Afterthoughts: This Past Month

Overall April was pretty good.  On to the update.

Wednesday, April, 1, April first used to be new years day for some humans on this planet.  Now it's considered a fool's day, where those who adopted a new calendar mocked those who still kept the old calendar.  I don't think many people still do pranks on April fool's day, but there are some that continue that tradition.  Today Michelle from treasury told me that this is the last I'll see of her because she's going back to school.  Done.  I thought about asking her to exchange Instagrams or something, but then I'm like nah.  The cute janitor worked today.  I wanted to get a picture of her, but all I could get was a picture of her butt.  I want to take her face, not just her butt.  Joseph, the other janitor, says her name is Diana.  Nice.

I'm working the bookmobile this weekend.  I don't remember the last time I went out with the bookmobile, but it's been a minute.  It's always a shit show going out after a long hiatus, because all the things we need for the bookmobile aren't going to be there.  I know the rest of the crew are going to put things in the vehicle for Saturday, so I'm trusting they will have everything.  I don't have the time to go through everything, so it's all I can do to just trust they will get everything in there.

Some days this past month it's been hot, but the evenings have been nearly perfect.  What contributes to a perfect evening is the light cool breeze.  It soothes the skin after being exposed to the hot sun all day.  Tonight after work TheGirl and I walked around Toluca Lake.  Yes, again.  It's a lovely part of town, with all the birds chirping and flying around.  I didn't get any pictures of hummingbirds tonight, but it was just nice out.  I know there are many memories that TheGirl has of that area of town associated with Cheyenne.  They walked the neighborhood so many times.  I'm glad that she lets me tag along these paths that mean so much to her.  We both miss Cheyenne so much.  It doesn't seem real that she's gone.

Tonight we went to a new place that was an old place we would frequent.  The former Buchanan Arms Pub has been replaced by the Broken Compass Tiki.  I looked online and it seemed like a good place to eat.  I ordered the fish and chips, and TheGirl ordered the fish tacos.  Both were excellent.  The Navy Grog was soooo good as well.  New restaurant added to our rotation.

As we walked around Toluca Lake we came upon a house that had a Tardis in someone's front yard.  I had to pose Chan in front of it.  Of course, Chan is a time lord.  He just needs a scarf like Tom Baker.

Many times when I come home I will find stupidity in the actions of my aunt.  Tonight she hid a bunch of my things.  She put my crackers in my room, hid the bread loaf behind the TV.  I think she said something about because it was passover.  What the fuck does that have to do with me?  I'm not Jewish!

I had a thought the other day that perhaps I should take some time off from texting people that don't text me back in a semi-timely manner.  Like if they take a couple of weeks to reply, then I'm not on their short range radar.  If they never initiate, it means that they are not interested.

Today is the day.  No further!  I archived a lot of text messages.  I always initiate with a lot of these people and I think I want to take a month long break from everyone.  If they don't initiate a conversation then I know that they don't want to continue texting me.

Thursday, April, 2, My goal with walking is to establish a pace of eighteen minute miles.  Today I almost hit that goal.  As I walked around the Casa Verdugo neighborhood I tried to keep a steady fast pace.  Well, when I got back to the library after my walk I got really close to an eighteen mile.  Eighteen minutes and thirteen seconds.  Nice!  Next time I'll aim for a sub eighteen minute mile.  I just hope the heat doesn't come back, because that's my kryptonite when it comes to walking.

TheGirl invited me to hang out with her and her grandson.  Of course that Friday two other things popped up on my radar scope, Delicious Destinations set up and a bookmobile event.  I thought about this the entire week, and I made the decision to forgo work and spend that time with TheGirl.  Years ago I was invited to go to Disneyland with TheGirl, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend.  I said I couldn't because it was in the middle of the week and I had to work.  Mainly because I was broke, but whatever.  That was our first real fight, and it almost broke us apart.  That's not the only reason I'm choosing to hang out with her.  With all the loss I have come to understand that you have to live a life that isn't just work.  Yes, I need the money.  But I'll get it later.  Hanging out with TheGirl and her grandson is important.  More important than work.  So I told both jobs I can't make it that day.  They'll just have to deal with it.

Friday, April, 3, Tomorrow is the bookmobile event at the Earth day fair.  Most of the crew has gotten the things ready for me to just get up and run.  I still have to take care of the computer, and boy was it a pain.  The damn thing wouldn't turn on, so I left it charging.  This thing doesn't hold a charge very well.  I'm almost tempted to bring my own computer as a back-up.

Today I put on a bunch of Demi Lovato music during the route.  I stated in my own head that she was my spirit animal.  I don't even know her life story very well, but that statement just came out.  Something about her songs feels right.  The little I do know is that she's had struggles.  Who hasn't, correct?  I don't know, I'm just saying.

Stephanie sent me a text just before I was leaving work asking if I wanted any tickets for the Olympics.  I was like, "Sure... why not?"  The short version of the story is I'm going to a soccer game at the Rose Bowl.  Not exactly what I was expecting, but beggars can't be choosers.

Saturday, April, 4, The last time I remember going out with the bookmobile was in December.  I might be wrong, but that's how I remember it.  So this is the start of us going out and doing events.  All in all it was a good day.  We had a lot of good interactions, although the tech still failed me today.  I have no idea where the dongle for the computer went.  It was a good thing that I decided to bring my own dongle, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to check any books out.  I left the computer to charge yesterday morning and unplugged it when I left for home.  I open the computer up at the Earth fair event and this stupid thing is at 35% charge.  WTF?  It lost that much of a charge overnight?  And then I couldn't find the dongle, as I mentioned before.  Krishna famously asked me if I needed anything and I told her dongles.  I asked her to buy two of them, and I've yet to see them.  Fucking dumb shit piss.  I made it work, like I always do.  We had a spare computer with us, but we didn't need it.  I think from now on I'm going to create a checklist of items we need for the bookmobile.  Especially like a charger that is a quick charger, because the one I had today was a back-up.  It charged the computer, but it was super slow.

In my quest to retrieve the dongle from my car I ran down the parking structure.  The good thing was that I didn't huff and puff.  I just jogged down.  All this walking has definitely helped.  Nice.

I had the thought of going to the Getty center after work, since I ended work so early.  There was one exhibit I wanted to check out, so I got my ticket last night and went today.  Just for a couple of hours, but it was fun.  First off, they finally opened a bar at the Getty.  At first I wasn't going to drink, but then I'm like yeah let's have one.  The bar patio is super nice, with there amazing looking trees.  I'll have to find out what kind of tree they are.  I got what I think will be some good shots with my film camera.  I'll have to drop off the roll Sunday, because I didn't have time today.  I promised my aunt I was bringing food home after work.

I told TheGirl about the bar at the Getty.  I'd love to come down to the Getty some early evening and stay until just past sunset.  Take some pictures of the garden in golden hour and get tipsy.

Monday, April, 6, Today the city officially opened the solar roof on top of the library.  I didn't attend, but I did go up before to check out the roof.  I hadn't been up there since they put up the solar panels.  I come to find out that this installation is the second biggest in the city.  Maybe the income from the panels could go to not cutting funding to the library.  Perhaps.

Earlier in the day Misa texted me asking the name of a former coworker of ours.  She wanted to mention him to this girl that works with us named Mari (Mary).  Mari started working at the library a few years ago.  She works only on the weekends now, because shortly after getting the job at Glendale she got a job at The Huntington.  A while back Misa mentioned that Mari was single.  Mari seems really nice, but she's not quite my type.  And also, the Armenian thing.  She's most likely in the market for an Armenian man.  Story of my life.  Misa then called me after dinner to tell me that Mari showed some interest in me, but that I was too old for her.  I think Misa said she's thirty.  Yeah, I'm nearly fifty-five.  Then Misa goes on to tell me that some of the other ladies we work with said that they were interested, but the same story... I'm too old.  I knew a few years ago that when I started showing grey on my head that the ladies would think I was too old for them, and I was right.  Oh well, this is a confirmation that while I supposedly have a lot of what is wanted in a partner I'm just not desirable due to my age.  I aged out.  Peace.

Tuesday, April, 7, I was driving to San Marino when I turned on Teams on my phone so I could virtually enter the all staff meeting.  When I got online the library director was reading something about the budget.  Important stuff that I know no one wants to hear.  At the end of the presentation I was frustrated and I called out, "Alright... who cares?"  Afterwards I could hear someone say, "Someone needs to be muted."  That someone was me.  Within moments Shannon was texting me that she heard me say what I said.  Oh jeez.  At this point who does care?  We shall see how this is reacted to at work.

As I was leaving I noticed that they had moved the lockers from the staff room to the circulation office.  A sticker I made from one of my pictures was still on the locker.  I may be gone, but I spent more than a decade and a half in that building.  I certainly made an impact.

Wednesday, April, 8, I went up to the director's office to apologize for yesterday's outburst.  But I told her that I'm not sorry about the sentiment behind it, because the process is frustrating.  We had a good conversation, and I told her I want to talk more to her about the whole thing.

The route was busy today, but I don't think it was so busy that I had an excuse for messed up two bins.  For some reason I loaded up the van in the wrong order, and that meant that when I came back there were two branch bins that I didn't deliver to those branches.  Yes, I'm human and everyone makes mistakes.  But still.

Last week Stephanie and I were exchanging text messages.  She got me tickets for the Olympics on Friday.  Today she was texting me about Junior and Joaquin ribbing each other in the circulation office.  See, Joaquin loves to poke Junior with silly comments.  She falls for it all the time.  I think she should just not engage, but she falls for it every time.

TheGirl and I planned on going to Olive Garden last week, but then we went somewhere else.  I made the decision to choose places that are a little more inexpensive when it's TheGirl's turn to pay.  And we can splurge a little on my weeks.  So I will suggest Olive Garden this week and next week we can go somewhere a little nicer.  I ordered the chicken parm, which was not horrible.  I got the smaller portion menu item, but it does come with soup.  So I still ended up taking half the stuff home with me.

TheGirl says that walking in Toluca Lake has been difficult for her.  So tonight we walked the Chandler bike path.  We did two and a half miles.  I told TheGirl about how I thought I felt a paw scratching my back on Sunday when I was in my backyard.  I don't know what it was.  I was falling asleep, so it is more likely that it was part of a forming dream.  But I know that everything isn't always what it seems.  And there could be other explanations.  Sure.  I would like it to have been Cheyenne pawing me.  But that's just wishful thinking.  But... what if?

Thursday, April, 9, When it's too warm I don't want to walk around the neighborhood.  Thankfully it was cool enough today to make my walk around the neighborhood.  I really need to make the push to the fourth notch on my belt.  Yesterday I wore my belt on the fourth notch for most of the day.

It is consistently hotter inside the library than outside at Casa Verdugo these days.  There is an impending storm, so the weather has cooled off a bit in the evening.  Meanwhile it's nearly eighty degrees inside.  I made the executive decision to leave the breezeway doors open.  It made a big improvement.

Friday, April, 10, I found this picture on my feed this morning and it's fascinating.  What could the duck have done?  Ducks are the best, but they do have a way of just imposing their will on the world.  Probably because almost all the ducks I've encountered just don't give a fuck what you think.

On my YouTube feed I get a lot of content featuring dumb dumb.  Much of the videos talk about how dummy has dementia and that it's only days before he loses it all.  I want to hope that it's true, but I've been hearing this for years and dumb dumb just keeps on going.  Sure, he may actually be dying, but these videos seem to be more about clicks than actual information.  It's all speculation.  When will we be rid of this dummy?

When I walk by the Housing department for the city while on my way to graphics I will see a nice lady prancing around.  But I rarely see the same lady twice.  I mean, it's not like I would ask any of them out.  But it's always nice to see a pretty face.  I guess it's just nice to see them once.

During the last storm we had here in town I put up a tarp on the back part of the roof, because there is a small leak.  I secured it the best I could, but it moved around.  So I figured I could get at least a couple of sandbags from the city and use them to anchor the new tarp I bought.  Chevy Chase library is connected to the fire department.  I grabbed a couple of sandbags from their front porch and then drove down to the auxiliary parking lot, where they always have sand for these purposes.  I didn't fill the bags up, but they should help out with the tarp I'm going to have to use.  There is a storm set to show up this weekend.  First they said Saturday, but now it's more likely Sunday.  I'll take some time on Saturday to put it up.

I was in circulation when Grigor fielded a question about the bookmobile.  I later found out it was the Orange county library asking about it.  Joe told me that they said it looked impressive.  Well, looks can obviously be deceiving.  Now I want to contact the person that called to tell them not so fast.  Who will be designing this thing?  Don't let rank amateurs do the design, because you'll get a practically useless machine like we have.  Although I do have to say that it is a good representation of this city, because it has airs of being better than it really is.

Saturday, April, 11, I went back to Ggiata deli to get their Italian sub for lunch today.  What hit me the most was how good the bread was.  Last time I ordered a wrap, so I didn't have the pleasure of having the bread.  No more wraps.  The bread is too good to miss.

I saw online that Burger King is testing out these new sliders in a box.  Here is the press release for the product.

Starting April 14, Burger King is introducing the King Size Sliders Box to test markets at participating locations in Portland, Oregon and Columbus, Ohio.  The exclusive new item features three different sliders that come on a soft, buttery bun.  Guests can build a custom box with two sliders or opt for a crowd-friendly order of six.  The options include the Deluxe Slider, Bacon & Cheese Slider, and Steakhouse Bacon Slider.

The Deluxe Slider features a 100 percent flame-grilled beef patty, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and tangy burger aioli.  Alternatively, you can choose the Bacon & Cheese Slider, which includes crispy bacon and American cheese.  BK is also offering the Steakhouse Bacon Slider, a burger made with Swiss cheese, bacon, crispy onions, and peppercorn sauce.

After having a positive experience with Burger King a few weeks ago I would definitely want to try these out.  Of course they seem to NEVER test these sort of items here in Encino.  Always is "Nowhereville" Ohio.

Sunday, April, 12, I woke up and when I turned around I saw my Snoopy smiling.  I know that they put smiles on stuffed animals, but for some reason I haven't really seen Snoopy's smile in a long time.  I see Chan's smile ALL THE TIME.

For my lunch this upcoming week I made potato quesadillas.  I think they came out pretty good.  I had a little bit of potato left at the end, so I made the quesadilla pictured above.  I had extras, so I gave my aunt one of my extras.  She liked it.

The picture above shows the tools I use to keep the damn ear hairs at bay.  I hate having any hair in and around my earlobe.  These things let me pick even little hair off before they become too long.

Earlier in the week I got the chance to see the morning news from the start.  It seems like all the anchor ladies are way curvy.  One that is super curvy, but often wears clothes that don't really show off her curviness is Araksya on KTTV.  This week she showed off her curves.  Thank the maker.

Monday, April, 13, As I went to the elevator to go upstairs I looked down and saw the bad fliers that we have at the library.  First off, there are way too many fliers.  Secondly, the orientation is bad.  Ever flier is placed with the short edge horizontal, and the long edge on the vertical.  But the text for all of them is best seen in landscape.  That to me is bad design.  But, what do I know?

The weather liar I watched last night on the news said we might get some rain.  But, I didn't believe her, because the weather app on my phone showed nothing but blue skies.  Well, I should listen to the weather lady, because just as I was finishing up my lunchtime walk at Brand TheGirl texted me that she heard thunder.  I looked outside and it looked really gloomy.  By the time I grabbed my stuff and got out to the van it was starting to rain.  It came down pretty hard for the next hour.  I only had two more stops in that hour, but I did get wet.  I didn't have my slicker, so I got a little wet, but not too bad.  Serves me right for not listening to the weather lady last night.

Rubina texted me asking if I had picked up the interdepartmental mail today.  I told her yes.  She wondered if I had picked something up from HR for her.  No, I said.  Then she said that HR said they put it in delivery.  I think she thought that they hand it to me, but delivery is more complicated than that.  What I told her probably happened, and what did happen, was that it was placed in an outbox and someone from graphics picked it up.  There are two scheduled pick-ups of all the departments in the civic center.  They probably picked it up on the afternoon run.  So I walked over to graphics to get that item for Rubina.  I finished the route stuff early, so I figured this was a good excuse to get my steps and be productive at the same time.  I was able to get an extra mile walking in.  I had already done a mile at Brand.

I went over to TheGirl's for the traditional Monday visit.  She showed me her new car and told me that this was going to be her forever car.  It's a nice car, but I do wonder about the timing of this.  Her old car was falling apart no doubt.  And I don't think she wanted to get stuck spending thousands of dollars to keep it going.  So there is the practical reason for her getting rid of her Chevy.  But then I wonder how much of it was wanting to not have the memories of Cheyenne.  Getting into that car is a rolling monument to her time with Cheyenne.  I can see why she wanted a new car.

Tuesday, April, 14, Today I went over to San Marino for the last of the printing for Delicious Destinations this weekend.  I had all my ducks lined up, so printing was fairly easy.  I say fairly, because the printer still is a little finicky.  I have to coax it sometimes.  But, the images were all ready.  I don't think I'll have to do much printing on Saturday.  Maybe some small signs, but we shall see.

After printing at San Marino I went to Casa Verdugo to work my regular shift.  Today was a long day for me.  10am to 7pm, working two jobs.  At Casa Teresa was covering.  She's interesting.  We've hung out, but someone told me she has a boyfriend.  That doesn't mean we can't hang out.  I'm not interested in pursuing anyone, so it's fine.  But when I look at her body I do see that she has a really nice figure.  But no, I'm not going to go there with her or anyone else.

Wednesday, April, 15, My morning was filled with bookmobile stuff, like getting the bookmobile to Central and getting it charged.  The guy at the yard, Chris, called over to the Beeline to see if maybe we could run the bookmobile through the bus wash.  I'm still trying to get that thing to go through the bus wash.  When it finally happens it will be all because of my efforts.  That means something to me.  I know it doesn't mean anything to anyone else.  But I also know that others will take the credit after it happens.  I know who really made it happen.

There are times when Marie will talk to me for an extended amount of time and the hope that she has some sort of attraction to me springs forth.  She won't act upon it even if it's true.  It's most likely just her being polite.  But I am supremely attracted to her.  I think about how I would love to go do things with her.  Like Tuesday adventures, but all over the world.  Not gonna lie, I think her body is a playground.

When I got to Brand it was already getting late in the day, and I didn't have enough time to have a full half an hour lunch.  If I wanted to move the bookmobile I needed to move.  But then Stephanie asked me if I could help her with the ladder.  She needed to fix a couple of light bulbs that were acting up.  Sure, I said.  I spotted the ladder while she changed the bulbs.  It was quite a view.  See, here is another wonderful woman that I should pursue or something.  But I turned that off.  But I still see how wonderful she is.

TheGirl and I originally said we were going to eat at the Broken Compass tonight, but at the last minute she suggested going to Forman's.  Sure, why not?  I had a patty melt, which was not bad, but certainly not as good as the one from Cassell's.  The booze was good though.  There's a nice vibe there.  I think we might have to put Forman's into our new rotation.  We still miss Cheyenne though.  I would give anything to have one more dinner with her and TheGirl.  Alas, that's not possible.

Thursday, April, 16, I had some things to do before going to work this morning, like going to the back to get some much needed cash money.  I also wanted to get some booze at the market.  I got my stuff ready and almost drove out the gate at 8:15am.  WAY too early for work, which starts at 10am.  So I went back inside and did some things on the computer.  I then went about and ran my errands before going to work.

A couple of weeks ago Kerri tells me that she wants to have a little free library situation at Casa.  We get donations, but instead of sending them to the trash we can take them and put them on a shelf for anyone to take.  So I went to my coworker Tony and asked him for some books.  He gave Casa about two bins worth of books.  Viola, we now have a take a book shelf.  Kerri only talked about doing it.  I made the effort to get the books, and I made the sign.  The sign is a sign of progress.  That I can get things done in an environment of managers saying no to everything.

Today's shift felt like forever.  I went to lunch and came back and it felt like hours had gone by, but it was not even 4pm.  ARGH!  The last three hours felt so long.

Friday, April, 17, Since I won't be driving this coming Monday I wanted to make sure that Brand had enough of the Link Plus red bins.  So I took them seven.  That will have to last them until Wednesday, because Tony NEVER gives them red bins.  It's because of an old grudge where Violeta asked him not to take all of her red bins.  So now he takes none of them.  Because that makes sense in his mind.

For some reason I was hungry in the morning.  I am trying to eat a little less for breakfast these days.  I have plateaued weight wise, so I want to make a push to lose more weight.  I like being skinnier.  I may have to eat a wee bit more in the mornings, because I was hungry today.

A few weeks ago TheGirl asked if I could have dinner with her and her grandson Elisha.  Sure, I said.  Then all of a sudden work needed me to work the bookmobile event, and San Marino wanted me to come in to do the work before Delicious Destinations.  I felt it was more important to have this dinner with TheGirl and Elisha than to work.  It was a good time, for sure.  Elisha has an iPad and a Nintendo Switch, which he dropped just as he got to TheGirl's place.  TheGirl thought that it would be nice if he and I played together, but that wasn't possible.  The next best thing was collaborating on Donkey Kong at the restaurant.  We ended up going to Reno's in Burbank, because Elisha loves pizza.  I'm good with whatever to eat.  Elisha is a good kid.  He wanted to play with Chan, and he ended up playing helicopter with Chan's tail.  I don't think he would do Chan any harm.

Saturday, April, 18, The big day... Delicious Destinations day.  It went pretty well.  I had to do a little bit of last minute printing.  But all in all this was the easiest Delicious I had to deal with.  Probably because I didn't really have to do much graphics.  They were mostly done by another lady.  I just had to do the actual printing.

This year the destinations were Greece and France.  We did Paris a few years ago, but this was France in general.  I would say it was more the French countryside.  The food was the best of any year.  France had ratatouille, along with flat bread with cheese and chicken pate.  All of it was really good.  Greece had a feta cheese block in tomato and oil, as well as pork and beef meatballs.  But the star of the night was the fried zucchini.  It was lovely.

Karla, who I used to work with at San Marino told me that she didn't like the new circulation manager, Vanessa.  And then I saw her and my heart skipped a moment.  Nothing major.  She is pretty.  I had to agree with Karla that she had a resting bitch face, but inside I wanted to talk to Vanessa.  But then I remembered that I'm not in the game anymore.  If she was interested she would have shown some interest.  As it was, she pretty much ignored me.  This is fine.  I googled her after and found out that she's an artist and a musician.  The lady seems to have some talent.  Nice.  This makes her much more attractive, but as I said before I'm not going there.

Sunday, April, 19, Sundays at the library are usually a shitshow.  Today started with one of the men's room urinals continuously flushing.  I turned it off, like I did on Monday.  Then came the dummies.  First was a woman that said she wanted to take a shower.  Then it was the guy that was yelling "leave me along."  That guy eventually left.  Then there was the guy that Lynn knows from LAPL ... Robert.  He was banned from all LAPL branches because he refuses to have his dog on a leash, and because he hit an employee with his cane.  He gave Krishna some trouble, but then did put a leash on his dog.

A lot of pretty ladies come into the library.  Today's pretty lady was Brenda, who said she just moved to the area and wanted to get a library card.  I told her we required her ID, to wit she said that she left it at home.  What is it with all these people that leave home without their ID?  She also asked about the building and I ended up showing her the auditorium, because she has some events coming up and needs a venue.  She finished our encounter by shaking my hand and introducing herself as Brenda.  Pretty, pretty Brenda.

There was an event in the auditorium today.  They bought a lot of food, and they didn't finish it.  So Krishna told us that we could get some food, and I did.  I grabbed some pizza slices, and mini burgers.  I had them for dinner tonight.  The pizza was OK, but the burger sliders were nice.  I topped them off with some Kewpie mayo, and that kicked them up a notch.

Monday, April, 20, In dealing with my aunt I feel as though I have an anchor around my neck.  This morning she saw that I was still around after she woke up and started to get her breakfast ready to eat with me.  Ah, no.  I have breakfast with her on the weekends under protest.  I like having my meals alone, because she's always asking me stupid questions.  I have no peace when she's around me.  Precisely because she can't just shut up.  And always telling me about Israel.  Or always mentioning that it's some sort of Jewish holiday and one isn't supposed to work.  One day a while back she asked if I was going into work the next day.  Why wouldn't I?  She said it was some holiday.  Yeah, I'M NOT JEWISH!  Jeez... leave me alone.  I really just want to be left alone.  By her mostly, but by everyone as well.  I keep saying I should get a Saturday job just so I won't be here at home with her.

When I saw her put the plate down on the dining room table I lost it.  I had my plate with my quesadilla and I just flung it on the table, causing it to make a sound.  My aunt then turned and asked, "Que paso?"  You paso, I felt like saying.  While she turned on the light and went back to get her food I just wolfed down my food and hot footed it out of the dining room.  When I got back to the kitchen she had put her plate on the kitchen table.  ARGH!  Once again I need to change something I'm doing to avoid her.

Since I had the day off I decided to head downtown to check out the Grammy museum.  I specifically wanted to check out the Selena exhibit.  So I took Chan along to visit TheGirl afterwards.  The exhibit was small.  I thought it was going to be an entire exhibit hall, but it was just one room.  Which was fine, but I thought it was going to be more items.  I don't think I'll return to the Grammy museum.  It's mid.

A couple of months ago I went downtown to visit Teresa at the Central library.  I had a couple of drinks and got to see a show at the library.  It was great fun.  I didn't know it at the time, but the library was doing this stamp thing.  What's a stamp thing?  They have stamps of all the branches, and they are distributing them by stamping a pile of old index cards from the old card catalogs.  It's a cool quest.  Lynn reminded me that Central and Little Tokyo, as well as the Chinatown branch are close to each other.  Just over a mile from Central to Chinatown.

After getting my Central library stamp I went across the bar next to the library and got a couple of drinks.  Following that I went to explore the pedestrian walkways.  This time I got to see the rest of them, unlike last time I was in downtown.  I ended up at the World Trade center of Los Angeles.  Talk about a liminal space.  There was no one except the security guard in the building.  I'm not even sure why the building is even open.

Tuesday, April, 21, TheGirl and I went up to Griffith park to walk the path behind Travel Town.  We walked for about ten minutes when we started getting hit by drizzle.  We had a decision to make, keep going and potentially getting rained on, or turn back.  We ended up waking up for another few minutes before turning back.  I told TheGirl, "You know the moment we turn back it will stop raining."  She agreed.  Sure enough, it didn't rain at all the rest of the day.

I brought my bluetooth keyboard in order to catch up on my journaling.  It was good, but of course any time I tried to write something a patron would ask me twenty questions.  Still, I did catch up on my journal.

Today was national library workers day.  San Marino posted some pictures of my former fellow employees, including one of Daisy.  Daisy has packed on a few pounds.  An easy thing to do these days.  I know, I'm working my way back from that point.  Daisy was so hot when she first started working there.  I wanted to sleep with her.  Well, to be truthful I would like that even now.  You can really see it on her face.  I know that I've lost some weight people tell me they can tell because of my face.  When I look in the mirror I see it as well.  I still need to lose more weight though.  Anyway, I already talked about that in a previous entry.

Wednesday, April, 22, About a week ago I was having a nice talk with Marie in the hallway by the elevator.  It was nice, because we had an extended conversation and I got some face time with her.  I mentioned something about my hat being floppy, and she offered to give me her hat that she won during last year's walking challenge.  See, she does care.  Anyway, the new hat is better because the brim is stiff.  Now I want to print out one of my photos and give it to her.  I know which one too.  The Margaret Fowler garden picture I took last year.

So once again the budget sledgehammer has come down on the library.  I never hear, Oh we are doing great - everyone gets a raise and we're going to open for more hours.  All I ever hear in this place is, We have to make cuts to everything.  I've worked for the Glendale library for eighteen years and in that time I've had to deal with the lockdowns, the great recession, and the current bad economy.  When will the good times happen for the library?  Probably never.  Anyway, the news goes a little something like this.  All branches, with the exception of the Central library, will be closed on Fridays.  And there will be a reduction of hours nearly across the board.  All branches will close an hour earlier, except for Chevy Chase and Central.  In addition to that many of the databases will not be renewed.  And Adams Square will close all together.  The loss of an underperforming branch hurts, but not as much as all of it put together.  Someone said it could be worse, but it's pretty bad.  Sigh.

With all the budget bullshit going on of course this week is library workers day/week.  The library's social media featured me (see above).  I don't remember when that picture was taken, but it had to have been last year during one of our events.  Who knows.

TheGirl and I went to Don Cuco for dinner tonight.  It was good times, as always.  TheGirl still says she feels depressed, but in a way better about Cheyenne. She's slowly coming to the total acceptance point.  Not that we will never cry about Cheyenne.  I feel like crying as I type this sentence out.  But what she needs is a job.  A job will go a long way to her finding solace, and getting out of her depression.

Thursday, April, 23, There were plastic umbrellas in delivery that had a note attached saying that the umbrellas were for the employees.  I was texting Vagabundo and he made a great remark.  He texted me, "You all are drowning and they throw you an umbrella."  That pretty much covers it.  Katie mentioned that the graphic on it wasn't raindrops, they are tears.  Zing!

I thought I was walking slow today, because I was huffing and puffing while I walked up to Mountain street.  But, after checking, it turns out I was on a mile pace of eighteen minutes and eighteen seconds.  I still want to average less than an eighteen minute mile while I walk.  Getting there.

Friday, April, 24, The elevator that was completely refurbished less than two years ago is once again busted.  How does this continue to happen to this elevator?  How is something that's effectively new work worse than an old elevator?  That's Glendale, for you.

The catalog computer has a new table that has a key to the lower cabinet.  I needed to open that cabinet the other day, because the catalog computer wasn't working.  I didn't even think to look at the wall where we keep the many keys we need.  But, I checked there today and found the new key and turned on the computer that was off since last week.  Womp womp.

Mala asked me this morning if I could cover the children's room this afternoon, because someone called out.  Sure, I said, I need to make up some of the time I lost when I worked Sunday instead of Monday.  Just two hours, which I can do standing on my head.  I was a wee bit bored, but I championed through it.

Of course I mention Daisy in a journal entry and she comes up on my photo feed.  I took the above picture back in 2017 while at work.  I think I was taking my break and Daisy was having lunch.  This was prime Daisy.

Saturday, April, 25, I went to get some food for my aunt and me at the Habit burger and it was dead.  I hope they get a lot of take-out orders.  The good thing was just as my order was getting prepared and put in bags I found more people coming in to get something to eat.  I like the Habit, and I don't want it to go away any time soon.

On my way to the Habit I drove by the former Jerry's Famous deli on Ventura.  That place used to be packed.  I don't know what killed it, but I suspect it was probably Covid.

Speaking of that, I haven't had a burger from the Habit in a long time.  The last few times I've eaten there I've had their grilled chicken sandwich.  Which is really good.  A while back there was some article, I'm not sure from where, that said Habit burger was the best franchise burger in the states.  I thought, have you had In-n-Out?  But today I ordered a burger, because I was craving a burger, and boy was it good.  Super good.  Habit is now going to be in my food rotation.  Single patty with bacon.

Sunday, April, 26, Mala texted me last minute, just as I was going to head to the market, that she wanted me to cover today.  So I flew over to work and covered a desk shift.  It was your typical Sunday... full of crazies.  I talked to some of the Sunday crew about the news that the library will be closed on Sundays.  It's bitter sweet, they said.  One guy said he likes having the day off, but he will miss the money.  I think that's the consensus.

Monday, April, 27, Not only does the number three elevator not work, but today the number one elevator also isn't working.  I mean, come on.  I tell people that the city always gets fleeced.  I had a talk with Maryl today about the front doors that keep breaking.  They know that they need to do a total removal of those doors and rebuild them.  I told her that the door guys told me the doors were installed incorrectly from the start.  You can see how they are askew when you walk up the front stairs.  Just terrible, but typical for this town.

TheNewCute sent me a text that she had received a tornado warning.  She told me that she wasn't allowed to go home.  Then she sent me a picture of her sheltering in the bathroom.  Then I asked her, what happens if someone needs to go to the bathroom?  She replied that she needed to go to the bathroom.  I think she went to the men's room.

Today there was an email from admin saying that they have had nine hundred fifty-seven responses to the community survey.  They made that sound like that was a lot.  And I guess for them it is a lot.  Glendale is a city of just over 200,000 in population.  I did the math.  The survey has been taken by 0.004785% of the population.  Now I grant you, you can't count certain people taking the survey.  Children, and some elderly people.  Let's go crazy and say that realistically there are a potential of 75,000 possible respondents.  That is 0.01276% And I think I'm being generous.  Whatever!

I didn't show the graphics of the umbrella that was gifted to us for being so wonderful.  Someone said those aren't raindrops, they're teardrops.  Spot on.  And now we're losing one of the branches.  But that branch will live in our hearts and on this umbrella.

When I came home today I got another dummy aunt moment.  I came home today and she was mopping the floor.  Next to my room I have paper bags that I use to wrap my used booze bottles.  So I walk in to the house and my aunt's mop is near a spread out bunch of bags.  They are wet from her poking at them.  She could see my face and she starts to offer an explanation, "There was a spider...." Blah, blah, blah.  I didn't even hear the rest of the excuse.  Why the FUCK is she even trying to kill a spider?  I never understood this want by people to kill a spider.  What?  Because it exists?  For some reason people have this need to kill spiders.  I stopped doing that many years ago.  The other night I was in my backyard and I spotted a spider on my table.  I didn't smash it, though I know others would.  I blew on it so it would go away.  When it didn't I blew harder.  Hard enough that it fell to the floor.  Now ultimately maybe this was worse, but at least I didn't crush it.  The good thing about the bags is that they can dry off and still be salvageable.  With my aunt there is no hope.  I feel that every day when I come home there's some new horseshit that she's pulled.  So to me she's my own personal Trump dumb dumb.  Because each day that fucker fucks us over, and that's how I feel about my aunt.  I feel she fucks me over every day.

Tuesday, April, 28, I haven't driven on a Tuesday in a long time. Today they asked me to fill in for Tony.  Tony has an easier time on the route for a couple of reasons.  One, he doesn't have to go to the treasury department.  Two, he doesn't have to go to the Chevy Chase branch.  Those two things account for an hour and a half to two hours of route time.  Chevy because it's isolated, and treasury because it's a mandatory appointment time.  Once I'm there it usually takes half an hour to do all the money.  But away, the route was pretty chill.  I ran the base route like back in the day.  I was done early today, on purpose.  Because of all the hours I'm working this week I could only work until 3:15pm today.  Which was fine.

It's a rare thing to have something done right at Glendale nowadays.  But when it does happen I do mention it.  I walked into the library this morning and some guy was replacing some of the signage.  And it was actually looking good.  I know, it's Glendale... that never happens.

Grace said that one of the tables in the children's room and I opened my mouth and said that they bolt underneath was loose.  Next thing I know I'm tightening the bolts on at least seven tables that were wobbly.  Me and my big mouth.  I was huffing and puffing.

Someone promised pizza would be arriving at the branches, but it wasn't until today that I actually saw pizza in the wild.  Brand had three pizzas, which looked small.  Almost the size of individual pizzas.  I mean it's fine, I didn't want to eat pizza this week.  But it just goes to show you that when things are similar to a dumpster fire those in charge will automatically reach for pizza to be the solution.

Wednesday, April, 29, As I said in the previous entry, I only worked until 3:15pm yesterday.  That meant I didn't have as much time at the end of the day to sort all the books from the bins to the branch bins.  Well, it would appear that one one else in circulation had the time to sort the two bins I left last night.  Because they were still there this morning... completely untouched.  Good job, dopes.  I finished sorting them this morning.  Took me less than ten minutes.

In the news today: Shannon Elizabeth is now on Only Fans.  She apparently made over a million dollars on day one.  I never thought of going on OF, but for one other girl.  I'm not sure I'll check this out, but I might.  It's interesting.

TheGirl and I were craving some Broken Compass for dinner tonight.  She ordered the same as last time... fish tacos.  I wanted to try something different, so I ordered the pub burger.  OMG, this this was so tasty.  Wow!  I do like the fish here, but knowing me I'll try other items on the menu.  There isn't much to report, we ate and didn't cry too much over Cheyenne.  I told her that I never wanted to forget Cheyenne.  TheGirl agreed.  She just wants to not feel the pain anymore.  The night we had to put Cheyenne down I told her this was the pain that would never go away.  That we would better cope with it in the future, but that it will never go away or diminish.  It's that big of a hurt.

Thursday, April, 30, Since I had the day off TheGirl and I went down to the South Coast Botanic Garden in Rolling Hills.  I've been there several times, and this is the second time TheGirl has gone.  I probably wouldn't have returned so soon, but they added an attraction that I had to check out... trolls.  The artist Thomas Dambo created twelve trolls that sit all around the gardens.  They are pretty cool.  One of them caught TheGirl in his net.  And then caught me.  Good times were had, and many steps were also had.  I was pooped by the end of the day.  But it was a great day out in nature and in a neighborhood neither TheGirl and I frequent.  Though this has been an area I've now visited several times over the last couple of years.

After our walk at the South Coast Botanic garden TheGirl and I were hungry.  I told her that there was a Mexican restaurant nearby that looked good called The Original Red Onion.  She looked it up and confirmed that it had a rating of four and a half stars on Yelp.  Confirmed, we headed there.  She ordered a enchilada combination and I ordered something called taco burrito.  According to the menu, the taco burrito consists of, "Ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes; refried beans, cheddar cheese, and guacamole or sour cream."  I got it with quac.  It was awesome.  The meat had a unique seasoning to it.  Whatever it was it was super good.  TheGirl liked the margaritas as well.  They did not skimp on the vino.  If it wasn't so far we would probably be regulars here.  As it is, I might find more things to do in the area.  I almost forgot, the chips and salsa were so good.  The chips were super fresh out of the frier that they were still hot.