I firstly wanted to mention that this entry of Elsewhere marks the fifteenth anniversary of me spending time to do this journal.  It's only been in the last few years that I've turned it into a day to day journal.  Mainly because I had an online journal for that.  But this is where I put my thoughts now.  Fifteen years doesn't even seem possible.  But, it's happened.  On with the update.

Mon Aug 1, On a usual Monday I don't do much work, this despite the fact that I actually do have work to do.  However, since pseudo supervisor isn't at work I'm left to my own devices.  Nevertheless, I do have actual work that I need to get done.  Being August it means that the big fund raiser is less than three months away.  That means that I will have to do actual work.  Today I committed myself to revamping the fund raiser website.  I actually sat down and did what my pseudo supervisor asked me to do with the site.  I'm not sure anyone in this community is visiting the website, but at the same time I should still do the best job I can on the website and other projects.

I have a coworker that has worked with me the entire time I've been at my San Marino job.  I'm not going to lie, I'm attracted to her.  But for some reason every woman I'm attracted to is fucking married.  So not right.  If there is some controlling force in the Universe it has slated me to be he idiot that finds himself attracted to unattainable women of all sorts.  Married, single but not interested, or some ethnic difference keeps us apart.  It's so not right.  Whatever.  Today she came into my office, which she has never done, to ask for my help with some thing on her phone.  She was there for the better part of an hour, but did I make a pass at her?  No.  Despite the fact that I think I've read the signals from her to mean that she is interested.  Oh, if only she wasn't married.  Wait, when did being married stop me before?  I'm a fucking bastard.

Every Monday for the last few weeks that I've been going to TheGirl's place we end up watching the show the Bachelorette.  This season features a woman that was rejected last season.  But of course she is bound to find love amongst the twenty-six men that were picked for her.  At the end of the series she picks this guy pictured above.  Not a bad looking guy.  But of course he comes with his own baggage.  He's been accused by a former girlfriend of cheating.  Not only that, but his brother is a famous NFL quarterback and his girlfriend knew this other woman and now the accusations of cheating has driven a wedge between the two brothers.  Whatever.  I don't know any of the players from Adam.  However, I do know human nature.  And if this person has a label of being a cheater there must be something to that.  Hell, I can be labeled the same thing, and I'm not going contradict anyone from saying that to me.  Because, I didn't cheat, but I facilitated cheating.  And in my book that's the same thing.  I'll give this guy on the show the benefit of the doubt.  But that's only because I don't have to deal with him.  The bachelorette made her decision and that's it.  Just like TheDesire made her decision to reject me, both of them will have to live with that decision.

Tue Aug 2, I woke up late and a little hungover this morning.  Nothing bad, but I did oversleep.  ARGH, I only get two more weeks of this new later schedule.  Once the brats start school again I won't be able to sleep until 7:30am any more.  I'll HAVE to wake up way earlier.  Fuck!  Either way, today I woke up and showered and got ready for work.  But, of course today is the Tuesday I don't drive.  I don't work until 7pm.  But I can't stay here at home.  One, it's hot.  Two, my aunt will nag me.  I would like to sleep all day, but it's not going to happen.  So, I went on the road not knowing where I was going to go.  Then the Universe threw me a bone.  Herr calls me and she tells me that there's a power outage and that the library won't be open today, or tonight.  That, strangely enough, freed me to do whatever.  Not that I didn't have the freedom before, but for some reason I now figured I could do anything.  Again, I could do it anyway, but for some reason it felt like permission was granted.  But now where to go?  Later I checked my work email and saw the email above.

I decided to finally go up to Forest Lawn in Glendale (funny enough) and go see an exhibition of art by a former Disney artist.  There was very little Disney related stuff, but that's OK.  His work is quite good, and beautiful.  I drove all the way up to the top of the hill and it was kinda nice.  This would be a nice spot to hang out, except for the fact that it's private property.  People might wonder what I'm doing there for hours.  I hadn't been up there since the days when I was seeing TheGirl.  We went up to visit her parents, as I recall.  Oh, and to visit Walt Disney.

I could have gone home after the museum, but I didn't want to just yet.  I had made lunch for myself for "work" and decided that I should eat it in the park.  I drove over to Griffith and parked the car between the zoo and Travel Town.  I found a nice bench and just chilled there.  I had my lunch and listened to my audio book.  What gets me is the number of people that are in the park seemingly like me, with nothing to do.  I know this because it's the middle of the day and they had the same aimless look that I do.

Speaking of not having anything to do... while I was eating and getting ready to depart the picnic table in Griffith park I noticed that there were people going up a trail.  But they were returning pretty quickly, like within a few minutes.  When I arrived there was a guy at the "trail head" that had his engine running.  He gave me a stern look, and I wondered if he was up to something.  He never got out of the car, and eventually he just drove away.  I don't know what goes on there, but I just know humans and that place just looked rather shady.  Just as I was leaving another guy jumps out of his car, goes to the trail head and within two minutes is back in his car.  Shady.

All I want to say about my visit to my Grandmother's grave today was that I talked to myself about how I'm the only one that visits my Grandmother's grave.  Some day I'll be gone and no one will visit either of our graves.

I arrived home and my aunt asked me what was going on.  I told her the library's power was off.  I was feeling tired from the heat and from my lunch.  I tell you, this food coma thing is really hitting me hard some days.  I can't go too long after a meal and not take a long nap.  This can't be right.  I'm wondering if it's a combination of the late nights and some health issue.  Or it could just be the late nights.

I went to bed and took a nap, and I had a dream.  In the dream I was in a huge movie theater.  I was with a girl, but I don't know who she was, because she wasn't anyone I knew.  While there I ran into TheGirl.  We said hello and my "date" and I went to the movie theater.  But then she was gone and I couldn't find the theater where the movie was playing.  The dream cuts to me at home looking out the window after my aunt says something about a person being outside.  For some reason we know the person in the yard and I go and google her.  I find pornographic pictures of her online and my aunt points out there we need to get her out of our yard.  Without any effort I'm already outside and I'm telling her to leave.  But she's already on her way out.  The scene cuts to me looking at some cones and bags in a pile.  But the pile is falling into the concrete.  I get closer and notice that this is happening because there's a sinkhole... and it's right below my house.  The idea of losing my house to this ever growing sinkhole is so shocking it wakes me up.

After dinner Emma was texting me about TheDesire's visit to a life coach.  Both of us wondered what the fuck does a life coach do.  All I can say is that one has to be in a bad place to consider going to a charlatan for some advice.  When I see something like this I do think that I dodged a bullet by having her not want to date me.  I don't know how I could deal with her telling me she's going to a life coach for advice.  We all know what we HAVE to do.  It's pretty simple.  How many of us actually do it is a different thing.  Most people don't do what they already know they have to do.

Wed Aug 3, I woke up super tired and drained this morning.  I've been feeling drained lately, and I'm not exactly why.  Sure, I sleep late at night, but at the same time I also feel that there's something physically wrong with me.  Like I'm sick, but just generally sick.  I can't point to any one thing and say, "Oh, I have a cold," because I'm not sneezing or coughing or anything.  I just feel down.

I got out of bed and got ready for work.  I had some things for charity in the car, but the timing didn't work out yesterday or today.  They open fifteen minutes after I'm already on the road to work.  I can't wait those minutes or I'm going to be late, and I'm fucked.

Work was work.  The time is nearing for the big fundraiser in October.  I'm getting more assignments for that, and I'm liking that.  I want to get some work done.  Angela last week said that she was going to buy lunch this week, since I ended up paying last time.  But, when I texted her she said that she wasn't able to this week, and that we should do it next week.  Of course, I expected lunch and I because of that I didn't bring a lunch with me today.  I decided to try a burger I saw last week on the side of a Jack-in-the-Box advertisement.  I figured, "Why not?"  I went to Jack-in-the-Box and ordered this so-called "Brewhouse" burger with some garlic fries.  The burger was mediocre.  At least I think so.  I won't eat that burger again.  I'm sure I won't eat at Jack-in-the-Box ever again.  The place wasn't that great to begin with, but now it's really horrible.  It's kinda messed up, because years ago Jack-in-the-Box was a good alternative to the other fast food joints.  Not that any of them are going to win any culinary awards, but at least Jack-in-the-Box had some different choices, such as fish & chips and a yummy chicken pita.  Their burgers were OK once in the past.  But now, they are tasteless, and just seem to be an excuse to pile on yucky toppings in search for something that is different.  Well, I'm done.

I returned to work and was feeling a little tired, but nothing I couldn't handle.  But then I started to get a headache on the side I had those phantom pains a few months back.  And it was funny because this morning I was thinking to myself that it had been a while since I had that phantom pain.  But, here it was again, like some sort of jinx.  It started out small, but grew and grew until I felt that I needed to take some pain killers.  But, I knew I was going to have dinner with TheGirl tonight, and I wanted to drink.  And I don't mix alcohol with meds.  Well, I basically suffered with the pain until I couldn't take it any more and I went to the back office and took that pain medication and put it on my teeth.  If I ever thought this pain wasn't because of my teeth on my right side of my face then this is confirmation that the pain isn't phantom, it's from those teeth.  Still, the pain subsided and by the time I went to TheGirl's there was hardly any pain left.

I was feeling better, but the struggle to deal with the pain really wore me out, and I felt super tired.  Not to mention that I was never feeling all that great since this morning, and you have one tired monkey by the end of the day. 

I arrived at TheGirl's place feeling even more drained.  During dinner I was not my old self, but the booze did help a bit.  Still, I wasn't at 100%.  We talked about the trip up North, and the consequences of the ongoing fire up there.  She said we should have a plan B in case we have to postpone the trip.  I didn't tell her, but my best time of year would be after the fundraiser in the middle of October, but she was talking about early September.  Labor Day weekend to be exact.  She said she would look online tomorrow to see if there was a room for those days.  I highly doubt it.  However, there's no harm in checking.  It's possible some people cancelled their plans because of the fire.  I came home and went to bed early.  I hope to feel better tomorrow.

Thu Aug 4, Any hopes of waking up feeling 100%, or close to that, were dashed as soon as I woke up this morning.  I felt completely drained.  No headache, but I also didn't have any energy.  Still, I had to get ready for work.  I felt bad enough that I was ready to ask my buddy if she was willing to take over for me today.  Once I got into the shower I felt a little better, but still not well.  Still, I struggled and made it out the door.

Of course the number of bins today was an unusually high number for a Thursday.  MicroManager said it was a backlog of books from being closed on Tuesday.  No mention of Vagabundo doing the route, aka being responsible.  Terrible.  But, then MicroManager gave me some good news, I got a raise.  She lamented that I didn't get a bigger raise, and I told her they should pay me more.  Ha!  She said yes, but there was nothing she could do.  This journal is the one place I'll say how much I'll be making.  The gave me a raise to $19.36 an hour.  Not a lot, but I'm lucky that I make that in this system.

To give you an idea how many bins I had to deal with today, Montrose (my first stop on the branch side of the route) had a dozen bins today (pictured above).  A fucking dozen.  Even they were wondering what was going on.  Hey, I just deliver this stuff.

While at Montrose I talked to OGT, and he mentioned how on Tuesday the full timers were given a chance to go home, because of the power outage, or work at the branches.  The reference staff worked the branches, but everyone in circulation choose to take a sick day and go home.  That is the level of contempt circulation has for the branches.  Most of them haven't worked at the branches, or haven't worked there in twenty years.  Yet, because MicroManager thinks they're the bush leagues she won't demean herself to go work there for even one day.  And that attitude assures that Jr. and everyone else under her won't work the branches.  Dumb.

By the time it was time for my Brand break I felt almost back to normal.  I started to wonder if I had finally just gotten better.  But, it was an illusion.  As soon as I went back to the route after my rest I could feel how drained I really was.  I championed on and finished up the route.

Once again some idiot has parked in the van's parking spot.  I'm pretty tired of this, and more over I don't want some idiot vandalizing the van or stealing it or anything and then having dummies blame me for parking the van outside of the parking structure.  It's time that I pen an email voicing some of my concerns.

During my night shift I was feeling better, but that was because I was sitting down for most of the time.  TheDesire was in the back the one hour we were in circulation together.  She briefly came out to talk to her fellow librarian, and I just couldn't help but look at her body.  I think I have my menstruation answer, and it seems to be off by a few days.  I say that because she looked nice and thin, and seemed a little less chipper than she was a couple of weeks ago.  Then she was all cheery.  Then again, she was also suffering from allergies today.  Still, that doesn't explain the weight difference, and her overall mood.  I've obviously always found her attractive.  Maybe I was extra horny today, but I just couldn't stop looking at her behind.  *sigh*

Fri Aug 5, I told my aunt last night that I was staying home today.  I told her that I told work that I wasn't going in because I was feeling sick.  The feeling sick part is true, of course.  I slept-in this morning, then when I woke up I went back to sleep.  I finally couldn't sleep any more, so I got up and messed around on the computer a bit.

Part of that messing around on the computer was looking for a possible room in Monterey/Carmel.  Why am I looking for a room up there, when my trip there is a week away?  TheGirl is concerned about air quality, and wants a plan B just in case we can't go up there next week.  So, I went online to check if there were any rooms available for the Labor Day weekend.  Good luck I thought to myself, and sure enough my search turned up futile.  Even a room I booked Wednesday night after coming home from the Wednesday night dinner with TheGirl was out.  In the booking I mentioned that we were traveling with a dog.  They emailed me back today to say that the room I booked is not one that is "dog friendly," and gave me options on a couple of other rooms.  Both options were not good for our purposes.  I texted TheGirl about the rooms and that's why she had me look for rooms this morning.

LM texted me again this morning.  Her opening line made my eyes pop out.  "Hey sexy," she said (as seen above).  Not that I don't like that, but LM is married!  She also was having wine, so maybe it was just an innocent thing.  Still, there's always been a nice connection between us.  I am sorry that we could never really make any kind of long term relationship work.  But, some things aren't meant to be.  We chatted a little, but I was tired.  She told me that when she visited Los Angeles earlier in the year she went to Olivera street and remembered the time we all went down on the metro to have dinner there.  She recounted the story to me by saying that she just remembered me getting tanked with margaritas early on.  Yup, that sounds like me.

After taking some time to just chill today I eventually took a short shower to get the grim off me.  It made me feel even worse since I had this layer of grim on me.  After the shower I ate a late lunch and then went back to chilling.  I eventually took another nap and rested.  I'm now just sitting here writing this and having a little drink.  I think I have some sort of cold or something.  I say that because I don't feel so worn down, but I do have a dry cough.  Maybe it's related to drinking at night.  Maybe it's related to also sleeping with the window open at night, I don't know.  Whatever it is, I do feel a little better today, but maybe that's because I took it easy.

On a different subject, it's one-hundred eleven days until Thanksgiving and my Big Sur trip.  I know I'm going up North in a week, but that's different.  My trip up to Carmel/Big Sur is different than this trip.  This is going to be kind of a "greatest hits" tour of the peninsula since we're going up there to show TheGirl's daughter the beauty up in Monterey and Big Sur.  My trip will be more about Big Sur, I think.  I say that now because even though I didn't have anything set in stone, I had this idea that I would explore more of Big Sur proper.  Maybe do a "greatest hits" tour of my own.  But with this fire I wonder ow much of that is going to be available to me.  I did have this other idea of going up to Carmel and taking one day to drive up to San Jose and check out the Winchester Mansion.  I even had thoughts of going up to San Francisco for a day.  San Jose is about an hour away from Carmel.  San Francisco is twice that long (without traffic).  The distance is definitely playing a factor in my decision.  What I would want to see in San Francisco is Coit tower.  I'm not sure I want to drive two hours up and two hours down.  It's do-able though, and it's still an option.  Of course, there's always a day trip to Santa Cruz, which some people tell me is cool, and other people tell me is boring.  I have to say that in my limited research I've not found anything in Santa Cruz that has caught my eye... yet.  Still, it leaves many doors open.

Sat Aug 6, I'm happy to say that I feel a lot better today.  Still not 100%, but I would say I'm at least 95%.  I'm still not sure what made me feel so down the last few days, but whatever it was it's seemingly gone now.  Thankfully.

The dynamic between the Saturdays MicroManager works and when she doesn't work could be explained as night and day, but it's more like heaven and hell.  However, that doesn't mean that I don't have to deal with bullshit on the weekends MicroManager doesn't work.  Case in point, JG.  I haven't mentioned him here before, but I suppose this is a good a time as any.  He is one of the full timers at Glendale.  He gets away with murder there.  Every damn time that he is scheduled to work the desk with me he tells me that he has to go to his desk to write an email.  A fucking email that he could write while on the circulation desk.  But, it's not just about the email.  It's just about escaping doing his job.  Today was no different.  The hour that he was scheduled with me he once again said that he needed to write an email and hurried to the back.  Fucking bullshit!

The above picture is of TheDesire, just before we all leave work.  A few minutes later I was walking to the garage and just outside the garage I see her in the car I remembered was hers, the white Accord.  She waved at me and took off.  So yes, not driving Porsche... CONFIRMED.  Not sure why she went back to driving the Accord, other than to say that it's a more practical car.  That Porsche was WAY not practical.

When I got home I was talking to a friend on the phone.  We played phone-tag the entire week, and I really wanted to talk to her.  When I got home my aunt comes into my room, hears and sees that I'm on the phone, and still proceeds to ask me if I paid the mortgage yesterday.  Ah, what?  You can't ask this later?  Or tomorrow?  It's just so frustrating with this woman.  She wants what she wants, and that's it.  The hell with my feelings.  I'm sick of it.  When I got a little more calm I told myself that I need to stop getting angry about this.  She is CERTAINLY not going to ever change.  She's going to be the same dopey aunt I've always known.  That means it's up to me to bridge the gap between us and just not give a fuck.  Whatever she wants just give it to her.  Yes, like a baby.  There's zero reasoning with her, and my efforts to do so are always going to be futile.  Hence, I need to just buck up and do whatever shit she wants me to do.  Fuck it... fuck everything.

Sun Aug 7, The Soberanes fire in Big Sur is threatening to prevent my upcoming trip.  TheGirl suggests we wait until tomorrow to make our decision on whether to cancel our plans for this coming weekend.  The fire is being fought hard.  But, it's huge.  TheGirl is more worried about the air quality than anything else.  Although she read something online that they 1 highway was closed.  I told her that in a pinch we could drive up the 101.  I don't think she wants to do that though.  I don't either.  Part of me is not concerned about whether we go or not, seeing as I already have my room booked for November.  However, any delay means moving the date to a new date, and I just hope she doesn't say a date that's too close to Thanksgiving.

We have three study rooms in the library.  Each is locked and only we at the reference desk can let people in to them.  We tell them that they get an hour, but if a bigger group comes or after the hour another group of equal or larger size the group/person in the room will be asked to vacate.  Well, today a patron made a big stink about being asked to vacate the room.  Mind you, her group had been in there for about two hours.  It was a smaller group that replaced her group, but the lady didn't want to hear about that, and she said that it must of been that her group was thrown out because she was black.  Ah, that had nothing to do with it.  But how do you prove a negative?  You don't.  Well, T apologized to the woman, but she wanted M2 to apologize to her.  That was low.  The woman said she would not leave the library until M2 apologized for her actions.  THIS despite the fact that M2 didn't do anything wrong.  The woman insisted it must have been a race thing.  More like a "I want to stay in the room indefinitely" thing.  Horrible day at the office today, and I wasn't even directly involved in this.  I had a first row seat to this shit, but it didn't really have to do with me.  Either way I know that my coworker didn't throw her out because the woman was/is black.  Time was up... nothing personal... but get out!  This was a bad day at the library.

My buddy wanted to talk tonight, but I just wanted to sit in my backyard.  I did both.  However, there was a point tonight in which I just wanted to not think of the idiot patrons today.  I still talked to my buddy late into the night, but I really just wanted to not think tonight.  I fucking hate people.

I was talking to my buddy and the subject of raises came up.  I went online to check and sure enough, my raise was nearly a whole dollar more an hour.  I'm making nearly $20 an hour at my Glendale job now.  Crazy!  I need to save that extra dollar in the bank.

Mon Aug 8, Work was whatever.  Nothing big to report, except I was dealing with a slight hangover.  I drink like a fish at night, even though I tell myself I'm not going to do so.

I visited TheGirl tonight and the main topic of our talk was that tomorrow is going to be decision day.  I figure that if things don't change dramatically in the next twelve hours than she's going to say we're not going.  I'm OK with that.  I just hate that I asked for three days off and I won't be making money, and we're not going.  Oh well.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

TheDesire sends me a random text asking me if I think she should go for her Ph.D.  Ah, what?  It was a short texting conversation, but basically she is thinking of going for her Ph.D. and she was asking if I thought it was a good idea.  I was neutral and noncommittal, but at the same time in the back of my head I was wondering why she is thinking of doing this.  Then again, she has the time and the money.  So why not?

I mentioned in a previous entry that I had plans to write an email to my idiot supervisors about the van parking situation.  Well, I had a wee nip of booze and I penned what I think is a straightforward email about this van situation.  We'll see what comes of this.

I was getting ready for bed when I heard something out side.  I was a little sauced, so I was more inclined to go outside and investigate.  Well, I look over my fence and I see this guy stirring between two cars.  He seemed to be moving things between the two cars, but then later it looked like maybe he was not.  I don't know, it was hard to see since it wasn't right by me, and it was dark, and I was sauced.  Suffice to say that whatever he was doing just felt shady.  It may have been perfectly innocent, but it didn't feel that way.  I watched for a little while, but then went back in.  This part of the street, as you can see, is pretty quiet.  A lot of things happen down there, but I wish I could spy on said things and know what is going on.  Or maybe I don't.  Ha!

Tue Aug 9, I drive into the parking garage this morning and the same fucking truck that's been parked in the van's spot is still there.  And I'm glad that I wrote that email (more on that in a little bit).  But, of course an email won't solve all my problems.  But as I've said before, perhaps not here, I wrote the email to cover my ass on this.  No more bullshit.

While I was getting the van packed with book bins she sends me a text saying if I'm annoyed with her.  I don't know what she's talking about exactly, but I have an idea.  After a few clarifying texts she says that she has made the decision to not go up to Carmel this weekend.  She is sorry, she says, and that we need to postpone the trip.  I'm really not mad at her because quite frankly I have my own trip in November in the works.  If we don't go I'm good.  I'm going anyway.  But, she felt bad because she really wanted to go.  So did I, but this was up to her to decide.  The sucky thing for me is now I've asked for three days off and I'm not going to suddenly ask work to forget about it.  Fucking bullshit.  I plan on doing some stuff.  What, remains to be seen.

The route was pretty standard for a Tuesday.  I had my lunch in the park, with the added bonus of ice cream.  Not that it was good ice cream, but it was ice cream.  I'm not going to say it was an easy route, but it was a good route.  The best part is that it wasn't too hot.  I hate when the heat is blazing and I can barely take it.  Today, it was good.

I will mention one little thing, Shay.  Shay was off working at various branches for the last month, and this week she returned to her "home" library.  But was she happy?  I sure couldn't tell.  I described her demeanor to my buddy Vagabundo as being "crestfallen."  She doesn't know how good she has it, is all I'll say.

The other shoe dropped in terms of my email to Les about the van's parking spot in the garage.  Here is the email exchange, beginning with my email to him sent last night.

Les and MicroManager,
This past Thursday I once again had to park the van in front of the library, because the reserved parking spot in the parking garage was taken.  This marks I don't know how many times that I've had to park the van out front.  I can't speak for my fellow drivers, but this is very frustrating for the following reasons.

1) I am worried that something might happen to the van while not parked in the parking structure, such as being broken into, vandalized, or just generally harassed.

2) Quite often I go over my allotted work time, because it takes time to drive to the parking structure, see that the parking spot is taken, turn around and then look for a spot in front of the library.

On this past Thursday I went to dinner at 6:05pm.  While it's only five minutes past the time I'm on the clock, this is not the first time I've had to go to dinner late because of the parking situation.  Once it was nearly 15 minutes past the hour.  These minutes add up, and by the end of the year they represent a substantial amount of time that I'm spending off the clock looking for a parking spot for the van, when I should be going to dinner.

I haven't mentioned this before, but it came to a head on Thursday.  Mainly because the same vehicle has been parked in the van's parking spot in the garage for DAYS.  As a matter of fact, when I went to work on Saturday it was still there.  Parked in what I came to believe was the van's spot.

Thank you.

And how here's Les' response.

I called and talked to someone in the parking office who said she was going to let a supervisor know.  I let her know that the same vehicle has been parked in the van's spot for days as you said below.  I told her that those two spots are reserved for us and would they please do something about other people parking there.  Let me know if you continue to have a problem.

Les

I don't really expect much to change.  Perhaps they will actually stop parking in the van's spot.  But if not, I am prepared to call parking enforcement on Thursday to give this motherfucker a ticket for parking there for more than a week.  As I think about it, it's apropos that later in the day MicroManager talked to me about the email, but didn't mention the van's spot, but rather my concern that I might be going over my allotted time trying to find a parking spot.  I had a feeling that's what would bring the most attention out of all this.  In other words, mission accomplished.  I successfully covered my ass in the event something happens to the van, and/or I go over my hours.  Win/win!

I went to dinner, which thankfully tonight was two hours.  While walking back to my car I noticed the truck was still parked there.  I hope they tell the idiot that parked there soon that he needs to move his fucking truck.  If not, as I said before, he's going to get a ticket.

Wed Aug 10, I woke up tired this morning, mainly because the despite the fact that I intended to go to bed early last night I couldn't fall asleep because of the nap I took at dinner last night.  But, I worked my way to work and did what I had to do to get to work on time.  One of the librarians asked me a few days ago if I was willing to "audition" for a part in the library's podcast.  I knew the part was mine for the taking.  Who else in the library is guy and had the energy to want to do such a thing?  Still, I had to audition, and I did this morning.  Good times.  Now I just have to find the voice I want to use for this character.

I had lunch with my former coworker Angela again today.  I'll cut to the chase... why would she want to have lunch with me?  In the back of my mind it's because I think she wants to sleep with me.  TheGirl put this thought in my mind, but truthfully I should of thought of it on my own.  Because, why would any woman want to have a meal with me unless they like me in some way.  But really it's because they want to sleep with me, or at least audition me for that purpose.

TheGirl and I went to a place for dinner tonight that is friendly to dogs, but doesn't have the best service.  But, let me say this right now... once and for all TheGirl's dog, Cheyenne, has won me over.  She accepted me like no there being on this Earth has done.  Because of that affection that she has shown to me I feel that this world is somehow OK.  I know it really isn't, but when I'm in the company of Cheyenne it really is alright.

Dinner itself was OK.  This place seems to have an idea of what food should taste like, but I don't have any direct evidence of such an idea.  Not only that, but their service is SUPER slow.  I know TheGirl feels bad about bringing along her dog.  But honestly I don't mind it at all.  I like being in both their presence.

Thu Aug 11, I wake up these days feeling blah.  I was super tired last night, so I went to be relatively early for me.  Midnight.  But no matter how "early" I go to bed I still wake up feeling tired.  And even though my tooth doesn't hurt when I wake up, in a few minutes after waking up I feel a little tingle there and I wonder if today is the day it's going to "blow up" and I'll HAVE to see the doctor.  Also, my appetite is nearly gone in the morning.  Yesterday my aunt made me a jumbo hot dog for breakfast, despite the fact that I told her to make me the smaller corn dog.  Well, I only ate half of the hot dog she made me, because I was feeling sick when I tried to finish the second half.  I just wrapped it in paper and threw it away.  I felt so bad about wasting food.  This morning I told my aunt to warm up half my leftovers from my lunch yesterday.  The above picture is of the plate and amount of food she served me.  But you know what?  It was just right.  I didn't want to eat any more.

I should have known that when I took the above picture of this moron parked in the driveway that it was an omen of more stupidity to come today.  I seriously don't understand the mentality of a person who parks right smack in the middle of a driveway.  Only in this shit town.

I think I found the cause of my so-called "phantom" pain.  This morning I was feeling the area of where I've had pain in my face the last few months.  While doing so I found that I seem to have a lump on my lower right jaw.  It would seem that this lump is either the cause of the pain, or a symptom of a bigger problem.  If only I had health insurance, then I could go in to the doctor and have this checked.  Maybe I'll be able to get insurance later this year and have this checked.  If not, this will likely get worse.  If it's something serious then maybe this is the thing that takes me out.  I don't want it to be that.  I don't want it to be something serious.

I take my lunch these days right after delivering the book bins to Montrose, which is my first branch stop.  However, it's almost 2pm by the time I'm eating lunch.  At the same time at Central my buddy Dane is sitting outside the library waiting for the library to open at 2:30pm.  This is the time when he will send me texts saying good day.  I will respond and say something and my buddy will go on to another subject.  This is when she bombards me with texts to the point that I can't respond, because I'm fucking driving.  He really doesn't even give me the time to respond, which makes me wonder if he's even interested in my response.  At that point I need to just do my job and I simply ignore all his texts.  What else can I do?  I certainly can't respond as fast as she writes.  It's so very frustrating.  If I was to tell him that internet etiquette says that one isn't supposed to send more than three unanswered texts in a row he will ask me who made these rules up.  I don't know who did, but it's a good rule of thumb.  But try telling him that.  Instead I just ignore his texts.

I stopped off at Brand really quickly and the moment I came in I noticed the branch manager there standing in front of the circulation desk.  I hate to say it, but her behind looked really nice today.  Which makes me wonder why she's single.  Then again, why are so many of us at the library single?  Ah, because we're socially awkward.  Still, her ass wasn't socially awkward.  It should not be going to waste.  Then again, who says it is going to waste?

I talked to So-so really quick today, because the both of us are under the gun for supposedly talking to much while on the job.  She told me her husband will have to have surgery again.  They found three tumors in his brain, just above his right eye.  The poor guy has gone through more surgeries than I can remember.  I don't know how So-so keeps her good demeanor through all this shit.

When I pulled up to Adams there was a new van right in front of the branch.  This is because the other day some fucking moron tried to kidnap a child right in around the corner from the library.  This wasn't the only crew, I counted at least four other crews.  Either way, the corner was jumping with reporters.  I hope they find the idiot and hang them.

Not that I thought my email at the beginning of the week would change much.  I was mainly doing it to cover my ass.  But then when my buddy told me that the truck that had been parked for a week in the van's spot was gone I figured that perhaps I wouldn't have to worry about the parking spot for a while.  WRONG!  When I finished the route I went into the parking garage and of course some idiot parked in the van's spot AGAIN.  Not just parked, but backed in.  I was close to my dinner break, so I didn't want to spend too much time on this.  I still figured I would say something to the parking structure people.  I parked the van in front of the library and went to the garage to get my dinner and to tell the office people that someone was parked in our spot again.  I go into the office and tell them I'm from the library and that someone has parked in the van's spot again.  I tell them that I want them to call parking enforcement.  And then I tell them I can't wait around because I have to go to dinner.  I walk out the door of the parking office and cross the street.  I'm about half way back to the entrance of the library when the guy I was talking to yells out, "Hey... they're going to move their car...."  I yell back, "Thanks," and turn around to go back and drive the van back.  When I turn around one of the big wigs from admin. is walking up and sees what I'm doing.  I talk to her and give her a quick version of all that's been happening lately with the van's parking spot situation.  She tells me that she will call the guy at the city that is in charge of such things, and part of me feels that perhaps now something will come of this struggle to park the van in its proper spot.  In times like this I like that someone from up high is there to listen to me.  Alyssa might be many things, but at least she seems to listen to reason.  When she was listening to me I knew that she would do something about this.  Peons listen to their bosses, because they fear that they are going to get fired if they don't.  Alyssa is that high up in the city's organization that someone like me is going to listen to her for fear that they will be out of a job.  Fucking idiot parking people don't have to do much, and of course like everyone in this world they do their best to live way down to my worst expectations of them.

Oz didn't work the late shift tonight, and for some reason every computer problem what can be had was had tonight.  Of course the patrons aren't smart enough to deal with the problems themselves, and will say stupid shit like, "I printed one page and I got two pages and one of them is blank."  Of course these dopes don't know anything about print previews and such.  Suffice to say I was was up to my neck with patron problems tonight.  For the first two hours I fielded so many dumb questions that I wondered if the night would ever end.  But, at the same time I've been through so many "battles" at work that this was just another day at work for me.  Still, I wanted to choke so many of the patrons and some of my coworkers as well.  Why coworkers?  Because the IT guys can't figure out how to fix some common problems that keep coming up over and over again.  The IT guys at work are either incompetent or impotent or both.

Fri Aug 12, I was supposed to go to Carmel today, but because of the fire, as I've written here, that trip was postponed.  In lieu of going up to Carmel I thought of doing a short day trip to Santa Barbara's botanic garden.  A few months ago, when I was coming back from Solvang, I tried to stop by the garden.  However, I was stopped by seeing a couple of about thirty students in the parking lot.  Now, having been to the garden I know I made the right decision waiting until today.

The drive to Santa Barbara was good, and I hardly hit any traffic.  I arrived at the garden and thankfully it the parking lot was mostly empty.  I paid my admission and went inside.  The garden is quite nice from the start.  The guy at the entrance mentioned how it's a jewel of the city, and it really is a jewel.

I walked up the prescribed bath, deviating slightly at a fork in the path.  One side was the more paved route, the other was a more traditional hiking path, more natural.  I went up the more natural path, which finds the other path by the redwood portion of the gardens.  The redwoods were awesome.  These trees are amazing.  It's almost a prerequisite that a redwood forest be quiet and contemplative.  And so I took the time to take some pictures, but also to just sit there amongst the trees and the quiet.  Sure, some people came up the path, but most of them were relatively quiet.  There was about a fifteen minute window in which no one showed up on the path.  I sat there thinking of nothing in particular.  I just wanted to soak the quiet up.  These days I rarely get quiet moments like this.  It's all rush, rush, rush, and loudness.  I fucking hate it.  This is why I need to come to places like this.

But of course that quiet couldn't last forever.  I was walking to the south end of the redwoods when in the distance I could hear shrill voices nearing.  It turned out to be a pair of moms with their brats.  Oh my fucking Jebus, the four of them never stopped talking.  They never stopped making outrageous noises, and they never stopped being idiots.  The entire time I was near them one girl kept making yelling sounds like she was falling on the ground, but catching herself.  One of them moms never stopped telling one kid to "not go there."  Did the kid listen?  No.  At one point they were going to go off the trail because, as the girl said, it will connect up later.  Ah no.  Where she wanted to go was not even close to a trail, and it would have just put her smack in the dried creek area that is off limits.  ARGH!  I made my way past this loud group and left them behind.  They broke the silence of the redwoods, and I needed to leave.

I explored more of the gardens, but really the redwoods are the crown jewel.  I found another bench where I could sit in quiet.  But of course once again the idiot group of loud dopes was coming around the bend.  I thought about letting them pass, but then I thought I should stay in front of them.  I made a mad dash to get out in front of them, and leave them behind.  They seemed to be right behind me, and even though I was moving quickly they seemed to be right behind me.  I made it up a little ridge and lost them for good after going around a corner.  Fucking morons.  I wonder why people go to gardens and don't just enjoy the nature.  Why do they have to be such morons?  How is it that they didn't find awe in that grove of redwoods?  Dumb.

And then there was the other side of the garden, which is across the parking lot and across the road.  Because it's not part of the main garden I think most people don't go there, but it's nice.  The view from the end of the ridge is spectacular.  There's a building up there that houses some offices and a gallery.  It's just so nice to sit up there.  When I arrived there were three people, but you could tell that not too many people visit this area.  At least not today.  This was a complete contrast to that stupid family that wouldn't shut up.

I went up the ridge and found a secluded bench that offered a great view of the city.  I sat there for about twenty minutes, just enjoying the fact that it was quiet.  I'm so glad I was able to make it to Santa Barbara today.  I had my doubts, because I have to little energy to want to do things these days.  But today I didn't feel tired.  If anything the garden energized me.

The only reason I didn't stay on the bench longer was that I was getting hungry.  I needed food, and quick.  I thought about going up to Solvang, but then thought about the long drive home after that meal.  I checked a few places I had bookmarked on my phone.  I was in the mood for fish and chips, so I drove down close to downtown.  I went to the so-called public market and went to the seafood stall and ordered some fish & chips.  The food was good, not great, but really good.  About the only thing I can find fault with with the place is that they didn't offer me a refill on my iced tea.  Aside from that I'd likely go back.  After lunch I bought some cookies and polished one of them off on my way back to the car.

I filled the tank with gasoline and made my way back home.  I figured my curfew was going to be 3pm when I was thinking this whole trip out.  Sure enough, it was nearly 3pm and I figured it was a good time to hit the road and avoid some of the really bad traffic.  My aunt told me that my cousin was visiting as well.  I wasn't sure if she was going to visit during the day or early evening.  Thankfully she visited during the day, so by the time I reached home no brats were in sight.  Today was about quiet.  I didn't want to be bothered by anyone today.

Just before going home I bought some booze, since I was all out and I was too poor until today to buy any alcohol.  I went to Gelson's which I never do these days.  But, I was getting tied and I figured maybe I could buy something to eat as well.  Didn't do that, but I did get the booze.  I mention all this because I saw a former coworker from Ralph's there, working as a cashier.  She didn't see me, since I made a quick move to avoid her seeing me.  She was not a nice person, and that and something else I can't remember her doing got her fired from Ralph's oh so many years ago.  Everyone at Ralph's knew she was working at Gelson's across the street.

I went home and drank up like a man who had just gotten paid.  Mostly I sat in the backyard and enjoyed the cool weather.  But then at the end of the night I went to turn off a light in my grandmother's room and I ended up breaking down while sitting on her bed.  I don't sit around thinking of how both my mother and grandmother died of cancer.  But finding that lump on my jaw made me wonder if it's my turn next.  My mother didn't get herself checked out, and she died.  But then my grandmother DID get herself checked.  She was constantly visiting the doctor, and yet they never caught the cancer until it was too late.  Maybe it's the nature of stomach cancer, but in both cases they didn't last more than a few months after being diagnosed.  Certainly I haven't been diagnosed with anything, but could it be that right now is the start of something deadly?  Perhaps that's why I broke down as well.

Later in the evening Talia started texting me and talking about how big her breasts are.  Yes, the last time I went she "whipped them out" and they were big.  Bigger than when I was seeing her, though not as big as a couple of years ago.  But, I will say they looked nice.  Made me reconsider not sleeping with her.  Also, I'm all horned up these days.  Talia sent me the above set of pictures of her cleavage.  Have to say, knowing her how I do I think she's still nuts.  But, looking at her tits like that and how big they look did get me worked up a bit.  Enough that I might consider asking her to sleep with me again.  Not sure when I would fit such a thing in my schedule, but I'm sure I would MAKE time.

Sat Aug 13, Of course today was supposed to be the big day in Carmel/Monterey.  It didn't work out that way, but TheGirl still wanted to do something.  We went to downtown Disney, which is what it is... a bit of a cocktease.  Of course I would like to go into the park, but I honestly didn't have the energy to do so today.  I can't wait until the fucking weather gets cooler.  I got ready for "work" and went over to TheGirl's.  She drove use, including her daughter, down to Disneyland.  It was a long drive because of the traffic.  I was ready to pass out by the time we got there, and I wasn't even driving.

We were all hungry, so we went to the Earl of Sandwich for some grub.  My sandwich could have been better, but I did order something different.  The other times I've gone there the sandwiches have been really good.  I did like the mac & cheese that they added to the menu.  It was quite yummy.  I could have just eaten that all day.

Following food we went to a pair of bars and had some yummy booze.  The first bar we tried was Trader Sam's, but it's ALWAYS packed.  We then went to the Uva bar in the middle of downtown Disney.  We had one drink, but it was super warm out.  I suggested we then retire to the Hearthstone bar inside one of the hotels.  That was nice.  It was cool and we found a seat really easily.  I had a nice buzz going the entire time.

Following drinks TheGirl drove us back home.  It was a tough drive home, what with all the traffic on the freeway.  This is one of the main reasons why I don't go to Disneyland that often these days.  I simply don't have the energy to deal with the traffic after hanging out at Disneyland for a few hours.  Well, this and I do tend to have some booze when I go.  That makes me tired.  Even though I didn't drive us home I was really tired when I got home.  I laid in my bed and I think I might have passed out for a little while.  Still, today was a good day.  With all this heat I really hope that this coming winter is really cold.

Sun Aug 14, Day three of my "Stay-cation" TheGirl and I went to Madame Tussauds in Hollywood.  When I donated blood they gave us both tickets to the famous wax museum.  Since we were supposed to be in Big Sur/Carmel this weekend this trip to the museum was last minute.  Still, it was something for me to do in what was essentially a day off.

The museum is pretty open, with figures on open floors.  You can go right up to the figures.  The staff told us we can touch the figures, just not the face or hair.  This is way different from what I remember the old Hollywood Wax museum being like.  That museum was more like displays where you just look at the wax figures.  This was kinda fun.  The funny thing is that I saw a sign in the front that said to ask about their annual pass.  TheGirl and I were joking the entire time that we should get it.  Ha!  It's crazy, because I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have come here if not for the free ticket.  The entrance fee for the museum is $27!  That's just nuts!  Still, I can say I had fun.  Though I was tired from the heat.

After Tussauds TheGirl and I went to get something to eat at Hollywood and Highland.  We picked a restaurant owned by the singer Sammy Hagar.  The food was OK.  Nothing special, nothing new.  Just another middle of the road restaurant that doesn't offer anything new to the food landscape.

When I got home I was chatting with my buddy on the phone.  It was around midnight that I told my buddy that I was going to wrap it up.  From out of the shadows my aunt came into my room to ask me if I was going to work tomorrow.  I told her yes.  She then said that I should go to sleep then, since it was getting late.  Ah... what?  I'm a fucking grown man.  I don't need her telling me it's late, or to go to sleep.  I'll go to sleep when I'm ready.  Also, I was already going to get ready for bed.  She didn't need to say a thing.  Fucking dumb.  I simply wish to be left alone.  I don't know why she thinks it's OK to say stupid stuff like this.  I really wish she would just leave me alone.

I didn't mention this before, but on Friday before going to Santa Barbara I postponed my jury duty until the week of Thanksgiving.  I figured this was a good way of possibly not having to go in at all.  But even if they call me in the week will be shortened by the holiday.  This is my hope, anyway.  I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.

Mon Aug 15, Today pseudo supervisor is going out of town.  She won't be in the office until next week or so.  But, of course she left assignments for me to do.  One of the major one is to take the mass delivery to the post office.  It was pretty simple.  I went, gave them the paperwork, and was out in no time.  I like it when a plan comes together.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful.  I got some work done, but mainly my job was over after I delivered those fliers to the post office.

Tue Aug 16, Today I woke up and just as I was heading to the bathroom to take my shower my cousin's husband shows up with the kids.  It was 7:08am.  Last semester they didn't show up for another ten minutes, at least.  This is WAY too early, since I'm pretty sure that school doesn't even start until 8am.

I almost never check my Glendale work email, but for some reason I checked it this morning.  Well, inside was a bombshell... Maleficent emailed us all to say that Central would have to be closed for about six months to finish up the renovation.  Here's some of what she said in the email.

"We have come to a turning point.  We are in the home stretch of completing construction on the west side and are now moving east.  This next phase will include Circulation, the Children's Room, public bathrooms and most of the seating area.  With limited ability to move these functions to the west-side, it has become apparent that the only option is to close to the public through the end of the project.  To that end the last open day at Central Library will be September 1, through the reopening in Spring, 2017."

I'm writing this a little after the email was sent.  I'm in San Marino waiting for some mail to show up.  I just talked to my buddy Vagabundo about what this might mean.  Funny enough, Maleficent mentions how we would probably need more deliveries.  I was telling Vagabundo that yes, we'll somehow end up working more through this.  I'll write more about this later.

I wasn't really on the clock today, I was just waiting for some sponsor information to show up so I could send it to the person who is making the program for the fundraiser.  But of course I knew that as soon as I would leave the information would be there.  I left work at 5pm, and of course I just checked my email and the lady emailed me 5:13pm.  Amazing.  Either way, I got out of the house, and did what I had to do.

Since I was a little bored I sent a text to LM showing her a picture of the emergency procedures book in circulation and how it showed her contact information still.  Even though it's been about two years since she stopped working there.  LM got a good laugh out of it.  We continued our conversation and at one point she said what you can see on the photo above... "I miss you."  Ah, what?  It's super flattering.  I kinda do miss her.  I figured our friendship was a thing of the past.  But thankfully it's not.  Still, I wonder if this means she wants to still sleep with me.  Would be nice.  Ha!

MicroManger didn't talk to my buddy Vagabundo, but she did speak to me a bit about working.  One thing, no more working on Saturdays.  They will now have deliveries on Friday.  I told her I can only work every other Friday though.  She said OK, and to let her know what Fridays I can and can't work.  Still, Fridays will basically replace my Saturdays.  Because I'll miss out on working every Saturday in exchange for every other Friday I'm probably going to be making less money.  ARGH!  This is some BS.  These idiots don't know what they are doing.  Suffice to say there are some major changes coming.  Oh, no more working late nights.  Which also cuts into my potential earnings, but I guess I can always get some hours somewhere on Saturdays.  I'll look into getting some hours at the branches.

After tonight I'll only be working four more nights at Central.  Not that I love the late hours, but I do like the easy money.  THAT I am going to miss.

Wed Aug 17, I hate that I have to wake up super early in order to take a dump with ease.  I think that tomorrow I'll have to wake up a few minutes earlier and see if I can mitigate this problem.  I really don't like having to do this when if things were reasonable I wouldn't have to because the kids wouldn't arrive until about ten minutes before they go to school.  But noooo!  Fucking bullshit.

I get to work and I get a text message from Krishna, out of the blue, asking how the closure of the library will affect me.  I told her I wasn't sure yet, that I would know more tomorrow.  But, deliveries still have to be made, and as a matter of fact I still have to show the new guy the ropes.  We texted for a little while, and she asked me if I could take more pictures of her baby.  I told her my schedule, which is kinda packed, and we left it at that.  Whatever Krishna is, and there may be a motive behind her contacting me, she was only one of two people that actually asked me how the closure will affect me (so far one of two).

Work was work today.  They're finally getting around to installing the new computers on the reference desk.  I got to use one of them today, and its as nice.  The screen is big, like I have in the back office, and the computer is much faster.  School is back in session, but for today the kids got out of school early, so I didn't have to deal with them that much today.  Next week, no more half days.  But, I did get to see LaFlor return.  She's just nice.

TheGirl took me to dinner to a restaurant in Burbank called Ciao Cristina.  The waiter was a little meh, but the food was really good.  I had lasagna and some booze.  My new move is to have some booze as soon as I arrive at TheGirl's place.  I'll drink out of my flask and get a nice buzz going.  Then we go and eat.  Great combo, and it saves me a couple of bucks.  TheGirl and I basically talked about the library closing situation.  She asked me what this all means.  I'm not sure, I told her.  This is new ground.  None of us know what lies ahead in this whole renovation endeavor.

Thu Aug 18, As soon as I got into work today I checked the schedule and saw that I was working on this moving project the entire time.  I knew then that I had to pace myself since I wasn't going to have the luxury of being able to rest on the desk shift.  The thing is, my buddy was also given an all day schedule.  Only he doesn't usually work Thursdays, and he doesn't work all day.  Working all day was a surprise to him.  MicroManager just scheduled him to be on until 10pm without telling him or asking.  Basically, he was covering for my three hours on the desk.  Always, good times.  The both of us had a long day ahead.

I moved a bunch of things before getting to the project that would I would do for nearly my entire shift... moving all the teen non-fiction books to the new stacks.  Jr. was supposed to help me move the books.  She was supposed to take the books from the boxes as I wheeled them from upstairs.  But, that didn't happen.  She abandoned me to do another section.  Ah, OK.  Actually, it was better than she abandoned me for the other assignment.  I didn't want her help.  This way I could do what I had to do.  As I said earlier, I paced myself.  I was good and tired by the end of the shift.  My buddy even said I looked tired.  Yeah, I was beat.

Still, with all the work to be done I still got a few chances to see if I could get some intelligence on what is going to happen during the time we are closed.  MicroManager assured me that I would be working more hours after I told her that I had done the math and I was losing about six to nine hours a week.  She said that she was going to be able to use me a lot more on things, not just driving.  And yes, that we are going to be delivering on Fridays.  She also mentioned how she and Les are going to stay at central.  I told her, "Because where else would you go?"  I sure hope that I do get some of those hours back.  My new raise will help mitigate some of the hours lost, but not all of them.  If I can keep the hours I lost to perhaps four or less then I think the loss of hours will even out with the raise.  We shall see.  What I love is that these dopes in charge have no idea what they are going to be doing in two weeks.  The closure is coming, and it seems like everyone is going to try to figure out it at the last possible minute.  But then again, these people aren't know for thinking ahead.  They mainly react to things.  They are certainly not thinking ahead and wondering "what if."

Fri Aug 19, Work was busy but at the same time kinda slow.  I know that makes no sense, but what I should have said is that it was busy then slow.  And then busy again.  In the slow times I was able to get some things done for the big fundraiser.  Like the picture above, which is a screen shot of a form I created to make selling the tickets easier for the clerks.  I know that when I was a clerk I hated having to write all that shit down.  Also, my handwriting is pretty messy, and I know not everyone can read it at times.  I wanted to eliminate the possibility of the clerks writing a wrong number, or the right number but writing it hurried so that it's hard to read.  Pseudo supervisor called me from NYC to check up on me, and I mentioned the form.  She said she had concerns that the patrons would not want us recording this information and putting it online.  Ah, it wouldn't be online because the form has no way of saving the information online, to say a server.  It's just a form that has blank spaces to enter the information.  At the end the clerk or whatever closes that window and the information is gone.  Only the printed result would be kept.  ARGH.  In essence she poo pooed the idea.  I basically put my arms up wondering why the fuck we couldn't use my form.  Moreover, I wondered why I even give a fuck.  I really shouldn't.  I was telling a patron earlier that this project is fun to work on.  Well, know what?  I really shouldn't give a shit.

I'm not sure why Emma wanted to have drinks with me, but it was nice to go out for once instead of going straight home from work.  We've talked about going out for drinks for a long time.  Ever since Emma, Vagabundo and myself went to dinner.  That is close to a year ago.  But, with my schedule this is not unusual.  I hate my current schedule.  Today it worked out since I got off work at 2pm.  I ran a little late and I didn't get to the bar until after Emma had arrived.

At the bar I ordered some food as well as some drinks.  Yes, drinks.  I had four Manhattans before we moved to another bar.  There I saw that they had Japanese whiskey, so I ordered a straight shot.  The taste was wonderful.  I had a second shot when we moved to yet another bar.  That other Japanese whiskey was really good too.  Both packed a punch, and tasted wonderful.  They were smooth and had layers of flavor.  Just amazing.  I think those whiskeys ruined me for all other whiskeys.

I had plans on not making this a long night, but of course those plans went out the window as soon as I drank that first Japanese whiskey.  THAT thing packed a punch.  Of course the previous four Manhattans didn't hurt either.  Dole showed up at the wine bar and actually drank.  We ended up going to the book store in the big mall by the library.  You know you're having a fun night when the book store you're in is kicking you out.

Sat Aug 20, On what is the second to last Saturday I'll be working at Glendale for the foreseeable future, MicroManager scheduled me for shelving the first hour.  Shelving?  There are things to shelve, but I have no idea where they go.  I ended up dicking around and sorting books instead of shelving.  My second hour MicroManager scheduled me to work the phones.  That was fine, but there wasn't much to check in.  At one point one of my coworkers comes up and asks if I had seen the new receipt.  No, I haven't been on the desk I told him.  Pictured above, the new receipt telling patrons that the library will close starting September 2nd.  This is really happening.  Not that no one saw this coming, I just don't think anyone expected the closure to be six months (possibly longer knowing how this has gone so far).

The main thing I know I won't miss about the library being closed for six months or more is dealing with patrons.  It's not very likely that I'll have to deal with too many patrons in the next six months.  At least, I hope.

Today marks the last Saturday I'll be working on the same desk with TheDesire.  It was a good run, and I loved the fact that I got to work side by side with her.  I think I compliment the reference desk because of my experience on the desk in San Marino and CSUN.  Today there was a moment when I was able to find a book TheDesire didn't, but that's because I did my grunt work on Thursday.  I knew where things were because I was in the trenches.  I knew there would come a day with this one desk experiment that she and I would work on the same desk.  I thought it would be after the renovation, but it turned out to be way before.  However, now that the renovation will force the library to close for at least six months this is very likely the last time we will work the desk together.  I'm not sure what the new desk will bring us.  Probably not the same as it is now, that's for sure.  So yes, I know I couldn't tell her this, but it was a pleasure.

Sun Aug 21, Work was work today.  But I did remind myself today that this job is just like any other job... worthless.  It's not my life.  I need to stop giving such a fuck about this or any job.  The sting of working all those hours on the online form for the payments only to have pseudo supervisor shoot it down still kinda hurts.  But it served as a reminder that I really should just do what I'm assigned to do.  I've been pretty good at doing just that since I got this promotion.  I give just enough.  But perhaps it's time to give less of a fuck.  Because, apparently the little I give a shit is still too much.

As I write this I'm in my backyard having a little drink after eating a small dinner.  If my plans for today had worked out I would likely be driving back from Talia's place right about now.  But, since I'm writing this they obviously didn't work out.  I had texted Talia this whole week about the possibility of going over to her house to drive her up to her Bel Air house to try to enter the house.  But of course she doesn't mention that she's not at home when I texted her earlier in the day.  When I got off work I texted her and it took her another fifteen minutes to get back to me.  By then I was buying a burger, because I was starving.  That's when she tells me to show up after 8pm.  Ah... these days I don't have the energy to go home and then leave after arriving.  If I go home I would rather stay home.  It's just about 9pm as I write this and I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to contact her.  I'm pretty sure I'm tired of all women.

My aunt came into my room about an hour ago to talk to me about stuff.  It was OK.  But then she asks me how TheGirl is doing.  I tell her, "I guess she's fine."  "You guess," she responds.  I just say meh.  I don't really want to tell her about this stuff.  It's not even my business.  She then goes on to say that I should find myself another woman.  Ah, TheGirl is not my girlfriend.  Yes, I spend a lot of time with her, like my twice weekly visits.  But really we aren't dating and I'm not interested in pursuing any relationship at this point.  I need a fuck buddy situation, but even that is too much of an effort now.  I really just want to be left alone.  I like my alone time a lot.  I like it because every relationship has ended in failure anyway.  I'm not good at this.  Right now, realistically I don't have much to offer a woman, and I know that.  I don't even want to put the effort into possibly becoming a man that women desire.  I've never been that, and at this point I'm willing to just embrace that.  Also, to what end?  I'm just going to do everything right and they'll still walk away, because, "it's not you it's me" will be invoked and I'm fucked.  And I'll be right where I am right now.  I've said it so many times it's not funny any more, but I'm done.  Certainly my actions speak to that.  Tonight's little visit to Talia's was definitely going to turn sexual, because I had intentions.  Her "oh, I'm not home yet" text just put me off and made me realize just how stupid it was to put anything but the minimal effort into this whole endeavor.  In short, I'm not not looking to invest a lot of time into someone I don't even find I like very much.

Mon Aug 22, I had some work to do today, but nothing so pressing that I rushed to do it.  I was not looking forward to putting much of an effort today after putting an effort into creating that payment form and having it shot down by pseudo supervisor for the ignorant reasons.  Part of me wishes I could just not do this Foundation gig any more.  I've yet to be fulfilled by anything I've done under that part of the job.  I feel more fulfilling when I find a book for a patron than anything I've done for the Foundation.  And now I feel even less of an affinity towards that part of the job.

I felt bad about not going over to Talia's place yesterday, because she wasn't going to be home, waiting for me.  Certainly she doesn't have to be at my beck and call.  In my mind I had plans to fuck her tits as soon as she whipped them out, like last time.  Maybe that would lead to sex, but I didn't have a notion that it would.  I just wanted to titty fuck her.  Thankfully my excuse that I went home and passed out worked on her.  It was fortuitous that I didn't go because her brother showed up.  Imagine he found me titty fucking his sister... not good.

The library posted something on their IG feed that had to do with the makerspace bullshit.  I love how they are announcing that they are going to help people get creative with, "String and needles."  Ah, what?  You fucking assholes.  This makerspace is going to be fucking bullshit.  Why?  Because I know how you operate.  I know that you don't have a clue as to what a makerspace is.  Better yet, I've read plenty of articles that show that makerspaces attract only a certain kind of person.  And that quite often most of these spaces end up not being used by but a few patrons.  Yeah, because who the fuck needs a makerspace?  One idea is that artists would use it as some sort of studio.  Ah, no.  An artist is going to use his own studio for that.  Or his own place for that.  This... this makerspace is just fucking idiocy at its best.

Tue Aug 23, I've written about how my cousin's husband brings the girls over to go to school really early.  Last semester they would come around 7:20am, and that was already pretty early.  For some reason this semester he brings them even earlier, at 7:10am.  But today, he was here at fucking 6:50am.  They didn't enter the house until just a little past 7am, but still.  Why must I race to wake up when they keep showing up earlier and earlier?  It's not right, and I'm not going to fight fire with fire.  If anything, since I don't leave until much later in the day, I think I need to actually sleep longer in the day.  I'll lock my door and not wake up until 7am or so.  Maybe even a few minutes after 7am.  Because to keep trying to wake up earlier and earlier isn't going to work out for me.  Tomorrow I'm going to try this new strategy by waking up at 7am.  Let's see how this works.

When I got to work I saw the schedule ahead for me today and of course it didn't surprise me.  Not to jump ahead, but there was a point later in the day when I was going to take my break that MicroManager comes up to me and says that there isn't enough for me to do, and would I like to have an longer dinner.  She tells me that I will go to dinner at 5pm.  Mind you, this is around 4:20pm.  I had filled my face with sandwiches (more on that in a minute) and I didn't eat my food for lunch.  But now I could eat that for dinner and save myself buying something.  So, despite the fact that MicroManager scheduled me for ten hours, I only ended up working eight hours... but in a stretch of twelve hours.  Which still made for a long day.

The sandwiches were bought today and served to us in appreciation for our hard work.  Ah, it's the fucking least you can do.  I had two pieces of sandwich, because I was starving and I didn't want to wait until lunch to eat.  The sandwiches hit the spot, not going to lie.  It was the least they can do since they can't even tell us our fate when it comes to this renovation.  What a time I picked to work at this place, when so much upheaval is going on.

I didn't hear any new news about what is going to happen the all of us after the library closes.  Everyone is kinda stressed out as it is right now.  To have the bosses not realize that and simply drag their feet on matters of branch hours, where the workers are going to go, and what is going to happen is bordering on malice.  I know they don't care what happens to the library, since they are full timers and they are protected.  But of course the grunts, like me, would like to know what our futures are in this fucking place.

I had just a couple of brief encounters with TheDesire today.  The first was not the one pictured above, it was inside the library.  For some reason she was pulling a book and was at reference desk calling a patron about it.  TheDesire is a pretty girl, no doubt.  Today she looked extra pretty.  When she turned around her hair just flowed over her shoulders and framed her face perfectly.  It was like I was seeing a vision.  Truly.  It was all I could do to not say that she looked gorgeous.  I can't say that to her, for so many reasons that aren't just work related.

Every time I talk to her I want to tell her that all I ever wanted was a chance with her.  Alas, I don't say that because to what end?  Nothing is going to change between us.  Still, a guy can hope.  All I have is hope that she may change her mind.  I know it's not very likely.  It's not likely at all.  But I can just be me and hope that one day that may win her over.

As I mentioned before, MicroManger asked if I wanted to go to dinner early and then come back at 8pm.  I said yes, because two hours of work tonight after three hour dinner meant that I was making money.  Also, I don't want to go home too early, because of course my aunt will bitch at me.  I had my dinner, then I accompanied my buddy as he ate his dinner.  We talked about the changes to come, and how the bosses are a bunch of idiots.  Oh, and how they try to buy us off with sandwiches and pizza this week.  I mean, come on.  Your negligence isn't going to be forgotten by buying some food for us.  No way.  This has reached a point that all of us are fucked.  And of course the grunts are the ones that take the hardest punch.

I was supposed to deal with moving books all day, but since there wasn't anything else to do (supposedly), I was given desk duty when I came back from my extra long dinner break.  Towards the end of the night a patron comes up and I tell him about the impending closure.  He asks where is he going to go.  I tell him about the other branches and such.  Then I said some flip remark about E.T. phoning home and this guy starts repeating the same statement over and over again.  He said that if he could go back in time to any era he would go back to 2006 or 2009, because if he went back to the 50's then there would be no internet.

I got home and noticed a post on social media by one of the weather girls herein town.  In her post she points out that it's this one guy's last day at the station.  I'm SO glad he's gone.  I don't know the guy, but his weather cast was always so ponderous.  He would give trivia facts and try to make jokes, but all of them fell flat.  In addition to that he was not a pretty girl.  Hate to say it, I only know what the weather is like when a pretty girl tells me.  When this guy told me I would have to check my phone.  Good riddance, boring douche.

Wed Aug 24, My actual supervisor told the boss that he wasn't going to come in until later this morning.  But, the boss forgot and at the last minute she asked me to cover the reference desk.  Just for the first two hours, and then one of the other library assistants would take over at noon.

The desk was busy this morning.  I was only on it for two hours, but I was busy nearly the entire two hours.  I did find some time to flirt with my coworker.  I think she's OK with me, because we do the touchy-feely thing.  I REALLY want to ask her out for lunch or whatever.  Actually, I want to get to know her better and eventually sleep with her.  We shall see if I get to do any of those things.

There is a patron that comes in and talks to me.  Then again, she talks everyone's ear off.  Today I was just about to get off desk and she comes in and starts talking to me.  I listened to her for the better part of an hour.  There were times when I held her phone in my hand, and I wondered.  I'm not going to say she isn't attractive, because she is attractive.  It's nice to talk to her, but at the same time I do wonder if she's OK.  Almost all my coworker know her by name now.  That's not always a good thing.  Still, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.  Mainly because before she came up to the desk I was checking out her behind.

For dinner with TheGirl I picked up some Mediterranean food and took it over to her house.  The main topic of our talk tonight was her son's upcoming wedding.  She asked me again if I was OK with coming over and checking on Cheyenne.  Of course I was.  Especially now that I won't be working on Saturdays.  I need something to do on those days.  More importantly she mentioned how her son doesn't contact her.  She was sad that he hasn't contacted her since he asked for the remainder of the $10,000 she promised she would give him for his wedding.  Since that day he hasn't said a thing to her via text or anything.  I really feel for TheGirl in this.  I will never know what it's like to have a child ignore me, but I do know what it's like when some one ignores you.  You start to wonder if you did something wrong, even if you didn't do a thing wrong.  But, of course I can't know if the other person feels I did something wrong to them.  In that case I guess they have some right to ignore me.  But TheGirl is his mom and I don't think she should be ignored.  He should man up and talk to her about any real or perceived grievances.  Oh well... nothing I can do about this.

Thu Aug 25, I wasn't supposed to know about it, but my buddy was nice enough to tell me that MicroManager told him he wasn't driving today.  Of course she fails to tell me.  But I was ready, of course.  It was nice to be out on the route again.  I missed it.  I really did.  It's certainly not easy, but it's way better than the alternative.

I went to Pasadena and came back just in time to eat some pizza.  The administration is trying to buy us off by buying us pizza.  I ate a slice, but I didn't want to ruin my lunch, so I stopped at one.  I did have a little talk with one of the admin people, but of course they either are telling the truth that nothing has been settled, or he's playing this close to the vest.  Either way, admin things us cheap dates.  A couple of slices of free pizza is not going to make up for their incompetence.  They have fuck us all over royally, and of course no one is going to pay for this idiocy.

I saw two thirds of the unholy trinity this morning.  Snow looked really worried, just like on Tuesday.  I don't know if I should read anything into her look this morning, but if I do it's not good.  All I know is that everyone was saying that today is the day they and Maleficent, and the rest of those jerks, make the decision on our futures.  I'm sure they'll fuck it up.

I nearly messed up the route.  It had been so long since I did this that I actually forgot the order of battle.  Ha!  I came back from the van into circulation and that's when I remembered that I had to bring in some things and take back others.  Boy, this is too much.  It was nice to have lunch in the park again.  THAT I could remember to do.

The rest of the route was pretty standard.  It was nice to be able to also sit on the grass at Brand.  That really is one of the best things during my route.  Checking out the pages is nice too.  There's a new one at Casa that is pretty.  Reminds me of Knowing Smile, who I haven't seen since the day she posted on her FB that she was in a relationship.  I guess since she is it doesn't matter if I see her nowadays.  That's messed up to say, but I said it.

My buddy Vagabundo had a crush on Shay a while back.  To make a long story short, she didn't like him in that way.  That seems to be the way of the world.  I think I've mentioned it here, but Shay has big boobs.  I mean they are big.  Well, they were really big when Vagabundo first took a shine to her, and now that she's gained weight they are enormous.  Her chest can't help but be heaving.  I didn't really notice just how big her chest was until the other day when we hung out.  Today I noticed in spades.  I can see why my buddy liked her.  Her chest is a fantasy of flesh.

Tonight marks the third to last late night I'll have to work in this dump.  MicroManager comes up to me and tells me that we're going to go back to the old route times.  Back before this stupid renovation we would start work on Pasadena route days at 8am.  For the last year we've been starting at 10am, which pushes everything back that amount of time.  Means we get out later, and of course for me it was a set-up for working late night.  But, now that we don't have to work under the artificial late hours we get to go back to the old hours.  Woo!  I'm used to sleeping-in in the mornings, but that was mainly because I had to work late.  The late hours set me up for being tired all the time.  The new/old schedule starts September 6th.

The funny thing about is that I went ahead and modified my alarms this morning.  I figured it would be a long time before I'd have to use those early morning alarms, and I went ahead and deleted a bunch.  I kept the one that wakes me up early.  Good thing I did.

Fri Aug 26, This morning, while driving to work, I played the song "Hole in my life," by The Police.  It seemed apropos since last night I wanted to just fucking scream.  I got home late, of course, and I take the ice packs out of my lunch bag and of course my aunt has placed some other things in the space my ice packs usually occupy.  And it's not like she doesn't know why that space is open in the fridge.  I took all my ice packs with me, but does my aunt have consideration for my little bit of space in the freezer?  No.  I just felt dejected.  Not even mad, simply dejected.  I'm so very tired of this kind of shit.  That feeling spilled over to this morning, where I was in the mood to listen to the song "Hole in my Life."  And yeah, my life does have a hole in it.  I've wanted it to be filled with that special lady friend, but that's obviously something I'm incapable of doing.  So, I'll die alone.  That's what.

I was asked a little while back if I wanted to participate in the library's podcast.  I was "auditioned," and I guess I did SO well that I got the part.  Either that or no one else would do it.  Ha!  Today was the day we recorded three small episodes.  It was great fun.  Kinda like working on old time radio shows.  Not that I ever worked on old time radio shows, but I know of them.  We didn't have the luxury of editing, we just did it all on one take.  I'll post the podcast episodes here when I can download them.

Just as I was wrapping up my performance for the library podcast TheDesire sends me a text in response to an image from Overheard LA's IG feed.  She likes it, and then proceeds to tell me that she wants to invite me to dinner after she's done with her cleanse.  Her reasons are, as shown above, that she wants to catch up and thank me for being there for her during her trip into darkness.  As I've said here, I was resolved to be just her friend and that's what I've been.  Sure, in the back of my mind I wanted and hoped for more.  You know that, since I've said as much here.  I never had any allusions that she would change her mind, no matter how much I've wished it to be different.  So, I'm not going to read anything into this dinner.  Sure, I'm walking on cloud nine since she asked.  But I can't think that it means anything, lest I go down a path I've already gone down.  The path where I hope and nothing happens.

I don't have to tell you that I felt on fucking top of the WORLD after TheDesire asked me to dinner.  I felt like Neo, in the Matrix, when he bends the "fabric" of the Matrix and realizes he's "The One."  But... but, as I just said, I don't want to read more into this than she wants to have dinner with a friend.  Whatever.  I just like spending time with her.  I've not asked her to hang out in a while.  Not since that that secret Santa dinner last year.  Certainly not since she sent me that text message telling me not to like her in that way.  However, I'm a fool and I still hope beyond hope.  And this is why I feel like Neo... invincible!

Sat Aug 27, Woke up and I nearly didn't know what day it was.  But as soon as I took a deep breath I new that THIS was the last Saturday I'd have to work at Central in a long time.  If ever.  With the library closing for the better part of six months I know I won't have to see that many patrons in that time.  This is going to save my mind from having to deal with all these dummies.  I'm certainly going to have my fair share of patron interactions at San Marino, but at least the constant barrage at Central is a thing that won't be happening for a while.

I started my shift answering the phones, which was pretty chill.  There was a point late into the hour that some pizzas arrived.  No one knew for who they were for.  Then for some reason someone said that they were for TheDesire and her teen volunteers.  Jr. called down, but TheDesire didn't answer.  I called her, and she said she was coming up in a little bit.

TheDesire was not scheduled to work today.  But, long before she switched Saturdays this teen thank you event was scheduled.  So, she had to show up for this volunteer thing.  TheDesire looked amazing today.  She wore a cute top and black pants.  But it was her body that shinned.  She's so tiny, just barely 5'2".  I really loved the way her hips looked today.  And her face... just so pretty.  Dammit!  Dammit, Universe!

The shift today was quite busy.  It's almost like every one thought that today was our last day.  One terrible patron called at nearly 6pm and demanded to be helped.  Even though we were near closing.  Fucking idiot.  Oh she will be suffering like the rest of the dummy patrons.  I keep saying it, I'm not going to miss the patrons.  Not one bit.  Even if there's a pretty patron that shows up once in a blue moon, it doesn't make up for the idiots that show up in much greater numbers.

I have some things to decide... like what am I going to do with my now empty Saturdays.  I still have a plan to possibly ask the branches for work.  I also thought about asking San Marino if they are willing to let me switch Fridays with someone.  I want this coming week to pass so I know what the situation is with where everyone is going.  After that I'll know more of where to position myself.  Still, it was nice leave at 6pm tonight and say "No more Saturdays."  It's also funny that not more than twenty seconds after I walked out the door some idiot patron nearly runs into the closed doors.  There's always some dope that thinks we're still open.

Sun Aug 28, Work was busy today, but also whatever.  I don't really have any one thing to say about work today.  It was work.  As always... good times.

I went over to Talia's place to drive her up to her Bel Air home.  When her mother died her brother was named the executer of the will and trust.  Shortly after he threw Talia out of the Bel Air house so he could clean it out and rent it to make some money.  Tonight we went up there.  Now mind you, I had never been inside of Talia's house, because it was so full of junk.  Well, tonight I took her up there and we went into the house.  It's quite nice, and had a million dollar view.  However, Talia could do nothing but yell, "This is not my house."  I tried to calm her down.  For a while I didn't really succeed, but then I finally got her to chill.

Well, after visiting the house Talia has this idea that she can move into the house and squat.  Technically she is part owner of the house, and by establishing residency she hopes to force her brother's hand.  I think her plan has some merit, but at the same time I don't want to be the point man on this.  I just want to sit on the sidelines and let the chips fall where they may.

Really my motivation in going over to Talia's tonight was I was hoping that she would strip in front of me again and I would fuck her tits.  Or that we would have sex, you know, intercourse.  Neither happened, so once again my stupid plans don't work out.  It's my own fault.  I need to just stop with this reoccurring cycle of hoping something is going to happen, while simultaneously not doing anything to influence the outcome.  I couldn't park on the street, because I needed a permit.  So I had to just drop her off at the end of the night and go home.  No titty fucking, no intercourse, no nothing.  Fucking bullshit!

Mon Aug 29, Today was kinda a whatever day.  In other words, it's Monday.  I didn't think pseudo supervisor was going to come in today, but she did.  She had me working.  And then there's the poster I thought I had done, but then when she asked me for it I realized that I worked on it for two seconds and hadn't finished it.  Fuck!  When I got home I worked on it, and finished it.  But yeah, I felt bad.

My buddy said that he overheard today at work that one of the branches will be open longer hours during the time the central library is going to be closed.  This makes sense, and is not a surprise to either of us.  I told him that we should be able to ask for a little bit of extra hours there to cover those hours that the library is being forced to open.  Mostly because I suspect that the hours will be in the evening.  That works out well for me.  As I write this I think about how I could work at the branches after my shift is over on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  That way I could maximize my time.

Not much to report from my visit with TheGirl tonight either.  She was telling me how her daughter didn't have a good time in Vegas this weekend.  She attended her future sister-in-law's bachelorette party.  The more I hear about this wedding the more I wonder about it's outcome.  TheGirl is already talking about how she never sees her son, and how TheGirl doesn't like the future wife.  Which makes sense, because what mother likes the future daughter-in-law?  Still, I wonder about this whole thing.  Certainly the fact that TheGirl dropped $10,000 on this whole thing is making her anxious.  It's not a good thing.  Just over a month until the wedding, and I hope everything runs smoothly.

Tue Aug 30, As per usual these days, I got my things together this morning as if I was going to work and got out of the house.  Of course I ended up actually going to work, but not before running some errands.  But my aunt ran out of the house with my cousin's husband to go to my Godmother's place to pay her rent.  See, on Sunday she went down to visit my Godmother, but of course forgets the MAIN reason why she was going to visit her.

Whatever, that gave me a chance to not have to leave home so early.  She left and I was able to just chill for a little while at home.  But I finally did get out the door and I ran my errands.

I drove over to Glendale and had near perfect timing.  I parked right next to the entrance, and then met my buddy for dinner.  At dinner we usually have some news, but neither of us had any news tonight.  So we mainly talked about other stuff, including going up to Santa Barbara on Saturday.  In a drunken stupor I had an idea that we could do a day trip to SLO.  But it's far, and Santa Barbara is half the distance.  That will give us more time to do stuff and to eat.

And then it was time to go into work, for the last Tuesday late night.  I'm so not going to miss working these horrible hours.  I'm certainly not going to miss the dummy patrons.  MicroManager was talking to my coworkers and I quickly dropped what I was doing and listened.

That's when MicroManager spilled the beans about what branches will stay open later.  The order of battle is: Brand, Montrose, Pacific Park and Casa will stay open until 9pm.  Also, they may open on Sundays.  For sure, according to MicroManager, Brand will open on Sundays.  There are other details, but MicroManger didn't know.  However, this is already good information.  For sure Thursday we'll know.  MicroManager told me that I have to go to city hall to get the new fliers, which have the new hours, before I go to Pasadena.  They have Vagabundo picking up a freezer tomorrow in order to have Popsicles ready to serve the patrons as a going away gift, I suppose.  They will give Popsicles away as they had the patrons the new hours, which of course will cause them to choke on the Popsicles.  Bunch of idiots.

Wed Aug 31, It's getting near time for the big fundraiser, so more of my assignments are going come due.  Today I worked on a poster I was supposed to have ready on Monday.  I worked on it a few weeks ago, but then I forgot about it.  And then I didn't do it.  When pseudo supervisor asked me for it I went to the file and sure enough it was not even done.  I worked on it that night and today we worked on it together to refine it, and thankfully we have a finished poster now.

I was asked on Monday if I could stay longer on the desk, because my coworker was working the interview panel and could not work tonight.  I reluctantly said yes.  Thankfully my doubt about it caused the office manager to ask my new coworker, M2, if she could come in early today.  Crisis averted.

Dinner was good.  TheGirl and I had some nice wine at dinner.  My burger was also better than the last burger I had there.  Definitely a good time was had.  I told TheGirl the news about the hours at Central, and the bullshit we've been having to deal with.  She told me she hates her job, and wants to get out of it more than anything.  I understand that.  We walked off the wine we had at dinner, and then I came home.  I have a super long day at work tomorrow.  And tomorrow is D-day, and the last night I'll have to work until 10pm.  Fuck yeah!

I went to LACMA to check out the second half of the Mapplethorpe exhibit (the other half at the Getty Center).  While there I saw a couple of employees carrying some balloons.  That sight immediately caught my eye.  Hence this photo.

I went up to Forest Lawn in Glendale to check out an art exhibit, but while there I took some pictures of the church on top of the hill.  Well, one of three that are located at the top.  It's so very quiet up there on that hill.  I liked it up there that I have to make it a point to go up there again some time.

I went to dinner at The Counter in Toluca Lake one night a few weeks ago.  The previous time I went they overcooked my burger, so I figured I would try eating something else.  I ended up having a chicken sandwich and to change things up no fries, I ordered tatter tots.  Doesn't seem like a big difference, but it was.  The tots were just right, crispy and yet not overcooked, with a little bit of cheese on top to make them extra yummy.

Taken on Aug 4, 2012, when the new thing to go see was the big rock at LACMA called "Levitated Mass."  Of course everyone takes two different photos when visiting the rock.  One is the one I am showing, and the second is from underneath.  I didn't take that other shot.

Taken on Aug 18, 2008, on a little photo trip downtown.  I do miss the old Clifton's.  They had so much food, and as a child I LOVED getting the jell-o salad.  They don't have this any more in the new Clifton's.  Sometimes I really wish I could go back in time.

Taken on Aug 19, 2011, while on my first trip to Las Vegas since I was a child.  I went with TheGirl, who was up in Vegas to take care of some business with her Father's house.  She drove up the day before and I followed in my car, and this was taken on the first night we were there.  She took me to Fremont street, which is the old Vegas.  It had been turned into a pedestrian walk and covered with a roof.  The lights were an orgy for my eyes.