This has been a tough month, to say the least.  Death has dominated this month.  But, now on to the update.

 

Saturday, February 1, I don't remember how Emma picked this haunted hotel tour, but she did and we went tonight.  Before the hotel we went to dinner at a place in Pasadena's Paseo called "Great Maple."  We went there a couple of weeks ago when we went to Houston's and the bookstore.  I ordered a burger, and Emma ordered some fried chicken.  Not to mention a couple of drinks.  I wasn't driving, so I could afford to get some booze into me.

One of the things that I liked about this place was the neon sign outside.

The tour itself was short in terms of locations in the hotel that we visited.  We spent a lot of time in the lobby, listening to the guide tell us the history of the hotel.  Then we moved to the restaurant, for lack of a better name.  Then the outside patio, and finally the upstairs and the "haunted room," room 120.  Mwahahaha!  All in all I had fun, and I think Emma did as well.  It was her idea, after all.

The lobby looked good in black and white, as you can see above.  The place isn't the most picturesque place in the world, but the lobby did have a good look.  We eventually went upstairs to the hunted room, where Emma gave me the camera to film.  I was able to film our guide telling three haunted stories.  Nice!

Ultimately I'm still puzzled by Emma's invitation to this project and if it means that she likes me.  And by like I don't mean as a person.  I think she likes me as a person just fine.  Which is another puzzle, because I don't see myself as being that fun, but others do.  But I wonder if she's interested in more.  In the past I've mentioned this on this journal, and I also mentioned how I just didn't know so I would err on the side of just not trying to get involved with her in that way.  But still doing all the fun stuff on these projects.  Because after last year I need to have fun this year.  But then she shoots me a look and I wonder.

Here's a post from Emma's social media.

Emma asked me to call the ride share, and just then she went to the owner of the hotel bar to see if her father could possibly play music there with his band.  I couldn't help but take a picture of her featuring her legs, which looked really nice.  I know, call me a cad.  Sorry for finding a girl attractive.

Sunday, February 2, I don't usually have problems with waking up in the middle of the night, let alone a couple of times during the night.  But last night I woke up about three times, if I'm not mistaken.  At one point I woke up and my left big toe was hurting as though someone had stabbed it with a pin.  I don't know why it hurt like that.  Later I woke up with a little pain in my stomach.  Even later I woke up kinda wanting to go to the bathroom, but not that much.  Which is strange.  I just felt this strange feeling of dread, which passed.

Last night, after arriving from the hotel tour, my aunt told me that she wanted to go to breakfast this morning.  We went and had the buffet.  But, my aunt didn't eat that much.  She has said how she's been eating less and less lately.  I think she should have ordered off the menu, rather than eat off the buffet, because she didn't get her money's worth.  Granted, they do have a variety of food at the buffet, but as I mentioned my aunt didn't take advantage.  And neither did I, actually.

Monday, February 3, There was a point today when pseudo supervisor came up to the desk where I was and told me that one of our coworkers needed to go to the doctors.  It turned out not to be that serious, but my coworker was late for an ultrasound exam.  We made it with five minutes to spare, since it was just up the street.  But then after getting there, we still waited fifteen minutes.  So all that rushing for nothing.  Ha ha.  Not really, I hate being late for anything.  The other good thing is that we were back in time for lunch.  Woo!

Tuesday, February 4, Emma went ahead and posted the video that we recorded on Saturday at the haunted hotel.  I have to say that there is a definite improvement in the video we're making.  I know that for myself I thought I was pretty natural in front of a camera, but I feel that I'm getting more comfortable looking at the camera.  In the past I know that I would still look at Emma, instead of the lens.  There's a funny moment where I was shooting video as we climbed up the stairs at the hotel and Emma asks if I was trying to film her butt.  I wasn't, but I kinda wish I hadn't looked away when she said that.  In the video you can partially see her butt as we go up the stairs.

I'm still puzzled as to all this, but as I've said before, I'm just going to ride this good time until whenever.  All things must pass, but for the moment I'm just enjoying having Emma as a friend.

Wednesday, February 5, Emma texted me a picture of the new library cards, the ones that were apparently lost in the basement and were found in the Friend's of the library's office.  Well, now they found them and just look at them in all their glory (see above).  This is all on DrDeath's doorstep, because he was the one that gave us this horrible logo.  He's the one that probably designed this stupid card design.  Just terrible in every way.

I'm not feeling well today.  I feel this queasiness in my stomach, like it's shaking.  Much like jello shakes when moved.  As I write this I'm on the reference desk feeling kinda sleepy, but I also have this pain in my back that hurt when I burped a couple of minutes ago in the server room.  I went in there to fart, since I could feel my stomach feeling bloated.  Earlier I was in the conference room laying down after lunch.  I let out a huge fart and felt so much better.  Then I farted again and I felt even better.

Of course I was trying to diagnose myself, and found that over drinking can cause some of the symptoms I am experiencing.  Makes sense, I had some booze last night.  I told myself that I would only drink on Wednesday night dinners with TheGirl and on the weekend when I hang out with Emma.  I was keeping to that promise, until last night I sat down in my chair after dinner and I couldn't find a comfortable spot to sit.  My heart was pumping and I could feel my body move with every pump.  That made me feel like when we had the earthquake last year, a little dizzy.  That uneasy feeling made me get up and start playing NERF basketball.  But that was only for a little while.  After I wanted to sit down, but I couldn't in my chair.  I ended up sitting on my desk chair.  Still later I tried again to sit in my chair when I was talking on the phone to my buddy Vagabundo.  But, I still couldn't feel comfortable, so I had a shot of whiskey.  That made me forget my predicament.  What followed was another shot and another, and, well, you know where this ended up.  Pretty soon I had probably five shots or six shots and I was feeling numb.  Then I went to bed.  I woke up feeling kinda lousy, but I expected that.

As I write this Im feeling better, but my back still hurts.  I searched out a doctor in Glendale.  I think the time has come for me to go to a doctors.  I want to know why i feel this way, and why I feel so tired all the time, and why my eyes always feel so tired and dry.  I know, quite a laundry list.

I'm happy to report that I'm feeling better right now.  But my back still hurts.  But it hurts less with every burp.  Still, I think I need to see a doctor sooner than later.  Perhaps I should visit the doctor I looked up and make an appointment for next week.

Despite feeling lousy most of the day at work I was looking forward to having dinner with TheGirl tonight.  We left Cheyenne at home, because of the cold weather.  I had a margarita and all my troubles left me.  I ordered the biggest platter of food.  I made a small dent into it, but I took most of it home.  Good times, for sure.

After getting home I started to feel worse than when I was at work.  My heart was racing, and I didn't know what to do except go to bed and hope that I felt better.  I turned on my phone to listen to my favorite radio show and just lay there hoping to feel better.  At some point I went to sleep and woke up around midnight.  I was feeling better, but still not 100%.  I fell back to sleep and around 3am I woke up and noticed that the kitchen light was on.  I went to investigate and it was my aunt saying she just went to us the restroom.  I followed.  I didn't tell her how I was feeling.  Thankfully I was already feeling better.

Thursday, February 6, I woke up feeling better than last night, but also lousy.  My heart was at least not racing like it was last night.  That was an awful feeling.  It was bad enough at one point that I felt like finding the nearest urgent care facility that was still open and seeing what was the matter with me.  I didn't, but I was close to doing it.  I was close to calling TheGirl to see if she could take me.  Before leaving for work I set up an appointment with a doctor to see what was wrong with me.  Despite feeling better this morning and today, I still don't like how I was feeling last night before I went to bed.

I didn't eat breakfast this morning, and I didn't pack a lunch, because I knew that I wasn't going to want that today.  As the day wore on I did feel better.  I had a talk with the guy who showed me the ropes of the route so many years ago.  I told him how I was feeling and he mentioned that he had the same feeling years ago.  It turned out he had anxiety.  It took the doctors a year to finally pin that diagnosis.

One of the ladies from Grandview/Adams Square is leaving for a full time job with the county.  I'm going to miss seeing her gorgeous face.  She deserves it though.  She put the work in to become a librarian, now she gets to escape Glendale.  I'm going to miss her, but I do wish her the best.

Friday, February 7, I made an appointment on Wednesday night after feeling really lousy for a doctor to come for a house call.  Much like my aunt was visited by a doctor last year.  He came in and checked me out and gave me two different medications.  One for my stomach and one for anxiety.  I'm to take the stomach one daily, and the anxiety one as needed.  I hope I never need to do that.

Saturday, February 8, I went to Disneyland with Emma today.  She usually has an agenda for a video, but not today.  The main thing she wanted to do is to get a Sven mug from the Red Rose Tavern in Fantasyland (see above) for her sister.  Once that was done we went to get a drink.

Originally we had planned on trying to film a video featuring me taking more Polaroid pictures, but stupid me had left the camera turned on, which drained the battery.  I could have given it a boost, but not without the proper cable, which was back in the car.  But, neither Emma nor I wanted to go back to the car.  So we put our things in a locker and went to the Hearthstone Lounge for drinks.  We ordered some drinks and some food.  I had something I'd never seen on the menu there before... mini corn dog nachos.  Basically mini corn dogs covered with cheese.  They were really yummy.

As I said earlier, Emma didn't have an idea what she wanted to film after my stupid Polaroid camera's dead battery took away the one thing we did have planned.  We ended up just wandering around the parks, eventually settling in on some more booze.  And then more booze.  I was feeling pretty damn good.  I was sure not feeling anxious today.

Sunday, February 9, After coming home from Disneyland last night we received a call from my cousin.  She was very sad.  She told me that my Uncle, her father, had passed away.  I asked her if there was anything I could do.  She basically invited me to go over to her Uncle's apartment with her and her husband to wait for the people from the mortuary to pick up the body.  Even before they showed up we all got to the work of placing my uncle's clothes in bags for charity.

We spent around three hours cleaning up my uncle's stuff, and by the time we ended I know I was tired.  I could tell my cousin was emotionally drained.  These last few months have been hard on all of us in this family, but worse for my cousin.  I love my Godmother, but she lost her mother and father in less than six months.  She's putting up a brave face, but this has got to be the worst moment of her life.

Monday, February 10, I visited TheGirl tonight after work, and in the few moments before I left for home I had Chan sit next to Cheyenne.  I still think that Cheyenne is puzzled by Chan.

I hardly did nothing at work today.  Which was fine by me.  But, I know that I can't just sit around doing nothing all day for long.  I have to get busy with some of my work.  Maybe Wednesday.  Ha!

Tuesday, February 11, Not much to report from the route today.  I'm happy to report that Montrose FINALLY has a new microwave.  For YEARS, I've been suffering with the fact that the microwave at Montrose had a turntable that didn't work.  Which means the obvious, that my food would not be reheated properly.  It was a fucking mess.  In the last couple of years I would hit the thirty second button on the microwave and then open it, turn my food, and repeat.  For most lunches I would do that at least four times.  But, like a few weeks ago with my spaghetti and chili, I had to return the food to the microwave after I found that one side was super hot, and the other was nearly as cold as when I put it in.  Terrible.  But now, I can warm my lunches up in peace, knowing that they will be heated evenly, not just on one side.  Woo!

I'm happy to report that I felt pretty good today, with no major heart beating fast incidents today.  There were a couple of times when I thought my heart would start racing again, but no.  Most of my problems today focused around my stomach.  I do have a pill for that, but I haven't taken it yet.

For some reason only she knows my aunt had the idea that I needed to buy a new mattress.  It had something to do with the mattress in the other room, or lack there of.  See, I had to dump my mattress a couple of years ago when I stupidly left a soda on my bed, which was partially open.  Since then I've been using the mattress from there other room's bed.  But, I guess my aunt wanted me to return it to that bed.  This is why she bought me a new mattress.  I guess we'll see how much I like this new mattress.

Wednesday, February 12, I woke up early this morning, around 4am, feeling strange.  It's this heart beating fast thing again.  I was having a strange dream, I remember, and perhaps that made my heart race.  Either way, I woke up.  It's like the second time this week that I woke up so early.  Not sure what's going on.

I was feeling sleepy today.  Because I had to cover the reference desk at 1pm instead of the usual 2pm I had lunch early.  I went and took a nap after lunch, because I was just so sleepy.  Certainly waking up super early this morning didn't help any.  Still, I don't know what is going on with me.  I wish I could just take whatever this anxiety thing is and toss it right in the garbage bin.

TheGirl and I went back to the Counter, since that's one of the better places we can go and have dinner with Cheyenne in tow.  I didn't even have a burger today, since I wanted to have the pastrami reuben.  It was something I saw last time after we had already finished eating.  The reuben hit the spot, but of course the best thing was the wine.  I even talked to TheGirl and Emma about going up to the winery that makes Fess Parker.  Hopefully soon.

Thursday, February 13, TheGirl took a picture of Cheyenne and me last night (above).  TheGirl mentioned how Cheyenne had her left paw on my shoulder.  Yup, there it was.  TheGirl thinks that Cheyenne loves me more than anyone else.  I don't know about that, she does love TheGirl immensely.  But, perhaps you could say if the girl is number one, that I'm one-B.

Because Pasadena didn't deliver any bins yesterday today's bin load was super light (as shown above).  I don't remember the last time I had these few bins on the route.  It's a long way from a couple of years ago when I was taking about a dozen bins to one branch.

After work I met Emma in Pasadena to try out the new bar at Vroman's bookstore.  The bar, named 1894, was something Emma and I have been talking about for while now.  We've waited and waited for this day to come.  We of course recorded a video.  Short version of our review... it was OK, but not great.  We probably won't be coming back here any time soon.  Their "cocktails" were really not cocktails since they don't serve spirits.  Oh well.  I did like the wine, but I can get that anywhere.  Still, Emma and I got another video out of it, and I had some fun.

There was a cute girl working at the bar tonight.  I could not keep my eyes off her when she was close by.  She had a nice look, and I was of course mesmerized.  She, of course, was standoffish.  I guess I just look like a creep.  This might be the only reason to return to this bar.

But it was a fun night out.  I didn't want to stay out too late, since I have work tomorrow and I didn't want to leave my aunt alone too long tonight.  The night was over by 9pm, when I got home.  Still, we packed a lot of fun into a few hours.

Friday, February 14, I was in the treasury department at work when I went to check my phone and saw that my aunt had called.  I didn't hear when she called.  She left me a voicemail.  I listened to it and heard my aunt tell me that my uncle Gil had passed away.  This has been a horrible week.  Today would have been their fifty-first wedding anniversary.

I finished the route a little early today, because there were hardly any book bins to be delivered.  I did the route in a different way in order today.  I went to Pacific Park first, followed by Adams Square, and then I did the rest of the route the semi normal way.  I did skip Casa until the end, because I wanted to arrive at Grandview before the children got out of school.  I chatted TheNewCute up today.  She gave me a Valentine's day cookie that she made as a test of the amount of ingredients for a cookie decorating children's program.  She wanted to make sure that there was enough frosting.  The cookie really hit the spot.  And not just because she made it, but because it tasted way yummy with strawberry frosting.

My cousin in Mexico texted me as I was nearly home to ask how long I was going to be until I got home.  I told her about fifteen minutes, since I was JUST passing Van Nuys boulevard.  Sure enough, I was home in about fifteen.  My aunt had already told me the news about my uncle, but my family in Mexico wanted to tell me personally.  When I arrived home we gathered around the iPad and called.  My aunt told my aunt, my cousin and myself the story.

Basically my uncle was walking to the bus stop when he had a heart attack and died.  I'm so sad.  Years ago, after my Grandmother passed, I had what I call my lost summer.  As stated in the past, I didn't have a job, nor was I in school yet.  My aunt and uncle stayed for months to make sure my aunt and I were doing well.  Many a time during that lost month my uncle would invite me to Hometown Buffet for a meal when I had no money and was starving.  Many a morning he would cook up breakfast up for the family.  He was a kind and generous man, and I will miss him.  This is going to hurt for a long time.  The last time we spoke was not that recent.  My aunt tries to call as many times as possible on the iPad, but my family doesn't always respond.  I think the last time we spoke must have been a couple of months ago, but I can' be entirely sure.  This is going to hurt for a while.

Emma uploaded a new vlog today, from last night's visit to the new bar at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena.

Saturday, February 15, I don't remember when we decided to go down to Downtown Disney, but I know that I initiated it.  Finally the day came that we drove down to Downtown Disney.  We almost always end up eating at the Earl of Sandwich.  The Earl had a new sandwich called "Earl's Feast," which was a combination of roast beef and turkey.  TheGirl had her usual Caprese sandwich.  TheGirl and I haven't come down here in a while, so for her to walk from the new parking structure to Downtown Disney was an adventure.  Mainly because she hadn't seen the changes in the way you can walk from the structure to Downtown Disney.

After filling our bellies we went to Trader Sam's to see if we could get a seat.  The place was, predictably, busy.  So, we ended up going to the Hearthstone Lounge in the hotel.  I had a Manhattan and a Martini and TheGirl had a glass of Fess Parker.  She didn't want to have more than that because she was driving.

After drinks we went shopping, and I ended up buying Chan a blankie.  While there I found a t-shirt that I had to photograph and send a text to Emma (see above).  It was apropos because I start singing songs at the drop of a hat.  To the point that Emma thinks we should go to karaoke.

We came back home to TheGirl's place where Cheyenne jumped me in order to lick my face.  I had a great day, but THAT moment really made my day.  It was wonderful.

Sunday, February 16, I bought Chan a new blankie at Downtown Disney yesterday.  I've been using my childhood blankie to tuck Chan in.  But now it's time for hims to have his own.  I've been looking for a blankie for Chan for a while now, and I'm glad that I was FINALLY able to find one that I liked.  The blankie has a nice style, and of course I can steal it and use it from time to time.

Last night I had a little booze and jerked off, and I was feeling damn nice (and normal).  I hadn't jerked off in over a week, what with my Uncles dying, and me not feeling well.  But I felt normal on yesterday, so I had at it last night.

After breakfast I went to my room and I found that my heart was racing again.  I found that it was best not to sit at my desk, but rather go to bed.  I grabbed Chan's new blankie and, as the English say, had a lie down.  As I write this sentence it's 9:45pm and I'm feeling blah.  Nothing major, but just blah.  Earlier I played a little NERF basketball and felt OK.  Last night I ate some leftovers from the night I went to dinner with TheGirl, the same night all this heart pounding started.  I wonder if there is something about that food that has caused me to feel this way today, after feeling fine yesterday.  All I know is that I haven't been OK for most of today.

Monday, February 17, My aunt had to go to the market via CityRide, because she called them on Friday and she thought that they would not be open on a holiday.  But, to our surprise she told her they would pick her up today, not tomorrow.  Which meant she was forced to go to the market today.  I figured I would take advantage of that to clean out my car's hatchback area.  I had some random stuff rolling around there, but I've been too lazy to do this before.  But, it turned out to only take about fifteen minutes.

The weather today is near perfect, so I took the opportunity to sit in my backyard for a while.  There was a nice cool breeze, and the sun is super warm.  It was too good to last, because when my aunt came home she wanted to go to Costco.  ARGH!

Costco could have been worse, but it wasn't all that great.  Especially when my aunt wanted to find some bread crumbs and she was going back and forth.  I was getting hungry and I became annoyed when my aunt asked me where the crumbs were.  How should I know?  I haven't been to this store in something like five years.  No thanks, I avoid this place BIG TIME.

We Facetimed my family tonight, and they sent us pictures of my uncle Gilbert's funeral.  I feel so sad about his death, because he was a good man.  I knew he would pass some day, but I guess I thought I might see him again, what with the possibility of him and my aunt visiting for my other uncle's funeral.  Alas, it doesn't look like she will come now.

Wednesday, February 19, Monday night there was a helicopter circling above my neighborhood for about two and a half hours.  It turned out there was some burglary suspects running around after someone called the police.  According to the police they did find the two suspects, but it took some time.  I always worry when I hear the neighbor's dogs barking at seemingly nothing.

TheGirl and I have made it a point to definitely try and go to the Hollywood Bowl this year.  We tried to go last year, and the year before, but without any luck.  It's been too long, she's right.  I've been holding out for better seats each time we go, but maybe it's time to return to where we've been seated before.  I mean, it's not just about the seats, but really about the good times and the good company.

TheGirl and I went to the same place we had dinner last week, The Counter, because it's just easier.  Also because they have yummy food and our favorite wine.

Last week I had a pastrami reuben, but this week I went for the full pastrami burger.  It did hit the spot, and of course a bottle of the Fess Parker.  That topped of the night.  The wine was flowing and I was feeling mighty good.  I felt the best I've felt in a long time.  Especially since I had that pounding heart thing.  I actually felt normal today.  Imagine that!

Friday, February 21, A pair of ladies were taking photos at Brand today.  This happens all the time, but boy was the lady in the dark dress absolutely beautiful.  I half wanted to show them how to take a better picture, but I'm sure they took fine pictures with their cell phone.

The side door has been failing on and off for the last few weeks.  Today another person came out to "fix" it.  I think this fix might actually stick, because this guy understood that it's not just a matter of the keypad failing, but rather another piece somewhere else failing.  The guy narrowed it down and replaced that and also replaced the keypad.  I have some hope that it will continue to work.  But, it's cautious hope, because I know this building all too well.  It's one big fail.

Saturday, February 22, The weather people on TV said that it was going to rain again, so Emma wasn't too sure about going to Disneyland today.  I told her it would be OK, and it was.  We did go through a downpour just a few miles away from Disneyland, but once we arrived at the park we hardly had to deal with any rain.

Emma made a reservation for Carthay Circle's restaurant, but we arrived about forty-five minutes before our reservation.  In that time we recorded some introductions for the the vlog.  We did two introductions each.  We then made our way to DCA where we took some pictures around Grizzly Peak.

It was finally time to go to Carthay Circle.  I've never been, so I was super excited to check out the restaurant.  I've been to the lounge a lot of times, but this was the first time in the restaurant.

It's pretty inside.

Emma ordered some "Carthay Signature Fried Biscuits," which were super yummy.  I also ordered a martini.  Then for our entrees Emma ordered some bao buns and I ordered an angus burger.  The burger is a bit pricy, but it was good.  Not $24 worth good, but it was yummy.  I added two Manhattans to my meal, which really hit the spot as well.

After lunch Emma and I made our way to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen outside the park, because Emma wanted me to have a bloody Mary.  I have to say it was not bad, but not my favorite.  Following that we headed over to Trader Sam's to try a secret drink named "The Child," which is a character from the new Star Wars show on Disney plus.  It's a "cute" drink, but not very strong.  The weather was absolutely wonderful as we sat outside in the patio.

I took a Polaroid of Emma, and she took one of me.

Following Trader Sam's we headed back to the park, because we had reservations for the Lamplight Lounge.  It was nice out there as well, since we had a nice view of the Pixar Pier area of DCA.  I don't like this part of the park, but I have to admit that it was a nice view tonight.

We were both full of food, so we didn't order anything big.  Emma recommended the potato skins, which were super nice.

After Lamplight we walked around DCA a bit and then went to Disneyland to see what rides we could get on.  We got on a few, but it was just nice walking around the park in the rain.  While we were at Lamplight it rained a little, but just enough to get things wet.  It was cool though, because it gave all the lights a nice reflection.  The Mad Tea Party ride looked great in the night.

Before leaving Emma wanted to buy some jelly beans for her dad.  Only problem is she overfilled the plastic bag.  The girl behind the counter offered to tap the bag shut, but Emma said it was OK.  Predictively as soon as we got on the tram to head back to the parking structure the bag with the jelly beans tipped over and spilled all over the floor.  Womp womb!

Sunday, February 23, TheGirl sent me a picture of Cheyenne after their walk around the neighborhood.  Cheyenne was pooped, to say the least.  As you can see from the picture above.

Tuesday, February 25, Emma uploaded a video of us on Disneyland's Autopia from a couple of weeks ago.  A good time, for sure.  To check it out just click on the picture above.  This project has been the only good thing in my life lately.  What with everyone dying and so many dumb things happening in general.

I had a restless night last night, to say the least.  I woke up several times tossing and turning, and having my heart beat fast.  It wasn't as bad as some other times, but it was still something that bugged me.  I usually sleep all the way through the night, but last night I woke up about three times.  I'm tired as it is, I need a whole night's sleep.  I honestly don't know how I made it through the route today being this tired.

About a week ago I ordered some prints, including one of TheLooker's portrait that I shot last year.  I wanted to gift it to her.  I took it to the library with me and checked if she was working today.  Sure enough, she was and I gave it to her.  Later she texted me a picture of her tile sitting on top of her diploma.  She wants to take more pictures.  I'm game.  Wish I could convince her to do them "au naturale."  I guess I COULD ask.

When I got home I had some dinner and before I knew it I was passing out in my chair.  These days I've been good about NOT doing this.  When I feel like I'm going to sleep in my chair I will get up and start to do something.  Anything, like get my lunch ready for the next day.  Or get my clothes ready... anything, to keep me from falling asleep.  I didn't beat the sleepiness this time though, and I passed out.  I didn't think I was that tired today.

Wednesday, February 26, I went ahead and changed my pillow arrangement last night to switch the higher pillow under my normal pillow.  This little change was nice.  I didn't wake up with my chest pounding during the night.  When I woke up my left arm wasn't sitting under me.  And the best is that I felt pretty good this morning.  First time in a long time.

TheGirl and I were going to try a new place for dinner, a place called Hollywood Way.  But, when we got there the patio was PACKED with dopes.  Next!  We didn't have a plan B, but we quickly decided to go to the Counter.  It's our go to and it never disappoints.  Thankfully we always have that place as a plan B.  We'll try again next week for Hollywood Way.

TheGirl and I were trying to plan going to the Northwoods Inn for some food in a couple of weeks.  I'm down.  I am tired, but I also want to fill my dance card with a lot of different things.  No idea how I'll have the energy for all this, but yeah.  TheGirl also wants to go back to Carmel, but she thinks Cheyenne can't make the trip.  I will say that Cheyenne does seem to be slowing down a bit.  And that last trip up there really took it out of her.  I wish I had enough money to fly us out there and stay there for a while.  If only.  But still, good times tonight.  I think TheGirl and I need these Wednesday night dinners more than ever to keep our sanity.

Thursday, February 27, This morning I walked up to Central and noticed that there were a couple of men washing the windows... FINALLY.  The windows have been a mess since September.  They tried to clean them a couple of months ago, and just left them worse.  Kinda amazing.  I talked to the lady that was in charge of the exhibit that caused the mess and she said that it should come off easily.  I went ahead and got some water and a paper towel and sure enough the stuff came off pretty easily.  I told her this after, and here it is two days later and the windows are being cleaned.  Mind you, they're not sparkling clean, but they are better.  It's too bad they have taken this long to even try to clean the majority of the windows.

Friday, February 28, I went up to the Chevy Chase branch and to my surprise there were a ton of voting machines.  After taking the picture I counted, and found that there were fifty-five machines.  Can you believe this shit?  I was talking to one of my coworkers that work at that location and they were wondering what the voting idiots were thinking, because there's no way that they will need so many machines.

I noticed a funny thing on one of the library's Instagram feed (above).  The teen librarian went to one of the local high schools and asked the question, "What kind of community do you want to live in," and invited the kids to write their answers on a whiteboard.  I don't know if the teens were fooling with him, but I noticed a couple of "interesting" answers.  The first one was the one that spelled out someone's idea of the rent being too damn high, or at least one guy's rent being too high... "Lees rent."  The one under it is also hilarious... "Gun Contron."  Yes, what we need is more contron.  What a bunch of dopes.

Saturday, February 29, I woke up and said good morrow to TheGirl and she sends me a text saying that a restaurant we frequent had a fire last night.  I went online to check and here's the story from the Daily News.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Fire tore through the roof and upper floor of the two-story Mucho Mas restaurant in North Hollywood Saturday morning.

The fire at 10405 Burbank Boulevard, near Clybourn Avenue, was reported at 12:15 a.m., according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The first units on scene reported fire coming from the second story of the restaurant, Humphrey said.

Photos from the scene showed flames shooting out of the roof of the building.

A total 36 Los Angeles firefighters, with assistance from the Burbank Fire Department, were able to confine the fire to the upper floor and roof of the restaurant. A knock down was declared at 12:36 a.m., Humphrey said.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire was under investigation.

TheGirl mentioned that the owners were outside in the parking lot, probably inspecting the damage.

Last week the office manager asked if I could cover a shift on the children's desk today.  I'm not sure why I said yes, since I don't need the hours.  I still have a bunch of hours left over from the November fundraiser.  Alas, I said yes and here I was today.  Thankfully the shift was pretty chill.  There was children's program today, which helped make the day pass faster.  Kept me awake at the switch as well.  Good times.

Here's a funny little clip from MST3K that makes the point that perhaps booze is the solution for any problem.