenance.  Plan B time!  I mean I get it, a restaurant will want to clean up their kitchen from time to time.  And the middle of the week is good, because there are fewer patrons.  But I guess it will never be that we go eat there.  TheGirl already has a bias with Morrison, because there's one up the street from her.  She hates the people that park in front of her place and take up all the spaces to go eat.  Which makes her have to park way down the street.  But this is a different Morrison, so she was going to give it a shot.  Well, not any more.  Their loss.

I was craving Mexican food anyway, but I was going to tell TheGirl that we should go next week.  But, with the failure of Morrison we decided our plan B was Don Cuco.  The food was good, and the margaritas hit.  I wish they would make them stronger, but the first one was good.  TheGirl asked for a watermelon margarita.  It was good.  The second round was not as good, because they must have used the watermelon pucker.  The first round we know they used watermelon puree.  Oh well.

TheGirl mentioned that she still feels the void of Cheyenne's loss.  I know we will never be whole again.  Her memory is everywhere in our lives, but especially at our dinners.  We started this Wednesday night dinner thing when we were dating.  I would get off work on Wednesdays from San Marino at like 5pm.  I would drive over to her place and we would have dinner.  One week we would eat in, when it was her week.  Next time we might go out, when it was my week.  When TheGirl adopted Cheyenne that tradition continued, only we had to find puppy friendly restaurants to visit.  We had our rotation.  We still go to many of those places, but now we're sitting inside.  It's different, but it reminds us that Cheyenne is no longer with us.  What I would not give to have another patio dinner with Cheyenne and TheGirl.  Alas, nothing lasts forever.

Thursday, January, 8, I found the Silmarillion's Facebook.  She had a good number of posts, but it wasn't extensive.  I saw a life condensed into a few dozen pictures.  She seemed happy with her life.  I feel for her husband and children.  They are the ones that lost more than anyone.  Her parents must still be devastated.  I know my Grandmother never got over my mom's death.  I still haven't gotten over either of their deaths, and it's been twenty and twenty-eight years respectively.

Friday, January, 9, I fucking hate it when I get a request to move tables from one location to another.  They always move around the back of the van when I'm driving.  No matter what.  It's not even that these tables are heavy, because they're not.  It's just the hassle of having to move them.  And I never see the reason why they have to be moved.  Other than that they are in the way.  Sigh.

There's this idea that finding a coin on the street is good luck.  In the last few years I've heard that it's a sign that someone in the afterlife is trying to reach you.  Something like that.  I don't know, I like the idea that you found a coin that you can use later.  I found a dime the other day, and then a penny, and today I found a quarter.  Does it mean anything?  I don't know, but I think I'm hyper focused on this right now.

I came home to find my aunt cleaning something up in the wash room.  It turned out she placed something, I couldn't tell what she was saying because she mumbles, into the washing machine.  It "blew up" and the stuffing came out.  She later said it was a cover, but that didn't matter.  The insides of said cover were now all over the inside of the washing machine and in the sink.  Just great.  You know, I'm starting to wonder if it's a good idea for my aunt to live alone.  She fucks up a lot of simple stuff.

Saturday, January, 10, Something popped up on my YouTube feed that made me think of a movie called Bridge to Terabithia.  I watched that movie a million years ago with the Simarillion.  Here is a summary of the plot from the library catalog.

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade.  And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him.  The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia.  One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs.  It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.

As I said, the Silmarillion and I watched that movie some afternoon in my room.  We cried like babies.  In the story, sorry if you haven't seen or read it, Leslie is killed by an accident.  Jess had gone to the museum with his teacher, but didn't invite Leslie because he wanted to spend the day with his crush (his teacher).  When he come back from the museum he discovered that Leslie had had an accident.  I remember how sad I was watching that movie.  How it made both of us cry.  And now the Silmarillion is gone.  She died way too young.  I thought about reaching out to her family.  But what would I say?  None of them would probably remember me.  I would just be intruding into their lives.  Bringing up a pain that I'm sure they've processed to some extent, and reminding them of their tragedy.

No thank you.  Something like that would be selfish.  I'll deal with this on my own.  As I do everything.

I was talking to someone this week and we were talking about walking with a purpose.  Today I had the thought that 2026 should be lived with a purpose.  I know the Silmarillion lived her life with a purpose.  I was there for a small part of her life, but in that short time I knew she was goal oriented.  I walk these days with a purpose, I should apply that to the rest of my life.

Sunday, January, 11, I was looking through some of my old journal entries from 2007 and 2008, for things that I wrote about the Silmarillion.  I came to the thought that what we have might last a minute, a day, or a decade.  But nothing lasts forever.  Not a profound thought but one that I have to have presence of all the time.  I did find some things in my old journal entries.

In an entry called 2007 highlights from December of that year, I wrote:

Meeting (the Silmarillion) is the first significant thing that happened in 2007.  I met her barely a month into the new year.  We clicked and became fast friends.  I can honestly say that I've never met anyone like her.  The entire year is peppered with her presence.  There wasn't a single substantial event that happened that she didn't share in.  She easily became the most significant person in my life.

Online it shows the lot number of the Silmarillion's grave, but when I clicked on "show map" I got nothing.  That meant I had to go into the big house to ask for assistance in finding the grave.  They gave me a detailed map, and I found it fairly quickly.  I parked about thirty feet from it.  I should have known that the grave with the most flowers was hers.  It wasn't until I looked around a bit at the map and compared it to where I thought I was that I spotted it.  It was just last Tuesday that the one year anniversary of her passing happened.  This has all happened so fast.

Before I left the house to go to Forest Lawn I searched for songs from 2007.  I played some on the way to visit Forest Lawn.  When I got into the car after visiting her the song "Who Knew" by P!nk started to play.  The lines that tore me up were:

I wish I could touch you again
I wish I could still call you, friend
I'd give anything

It continues:

I'll keep you locked in my head
Until we meet again
Until we, until we meet again
And I won't forget you, my friend

P!nk said that this song was about the death of a friendship.  For me it's now about the death of a friend.

When I went to Forest Lawn last week to visit my Grandmother and Godmother as well as John Ritter, I drove by the Silmarillion's grave.  Little did I know, at the time.  In the GIF above her grave is on the left.  I can see the flowers on the grave.  Sigh.

Monday, January, 12, I have a lot of problems with the marketing team.  This isn't new, but I don't like how they print out the library's fliers.  They have it in a landscape orientation, but they always display them in a portrait orientation.  I think they must think they're going to mail these out, but most of the time they are on display.  I think it's a dumb reason to have them landscape, but be displayed portrait orientation.  What do I know, right?

The other day my supervisor said hi, but I didn't hear her because I had my earbuds on.  She later apologized because she yelled at me.  Earbuds means leave me alone.  That means everyone.

Right before lunch I get a text message from Vivian.  She wanted to talk.  She called me and she told me that she is planning on retiring this year.  Big wow.  My first thought was who is going to replace her?  They should send someone good, like Ru, here.

Tuesday, January, 13, I don't know why my aunt takes her oatmeal out of the fridge and leaves it for hours on the table.  I guess she wants to get salmonella poisoning.  The logic of taking it out so it's not as cold makes no sense, since she's just going to put it on a plate and warm it up in the microwave.  Just shaking my head all the time with this woman.

When I started eating salads for lunch a while back I thought to also add some of those salad toppings that I see on the store shelves next to the croutons.  The other day I was reading the back of the bottle I had and noticed that it was sunflower seeds and soybean protein.  The little flakes are meant to look and taste like bacon and such.  But they're all soybeans.  So, why should I buy stuff with soybeans when I can just have straight sunflower seeds.  I went to Whole Foods after my walk in order to get some seeds.  I never seem to find them at my store.  A lady helped me find them.  They taste so good on their own.  I may have to make my own trail mix with sunflower seeds.

One of the cuter girls that frequent the library came in today.  The last time I thought she left with a disagreeable face from something I did.  Today she was sweet as punch.  A little flirty, even.  Like Beast says in Beauty and the Beast, she didn't shutter at my paw.  Arpi is one of these ladies that are nice but are completely unattainable.

Wednesday, January, 14, Just like hating to move tables back-and-forth from different locations for no reason, I really hate having to move the portable wall from Chevy Chase to Montrose and back.  When I got the wall back to Montrose Jade mentioned there's no room to store it.  Of course.  At least using the strap made the move easier.

Tonight TheGirl and I went to dinner at Isabella's in Burbank.  This is the last of the restaurants that we frequented with Cheyenne that we have visited since she passed.  I usually take out the picture frame of Cheyenne and put it on the table.  Tonight I was slow, but the girl said that it was a good thing because she didn't wanna have to explain again.  That's understandable.  Having to explain just reminds us of the loss.  The food was good, but it's hard not having Cheyenne paw us for a piece of meatball.

Thursday, January, 15, For some reason I woke up way before my alarm.  Because of that I was a bit sleepy most of the day.  ARGH!  It's been weeks since I've felt sleepy during the day.  What have I been doing right that I didn't do last night?  It wasn't not drinking, because I had my share last night.  I wasn't so sleepy that I needed coffee, but my eyes were feeling tired.

I should add that one of the reasons I woke up early this morning is because I think I was coming down with something.  I had a tickle in my throat, but then when I woke up later this morning I didn't feel sick.  Just a little runny nose, but no sore throat.  What gives?  Maybe it's allergies.  I just don't want to get sick.  Everyone is getting sick.  I've been able to avoid it... so far.

It was super slow at work tonight, so I busted out my iPhone and started playing Minish Cap.  Of course that brought everyone out.  I barely got to the first scene when I had to put the phone away.  We had a wave of people show up wanting stuff.  I guess that's better than it being slow.  Maybe it's because it still gets dark rather early that the second half of my Thursday shifts have felt really long these past few weeks.

Friday, January, 16, I tell people that they should never allow the city to claim poverty.  Today twenty office chairs were delivered to the library.  These office chairs easily cost $350.  Times that by twenty and you're looking at $7,000.  That's not including delivery fees and taxes.  And I'm probably lowballing the price of the chairs.  So yeah, I'm going to ask for my raise.

Krishna and Jaclyn were at Central today to take the Christmas lights off the bookmobile.  One of the things that drives everyone crazy with Krishna is how she says she wants something done, but never really gives anyone any direction or focus.  So everyone has to fall back to their own devices to figure out what she wants.  Today she wanted a box.  Tony was in the dock, and I deferred to him because he is the box maven.  He kept asking what box she wanted, and she kept saying something that didn't mean anything.  She then pointed to the Baker and Taylor boxes, which are a good size but not too tall.  I know that Tony uses those almost exclusively for the Better World books.  He guards those.  So I jumped in and told Krishna that those are rare, because we can't get any more.  Repeat this process another two times and you get the interaction with her today.  Poor Jaclyn... I don't know how she's been able to put up with her.

When I arrived back at the ranch that is Central this afternoon I saw a bunch of stuff that's going out on delivery.  It would have been my responsibility, but because of the holiday I'm not driving on Monday.  Ai brought up some new books.  And then there is a table and some other heavy boxes going out.  I'm glad I'm not driving.

My aunt came into my room this evening.  It's NEVER a good thing when she wants to have a chat.  She wanted to tell me that I should read the Torah.  She ran through all the typical religious talking points that sucker the uninitiated and uninformed.  I must be angry with god, she said.  That old chestnut is a favorite of those who think non-believers are such because we prayed a long time ago and didn't get our wish.  There was more, but I don't want to waste my time repeating it.  I just sat in my room listening.  Something her guru says always triggers my aunt to say something.  I love that she always starts the heart to heart conversation by saying that I never confide in her.  Yes, that's absolutely true, I don't.  I told her a long time ago that I don't because she always twists what I say.  I need to lock my door.

Saturday, January, 17, Today is the twelfth anniversary of Chan getting re-stuffed at the Build a Bear formally in Downtown Disney.  It was that moment that Chan solidified what made hims different from every other monkey of his kind.  All the other monkeys I see online don't have that extra stuffing, or two hearts.  Chan is definitely one of a kind.

I bought some peanuts for the backyard squirrels, because the old seed I used to buy had nuts.  The new seed contains fewer nuts, so to compensate I got them loose peanuts.  When I chill in the backyard I throw them a few.  I hand them nuts only once in a while.  Well, of course my bitter aunt has to come in with her wet blanket mentality to tell me to be careful.  They have rabies, she tells me.  ARGH!  Leave me the fuck alone!  I have to revisit the idea of getting a Saturday job.

I bought some peanuts on Amazon the other night, but I didn't know how special these peanuts are.  Here is what the Planters website says about these Special Reserve peanuts.

The makers of Planters peanuts proudly bring you a special variety of peanut; grown in the sun-soaked soil of Virginia, bred for size, flavor and crunch.  Planters special reserve peanuts have been carefully crafted, in partnership with established peanut growers, and approved by Mr. Peanut himself.  We're proud to bring you a peanut experience like no other.  Roasted in small batches, this product is available for a limited time only.

These peanuts are super tasty, and big.

Sunday, January, 18, My coworker Teresa invited me to check out the Getty Villa with her.  Sure, I love going to museums, but most dopes never want to go.  I might have a good museum person in Teresa.  First stop was the Getty Villa.  I haven't been there in at least a decade.  For sure since the pandemic, which means at least six years.  Anyway, the fires did not damage the Villa.  You can see some of the taller trees that were in the entrance driveway were cut down, and there is fire retardant on some of the hills around the Villa.  But the Villa looked stunning.  I took some really nice pictures.

I was talking to my Teresa about wanting to go out and do things more often.  I told her how during the 2020 we had to stay home, and it caused many of us to get used to staying at home.  I know I fell into the idea of staying home, but I'm past that now.  There is so much I want to see.  Just exploring this city is a lifetime event.

As we were leaving we were talking about how all the ladies were posing for a special photo to probably post online.  One looked really pretty, and I decided to take a picture of her.  She looked amazing.  I could definitely take some nice pictures of her.

Anyway, it was nice to get out today.  I'm really going to try and go out more on my weekends.  I don't want to be at home anyway, due to my aunt always bothering me.  And getting some culture along the way is a positive thing.  Teresa already said we should meet up at the Norton Simon.  I'm game.

On the way home I drove Sunset through the Palisades.  In certain parts all I could see is foundations of homes that were no longer there.  Blocks and blocks of emptiness.  The devastation is complete.  I don't know how long it will take to rebuild.  One sight that got me, but I didn't have time to take a picture of, was the side of this one particular building.  Thanks to Google maps I have the picture above of the side of this building scorched from a pair of trees burning.  Thankfully the building didn't catch fire, but you can see that these two trees did.

Monday, January, 19, TheGirl and I both had today off, so we decided to go into Hollywood today.  To look around and get our steps.  It was cool.  I parked the car in what is now the Ovation, but used to be Hollywood and Highland.  From there we walked up to the Bowl, which is a public park, but it was closed.  Probably due to the holiday.  We were hoping to check out the grounds, but I guess we'll have to come back on a non-holiday.  Before walking up to the Bowl we had drinks at the newly opened La Popular.  That's the same place we went to when we went out to Claremont.

A few months ago I came to Win-dow to try out the burger.  Back then there were construction walls next to Win-dow.  Today I got to see what was being built... La Popular restaurant.  The same TheGirl and went to over a month ago when we were in Claremont.  Now we have one close by.  We might even come here for dinner one Wednesday night.

TheGirl asked me if I had ever been on one of those tours of star's homes.  Nope, I told her, but I had thought about it the last time I was in Hollywood.  Some guy gave me a flyer and told me about it.  I didn't do it that time, because I had to go to work.  TheGirl said that we should do it today.  So when one of the guys came up to me I told TheGirl about it and next thing I know we're buying tickets for the tour.  They said to return at 3:30, so that gave us nearly an hour to explore Hollywood blvd.  There's not much to explore but filth.  Still, we got our steps in.

We returned to the designated stop and after waiting for nearly twenty minutes we got on our way.  The guide took us into the Hollywood hills in the area between Hollywood and Laurel Canyon.  Lots of celebrities live up there.  I wonder how many of the homes he pointed out really belong to those stars he named.  Oh well, it was fun either way.  I got to see Mulholland drive in a more detailed way, because I'm usually driving and having to pay attention to the road.  We had a good time after-all.

Tuesday, January, 20, For nearly a week I've gotten up in the morning with a little sniffle.  I lose it by midday, and it doesn't come back till the next morning.  I don't know if I came down with something or it's allergies.  Oh well, I guess I'll see if it develops into something more.

I didn't have anything planned for this week's Tuesday Adventure, and that's why my Tuesday Adventure failed this week.  At the last minute I drove to Beverly Hills, to check out some of the places we went on the tour yesterday.  Alas, I couldn't find parking, and I got frustrated.  I should have found a good parking spot and walked into the mail part of Beverly Hills.  I was only going to be there for a couple of hours.  Next time I need to plan these things out better.

I was trying to kill some time before going into work, since my Tuesday Adventure failed.  So I went up to Forest Lawn to visit the Silmarillion, and to my surprise someone was visiting her grave.  I had to make a decision.  Should I visit and find out who this person is, or just come back later.  I picked going back later.  The person was there for an extended visit, so when I circled back I noticed she was still here.  I then just drove off the property and went to work.  I wonder who the person was.  I had a crazy idea that if I did go up she would tell me something about the Silmarillion since I stopped hanging out with her.  Maybe I hoped that she would say, oh you're such and such.  Yeah, she mentioned you one day.  I'll never know.

I've been trying to find crackers that don't crack up at the slightest pressure.  I have tried several crackers and it seems that all of them crumble very easily.  None of them have any integrity.  I put some cream cheese on a knife and as I spread it over the crackers each and every one of them cracked in half.  ARGH!  I guess all these crackers are all cracked up.  The search continues.

Wednesday, January, 21, I come to find out that my coworker that drives on Tuesday rushed through the delivery route.  Which means most branches didn't have their stuff ready, and that meant that I had to deal with the overflow.  Of course.  I took it as easy as possible today.  The fuck I'm going to kill myself for this job.  So many of the people at the branches were asking why Tony got to their locations so soon.  Easy, he wants to finish up the route early.  The route is in service to the branches and the patrons, not to his comfort.  But oh well, nothing is going to change.  If I say something nothing will change.  Maybe if the managers say something, but I know they won't say anything about this to the upper managers.  Whatever!

I uploaded the bookmark files for San Marino this weekend, but it wasn't until today that Cindy C told me that there were a couple of mistakes.  ARGH!  I tried to fix them using my iPad with Photoshop.  For some dumb reason my file is incompatible with the Photoshop for iPad version.  Probably because of the color profile I was using.  The printer of the bookmarks wants us to send him the files using CYMK format instead of the format I usually use RGB.  I get it, it fits his purposes.  But the iPad and the web version of Photoshop don't work with CYMK color profile, so I had to find out who at the library had Photoshop.  Thankfully one of the librarians at Brand had it on her computer.  I was able to make the edits and send the Foundation my files before the end of the day.  Whew!

For dinner TheGirl and I went to Dog Haus.  We hadn't been there since shortly after Cheyenne's passing.  We ate inside, because it was cold out.  I didn't take out Cheyenne's picture though.  I think TheGirl doesn't want to explain things to people at restaurants.  I get that.  Maybe next week I will take the picture out, but only pointed towards us and not the staff.  I ate everything on my plate.  Today was definitely a cheat day.  Tomorrow on my walk I need to burn a bunch of the calories I ingested tonight.

Thursday, January, 22, I woke up several times during the night with my nose half full of snot.  By the time I got to Casa I barely had any sniffles.  My snot was sorta green in color, but I didn't feel any aches.  Hmm.  I guess I have a mild cold.

I checked my online account because today is payday and it seemed a little fatter than usual.  Afterward I checked my online employee payroll site and sure enough I see that my rate jumped from $30.35 to $31.87.  That's 5% more.  Good job.  That means I'll make about $50 more per week.  Whew!  I needed the raise.

I had a cold walk today during my lunch.  It was fine, since moving gets anyone warm.  Still, I had to cut my walk a little short because it started to sprinkle.  I didn't have an umbrella with me.

Friday, January, 23, We have routing cards that distinguish what books go to the branches and which go to Central.  I made these cars with TheNewCute a couple of years ago, because we were short.  The branches were writing these cards by hand, and it was a waste of time and money to keep doing that.  Hence me making some laminated ones.  From time to time there will still be a written on in the bin, and I think to myself, I made like eighty of these, how are we short?  Well, one reason is that my coworker Tony never distributes these cards to the branches.  The only reason why the branches have any is because I put them in the bins when I sort the books.  So frustrating.

Talk about frustrating, Jade left me a ton of boxes at Chevy today.  Some were donations, some were going to Montrose.  I dumped the donations in the recycling bins.  Fuck that.  I don't have the room or the time to be moving these stupid boxes all at once.  He also wanted me to take a bunch of signs.  Signs that don't serve a purpose, but still need to be at Montrose for some reason.  I left those for next week.  Fuck that!

I was walking up to Grandview when Gitmo showed up and told me that the key that opens the library will now work with the gate.  Just great.  I see this as a move to not give us a clicker.  Whatever!

The last couple of Fridays I've started the route by going to Adams Square first.  I think I might keep doing that, because it makes things easier.  It sure worked out today.

It was eighteen years ago today that I took pictures of Nicole at Franklin Canyon Park.  Would have been nice if that had gone somewhere else, other than just friends.  She even said she wanted to pose nude for me.  What happened?  Shortly after the shoot she moved to San Francisco to do her Masters program.  She never moved back down.  I wanted to visit her, but every time I would save up a little money something would cause me to spend that money.  By the time I did get up to SF she was with a guy, and she told me she wouldn't pose.  Oh well.

Saturday, January, 24, The last time I went to Pollo Loco the cute girl Abigail wasn't there.  I get it, people move on.  Today I didn't see her behind the counter and I figured "She gone."  After a couple of minutes she walked in and I smiled.  She genuinely smiled at me.  I mean, I'm done trying with women, but she is super nice.

I got a new Wednesday bag.  I was formally using a bag that I was given by the library, but I don't like going around with that logo serving as a way to identify that I work at the library.  No thanks.  Besides, I needed a bigger bag for other purposes, not just Wednesdays.  I plan on using this bag for my Tuesday Adventures to carry water and cameras.

Today is the Silmarillion's birthday.  I thought about going to visit her grave, but there was the possibility that I would run into her family.  I'm sure they don't need me around at a time like this.  A total stranger.

Sunday, January, 25, I want to have shorter hair, but all the short guides I had for my trimmer have been lost.  I ordered some new ones the other day, and today I cut my hair short.  Feels so good.

My aunt made beans.  Just beans.  Not sure why she only made beans.  Makes no sense to me, but she did it.  But you know what?  I'm going to use them in my salad.  Maybe that's why she made them.  She saw that I bought some beans for something, she knows not what, and decided to make some.  OK, cool.

I had plans to make chicken tacos for my lunch this coming week, but I won't.  I went to Wild Fork to buy the prepackaged chicken fajitas, but they didn't have any left when I arrived.  Just great.

Monday, January, 26, Last week I took a bag from Grandview to treasury only to have them not be able to open it.  Treasury didn't have the key for bag five from Grandview.  Gitmo thought that perhaps the bag had been switched with a Casa Verdugo bag some time ago, when Grimace was doing the money.  Sure enough, today I went back to treasury and asked them to try the Casa keys on the Grandview bag.  Eureka... one of the Casa bags had been renamed a Grandview bag.  When Marie went to take the label off the now Casa key underneath was the previous label for Grandview.

In the past Stephanie would say "we're closed" to me when she and her crew were working on installing the art for the next show.  I took it as a joke, but not after today.  Today Stephanie told me to leave the gallery and when I turned to go she said, "Jesus" in a tone that meant she was displeased with me.  She also rolled her eyes.  From now on I will leave her crew alone while they do their work.  I'll heat up my lunch and leave.  Or maybe those weeks they are installing I'll warm up my lunch at Grandview and have lunch in the park.

As I ate my lunch in the park I noticed that had she texted me saying she was sorry.  She's right... I am a distraction to their work.  I'll still keep to myself when they are working in the gallery.

Tonight I didn't turn on my other light in my room, just the one in the corner that automatically turns on and off.  I don't know why I felt like I needed to just keep that one on tonight, but it felt right.

Tuesday, January, 27, For my Tuesday Adventure this week I decided to literally take a page out of a book that lists places to go in Los Angeles and went to the Berendo stairs in Los Feliz.  Specifically the neighborhood just under the Griffith Observatory.  I parked my car at Ferndell and walked up to the stairs from there.  It's about a mile from where I was parked.  Going up the stairs wasn't easy.  I am in better shape due to walking, but I don't usually climb stairs.  Still, I made it to the top of the stairs.  I gave myself a little time to rest and then thought about how I should get back to my car.  I could have just gone back down the stairs, but there was a whole neighborhood to explore.

When I opened my maps app I noticed that the Ennis house was close.  It's a home that's been featured in many movies.  It's also famous for being a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  The city is peppered with buildings designed by him, but this is one I've never visited.  So off I went on another part of my walk.  The house is enormous.

I made my way up the hill past the Ennis house and then found other stairs that took me back down to the front of the Ennis house.  The view from those stairs was wonderful.  I'm sure at night this is a great spot to get pictures of the city.

I walked back to my car and hot footed it off to work.  I will have to explore more of this area.  There are so many places to visit in Los Angeles.  It's not the oldest city in the country, but it does have a history that we often don't see, because sometimes it's not in plain sight.  Sometimes it is, and we just walk right past it.

I was getting a little hungry before work, but I told myself that I couldn't ruin walking all those steps on some fast food binge.  But, I was hungry, so I went to the Ralph's next door to work and ended up getting a big package of salami.  That coupled with the cream cheese was just what I needed.  I only allowed myself to have four crackers with cream cheese and salami.  No more.  They did hit the spot, and helped with my hunger.

Wednesday, January, 28, I left the library before the morning huddle, because I have to become less available.  Also, the huddle is a total waste of time.  I can have more alone time on the route if I just leave before the stupid huddle.  The only problem is that I still had to go to Treasury, so I couldn't just start the route.  I need to figure out what I can do with that little bit of extra time I get if I leave Central before the morning huddle.

When I got to the Brand library my plan was to keep all my lunch things in the van and only take my pastrami to warm up in the microwave and then get out of there with as little interaction as possible.  But of course the gang was all there, including Stephanie.  She did apologize to me about Monday and her throwing me out of the gallery.  I just dismissed the whole thing, but I didn't accept her apology per se.  I still plan on giving her crew space when they are installing or uninstalling the art.  The next uninstall is in May.  We'll see how that goes.

A few weeks ago TheGirl and I attempted to have dinner at Morrison's in Los Feliz, but it was closed for cleaning.  So it said on the sign on the front doors of the restaurant.  Tonight TheGirl wanted to give them another opportunity, so we went out to Los Feliz again.  Well, Morrison failed again.  It wasn't open... again!  TheGirl said she's done.  No more attempts at this place.  Yeah.  Later I checked online and Yelp said that it was closed.  I didn't tell TheGirl, because who cares.  There are other places.

So now we needed a plan B, and TheGirl mentioned the Acapulcos in Glendale on Pacific.  Last year there was speculation that the restaurant was closed after an article claiming that In-n-Out was planning on building a restaurant there came out.  Acapulcos made a sign and put it out in front of the restaurant... "We're open!"  So our plan B was Acapulcos.  Well, it was pretty bad.  The first thing they brought out to us were the chips and salsa.  From the get-go, the salsa was awful.  The chips were OK.  I ordered fish tacos and TheGirl here favorite enchiladas suizas.  I can't speak for her enchiladas, but my fish tacos were below par.  I was hungry, so I finished them, but they were all batter and not much fish.  The beans served were not Mexican beans.  They were more like baked beans for a barbecue.  Overall it was bad.  We should have gone to Sizzler.

At dinner I was showing TheGirl what I had in my new Wednesday bag.  I told her that I had included Cheyenne's pictures, and she asked that I not take it out and put it on the table.  She said it hurt to see her picture.  I understand.  I only did it as a tribute to Cheyenne, and that she will always be with us, despite not being with us physically.  Perhaps some day in the future TheGirl will be OK with the pictures on the table.  I'll keep them in my new Wednesday bag until that day.

Thursday, January, 29, Storytime this morning featured the most MILFs I've seen at Casa ever.  Including a really pretty lady that came in looking so amazing in her workout outfit.  I wonder if she will become a regular.  It's funny because a new lady will come to the library and I think they will probably become regulars, but then they don't.  There was one lady a couple of years ago that was super curvy.  She came in twice and never again.  Today's new MILF may or may not show up next week.  She was surprised that we were having storytime today.  She just showed up.  Hopefully she will show up again.

Today was a long day, but it went by fairly quickly because of the change in location for me.  The bookmobile event at the school went by fast.  The rest of my shift was chill and went by quick as well.  All in all a long but good day.

Friday, January, 30, In my rush this morning, I forgot half the items for my lunch today.  I bought a big backpack in order to carry all this stuff, but I still carry a third bag with the dry ingredients for my lunch.  Well no more.  From today on I'm going to find a way to make those items in the main backpack.  I ended up having to get some take-out for lunch.  More on that in a minute.

While on my way to Pacific Park Mala called me to see if I could finish the route early and go to Grandview at 1pm to cover.  Someone called out and they needed coverage.  Sure.  The good thing is that I got a jump on the route today by going to Adams first and then heading up to Chevy and Montrose.  I figured I could skip Grandview and finish up in time to get some food and head out to Grandview before 1pm.  Mission accomplished.

I thought about getting some tacos from Jack in the box, but on my way back to Central I saw that Carl's Jr. had a new fish sandwich.  I was intrigued, so I went there for lunch.  They were running a special of two sandwiches for $6.  So I bit.  Two sandwiches and crisscut fries, that they now call waffle fries.  Just over $12 of the most bland food I have eaten since last night's tacos.  Why am I being cursed with bad fish?  The sad thing is that some improvements would make the sandwich better.  The fish is a good portion for fast food these days.  But the batter was meh.  Maybe more than just a tiny bit of tartar sauce would have helped as well.  Just like Morrison's I've given Carl's Jr. one last chance and they have failed me.  Bye!

Grandview can be hectic, but I don't worry my pretty little head about these things nowadays.  If the kids want to be loud, and the moms don't want to shut them up, who am I to do so?  This attitude makes life easier to deal with while working a shift at Grandview.  I was originally going to work until 6pm, but since Shannon showed up at 3pm I got to go home at my regular time.

Saturday, January, 31, I peed myself again earlier this week.  I couldn't find a good reason to pretend that I needed to wash my towel on a Tuesday, so I waited until today.  And today is a great day to do things, because my aunt doesn't toil on the sabbath.  That means she won't lift a finger today.  Which means she won't be messing with my wash today.  I wonder now if I shouldn't switch my laundry day to Saturdays rather than Sundays.

I had a ticket to the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo today to see the movie Baby Face.  I do love going there.  It's super nice to get out and check out little spots around the city.  You know, a lot of people actually walk in this city.  Sure, it's not for work or anything, but in my walks I notice a lot of folks walking around as well.  Good.  The movie was good.  Barbara Stanwyck was so gorgeous back then.  She has/had a presence about her.  I'll definitely go back.  I want to take TheGirl down there to El Segundo.  On my way home I avoided the freeway due to construction.  The maps app told me to go out towards Dockweiler beach.  On my way there I noticed that it's a nice spot to watch the sunset.  I do love sunsets.

They finally published the video of the Montrose Christmas parade that the bookmobile attended (see above gif).  It was on screen for something like thirty seconds.  Ha ha!