Where has the time gone?  It's already past the half year mark.  I will say that so far 2017 is MUCH better in my book than 2016 ever was.  Well, on with the updates.

Sat July 1, The above picture showed up on my photo feed today, because it was six years ago today that I bought my car.  Woo hoo!

I didn't get to write about this last night, but I was sleepy.  What I wanted to bring up is that Les sent out an email saying that there would be no Monday delivery to Brand.  No surprise there.  Dummy Les wrote an email, and it went like this: "Beginning July 1st we will no longer deliver to Brand Library on Mondays for now."  Right to the point.  Yeah, like the point on his head.  What a bunch of idiots.  Of course these dopes would not want to have Monday delivery to Brand.  Fucking dopes.  They need to all die.

I had the day off, and I didn't want to do anything.  I took a nice long nap during the middle of the day.  Restful.  But of course it couldn't last.  As soon as I woke up my aunt was bugging me, asking if I wanted to eat.  Not yet, I told her.  Then she was nagging at me about filling out some forms that aren't due until fucking AUGUST.  Come on, we have two months until then.  Granted, time flies, but I told her I would do it.  ARGH!  Just leave me alone!  It made me feel like I once again need to find somewhere to go on Saturdays.  I haven't had to do that in a long time, but now I think I need to escape again.

Sun July 2, I was sitting here watching the news this evening when a story about a plan landing with its engine on fire came on.  They had video from a cell phone (screen cap above).  Of course the video was vertical.  It occurred to me that a whole generation of people will have their memories in this vertical format.  More than 2/3rds of what was potentially there to record will be forever wondered about.  And perhaps their children will turn to them and ask them, "What were you doing?  Didn't you see that you're not recording the video correctly?  What were you, a total dope?"  Whatever!  I will forever rant about vertical video, and forever people will not see any problem with recording events like this.  You're fucking it up, idiots!

I had to post this great comment from the library's FB feed.  Here they are posting about the new hours for one of the branches, and a person's comment put a fine point to the absurdity of those new hours.  The comment reads, "A set start time would be less confusing."  My biggest issue is with the Friday hours.  Why the fuck is the library only open for three hours on a Friday?  Because they have almost zero visitors during the day.  The main amount of visitors are the kids from the school next door.  For a long time Pacific has been floating their collection to Adams and back.  These check-ins artificially inflate their numbers to make it look like more books are being checked out than they really are.  Because Pacific is really not a popular branch, if you subtract the kids that show up.  Even with them, because of the lack of parking and other factors, it doesn't have great circulation numbers.  But this explains their stupid three hour day on Friday.  They're after school daycare.  I just posted a picture on this journal that showed the amount of float going from Adams to Pacific.  There were eight bins of books going to Pacific from Adams.  There were only THREE bins from actual delivery.  So suddenly they go from three bins to eleven?  Way to pad your numbers.

My buddy called after he got off work to tell me how work was on the slaughter desk at Central.  Of course, it was everything I predicted it to be.  For the longest time I've been saying how I'm happy that I DON'T have to work that desk.  Yes, it means less money in my pocket.  However, it also means less stress in my life.  Vagabundo told me just how horrible working that desk really is, and as I said before it was everything we predicted.  After what he told me I'm more than glad that I'm not working that desk.  Sure, I need the money, but I also need my health.  My buddy literally said that how that library is run is "criminal."  They didn't even have a manager today.  There is ALWAYS supposed to be a manager in the building.  Just in case something happens and the shit hits the fan.  One of our coworkers says that it's likely they couldn't get anyone to work the holiday weekend, and hence no manager today.

The above picture is of one Glendale's newest employees.  She's going to be working at the Brand library, and Misa wants to try and set her up with my buddy Vagabundo.  Nice!  I approve.  I hope it goes well.

Mon July 3, I had some assignments to do today, but today was kinda a lazy day.  I spent a good deal of time with my coworker Esther on the desk after we opened.  I wanted to talk to her about her quitting and getting a full time job with LAPL.  She said that she wasn't totally happy with the move, but that it was the right thing to do.  For her future and her present.  For the future it means benefits for retirement.  For her present, she feels that she needs to be appreciated, and that she's not at San Marino.  She may be right about that.  I'm going to miss her.  And it does suck that I feel that her husband pushed her into this.  She said that she liked working part time.  And now it's going to be full time.  And she will now have to commute to Sun Valley from Pasadena.  After six months she'll be able to transfer, but the closest LAPL branches are in El Sereno and Eagle Rock.  Closer than Sun Valley, but also not just around the corner.  I'm sorry to see her go.

As I said, I had some assignments that I actually had to do.  Well, kinda.  I continued this weeding project from a couple of weeks ago.  It's whatever.  But, what frustrates me so much is the constant mess the shelves are in.  I decided to take some time to fix them.  See, I watched one of the pages working on shelving books.  I noticed that he didn't try to fix the mess that is the shelves.  This is a big problem.  As a page at Glendale I always tried to leave the shelves better than when I first encountered them.  I know I took so long one some shelves, because I had to clean up and put back in order on the fly.  When I used to shelve the SAT books that section was always a mess.  I would have to take quite a bit of time cleaning up the mess before I could even shelve any books.  Well, the pages I observed at San Marino don't seem to think that way.  They get the books on the shelf, and that's it.  No clean up or anything.  As I said, I took it upon myself to get the shelves in some sort of order.  Much needed order.  Will they last for long?  Nope.  But they aren't supposed to stay in order.  It's a daily struggle.

Tonight Cheyenne and I really went all out in roughhousing.  Of course puppy was tired after playing.  She gets so excited when I show up.  Today TheGirl fed Cheyenne close to when I showed up.  So she had to have us wait before we roughhoused.  Cheyenne was not happy to have to wait to play.

Tue July 4, Pseudo supervisor asked me to attend her 4th of July party.  I was going to be antisocial, and not attend.  But, I did attend.  I'm glad I did, it was fucking hot in The Valley.  I spent most of my time talking to one of Pseudo supervisor's neighbors.  There was this one girl who was amazing looking.  I tried to get a picture of her, but without luck.  She was a marvel, a statuesque woman.  I interacted with her exactly two times.  Once when she needed help with some wine from the cooler I was sitting next to the entire time I was there at Pseudo supervisor's place.  She was a vision, for sure.  Of course I was never formally introduced to there.  Whatever.  I had a good time.

Wed July 5, I went about doing my new assignment of weeding the Chinese children's books.  Believe me, I'm not working all that hard.  But of course dummy patrons need to literally make my easy job that much harder.  The picture above shows the couple of dopes that were right on top of me as I was in this section.  I'm sure they wonder why I'm in that area, but I have to get a job done.  So what do they do?  Do they say excuse me?  Nope.  They just stand above me when I'm bending down to get a book on the bottom shelf.  What could I do but walk away from that area until they were done?  Nothing, so that's what I did.  Idiots.

The above picture is of LaFlor, who colored her hair a deep black, and if she didn't already look good the dark hair makes her look all that much better.  It's closer to her natural color, which is always best.  I've had my eye on LaFlor from the first time I saw her.  I know I'm supposed to be focused on TheWish, but that's been shelved, so to speak.  I know I won't either of them, but at the same time LaFlor hasn't been exactly putting up barriers to my interactions with her.  Today I mentioned how I was on jury duty a million years ago, and I demonstrated how the robber that was on trial put a gun in the belly of the victim.  I made my hand into a "gun" and put it right in her belly.  She flinched and told me that she was ticklish.  Oh if I could only use that while we were in bed!  Dammit, world!  Why can't I be one of those dopey guys that never have any problem juggling multiple women at the same time?  I've never been "That guy," but of course before I leave this Earth I'd like to be that for a few weeks to let you all know... those who may read this some day... what it was like.  Now that I think of it, that's kinda fucked up.  If I like these women THAT much I should think that I would want to only be with that one woman.  Wow.  I feel bad for even thinking what I just did.  I never wanted to be like that.  Though, I hate to say it, some primordial instinct, for lack of a better phase, took over there.

TheGirl and I had thoughts of going to the Counter tonight, but the outside seating had a dog there and that nixed the idea.  I suggested we go to Foreman's down the street.  She looked and I looked and neither of us could see anyone sitting in the outside seating of Foreman's.  When we arrived thankfully no one was sitting outside.  We staked our claim to a pair of seats and TheGirl went inside to order after I told her what I wanted to drink and eat.  There was a pair of dopes that showed up and gave me the dirty look when they were thinking about eating at Foreman's.  Sorry dopes.  You were too slow tonight.  So many other times we have had to walk down the street because people were seated outside.  Now it's our turn.

Thu July 6, I had a restless night and I woke up several times during the night.  The heat was relentless even at night.  But also, I was worried that I had to wake up early this morning.  The good thing is I did wake up on time.  The bad thing is that I also woke up at 4am and 2am and 11pm.  I knew I was going to be like a zombie today thanks to a horrible night's sleep.

I've been wanting to add quotes from books to the van.  Today I finally put a few up.  One is pictured above, "It was a pleasure to burn."  There will be more.

The route today was pretty standard, but it was hot.  I drank and drank water all day but I hardly peed.  That's not a good sign.  It means that I'm not getting enough water.  But I drank as much as I could during the day.

And it wasn't so much the heat, because I've dealt with hotter days.  It was the humidity that was killing me today.  When I got home I just plopped.  It doesn't help that I had a couple of shots of booze in you.  But, the route itself was pretty standard.

I did take some art work to Little Tokyo today.  The artist was saying that we damaged her work when I arrived with it at her studios.  I don't know, if it was so important I would have thought that she would have packed it instead of assuming the dopes at the library would know how to do that correctly.  Oh well, not my worry now.

When I got home I was tired.  My buddy gets off work at 9pm, and he will often call right after getting out.  Today I could not answer the phone.  I just couldn't talk to him about all this BS at work.  I wanted a night off from the madness of that job.  I needed to not discuss their stupidity, their incompetence and their drama.

Fri July 7, I start this entry with something from work.  Fucking bullshit artists are at it again.  Above are two pictures from the social media feeds touting the opening of the "back door bookstore."  What a fucking bunch of tools.  Who the fuck puts a bookstore in the basement?  And then the stupid administration people tell us not to have the patrons go down the elevator, but rather tell them to go outside and walk around the building to reach the bookstore.  It's almost like they are trying to have the bookstore fail.  Then again, everything they do is a big set-up for failure.  It's funny that they tout that the bookstore will be open tomorrow, because they sent out a email that mentioned how the bookstore will only open once a month, because they can't find volunteers to man the store.  Of course.

I didn't have work today, but I also didn't want to stay at home and deal with the heat or my aunt.  I went into work and asked about the fridge being too warm, and also asked to call insurance companies to get new car insurance.  I got a nice deal, but I'll have to call again about the fridge.

I didn't have much breakfast today and I didn't eat lunch either.  I thought I would be more hungry today, but by the time I ended up going to dinner with Emma I had eaten a slice of pizza.  At dinner I ordered a little something, the sliders pictured above.  But I only finished one of them.  Suffice to say it was an OK dinner.  Not bad company, but at the same time it would have been equally as good to just chill at home.  Though in this heat I would hardly be chilling.  Emma brought her new dog to dinner.  Having had experience with TheGirl's dog at restaurants it was easy to deal with Emma's dog barking at people coming in and out of the restaurant.  And of course Emma's dog, named Lola, did help me get to talk to the hostess.  Who was cute.  Emma even mentioned how dogs are great for flirting.  Yes, they are.  Lola is a cute thing.

Today was my co-worker's last day.  She has a job at Los Angeles in Sun Valley where she starts on Monday.  I'm going to miss her.  But, I'm happy for her despite the fact that it looks like she wasn't too happy to be leaving San Marino.  From what she said to me it looks like the husband forced her to get a full time job.  For various reasons, but at the end it doesn't matter except to say that she had to go.  I walked her out and gave her a hug.  We promised that we would have a drink some time.  But you know how things are.  We probably won't.  Oh well.

Sat July 8, I don't know how it could get any hotter today.  I could not think straight with all this heat.  I took a shower late in the day in order to get the sweat off me.  Oh, it was awful.  I could hardly do anything but stay in my room with the fan on full.

My buddy told me to check my work email and sure enough it was worth it.  The library is having a baby shower for TheDesire.  Good job.  I guess the whole thing is now official.  I won't be able to attend, but I'm sure no tears will be shed.  TheDesire is happy, I'm sure, now that the cat is officially out of the bag.

As if the heat wasn't enough, we had a blackout tonight.  A little after 9pm I was siting in my room watching TV when all the lights went out.  I went on my cell phone to see what had happened, and sure enough a huge part of the Valley was blacked out.  I found out later in the night that there was a fire at a substation in Nothridge.  The DWP shut down the power to certain areas in order to fight the fire at the substation.  The power was off for about an hour, but it made me think of when this could happen due to an earthquake.  I wanted to warm my leftover pizza and I couldn't.  I think we need to invest in some thins for the inevitable earthquake.  I know we have some candles, but my supply is dwindling.  I also need a shotgun (only partially kidding).  I need to get on the ball when it comes to these things.

Mon July 10, Since my coworker started a new job today I got to be on the desk.  I think I already mentioned that I will be doing this schedule until they hire a new person to take over these desk hours.  Although, I have to say that I might lobby to keep these hours.  My shift went well.  I was bouncing from here to there, getting things done.  It was good times.  Of course not every shift is going to be like today's.  However, I think it was a good day on the desk.

A few weeks ago a guy came into the library asking if the library would be interested in hosting a blood drive.  I told the guy that I think we would be, but sent him up to see the boss for actual approval.  Well, today was that blood drive.  And I gave blood today.  But not just blood... plasma.  They used this special machine (pictured above) to get my plasma.  It took twice as long as the normal donation time does.  But, I was glad to do it.

The lady hooking me up to the machine above told me that the machine would take my blood, separate it and then return the red blood cells to my body.  Good enough.  She also mentioned that in that process the IV when the blood was going back into me would be mixed with saline solution and it could possibly make me feel cold.  Sure enough, I felt cold.  Not super cold, but my body did start to respond as if it was very cold.  I started to shiver slightly.  Strange feeling.

TheGirl was saying she was going to donate blood at the same place that we did last year.  From her texts I think she expected me to do that, despite the fact that I told her I was going to do the library's blood drive.  Later on in the day she mentioned how the other blood drive had very few good "prizes."  Last year we got to go to that wax museum that's to our donations.  Not so much this year.  Oh well.  TheGirl might not donate to that blood drive.

I worked the 10am to 2pm shift on the desk.  Then I gave blood until nearly 4pm.  Normally I would get off work at 5pm, but today I figured I would take advantage of this different timing to get my hair cut.  Since I still had intentions of visiting TheGirl at 7pm, and since I had finished my hair cut around 5:30pm I figured I could run another errand.  I decided to kill two birds with one stone by going to Ikea to have supper and to buy some things I didn't buy the last time I was there.

I went to visit TheGirl tonight.  She told me last week that next Monday she won't be home for our Monday visit.  She's going out to see a waitress at one of the restaurants we frequent sing in a club.  So, next week Chan and I will have to find out own entertainment.  I figure I could eat dinner and then go home a little earlier than usual.

Tue July 11, Once again I mention that today was about chronicling the wrongs done by Benedict.  Right off the bat... there is never any outgoing fire mail going to city hall on a Tuesday morning.  That's because he never picks it up from the fire department.  Fucking tool.  I really wish I could nail this guy and get him fired.  But as a friend of mine reminded me these dopes never get fired.  They survive.  What I should do, she said, is fire yourself and get another job.  Good point.

Either way, I continue chronicling.  Strike two was once again Benedict only picking up two of the lunch bags from the free lunch problem.  I always have two, but there should be three.  Benedict doesn't pick up the Adams bag.  But later my buddy told me that he didn't even want to wait for the Grandview bag.  So next week I might only have one bag going back on a Tuesday.  Fucking dope.

This morning Jade handed me three bags for treasury and mentioned that Benedict "forgot" to take them to treasury.  Yeah, sure, "forgot."  Fucking moron.  He keeps puffing his shirt telling everyone on the route how fast and efficient he is on delivery.  It's no trick if you skip nearly half of the tasks you're supposed to do.  Fucking cocksucker!

When I arrived at Adams Ru asked me to to do a favor for her.  There was a crazy patron outside, and she was afraid to go past him to her car, which was parked across the street.  She asked me to drive it up to the library entrance.  Between the crazy guy and that entrance was the van, so it would block his view and she could get into her car unmolested.  I did it, and it was just fun to drive her car while the steering wheel is practically jammed in my ribs.  I pulled up and ran out the door and got in.  But, that's not all.

Of course this dopey guy couldn't leave or not cause problems.  He just had to linger around the library.  He tried to talk to me, but I didn't give him much to hang his hat on.  But after I went inside the library he started to take stuff out of the trash can in front of the library.  Some of the bottles were glass, and he was breaking them on the floor.  I could hear him, but I couldn't see what he was doing.  I decided to stay with the ladies at Adams just in case this guy tried something.  I told the ladies that it might be a good idea to call the police.  But, they said no.  Mainly because Ru was out of the building, and she was the one left in charge.  She wasn't supposed to be out of the building at that time.  But things got more serious, and my coworkers called her to come back to the library.  Before she could arrive the guy entered and of course escalated the bullshit.  He asked if we had anti-bacterial soap in the restroom.  We told him no.  But then he saw that there was some hand sanitizer on the circulation desk and asked if he could use it.  My coworker said that there was very little left, but that he could use it.  He took it to the bathroom and filled it with water.  Then he went outside and appeared to be cleaning the top of the trash can he was fooling around with earlier.  Ru finally arrived and the guy came back in and asked if he could use a computer.  Sure, they said to him.  I figured I would leave and that this was a good time to do so.  The timing was perfect, because as I drove down Chevy I spotted a patrol car.  I pulled over and asked the officer to go to the library to check up on the ladies there because this dope was there.  I explained to the officer what this guy was doing, and how he was shady.  The officer made a U-turn and drove over there.

About an hour later I checked my work email and there was a letter of suspension for this guy.  I texted one of my coworkers and she told me that the guy was kinda calm after I left, but the that he started cussing as soon as the officer arrived.  That was enough to get him banned for ninety days.  Woo!  See ya, crazy sucker.

I was finishing up the route when Les asked me if I could make a special delivery to Grandview of some computers.  Sure, I told Les, and was soon on my way back to Grandview.  This was my THIRD time visiting Grandview today.  I stuffed the van with computers and other computer related shit and jetted to Grandview.  When I got there Snow didn't so much as wave at me.  She's in one of her moods again.  I even commented to my coworkers that work for her that she was moody.  Yes, they said, she's in one of her moods.  Whatever, bitch.  I'm here to deliver your fucking computers so they can install them tomorrow.  She didn't even thank me.  She can go fuck herself.

The past driver who was assembling a desk for the back office told me to get some ice cream in the fridge.  Sure enough, I opened the fridge, instinctively, and found what you see above.  If you can't make the picture out I'll say that it's a bunch of leftover lunches from the free lunch problem.  Adams had a bunch as well.  What they have been told to do at the branches is to throw away the leftover lunches.  Yes, in the trash.  People are starving and these dopes are throwing away lunches.  And of course on the sheets they claim they give most if not all of the lunches away.  Idiots.

Wed July 12, I was flying out the door this morning, figuring I had some time to run a couple of errands before going into work.  Wrong.  Just as I was about to merge to the 101 South I noticed that I had forgotten Chan at home.  There was NO WAY I was not going back for him.  I quickly changed lanes and merged to the 101 North, which was packed.  I was able to make my way to the first exit, but that thing was completely backed up.  I then went out of the exit queue and back to the freeway to exit on Balboa.  I then went this convoluted route in order to return home to get Chan.  The picture above shows point A where I got on the freeway and point B where I returned home.  The entire circle took me about a half an hour.  I'm such a big dope.  How could I forget Chan at home?  I say convoluted, because I had to use side streets to get past all the traffic on Ventura blvd.  What did I expect, it was rush hour.

There was an email from my Glendale job that my coworkers mentioned I should see.  Here's what it says, paraphrased by me.

Benedict will be in need of a blue truck for our 666 EAST performance program, the truck will be used indefinitely or until further notice.  The truck will be used to carry supplies for the event and will be marked 666 EAST.  If you have any questions, please refer them to me.  Thank you all for your understanding!

Ah, what?  He needed a fucking book truck and that merits a fucking email to the ENTIRE library?  Oh this is such bullshit.  I needed a truck last week and this week for the books, but did I go bitching about it to the entire library?  I just looked for one, couldn't find it, and decided to use the hand truck.  Fucking idiots, kowtowing to this shit.  And there's more.

Right under the email I just mentioned there was ANOTHER email pertaining to Benedict.  Here is my paraphrasing of it, with me changing his name to a pseudonym.

Please remember that Benedict is setting up the PA equipment, working with the performers, and MC-ing the events.  Questions and comments about the performances can be directed to him.  He will work with the performers if there are complaints about the sound level.

WHY THE FUCK did we need this email to be sent?  All it says is Benedict is working the Saturday event.  Ah, we already fucking know that!  He's been working those events since the library reopened.  ARGH!  This is such cocksucking bullshit that he says boo and they automatically email the entire city for the slightest thing.  Oh, Benedict will be doing his job on Saturday?  I seriously doubt he will be doing it well.  I don't need this shit!  I don't even know the words to convey just how STUPID these emails are to me.  I'm lost for words in this shit storm of idiocy.

I told TheGirl only a little about that idiot Benedict's antics at dinner tonight.  I wanted to not think about that idiot and his drama.  I just wanted to enjoy the time and have a good meal.  We went to The Counter, since we didn't get to go last week.  I had a belt of whiskey before leaving for dinner and then had a glass of wine at dinner.  Good times, indeed.  I finally took a good picture of Cheyenne looking at me by taking a piece of bacon and placing it right above my phone.  No way she wasn't going to stare into the camera THIS TIME.  It was good times, for sure.  And not talking about idiots from work really helped me relax tonight.

Thu July 13, I found out today that the guy I talk to all the time about things, Mike, fro the city garage is retiring soon.  I liked that guy, and I'm going to miss him.  But, he bought a nice home up in Canyon Country and is moving up there.  Good for him.  No more work BS.  It was good to have someone at the garage that is a friend and a good contact.

And we come to the shit storm that is Benedict.  Les forwarded an email from Pasadena mentioning how Benedict left the book bins outside not just July 3rd, but also this Monday (July 10th).  As you can read above the person at Pasadena mentions how Benedict left the bins outside on both days because he found the door locked.  I pointed out to Les how on July 3rd he went to Pasadena LATE, because he "forgot" that he had to deliver the books to Pasadena.  More on my talk with Les later.  In short, Benedict's excuse that the door was locked holds no water.  None.  Because by that time on July 3rd the fucking library is already open.  He could go through the front door and open the delivery door from the inside!  And as far as July 10th, there is little chance that Benedict is already dropping off the books at 8:30am.  Vagabundo and I pointed out that you can't even get into the parking lot until 8:45am.  So how is he not able to find someone there?  The place is crawling with employees at that time.  But it gets better.

Useless Les then spoke to Benedict on the phone, and wrote an email back to the people at Pasadena explaining Benedict's side of the story.  I already said why the July 3rd explanation for no one answering his knock is bogus.  But I'll repeat it... he went late to Pasadena, by some accounts past 1pm.  To say that the fucking door was locked, and no one was there to answer his knock is an out and out lie.  Plain and simple.  Because even if the door was locked, as he says, he can fucking go through the front door of the library and enter to the dock area through there.  Or at least go find someone.  Idiot!  His excuse for July 10th is a lie as well.  Let's assume Benedict is there at 8:30am as he claims.  His excuse for then leaving the bins outside because the door was locked, AGAIN, is shit.  Benedict claiming that he didn't have the time to then help the Pasadena driver take the bins inside is that he is on a tight schedule to pick up the free lunches.  I pointed out to Les that we are scheduled to pick up the lunches from Pacific at 11am.  That gives Benedict two and a half hours to reach Pacific.  He's going to say that he didn't have a few minutes to help out the Pasadena driver because he was on a tight schedule?  No.  It's a lie.  He has two and a half hours to go to city hall and pick up the lunches.  Now I know for a fact that this Monday he "forgot" the cash for treasury and so didn't go to treasury.  He simply went to the mail room.  That task isn't more than fifteen minutes... tops.  So what's his hurry?

When I got back from the route I pointed out to Les some of the arguments I have already said in the above paragraphs.  How Benedict has no excuse for the door being supposedly locked.  How his excuse for being on a tight schedule has no merit.  How he has had previous run-ins with the Pasadena driver.  But lastly I pointed out to Les that Benedict always seems to have a ready excuse for these things that happen to him.  He never takes responsibility for his mistakes.  Never.  Not once in all these incidences that constitute a shit storm of complaints has he ever said he's at fault.  Not once during the July 3rd explanation did Benedict offer that he was late to Pasadena because he forgot he had to go deliver the books there.  Not once in his excuse for July 10th did he mention that he forgot the money for treasury.  I wanted Les to understand that there is a reason why Benedict gets a lot of complaints against him, and it's because of his own actions.  Not anyone else's actions.  He doesn't do his job well, and when people call him out on it he makes excuses.  Because, it's never his fault.  He's the victim of other people at work.  They want to "get him" or "put him down," he might say.  Well no.  I simply want him to do his job correctly.  Not half-assed like he does now.  Benedict is an fucking tool.  One of these times all this is going to catch up to him.  I hope.  Knowing these idiots at work all this will be once again swept under the rug.  And the next time Benedict fucks up they will be right there with a ready excuse.  One provided to them by Benedict himself.

Fri July 14, I come into work and I find that the fire door is blocked.  I don't know why the patrons ALWAYS move the chairs in front of the fire doors.  I have to constantly move them away from the door.  The other day some guy was asleep in one of these chairs, and of course his chair was right in front of the fire door.  Ah, no.  I woke that fool up and told him he needed to move his chair out of the fire exit.  He was polite, I'll give him that.  It's a never ending battle against dopes.

The ESL "class" today was very lightly attended.  One of the ladies told me that two of the "students" were no longer going to come, because they wanted something that was more like a structured class.  Like an actual class, not this conversation stuff.  Oh well, it wasn't my idea to do this.  Hopefully this will be the last "semester."  I would really like that.

I asked TheWish to dinner a couple of weeks ago.  Tonight we went out.  I had several places I wanted to go with her.  One was a restaurant that I only recently found out about.  But, I didn't pick it because their menu is limited.  Then I thought of going to a steakhouse that I've been wanting to go since I started work in San Marino.  But, that place is expensive and I thought that I best save it for after TheWish and I are sleeping together.  If it ever gets to that point.  I do want it to get to that point, but I'm also not feeling the vibe from her.  Dang.  I mean, she doesn't say no to the dinner invites, but she also doesn't give me the physical flirt signs.  Oh well.  I did mention doing this again.

I took TheWish to a pizza joint in Eagle Rock.  Big mistake.  The place has some good reviews online, but after having their pizza I say fail.  Every time I ask, "How can they fuck up 'blank,'" I find out exactly how they can fuck up "blank."  The pizza was just mediocre.  I've had take out pizza that's better than this stuff.  It was flavorless and cut in a funny way.  I'm not sure how anyone can make really bad pizza like this and stay in business.  But this place does.  Maybe their other meals are really good.  Maybe they have the best baked ziti in the world.  Yeah, I doubt it.  Still, TheWish's company was good.  I do like her, and truthfully I'd like to kiss her.  But I'm also a chicken.

Sat July 15, I don't work on Saturdays these days.  Not since Glendale closed for the renovation.  Since then I've only worked a couple of Saturdays here and there.  Well, today was one of those.  But instead of covering the reference desk, I ended up helping out on the circulation desk for nearly the entire first hour of my shift.  This is because the circulation manager under staffed the desk... again!  He ALWAYS does that, and then the circulation staff is crying out for help.  And of course since I was the dynamo clerk years ago I'm asked to step in.  But I'm supposed to be working the reference desk.  But, as said dynamo, I somehow managed to work both desks during that first hour.  It was nuts, and not right.  But, nothing is right these days.  Nothing.

The rest of the shift after the first hour was pretty standard.  Not super busy.  It was like old times with Holly on the desk.  I do miss working with her, because she just gets it.  Where every other coworker seems to not get it, she really gets it.  Oh well.

After work the coworkers insisted that we go out and get some drinks.  The entire time when we were talking about where we might go they kept on asking me "Where should we go?"  How should I know?  Finally I said that we should go to the Raymond in Pasadena.  Of course my choice falls by the wayside when they inform me that they want to go to El Torito.  Juuuust great.  To jump ahead a bit, of course the company was good, but the drinks were super weak.  I dare ask if there was any actual alcohol in my two margaritas.  So terrible.  And I ended up having to pay more than anyone, because that's what always happens to me.  I ordered a quesadilla and one margarita.  But one of my coworkers asked the waitress for another round.  I didn't want another round of weak sauce.  But they charged me for it.  Fuck!  I dropped nearly $50 on the quesadilla and two Cadillac margaritas.  I mean how is that fair?  This always happens when I go out with a group.  Also, I did't want that second margarita.  If we had gone to the Raymond we could have each ordered individually and that way I could have picked a Manhattan to drink instead of a weak margarita.  But, instead I dropped $50 on some bad food and drinks.  I did take the balance of my meal home.  I wasn't going to leave that.  Like I said though, the company was good.  We ended up talking a lot about past relationships... the ones that got away.  I told them, that's the story of my life.  Every girl I've known is the one that got away.  It's funny that Talia texted me today, because she might be the only one that didn't get away.  I ran away.  Still, I had a good time with her for a while.  Back in my CSUN days I had a good time with her.  Now, not so much.  Next time we go to the Raymond.

Mon July 17, There was no way I was going to forget Chan today.  But I was in a hurry today because I was going to be on the reference desk.  I didn't forget Chan, and I hurried to work.  The morning shift can be an interesting one.  I won't bore you with the boring details, but the shit got done is all I'll say.  I kinda like this Monday morning shift.  I might as to be kept on it.  I think it would be a good idea to have two people on the desk in the morning.  Because, it can get pretty hectic.

One of my coworkers mentioned that someone from California pizza kitchen dropped off some chicken sandwiches and that I should get one quick.  I went upstairs, staked my claim to one of the lunch boxes and continued my shift.  At lunch I enjoyed the lovely free chicken sandwich instead of the lunch I had brought from home.  It was kinda yummy, but it was also FREE.  Can't beat that! 

Last week TheGirl mentioned how she and TheHusband were going to see a waitress, from the restaurant they visit on Fridays, sing.  I figured I would go out and have a nice meal instead of going home so fast.  I also thought to do some errands as well.  I did the errand, which turned out to be a bust.  But then TheGirl informed me earlier in the day that she was not going to see this waitress sing after all.  I was OK with that.  It meant we could visit TheGirl and Cheyenne.  And we did.  It was good times.  I updated TheGirl as far as Benedict's antics.  She thinks I should tell the boss about what I know.  Yeah, but at the same time he doesn't act upon that.  So I'm stuck.  Stuck besides a guy who won't do his work, and a manager that won't tell him to do his work.

Tue July 18, Once again my Tuesday route starts off by taking pictures of the wrong amount of lunch bags in the van.  And of course the always present, red bins.  I've said it before, but I'll repeat it.  Red bins should be taken in at the end of the route.  Why he leaves them in the van is because he's a lazy prick.  Why he only has two lunch bags is because he doesn't go to Adam's at the end of his route.  He needs to pay.  All this shit is making me sick.  I'm sick of having to deal with the nickel and dime bullshit.  Because, I have to clean up his half-assed effort from the day before.

When I was just about to leave for Pasadena Jade stopped me and asked if I had the treasury money.  I told him I did.  He then tells me, "Benedict 'forgot' to take the money to treasury yesterday."  I told Jade that no, Benedict did not "forget."  But that he didn't want to deal with it, so he forgot it on purpose.  This is the second week in a row that he's "forgotten" the treasury money.  His story is getting old, and it doesn't hold any water.  He's a bad liar.  I so need him to get what's coming to him sooner than later.

I drove into Grandview and the former driver tells me, "Go get some pastries, we have plenty from yesterday."  He proceeds to tell me that there weren't a lot of people at yesterday's grand reopening of the branch.  The best part was that supposedly not that many people showed up.  And, that instead of one of the city counsel people, one of her flunkies showed up in lieu of her being there.  I expected no less.  It's awesome to hear when they fail.  Because they fail... hard.

There isn't much to say about the rest of the route.  It was actually light for a Tuesday.  Especially since my Brand stop now includes Monday and Tuesday delivery.  I did let it be known that the bigger delivery today was because it was two day's worth.  I let that "slip" out as the lady who made the decision to not have delivery on Mondays was standing by the circulation desk at Brand.  Fuck everyone.  These things need to be said.

This girl is just so nice.  I met her boyfriend on Tuesday.  Of course even if she was single I would have zero chance.  Oh well, it's just nice that I can sometimes take pictures of her and she lets me.

I drove home, exhausted.  I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible.  When I arrived, I took my shoes off, opened the window and placed the box fan in the frame in order to draw in some cool air from outside, and I went right to bed.  I was a tired monkey, to say the least.  This seems to be a thing these days, where my body just shuts down.  It really feels as though someone turned off a switch, and I'm just winding down.  That was how I felt today.  And of course I passed out within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.  I woke up about an hour later, feeling groggy.  But then in a few minutes I was feeling much better.  Rested, but not fully charged.  Still, now I could get some food.

Wed July 19, Because I'm working every Friday while they find a replacement for the librarian that quit at San Marino, I have to watch my hours.  I have to make sure I don't get dinged for working too many hours in a week.  Since I'm doing Fridays I figured this would allow me to show up later on Wednesday, since my shift is on the desk from 2pm to 5:30pm.  But I can't stay home the entire time, and you know why.  Hence me going to work and pretending to work.  Today I knew Pseudo Supervisor would want me to do something for her.  So I went ahead and hid in the community room.  There were no programs, thankfully.  I had gone to the conference room on the second floor, but it turned out that there was a tablet class up there.  This is why I had to find another place to chill.  At first I started doing some work on the computer.  However, in a little while I found myself getting sleepy.  That is why I ended up in the community room (pictured above).

Though I'm still not sure about anything to do with TheWish, except that I do like her a lot, I still try to interact with her as much as possible at work.  Today she wore a cute little outfit (as partially seen above).  I'm still trying to figure out what are my intentions with TheWish.  Other than sleeping with her, of course.  I can't be that much of a cad to just sleep with her and walk away.  Or can I?  Yeah, that's pretty terrible that these days I'm too emotionally stunted to want anything more than a physical relationship with a woman.

TheGirl and I had dinner at a new place tonight.  A place she walks by on her treks with Cheyenne.  I have to say, it was a nice change of pace.  She was down today, saying that she was slightly depressed because she looked and she makes what she made about fifteen years ago.  That's nuts.  She needs to make more money.  There's a self-lowering shelf for the home that her brother and friend are making.  It's in the prototype stage right now, but the reality is that it's no where near being complete.  She is a partner in the endeavor, but she wonders if it will ever come to fruition.  And because of that she worries about money.  It's a valid thing to worry about.  I tried to cheer her up.  I don't think it worked.  But it did make me think, "What am I doing with my photography?"  I need to shut up and do what I tell other people as advice.  Anyway, the food at this new place was good.  I will definitely want to go back again.  The booze, not so much.  They made my Manhattan with ice in it.  Not good.  And it was weak, but that's OK, since I had my flask and took a few swigs before we arrived at the restaurant.

Thu July 20, The back-up camera on the van has been inverted, in that the right side objects now appear on the left side, and vice versa.  I went to the garage last week, but couldn't stick around while I looked around for one of the mechanics.  This morning I pulled up to the curb next to where we move the books in and out and I see that the camera is actually oriented correctly.  I take the picture above, and text Vagabundo that it seems to be working.  Ah no.  Next time I used it, it was back to being mis-oriented.  Damn!

Here is a typical scene at what is now the newly "renovated" Grandview library.  You can maybe see three people in the photo above.  I grant you, once school is back in session this place will be PACKED with brats and their moms.  For now, however, the place is a ghost town.  One of the problems with this and a couple of other locations, is that the numbers are skewed by the fact that they are located near a public school.  The kids flood the libraries and that pushes up their numbers.  When school is out during the summer months these libraries are nearly empty.  Grandview will be filled with children soon enough.  But the problem isn't the number of patrons going in and out.  The problem is the fundamental problem that plagues the library system I work for.  That is, a lack of understanding of what a library can be, and what it is in the absolute.  Libraries are not to be some slip dash get them in and get them out commercial endeavor.  They are here to cultivate thoughts, and knowledge.  I'm not sure how having a stupid "one desk" model serves that purpose.  To me it's just about minimizing the workers.  The one desk model seems to be more interested in padding the amount of administrators and lessening the number of actual grunts, the ones that do the actual work.  This doesn't actually save the system any money, because the last raise my boss Maleficent received was more than my annual salary.  And she wasn't the only administrator to get a big raise.  But while they get more money, the workers get marginalized and minimized.  They want us to work "lean," but never do they sacrifice anything in the equation.  Maleficent makes easily ten times what I make.  To wrap up this rant I'll just say that Maleficent lost her way a long time ago.  Being that she is the boss she has steered a library system that was kinda OK into the rocks.  Simple as that.

Just before I left for the day I had to go use the restroom.  The above photo is of the men's handicap stall, closed due to a plumbing problem.  Mind you, this damn thing has been closed for two weeks.  And not that it was open before that, but here and there.  Since opening day this fucking toilet has backed up at least twice a week, and sometimes three or four times a week.  How is that something you can point to and claim that your building is a 21st century library?  You can't!  Not without sounding like a douche.  At least to me.  But, these dopes didn't upgrade the pipes, and now the fucking new and improved bathroom is actually not any better than the old bathroom.  When you walk in the air is filled with every fart and shit ever pushed out in that restroom.  Oh, that's another thing, there's ZERO ventilation in that fucking new restroom.  I feel like I should be wearing some sort of gas mask just to take a fucking piss there.  There is NO WAY I would ever take a dump there.  I found out from a couple of people that they are sending handicap people that want to use the restroom, but can't, to the building next door.  Oh sure, that works as long as that building is open.  But what if it's late at night and someone in a wheelchair wants to take a shit?  What then?  Fucking idiots need to swing from the end of the rope for their ineptitude.

Fri July 21, I don't have much to report on work today.  Just a normal Friday.  Did my thing on the desk.  Then had to do the ESL class.  There is talk that since the numbers are down that the ESL thing will go away.  But they're going to wait until the end of the year to assess this fact.  Ah, I could tell them now.  They need to find a teacher.  This ESL conversation thing is good, but it's also not what the people want.  They want a structured thing.  Something that is an actual class.  I wish I could find someone to fill this hole.  That way I wouldn't have to stay so late on Fridays.

Whatever!  I would stick around for TheWish, but at the same time why bother?  I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm a gayblade by now.  Why?  Oh, maybe because I've taken her out three times and I've yet to make a pass at her.  But of course my whole thing is I don't want to come off as a cad.  But I do want to somehow get to the point where we might be physical.  Ah, this is what I hate about this shit.  I really don't have much interest in having a whole relationship.  And that's on me.  I'm too tired these days.  However, as I've said here before, I would like the physical manifestations of a relationship.  Yeah, but with none of the commitment.  So yeah, I am a cad.

Sat July 22, I woke this morning and my aunt asked if I wanted to go to IHOP for breakfast.  I wasn't too keen on the idea, but at the same time I figure why not.  We went, had a good meal, and were back home still relatively early.  We marveled at the fact that the place was not packed.  Though, we did have to sit outside.  Which was fine, the weather wasn't too hot today.

One thing that was on my mind was my next mortgage payment.  I know that the rates have gone up a bit, but when I checked on something else I also checked to see that mortgage payment and it said the next payment was going to be $341.  Ah, what?!  I could not believe it.  I thought to myself, if that's going to be the new payment I need to make some extra money fast.  The other day Jade offered me some hours after the route.  He wants me to stay until 10pm.  That's absolutely impossible.  There's no way I could work from 8am to fucking 10pm.  I could MAYBE put in a couple of more hours and work until 7pm, maybe 8pm at the latest.  But really, that's a crazy day as well.  However, if I need to make that mortgage payment I may HAVE to take some or all of those extra hours.  Fucking sucks!

Well, it turns out that $341 isn't the new amount I have to pay each month.  There was a one time annual fee that's charged on the mortgage payment.  Still, I need to be able to down the principle amount faster than I am now.  Which means I SHOULD be making a payment of about $350, or more.  More would be pretty impossible, but I should be able to make $350.  ARGH!

With all that is it any wonder that I want to escape into old video games.  A few days ago I got the idea of downloading some emulators for old gaming console like the SNES and the NES.  Playing using the keyboard is not fun.  Which made me go online and see if I could find a controller.  Sure enough, I found one and ordered it.  It came in the mail today, and voila... SNES gaming.  What I decided to do is download some games I still have, but also a few games that I never had or sold back years ago.  I did also download some games that I had never played before.  It's cool to play these old games after so many years.  Some of them aren't that graphically sophisticated as the ones out now.  But they were fun, and that's what I like.

Last week, when I had dinner with TheWish, we drove over the Colorado Street bridge and noticed some poles going up in various places along the bridge.  Well, tonight I got my answer to what those things were.  The city has placed ugly fencing around those poles, in order to keep people from using certain parts of the bridge to climb over and commit suicide.  The whole esthetic of the bridge has already been ruined by some other measures to make sure people don't use the bridge to commit suicide.  But, the thing is, if someone wants to kill themselves having a fence around a bridge won't prevent that.  I don't say don't do what you can to prevent something like that.  But then when you ruin everything in order to keep a small percentage of people from doing something they will ultimately do anyway, it's dumb.  But, that's how things are done nowadays.  It's always a huge response to something small and sometimes statistically insignificant.  Because, it is easier to put a bandage on something instead of finding the root causes of that and trying to actually fix it.

Sun July 23, Last night I had a strange experience with the booze I drink.  It tasted strange.  I finished up some tequila that I bought and was still in need of a drink.  I decided to open up a bottle of whiskey I had.  When I poured it into the glass I had it tasted to me like turpentine.  I thought that maybe it was a bad batch.  But no, I went to my stand-by stash and it tasted exactly the same, like turpentine.  Very strange.  What could be the cause of such a tragedy?  This morning I smelled, but didn't taste, the whiskey.  It didn't smell like it did last night, but it also didn't smell like it usually smells to me.  I wonder what is going on.  I'll try some tonight to see if it still taste like turpentine.  I sure hope it doesn't.

At work I worked with two substitutes.  One is the girl that gave her two weeks notice and is soon going to be gone.  She's great.  A Disney freak like myself.  We spent nearly the entire shift talking about food at the parks.  I haven't been there in so long that I am getting the itch to go back.  But then I'm so tired after work on Sunday.  I wish someone would just drive me down there.  In other words, I wish I was rich enough to afford a driver to take me down there and drive me back home after an exhausting fun day at Disneyland.

Mon July 24, There was talk a while back that the library would scale back the monitors in the afternoons from two to one.  Effectively cutting the budget in half for that position.  Well, there is still talk that they will make the monitors choose between the two of them who gets to stay as a monitor and who moves to a clerk position.  This is going to suck having to choose, and I don't envy them.  Today the two monitors were sitting in the back office talking about this subject, I think.  They were definitely talking about their schedules.  I hate to say it, but they placed themselves in this situation.  They were the two that almost never ran the monitor thing separate.  When you have two people walking around that means you negate having two people do the job.  Pe is OK in my book, but she plays everything wrong when here at work.  And how the time has come when the boss will ask one of them to step down as a monitor.  Bad.

Whenever I wear the shirt above I'm bound to get a compliment.  Today was no different.  Shawnee said I looked nice in this shirt.  Score!  I need to get more shirts like this one.  Woo.  I haven't worn this shirt in a long time.  Mainly because it lost a button.  But the other night I was drunk, and I felt the need to fix some things, and one of them was to sew the button back onto this shirt.

Tue July 25, The above photo is from this morning.  Not from last week, or the week before that.  But, the pattern doesn't change when it comes to Benedict.  He's a douche and will remain a douche.  I wish there was a way of getting rid of this dummy.

Here is another example of Benedict's laziness.  The bottom bins are obviously nearly empty.  There was another bin that was just as empty.  He could have consolidated those three bins into one bin.  But, that would take time.  And Benedict doesn't want to take the time to do this.  It might be nitpicking to say that Benedict should consolidate, but really he should take the few moments necessary to do things right.

When I got to Casa I walked in and noticed that the book cart was sitting by the backdrop.  I saw Benedict at the desk.  He didn't turn to look at me.  Which is fine by me.  When I came back with the book he knew I was going to place them in the back of the desk.  Just as I walked in the made a beeline to the back.  My buddy, who witnessed all this, said to me later that Benedict just grabbed a cart with books and took it to the back area.  But of course Benedict didn't feel the need to return that book cart to the front.  He just left the damn thing in the back.  I tells ya, this guy is not cool.  I don't care if he gives me the silent treatment.  He can eat shit, for all I care.  I just want him to fucking do his job.

No week of routes could be complete without a special delivery.  Today they had me take some security panels up to Brand.  They were bulky, but not too heavy, thankfully.  No way Benedict does something like this.  but, I do it without saying boo because I need the money.  Gotta eat, I always say.

Wed July 26, My aunt made me a chicken patty sandwich today.  She has this idea to have the order of the sandwich be, from top to bottom, bread, mayo, lettuce, chicken, lettuce, mayo, bread.  She places that second bed of lettuce on the sandwich, because she says the breaded chicken will get soggy if it touches the mayo.  Well you know what?  I like some mayo on my chicken patty.  She knows I don't like it this way, but she insists on making the sandwich in this order.  I switched it to only one side with lettuce, as seen above, before I ate the damn thing.  She makes me tuna salad sandwiches the same way.  ARGH!

Once again I went to work at my normal time, but I wasn't doing any real library work today.  But then Pseudo supervisor asked me if I could do something with her husband's business logo.  She wanted to blow it up to a larger size, but the only file she has is a really tiny file.  Any attempt to blow it up just makes the whole thing pixelated.  We tried several things to blow it up without too much archiving, with no luck.  I finally told Pseudo supervisor that I could just redraw the damn thing.  Sure enough, in about a half an hour I had the rough drawing.  After some refining you have the logo as of today (pictured above).  I hope she likes it.

There isn't much to report from today's reference shift.  I guess the only thing that I like is that I feel comfortable on the desk these days.  Maybe that's a bad thing, because that might mean I'm complacent.  Hmm.  I interacted with TheWish a bit.  She looked really cute.  I don't know how to take it to another level with her.  I guess I hoped that maybe she would send me a signal.  Nothing so far.  I really do want to kiss her.

I went with TheGirl to dinner at Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake.  It was good times.  We talked about a possible trip up north.  She wanted to possibly go next month, but she can't afford it.  I suggested we maybe try for several months from now in February or so.  She agreed.  The both of us are poor.

As I went to pay the bill I noticed the girl pictured above.  She's a youtuber, and I follow her on social media.  I first saw her years ago on a Disneyland blog, and since then I've followed her to her own youtube channel.  Anyway, the point is I saw her tonight at Bob's.

Thu July 27, There isn't much to be said about the route today, other than it went well.  Pasadena was fine, and there were no extra deliveries.  This is the second to last week for the free lunches as well.  A week from today I'll deliver my last free lunch to the branches.  This free lunch program has been such a pain, but towards the end it was less so.

As I said before, there isn't much to report about the route.  I can say that the delivery is slowing down, in the sense that I've noticed fewer bins going in and out.  I'm fine with the slow down, but I know it's only temporary.

They finally delivered the new dryer today.  My aunt was calling me while I was at work and it was not cool.  I should have put my number instead of the home number.  But that wouldn't have helped, because she was worried about what time they were going to arrive.  Sears told me from 12:30pm to 2:30pm.  They actually arrived at 11:30am.  Pretty good.  They came in and hooked up the machine.  I had unhooked everything last night.  What I didn't do was pay for the hauling off of the dryer, but I gambled that the delivery guys would take it anyway.  Just like they did with the fridge.  They didn't, but I'll have the city pick it up.  I also didn't pay for the hook up, which was another $70 for that.  Ah, no, I'll do it.  Well, I also gambled that they would look at my aunt and hook it up for her.  Sure enough, they did.  Woo!  I love it when a plan comes together.

Fri July 28, Work was work today.  I had this idea to help me with my stomach pains in the middle of the morning.  I don't have a big breakfast in the morning.  I'm simply not that hungry.  But then I get hungry around 11am.  I figured that it might be a good idea to buy some cold cuts and some small bread and make myself some sandwich sliders, like those pictured above.  I'm happy to report that the sliders hit the spot.  They didn't ruin my lunch, and I didn't have to deal with hunger pains.  Cha-ching!

TheWish looked really cute today.  She just wore her work attire, but she looked really nice.  Not to keep repeating myself, I'd like to be intimate with her.  But how?  I'm so bad at this stuff.  I'm probably already in the friend zone thank to my inaction.

Today is the fifth anniversary of my hike on an unnamed trail at Julia Pfeiffer Burns in Big Sur.  In the past I've called it the enlightenment trail, since it was as close to enlightenment that I've experienced.  Since then I've returned to Big Sur many times.  Almost too many times to count.  But I've only returned to that Julia Pfeiffer Burns trail once.  And that one time I could not recreate the path I took that day.  I've talked about what that place means to me, but I'll just repeat it again.  That's where I fell in love with Big Sur.  Simple as that.  I need to return.

Sat July 29, I wanted to share one more picture from my Big Sur trip from five years ago.  I took this just before leaving Deetjen's and returning to Los Angeles.  I had such a wonderful time during that weekend five years ago.  It was a near perfect trip.  I saw so much, much more than I'm able to do these days when I go up north.  Suffice to say that trip put the zap in me about Big Sur.  I've returned so many times, but that FIRST trip will always be the best.  It's so very special, because like I said it was perfect.  I've had some great trips up there since.  Every year for the last four years I've returned during Thanksgiving.  But staying in Carmel is different than staying at Deetjen's in Big Sur.  Not going to lie, I love Carmel now so much.  I feel that the peninsula is like a second home to me.  TheGirl and I had plans to go up there in the next couple of months, but those are now postponed until past the new year.  The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that I'll be going back up there in November.

I basically slept all day today.  I'm just so tired these days.  By the end of the week I just want to rest and sleep.  Nothing else.  And it really hits me like a ton of bricks when I get sleepy.  Today I was on the computer and boom, I was nearly asleep.  I went to bed and within minutes I was out like a light.  I woke up somewhat refreshed, but not totally.  I still went back to sleep after waking up for my initial nap.  After I woke up the second time I felt rested.  But think about the fact that I had to sleep right in the middle of the day.  This could be a daily thing.  I could sleep a couple of hours in the middle of any day.

Sun July 30, Pe talked to me today about the scheduling for the monitors.  She said that they told them one of them had to stop being a monitor.  But Pe asked if they could split the two and a half hour shift between them.  Pe would be the monitor for an hour and fifteen minutes, and then LaFlor would do the same for the second half of the shift.  It's fucking bullshit.  This way they can have both of them be on the desk, working as clerks.  But they make LESS working as clerks.  They make them work more hours for the same salary they were making before.  I'm not going to sit here and not tell you that Pe and LaFlor didn't help themselves by their actions on monitor patrol.  The fact that they nullified having two people on patron by always standing together made one of them instantly expendable.  I tried to tell them that a long time ago, but Pe is stubborn and she has her own ways of doing things.  But those aren't always the right way.

Mon July 31, It was seven years ago that TheGirl and I first hooked up.  The short version is that she called me one random Saturday and asked me if I wanted to go get some food.  Sure, I said.  And that's how this whole history with her began.  Though our friendship has lasted much longer than our actual relationship, it's been a good run.

Chan and I went to visit TheGirl, as is a Monday tradition.  She mentioned something about how she didn't like postponing a trip up north until next year.  She said she feels the need to get out of the city.  It's funny that everyone I know feels this need to get out of the city.  Yesterday I was talking to MontereyGirl on the phone and she mentioned how she wants to take a road trip, because she needs to get out of the city.  I get that as well, but I'm not as in need right this minute.  So there's a possibility that I might go on a road trip in September and October and then my Carmel trip in November.  That's a lot of trips.

This picture of a prayer wheel is from my trip up to Carmel a few weeks ago.  Specifically it's Soquel, which is just outside of Santa Cruz, at the Land of the Medicine Buddha.

This was taken at a restaurant named Little Napoli in Carmel.  I can't remember how many years ago I tried to get a table there, but it was packed.  On this last trip I finally got in.  It's so pretty, and the food was great.

I went out to dinner and while I sat outside I looked back inside and I found the I liked the framing of the bench, the window and the guy in the window.

I went back out to Long Beach with a friend.  While walking around I took more pictures of old motels.  This one called itself an inn, but it's a run down motel.