Not to spoil things, but I dare say that April has been the best month of 2017, so far.

Sat Apr 1, I didn't do anything today but sleep.  I so need sleep.  By the time Friday and Saturday come around I have no energy.  I don't know why my aunt doesn't understand I need to decompress.  I only get one day off.  Dammit.

Sun Apr 2, At nearly 1am last night Talia called me, but since I have the phone set up to not disturb I didn't know she called until this morning.  After that I didn't really want to deal with her, since Talia has so much baggage.  I don't need that in my life.  I texted her and she just said that she slept outside last night.  You know, she has money.  She could have gone to a hotel or something.  She could have called the police on her brother.  What could I do for her anyway?  Not to be callous, but I'm not in her life in the way that this is at all my problem.

I got out on the road and I checked the maps app.  To my surprise there was an extra icon that looked like Mrs. Pacman.  I clicked on it and sure enough, it turned the street in my neighborhood into a Mrs. Pacman grid.  I think that's pretty cool.  I wonder if they'll keep that for a while.

Once again I had notions of going to Disneyland, but once again I don't have the energy to actually go down there.  I really should have, but at the same time I liked just going home.  I spent so much money on this annual pass this year and yet I've only visited the park once since the beginning of the year.  That's real money that I'm spending on a ticket I'm not even using.  I WANT to go, but at the same time I really don't have the inclination to go by myself.  I wanted to go with TheGirl, but her pass doesn't work on Sundays.  It's fucked up.  I guess I could ask Snow, but at the same time I don't.  Though, she would be able to go.

On a different but similar subject, I found out that TheLamp is kinda a Disney freak.  Yeah, but she's not going to go with me either.

Mon Apr 3, I put a picture of the chiller above, because it is clearly busted.  It isn't working well, or at all at times.  This is not good, since the temperatures are going to only get warmer.

Pseudo supervisor told me today that she doesn't want to do this job anymore.  I get it, she's been doing this long before I even worked here.  She may be burnt out, or she sees the writing on the wall.  I'm taking it as she's burnt out on the whole thing for now.  But, it's very possible that she also sees the writing on the wall.  She told me that they are considering taking her out of the office and sending her upstairs to the processing room, because they are considering outsourcing the book processing.  Such bullshit!

I wanted to try to eat dinner after my Monday shift tonight, so I went to a place where I've usually bought the breakfast burrito.  They have good breakfast burritos, but their hamburgers are just so-so.  They packed the burger with so much lettuce that I could barely get my mouth around the damn thing.  But if you look at the above picture closely you will see that the actual burger patty is pretty thin.  I also figured out tonight that I really need to cut down on my portions.  I can't eat as much as I used to eat.  I don't know why I can't eat the portions I used to, except to say that perhaps it's something inside me that is preventing it.  I remember when my mother was getting sick, and the cancer was growing inside her, she started to eat less.  She just couldn't eat what she used to eat.  And now, here I am, wondering if my stomach feeling smaller is the first sign of the stomach cancer that killed my Mother and then my Grandmother.  Guess I'll know in time.

After what felt like an eternity I was finally able to roughhouse with Cheyenne tonight.  She's worn that darn cone for what feels like forever.  It's been so long that Cheyenne couldn't keep up.  She pooped out after playing for just a little bit.  Of course she gave me more than one coat of saliva to my face.  I've missed that, can't lie.

Tue Apr 4, There isn't much to say about today's work day.  The route was pretty standard.  When I arrived this morning I saw three small pallets of wrapped electronics.  I looked and I thought it was the self checkout scanners, but when I got home I looked it up online and it turns out they are book scanners.  Ah, because we need three scanners.  Perhaps the library is thinking of going digital.  Who knows, all I know is that I mentioned they were our "replacements."  Meaning they were the self checkout machines.  This started a discussion with a couple of my coworkers how the people upstairs that run this fucking joint don't know what the fuck is going here.  There is no way I'm not going to be standing next to the "self" checkout machines "helping" patrons check out their books because they can't do it.  Fucking idiots.

The route today was pretty standard.  All the full timers were up at one of the branches having some sort of seminar.  It was a waste of time, and I don't have to be there to say that.  When I got to the branch where they were having their seminar I just happened to arrive when they were having a break.  Every one of the looked like they had just walked through a dessert.  They are so tired looking and it wasn't even 2pm.  They still had to be there for another four hours.  What a waste of time.

Because all the full timers were at this so-called seminar I saw that the branches had skeleton crews.  When I got to my second to last stop there was a girl that I had not seen in at least six months, but most likely more than that.  I remember that I considered asking her out a long time ago.  But of course being Armenian there was NO WAY she would actually go out with me.  It was just nice that she gave me a hug when she saw me today.

I have to say that life without Jade was REALLY nice.  See, he had to be at the seminar today.  I saw him through the doors of the branch they were having the seminar for a moment.  I don't know if he saw me, but I don't give a shit.  All I know is that today was really nice, because I didn't have to deal with all this bullshit.  New guy did tell me that Jade went not only to Les but to Maleficent and the new assistant director.  That's pretty crazy, but at the same time he has no creditability with any of those people.  Why?  Because he has burnt every bridge at that job.

I told new guy that I am just waiting for May 1st, when the library finally opens to the public.  I feel that we will go back to the old ways once the doors open.  But, as I write this I feel that I NEED to tell Les that there is no way that Jade should be given any authority over us at the end of the day.  I say this because I know that he is bucking to be the driver supervisor.  There is no way that could be a good thing.  No way!

Wed Apr 5, I've been brushing my teeth for the last week with a terribly worn out toothbrush.  When I went into the store there was a girl wearing tights, much like the picture above.  I mean this girl's behind was wrapped skin tight.  She had a figure much like the girl above.  Just incredible.

When I got into work pseudo supervisor mentioned that she wanted to work on the basement today.  Of course I went down there to help her out.  We took apart some wood frames that we have used for previous fundraisers.  Since this year there's talk that there won't be a fundraiser pseudo supervisor is starting to clean up things.  Actually, she figures that she will be sent packing and that the Foundation won't be needed.  I think that's a silly idea, but what do I know.  We went down to the basement and did our thing.  The boss sent me a text, but ever since I got the new phone it won't connect to my old router down there, which I set up so I could still text and stuff.  I think that now I need to set it up like the router upstairs, so that anyone that has the upstairs password should be able to login in the basement.  My point is that I could not get any texts while I was in the basement.  Little did I know that the boss wanted me to help with the passports.  When I got upstairs I received the text and I told the boss that I was going to have lunch.  I thought I was free, but when I started my shift I was told that someone would be covering for me at the reference desk so that I could help with the passports on the circulation desk.  Fucking bullshit piece of shit!  That's the LAST thing I wanted to do.  But oh well.  I have to do what I'm told.  But I don't have to like it, and I don't have to actually do any passports.  I figured I would just help with the circulation side.  And that's what I did.  I didn't do a single passport.  P made a good point to say that me helping only helps perpetuate this horrible situation.  She's right.  This is why I helped to check out, but I didn't help in doing any passport applications.

When I finally escaped work I was extremely happy to be going out to dinner with TheGirl.  We usually text each other in the early evening before the both of us leave work to say where we are going to be eating dinner.  But, I was so busy with work today that I didn't ask her until I got to her place.  TheGirl and I had plans to go to Foreman's, but of course when we got there it was packed.  We fell back on our plan B, Timmy Nolan's.  Last time I was there I drank WAY too much.  Thanks in part to that one customer buying a round for the bar.  So, this time there was no way I was going to have more than one drink, and I didn't.

TheGirl mentioned her "friend" and by that I mean someone she went out on a date with.  Probably a couple of times.  She mentioned him to say that he's isn't me.  She elaborated by saying that she sees how I am with Cheyenne and that for her it's very special.  She also said that this "friend" didn't treat Cheyenne well.  In short, they're a packaged deal.  I'm the only person Cheyenne plays rough housing with.  No one else.  Then TheGirl mentioned that she isn't going to try to date.  Hmm.  Why would she mention it again?  Most likely she went on a date with a guy.  He didn't like Cheyenne, and she noticed that he didn't interact with her, and boom.  That is the litmus test now.  Don't like my dog, don't like me.  Pretty good test.  I can say that, of course, because I SO PASSED that test already.

Even though we got to rough house before, tonight was the a real good rough housing session.  I could see that TheGirl was smiling as she watched us play.  Yay!

I came home and there was water coming out of the man holes in front of my house.  There was a guy parked in front of my driveway, and he was saying he was doing to call DWP.  I looked down the street and saw something.  When I got there I saw that it was a crew of guys.  They were already working on the problem.  Woo, talk about super service.  Just as I was going to sleep I could still hear them working on the street.

Thu Apr 6, My buddy emailed me this morning with a picture of one of our book trucks packed with Friend's of the library books for their sale.  Ah no.  He said he didn't have time to liberate it, but when I liberated it this morning it only took a few minutes.  Whatever, I did what he didn't want to do or couldn't do.  I took all the books off it and liberated our truck.  These idiots see a truck and don't think to ask, "Is someone using it?"  No, they need it so they'll just take it.  Motherfuckers.

Speaking of motherfuckers, this stupid parent is a motherfucker.  I had packed the van with bins and was on my way out to run the route when I saw some dopey parent letting her child play in what is clearly part of the construction.  I guess this parent thinks it's OK to have a child play in a pile of dirt covered with a piece of plywood.  Idiot.

My coworker told me today that Jr. told her that she wasn't coming back to Central.  When I went up to Montrose I got the news straight from the horse's mouth.  She told me that they were sending her to Adams/Pacific.  Jr. also said that she isn't going if can help it.  In short, she is considering retiring.  Jr. can't just up and quit though, because she does have health issues and needs to keep her health insurance.  But, knowing her she WILL try her best to get out of working at these other branches.  In short, all her crimes caught up to her.  Maleficent told her it was the branches or nothing.  If Jr. had not been such a dope over the years, and not burn so many bridges, it might have been possible for her to now use that good will.  But she built no good will.

I had lunch in the park.  I get stuff much faster these days.  I didn't even finish my entire lunch, despite me packing a small lunch.

After I finished up the route I parked the van and went back to sort books.  Before going upstairs I noticed four boxes in the corner by the elevator.  I went over and saw that they were four sewing machines, no doubt for the makers space.  Each one is $1,000!  ARGH!  How is that OK?  Especially when you remember how we've been told they don't have money to pay part timers to work opening day.  They can go fuck themselves.

I went on a little tour and went to check out the auditorium's progress.  The picture above you shows that the auditorium has a new cork floor.  It's safe to say that 100% of my coworkers say that the library won't be completely done by the time we open the doors in May.  I've been saying that for months.

Fri Apr 7, I was driving to work to my San Marino job today when just before getting to work I ran into a bit of a road block.  Peacocks and peahens.  One was crossing the street when I was driving by, but there was another pair of each in the median (as pictured above).  I wanted to take this as a good sign, but when I got to work it turned out the peacocks were an omen.

I walk in the door and even before I'm officially on the clock I'm told that I'm needed on the circulation desk today.  They need me to help out with the passports, or at least to answer the phones and do the business of the circulation desk.  I picked working the circulation side.  No way I'm going to touch those passports.  I mentioned it in an entry from a couple of days ago why I don't want to help out with the passports.  Helping only facilitates this whole disaster.

The crazy thing is they told me to work the circulation desk while no one covered for me at the reference desk.  In essence they wanted me to work both desks, and at the same time stick a broom up my ass so I could do some sweeping.  Fucking bullshit!  While my coworkers struggled to keep up with the horde of people coming in to do passports, I worked the other side of the desk.  It sure wasn't easy, that's for sure.

Except for a small break that should have been fifteen minutes but only turned out to be more like twelve minutes, because I forgot that I didn't set a timer on my watch, but rather on my phone, I pretty much worked the entire shift all the way through.  I was hungry and tired.  I went to get myself a yucky but also yummy burger at Jack in the crack.  I had one a couple of weeks ago that was nearly all bacon, and despite it being fast food the bacon was amazing.  Well, just my luck they didn't have that burger on the menu anymore.  I ate what was closest to that super bacon burger.  It was OK, but once again I could not finish the entire meal.  Hmmm.

I ate my lunch and went back to work for the ESL conversation class.  But, by the time it was class time I was falling asleep in my office.  I mean I was nearly passing out.  Still, I was able to get the cobwebs out and get to the class and participate.  There's a nice young lady that's volunteering that is quite pretty.  I'm not supposed to notice these things, because she's probably sixteen years old.  But I do, because she's sixteen years old.  Ha!

The conversation class being over I still had some things to do before I left work.  One was to FINALLY ask TheWish out for tacos.  Before I go too deep into that story I wanted to mention that she and I have obviously been flirting.  She knows how the play the game.  It was up to me to make the move and ask her out.  There was no way this could be a situation like with TheGirl where she made the first move.  I had to make the first move with TheWish.  Where was a moment when I was standing by the cash register and came up to me and pretended to bite my right shoulder from behind.  That was a HUGE sign.  I don't go around doing that to just ANYBODY.  We've been flirting like this for some time now.  I know she finds me attractive, and I certainly find her attractive.  Well, I finally got her to agree to go get tacos with me.  I mentioned how I was hungry and she mentioned tacos.  I told her, "Are we ever going to go get tacos?"  She said that it was up to me to say when.  We were interrupted by a patron, but when the opportunity came I said to her, "OK... executive decision... how about next Friday?"  She said OK and there we have it.  All this worry and she was going to say yes all along.  Well, I can't say that exactly.  I HAD to come correct and ask her in a way that she knew I was asking, and not just suggesting.

Today turned out to be a really great day.  Thank you peacocks and peahens.

Sat Apr 8, I exchanged emails with a woman at the place where my Godmother is staying this week.  She mentioned that she would really like to meet "the family."  Meaning my aunt and me.  She told me she was there today, so I told my aunt that we should visit today instead of having her visit alone tomorrow.  So we went down there to visit her and so I could meet with the social worker there.  The lady seemed nice, but a little on the phony side.  I think she just needs to be that way because of the nature of her work.  Makes sense to me, so I didn't take it too personally.

My aunt suggested that we walk down the street to get some food.  This despite the fact that my Godmother doesn't eat much these days.  But, my aunt and I were hungry.  We ended up going just down the block to a pizza joint.  Boy, was this pizza bad.  I mean that pizza that I threw away was bad, but this was even worse.  Fucking shit!  I wolfed down two slices because I was starving, but really it was a chore to eat that horrible pizza.  Never again.

Mon Apr 10, My buddy likes one of our now mutual coworkers, this time from San Marino (pictured above).  She's not only pretty but she's nice and not a dope.  We say that last part a lot, because we've had to deal with some really dopey women in our lives.  And of course they happen to be the ones we like.  I guess the women we like that reject us are just dopey.  Ha!  Anyway, I took a picture of her at some display that makes it look like you are sitting at the reference desk.  I've never seen her look so attractive.  I can see what my buddy sees in her.  And I like I said, she's a real human being.

My coworker mentioned that she had a spare ticket to a thing downtown.  A concert.  I immediately thought of my buddy going with her.  I told her I might have someone interesting in going.  Let's see if I can play matchmaker.

After work I wanted to eat somewhere other than the usual burger.  I looked for burgers in Burbank to see if I could find a better place to eat.  I found a place that looked good.  In short, the burger was just OK, but the carne asada fries were good.  I will likely come back for the fries.  I'll try the chicken sandwich, maybe.  We shall see.

Tue Apr 11, I always tell myself that I'm not going to over drink at night.  And every time I say that it's famous last words, because then I take a shot after a shot after a shot.  It feels good, but I have to remember that I need to drink like that only when I have a day off the next day.  Doing it on a "school night" really fucks things up.  Because, then I feel horrible, like I did today, and I can barely function.  I honestly don't know how I was able to get through today.  Especially since I was tasked with moving what actually ended up filling the van (pictured above).  By the way, not pictured are the four tables and twenty chairs I also moved from Casa to Central.  I joked with the former driver that at this point I should have a, "Masters in moving."  He laughed and responded after looking into the packed van, "I see you're working on your Ph.D."  Nice!

I started the route and I was not feeling well the entire time.  My stomach was doing flip flops.  I didn't have any food from home except a can of chili to eat for lunch today.  I decided to skip the chili and instead go to Burger Queen and get a burger and some tacos.  I didn't realize the burger was a double.  I actually took the second patty out and ate the second half of the burger without that second patty.  One patty was enough to fill me today.  Thankfully I saved the tacos for late, because just as I was finishing up the route I was feeling hungry.  Those tacos hit the spot.

I really didn't feel any better through out the day.  But my Adams stop made me feel a little better.  Not physically, but Ru was there and so was Suzkaa.  I flirted a little with Suzkaa.  She's cute.  Ru was just prancing.  I told my buddy later that Ru was bending over the circulation desk, presenting from my view.  I told him I was about to bust a nut.  Yeah, she's fucking sexy.

When I left and went to Pacific I hand delivered something to Krishna.  She was sitting at her desk and her thigh showing pretty high up thanks to her skirt having traveled down to the part of the thigh that meets the hip.  Not going to lie, her big thigh looked really good to me.  You may consider me a starving man these days, and though Krishna isn't as attractive as she once was, there are still elements of her that are attractive.  Like her thighs.  And since I am a starving man a nice thigh hits the visual hunger spot.  She quickly covered her thigh up.  I'm sure she remembered that I'm such a cad.

Amongst all this was the junk that I had to deliver for Liz from Adam's and Pacific (pictured above).  So much fucking junk.

I finished up the route and did some sorting before it was time to go home.  I drove home in a daze and when I got home I just passed out.  I was so tired.  But it was also the left over effects of too much drinking.  My aunt asked me if I wanted something to eat, but I really didn't at that time.  I went to bed, but didn't fall asleep.  Then I did get some food in my belly.  What a day.

Wed Apr 12, This morning I woke up still feeling pretty lousy.  I got out of bed and just felt dead.  But, I championed through and made it to work.  There the boss gave me an antacid that really worked.  I think I'm going to switch to that brand.  It seemed to calm my stomach down.  Which I was glad for, because my poor stomach has not been feeling well lately.

I was talking to my buddy last night about this whole business with Benedict (aka Ben) where it seems that even though they had some circumstantial evidence he still got away with it all.  The main thing I focus on is this idea of him clocking out late, while leaving early.  I thought they had him on that, and that would be enough to toss him.  But, since Jade was the messenger, it all failed.  I told my buddy that I think it's time to gather some actual evidence on Ben.  Because this ain't right.  This is bullshit.

I told my buddy that I tend to be cynical these days because, "Cynicism points to true north."  And by that I mean that we live in absurd times and cynicism allows me to cut through the bullshit.

Work was work, but what counts about work is that TheWish didn't overtly flirt with me as she has in the past.  Hmm, I wondered.  She did laugh at some of the attempted funny things I was saying.  I gave her some chocolate I bought a couple of weeks ago.  She was on the phone, so I didn't get much of a reaction from her.  ARGH, she's so hard to read sometimes.  Only a couple of days until Friday, and then I'll know more.

Had my traditional Wednesday night dinner with TheGirl.  Went to Burbank to a place she frequents.  The food was OK, nothing super great or super bad.  The booze was totally weak sauce though.  I ordered two gimlets, and the second one was weaker than the first.  Which was pretty weak, I'll tell you.  Still, the company was good.  Cheyenne sat next to me for at least half the dinner, nearly all the time with her paw on my thigh.  Have to say, it's hard to say no to that face.  TheGirl suggested what I suggested a couple of months ago, that we hang out on a Saturday.  Definitely, I told her.

Thu Apr 13, I got in this morning early.  My buddy informed me just before going in that Ben was going to work today starting at 8am.  When I got upstairs I went to get the mail for the route and noticed that there was a box with the RSVP's for the "gala" that they're having three days before the grand reopening of the library.  There was a stack about an inch tall, all of them with "Return to sender," on them.  This is a good sampling of what they probably sent out.  I'm sure they sent out at least four hundred invites, perhaps five hundred.  It's a good idea to send that many, because of course if you only have half you're doing good.  Still, it's funny to see how many were returned simply because they have the wrong address.

As I said, there was a meeting going on upstairs today for some of the staff.  Of course I was not invited.  But, whatever.  Misa attended the party and sent pictures of the new "branding" of the library.  Essentially the new logos and shit.  Not shown here is the color scheme, which includes ELEVEN colors!  ELEVEN?!  No, no, no!  Having so many colors doesn't create a core palette.  All it does it confuse people to have eleven colors.  I don't know much about this, but I dare say that having no more than four or five colors is best.  I know I don't see too many brands using so many colors in their "branding."  Oh these idiots have sunk to a new low.  Also, the logo, that's supposed to be a stylized version of the ceiling, looks to me to be more like prison bars than a ceiling.  What a bunch of douches.

In the above picture you will see just some of the "lovely" events that are planned for opening day at the library.  I know I'm going to be there, to see the fiasco first hand.  As a civilian, of course.

I was getting into the van after dropping off the bins at Casa and TheDesire's car was next to the van.  I casually looked inside and I noticed one of those breathalyzer lockout devices next to the shifter.  Very strange.  I know that TheDesire will take a drink once in a while, but she's not a big drinker that I know of.  Though people have said that she can drink.  I have zero direct evidence of that.  And yet still, there's a breathalyzer in her car.  Strange.  I looked online for some information on this, but couldn't find any.

I went to Adams and I was given the gift of two boxes full of books.  Just great.  Not only that, but then I had about seven boxes of more books that needed to be moved as well.  But let's focus on the books that you see in the above picture.  They come from the bigger of the two boxes I was asked to take to Pacific.  Sure enough, the box was not only over filled but it was also flimsy.  As soon as I tried to lift it up into the van the entire contents fell out of the bottom.  I was not going to deal with that now.  I decided to just toss them all into the van and get some tape to make sure that the box didn't do this to me again.  ARGH, it was such a fucking pain to deal with these shitty books.  They will most likely just rot in their back office until someone says, "Why are these books here?"  Well, that's their problem.  I hate that they feel they need to keep all these donations.  It's best to toss them and make room for books people will actually use.

I came back from the route and finished up the sorting that one of my other coworkers started.  I finished up before the end of the shift by about ten minutes.  I figured I could kill a few minutes checking my email.  To my surprise there's an email from the new assistant director asking if she could have a word with me next week.  Yeah, this shit just got real.  I later spoke to my buddy and he confirmed that he also received an invitation to talk to the new assistant director.  This can't be good, but who is it not good for?  Jade?  Ben?  Someone else?  We shall know next week.

Fri Apr 14, I didn't have work today at San Marino, but since I was going to be there to take TheWish out for tacos, I figured I would go in and get somethings done there.  But first I wanted to get some Maalox.  The boss gave me a pill the other day when I mentioned that my stomach was feeling a little blah.  My stomach was all better after I took it, and it has been feeling better ever since.  I figured I would go to the store and get some.  But, I went to two stores and neither of them had it.  I even went online to see and they were charging some crazy prices.  It turns out the company that made Maalox doesn't make it any more.  No wonder I couldn't find it.  I found that another brand uses similar ingredients, so I'll just get that.

Most of the time I was at the library I stayed in my office.  But then I had to eat something and get ready for the conversation class.  And that's when I came out of my cave to get some things done.  Naturally that's when I first got to see TheWish today.  Actually, I checked her out on the webcam (pictured above).  I'm so bad.

Conversation class was interesting today, to say the least.  First off, we were evicted from the community room.  This is because the passport overflow.  This idea came from an email.  It said in part that people should be moved to the community room because, "It would be like a passport Emergency Operations Center."  Ah, what?  In the same email they continue to say that perhaps one clerk could, "Triage," the passport dummies.  Of course the circulation manager says that there is already a clerk doing that.  But what he fails to say is that said clerk is usually busy dealing with running the circulation desk by themselves.  It's fucking bullshit, and I hate it.

After the conversation class was over I went downstairs to flirt a little with TheWish.  I mentioned something to the affect, "I hope you're hungry."  That's when she told me that we had to do a raincheck on the whole affair.  She mentioned how it was good Friday, and that she couldn't eat meat.  And that she had to be at home tonight for so-called good Friday.  I didn't want to tell her that the whole tradition of eating fish on Fridays is a made up thing by the church to help out fishermen.  I did say, "Oh yeah... I don't know about that because I'm a heathen."  She laughed at that statement.  I think she really likes me.  And I really like her.  There was a moment when she was talking to one of our coworker and TheWish was saying to her that it had been ten years since she graduated college (same as me).  She also mentioned to me that next weekend she was going up to San Francisco to visit her brother.  She mentioned to our coworker that she went to school there.  The fact that she went to school and graduated ten years ago means that she is older than I thought.  That's a good thing.  A rough calculation puts her at about the mid-thirties range.

As I walked to my car, not dejected and not super disappointed, the calendar reminded me that I was supposed to be going to get tacos.  Thanks, Universe.

I went home and rested a little before having some dinner.  In lieu of tacos I had potato quesadillas.  Not the same, but they hit the spot.  As I ate dinner I thought about how I should have been having tacos with TheWish.  But, it will happen next week.  I've been through too much to have this thing get to me now.  I've been patient, and if it's meant to be in any way it will happen.

Sun Apr 16, I was drinking hard last night.  When I was feeling really good I downloaded Tinder.  I spent about twenty minutes swiping through a bunch of pictures.  The picture above is all the ones that I swiped right on.  I seriously doubt this will go anywhere.  But, I can't sit here waiting for TheWish thing to happen.

I went on FB and found one of my "friends" had posted an article about the library.  Suffice to say it's a fluff piece.  There's a funny line that says, "The library's revamped children's room remained off-limits because it was still under construction."  Ah, no.  There's no construction going on there, it's just dusty and only has about 1/3rd of the total books it usually holds.  That's just one example of how the article is just a fluff piece.  Here's another great line: "We won't just be a local-serving library, said stupid Sharon woman, "We'll be a regional destination."  Ah, what?

And that brings us to some of the FB comments.  Here are a choice pair.  At San Marino they only wish that non-residents never used their library.  But, it's a popular place amongst the neighbor cities.  But Glendale WANTS to bring more people to their library.  I left the comment about the buildings in the city going up on every other block, because it goes to the mentality of the city.  The city wants more people to come into the city.  But in a way it doesn't care if they actually come.  There is a building boom all over the region, and the city wants to cash in on that boom by allowing as much building as possible within the city limits.  There are so many units out there that I seriously doubt that any of these new buildings are even close to 100% occupancy.  But, the city doesn't care.

And that brings us to the second set of comments.  The city is suffering from traffic problems downtown.  The new shopping area there is a large magnet for people.  Why it had to be built NEXT to a huge mall is anyone's guess.  What I'm saying is that it seems that everything is built in the same fucking block.  Whatever!  The library is right next to the Americana and the mall.  The streets aren't wide, and there is always traffic.  But yeah... fuck these idiot administrators.

I went to pick up my aunt from her work gig.  She usually gets some extra work during Christmas, but this time the lady who calls her to help out at her parties called her to help with an Easter party.  Since I wasn't working today, I dropped her off and picked her up.  When I picked her up my aunt said we should go get something to eat.  I didn't know where to go, so she suggested we go to IHOP.  I was hungry, but I didn't eat much. 

Tue Apr 18, The new assistance director wanted to have a meeting with me over what I figured wrong was scheduling.  While that was a topic of the talk, it was only towards the end that she asked about scheduling.  Mostly our talk had to do with Jade and Ben.  She asked me if Jade had ever told me to do a task rather than ask.  I said no.  I answered honest.  But I also saw where this all was going.  I knew the focus was on Jade, so I figured I would tell this woman that Ben isn't OK either.  I didn't want to come off as attacking the guy, but I just wanted to point out to the new AD that Ben isn't OK.  I'm pretty sure she didn't get it, but there it is.

One of the reference librarians, who was transferred to another department and won't be on the desk anymore, was railing against these dopes upstairs.  He talked about the new "recording studio" and how the equipment will be all wrong.  He told me how many years back he worked on this project.  That he looked into what equipment was needed to record music and voice.  He went on to say that the task was given to Syco a couple of years back, and that she complained that his notes on the subject were too complicated.  The task was then given to this Sharon woman (who ain't right).  Of course she dumbed it down even more.  It was said in an email that the library received a donation of $20,000.  This librarian seemed to imply that the money for the "recording studio" all went to a "consultant" who then told this Sharon woman what to buy.  Ah, what?  How is this remotely OK?  In a word, it feels shady.  It is typical of that place though.  And I wouldn't put it past them to say that it's possible this "consultant" is an acquaintance of this Sharon woman.  And at the end of the day they're going to be taunting this so-called recording studio and it's just going to sit there empty.  A fitting tribute to the incompetence of these idiots upstairs.

I can't say the route was easy today, but of course the worst of it comes up at the end.  The picture above is from Adams, and their always fucking collection of junk donations, floating collection bullshit, and actual delivery.  I told them straight out today that I really hated coming to that particular branch.  And not satisfied with giving me all this junk, when I got to Pacific I was given a dozen more small boxes to take to central.  How about you shove them up your ass?  Fucking shit!  I so hate these two branches.  They make my life so much more difficult on the route.

Wed Apr 19, Pseudo supervisor saw that I was kinda just sitting around my desk today.  She told me that given the budget issues that are coming up that I best make myself look busy.  She suggested I ask TheLamp for a project.  I went to the reference desk and I did say to TheLamp that I could use a project right about now.  She gave me the project of getting rid of the tax forms.  I didn't finish that project, but I will on Monday.  Of course I want her to find projects in order to keep me busy and keep me valuable.

Ever since I asked TheWish out for tacos we have been a little less flirty.  Not much touching.  Today that changed back to the old normal.  I was helping someone next to the cash register when she came up to put money in the till.  I had my back to her and she rubbed her back to mine.  Her butt touched my butt and all I could say is this is too good to be true.  I then took my hands and reached around my back and started scratching her back.  I certainly don't know if this means we will be intimate, but it sure does show that if I don't fuck this up that's where we're going with this.  I like it to go there and further.  I really like this girl.

Miss shared a pair of emails from work today.  One was from dummy Sharon woman saying that the Shakespearean actors were going to come in to rehearse for their presentation on opening day.  The second email was from one of the administrators reminding dummy Sharon woman and everyone else that only those tasked with moving the books were allowed in the construction zone.  Ha!  Total cock-block of this stupid woman's project.  She can eat shit.

TheGirl wasn't feeling well yesterday.  To the point that she didn't go into work today.  That meant that our traditional Wednesday night dinner was in jeopardy.  But, she told me she was feeling much better, and that I should go pick something up.  I did, and we had our dinner.  I told TheGirl about my meeting with AD yesterday.  It was good times, as always.  TheGirl feels much better and will likely go to work tomorrow.  Poor thing.

Thu Apr 20, I got a lot done on the route today.  Including some leftover stuff that Vagabundo said he couldn't do because he's going over his hours.  So not cool.  Tuesday night we talked and he absolutely said he could not stop at some schools to drop off some stupid hand outs they were sending.  Why they couldn't mail them, I don't know.  These were all my stops today.

City Hall, White elementary, back to Central; Marshal elementary, Woodlands elementary, Montrose branch, Casa branch, Hoover high, Toll middle school and Kepper elementary.  That's not all.  I then went to Grandview, Brand, Balboa elementary; Adams Square branch, the rest home, Cerritos elementary.  Oh, but there's more.  I then went to Pacific park branch, the fire department and finally back to Central to disembark all the junk.  No way Benedict does that on his route days.

I've shown this poster in the past, I'm sure.  But I wanted to put it up here to illustrate that all this shit was supposed to have been done TWO YEARS AGO. 

When on the route I had to deal with bringing back yet more junk from one of the branches to Central.  This is because that particular librarian is moving to Central.  I didn't know she would be taking the entire contents of her house, though.  Today was supposed to be the last of it.  I saw TheDesire the other day, and while she was sitting down her belly looked bigger than usual.  Big enough that I wondered if she was pregnant.  I asked Benedict if he had noticed a weight gain in her, since he works with her at that branch.  He said that he did notice that she was looking a little more plump (my word).  Poor thing.  She's such a pretty girl, and I know that food is yummy.  But it also might mean she's back on those antidepressant pills that cause her to gain weight.  So she's either nuts and skinny or "sane" and chubby.  I like both versions, but I would have hoped to have had a relationship while she was nuts and skinny.

I somehow managed to do everything I listed before and still finish up the sorting by 5:45pm.  Well, not ALL the sorting.  I did the stuff I brought back from the route.  Which wasn't that much.  Today it was mostly about the special deliveries.  I honestly don't understand how I finished so much.

I post this picture because I took it a year ago today.  A day before this whole "let's go get tacos" thing might finally come to fruition it turns out that it's been a year since this woman came into my focus... literally and figuratively.

There isn't much I can add to this quote.  These are absurd times.  There isn't anything to do these days but to laugh at all this absurdity.

Fri Apr 21, Fridays are now becoming notorious for having so many people show up for their passport.  I don't know what the numbers for today were, but I know it was pretty darn steady.  I'm happy to say that the reference desk wasn't super busy today.  And the passports were pretty steady, but not so busy that the conversation class was tossed out like last week.

My shift went quick today, but I of course stuck around for the conversation class and to go for tacos with TheWish.  When I was in my office eating a little something I was checking out TheWish on the security cameras.

We were making good time until we hit downtown.  The traffic stopped completely.  I figured there must have been a really horrible accident ahead of us.  But when I turned on the radio and right on cue the guy comes on and says that there is a jumper on one of the bridges above the freeway.  We did see an ambulance cross over what I think is the 3rd street bridge going west.  Even after they took this dope away in an ambulance they had to take away the cushions that they put down on the freeway to catch this dope.  The total time we waited was an hour.  An hour sitting in traffic.  The positive is that we got to talk about stuff.

After the freeway cleared we got to the taqueria pretty quickly.  As we stood in line TheWish was starting to realize just how legit this place might be.  We ordered up our tacos and ate them all up.  All the while we talked and talked.  I like this girl.  She's unlike so many of the women I've met.  She has a good head on her shoulders.  I can see that she likes me, and I like her.  I want to move slow, but of course in the past that sort of thing has meant me missing out on opportunities.

Following tacos I asked TheWish if she wanted to go get pie.  She shrugged and said whatever.  But we did start to talk about how neither of us had ever had apple pie with a slice of cheese.  I told her how I read about that in a book and how I always wanted to try it.  She mentioned how she had always heard of it being a thing, but that she had never had apple pie that way.  Agreed, we went to Pie 'n Burger.  My go-to place for yummy pie.  And where I have now gone with about a half dozen women that I was interested in.  We ordered up the apple pie, but they didn't have any.  I then suggested the lemon meringue.  But they were out of that TOO.  We ended up having to settle for banana cream.  It was good, but not on the level of the apple and lemon pies.  We talked until it was nearly 10pm.  I knew she needed to go to work, so I suggested we get going. I drove back to work where TheWish's car was, and we talked a little in the car, and then outside.  Mostly about work.  There was a moment when a shady car drove up to where the dumpsters are and we could hear sounds coming from that direction.  It made for an interesting aside to our main conversation.  At the end of the night I wanted to kiss her, and I think she expected me to try to make that move.  But, I'm a big of a chicken, so I didn't do it.  Also, I don't want to blow it with this girl.

Sat Apr 22, The above is a screen capture of the new schedule put out by the new AD.  What struck me above anything else was what time she sent the email.  AD sent this thing at 6:01pm on a Friday.  Technically we are all off the clock when she sent that.  That's just a shady move.  I am scheduled for 9am to 3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Yeah, that's not going to last for long.  I have WAY too much work to do on my "special" delivery days.  There's a reason why I'm working until 6pm every day... because I always have more work to do than the other two guys.  In short, this won't last.  As a matter of fact, these dummies will revolt against this for sure.

And then I went online to check my work email.  I think that my Spidey sense was tingling.  Well, as you can read the first crack in the dam has opened up.  Mala's plight will be the other branch's plight as well.

The above is a picture I found of the jumper that caused the big traffic jam yesterday.  Poor sucker.  It's amazing what one person can do.  I'm not hating, but this guy fucked with so many people just trying to get to their destination.

Emma wanted to go out drinking for a LONG time.  I tend to want to space these things out, because we both end up drinking way too much.  Tonight was the same as always... we both drank too much.  But thankfully I did pace myself, and didn't eat a street dog that felled Emma's stomach at the end of the night.  The night started at a place I found online called A Simple Bar.  It was a good bar.  The bar tenders seem to know what they are doing.  They made a good gimlet and a good Manhattan.  I'd like to go back there again.

I figured that we would spend more time at this bar, but then Emma said she wanted to go to another bar.  She wanted to go down to Hollywood, and so we went down there and started bar hopping.  We first went to a Cabo bar, which usually serves big margaritas that are weak sauce.  They're big, but they don't pack a punch.  Maybe for someone who doesn't have a high tolerance, but I have a high tolerance.

After Cabo we went to some Irish pub where Emma bought me two shots and we ate yummy French fries.  We followed that up by walking down Hollywood blvd. and going to yet another bar.  This time the bar in the lobby of the Roosevelt hotel.  It's a nice joint.  I had a shot of the Glenlivet.  We chatted some more and moved to the upper floor of the lobby.  Then we went to little bar off the lobby.  That bar was more my style, but Emma didn't want to be there.  We finished the night trying to get into a few bars, but they wouldn't let Emma in because she was carrying a huge bottle of water.

That was OK by me, because after bar hopping around Hollywood it was getting close to 2am.  We both needed to call it a night.

Sun Apr 23, I don't know why I started texting TheDesire a while back.  I know I was drunk, and it was close to her birthday.  That's about it.  Since then the texting has been one sided, and sporadic.  Well, it's fitting that one drunken state was the impetus of me texting TheDesire, because another drunken state was the end.  I deleted her texts off my phone.  Now I know, deleting a text message means nothing.  I could just back on and text her again.  Yes.  But, as stupid as it sounds this move is symbolic.  Yeah, as I read that it sounds pretty stupid.  It sounds like I'm making excuses.  Perhaps I am.  This time I HAVE to make it stick.  Stick like it hasn't stuck every other time I've said I was walking away.  I walk away, but it turns into a circle and I'm right back to where I used to be, emotionally.  It's not healthy, and I have to move on already.

Tue Apr 25, I walked up to the library this morning and saw that they had stenciled in the hours for the library.  But, instead of seeing 10am to 10pm on the door it said 10am to 8pm.  Hmm, I thought.  Could they have just made a simple mistake.  Yes, of course.  All they do it make mistakes.  Over and over again, these fools make mistakes.  The number of mistakes only rises, never diminishes.  So, does the contractor putting up hours that are different mean that THOSE are the real hours come July?  Because for sure they're going to have the library close at 10pm until then.  That they said is a given.  But they also said that city counsel approval is needed to have those be our semi-permanent hours.  It is probably nothing, probably just a simple mistake.  However, the people up in administration have a shady history.  They often don't tell anyone anything that they know to be true.  They tend to keep it under their hats, until they are ready to reveal it to everyone.  And then at that point they simply cram it down our collective throat.

Upon entering the library I found that our sorting table was gone, and in its place was a bunch of fancy furniture.  Sorry, "fancy" furniture.  Whatever!  There was hardly any time to deal with that that Jade mentioned that we had to get about forty-five to fifty pallets.  Ah, what?!  They HAD to go out today, because if they didn't the building might not pass inspection on Thursday.  Without that pass they can't have occupancy in the building, and by that they can't open the doors to the public.  I will by laughing my head off if they don't pass inspection.

There was no use protesting this move.  It had to be done.  Jade and I took two trips to take the nearly fifty pallets to the city lot.  My poor arms were so sore afterward.  I'm sure they'll be sore tomorrow.  But, somehow we were able to do this shit.  We were able to get this done, but of course administration dummies were already barking that the cardboard boxes needed to go too.  Fuck everyone there!

The route today was super fast.  I sprinted through it in order to not finish at 8pm.  I honestly don't know how I was able to even drive to each location that fast, all things considered.  And by that I mean the idiots on the road that kept on slowing me down.  I swear, this city has people that only travel at 80mph at all times, or 20mph at all times.  Nothing in between.  That means I'm always going to have someone passing me at the speed of light, or slowing me down to a snail's pace.  Horrible, for a horrible city.  At the end of the route there was one last obstruction that could come to represent all the obstructions today.  The truck pictured above was just parked in the dock area with their lift just out there.  Its position just right to fuck with me, and preventing me from parking the van in the actual dock.  But, what can a guy do?  At one point, I was exiting the building and two dopes from the truck were just smoking.  They didn't really have a reason to be there, but they were there, blocking me.  How typical of my days here.

I worked from 8am to 8pm today.  It's nuts that I worked that long.  And it wasn't like I just sat around today.  I was on nearly the entire time.  Because, of course the dummies upstairs leave everything until the last minute.  That is some bullshit. 

When I got home I checked out my social media, because I couldn't do that all day today.  Sure enough, the dummies at the dale posted a picture with two of the most hated people in the city.  The guy on the left in the above photo is the city manager.  I don't think there's an employee in the city that likes this guy.  He has screwed everyone there though his mismanagement.  I shouldn't say it's mismanagement since I know for a fact that this guy is doing what he's doing on purpose.  That is why the city gave him an 18% last year.  He is a butcher.  He cuts so much from the budget and then the city turns around and gives the savings to him via salary.  It's not fair and it's so transparently evil that everyone knows what he's doing.  And then there's Maleficent.  She's hated in the library.  Everyone thinks she's going to retire soon.  I hope she does, but I'm not sure that the alternative is any better.  In fact, she might actually be worse.  Maleficent has mismanaged this entire renovation.

Wed Apr 26, Mala asked if I could cover a short morning shift at Adams this morning.  I took the shift despite the fact that I'm usually at San Marino at that time.  But, since I'm not on the desk in the morning I could skip that part of the shift and double dip.  By that I mean, San Marino owed me some hours that I have to put on my time card before the end of the year.  I figured I could put the hours at San Marino and also get paid at Adams.  Cha-ching!  The actual shift was whatever.  It's not rough there, and thankfully it went fast.

I went out with TheWish this past Friday, but I felt bad that we didn't get to have that slice of apple pie with cheese on top.  Because of that I know we're going to go again.  But, in the meantime I had a plan to get her cell number by getting her some cheesecake from Pie 'n Burger.  After Adams I went to Pie 'n Burger and bought a slice of cheesecake.  They have some of the best cheesecake I've ever had.  Satisfied with my purchase I went to work, placed the cake in the fridge and had lunch.  I really like this girl.

During my shift I thought to tell her that I needed to have her cell number in order to give her a clue to where I had hid something for her.  But, I totally fumbled that move and at the end of my shift I simply told her that there was something in the fridge for her.  She thought it was apple pie, but I told her that is reserved for our next visit there.  But yeah, it sucked that I couldn't muster the fortitude to ask her for her cell number.

TheGirl wanted to get out of the house tonight without Cheyenne, since she had spent all day at home with her while nursing her cold.  We went to a place that makes some strong margaritas.  They are usually pretty strong, but tonight one was enough to felled me.  Yes, it was THAT strong.  The waiter asked if I wanted a second, and under other circumstances I would have had that second margarita.  But I'm trying to cut down on the booze these days.  Just for my own good.  TheGirl asked me if it was really seven years that we've known each other, and I told her yes.  She mentioned her son's wife inviting her to some celebration, and she said she didn't want to go.  Mainly because she is owed money from them.  And they are spending money left and right, before paying her back.  She's not happy about that.  Poor thing.

Thu Apr 27, On top of everything else that I've had to do at the library today I had to play janitor and take out the trash.  Yes, empty the trash bins in the offices and throw the trash out.  How I ended up doing this is that the regular janitor has a bad back and apparently can't carry heavy things.  I just remember a few people asked me why I was taking out the trash.  I can only say that I'm the guy that does what needs to be done.  No filter.  Just get it done.

Just as I was trying to get going with the day I found that I couldn't get out of the van.  The door was stuck.  I tried a few things but nothing would make the door open.  I told Jade that I was stuck and that I needed to go to the city lot to see if a mechanic there could fix the door.  Of course, on a day like today, the mechanic would say that he would have to keep the van to repair it.  This meant I would need a loaner to make the deliveries.  I asked for a van, but the only car that was left was a pick-up truck.

The picture above is of me in the temporary truck I drove today.  It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done today.

While I was upstairs in the kitchen eating some pizza, which became the one meal I ate during the day, I noticed that a whiteboard had what you might call the "order of battle" for opening day.  That would be giving them too much credit, though.

Dealing with the truck today meant that I had to adapt to the difference.  Mainly I had to worry about books flying out of the bins.  I took a piece of plywood and the hand trucks to keep it from flying away.  It wasn't perfect, but it did work.

This week I didn't need anything extra.  So seeing donations going from Adams to Pacific just pissed me off.  I told my coworker that I was going to toss them in the trash bin.  She said good.  I know she would have to deal with them at the other branch tomorrow.  And really, no one has time for that.  The photo above is of the donations where they belong... in the recycling bin.

I hardly ate today, because I was running around the entire time.  Because of that I just needed to stop somewhere and get something to stuff in my face.  I picked up what is called a "Rodeo burger" at Burger Queen.  It's a tiny burger, basically the size of a slider.  But, I didn't want to get too much and the slider size burger was just right.  I can't believe this work week.  It's been nuts trying to get all this shit done for people that don't appreciate anything.  I want to speak to the boss and have all requests for the drivers to go through him.  Having Jade do it just means that he's going to throw everything at us.  He doesn't triage things.  And this week that lack of prioritizing really slowed me down.  Everyone is going to say that their assignment is a priority.  For one, that can't be.  I'm only one person that can do one thing at a time.  Also, what happens is that 99% of those who say they need this immediately don't do anything with that delivery after it arrives.  It will sit where I left it for days if not weeks.  Like the print job I had to pick up today.  I'm sure some of that could have waited until next week.  If not all of it.  But no, "It has to be picked up today."  No, it doesn't.  Also, everyone says that to me.  The statement has lost all meaning.  If it's THAT important it shouldn't have been left for the last minute.  Case closed, and end rant.

Fri Apr 28, I had the day off at San Marino.  But there's no way I'm going to stay home and deal with both my aunt and the brats.  Besides, I had plans to get my car and oil change and get it smogged.  Two birds, one stone.  They finished with the car really fast, which I was hoping they wouldn't so I could kill some more time there at the dealer.  Oh well, I thought, at least the car passed its first smog test with flying colors.  But of course, it's a practically new car.

This morning my aunt asked me what I wanted for breakfast.  I told her I wanted some of the beef she made.  Instead she made me this horrible teriyaki chicken that was dry and tasted like shit.  I took a paper towel and spit out the chicken and of course threw it out.  It was horrible.  There was also a pasta salad that my aunt made a few weeks ago.  THAT version of the salad was good.  This one had olives in it, and the taste of olive was REALLY strong.  It made the salad nearly impossible to eat.  I spit that out too.  Because of that small breakfast I was hungry after I got out of the car dealer.  TheGirl and I often walk down Riverside Dr. in Toluca Lake when we go to dinner.  There's a Honeybake store there that serves up breakfast.  We've always said we would like to have breakfast there sometime, but we never do.  Since the bank I had to withdraw some money from was next door I decided to give breakfast a shot there.  I can't say it was the best breakfast I've ever had.  I can say that the ham in the omelette was damn good.  I'll remind TheGirl about how we were supposed to go there, but haven't.

After breakfast I went up to Big Lots to get some solar lights.  I bought some a few weeks ago, and they work really well.  I bought two more today.  After that it was still super early.  I decided to go to Mayor's park to just chill.  It's a nice little secluded park up in the hills of Glendale.  I took my towel and chilled out for a couple of hours.

When I got home I went straight to bed to take a nap.  But before I fell asleep I checked up on TheWish at work.  I hope she liked the cheesecake I got her Wednesday.  I like this girl.

Sat Apr 29, Months ago I proposed to Les that we might do a Saturday delivery, to help out with the amount of books moving around the system.  We never did get anything but silence about that proposal.  But, technically there were a Saturday delivery... today.  The one and only time we have had Saturday delivery during the renovation.  I can't say it was a glowing success.  But then again, these days the route isn't the same for me as it is for the other guys.  I always have extra things to do.  Like today I had to pick up a helium tank so that on Monday they can fill balloons.  But, aside from that and having to deal with a loaner truck things went well.

This is the view from the new information desk.  Not reference desk, not circulation desk... information desk.  This is the first and last time I'll see this view.  I will only be driving.  I seriously doubt that they'll put me on the desk again.  This, despite the fact that I am more than qualified to be on that desk.  I can run circles around my fellow co-workers.  Believe me, I've done it in the past.  Oh well.  Maybe it's for the better that I don't work that desk.

When I got to Brand a funny thing happened.  One of my co-workers turns around and says to Ani and me, "Why don't you two date?"  We looked at each other and laughed.  I said something to the affect of hell yes.  I do find Ani to be damn sexy.  And I would like to sleep with her.  I've always wanted to sleep with her.  From the first time I met her.  I'm not one to go around getting hard-ons for women at work.  But this one, she regularly gives me a hard-on.  I think she would just be pure sensuality.

Just when I thought today would be over I remembered that I still had to go back to Grandview and pick up something like twenty-five boxes to take to Casa.  Snow wanted them out of there, and I was going to help her.  I had to make two trips, but I made it.  And boy was my body sore from picking up those boxes.  There were a few light ones, but for the most part they were pretty heavy.  Oh well, I got my workout for the day... week... month.

Well, there it is.  Look at that picture.  I'm sure things are all set for Monday's reopening.  Nearly two years of this shit, and I have to say that I am looking forward to this place just opening already.  Maybe I can do something to change things from inside.  Nah, it's going to be a mess.  There's nothing I can do as a lowly peon.  I have zero power there to change things.  And you know what?  Why should I try to change things for the better?  For the longest time I've just gone with the flow.  And you know what, I'll continue that for the foreseeable future.

Sun Apr 30, I woke up feeling sick.  I currently have a sore throat, and I'm getting achy as I write this.  Work today was pretty standard.  The main reason I even started this entry for today is to say that I woke up feeling sick from cold like symptoms.  Tomorrow I'm taking the morning off San Marino to attend that stupid grand reopening at Glendale.  I wasn't invited, but I WANT to see the fiasco first hand.

My aunt insisted we go down the street for some breakfast.  I can't pass up a good meal, so we went and I ordered a chicken fried steak.  The picture above is not of the meal, but of the colorful menu.

I hung out with my buddy and we went down to Long Beach on a nice weekend day in March.  We walked around downtown and I took pictures of the entire place.  What I liked was the fact that there were so many interesting buildings, like the one above, which used to be a place where they made books.

There's something about succulents that make them super photogenic.  This one is no exception.

I love old signs like this one on a Long Beach apartment building.