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Afterthoughts : This Past Month
As stated above I've been too busy to write here as I told myself I should. Suffice to say I'm late once again, and now I'm forced to recap the entire month from memory. My memory is pretty bad these days, because I really don't like thinking about the past. Good times.
At the beginning of March I had to drive my car home and park it, where it is still parked, in the driveway. The reason? I can't get it smogged. Here in California the state demands that a car be checked every two years to make sure it's not polluting excessively. Well, the Subaru didn't pass muster. My mechanic told me that it wasn't worth pouring money into car repairs because the car was old, the transmission was about to give out, and the repairs that could possibly help the car pass the test would cost a lot and he couldn't guarantee that it would pass the test. So I drove my car home and parked it.
I've driven that car for about 16 years, the breath of my adult life. I've been walking and taking the bus every since. This is the longest I've been without a car. I've had to get the car repaired, and I've had to take the bus for a day or two, but it's now been a whole month. And it looks like I'll have to continue taking the bus for the near future, until I can save up a few dollars and get a new car. The only positive about not driving is that I have avoided the price hikes that have taken placed since just before my car died.
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March 7th, The first week without a car was a struggle. Travel time to my San Marino job is two and a half hours. To Glendale it's an hour and a half. This month I've been able to avoid traveling late by swapping my shifts with a co-worker. But I know that's only temporary. Soon enough I'll have to return to my old schedule. The Girl has been wonderful through all this. She has picked me up from work sometimes, and has loaned me her car at other times. That has helped me a lot.
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March 8th, today is supposed to be the deadline for the position of back-up driver at Glendale. Getting that shift would mean a pay raise as well as more hours. The Girl thinks that the bosses created the job for me, and that all I have to do is apply for it and the job is mine. I want to lean towards not thinking that way, but at the same time I think she might be right. We shall see.
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March 13th, The Girl came to pick me up from San Marino. We were both starving, so I suggest going to the Bob's Big Boy in Pasadena. Our waiter was this gregarious guy named Darryl. He really made the night special for The Girl and me. His enthusiasm is witnessed in the following picture.
Our waiter, Darryl W.
For dessert we ordered a hot fudge cake, despite my plans to walk down to Pie n' Burger for a slice of yummy pie. The cake was awesome (pictured below).
Hot fudge cake!
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Who would do this?!
March 13th, On my way to my San Marino job I got a little hungry. Seeing as I was riding my bike I decided to take a detour and stop by the local In-and-Out for a burger. Upon coming out I spotted this scene (pictured above). Some careless idiot locked their bike to MY bike! What kind of an idiot does that, I ask you?! I went back into the In-and-Out hoping they could make an announcement. But before they could do that the guy who locked his bike to mine comes up and starts apologizing. I wanted to ask him if he was crazy, but instead he told me he was looking for a job. That made me feel bad, and my anger went away. Still, what a dumb thing to do.
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Julienne
March 19th, I've worked in San Marino for over three years. When I had more disposable income I would sometimes treat myself to a meal at a local restaurant. I can't really afford that these days. However, this morning I treated The Girl to breakfast at Julienne, a restaurant I've been wanting to try since I first saw it nearly three years ago. The breakfast was nice, but I can't say I was overwhelmed. I made the mistake of ordering something I thought had bacon, but it didn't. Stupid me.
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WTF?
March 27, I see a lot of "characters" on the bus and rails. This guy is someone from my neighborhood. I've seen him walk around my neighborhood for ten years at least. I have no idea what his deal is, only to say that he sits on the sidewalk reading his newspapers, jaywalks into traffic, and generally looks weird to me. To see him on the subway halfway between the Valley and Downtown was strange to say the least. Nuts.
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March 31, Today I found out that the driver job is no more. The Glendale budget has killed the position, and what looked to be a sure thing for me to get doesn't exist. The news really sucks because I was really counting on the extra money to pay bills and pay for a car. Oh well, I'm just meant to suffer I guess.
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