What day is it again?  I'm not sure anymore.  I'm not sure about a lot of things.

 

Friday, May, 1, The route today was SUPER chill.  I hardly had anything to do.  The amount of books in the bookdrops around all the branches is now nearly zero.  Even at Central the amount of returns is down to a trickle.  This means I don't have much to do these days.  Today was probably the slowest day I've had on the route in forever.  I choose to drive the car above instead of the van because the city is taking this time to repave the area behind City Hall where the gasoline pump is located.  I like that idea that they're doing this NOW instead of when everything reopens.  The only problem is I still have to drive the van around the city and use up the gas in the van.  These days I think we MAY be able to go two weeks without refilling it, since I'm not really driving it that much.  However, as a precaution I figured I would drive the other pool car they have for us.  It was good, because it's small and I'm able to just drive it around like a regular car, which is what it is.

Like I said, there wasn't much to do today.  Just about the only thing I did was talk to a couple of coworkers I found on the route.  I ran into one of the janitorial crew up in Montrose.  We talked about how his boss told him to go flush the toilets.  He knew that meant "get out of my face," basically.  So he went around flushing toilets.  I'm glad they don't have me doing that.  For now I'm once again flying under the radar.  The bosses have other fish to fry.   Also, my supervisor took this week off.  I know, how do you do that when you're already at home?  Officially he took the time off.  I'm sure he's spending it with his daughter and wife.  Good for him.

I'm sitting in my backyard tonight, even though it's getting a little bit chilly.  It's nice though.  But then my aunt has to get this fucking idea to make a fucking mountain of spaghetti tonight.  She invited my cousin and her family over for I don't know what.  And I don't know why.  This is the fucking WORST thing she could have done right now and I'm in a fucking bad mood because of it.  She's not feeling well.  Her voice is more horse than ever, and she's fucking making spaghetti.  I'm fucking tired of spaghetti.  Not only that she fucked it up.  It's overcooked, and she didn't fucking put ANY salt in the pot.  So now it's tasteless.

The reason why she was cooking today is because she has a "feeling" that my cousin wants to come over for a visit.  Feeling or not, it's not the time for that.  We're in mother-fucking quarantine.  Oh, but my aunt thinks that my cousin calling to see how she is doing is her inviting herself over.

I just had a thought though.  My aunt may say she doesn't want them coming over, but she might be lying.  She may indeed want them to come over.  See, my aunt pretty much spends all day by herself.  I'm not very good company most of the week, since I'm at work.  And on Mondays and Wednesdays I come home later in the evening.  Unlike today, where I can typically get home before five.  Yeah, maybe that's it.  She wants to tell me that she doesn't want them here, but she really misses them.  That's the only thing I can contemplate that makes sense since her logic otherwise is that my cousin wants to come over because she mentioned wanting to pick up her mail.

I deleted the Tinder app of my phone tonight.  I don't use it, nor have I gotten any hits.  Well, I think I got one, but it took me so long to respond that they went away.  No idea what happened to them, but oh well.  I may try it again later.  For now, it's like whatever.  I have zero luck with the ladies.

Saturday, May, 2, Another quarantined weekend is here and I spent my day off in my backyard.  I spent pretty much the entire day out there.  I also swept the backyard of all the stuff that comes off the trees and some birdseed that gets tossed around because we feed the birds.  I then took some time to get some of the dirt and cobwebs off the side of the house.  It wasn't much, but it was something.  I wanted to be productive in some way today.  Not sure why, but I did.

My aunt cooked yesterday in order to have some food ready for my family who she stupidly invited over for lunch.  Well, I don't know what happened, but my cousin called a few minutes ago (as I write this) and she said that because of the stay at home order only she would be coming over for a visit.  So she made a mountain of spaghetti for nothing.  Now I'll have to fucking eat that shit for weeks.  ARGH! I hate this shit.  I honestly don't know what is going on any more.

Sunday, May, 3, Last night my aunt mentioned that she wanted to go to the market.  She wanted, "Something sweet."  OK.  I didn't think it was a good idea, but I can't hold her hostage at home.  I agreed to take her, but I told her we would have to go early.  The market wasn't that bad.  A couple of weeks ago I tried to go to this market and there was a line.  No way, I thought.  I hoped we wouldn't have to wait in line.  Thankfully we were able to go right in.  My aunt went to the bakery and bought some pastries.  I did as well.  We then also bought some ice cream.  And that's that, we were gone after that.

In an effort to not just be sitting around all weekend I went ahead and did something I should have done a long time ago... cleaning Chan's face, hands and feet.  Poor Chan's feet were SUPER dirty.  When I was cleaning him the dirt was coming off with every brush stroke.  The change was nearly instant.  Hims nice and clean now.

I was texting Emma today about some work stuff and she mentioned that she went on the Disneyland app and that she was able to make a reservation for the Blue Bayou restaurant for Saturday June 13th.  That is pretty amazing.  I hope that it holds and that Disneyland is going to be open by then.  But I still worry about things opening up too early.  I went online later and it would seem that they are taking reservations for the park and their hotels in June.  However, they do have a disclaimer that states that despite being able to book these reservations, circumstances could force them to change or cancel those reservations.  Makes sense.

Monday, May, 4, I loaned a friend my iPad today, so they could file for unemployment.  They had my iPad, so I figured I would take my laptop with me.  That way I could still watch some stuff online while I'm eating lunch.  Well, that would have been the ideal, but my computer couldn't connect with the wifi at Montrose.  It had no problem connecting to the wifi at Central, but Montrose it didn't.  I ended up watching my stuff off my phone.  So not the same.

Emma asked me to do a little photo editing for her today.  She wanted me to add some lens flare to her photo.  Sure, I said, no problem.  It was a little bit more of a job than I thought it would be.  Suffice to say I had to do some tricks in order to get her her photo with lens flare.  But, she liked it.

Tuesday, May, 5, A couple of weeks ago one of the administrators said they ordered a GPS for the library van, so we can use it to get to various places.  Well, I couldn't pick it up, because I was not going to wait in a long line for hours to get into the market.  It went back and they had to reorder it.  I picked it up yesterday, but it wasn't responsive.  I figured it needed to update or something, so I let that happen during the night.  Sure enough it was fine this morning.

When I got home, and after dinner, I decided to play a little Sim City.  I downloaded it on my Mac Mini the other day after I saw that it was updated for use with 64 bit operating systems like what the Mac has now.  The last update made anything less than 64 bit unavailable.  Like I said they updated the game to 64 bit, so I downloaded it.  I started a new city named after TheNewCute.  There's a feature in the game where I can "drive" around the city controlling a little car.  Well, I crashed it into another car (see above).  I didn't know I could do that.  It was fun though.  I drove around again and crashed into another car.  Again, good times.

After playing a little Sim City, and getting settled in I noticed my aunt was in the other room doing stuff.  I went over to see that she was painting the wall.  Oh damn, and she was doing a piss poor job at it.  I told her, "Let me do it."  And, of course I went ahead and finished painting the wall.  I was pooped at the end, for sure.  What with the heat and everything I was dead tired.  But, I prevented my aunt having to do all that painting.  

Wednesday, May, 6, Emma was texting me today and one of the things that came up was the possibility of opening the library by May 15th.  She didn't think it was a good idea, and I have to agree with her.  I told her that knowing how dumb these dopes upstairs in administration are, I was sure that they don't have any of the supplies we are going to need to be ready to open.  And by supplies of course I mean disposable gloves and masks, but I also meant some sort of "shields" like plexiglass around the service desks.  And sure enough, she was overhearing a conversation her father was having about this.  Her text is above, but suffice to say, "It's a shit show."  How am I not surprised?  These dopes should have been ordering these supplies a couple of days after we closed.  It's been over a month now.  Matter of fact, I just counted, the library closed fifty-four days ago on March 13th.  Are they going to say that they couldn't order supplies in fifty-four days?  Yes, I'll grant you that there are shortages.  However, fifty-four days.  They should have been calling every one of those fifty-four days.  But I'm sure they just sat on their hands and figured, oh, when we need them we can just buy what we need.  Yeah, but the flaw there is EVERYONE needs them.  And with all the reopening talk in the air every place is going to want these same things.

LaFlor came by my office this morning to drop off some gummy bears.  I so don't like gummy bears, but I do like her.  It was nice of her to bring me candy.  Now, what to get her in return?

Dinner with TheGirl was pretty standard.  She says that her bank might open up again to employees at the end of the month.  It looks like a lot of things might start opening up again this weekend.  Hmm, I don't know about this.

Thursday, May, 7, Today's assignment was to measure all the service desks at all the branches.  I think they're getting ready to make plexiglass covers around the service desks.  My assignment was to measure the size of the desks at each branch.  I also had to take pictures of the desks.  Pretty simple.  Just before going home I got a message that they needed the measurements for the main desk.  My coworker measured it, but they told me that he hadn't sent it.  Oh well.  I was fine measuring.

When I got back to Central after the route today I spotted TheLooker by the circulation desk.  She was working on a sign for Saturday's fabric and food drive (pictured above).  Boy, I would really like to kiss her.  Mask and all.  It was nice to see her after so long.  I went over to her place a few weeks ago, but it now feels like it's been months.

Friday, May, 8, I was asked to check out the branches and make sure things are OK there.  In that spirit I went ahead and checked the ground of Central.  Boy, are they a mess.  People are such pigs.  There was a big mess around the porta-potty, and in the parking lot, as well as around the employee entrance.  I wonder what the fuck the groundskeepers are doing when they come over.  Just terrible.  I went ahead and picked up the trash and also took pictures to send to my supervisor.  Someone needs to do thing.  I mean, I can do it as well.

When I got home today my aunt asked me what I wanted to eat.  A pretty standard question to someone who just got home.  But she doesn't know when to just let things be.  I hadn't gotten my clothes off yet when she asked me AGAIN.  The third time she asked me I wasn't in the mind to think of what I wanted to eat.  I wasn't that hungry and I was just winding down.  I snapped at her saying, in Spanish, "I don't know," in an aggressive tone.  After that I just sat in my chair, the TV going and my head in my hand.  I closed my eyes and just didn't want to think about anything.  I know my aunt tried to come see me afterward, but I was still head in hand.  I think I stayed like that for over an hour, just exhausted by the question.  I honestly just didn't know.  I HATE that "I don't know" isn't a valid answer to some people.  It's like they think a moment later I'll know.  Oh, a moment later I might just make a decision, but honestly there are times when the decision is just made despite not really having an opinion of what I wanted to choose.  I knew that there wasn't anything hearty in the fridge, and that was also part of why I hesitated.  I don't know what I wanted, but I knew what I didn't want, and it was not yet another round of spaghetti.  Or another sad and terrible enchiladas.  At that moment I just wanted a moment.  But my aunt can't just give me a moment.  And so I snapped at her.  She left me alone after that.

As I write this I'm in the backyard watching YouTube videos.  I'm so mentally tired of all this bullshit.  I'm not in a good mood.  I'm still angry.  Reasons for my anger are as follows.  One, when I got home I noticed the floor mat by the door was ONCE AGAIN moved away from the door.  I really hate it when my aunt moves the fucking floor mat.  Two, when I walked to my room I noticed the door was closed.  There is NO REASON why my door should be closed.  Three, even before I opened my door I could hear the sound of TWO fans in my room.  My aunt has this idea that a fan has magical cooling powers on its own.  She thinks that a fan should cool an area just by virtue of it being turned on.  Never-mind that I've told her not to mess with the fan in my room.  Never-mind that I repeatedly turn off the extra fan she turns on in my room and throw it out of my room as soon as I get home.  When she asked me for the third time what I wanted to eat I was steaming from the things I just listed.  I know they are stupid little things that I should let go, but they are constant.  These are things that I have to deal with on a daily basis.  To me it's like Chinese water torture.  Today was the day that that drip over my head got to me.

Sunday, May, 10, I went to the fridge and saw that there was a squirrel just sitting on top of the fence (pictured above).  It looked pretty funny.

In the afternoon we Facetimed my aunt in Mexico to wish her a happy mother's day.  For some reason her iPad was showing us sideways, but we could see her just fine.  Hmmm.  Good times.  My cousin came over to have me update her father's iPad.  When she was leaving she mentioned that she should have had me take the stuff off it, like the music and pictures.  Now that I think about it I should have just told her to leave it with me.  D'oh! Anyway, she said she might come back next week.

Monday, May, 11, My coworker wanted to visit with Chan this morning.  I brought him out of my office to have hims visit Shawnie.  Shawnie was looking super cute today.  Chan always looks cute.  Ha ha!

I already have some assignments for tomorrow at Glendale.  One thing is that I have to check the Brand library.  Apparently someone may have tried to break into the library on Sunday.  Just great.

Today I filmed and did voice over for a video showing patrons at the library how to use a magazine app.  Thankfully the app lent itself to making a quick and easy video.  I sent it to my supervisor to see if she liked it.  It's supposed to be posted on the library's social media on Wednesday.  You can see it now.  Click the picture for the link.

Tuesday, May, 12, I hit the ground running today.  DrDeath emailed my coworker and I about a possible break-in attempt at the Brand library.  He wanted us to check on things when we went up there.  So, I figured it was a good idea to do that first thing.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Just a bunch of dummies walking around the park without masks.  Jeez, when will these dopes learn?

After checking the building I was asked by the Brand supervisor to check on the mail there.  The mail isn't delivered to the building, but rather to a little mail box in the park.  I used to check that years ago when the library was going through its renovation.  But, now that we're all shut down I have to check it.  Well, it's not a coincidence that when the park gates were closed the mail started not showing up.  I wrote one of the administrators to see if he could call the post office to see where the mail might be.  Sure enough, they were holding it at the post office on San Fernando road, which is the one closest to the library.  I went down there and picked up the mail.  Specifically they wanted the mail for the grounds caretaker.  Well, he did have some mail, four letters to be exact.  Three of those letters where from a cable company trying to sell him something.  Jeez.

Once all that Brand stuff was done I went back to Central to do a little inventory.  One of the administrators asked me to check the stuff that was ordered and do a quick inventory of the supplies they ordered.  Sure.  As you can see from the photo above they ordered quite a few things.  Mostly cleaning supplies and masks.  Good times.  Later DrDeath found me up there and asked me to mix the cleaning solution so that someone could use it on Friday.  He said "A few people," were coming in on Friday, and would be needing the solutions ready.  Not sure who they are, but I'll have them ready.

Over the weekend someone donated some food for the LFLs.  In addition to that the library received a donation of $500 for the LFLs as well.  Because I finally had some food for the LFLs I went ahead and visited a couple of them.  I guess I shouldn't have been THAT surprised that one of the two that was in need of repair when I started putting food in them had a broken Plexiglas when I checked on it today.  Could it have been hooligans?  Could it have just been someone that closed it fast?  I'm not sure, but I suspect hooligans.  It doesn't look like a break that would happen accidentally.  But, we'll never know.  I took some pictures and informed all the parties involved.  Tony was mentioning that he didn't even get a chance to paint it yet.  Now he's going to have to repair the glass again.  Just terrible.  To use an overused quote, "This is why we can't have nice things."

At Glendale we are all on a group chat thing where we say hello and talk about some work stuff.  One guy, who is a good guy, posted today a headline about how the county is extending the stay at home order for another three months.  Now, on the surface it makes it sound like we're going to stay home for another three months.  I couldn't let it go that easily.  I had to go online and find something that gave me more details.  And yes, the basic stay at home order is being extended three months.  However, it's not so cut and dry.  In short this message caused confusion everywhere.  So much so that the county had to add clarification to the statement (see above).  So yes, the basic stay at home order still remains.  But, they are letting more and more businesses and institutions open up.  It's not so blunt as the headline my coworker showed.  Emma encouraged me to post the article in our group chat, so I did.  She thanked me right away.  Ha ha! Emma is nice, BTW.

When I got home today I was pretty tired from running around all day at work.  My aunt made me some dinner and I wolfed it down.  After dinner it was as if I hammer hit me in the back of my head.  I was starting to doze off, BIG TIME.  I decided that the way I'm going to combat this sleepiness is to get up.  I've been doing this for the last few weeks.  Today was no different.  I figured I would use my new fancy push broom to sweep up.  Sure enough, I went to the front yard this time to sweep the mess, and it is a mess.  I'm just glad that I got up and did something instead of falling asleep.

Wednesday, May, 13, There was a post on social media that showcased Carmel.  Big sign.  I do miss Carmel.  It's been nearly a year and a half since I've been there.  I'm not sure when I'll be able to travel there again.  Bigger sigh.

It was inevitable that the Hollywood Bowl would have to cancel its season.  TheGirl and I had been there many years in a row.  But then the last couple of years we weren't able to get good tickets.  This year we said that we would DEFINITELY go.  Oh well, that's not going to happen now.  Before this Covid stuff started closing things I was planning on contacting a former coworker that used to have a season pass to the Bowl.  Many years ago, when I was first starting out with TheGirl he got me some nice tickets at a nice price.  Since then TheGirl and I have gone many times to see the John Williams movie concert, and the Nightmare before Christmas concert, to name a couple.  It's a damn shame, because she also wanted to take her daughter with us.  It would have been a good time.  In previous years we would get some food together and pack up some wine and have a picnic in the picnic area right by the Bowl.  All this Covid stuff sucks.  But, what can you do?  Better luck next year... I hope.

I convinced TheGirl that we should have fish and chips from the Smoke House.  She kept on insisting that it was "expensive," but I mean come on.  The order of fish & chips was about $20, which isn't bad.  Also, during this time it's good to splurge a little sometimes.  I know, it's not a good idea to just spend and spend and spend.  Times are tough.  TheGirl and I are lucky that we're still working through this Covid stuff.  The news said that unemployment in the U.S. has it about 20%.  That's insane.  And even after things open up, there is the real possibility that all of our hours will be cut.  This is one topic perhaps for a later time.  The fish & chips really hit the spot.  They gave us a generous portion of tartar sauce.  I always worry about not having enough tartar sauce.  TheGirl did want some malt vinegar, but they didn't give us that.  The place I ordered from isn't usually a take out spot.  They're not used to having those little packets of vinegar at the ready.  I think that I need to assemble a little "Covid Wednesday night dinner survival kit" for TheGirl to have at her place.  She didn't even have a good ketchup.  She has Hunts ketchup at home.  Who buys THAT stuff?  So, vinegar, ketchup, and what else do I need to get her?  I'll have to make a list.

Thursday, May, 14, There are a bunch of things I did today, but right this moment they don't merit writing about.  Suffice to say I worked today.  The one thing I will say is that I filled up some spray bottles with disinfectant and water.  DrDeath told me he wanted me to do this for the "People" that were going to show up on Friday.  Hmm.  Who are these people?

My coworker had a project that he was working on today.  They had him gather book trucks and put them aside to get them ready for what looks like will be starting soon... curbside book pick-up.  San Marino has been doing it for a few weeks now, and it looks like the next phase of "opening" up is doing this curbside pick-up of books.  DrDeath pretty much said we're starting it on May 26th.  There is the chance that they won't continue it, but I'm sure there will be plenty of people that will want to get books.  I'm pretty sure that it's going to keep us busy.  Especially since San Marino's curbside pick-up has actually been pretty popular.  Why not Glendale?

Friday, May, 15, I stumbled upon a handheld thermometer that was sitting on the circulation desk.  I think that they are going to use it on the employees that show up for the curbside pick-up thing.  I guess eventually they might be used on patrons, but that's going to be a long time from now.

Today I didn't do much.  The branches I visited didn't have many books.  I went to the little free libraries as well.  I'm wondering what is coming next.

Sunday, May, 17, I've been a lazy person all weekend.  I drank like a fish last night aster my aunt went to sleep.  Yesterday and today my view of the world was the one above... the view of the tin roof.  I've wanted to do nothing but sleep all day.

There was a point today where I was chillin in my backyard and suddenly I saw a young lady climbing the fence that separates my house from the house to the south of me.  Right behind her was a young man.  I don't know if they were trying to get into my backyard to look for a ball the might have lost.  I say that because I found one yesterday while sweeping.  The kids pretty much stayed on the fence, moving from one side to another until someone I heard a grown up calling for them.  What a strange moment.

My aunt cooked up some chicken today... yes, AGAIN.  She overcooked it to the Nth degree.  It looked as bad as it looked.  I had some for lunch, but really I don't want to eat any more of it.  It's just a mess.  I don't understand how many times I need to tell my aunt that cooking chicken should leave it juicy rather than dry.  And then she doesn't season any of the food she makes.  She claims she wants to be healthy.  But bland food is the worst.

Monday, May, 18, Last night one of my social media apps popped a headline about a fire up the street from me.  A place called Hamptons818 was on fire.  The place had recently been accused of staying open and serving customers in violation of the stay at home order.  And now, it's on fire.  I wondered openly if this isn't a case of arson.  I guess time will tell.

Mala dropped a bomb this morning.  In an email about wanting to have a meeting with my co-driver and me about scheduling she mentioned that she would have to talk to us about possibly working one week and then not working two weeks.  That is some bullshit.  How am I going to survive on accounts as a pay cut 50%?  ARGH! I'll know more tomorrow, of course.  But for now I've been texting the back-up driver to see if they already contacted him.  Sure enough, he was contacted about driving the route.  ARGH!

I guess there's always delivering food for a living.

Tuesday, May, 19, Yesterday Mala sent Tony and myself an email... and here, some of, it is.

"As we gear up to launch curbside/mail out of delivery services, I wanted to touch base with you because of some new staff scheduling rotations that we will be implementing in conjunction with staff working regularly at the Central Library again.  At this time, the Library will be trialing a 10-4 scheduling pattern (assigned staff will work 4 days onsite then 10 days offsite).  This new service will necessitate scheduling 8-10 staff members to work in appropriately spaced out workstations at Central Library for a 4 work day cycle...."

The email continues...

"The rationale for this type of rotational scheduling is to keep the work group size small and contained. We also need to keep the three different groups separate from each other to minimize contact. As a result, this makes it necessary for us to reformulate the delivery schedule and related assignments so I wanted to check in with you for ideas on how we can make this work. One approach would be for each of you to join one of the teams but that means you wouldn't work your regular hours during the other two weeks. At the same time, we may have some wiggle room on the days when we will not be having other staff members in the building. However, if the two of you work together on those days then we're not adhering to this new scheduling approach of keeping separate work teams."

Overall the meeting with my supervisor's supervisor went well.  She's still going to split us up into three teams.  I'll be on team yellow, she said.  The weeks I'm not driving they'll have me do something else off site.  Again, not perfect, but at least I won't be losing many hours.  The one good thing is that this isn't forever.  But, for how long?

I was at the Brand library when one of the city's maintenance people started to knock on the door.  They said they were coming to drop off some Plexiglas partitions.  I let them in.  Well, what followed was a mess.  The guy brought in Plexiglas barriers that were all the same size.  They had my coworker and I measure these desks to make sure that they were covered.  But, all they did was cut a bunch of same sized Plexiglas barriers and then just putting them in any haphazard way.  The photo above is from the Grandview library.  They gave the ONE barrier.  Totally useless.  I sent the photo to TheNewCute and she pointed out how a patron will easily go around that.  Vagabundo mentioned that he would rather have no barrier than a half-assed one.  Absolutely.

Wednesday, May, 20, It was TheGirl's turn to buy.  She said last week that she wanted to grill something, but on Monday she mentioned that it was probably better if she just went and bought something for the both of us.  Today she said that she wanted to try a place called The New Deal.  It's like a bar with nice bar food.  She got herself a turkey burger and bought me a short rib sandwich.  It was good.  I remembered that she said she wanted some pie from Pie N Burger.  I went by in the morning, but it wasn't open yet.  Before all this B.S. it would be open when I was headed to work.  These days they open at 11am.  But I didn't know that.  Either way, I left work early in order to go get us some pie.  They gave her a really generous slice.  It was like a big slice plus a little "side car" slice.  Good times.

I arrived pretty fast, just as TheGirl was leaving to pick up the food.  She told me to make myself at home.  After being greeted by Cheyenne I went ahead with settling in.  I took a shot of whiskey and decided to take a picture of the Fess Parker bottle.  Only problem is that I couldn't find the bottle.  I FINALLY found it and thought that it would be cute if I took Chan and took some pictures with the bottle.  I put it on social media with the caption, "Chan is holding the wine hostage."  The only difference is that the picture I posted online has Chan fully wearing his mask.  Unlike the one above.

Thursday, May, 21, Last night TheGirl mentioned that she's still having trouble sleeping through the night.  I told her the I had had trouble sleeping through the night until jus about 2 weeks ago.  I must have jinxed myself, because I had a rough night last night.  I felt so sick last night that I was waking up about every hour on the hour.  It was tough.  I'm not sure what was wrong with me.  I just felt lousy and bloated and my heart was pounding.  Not a good combination.  I have't had a night like that in a long time.  I fucking hate it.  When I woke up this morning I felt MUCH better.  When I got to work I was still not feeling 100%, but nearly that.  Later in the day I felt normal.  As I write this I'm sitting in the backyard and I'm feeling normal.

One of the new procedures at Central is taking our own temperature when we first start work.  We also have to take a "self check" online that asks us some questions.  I took my temperature at home this morning and I was normal.  When I took my temperature at Central it said my temperature was 97.8.  Pretty much everyone that took their temperature was low.  I was the only one that suggested that perhaps we should see what the manual said about how far we are supposed to point the thermometer.  The manual said that it should be within one to five centimeters.  Most people have been taking their temperature at arm's length.  Terrible.

Emma mentioned that she was coming to Central to pick up some books using the curbside pick-up service.  I figured that maybe she could drop off the camera she said she would give me.  Sure enough, she was there and she waited for me as I was sidetracked to going to the graphic's department at city hall.  She looked nice.  She and I were hanging out a lot before this Corona BS.  But now it's been two months since I've seen her.  Later she texted me that it was good to see me in person after so long, and that she missed me.  Awww.  I STILL wonder if I have a chance with her.  Missing me is a good thing.  I'm going to suggest that from now on we should FaceTime each other at some point in the week.  Probably better on Friday or Saturday.  Who knows.

Just before ending the route I got an email that asked me to pick up some posters from the graphics department.  I figured it would be a good idea to kill some more time, so I went there and picked them up.  After returning to Central I helped mount them on to "sandwich" boards.  This is the next step in this library journey.

Friday, May, 22, I had a lot of little things to do today, but one of the things I wanted to do was hit a couple of the little free libraries to put food in them.  I went to the one in front of city hall and one of my former coworkers drove up and filled it with stuff.  That was super nice of her.  She mentioned that she goes and puts things in every few days.  Again, amazing.  So many people play lip service to these LFLs, but when it comes down to actually contributing there's nothing.  Here my coworker is doing this out of the goodness of her heart, and isn't looking for recognition.  That's a good person.

As I was driving to Montrose I passed by the Descanso gardens, which had a packed parking lot.  I believe today is the first day they've reopened since the stay at home order started a couple of months ago.  So many things are opening up again, but with caution.  But, I still see people going around without masks.  It's like they think, "Oh we won... it's over and done with."  It's not.

Emma gave me a camera yesterday and one of the cool things about that camera is that it has a really good zoom lens on it.  So good that today when I was at Brand I saw these two young ladies posing for pictures.  Well, one girl was, but the other was photographing her.  I was going to take their picture in order to showcase that people aren't wearing masks at the park.  But, then I noticed just how close I could bring the ladies in the frame considering how far away I was from them.  So the focus was on seeing how well the details show on these long distance photos.  From the photos they look really good.

Mala told me the other day during the meeting about my hours that I'm on team yellow.  I checked out the roster for the so-called team yellow today.  Included in my rotation is DrDeath and the new assistant director.  When it comes to the guys on the squad, it does include the most capable and hard working bunch of guys in the entire library system.  One is the guy that showed me the delivery route.  Another is my buddy, that is a really good worker.  And we have the guy, Raffi, that knows everything.  It's easily the best squad.  I'm still not sure if I'm going to be working on Saturdays with this bunch, but I guess time will tell.  If I end up working on Saturdays during this rotation I might actually end up working more hours than normal.  I suspect they won't have me on the Saturday schedule, unless someone calls out sick.  But not sick due to Covid-19.

On my way home I noticed that the 101 North was packed with traffic.  I checked the map app on my phone to see if there was an accident, but nope.  No accident at all.  I guess everyone is eager to get sick, I mean to go out.

Saturday, May, 23, My aunt again wanted to have something sweet, so we both went to Gelson's market.  She bought some pastries and ice cream.  I want to tell her that she needs to stay home, but at the same time I understand that she's getting antsy being stuck at home all day, every day.

TheGirl took a day trip up to Lake Cachuma today.  It's another example of how things are opening up and returning to normal.  OK, you can't say normal, but rather the new normal.  I told her that I wanted to ask her to get me some sugar cookies, but I have enough sweets here at home.

I was exchanging text messages with Emma today about my video that I recorded last night while I was sitting out in my backyard.  The thought of the time, back in October of last year, when Emma and I went to the Italian restaurant located in Downtown Disney.  Those were some different and obviously good times.  After seeing Emma this past week I really wish that there was a way to win her over.  Perhaps I already have since she did say she missed me.  I mean, why miss me?  Unless.  I do miss hanging out with her.

Sunday, May, 24, I wanted to show the camera that Emma gifted me.  She gave it to me when I was saying that I wanted to possibly get a camera for my cousin's kids to learn photography.  But, now that I have it I don't think I'll give it to my cousin's kids.  They have iPads and will soon have cell phones to use for photography.  I'm keeping this thing.

Last week my aunt mentioned that I should get a salad from California Chicken Cafe.  But, I wasn't in the mood.  This weekend she asked me to get pizza yesterday.  That really hit the spot.  But at the same time I bought two pizzas, and that's a lot of pizza.  I figured today I should get a salad.  I went to her room to ask what she wanted, but she was sleeping.  I figured I would just get her some chicken and get myself a nice salad.  I ordered online, which is the style of the time.  Because of Covid-19 many places have turned to curbside pick-up.  This is something that's allowed, no sitting and dining in restaurants.  Maybe some day soon, but not for now.  This curbside stuff is actually pretty good.

Monday, May, 25, Feeling blah.  Details when I can write.

Tuesday, May, 26, I was not feeling well yesterday.  Nor did I have a good night last night.  I honestly don't know what's wrong with me.  But, there is SOMETHING wrong with me.  I had no energy.  I felt "sick."  And lastly I felt like my heart was pounding.  I need to find out what is wrong with me.

This week I was to shelve books at Montrose.  But first, an email from Mala saying she wanted to touch base with Tony and myself.  Which meant a meeting this morning.  Thankfully by then I was feeling MUCH better.  But, after the meeting I ended up not staying at Montrose, but rather I ended up driving my own car to half of the branches to pick up the holds in those locations.  Certainly not what I thought I was going to do today.  It's a good thing I wore my Glendale work clothes, because it was just easier to deal with the book bins that way.

I need to get this issue with my health checked out.  And not just in a cursory way, like that house call a few months ago where I was given anti-anxiety meds.  This time I need to be checked up and have follow up visits and such.  I need to get to the bottom of this.  Maybe it's something simple.  Perhaps it's more complicated.  Anyway, I took some time today to sign up for health insurance.  The state opened up enrollment due to the Covid-19 crisis.  I figured I would take the opportunity to sign up now, instead of waiting until November.  Let's see just how long it will take to get me into a doctor's office.  I figure a couple of the weeks, at least.

At the end of going to the four branches I was assigned today I remembered that the first branch still had a TON of holds waiting there.  I didn't ask soon enough to know that they wanted ALL the holds, not just the recent holds.  I told my coworker this and he gave me the keys for the van in order to return with those books.  I'm a dope.  I couldn't fit the amount of bins that I had to move in my little car anyway.  I brought back ten bins of books from Montrose to Central.  Nuts.

When I got home I noticed a pair of shady characters.  I pulled into the parking spot right in front of my house and instead of getting out of the car immediately I gave them a quick glance.  I kept the car running and in neutral rather than in park, so the doors wouldn't unlock.  They noticed me and picked up there things and started to walk towards me.  They walked by my car and just as I was ignoring them by looking at my phone the woman stopped by the window.  I noticed this and looked up and she waved at me.  I waved back.  This made me know that these two characters were super shady.  Anyway, I watched them walk away.  I got out of the car and opened the gate and went into the house.  My aunt asked me if I saw that the outside gate was left open.  I didn't, I told her.  She told me that she had heard the gate open a while back, and that she thought that it was perhaps the neighbor's kids that climbed the fence a couple of weeks ago.  I told her I would check on the security camera footage.  Instead of the neighbor's kids I saw the woman that I had observed when I arrived home.  She went up to the house and pretended to knock on the window.  She then walks back to the street.  At one point she yells out to her partner in crime.  I'm not sure when she took the package, but when I asked my aunt about it she said she didn't have it.  I also told her that the kids were not in the front yard, but rather that this woman was lurking around.

When my aunt told me about my package I knew that these two dopes had taken it.  Suffice to say, I called the police and they told me to email them the footage.  I know they can't do much about it, but it's good to report these things.  Afterward I became curious about where they were standing and sure enough, the opened and empty package was left in my neighbor's yard.  Oh well.  I guess if I want a replacement I have to get cooking on reporting this.

Wednesday, May, 27, On a shortened week I didn't have a new video for the library.  My supervisor was like "Whatever."  But, she did give me a new assignment.  I'm good with it.  It's not that difficult.  Also, no one is actually viewing these things.  So no pressure.

One of the places TheGirl and I frequented before all this Covid-19 business was the Counter in Toluca Lake.  They make burgers.  Pretty good ones.  They've been closed since the start of this thing.  But, TheGirl noticed on her walk this weekend that they seemed opened.  Sure enough, upon inspection she saw they were opened for take-out.  Woo hoo! We didn't have to debate what the both of us wanted for dinner tonight... THE COUNTER! Even if Chan disapproved.  Ha ha!

Ordering was super easy, I went online and even set a time for pick-up.  These days there's hardly any traffic, so I arrived a wee bit early.  I waited a little and then went inside.  I was STILL early.  That's fine.  The food was ready and I sped to TheGirl's place.  It was good eats.  The only thing missing was the Fess Parker.  TheGirl didn't buy any.  I guess I have to be the one to buy some.  The burgers really hit to spot.

Thursday, May, 28, Since I ended up not sorting and shelving books on Tuesday this is the pile of books I had to deal with today and tomorrow.  I guess it's OK that I didn't get to sort these books on Tuesday, because then I would have had one more day to do this project.  Which means that they might expect me to finish sorting and shelving books for a branch in a day.  Nope.  Not that I'm trying to milk this assignment, but I'm also not going to kill myself to finish it.

Yesterday Ani texted me to say that the next time I planned on having my lunch at the Montrose branch that I should tell her.  I told her I was working up there his week.  She then said she wanted to come over and have lunch with me.  Oh hell yeah! With all the people around I did warn her if she wanted to make it tomorrow, but she was OK with all the company.

I do miss seeing Ani at the Brand library.  But, all things must pass.  I've said it before, I have a thing for Ani.  I would so sleep with her this instant.  It's funny that in our lunch conversation she mentioned that Emma takes a good picture.  Hmm.  What's that about?  Hey... could it be that she and Emma have been talking?  Maybe this is a way to have me take a really nice picture of Emma.  Oh, I'm good with that.

Anyway, lunch went way too fast.  But, it was really good to have some In-n-Out after so long.  Why is it that I'm so terrible with women?

After Ani left I really got to work.  The tech guy, and the maintenance guy left a little before Ani left.  But like I said, once Ani left I really put myself to getting as much done as possible.  I still have a lot of books to shelve, but at least I put myself in a position at the end of this work day for tomorrow to go a little smoother.  We shall see.

After the little thing with my package being stolen I decided to move the camera that I labeled "birdhouse" closer to the street for a better view of that area.  The cameras I have can view people or animals that get close to the house, but not something that initially enters from the gate.  Most people are not going to climb the short fence, but they will open the gate.  I mean, why not?  It's easy.  It's not like it's locked or anything.  Anyway, we'll see how this new placement goes.  As is typical, I suspect I'll be adjusting that camera several times before I get it JUST right.

Friday, May, 29, Once Ani, and everyone else that was visiting the branch, left I could finally get to actual work.  I shorted the children's books, since they seem to be the biggest number of books that need to be shelved.  Today I tackled the children's books.  Since there weren't any visits to the branch I was able to focus and get almost all of it done.  I'm not finished with the shelving yet though.  There is still another cart full of books that are more miscellaneous books rather than from one section.  Like they aren't all kids books, but there are some kids books in the mix.

Saturday, May, 30, With my stimulus check I figured I would paying my state and federal taxes.  But with the remainder I thought about how I need a new cell phone.  The one I have now has been nothing but a pain for the last three years.  What with the battery issue its had since I got it and dropped it.  I still think that it has a short circuit in it, because this battery issue was something I've had since the beginning.  I went ahead and went online and bought the new inexpensive iPhone SE.  I've healed out from buying a new phone, but I think now is the time.  At work on Thursday and Friday I had such a time having to keep the phone charging.  Because anything I tried to do on the phone, like just listen to satellite radio, drained the batter super fast.  Even connected to the brick charger the phone's battery was draining.  So that's it, time for a new phone after about three years of frustration.  I already bought a new case for it.  I ordered it moments after ordering my phone.  It's said to arrive on June 3rd to June 5th.  I'll have my aunt looking out for it.  Les I have another porch pirate steal my phone.

On my old phone I got a message tonight that alerted me that there was a curfew tonight due to the looting and rioting going on in various parts of the city.  As if this year wasn't already bad enough.  Hey, they don't have to worry about me leaving the house.  I'm here for good.  I've been talking to some friends about how they feel about going out again, now that restaurants are being allowed to open up (under certain conditions such as social distancing and outdoor dining).  I even talked to Emma about going back to Disneyland, and I think the both of us agree that we don't have to rush back immediately after reopening.  We are getting ahead of ourselves, seeing as we don't have any idea how long they'll be closed.  But, things are opening up.

Sunday, May, 31, I gave myself a haircut today.  I couldn't take how long my hair was getting.  I suspect it's going to be warm this week, and I don't want that extra hair on my head.  I was doing a good job at my second self haircut.  That is until I had to get the sides.  That's when my body weight shifted for a moment.  And that's that was needed for me to screw up my hair.  Oh well.  Fuck everything.

Wrap-up, I can't say that May was the worst month of the year.  Far from it.  It was actually pretty average.  Not great, but certainly this month wasn't a complete dumpster fire.  I would give it a solid C grade.  These days I'll take a few C grade months instead of Fs and Ds. UPDATE: I often write this wrap-up of the month a couple of days before the month is over.  This time I wrote the above on Friday.  I want to amend what I wrote to say that this month can't get much more than a D grade.  For me it was pretty good.  Work was work.  But I have to give this month a lower grade due to the violence.  I'm pretty far away from this whole thing, and I think we're relatively safe here in the Valley.  However, the anxiety of dealing with all this ain't right.  This is the worst year.

Here are some of the better memes I've seen this month.