Oh my, this month was jam packed with bullshit.  On to the update, and on to December.

 

Sunday, November, 1, My aunt wanted me to take her to a thrift store in Studio City so she could buy some Christmas gifts.  OK, I though.  That's fine.  It's not my idea of fun on a Sunday afternoon, but since I could stay in the car I figured I could just rest up there.  And that's what I did.  She went into the store and I didn't rush her or anything.  It was warm out today though, so I had to have the A/C running while I waited.  Yeah, not ideal, but I also didn't want to melt.  The weather was nearly perfect today though.  The weather liars mentioned on the news that come next weekend it's going to be in the 60's.  OMG, I can't wait.

Emma sent me a text message today that linked me to a video of a show called Judge Faith.  It's one of those People's Court ripoffs.  But, the reason why she sent me the link is that featured on the show was a regular of the library (pictured above).  Russ is his name, and he's a character.  In the video he is suing a frame store for throwing away a frame.  It's a laugh riot.  During the "testimony" we find out that he hit on the framing store assistant.  Of course.  This is his move, he always hit on the ladies at the library.  He does have a pattern.  I uploaded his segment of the show (click photo above).

The lady in the above picture is Jennifer, a former librarian with Glendale at Montrose.  She was/is so fucking hot.  I tried to get something going with her when she was still working at the library... buuuut, I have NO game and failed.  Still, I got to take pictures with her a few times.  Here she is dropping off her ballot, from her social media feed.  I love her hips.

Monday, November, 2, I am so tired right now.  I'm on the reference desk as I write this paragraph.  It's about 3:15pm and I'm tired.  After lunch I was dozing off.  I still feel that way, and it's my fault.  I was feeling pretty good last night.  And I wanted to feel better.  The nearly constant thought of death lingers in my brain.  I fear dying so much.  I like existence, and can't even think of a time when I don't exist.  But I know it's going to happen.  I hate that.  I know that there is no way that I'll become an immaterial soul, still conscious but not bound in the physical.  And that's why I drink.

Tuesday, November, 3, Last night Mala sent me a text message asking if I could stay and work until 8pm.  WTF?!  Of course no details until I ask why.  Turns out she wants me to stick around until that time so I can check the bookdrops for any stray ballots.  Over the last couple of weeks we've had ballots dropped off in our bookdrops.  I know that in some locations the bookdrops and the ballot boxes are close, as close as maybe a dozen feet, but still.  There's all this talk about violence breaking out if Trump doesn't win, or if he does win, or whatever.  I told Mala I couldn't stay THAT long, and added that I had concerns about my aunt being alone on a night where these terrible things might just happen.  She understood, but asked how long I COULD stay.  I told her 5pm, and she was OK with that.  Really the last half hour that I was at work today was a total waste of time.  I checked the bookdrops close to 4pm.  I wasn't going to wait until the last minute.  I had to get home.  I was out the door at 5pm.

Today was craft day for me at the library.  Instead of doing my usual bullshit work I got to work on crafts today.  And you know what?  It tired me out.  Yet, it was much better than doing that curbside bullshit.

After checking in the books from yesterday, but before I I could start with the curbside BS I got a text asking me to work on some craft projects.  The details aren't that important, except to say they are going to distribute these little kits to patrons.  I had to finish up the kits.  It took me the rest of the day to finish it up.  I sure didn't try to do any of this stuff fast.  At the end of the day I went out to the bookdrops and emailed my supervisor that I did it.

The time change means that when I leave work now it's close to sunset.  Which means I'm now driving in the dark.  I do like being able to see the sunsets, but it does make for a long evening.

A former coworker posted this on her social media today.  Needless to say, the picture got my attention (see above).  Tina is yet another one of the ladies that I've been to Disneyland.  I liked her.  She was smart and talented.  Alas, I'm always girls best friend.

Wednesday, November, 4, During these trying times it has been said that it's a good idea to a flu shot.  Since I now pay for health insurance I figured I better take advantage of that insurance.  CVS had a sign out last month that said, "Free Flu Shots," and in the fine print, "With health insurance."  Well, that's me.  Sure enough, my insurance will "pay" for my shot.  I tried to make an appointment for last week, but they didn't have any favorable times.  I wanted to get it before I went into work on Monday or Wednesday.  It wasn't until this week tat I could get a satisfactory time.  Hence me doing it today.  It was super simple.  I went online and filled out the forms, detailing all my details.  When I got there I just had to say my name and within ten minutes I was out the door, with the vaccine coursing through my veins, and a band-aid on my shoulder.

I don't know the last time I've written about my work on Wednesdays, but I know it's been a LONG time.  Mainly because work on Wednesdays is what it is, which is boring and pointless.  I don't do much work on Wednesdays nowadays.  I pretty much pretend to work.

TheGirl and I went to dinner tonight to a place she likes, but I normally don't like.  I'm not going to tell her that though.  Because I love her company.  Oh, and Cheyenne's company.  Tonight I did order a pizza, and it did hit the spot.  Despite the fact that they added too many toppings.  I know, how crazy is it for me, or anyone, to say that there are TOO many toppings.  I say it because I think perhaps 10% fewer toppings would let all the flavors meld better.  Nevertheless, the pizza this place makes is better than most of their Italian dishes.  Most of which they totally botch.  Still, how can one think of food when they are accompanied by a lovely lady and her lovely dog?  Cheyenne is not to have any table scraps these days, as per TheGirl's instructions.  Last week we didn't give her any, and I did my best not to give her any tonight.  I want Cheyenne to stick around as long as she can.  I don't want to give her human food and have that contribute to her early death.  I mean look at that face peering at me.  I know they show her practically begging for table scraps, but we must be strong and not give them to her.  We were both good tonight, we didn't give her anything.  Though, she did get a lot of dog biscuits.

Dinner with TheGirl is what I look forward to from Sunday through Wednesday morning.  Work can eat shit.  But I need to have this little oasis in the middle of the week.  Tonight TheGirl and I went to a place in Burbank named Ciao Cristina.  It's right across the street from the Warner Bros. studio.  I think I've only had one good meal there.  I know I keep saying that, but it's true.  The food there is subpar.  But, I don't give a shit.  I just like the company.  The restaurant wasn't busy at all tonight.  Which is fine by me.  After filling our bellies with food and wine (in my case some food and wine and whiskey), we went out for a little walk so that Cheyenne could do her thing.  We walked up to the Smoke House, where there was some filming going on.  I took a picture of TheGirl with a little bit of the film crew in view (see above).

As always, Wednesday is a good time.

Thursday, November, 5, I was asked to pick up some boxes from the third floor of the Perkin's building.  The reason why that some dummy delivered those boxes to the IT department rather than the library.  The boxes were big, but they were not heavy.  They were addressed to Watson.  I figured I should contact her via email to see where she wanted me to deliver the boxes.  It took some time, but she finally told me to take them to Pacific.  That's a good thing, since I figured I best make my way to the Pacific Park library.  Just in case.  Sure enough, she told me to take them there.  This was even before she told me to take them there, however.  Her next email asked me to open the boxes up to see what the contents were, because she must be expecting other things.  When I opened one of the boxes I saw that horrible logo that was half designed by DrDeath, and half designed by her boyfriend (I'm assuming it was by his boyfriend, because why would anyone think anything this fucking ugly was good, unless they were sleeping with that person.).

I sent the above picture to TheGirl and she mentioned just how much it looks like a Nazi swastika.  My buddy also said that turning it black and white REALLY makes the swastika stand out.  This time I don't see the swastika, because all I can focus on is that STUPID drop shadow.  Or should I say the line that's supposed to represent the drop shadow.  Fucking horrible.  This is such a horrible logo.

When I arrived at Montrose I saw the set-up for their so-called curbside pick-up service.  To me this is a colossal fail.  I mean, look at this bullshit.  The table should be partially outside.  The plexiglass is absolutely useless the way it's set up.  Actually, it's pretty useless.  I shouldn't be surprised that these dopes fucked this up this much.

The person above is Dorian.  He works at the Pasadena library as the delivery driver.  He's the full time delivery driver.  I've known him since I have been driving delivery, which is about eight years now.  He's a good guy.  Quirky, but good.  He was talking to me about being a little nostalgic at this moment, because this might be one of the last times we see each other.  The Pasadena/Glendale divorce is now in the past, and the two systems no longer share books.  Pasadena is ready to switch to a new system, leaving us behind.  I may still go to Pasadena once in a while, but this is pretty much going to be it.  It was a poignant moment for me.  Yet another thing that ends.  I was sad.

Friday, November, 6, One of the children's librarians told me that she had some things that needed to go to one of the branches yesterday.  I told her to just leave the stuff on the delivery table.  This morning I come to find all this junk waiting for me.  I mean, the good thing is that it wasn't heavy.  I made it point to drop that junk off the first thing.

Yesterday I mentioned that I had a lot of problems with the stupid curbside pick-up set-up at Montrose.  Today I parked in the back and I got to see the wonderful new spacers, for lack of a better name, that were already coming off the floor.  The firefighters next door sprayed some water and since the drain is here, the water naturally flowed to the drain.  Well, just look at what happened to that sticker.  It failed.  It's only been on the ground for a day.  The other driver was there today and he mentioned that perhaps these dummies didn't sweep up the floor before they installed the sticker.  That's possible, knowing the great workmanship these people display.

Here's a side view of the stupid stickers.  My coworker mentioned how everywhere else he does there are stickers on the floor that have been exposed to heat for the last few months, and they don't move.  These stupid stickers only lasted a couple of days.  Yet another fail.

Saturday, November, 7, It was supposed to rain here today, but it did rain last night.  Not much.  Just enough to get the ground a little wet.  That's all.  But, you know, that's better than nothing.  There's always tomorrow, of course.  And tonight.  Still, when I stepped outside to go get some sandwiches the crispness of the air was so wonderful.  The air was nice and clean as well.  After having so much smoke in my nose, I'm happy to breath some clean air, for once.  The smell of clean air reminded me of Carmel when I would just wake up and open the door to my hotel and let in some of that cool air.  So wonderful.  I really got nostalgic for Carmel at that moment.

I saw this online.  I just had to post it.  Trump can go fuck himself.

Social media showed a a bunch of celebrations bring out all over the city.  The above video shows just some of the celebrations.

Sunday, November, 8, My aunt has been getting on my nerves lately.  I don't know why I just feel triggered, to use an often mentioned word these days, every time she says something to me.  I feel bad, because I must come off as an angry bastard.  It's just that she pushes the right buttons.  She asks me too many questions.  She won't take "I don't know" for an answer.  She talks to me about what her guru mentioned on his show that day.  I don't want to hear about that guy.

But maybe it's me.  My aunt was cleaning out some papers and in the papers was a paper that had the above cartoon.  The paper asks if one has depression.  The symptoms made me think.  The top one could be me.  Actually, many of them could be me.  I know my mother suffered from depression for some time.  She never let on though.  But as I write this I remember that she did suffer some form of depression.  Well, now I think I'm suffering from some sort of depression.  I am irritable.  And, might I add that number two on the list is lost of interest in activities.  This is true.  I just want to sleep.

My aunt and I went to her favorite thrift store in Studio City.  I didn't go in, but I took my aunt so she could buy some Christmas gifts.  Good on that.  Also, my aunt needs to get out of the house.  It was getting late, so my aunt asked if we should stop by somewhere for food on our way home.  I was thinking Marie Calender's, because I was kinda craving a pot pie.  Suffice to say we went there and I got a pot pie.  It hit the spot, but in a way it make me think that I wasn't so sure that I wanted to have pot pie for Thanksgiving.  I was going to order that pot pie from Linn's this coming week.  But now I'm not sure I want to.

Tuesday, November, 10, I have used Google Voice for YEARS now.  Mainly because my phone contract with AT&T has a limit of two hundred texts per month.  I mean, I do that in a day, for sure.  How I get around it is that the texts that go through Messenger to other iPhone users are not counted towards that count.  And so anyone I know that has an iPhone I text without any problems.  The people that don't have iPhones present a problem.  My solution YEARS ago was to find a way to get text messages outside of the AT&T services.  I found some that I used for a while, but then I found Google Voice.  A few years back an other app came out called Google Hangouts.  It allowed me to text via the Voice phone number.  So I used that app.  But today that app reminded me that Google was getting rid of Hangouts, so I would have to migrate back to Voice.  Not a problem.  I still had the Voice app on my phone.  It was just dormant.  Well, I deleted Hangouts and migrated back to Voice.  Only problem was that I wasn't getting notifications of my texts coming in.  I went online to see how I could solve the problem.  I found one solution that said I had to go to the setting and put push notifications on.  And then another mentioned that I had to turn on notifications.  Check and check, I did those, but still not text message notifications.  I was getting frustrated when I thought that I should restart the phone.  That didn't work.  Then I thought that perhaps stopping the app and basically reseting it could help.  Sure enough, THAT did the trick.  I was getting text notifications (like above from myself to myself).  Mission accomplished.

These dummies still can't get the hold slip correctly on to the books.  The above is an example of the many mistakes.  The slips are supposed to be aligned one way, but of course that's apparently too difficult for some of my coworkers.

My aunt told the handy man she get's to do things around the house to switch the back door's orientation.  Instead he said he could get us a new door, that had a night tight door jam.  That is so that the air can't get into the house.  The good news is that the new door is just as advertised, nice and tight.  The bad news is that my aunt can't close the door, because of the weakness in her hands.  If it's not one thing it's another.

Wednesday, November, 11, In lieu of having dinner with TheGirl tonight, due it being Veteran's day, we decided to have lunch.  We initially thought of going to Bob's Big Boy, but when we got there it was packed, and had a line waiting.  After trying to see if Paty's diner was less crowded we decided to go to Veggie Grill.  I hadn't been there in months.  I thought it was longer, but then I remembered that I picked up dinner for TheGirl and I once during this pandemic.  So yeah, it has to be within the last seven months.  Lunch was good.  It did kinda suck that we couldn't go to Bob's.  I was looking forward to having either a Big Boy hamburger, or some spaghetti with chili.  That is SO yummy.  I used to LOVE it when I was a kid.  When I was a kid though, the plate seemed HUGE.  I don't believe I ever finished that portion when I was a kid.  Even now it's hard.  Still, good times with TheGirl at Veggie Grill.

While I was having lunch with TheGirl in Toluca Lake my aunt was searching through my stuff... AGAIN!  It's not shown in the picture above, but if you click the picture it will link you to the video of her looking through my drawer.  That particular drawer is where I hide my flask.  Now I know she's looking through all my stuff.  It's time to make some changes.  I almost feel like I should put a mouse trap in the drawer she went through, but maybe that's too much.

My aunt's health is a concern of mine, because ever since the day that she couldn't move from the pain in her hip, she's been on a visible downward slide.  It's mainly her moving around slower, but it's also other things.  Today she mentioned that she feels a shortness of breath when she works a lot around the house.  Well duh.  Despite some complaints about that in the past, I now see how she slows down a lot when she's doing things.  I do have a little bit of a "theory" that she only manifests that when I'm at home.  Because when I see her on the security cams I don't see her acting the way she acts when I'm around.  But, I can't know what and how she is feeling.  My aunt said that she's going to change health plans soon.  I hope we find a good doctor in that other health plan that will help her and also make her realize that we all just have her wellbeing in mind.

Thursday, November, 12, My aunt got me so angry today that I punished the wall in the bathroom.  Despite the fact that it was just tiles I still took a layer off the top of my skin.  What worked me into this state was, of course, my aunt.  The new back door is a little hard for my aunt to deal with, because she's too weak to open it.  She yelled at me to help her open it, because she couldn't.  When I got up to the door I noticed that the deadbolt was still engaged.  She was tugging on a closed door.  Just dumb.  I told her, "It's locked."  She yelled at me saying that she is weak.  Yeah, well, even I couldn't open the door when it's locked.  Jeez.  Everything she does just gets on my nerves these days.  Everything.  I didn't deserve to be yelled at because of HER stupidity.

Work was work today.  Nothing to write about on my Thursdays and Fridays on the route.  The days are pretty chill, actually.  Of course there is always an exception to any rule, and in this case it's my aunt.  She loves to call me about trivial things during the day.  Once time she just called to tell me that she made soup.  I'll find out when I get home.  Today she called to tell me she wanted something from the market.  She then started to cry and told me that she wanted to, "Apologize for what she said to me this morning" about the trash cans.  I honestly didn't care to try to know what she said to me in her mumbled voice.  I know she said something to me this morning as I was leaving, because I forgot to take out the trash cans out last night.  Blame it on the fact that it was a holiday, and I didn't come home after having dinner with TheGirl.  That's when I usually take out the trash.  But, I went out to lunch with her, and that totally threw my clock out of whack.  Still, I was going to do it this morning, but my aunt beat me to it.  Like I said, she said something to me about the trash cans, but I wasn't interested in listening to her.  So her crying on the phone while I was having lunch was more an annoyance than anything else.

Friday, November, 13, I don't get to interact with my coworkers at Glendale these days.  I try to stay away from them, because of how Mala singled me out to tell me that I needed to distance myself from everyone.  Because of this I don't get to talk to TheNewCute at all.  Today I kinda got to talk to her.  But the best part was when I was in the circulation office she yelled my name from across the room.  It's not much, but her saying my name just made my day.  Sigh.

Saturday, November, 14, During the week I look forward to the rest of the weekends.  However, my aunt's actions on my weekends off make me hate being home.  She has lately been really nuts.  Today she came into my room and talked to me about me sneaking out at night.  Ah, what?  She literally made up a lie that she woke up one night and didn't see my car in the driveway.  Ah, that's not something I do.  The only times I've gone out late at night has been when I've been hungry and I've made a fast food run.  But she's convinced that I'm sneaking out at night.  As a friend said though, it's not sneaking out.  I am a grown man.  I just don't understand where she's getting this stuff.  It's actually disheartening.

I just want to be left alone on the weekends.  But my aunt has been getting some stupid advice from her TV guru, and that's what I believe is driving this bullshit now.  She just won't let it be.  Today she said she wanted to talk to me about her "Sins" and basically confess them to me.  Fuck do I care?  Oh, and the kicker is that she wants me to tell her my "sins."  Fucking fuck.  I told her I didn't want to hear it.  I know she'll try again tomorrow, but I refuse to listen to her bullshit.

Sunday, November, 15, My aunt asked me what I wanted to eat for supper, and I immediately told her that I could get her us sandwiches from, "A different place," than I have in the past.  My aunt thought I would go to Mick's, but I reminded her that Mick's was closed today, because it's a Sunday.

Monday, November, 16, I can't drink on Sundays anymore.  I drank quite a bit last night.  Enough that this morning I totally slept through my alarms.  My aunt had to come into my room to wake me up.  Me sleeping in like I did today only gives my aunt ammo to accuse me of drinking.  Because, I was drinking.  I wasn't late for work thankfully.

I had the second sandwich I ordered from Earl of Sandwich yesterday.  I should have warmed it up a little though, because it was cold and hard.  A little blast in the microwave would have been a good idea.

When I arrived at TheGirl's tonight she was in the middle of assembling a ramp for Cheyenne to use to get onto the bed.  TheGirl's bed is pretty tall, and Cheyenne is having trouble jumping up on it.  We both tried to get Cheyenne to use the ramp, and we succeeded.  With the help of a snack, of course.  TheGirl reported later that Cheyenne is having a little issue going down the ramp, but in time that will change.

When I got home my aunt continued to tell me the story of my cousin's husband taking her envelope of money that she dropped outside, as well as the story of her lost extension cords.  I asked her where she normally leaves the cords.  She told me the old duck house, which I built for my ducks long ago.  It was converted into a mini tool "shed," for lack of a better term.  So yeah, at the tools go in there.  And sure enough, when I looked inside the two extension cords were right by the door.  When I asked her if she saw that they were both gone, she said that was in too much of a hurry to check.  Ah, she always says some stupid shit that she doesn't have time to do X.  She literally could take a few moments to check, like I did.  It's not like it's that far to the backyard to check.  She's nuts.  Now that mystery is solved, I do still wonder about the envelope filled with money.

My aunt says that she spoke to my cousin.  My cousin confirmed that her husband saw the envelope on the ground.  His claim is that he saw it and placed the envelope on top of one of two plastic chairs that we have in the front of the house.  Why would he do that instead of giving it to my aunt?  That does sound fishy to me.  I am not totally dismissive of my aunt's claims, because that explanation just sounds stupid.  You mean he didn't look inside the envelope?  He just picked it up and put it on the chair.  That's BS.

The news and other reports show that Covid-19 cases are on the rise here in Los Angeles county.  Well, certainly they're up everywhere, but I'm just focusing on here for now.  There is talk of new restrictions to come.  Perhaps even a curfew.  I say do it, because I don't go out anyway.  Really, what I expect once Biden gets into office is a shut down of everything for three to five weeks.  Other countries are doing it.  Here in California we were doing kinda well, but then people got a little more lax and started going out and hanging out.  As I tell people, first it was labor day.  Then it was the Lakers winning the championship.  Then it was Halloween.  Then it was The Dodgers winning.  And then it was Veteran's day.  Now it will likely be Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  Thankfully California isn't as bad as some other states, like Wisconsin and the Dakotas.  Their numbers are skyrocketing. 

Tuesday, November, 17, I love that seven months into this curbside bullshit these idiots STILL can't get things right.  Case in point, the orientation of these labels.  Seven months in and in some books the labels face one way, and in other books they face another way.  Fuck a bunch of idiots.  I would say something to someone, but I know this isn't going to change anything.  I'm done saying anything.

While at work I now have the ability to check on my room via security cam.  I've shown pictures here before.  Today my aunt went to the drawer where I used to keep my flask and looked around in it.  THAT's it.  I'm hiding all my shit from her.  I don't like her going through my stuff.  Again, I do admit that I drink, but I'm not out at all hours of the night.  I hate that she goes through my things.  It's none of her business, and in spying on me I feel it's OK to spy on her spying on me.  She needs to mind her own business.

Work today was different.  My coworker, and fellow driver, was given a lot little special assignments to do today.  He saw a preview of them yesterday, which is why he asked our supervisor if I could help.  I was happy to help.  It got me out of doing much of the stupid curbside bullshit.  It was a good break from the same old bullshit every day.

The last few days I've been exchanging voice messages with TheDesire.  I still have a wee bit of a crush on her.  But perhaps it's on the idea of her.  She's married, and from the little bit I gather it feels to me like a marriage of convenience.  But, to each their own.  If she's happy that's what counts.  I do love that we have this continual friendship, and has lasted her leaving for another job.  If we were just going to be work friends and nothing else, well that would suck.  Just as I need TheGirl in my life, I think I TheDesire in my life.  Perhaps to a lesser extent, but that friendship with TheDesire is still important in its own right.

I just got an alert on a neighborhood app that mentions that there will be a curfew announced tomorrow.  The alert says that the County is going to issue a curfew from 10pm to 6am.  This is supposed to start on Friday.  I guess we shall see.  Like I said in a previous entry, the curfew won't effect me since I don't go out.

Wednesday, November, 18, I was pretty busy at work today, which is a rare thing for me on a Wednesday.  Things are ramping up with the bookmark contest, and the new direction my supervisor wants me to take with the weekly videos.  There's also little things that involve the Friends of the library online bookstore as well.  Being busy is good though.  Especially since I'm sure that the bosses might be looking to cut hours in the future if we don't open soon.  And we won't be opening any time soon since the number of Covid cases keeps rising.  Not saying they will cut our hours, but you never know for sure that they don't suddenly think we don't need to be at the library as many hours.  As it is I'm only there twelve hours a week.

Late last week TheGirl was walking with Cheyenne and she meet up with her friend at the Smokehouse.  They went by and asked if they could bring their dogs in to their patio.  And they said yes, which means we can now take Cheyenne with us to the Smokehouse.  Yay!  So yes, we went to the Smokehouse for dinner tonight, with Cheyenne!  We had a good amount of booze, and that opens up the memory machine.  We were strolling down memory lane tonight, remembering the good times we used to have going down to Disneyland every Friday night back when we were first dating.  Those were some awesome times.  I told TheGirl a few weeks ago that when Disneyland eventually opens we should rent an AirBnB by the park and take Cheyenne with us.  That way we can go to the park for a little bit and come back to the rental and spend time with Cheyenne, and then go back to the park.  That way Cheyenne doesn't get much of a chance to get too lonely.  She thought it was a good idea.  I need to start saving for that. But yeah, we have a lot of good memories.

TheGirl mentioned that Chan's mask looked like it was clinging to his mouth.  When I looked at him sure enough it looked like the outline of a mouth (see above).  Good job, Chan.

Thursday, November, 19, While on delivery today I stopped off at Adams Square and as I was leaving I saw that someone wrote on the sign pronouncing that the library was going to be closed indefinitely.  But, someone went ahead and vandalized the sign, adding the words, "Never open again."  With the number of Covid cases going up I can say that we aren't going to open any time soon.  The curfew that was spoken about is now a reality.  The county mandated a curfew from 10pm to 5am.

I got my work evaluation from Glendale today.  It was spectacular, to say the least.  My supervisor said it was the best evaluation that he had to make.  Ah, duh, I'm good.

Friday, November, 20, I thought today was going to be super chill at work, but then I got an email saying that I had a half a pallet of something waiting for me at city hall.  It turned out to be a bunch of paper bags for the curbside service.  I love how they ordered so many bags.  I guess it means they really think these Covid closures are going to keep going for a long time.  All I know is that I had to move all these bags into the van, and then deliver them to three branches, including Central.  Still, despite that the route itself was chill.  But my day was not chill, at all.  Here's why.

The first call I got from my aunt today while I was having lunch.  I was just about to bite into my food when she called to ask about some stupid BS regarding some appointment she had today.  She also wanted me to get off work earlier so that we could go see a lawyer about giving me the title to the house.  Now, she told me that she had an appointment with a lady tonight at 5pm.  The lady was going to help her sign up to another clinic so that she wouldn't have to go all the way to Olive View for her doctor's appointments.  But, she was insistent that we go see a lawyer about transferring the house into my name.  Mind you, she wanted to do that at the same time as she had the appointment with this lady, because her TV guru told her it was a good day and time to do this.  Never mind that she had an appointment with this woman, she insisted we go to the lawyer at the same time.  I told her she needed to take care of the doctor thing first.  Then we could move on to the other.  But no.  She called me three times in a row during my lunch asking me the same question.  Which was basically, should I call the lady and reschedule.  NO, I told her each time she called.  She wanted to get me to change my mind by asking me over and over again, until I said something different.  Then she called me to ask me various questions about the paperwork for the house.  Where was it, she kept asking me.  I told her it was in the closet, but I honestly couldn't remember where.  I had a general idea, but she kept on pressing, "Where is it."  I told her I would find it when I got home.  But she wanted it now.  She was driving me crazy.  She wasn't acting reasonable.  Then she reached next level nuts.  She told me that she wanted me to finish work earlier in order to go to the lawyer first and then have the meeting with the lady.  Things like title changes don't take an hour to do.  It takes time, but she wanted it to happen between 5pm and 6pm.  Just because of her stupid TV guru.  He told her that was the best time to do business.  Never mind 5pm on a Friday things are all closed.  I doubt the lawyer was going to be there after 5pm, but I guess they might close at 6pm.  Still, as I keep pointing out, she already had an appointment at 5pm with the health insurance lady.  How she was supposed to do both at the same time I don't know.

After driving home in some traffic I somehow made it home just around 5pm.  My aunt had just tried, and failed, to look in my closet for the paperwork for the house.  There was a woman parked outside the house as I arrived.  I would hear on the security cameras someone calling her, and it happened to be this woman that came by in order to help her pick a new doctor to visit.  My aunt doesn't like having to go ALL the way to Olive View for her doctor's appointments.  One, it's far.  And sometimes they schedule her for appointments later in the day.  Well, I let the woman into the house just as my aunt was going nuts about not finding the papers.  Of course I found them in a second.  Meanwhile, the woman tried to talk to my aunt, but my idiot aunt told her that she was sorry but she had another appointment.  The woman was not pleased.  She was here to help my aunt.  It turns out she was personally referred to my aunt by my cousin.  The woman told her that when she was ready that she should call her.  I tried to explain to the woman as we left that my aunt thought the best time for meeting was Fridays from 5pm to 6pm.  The woman said, "Oh, so she believes in that stuff, huh?"  Yes, I told her.  Then my aunt went out to her car and talked to her.  What she said to the woman, I don't know.  All I know is that my aunt probably blew it with this lady.

Then she waved me to go to the car, because we were going to be late.  I got into an argument with her part of the way to the lawyer.  Who I'm not even sure if a lawyer, but is probably just a notary.  But, whatever.  After a wile I just shut down and didn't say anything.  The car was silent from that point forward, until my aunt asked me what time it was.  I told her it was five something or other.  I honestly don't remember what time it was.  But, it was something like 5:20pm, by my dead reckoning.  That's when she tells me that the lawyer closes at 5pm.  I tell her, "So why are we going now?"  She tells me that perhaps someone will be there to help us.  I told her that's no way, but she insisted someone would be there.  Sure enough, when we arrived the place was dark.  Undeterred she went to the restaurant next door to ask I don't know what.  Of course they don't know anything about that place.  Then she went to the barber shop next to the restaurant.  Of course, nothing.  She then insisted I find the number online and call the lawyer at home.  Ah, what?!  He's not going to be answering calls from home.  Sure enough, the phone rang and rang.  Finally she said, "I guess they're closed."  Ya think?

I didn't want to argue with her anymore.  It felt like kicking a person when they are down on the floor.  I knew that she would fail at both of these endeavors today, because she was blinded by her guru to think logically about the situation.  She made the appointment with the health insurance lady for 5pm.  I told her that she should keep that appointment and we could do the house stuff another day.  But no, instead of calling the lawyer and finding out if he could accommodate her today she just made excuses to me that she was "busy" today doing other things.  If this thing with the house really is import to her she would have dropped everything else and focused on getting this done.  Instead of calling me a dozen times she could have called the lawyer and made sure that he was available.  Instead she did I don't know what today.  And instead of calling me a dozen times she could have called the health insurance lady to reschedule for another day.  But she didn't call the lawyer, or he would have told her that he wasn't going to be around after 5pm.  That way she could have just been able to get this health insurance thing done today.

Instead she went nuts and shot herself in the foot and got neither of these things done today.  I think it's safe to say that my aunt has lost it.  She's not well.  She's not be trusted being alone.  She's not to be trusted with making good decisions, or any decisions for that matter.  Because a couple of simple phone calls to two people, and not a dozen calls to me, could have averted the mess that was tonight.  I think after today I'm locking my door when I leave for work on Monday.  She likes going through my thinkg, and I think it's not OK to let her anymore.

Today was a total shitshow.  I'm afraid what this means, because the outcome can only be bad.  My aunt isn't well, but it's not just physically.  She's losing her mind.  She's starting to repeat her stories.  She's gone farther into the deep end of conspiracies.  She's enlisting the advice of her TV guru for some important life decisions.  He failed her tonight with his prediction/advice that she should do this house business today between 5pm and 6pm.  Him locking her to those hours assured the total failure today.  What business do you know does any kind of business at 5pm on a Friday?  No one.  They all want to go home.  And they did go home.

Saturday, November, 21, I spent some time this morning cleaning and then putting up this welcome sign on the new back door.  I think it looks nice.  I want to put some more things up in the backyard to make it look nicer.  What I SHOULD do during these cooler months is paint the whole house.  I have the time on the weekends, but I don't know how to do it properly.  I guess I should search for tip online.  YouTube has a lot of videos.

I didn't feel anything, but apparently there was a quake centered just a few yards from the house (see picture above).  The information online is so odd.  There are literally no responses to the "did you feel" it survey.  You would think someone would have felt it.  A 1.5 magnitude earthquake isn't very big, but there was one that measured 1.1 a couple of years ago, and I certainly felt that one.  Maybe that one wasn't as deep as this one, which was about eight miles deep.  I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised that they find that it wasn't a correct reading.  But if it did happen then I just didn't feel it.

Sunday, November, 22, My aunt has not been feeling too energetic lately.  Because of that she left a full sink of dishes "soaking."  I couldn't find a clean spoon, and I just couldn't stand looking at the pike of dirty dishes.  So, I decided I would wash them all.  I washed and washed and washed.  I can see why she didn't want to do it.  I was pooped when I was finished.  I literally went to take a nap afterward.  Still, she can't let the pike get so huge.  A few dishes here and there is one thing.  The mountain I saw was too much.

Monday, November, 23, Not much happened today.  I went to work and worked.  That's pretty much it.  I did have a Fatburger for dinner tonight after work.  I was craving a good burger like that.  Going to Burger King and paying about $8 for a Whopper was not my ideal tonight.  Fatburger was just a little over a $1 more and it was super yummy.  It certainly hit the spot.  By next week it will be the last of the month, and we will be in the last throws of this year.

I really want to go out and take some pictures of Christmas decorations.  I say that every year, and every year I don't do it.  This year I need to do it.  Especially this year.

This shortened week is going to be interesting, since I made zero plans for Thanksgiving other than buy extra booze today.  I bought my usual whiskey, Maker's Mark.  But I also bought a bottle of inexpensive Japanese whiskey.  I'll try some tonight or tomorrow night.  Hopefully the one I got is smooth.

Tuesday, November, 24, These dummies at work didn't tell everyone that there would be curbside service on Monday through Wednesday this week, seeing as we won't on Thursday through Saturday due to Thanksgiving.  They certainly didn't tell me this, though I had heard through the grapevine that this was happening.  I went into work "clueless" as the situation.  That is when my coworker Tony sprung up and said he was going to call Kvon to see if I should drive the route today in his stead.  Sure enough, Kvon had "just" emailed us to say that.  I have a suspicion that really it was more like he got Tony's call and suddenly realized what he missed, and penned the email to us at that exact moment.  So typical.

So I drove the route today.  It was OK, nothing too busy.  The major thing one the route today was that I got to see Emma for the first time in months (see above).  I think the last time I saw her was in around May.  It was nice seeing her after so long.  I only get to text her these days.

I thought that my aunt had learned not to listen to her TV guru, until she said that she wanted to visit the lawyer on Friday.  She didn't learn a single thing.  ARGH!

Wednesday, November, 25, Pseudo supervisor said she wasn't going to be in on Monday, and sure enough she wasn't.  But she did say she was coming in today, but then she called me to say she wasn't feeling well since Monday evening.  Which meant no one in the office with me today.  I'm sitting here as I write this thinking about the Monday meeting about the video series I'm supposed to make.  I have zero ideas.  I've checked some other libraries online to see what might be good.  But you know what, there's isn't that much out there. 

My aunt took some of the meat she bought about 2 weeks ago and mixed it with a bunch of junk.  She had some sort of tomato soup thingie, for lack of a better word, as a brine.  Then she added huge slices of lemon.  Not satisfied with that she also added raw onions, and sugar and a ton of Laury's season salt.  I mean a mountain of season salt.  When I walked up to my aunt I could smell the awfulness of the brine.  I took some with me to work today, but I had zero intention of eating it.  I took a portion to dispose of it.  Never again will I eat that meat.  It's super yucky.  Even before this, the meat was not good.  But this brine killed it.  So that meant I had to get something at the market so I could eat it at work.  I bought a lasagna, which turned out to be pretty good.  Not incredible, or anything like that, but just good.  The sauce was good, and overall I may have it again in a pinch.

Covid rates are really bad everywhere.  In response the County has announced new restrictions, including no indoor or even outdoor seating at restaurants.  We already had no indoor seating, but now they're clamping down on outdoor seating.  The county also asked that people not gather for Thanksgiving, but already people are flying out for the holidays.  The news had a report on how the airports were pretty busy.  Certainly not as busy as other years, but they shouldn't be busy at all.  Starting tonight at 10pm the order to close outdoor dining takes effect, and will stay in place for at least three weeks.  Sigh.

As I said before, there are new Covid restrictions coming after tonight at 10pm.  TheGirl and I were interested in getting one last meal in before the shut down, so we went to our favorite burger joint.  We had wine with us, and no curfew since I didn't have to wake up early Thursday.  The wine was flowing and we were having our usual good time.  We won't be able to do this for a month, at the very least.

After dinner I convinced TheGirl to drive into Toluca Lake to check out the houses, and see if any of them have put up some Christmas decorations.  Not very many have, yet.  But this one shown above was an early one that looked pretty good.

Then we went to another house that had their lights up.  TheGirl took me to Burbank to a house I'd never seen before.  They were just putting the finishing touches no the house, but it looked pretty complete to me.

Thursday, November, 26, I'm usually in Carmel during Thanksgiving.  Though, I haven't been up there in two years now.  Last year, because I wanted to go to San Francisco, but I canceled that trip.  This year due to Covid.  But three years ago I was having a good dinner at Club Jalapeno (now closed).  That was the last meal I ever had there.  I went back up with TheGirl a few months later and the place had closed.  What a shame.  I loved the food there.

While at the market yesterday I wanted to find some hot chocolate, so I could drink it during these cool nights.  I figured tonight was a good night as any.  It's chilly out, and I was craving some hot chocolate.  So yeah, I made some hot chocolate tonight.  It really hit the spot.

Saturday, November, 28, After breakfast I didn't do much, except go out to the backyard.  The weather during the day has been super nice, and I haven't been able to sit outside in the evenings because of the cold.  While out there I noticed that the new door was hitting a shelf we have outside.  I figured I better put something between the two to prevent the door from getting damaged.  I put a piece of a cinderblock, but that thing was starting to damage the bottom of the door.  I figured I better cushion it somehow, so I decided to wrap the block with some cardboard.  To keep it from moving I taped it up using some duct tape.  This will have to do until I find a better solution.

There was a point today where my aunt said she needed to go to the post office.  On our way there she told me that she was sending a letter to her "pastor," aka her TV guru.  Apparently she sent him a letter and perhaps some money.  I hope it's not money, but I really suspect it is money.  She said that if you ask God for something you have to give of yourself as well.  Ah huh.  That tells me she's giving this guy money.  Terrible.  Well, she was frantic and we went to the post office to drop off those letters.  Jeez.

Sunday, November, 29, I had to go into work at Glendale today, because I got hooked into clearing out the bookdrops.  I mean, it wasn't all that bad.  It got me out of the house.  Also, it helped mitigate some of the losses from not working Thursday and Friday this week.  Sure, it's only a quarter of those hours, but oh well.  And like I said, it got me out of the house.

Speaking of getting out of the house, I used going to work today as a slingshot to also picking up some items my aunt ordered from the Container Store in Pasadena.  She ordered some milk crates, and the shipping on it would have been $12 more.  I told her I would just pick them up.  But, the strange thing is that I had to wait just over a week to pick them up.  I was in no hurry.  After work I booked it down there, taking the scenic route instead of the freeway.  I did a little shopping and then went on my merry way to get something to eat.  I hadn't had a pastrami sandwich from The Hat in a while.  The last time I had it I found a tiny little piece of plastic in with the pastrami.  I figured it would also be healthier for me not to go there that often.  But, I did miss it.  Today's sandwich really hit the spot through.  I don't want to say that it was fun going to work, but I have to say that working only a few hours and also being out of the house today was pretty good.

I was eating dinner with my aunt tonight, which consisted of pizza and tortilla soup.  Both relatively soft foods.  But, the tortillas for the soup were a little on the chewy side.  That is, before they got soft in the soup.  Well, I've been favoring my left side of my mouth, because of the bottom tooth, which has been slowly falling apart.  At one point I did move some of the tortilla strips to that side, thinking it should be OK.  Well, it wasn't.  I felt something hard in my mouth, like a tiny stone or bone.  I spit it out, but then I felt my tooth was different.  A piece broke off that bad tooth.  Not good.  I can't afford going to the dentist, but it might get to that point.  Gee, I wish I didn't have these dental problems.

Monday, November, 30, I had SUCH a hard time getting out of my nice warm bed this morning.  I considered even calling in sick, because I felt SUPER lazy.  I thought better of using my sick days just yet, so I got out of bed.  It was cold outside my room.  A nice warm shower certainly did its part to wake me up.  I put the tacos I always have for breakfast in the toaster oven and got into a shower.  My aunt woke up after that and went to the fridge and took out some beans and rice, along with a bit of garlic bread.  She served me the garlic bread and I asked her, "What's this?"  She said she thought I wanted it.  No.  I'm a grown man.  If I wanted that I would have put it in the oven myself.

Not content with that, later in the morning, when I was already at work, she once again went into my room to check my drawers for booze.  Good luck, lady.  I found a new hiding spot.  Fucking bullshit.  I hate the way that my aunt looks through my things.  It's none of her business.

BTW, I saw her go into my room a second and third time.  The third time she was looking at some papers on my desk... AGAIN.  She did that last week as well.  All this stuff sickens me, because I never go into her room and look around.  I don't care.  But she feels it's OK to do that to me.  It gives me anxiety.

After I got home my aunt went on a rambling rant.  I honestly don't know what she said, because there was a point where I just stopped actively listening.  I'm so tired of her bullshit.  I told her that all I want is for her to just leave me alone.  I know she won't.