April is the cruelest month... right?  On to the update.

 

Wednesday, April, 1, The above picture got me a bit of "trouble" yesterday.  Not really trouble, but the library's counselor asked to talk to me about the photos I post on the group chat.  Apparently someone talked to her and mentioned that my pictures make them feel sad.  I get that.  I certainly didn't intend to make anyone sad.  I just wanted to show people the library in its current state.  Oh well.

This is a short video of Chan and I leaving for work this morning.  I know, no real reason for this, but it's fun.

For the last couple of weeks I've driven by the market that I usually go on my way to work in San Marino.  For the last two weeks I've seen nothing but lines outside the library.  Today I was driving by, and to my surprise there was no one standing in line outside.  I quickly turned the car around and went in.  No waiting.  I found that there were finally some cans of chili, unlike the last time I went into the market.  I was also greeted by an employee at the door, who showed me that he sanitized the shopping cart and was ready to squirt some into my hands.  There weren't that many people in the market, thankfully.  I got my Coke and booze and a couple of bucks and left.  I refuse to wait in a line with a bunch of possible sick people.  No way!

It's a long story, but my friend Amanda posted something and of course I had to call her a "lush."  Her response harkens back to 2005 - 2008 when I was chatting with her online.  The monkey butt comment comes from a guy she liked calling the girl he was cheating with a monkey butt.  I know, it's a long story, from a LONG time ago.  Suffice to say, it's an inside joke.

The "mayor" of San Marino starred in a video addressing the current situation.  My boss also talked about the services still available through the library online.  Everyone else seemed to be reading off cue cards.  You can tell my boss didn't give any fucks, because she's just reading it off a piece of paper in front of her.  Terrible.

TheGirl and I did the take-out thing again this week.  I bought wine and we went to her favorite Italian restaurant, right by Warner Brothers.  I haven't had many good meals there, so I ended up just getting a pizza.  It did hit the spot, thankfully.  The wine was the star of the night, as it is any night we have Fess Parker.  I'm glad that despite all these changes in our lives TheGirl and I can still enjoy our Wednesday night dinners.

I've been asked the same motherfucking question WAY too many times during this virus crisis... "Are you working today?"  Oh, and the second most popular question is, "What time do you start work?"  The guy who sent me the above text sees me come into the building the same time he comes in... motherfucking 8am.  ARGH!  And I've been on the route on Thursdays for EIGHT YEARS!  I've been on the route on Fridays for three years.  And I've been on Tuesdays since like five years.  That's a lot of years for these dopes to realize that I'm there, Tuesday, Thursdays and motherfucking Fridays!

Thursday, April, 2, The Mayor of Los Angeles has asked everyone to start wearing masks when in public.  The good news with all this stuff is that the state and city are not getting the explosion of Corona virus patients that would have happened if people didn't stay at home.  Despite the reports that there are dopes still going out, I will say that I've seen fewer and fewer people out on the streets in general.  Not that it's zero, because there are still a lot of people that are using the excuse of walking the dog to go out.  OK, I get it.  They're getting punchy.  Still the good news is tempered by the fact that there are over 4,000 verified cases in the county.  That's bad.  The big numbers are yet to come.  Many those dopes that were out the week that we were told to stay in are now getting sick.

I was driving by the Starbucks on the corner of Glenoaks and Grandview and saw a long line of cars trying to get coffee.  It's been like this since the closure.

I pulled up to the Grandview library and found some dopes playing in the parking lot.  They prevented me from going to the sidewalk bookdrop.  Not sure why everyone feels the need to go to that parking lot.  It's frustrating.

Meanwhile, back in San Marino, the children's librarian was going to do a FB live storytime.  This is a thing now that everyone is staying home, and the library is closed.  T still has to go into work, if she wants to get paid.  So, like many librarians she figured she could do a storytime online.  The boss said they were going to use the library's webcam, but I can tell they were actually using a cell phone.  T wrote on her FB that the whole thing was a shit show.  I get it, I could see it was a big fail.  The phone kept on focusing and re-focusing throughout the storytelling.  Thankfully she has a clear voice, because that could have been a mess.  Oh, and don't even mention to me that it's a vertical video.  That to me is the biggest fail.  Using the cell phone camera also flipped everything around.  Which is why the title of the book is backwards.

Friday, April, 3, I was told yesterday that the library was going to get a food donation from a local pastor, and to expect them at 11am.  Sure enough, they were right on time.  They weren't kidding about a food donation, it was huge (look above).  I offloaded the food with the help of the driver from the church.  I went and got my van and filled some boxes with food, since I knew I could now really stuff the little free libraries around the city.  Especially the one at City Hall.

When I got to the one in front of City Hall it was nearly empty.  I went ahead and stuffed it with as much food as I could.  I tried to give it a good variety.  Just before I got to started with that a car came up and handed me some food as well.  That gesture made me feel really good about this.  In these hard times it was good to see people helping out with this.

The route changes every day.  We're supposed to get the van serviced, but really we've been super busy during this time.  We're the only ones that can go into buildings and get things and do things.  I'm super grateful for the hours, for sure.  I'm actually getting more hours now.

Kvon mentioned that this is a good time to do some photography.  This... is true.  I already had the idea to chronicle this whole social distancing thing.  Because the streets are pretty empty, despite some dummies still going out.  I walked around the library and took a bunch of photos, including the one above.

Saturday, April, 4, My car's service lights came on a couple of weeks ago and I made an appointment for last week.  I didn't really want to go last week, so I changed it for this week.  Well, $650 (approximately) later the cars had a bunch of new fluids.  Yet, they said I need new brakes soon.  I couldn't afford to pay for the brakes AND the fluid changes at the same time.  ARGH!

Natasha is a girl that was working at Casa Verdugo branch library.  Her last day was JUST before we were sent home.  I talked to her for about ten minutes before leaving the branch.  Stupid me should have asked her for her number at that moment.  Dope.  Also shyness.  I did request her on her social media account.  However, it doesn't look like she checked that very often.  Oh well.  I'm a dope.

Telemundo finally aired the segment that had my interview about the little free libraries turned into little free pantries.  I was part of a segment about how people are coping with the pandemic.  Yay me!

Sunday, April, 5, I couldn't take my hair being long, because it feels like I'm wearing a fucking helmet.  Today I figured I would give myself a haircut, because why not.  It's certainly not perfect, but it's not horrible.  I couldn't get the back done right, because of course I can't see my own back.

I signed up for a social media dating site a couple of weeks ago.  Not the first time I've used this particular site/app.  No luck, of course.  I wondered today if I shouldn't just delete this stupid thing, because why even other?  It's such an uphill battle to try and get anything going now.  Even without this Covid-19 thing going on I had zero luck.  But, I know that many people are looking for something now more than ever.  And yeah, I'm one of those dopes.  If I don't get a ping by this time next week I'm just going to delete this stupid app.

Monday, April, 6, I tried to order some stuff online last night with no luck.  I figured I would try my luck at the market today, before going into work.  If I had no luck at the market I figured I would order that stuff online and wait until Friday, which is the earliest they can delivery anything.  ARGH!

Thankfully the market by my San Marino job was open and no one was in line.  There wasn't even that many people in the store.  Thank the maker.  Most people figured out what staying six feet away means.  There are still those who don't get that, but it's fewer now.  I was able to get my aunt her yogurt, some tortillas, and a bunch of other stuff she asked me for.  Whew!

Tuesday, April, 7, I found a pile of ripped dollar bill pieces in the bookdrop this morning.  I have no idea why someone would rip some dollars up and put them in the bookdrop, but it happened.  Nuts.

It rained today.  I was given the task to deliver a laptop to one of the new administrators.  I went to Los Feliz and then started my route.  By the time I got to Montrose I was starving.  The line outside the market across the street was long, as it has been lately.  Dopes.  Like I said, I waltzed right into the market yesterday.  No problem.  But do people get it?  No.

The above is my hand, which as you can see is SUPER dry.  What with all the hand washing I've been doing.  Even before all this my hands were dry.  Now it's doubly dry.  I put cream on them, but that doesn't las through all the hand washing.  Sad.

I went around to the little free libraries and stuffed them full of cans of food.  After the route today I filled eight boxes to take to the LFLs.  It was a busy day filled with little free library (LFL) missions.  I was quite tired when I got home.

I found an article that was about a woman that, "Mocked the coronavirus pandemic on Facebook as a media hoax has died from COVID-19 two weeks later."  I don't understand the mentality of these idiots that think this virus is a "hoax."  I mean, come on.  Not everything is a hoax or a conspiracy.  Some dopes just want to believe what they believe, not what is true.  The truth to them is a feeling, not anything backed by evidence.  It's sad that this woman had to die due to her ignorance.

Emma posted a video that we filmed the last time we were at Disneyland.  Thankfully we recorded a lot of stuff the last two times we went, which is why she still has footage to turn into a video a month after last going there.  She's going to run out of footage soon though.  This video features us going to Toontown and riding the kid's rollercoaster and buying some Mickey Mouse ears for TheDesire's son.

Wednesday, April, 8, It's good not having some bills to pay.  I paid this off last month, and I knew that it would be great to not have to keep paying and paying this fucking credit card.  Now I still have other bills, but at least this money can go to other things.  Woo!

The mayor of Los Angeles has told us that we need to have a mask on if we leave the house.  This order starts on Friday, but I've been wearing a mask since last week.  But, I had to get Chan ready for this Covid-19 stuff.  So, I got hims a mask to wear.  He doesn't even leave the house, unless hims comes with me to work on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I saw my aunt walking around the living room via the security camera.  She's always complaining that she's cold.  Makes sense, since she's much thinner now than years ago.  She doesn't have the body mass to keep a lot of heat.  Last night she kept on asking me if I was cold.  Not when she asked me, I wasn't.  Later it got colder and sure enough, I was cold.

This quarantine thing has obviously affected Wednesday night dinners with TheGirl.  I think someone in the future will think that it was a bad idea to continue this tradition, seeing as we're not supposed to be visiting anyone during this time.  True, too true.  But this is the ONE thing I do during the week.  I don't go out at all, unless it's to work.

Anyway, TheGirl went to a Mexican place down on Riverside drive and picked up some grub for us, including Margaritas.  Yes, Margaritas... to go!  They'll allowing this in order to keep businesses afloat during these terrible times.  I was super glad that they didn't make the Margaritas "weak sauce."  The food was meh, but I REALLY loved the Margaritas tonight.  Good times.

When I got home I noticed an email from San Marino from the city manager.  It had a link to a video (click on photo to watch) that she made addressing the current situation.  I don't want to shit on everyone when it comes to this stuff, but really I think a month into this thing is a too little, too late, in my book.  Also, her advice isn't anything new at all.  Well, unless you count her suggestion of practically burning your clothes when you get home (as my buddy pointed out).  OK, she doesn't suggest actually burning your clothes, but I like how she offered no new information on anything.  The city changed its Safer at Home date to May 31st.  No word on that, or if they are going to amend that to fit more in what the County is saying, which is more like mid May.  Nope, just nothing.  And for that, thanks for nothing I say.

Friday, April, 10, Yesterday there was a lot of action going on at the library.  The new librarian that is in charge of the "Maker Space" (aka mockery space) was at Central in order to supervise the transfer of the library's 3D printers to the Los Angeles public library.  LAPL has a lab at their downtown L.A. branch where they were starting to use the 3D printers to print out "Personal protective equipment" (such as plastic face covering) that can be used by medical professionals to stay safe while treating Covid-19 patients.  See, now THIS is a good thing the library is doing.  It's too bad we don't have the logistical means to print these items, like LAPL does.  And by that I don't mean the machines, because clearly we have the machines.  What I mean is the institutional knowledge of how to actively model and create the programs to render these items on the 3D printers.  We only know how to download an already existing file, not how to actually create a 3D model that can be used on the printers.  Unlike at Glendale.  Oh well, at least they're going for a good cause.  My buddy commented that perhaps they'll never return again.  We can only hope.

The librarian in charge of the mockery space told me that TheNewCute was working on a project for her involving hotspots.  Hence I HAD to take her the hotspots and other things for that project.  Woo!  It's so funny that I've been visiting a bunch of my coworkers.  Visiting TheNewCute is probably the best visit except for visiting TheLooker.  Later I noticed that I forgot something in the van that went with what I delivered to TheNewCute, which means I'll have to go back there again.  Just my luck, huh?

Saturday, April, 11, It was nice enough today to sit for an extended time in the backyard.  I got to see so many birds today.  It was nice being out there.  It was nice not being out.  It was nice not seeing anyone.

I'm not sure what's wrong with my aunt, but something is wrong with her health.  Now it could be serious, or it could be just whatever.  I see her slowing down, but now she just seems to be walking around super slow.  She asked me the other day if a pain on the left side of your body meant something was wrong with your liver.  I told her the liver is on the other side of the body.  But then I got curious and looked up pain on left side.  Now while it could be anything, one of the main things that it could be is constipation.  Which she has been complaining about.  I bought her some fiber wafers that I heard are pretty good and yummy.  We shall see if that helps her feel better.  She doesn't look comfortable these days, and when I'm at work I notice on the security cams that she spends a lot of time in bed.  Poor thing.

Monday, April, 13, It's bad enough that there is so much to deal with leaving the house in order to go to work, because if I don't go to work I will be out on the street.  That's not enough to have to deal with all day.  When I come home I want to just decompress and relax and be "safe."  But my aunt has other plans.  Today it was her getting a bill that she didn't pay.  I remember sending that bill, but I used a different post box.  That much have been where it all went off the rails.  ARGH!  Then she's telling me that the mortgage is nearly due (due on Wenesday).  She's always hiding these things, so I'm thinking how I have a ton of other things to worry about.  I'm weary, but no, that's not good enough.  She can't empathize with me at all.  Just great.  I don't need this shit.  I saw a meme where the text says, "I'm struggling, bro."  Yeah, that's how I feel.  I don't need my aunt to ask me twenty questions.  I don't need this.  I'm tired.

There was a commercial a while back for some internet provider that had a really pretty actress on it.  I was curious as to who she was.  At the time I did some searching, but found nothing.  Well, for some reason I looked again and found her (shown above).  Nice.  That is all.

Tuesday, April, 14, TheGirl bought me a new mask, which I used today at work.  I still want to wear the other mask underneath, because reasons.  Actually, because I'm not sure the black one is all that good at stopping anything.  It's nice, but it's kinda thin.  I'll double bag it for now.

I was sent out to get the mail from the local post office today.  I'm never doing that again.  For one, there were too many idiots in the post office that were not wearing masks, or worse yet just wearing them around their chin.  There was one stupid lady that kept on moving back and forth between people.  The final straw was when I saw a guy jump in front of everyone and ask if anyone was at the pick up window.  Within a few moments someone was at the window.  I asked that guy if that window was where I could pick up the library's mail.  He tells me, "You'll have to wait in line."  I'm just asking a question and he didn't give me an answer.  I debated waiting another minute in that line and I decided that it was just not worth it.  I left and vowed that I would not go back to the post office again.  Fucking idiots.

Emma posted another video today.  We're getting close to the end of her inventory of videos though.  This one was has us visiting the Lamplight Lounge, which is getting to be a favorite of mine.  It has really good food.  Will say that the chilaquiles I had that day were awesome!  Anyway, click on the picture to view the video.

One of my coworkers had to one up me and get himself interviewed on TV.  Ha ha!  He was the "man on the street."  Click on the image to see his segment.

Wednesday, April, 15, I left for work a little later than my usual time, 7:45am-ish.  Which is a little later than I usually do, but with no traffic I can leave later and not worry about getting to work late.  I usually go get some gas before work, and go to the market if needed.  But, since I didn't need to do either of those things I decided to try and take some pictures.  I headed to Orange Grove to take a picture of a house that I like.  The pictures came out OK.  Then I went to Arlington Gardens just off Pasadena Ave.  I took the above photo there.

On Monday and today I did some work, but I didn't go super fast.  I did one cart of deleted books on Monday and one today.  It's not like I'm trying to go slow, because when I get going I do move.  But it's just the getting going part.  I appreciate being able to work, but it's kinda strange since I'm alone all day.  I don't even have lunch in the lunch room in order to not be close to people.  I don't want to get this virus.  Besides, I don't mind not seeing anyone.

My aunt called me at work today to say that one of my credit cards had called to tell me that I forgot to pay my bill.  I went online to check the last card that was due, but found that their website was down.  Just my luck.  I looked to check my bank account to see if I had paid.  Well, the bank's website was also down.  ARGH!  Finally, later in the day I was able to check and sure enough I had forgotten.  Fucking idiot.  I was able to finally pay the bill online.  I'm less than $200 from paying off THAT card.  I should have enough from the stimulus check to pay my federal and state taxes and have enough to pay this card off.  I want to pay all these little cards that suck my money out month after month.

TheGirl and I ordered some food from Veggie Grill.  They were super busy when I went to pick up the food.  Chan had the wine all ready to go.  The food hit the spot, that's for sure.  It's nice to have this tradition go on.  TheGirl mentioned that it was hard not to give her daughter a hug.  Yeah.  TheGirl and I greet each other by foot, with that little kick move.  Chan and TheGirl greet each other with elbows.  Good monkey.

Thursday, April, 16, One of the regular homeless that are out in and around the library decided to camp out on the East lawn area.  Later she moved her tent in front of what used to be the main entrance.  I thought about mentioning it to someone, but what can the police do?  There's another lady that my coworker called the police on.  A woman that we have see peeing in the bushes.  But, the reality is they police can't patrol that area all the time.  Which means she will come back.  Oh well.

T did another one of her story times online.  This time she had a friend in tow, Curious George.  Ah, but he also had a mask on, much like a certain Chan has had on for a while now.  Ah huh.

Friday, April, 17, I officially ran out of food for the little free libraries today.  It was bound to happen, and now it's happened.  I don't see us getting another donation any time soon.  Certainly not before we open the library back up.  Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Emma uploaded another video of us at Disneyland.  She's running out of footage, but I guess it's a testament to how much we had in the "can" that even through this quarantine she's been able to post a pair of new videos a week.  Not sure how much footage she has left, but here's us riding the Winnie the Pooh ride.

When I was getting my stuff ready for today's shift I thought about how I didn't want to eat anything that we had in the fridge.  I didn't want to have mac & cheese, or meatballs, or rice, or anything that I had in the fridge.  I wanted a burger.  I went to Burger "Queen" and got a burger with bacon and some fries.  I don't remember the last time I had a burger, but this one really hit the spot.  It was just nice to have this little moment.  Fridays are normally pretty quiet, because no one goes to work.  Now that no one is actually not coming to work it's even more quiet.

I finished up really early today, because I didn't go through the motions of going to some of the branches today.  I know that they won't have any books in their bookdrops.  And with me running out of food, I didn't go through the motions of going to near empty little free libraries.  I had a pair of emails pertaining to possible special deliveries today.  One had to do with special paper that you print on and create stickers with.  In the morning I was looking all over Central to see if I could find more of this paper.  No luck.  So the new maker space librarian said she would see how she could order it for me to pick up.  It turned out to be easier for her to just order it to be sent to her.  That task now went away.  Also in the morning DrDeath emailed the new assistant director and me about a pick up of fabric from one of the Friend's of the library members.  The fabric is supposedly going to be used to make face masks.  I hadn't heard from anyone all day about when to pick them up.  But of course now that I was getting ready to leave early I get a phone call from the new assistant director.  She gave me the lady's address and I was on my way.  Fifteen minute drive there and fifteen back and me emailing the assistant director about picking them up and that made it nearly 4pm.  Nice.

Emma sent me a link to a video that was posted featuring TheNewCute doing a book review.  She did well, I think.  But of course I would think so.  A couple of other coworkers did a book review and a story time.  The teen librarian did one, but filmed in vertically.  Just terrible.  I was telling Emma that they should have a specific standard for these videos, with guidelines.  She told me they did, which makes me wonder why some of the videos are vertical, while others are also low resolution.  Oh well.

Thinking about perhaps having a burger next Friday.  At least having the option of trying another place.  When I get off the freeway in order to go to the Montrose library, I see a burger place across the way.  I've never tried it, but it looks interesting.  If I don't want to have anything from the fridge next week I might have to try this place.

Sunday, April, 19, Today and yesterday I have been SUPER lazy.  I've been in bed pretty much all day.  Today I didn't feel super well, because I over did it with the whiskey last night.  I really don't want to go go to work tomorrow, but I was texting TheGirl that I'm lucky to still be working.  The news has some crazy numbers when it comes to how many people are unemployed.  Sadly it's probably not known how many of those jobs won't come back again.  Like so many restaurant jobs won't come back right away, or at all.  That's just one industry that came to mind.

Anyway, this is about random stuff, and random is the above photo of Cheyenne wearing glasses.  Awww.  She's going into eye surgery on Tuesday.  Poor thing.  TheGirl was telling me how she won't be able to be in the room with her, as previously expected.  For obvious reasons.  Now she'll have to wait outside while Cheyenne's eye is worked on.  Poor thing.

Monday, April, 20, I stayed home from work today, because last night I had a "bad night."  I went to bed and all night I was feeling ill.  Like nothing specific, just felt yucky.  My heart was beating fast, but it was different than in than in the past where it's pounding.  It was just fast at times, but not that pounding feeling.  When I woke up this morning I had no energy.  That's when I decided to stay home.

My aunt made some lentil soup, and as I write this I ate some about an hour ago.  It felt good to eat it, but right now I'm starting to feel some pressure in my stomach.  But, I do feel MUCH better than I did last night.  I just hope I don't feel sick again tonight.  I wish I had insurance in order to actually see a doctor about this.  Because I wonder what I really have.  Like, why would my stomach problems cause my heart to race?

I'm just glad I'm feeling better right now.  I think I also need to not drink so much whiskey at night.  Maybe just wine.

As I write this paragraph it's just past 10:30pm.  I'm happy to report that I'm feeling much better.  Not that it wasn't touch and go during parts of the day, but after lunch I felt much better.  I didn't have any dinner though.  I didn't want to tempt fate.  I just don't want to feel that sick again.

Tuesday, April, 21, Cheyenne had her eye surgery this morning.  Poor thing looks like she went a few rounds in the ring.  TheGirl says that she's groggy, which is understandable.  Later in the day TheGirl said she was running around in the backyard.  Obviously a good thing.  TheGirl wanted Cheyenne's eye surgery now that she's forced to stay home.  Makes sense.  Cheyenne will have to wear that cone for about a week.

I emptied out the main bookdrop this morning, which was FULL of donations.  Fucking BS.  I think I'm going to put a sign up at a couple of the locations that says "No Donations."  Because we don't have time to deal with this.  Then again, I kinda don't want to say anything, because it means work.  Still, I hate when these dopes dump a ton of donations in the bookdrops.

Just as I was going to head out I got a message from one of the librarians saying that she wanted me to bring her a internet hotspot.  The head librarian asked me to take a sewing machine to someone that was going to make masks.  I figured I would take my car for the trip and swing around to drop off the sewing machine and then head home.  Mission accomplished. 

Wednesday, April, 22, Chan and I are all set with our masks.  Chan is smarter than most of humans I see walking around on the streets not wearing masks.  Morons.

Pseudo supervisor told me that Becks was talking to her about me possibly having a new assignment at the library.  They want me to field technology questions from patrons.  I'm OK with that.  It will break the monotony of the work day deleting books.  I'll get more details next week.

TheGirl made her chicken and rice with mushroom soup mixed in for dinner tonight.  She made it for us a few times when we were dating.  It was nice to have some home cooking rather than going out to get food and having it be kinda cold when we finally eat it.  We're still trying to figure this thing out.  But, it was a good time.  Cheyenne still has a cone around her head, and it was warm tonight, so she wasn't super active.  She still a fair share some licks to my face, and table scraps.  Another good time.

Thursday, April, 23, One of the janitorial crew was talking to me about the little free libraries on Tuesday.  I mentioned to her that we didn't have any food for them since Friday.  She offered a small amount of food from a friend, and told me she would bring it today.  Sure to her word, she brought it and I took it right to the LFL in front of City Hall.  Not a minute after I put the food in the LFL did a guy pull up behind me.  I was in the last parking spot, and clearly the guy wanted me to move out of the way, but I was texting the lady that gave me the food a picture of the food in the LFL.  Annoyed, the guy drove around me and parked his car in front of the van.  Moments later he got out of the car, made a bee line towards the LFL and then came back.  I could see that he had a bag and it looked pretty full of stuff.  Immediately I could see that he took the two boxes of cereal that I had placed in there.  TWO!  Curiosity got to me and I snapped the photo above of him walking away.  He drove off seconds after that photo.  I went and checked the LFL and sure enough, he had cleaned out everything, say one can of beans, that I had JUST put in there.  I told the woman that gave me the food, and the both of us think this guy isn't really that needy, he's just a jerk.  I want to think that perhaps he really does "need" that food.  But, as the lady who gave me the food and I were saying... those who are really needy have a tendency to take what they need, not what they want.  This guy cleaning out the LFL makes me think he's just a fucking jerk.  There ya go, another good deed turned to shit.  Thanks for nothing.

While going around to check out the little free libraries and just how much food each still had, I ended up going to Verdugo park as well as other parks.  I'm not sure why there were people playing soccer in the park as we are told that we need to social distance.  These five morons found it absolutely necessary to play soccer in the middle of a fucking pandemic.  I just don't understand why this is OK.  I don't understand the mentality of ignoring these guidelines.  I'm pretty sure they don't wash their hands properly as well.  It's just sad, because no one wants to stay home and have to wear a mask all day when out and about.  No one wants to miss out on fun, or have to worry about not having any money come in because they work at a job that has had to close its doors to deal with this pandemic.  But that's nothing of concern for these idiots, gleefully still playing soccer in the park as if nothing was wrong.  Well, there is a lot wrong in the world, and they are contributing to the over all terribleness by their actions.  The cavalier sense that it "Won't happen to me" is what's going to keep spreading this virus.  There, end rant.

One of the librarians from Brand told me she would make a new mask for me after I dropped off one of the library's sewing machines.  True to her word she told me she had the mask ready for me today.  I swung by and picked it up (see above).  Pretty fancy, huh?  The librarian made it extra special, making the lining of the mask out of silk.  I told her how wearing one of the masks all day made my nose hurt, and she listened.  The mask is also of a different style than the ones that she's now making for the library.  Again, a lot better and more fancy.  I thanked her.  I want to get her something nice for her troubles.

Friday, April, 24, Late last night my aunt comes into my room and asks me to turn off the nightlight that I have on a timer in the living room.  She tells me that she wants to sleep there tonight, because her room feels stuffy.  OK, I tell her, and turn off the light.  I'm not understanding why she thinks her room is more stuffy than the living room, but I do understand that it might be warmer.  She never opens a window, and she always says that she doesn't like the fan being on in her room.  Fair enough.  But sleeping in the living room seemed off since my old Grandmother's room is just feet away, and it still has a bed there.  She could have slept there, instead of a cramped couch.  I just don't understand her logic.  She seems to have no logic.  This morning I see her in the kitchen while she was asking what I wanted for breakfast, and she looked SO tired.  I asked her if she slept well and she answered no.  Well of course she didn't, she slept on a lumpy old couch when there was a perfectly good bed feet away.  Jesus.

Once again I was super early for work this morning, so instead of going to work and waiting for 8am to walk in, I went on another little side trip to take pictures.  There's a beauty college on W San Fernando road, which is on the Los Angeles side of the train tracks that separate Glendale from Los Angeles.  It's an industrial zone between the tracks and the river.  Not very pretty, to say the least.  But, it does have some interesting character buildings.  One place is this College of Beauty that has a kinda art deco/international style building.  It is a little run down, but still has some nice looking lines.  Anyway, I went there and took the above photo, as well as some Polaroids.  The Polaroids came out pretty nice.

I downloaded a new app on my phone that takes photos with various filters that supposedly make it look like old cameras.  I'm not always keen on something like that, but today I was liking the results of the photos I got from the new app.  When I got the photos off the phone and on to the computer the results didn't look as good.  But, I can always run them to Photoshop and "fix" them to look like what I want them to look like.  I have to find another app, but for now this one isn't bad.  It's relatively good.  I did like the results.

I was asked to take the cutters for the "Cricut" machine that I forgot to give her the first time I went to her place a few weeks ago.  Now I had the chance to visit her again thanks to me forgetting that other stuff for that machine.  Of course TheNewCute looked super nice, despite having to wear a mask.

My aunt mentioned that our neighbor asked her if she wanted anything from Costco and she mentioned that she asked for toilet paper.  There's a store on Chevy Chase and Central by work that has a large display in the window of toilet paper.  It's gone down a little, but they seem to not be running out.  I figured I could supplement the eventual delivery of toilet paper coming by my neighbors with some from the store.  Sure enough, they had plenty of toilet paper.  I grabbed a package of twelve rolls and since it was hot the ice cream display right by the cashier looked very tempting.  They had paletas, but not the flavor I like (vanilla).  What they did have was some all ready sundaes.  I took one and for sure it hit the spot.

Saturday, April, 25, I've said many times that my aunt isn't well these days.  She's pushing herself to get things done, but it's hard for her in her current state of health.  Today she asked me if I wanted a salad with hot dogs for supper.  I told her that I was good with that.  The hot dogs she over cooked (see above).  These poor hot dogs are just gone.  I think she thinks that she has to thoroughly cook them, despite the fact that they are already fully cooked.  The "salad" was just lettuce.  Nothing added.  It was SO wet that the dressing just slid off the fucking lettuce.  SMH.

Look, I don't want to beat my aunt up too much.  The fact that she spends time feeding me is already too much.  She shouldn't do it, but she feels obligated for some reason.  All I know is that I see her getting more and more slow each day.  I see her reasoning get worse and worse every day.  Ever since that bought with pneumonia last year she's never been the same.

I've mentioned here before that I haven't been feeling well.  After supper I went to my room and the heat and the food combined to make me feel tired.  But it's not just that.  It's that I don't have any energy.  It's that I feel kinda sick.  It's that my heart pounding a bit and me feeling like I could just sleep all day.

And it's strange because I took a swig of whiskey and I felt just fine afterwards.  But when my stomach is full of air, or something, my body just feels down.  Now I don't know for sure that I don't have any other problems, like perhaps some sort of heart problems.  When I saw the doctor a couple of months ago he couldn't really run a bunch of tests on me.

As I write this I'm in my backyard.  For the last hour or more I've felt perfectly fine.  However, I'm now bleaching and that awful feeling is coming back to me.  One of the best things is when I have a nice big air burp, because that relieves the pressure immediately.

Monday, April, 27, I had a rough time last night.  I couldn't sleep.  I don't even know how to describe what I had.  I just felt "sick."

Meanwhile, my aunt was looking really bad today.  I told her this morning that she NEEDS to start taking her meds correctly.  I know for a fact, because she's said it, that she only takes about half of the prescribed amount of meds she needs to live.  She needs to take her meds properly.  I told her that if she didn't then I would have to take her to the hospital, and I know she doesn't want that.  She responded that I would lose out on work.  Yes, I told her that if she wanted me to not miss work than she should take her fucking meds.  Ha.  OK, I didn't say fucking.

I ALMOST always get sleepy after eating lunch at work.  Today I didn't want to pass out after lunch, so I decided that I would walk around for a few minutes after lunch.  All I wanted to do is to shake those cobwebs that I seem to get after lunch.  I honestly hate how sleepy I become after lunch.  I think I've added to the problem by just going with that sleepy feeling, instead of fighting it.  Well, today I tried walking.  It kinda helped.  I didn't fall asleep at my desk, like I have in the past.  I don't know if I'll do this again.  But, for now it's at least an option.

Tuesday, April, 28, Today I had to go to all the branches to post yet another thing no one will ever see or read... a new poster.  What was funny about this is that the new administrator was in an email chain where she said that the posters would be at Central waiting for me.  Nope.  Then she said in another email that they would be at the mail room.  Nope.  If I hadn't gone back to the first couple of emails I would not have seen that the posters were originating from HR.  So I went there after failing to find them in the mail room.  Sure enough, they gave me the posters.

Today most of the route was dealing with with putting the posters up at each branch, and also going to South Pasadena to pick up the bookmark contest contestants.  I like being busy during the route.  Especially since all I'm really doing is driving around.  I'm hardly moving any books around.

About a week and a half ago one of my coworkers was talking about how many of the "mental" exercises focus on feeling sad or perhaps depressed.  But what about dealing with anger, she asked me.  I told her I would talk to the social worker to see if she could send us some exercise to deal with anger and Covid.  Nothing yet.  Today's exercise might be the worst yet.

For the last few months I've seen my aunt's health take a slow but steady decline.  The last few weeks I've noticed that decline more and more.  I mentioned how she wasn't taking her meds correctly.  Now she's been taking the proper dosage of her meds (or so she says).  I believe her, but at the same time I do wonder.  Today she was very active.  She watered the garden and then mopped the floors inside the house.  A lot to do on a good day, let alone on a warm day like today.  Let alone when you're not well.  She wore herself out today, but still, I worry that she's losing weight and is generally slowing down.

I don't want to think about it, but I was thinking today that she may not last more than a couple of years in this state.  I know that death is a reality for any of us, but life has taught me that when people get to a certain state and that's when the days ahead are less and less.  This worry has added to my already high anxiety.

Wednesday, April, 29, When I woke up this morning there was an email that stated that there had been a deposit overnight.  I checked and it was my aunt's stimulus check.  I told her and she asked me to take some of that money out of the bank.  I went before work and gave it to her when I got home.  She's rolling in dough now.  Of course I won't get my money for a while, because the government doesn't have my direct deposit information.  Yeah, I can wait.

One of my coworkers fell at work today.  We call him "Old man Zak," because he's an older gentleman.  It's serious stuff when someone older falls.  LaFlor and P were cleaning his wound and bandaged him up good.  I suggested that perhaps he should at least call the doctor, to see what he says.  I mention this because Zak didn't seem too interested in actually GOING to the doctor.  I told him to split the difference.  That idea he liked.  I hope he's OK.  The good thing is he didn't hit his head.

TheGirl and I had a nice dinner tonight.  I played some music from the past that she likes and that I like.  It's a good time for sure.  I'm glad that we can still have these dinners despite having to socially distance.  Chan and I greet TheGirl with elbow bumps.  Then TheGirl and I do foot bumps.  Cheyenne gets no filter.  She gets many kisses.

TheGirl was mentioning how she was really looking forward to having her daughter come with us to the Hollywood Bowl this year.  We were going to try and get tickets.  But, now it looks very much that there won't be a bowl season this year.  And next year, who knows.  This virus has changed all of our lives.  We've had to suspect so many things.  I can see why people are tired.  The good thing is I think that vast majority of people understand that it's for everyone's overall benefit.  No one wants to catch this thing.  I know there are dopes that say they aren't afraid, but it's still not a good idea to openly invite this thing in to their lives and their lungs.  That's just being an idiot.

Thursday, April, 30, This morning one of my coworkers asked me if I had seen the memorial out back in the south parking lot.  No, I hadn't.  He was asking in order to gauge how long it had been there.  I went out with another coworker to check it out (pictured above).  I found a pencil drawing on the wall of the person and a name.  We went back inside and I searched online for any information.  I found some information about a crash that happened on April 24th.  The memorial was for a kid, fifteen years old, who was a passenger in a Dodge Challenger that crashed into the center divider of the freeway by Crenshaw blvd.  Fifteen years old.  That car was part of a caravan of cars traveling around in observance of the Armenian Genocide.  How sad.  We still don't know why they decided to put the memorial by the library.  But, the sad thing is that they're going to send some people from the city to clean it all up.

Once again I looked into the fridge last night and nothing that was in it appealed to me for lunch today.  I decided to have another burger today.  They messed up my order, forgetting to include bacon.  Just great.  There was also something off about the burger's flame broiled taste.  It was like extra strong.  I was hungry, so I powered through that to finish it up.  I went to the back room and chilled in one of the big chairs they have there.  I didn't want to lay on the couch, because I didn't want to fall asleep.  Well, it didn't matter, I fell asleep in the big chair.  The best I can figure I took about a fifteen minute nap.  But what woke me up was this awful feeling of pain in my stomach and arm region.  My heart was racing as well.  I got up and tried to shake the cobwebs out of my head.  I continued to walk around, feeling pretty lousy.  I started belching over and over again.  After about ten minutes I was feeling MUCH better.  In about twenty minutes I was almost feeling back to normal.  Almost.  Around fifteen minutes in I was feeling better for sure, by that's when I noticed that my heart was STILL racing.  My watch said that it was going at around a hundred fifteen beats a minute.  As I said, around twenty minutes after waking up from my unscheduled nap I was feeling almost normal.  This stuff sucks.  I don't know what's wrong with me, but it can't be good.

I check the number of new cases and total Covid-19 cases in Los Angeles county nearly every day via this app I downloaded.  The numbers are terrible.  I don't like that we seemed to be on a downward trend until today (see above photo).  The amount of new cases today seemed to jump up a lot.  Some of those numbers might be coming from more testing and knowledge.  Some might be from the number of dummies that don't social distance themselves from others.  Whatever the numbers, there is now talk that here in California there is a chance we might start opening things up in two weeks.  Well, technically that was the Mayor's statement earlier this week.  It obviously remains to be seen if we can start even thinking of opening before I update this journal for the end of May.  I would like things to return to normal as much as the next guy.  But, I also understand that there isn't a cure for this thing.  I also don't like people, and I don't mind saying that not having to deal with patrons this last month was nice.  I almost don't want to go back to a service desk.  It would be ideal if Glendale FINALLY gave me a full time job.  After all I've done during this closure I think I deserve it.  But deserving and getting are two different things.  In an ideal world we wouldn't even be going through this.  A fella can wish that they would give me a full time job and then I could just drive and not deal with San Marino and patrons.  I guess time will tell, but I'm certainly not holding my breath.

My aunt has said that she's taking her meds in the proper way since I asked her to do so earlier this week.  I'm glad.  While I do see an improvement in her overall status, I'm still worried about when I hear her voice become more horse.  Tonight she was talking on FaceTime with my other aunt, her sister, and I could hear her voice and it was horse.  But, the positive thing is that I could hear her all the way in my room.  Her voice was weaker earlier this week.  Now it's still horse, but at least it's a little stronger.  I'm not saying she's belting out anything.  For sure she's not.  But at least her voice is a little louder.  But, like I said, I still worry about her voice getting so horse.

Wrap-up, It's not a stretch of the imagination to say that this month has been rough.  Honestly, I can't think of giving this month anything better than a D grade.  Off to May, where we might be opening things up again.  2020 sucks.

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

Here are some miscellanous items.