Oh this month was just a big pile of shit.  On to the update.

 

Tuesday, September, 1, Today I started my earlier rotation at the library.  Seven fucking thirty in the morning.  And for what?  If you see above you will see the bins that I came in early to check in.  Seven bins, and only four of them were packed to the top.  The others weren't even half full.  Woo!  If they want me to come in early for this shit then so be it.  But I'm not going to rush to finish this bullshit.  I'm going to work all the way up to the time I'm supposed to leave.

I posted last month the many mistakes made by the dummies that work at the library.  Well, here's more.  Clearly these dopes don't know their alphabet.  They'll never get anything right.  I don't even try to tell the managers of these mistakes, because really they should be noticing them on their own.  Idiots.

At my San Marino job they started taking passport applications again starting today.  Jeez, talk about wanting for money.  They can't stand that they're not making money off of those passports.  In years past they have talked about how much money the passport services make.  Over $200,000 one year.  That's why they were eager to start up the service.  As you can kinda see in the picture, they were doing the passport acceptance outside in the patio.  Amazing.

The channel I wake up to in the morning switched weather girls in the morning a few months ago.  While the previous weather girl was nice, and not unattractive.  I have to say that I do like the change.  The weather girl above makes me want to get up in the morning.  She's just nice.

While I was at work today I discovered that the Monterey aquarium was broadcasting several of their webcams on YouTube.  I couldn't help but take some time today to watch the one that overlooks the bay.

Wednesday, September, 2, I was fucking horny as fuck last night.  I looked for videos online featuring my new favorite porn star, Helena Price.  I found a really good one where she looked super good (pictured above).  All I could think of is how come I can't find a nice lady no matter what I try.  I'm just bad at love, like my friend says, "I'll never find anyone."  That sucks.

Today we were asked to attend a printer training session for the new printer that the library is renting.  The new printer replaces the old printer, which was on the fritz.  Since it's a lease if anything goes wrong with it then the company comes and fixes it.  Nice.  I like that idea.  And in the long run it probably will cost less than buying the thing.  I think.  I'm not sure how much the lease is for though.  If they're paying a few hundred a month then it's still OK, because a printer like that costs over $13,000.  I checked online.  I'll have to find out how much they charge.  In the meantime those who used the old printer had to get up to speed with this new printer.  I figured I had to attend, but then the boss said that I should.  Of course.  But really I'll figure it out on my own.  Like I always do.

Speaking of a meeting a nice lady, the woman on the right of the above picture is one girl that I've wanting to hang out with for years.  She works for the recreation department.  I've always found her to be attractive.  She looks like she lost some weight, not that I didn't like her before.  I like her many incarnations over the years.  But, I emailed her a few weeks ago asking her for her number.  She never responded.  Today she says to shoot her a message on Facebook.  I did that already, and she also never responded.  What gives?  I know I can't be dating anyone right now because of this pandemic, but still.  Why not lay a nice foundation for that in the future?  Oh well, I think she's not interested, otherwise she would meet me half way, or more than half way, on this.

The blue team is lead by Krishna.  Yeah, it's pretty bad.  But the workers are good, it's just that it's brought down BIG TIME by the presence of Krishna.  This particular librarian knows the truth.

TheGirl and I went out to our traditional Wednesday dinner in what is now become our favorite spot, the Counter.  We've always eaten in the patio, either the front or the back, because we bring Cheyenne with us.  Of course now in the time of Covid-19 we love going there because it's good eats and there is hardly anyone in the patio.  We get there early enough that the crowds of dinner seeking dopes don't arrive until we're nearly ready to go.  Don't these people have jobs to go to the next day?  Tonight I tried to recreate, as close as possible, the Office burger from Father's Office.  Which was voted best burger in Los Angeles several years ago, and still tops many best burger lists to this day.  It is incredible.  Well, my attempt wasn't exactly bad either.  It was super yummy, especially with the grilled red onions on top.

Thursday, September, 3, I was taking books out of the book drops today when I saw signs outside the boxes saying that the library is not taking donations (see above).  FINALLY!  MONTHS ago the other driver and I mentioned that the boss said we shouldn't be taking donations.  But of course dummy Mala said not to put any signs up saying no donations.  But something happened recently, because today there were signs stating exactly that.  I'm so glad.  I fucking hate dealing with donations.

Daveed sent out an email today saying how the appointment system was having issues.  I just love that if you try to edit anything the whole thing gets deleted.  I mean come on.  This thing isn't much more than a spreadsheet, but somehow the program can't do the simplest things.  They were sold a bill of goods and they bought it.  I wish I could see the details of that purchase, because my buddy and I are sure that they bought a beta version of the program.

The desk at Montrose is soon to be demolished and replaced with I don't know what.  Probably something stupid, knowing the track record of this place.  My buddy and I were talking about this and it seems that the powers that be have had much kool aid that pushes the idea of how these service desks are a barrier to good patron engagement.  Not sure that's true.  It's more like a pseudo-science thing to me.  Demolishing the desk isn't going to automatically make a patron engage more.  Never is the worker involved in these decisions.  Because I don't like not having some barrier between the patron and me.  Not just physical, but also psychological.  Yes, I want them to think we're friendly, but I don't want them to think that we are their friends.  Anyway, it's a lot to unpack.  Suffice to say that this is yet another nail in the coffin of the library.  Fucking idiots killed it

Friday, September, 4, I was outside by the bookdrop when Syco came up to me and asked me if Mala had told me about the new DVD quarantine procedures.  No, I told her, "No one tells me anything."  She then went on to tell me that the managers read a report that Covid-19 lasts longer on the plastic that DVDs are stored in.  Because of that they decided that they would now quarantine the DVDs for five days.  I saw that some bins were reserved just for DVDs, and that they were labeled as seen above, "5-day quarantine."  But, since no one told me directly I just kept on doing what I did, like an automaton.  These fools tell me nothing, but expect me to read their minds.  Nope.  Not going to even try to do that.  Well, now I've been told.  Whatever!

The counselor that was hired to help with the homeless at the library has pivoted to looking out for us at the library.  She sent out an email (see above) that can be filed until "No shit, Sherlock."  Yeah, we're depressed.  I often wonder if I'm suffering depression when I feel completely unmotivated to do anything.

Saturday, September, 5, This morning my aunt asked what I wanted for breakfast.  Back on Monday I went to the market before going to work and bought some English muffins.  I had an idea that I could make my aunt and I some egg muffins.  Sure enough, I told her, "I don't know," to the question of what I wanted for breakfast.  I totally forgot that I had bought those egg muffins.  Then I remembered and told her I would make us breakfast.  My aunt helped me a little, but she just gets in my way.  I think the muffins came out pretty good.  I added a little ketchup and sriracha, and that really hit the spot.

This is the view I had the majority of the day.  It's from the corner of my room, the corner of my bed.  I didn't even turn on the lights today, until after sunset.  My room is generally dark like this during the day.  The heat was just too much today.  I didn't feel sleepy after breakfast, but I was feeling tired.  I was up late last night, doing my usual Friday night thing.  Today the heat got up to 112.  It was insane.  But at least it was a relatively dry heat.  And until I went outside to buy my aunt and I some sandwiches I actually thought that it wasn't that bad.  But then it was bad.

Sunday, September, 6, Today was awful.  The heat was incredible.  It was close to unbearable, if not for my little A/C unit cooling me off, I don't know what I would have done.

Monday, September, 7, A year ago today my aunt was in the hospital fighting pneumonia.  In that year I've watched her get slower, thinner, and just generally worse.  She tells me that she doesn't have much energy.  And yes, I have seen her lose at least ten pounds of weight.  That may not sound like a lot, but she wasn't that big to begin with.  Of course since then she has gone to her regular doctor's appointments, but she never tells the doctor about what she's been suffering.  She's just been telling them that she's, "Fine."  So how can they help her?  It's very frustrating from my stand point.

Today was hot, but nowhere near as bad as this weekend.  It was downright cool compared to that.  The high "only" reached 95 today.  Yeah, that good.  As I write this it's 74 out and actually kinda nice outside.  This weekend was the worst.

Tuesday, September, 8, I continued chugging along with my curbside assignment today.  The fools in charge wanted me to come in early on Tuesdays in order to check in the books that were brought in on Monday from the branches.  But, since it was Labor day yesterday there weren't any books to check in this morning.  Suckers.  At least I get a respite for a week.  I went about doing my thing today.  I noticed some books had already been pulled, which is not unusual.  But I noticed little piles around that made me wonder.  Upon closer inspection they turned out to be the "premium" check out books that people had not picked up last week.  Nice.  I love that there were so many no shows.

It's no surprise.. Halloween has been canceled.  But wait, just as I was sitting down to write about this the city and county has gone back on this order.  They highly discourage trick or treating, but they're not banning it outright. 

Wednesday, September, 9, It's TheGirl's birthday today.  I wished her a happy birthday via text this morning as soon as I woke up.  Normally we have dinner on Wednesdays, but tonight she's going to have dinner with her daughter and TheExHusband.  Oh well.  I get it, they're family.  I bought her a skin cream that she liked when we went to Summerland.  It smelled nice, and I remembered what it was.  I also bought her some cookies from a place that she likes up in Cayucos.  All in all simple gifts, but I think they are from the heart.

I also wished Emma a happy birthday today.  I didn't get Emma anything though.  I can't believe the turn of events where we were hanging out every weekend and now we don't even see each other.  Fucking Covid!

As I was leaving work I noticed some idiot patron around the front gate at the library.  Not happy staring at the paperwork outside the gate that clearly states that the library is closed, the patron went into the patio.  I hate that my coworkers leave that gate open.  The dummy went into the patio and he must have gone up to the main door.  I started my car and this dummy started moving towards my car.  I could tell he wanted to ask me a question, but there's no way I wanted to interact with this dope.  I hurried away and gave him no chance to wave me down or even make eye contact.  That's my new move.  Zero eye contact with anyone outside the library.  Isla and I were talking tonight that we are not looking forward to the time when the library opens up again and we have to deal with these idiots.

As I said earlier, TheGirl had dinner with her daughter tonight so I was left to my own devices.  I decided to get myself a pastrami burger from this place called Super Burger.  It was pretty good, but after eating it I thought about how I could have had something much more yummy.  Oh well.  At the time I was eating it the burger hit the spot.  I think I was just out of sorts from not knowing what to eat tonight.  I didn't want to go straight home, that's for sure.  But whatever.

Thursday, September, 10, I came in to work today and sure enough these dummies haven't checked in the books from yesterday.  Ah, why, just why?  Every fucking week it's a new policy.  But, of course they never tell anyone of this new policy.

Just last week I was told by Syco that I was to separate the DVDs into other sorting bins because they needed to be quarantined for five days, instead of the three days the books need to be quarantined.  OK.  It's stupid, but OK.  I did that in the morning.  As I was leaving tonight one of the guys tells me, "Did they tell you that we're quarantining the books seven days?"  No.  So now they're quarantining everything for seven days.  Way to tell me.  If this particular person didn't tell me I'm sure they wouldn't have informed me at all.  I'm so done with this shit.  I need to really strip anything of an ego or anything when I walk into that place.

There are multiple fires burning up and down California.  Two local fires are burning in the hills above Monrovia and in San Bernardino.  And then in addition to that smoke there is also smoke coming down from the northern California fires coming down here to SoCal as well.  It's awful.  The sky has an orange glow to it (as kinda seen above).  The picture above is not quite how it looked, because in reality it looked more orange.  All that stuff is going into my lungs, and everyone's lungs.  ARGH, things just keep getting worse this year.

Barely ten days into this month and already it's a damn fail.

Friday, September, 11, You know what?  I'm appreciated at work.  Or so they keep telling me.  Keep telling all of us.  Mala came up to me earlier this week about distancing myself from my coworkers.  Just before she said that she said that she appreciates all that I've been doing.  That seems to be the catch phrase these days, "We appreciate you."  This as they plot to cut our hours.  This as they cut the budget of every branch except the worst branch in the system.  They don't appreciate us, they need us.  Oh sure, at every turn the managers keep saying that we're appreciated, but I don't feel appreciated.  Up in the administration kitchen there was a pile of snacks and warm soda.  And of course a sign that says how much we are appreciated.  Love that every sentence has to end with an explanation point.  Sure, yell it out from the roof.  We are appreciated!  Meanwhile, snacks are not a raise.  Snacks are a pat on the head to say there there, everything is fine.  Well, it's not fine.  This all sucks.

The smoke continues to be a problem.  But today it got REALLY back up in Montrose.  I have lunch in that branch, and when I came outside it was like there was an extra layer of smoke coming in like a fog.  I could see it moving down the street.  It already smells like smoke, but then this smoke fog came down the street.  It somehow smelled more smokey.  This year just keeps throwing shit at all of us.  I still say that what's next is an alien encounter.  Or maybe it will be an invasion.  Who knows, at this point.

As I was finishing up I noticed this dummy across the parking lot.  Typical dummy.  When someone is set to pick up books using the curbside service they are told (or at least should be) that they are to remain in their car and pop their truck.  Or in this case their hatchback.  But the important thing is to STAY IN YOUR CAR.  I assume this idiot was told that, but I can't be 100% sure.  But as my coworkers and I have talked about this, patrons are bullshit.  They often jump out of their cars and try to engage the "runners," doing the curbside service, into a conversation.  No.  You're there to get your books and leave.  No chit chat.  Buy of course I see a lot of dopes jumping out of their car.  This idiot is waiting for his books.  I've seen others start to play in the grassy area next to the parking.  I am not looking forward to reopening the library.  At least at Glendale I don't work a service desk any more.  Of course they could put me back on there, for all I know.  But San Marino, I will be asked to return to a service desk.  I'm not looking forward to that.

I texted TheNewCute about what Mala talked to me about yesterday (distancing myself from the other teams).  Above is our text exchange.  It's pretty self-explanatory, but here's an explanation anyway.  TheNewCute makes a point that it's not about "socially distancing," but rather about socializing.  They really don't like that people talk to me.  I'm a chatty guy.  I am known for talking.  People then want to talk to me.  When I mention "checking out," that's a mistake.  TheNewCute mentioned that she "clocks out" when she goes into work.  I see it.  So I'm trying to say that I need to learn to "clock out" at work as well.  I've done pretty good in some ways.  But in others I want to learn to just put on blinders there and not give a shit.  I'm ALMOST there, but I need to stop wanting to care.  As TheNewCute points out, they don't care, so why should I care?

One of the librarians is leaving for Altadena this week.  He was here at Glendale just barely a year.  He seems like an OK guy, but how could we know?  He's leaving anyway.  Syco wrote an email that started with the words, "It's with a heavy heart..."  Ah, what?  The guy was hardly here.  I've seen other people leave and people don't give two shits.  Whatever!  Anyway, TheLooker was making a going away card and so I texted her about this whole departure.  As you can see, he left because he felt there was no future here.  Oh, that's for sure.

Saturday, September, 12, Ilsa mentioned that the Heritage Museum was having a halloween thing where you can drive thru it and enjoy some halloween sights.  I figured it would be popular, but I didn't realize how popular.  I should have known.  There's one in Woodland Hills that charges $70 per car.  I would be willing to pay, but this one was free.  Oh well.

I finally got my aunt the egg McMuffin she wanted last week.  I did the curbside pick-up thingie and I loved it.  It was great.  I went there, had my app ready.  I ordered when I got home, and when I arrived at the McDonald's I just said I was there and what parking location I was parked in.  Boom.  Less than five minutes later I had my food.  It was great!  I do like this, and I skipped the line.  They don't go slow at McDonald's, but it was great to just go and get my food.

Sunday, September, 13, My aunt woke up yesterday with a pain on her back/hip.  She could barely move, and the only way she could make it to the bathroom was with the aid of a walker.  My aunt thinks that it's a nerve pinch, but I don't know.  She goes from walking around fine and now she's having to use a walker.  Not OK.

Monday, September, 14, After a week and a half Chan was back at home with me.  Last week I had Monday off, and Wednesday I didn't bring hims along, because we weren't going to go to TheGirl's place for dinner.  That meant he could stay home.  I did miss having hims around with me last week, but he sure came with me today.  It was good to have hims with me.  His presence makes me feel better.

The security cameras at home showed that my aunt was bouncing around today.  She even went to the front yard.  Perhaps she's getting better.

I went by TheGirl's for the first time in a week and a half, to give her her birthday gift.  She loved them.  I'm glad.  I got her cookies from the Brown Butter Cookie Company, which is located in Cayucos.  And I also bought her a body lotion that she liked a few weeks ago when we went to Summerland's Sacred Space.  I'm glad she liked the gifts.  Cheyenne was interested in what was in the bag as well (see above).

I came home tonight to find my aunt worse than the last few days.  As I write this she's in her room resting.  When I got home around 7pm she looked bad.  She told me she hadn't eaten all day.  She says that she couldn't reach her food in the fridge.  I told her this morning that I would leave her food on the top of the fridge, but of course she said no.  Fucking shit, I should never listen to her.  I don't get this attitude.  Right now she's resting, and looked better while she went to the bathroom.  I got mad at her for taking the pain.  I told her to at least take some pain meds.  Now I'm afraid that she might have a UTI.  She's not able to move fast, and she's been peeing into diapers while in bed.  That's a bad combination.  Last year she had pneumonia and a UTI.  AND!  I booked a doctor's visit for tomorrow morning, which means I'll have to miss work... AGAIN.  I just want her to be well.

I texted my buddy tonight that, "I feel that I might just survive (this year) it only to collapse at the finish line."

Tuesday, September, 15, My aunt wasn't well last night.  She didn't eat all day until I arrived after work.  As I said last time, I booked a doctor's house call.  The doctor came by and examined my aunt and assessed that it might be a fracture.  He ordered her to get an x-ray, so we went as soon as I was able to get a hold of someone at the imaging center.  We went and I signed her up and then we waited a bit.  We got the x-ray done and went home.  As I write this she's resting after having something to eat.  I'm preparing some of her food for tomorrow, so she can eat without having to go to the fridge.  I don't want a repeat of what happened yesterday.  I also put some water aside for her.

This was a long day.  I am tired.  As I write this I'm doing the laundry and also getting my aunt's food ready for tomorrow.  I told my cousin about my aunt's injury and she said she would come in tomorrow morning.  I'm glad.  I wish she would stay until later in the afternoon, but this is better than nothing.  I just don't know what I'm going to do in the long run.  Because I don't see my aunt getting better super fast.  If she does have a fracture it will take some time for that to heal.

My buddy sent me the image above.  They REALLY thought that this Clipper team might be as good at the Bulls team of the 90s.  Amazing.  The Clippers are certainly better than they were years ago.  However, the thing is they can't be boastful when they haven't been past the second round of the playoffs.  Especially when you're in the same city as one of the most successful franchises in all of sports.  As they say, it's never a good idea to count your chickens before they hatch.  Dummy Clippers.

Wednesday, September, 16, Today Chan is eight years old!  I can't believe it's been that long that I've had Chan in my life.  It doesn't feel like we got him only yesterday, but it certainly doesn't feel like eight years.  Love this little guy.  Not having him with me last week at work really made me feel down.  His smile just makes me feel good.  To another eighty years, Chan!

I texted my cousin about my aunt's injury and how she's having a hard time getting around.  She said she would visit her, thankfully.  I was hoping that she would have gone later in the day, like past 3pm.  But, my cousin had to be on a meeting online at that time.  It's better than nothing, I think.  I just want to make sure that my aunt has some food to eat.  As I mentioned in the last entry, I went ahead and packed her food up in a cooler in the kitchen.  What I now have to think about is what I can make her for her lunch that would be easy for her to warm up.  I felt that some day my aunt might get too weak like this that she would need some help during the day.  Like someone that would come in and maybe help her shower, and make fix something to eat.  I think that time might be now.

I mentioned here that Mala came up to be last week to talk about, "Limiting my exposure," to the rest of the teams.  She asked if perhaps we should not do the bookdrop in order for us to not be in the building as much.  I said we could still do it and no harm would be done.  But I joked to her that she should tell everyone to stay away from Tony and me.  But of course instead of that she now tells us not to do the bookdrops via email.  And here it is.

"Moving forward the onsite staff will be assigned to empty the bookdrops Wednesdays through Saturdays so you and Eric only need to empty them on Mondays and Tuesdays.  This will help minimize your contact with onsite staff in the circulation room and also ensure that they check them multiple times throughout the day."

My co-worker Tony asked about the quarantine time on the books and Mala had to respond with this BS.  Guess I'll be taking longer lunches at the branches.  Or maybe I'll go to the park.  The bookdrop can take about a half an hour to do, and sometimes more depending on the volume of books.  By the way, this idea that they're thinking of our safety is bullshit.  They are sending more people to the branches, and now on some days there will definitely be two or more people at certain sites at least a couple of days a week, or more.  So yeah, this is some bullshit.

After dealing with this week I sure needed to have dinner with TheGirl.  We went to the Counter to eat and had our usual good time.  I almost didn't make it tonight because my aunt was pained earlier in the week.  But, I told TheGirl that my aunt gave me her "blessing" to go out tonight.  So yeah, after that I figured whatever happened happened.

Thursday, September, 17, My aunt was walking around pretty good today.  She used the walker at times, but more and more she used the walker less.  I guess she must be feeling better.  I'm glad, but I still wonder what the doctor might say about the possible fracture.  I wonder if her walking around now means that it isn't a fracture.  Hmmm.

When I got to work the bins from the branches were still in the hallway.  I mean come on.  These dopes can't figure this curbside thing out.  Each week it's a new way of doing this thing.  There is almost zero consistency.  The only constant is that they constantly fuck things up.

I usually don't go to the Chevy branch on Thursdays, but there was a sign I had to put up at all the locations.  I figured I would go up to Chevy today instead of tomorrow.  When I arrived there are two cars in the parking lot.  One left a few moments after I arrived.  The other car was there, but it wasn't until I got inside that I realized who's car it was.  It was Mala.  She was sitting at a little desk near the big window.  She quickly put her mask on and greeted me.  She asked me about my aunt and I updated her.  I checked the bookdrop and then got out of Dodge.

Emma went into Montrose earlier in the week to go through the donations that have been piling up.  She sent me a picture, but it wasn't until today that I got to see the books.  Most of these books I'm just going to take straight to the recycle bin in the back of the library.  I'm not going to waste my time putting them into the van and taking them to Central in order to put them in those recycle bins.  I'm cutting the middle man out.  Slowly but surly I'm going to dump the donations Emma placed for "integrated waste."

It's my forty-ninth birthday today.

Friday, September, 18, These idiots in charge changed things so that they quarantine books coming in for seven days now, not three days.  I couldn't not find anything on the ALA website that states books should be quarantined that long.  I think they went down the wrong road, but what do I know?  Oh, this I do know... they're idiots.

As I arrived at the Montrose library today I noticed just how dry my hands were.  I wash my hands a lot, but I forget to put lotion on them in the morning.  I really need to do that.  Today they looked like prune hands.

I didn't want to eat spaghetti again today for lunch.  I figured I would find something to eat.  I ended up going to get a pastrami sandwich.  I've had it before, but today it was not as good as in the past.  Hmm.  Still, it was better than spaghetti.

On my way home I hit traffic.  This is nothing new, since traffic has gotten steady worse over the last few weeks.  Today it was just bad.  There is literally no reason for this traffic other than there are too many cars.  There wasn't an accident.  There wasn't a fire.  Just too many fucking cars.  This is some major bullshit.  Today I hit the traffic around Coldwater Canyon.  In weeks prior I was hitting traffic at around Van Nuys.  That means two exits more, which is approximately two more miles of traffic.  I was enjoying not dealing with fucking traffic.

My cousin and the girls came over tonight for a little birthday celebration.  It was good times.  They brought chicken from the chicken cafe up the street.  It was yummy.  Then we had cake and then the girls talked about their "drama" at school that goes on even though they are online and not in person.  It's crazy.  Then they told us about the drama going on at school before the big shut down.  Like I said, it was good times.

Saturday, September, 19, I was beat last night.  So tired that I went to bed a little after 10pm.  Come 11:38pm a quake was waking me up.  This year.  The quake was centered around El Monte and measured 4.5.  Not small, but not huge either.  Strong enough to have felt it.  I'm sick of this year.  Honestly, this is some bullshit year.  When will shit shit get even a little better?

A few months ago the car dealer said that I would be in need of new brakes fairly soon.  I figured I would go ahead and get those brakes now.  As I write this I'm waiting for them to finish the brakes, but also they recommended I get some other things done on it.  I usually say forget it, but it is something that I think is needed.  I want to keep my car running as well as possible for as long as possible.  Preventive maintenance is key.  Especially on a car that already has 170,000 miles on it.  The car is nine years old now.  I honestly need it to last more than 250,000 miles, if possible.

I was sitting in the waiting from all day today.  At one point I noticed that one one else was in there expect the employees.  I looked up and they were turning off lights.  Fuck, I was there past closing.  The guy helping me out said that the mechanic was just putting the finishing touches on my car.  I could see it in one of the bays.  I paid for the service, and in a few minutes my car was up and ready.  On my way home I tested the brakes and they felt nice and firm.  Then when I got on the freeway I put the hammer down and boom, the car was flying.  Yay!

Sunday, September, 20, My aunt needed a haircut.  Since last week, actually.  But last week she acted too late and the lady that cuts her hair wasn't there.  I told her I would take her this week.  Sure enough, we went off to get her hair cut.  My aunt isn't walking with a walker now, but I do think she could use a nice cane.  I wanted to get her one, so I went online to check out some models.  I found one that looks promising.  I might just buy it for her.

Speaking of my aunt and her walking, I will say that in my eye my aunt looks like she's really not feeling well.  She's lost weight over the last year.  She eats like a bird.  And she just seems to be slower and weaker than ever.  I mean, she isn't young, but her decline has been quite noticeable over the last eight months.

Monday, September, 21, I woke up not wanting to get out of bed this morning.  I wanted to go back to sleep for a few more hours.  Alas, I had to wake up and get going to work.  The good thing was that it was super nice and foggy this morning.

Random thought I had today: Who needs horror movies these days... we're all living thru a horror movie.

Tuesday, September, 22, Today these dopes forced us all to get online and have a pointless all staff meeting.  I fucking hate participating in these things, but I have to say that I do love the absurdity of it all.  The agenda (shown above) was a bloated mess of bullshit designed to blind us to the fact that everything is not well at the library.  We all know things are in the shit.  No amount of hiding is going to actually hide anything.

Not that I expected anything different, but the "awards" given out today were nothing but participation awards.  You showed up, you got an award day.  Fucking idiots.  I hate award ceremonies, but I especially hate when they are nothing but a participation award that everyone gets.  That's the lowest.  Tony and I got the, "Above and Beyond" award.  They had so many dopey categories.  Like one of the categories was the, "Yoda award."  Fucking shit.

Oh look, my "award."  Because reasons, I didn't get anything other than to get to view this powerpoint slide.  Not a single bit of actual prize.  Like give me some money.  Give me a free dinner.  Fuck the virtual pat on the back.  Fucking bullshit.  I knew this thing was going to be total bullshit.

The weather was super nice out tonight that I decided to try and put up the lights I bought a few weeks ago.  As you can see above, I put them up.  I only put one of the strings I bought, but I think I'll try to put the other one later in the week.  If the weather holds I'll try to put them up this weekend.  It's nice to sit outside with more light.

Wednesday, September, 23, I went out to my backyard this morning to add some birdseed to the bird feeders, as my aunt asked me to just before I left for work.  She can't reach the higher of the two feeders.  As I stood there I looked at the new lights that I put up and smiled.  It's such a simple little thing, but I do love those lights.  I told my buddy that I was looking to make my backyard a sanctuary in this fucking world.  I'm one step closer.

Kvon called me to tell me that they wanted the drivers to start later in the morning starting next week.  Instead of starting at 8am we would start at 9am.  This is to give the people at the branches more time to pull the books on hold.  This makes no sense, of course.  Because in practice whatever we don't get on one day one of us will get on the next day.  Simple as that.  My buddy thinks it's just another measure of control.  Thats more like it.  Whatever.  I guess I'm starting at 9am next week.  At least I get to sleep in now.  Though, now I wonder if I still have to go in early on Tuesdays.

TheGirl and I were texting while I was at work about where we could possibly go to diner tonight.  She mentioned the Smokehouse.  I wasn't sure about that, but then we ended up going there anyway.  I didn't want to go to the Smokehouse because it meant leaving Cheyenne at home.  I like when Cheyenne is with us.  But, TheGirl informed me that Cheyenne wasn't feeling well, and that it would be best to leave her at home.  Convinced, we went to the Smokehouse for dinner.  We had some nice booze, and some good food.  When I returned to TheGirl's place Cheyenne was full of peep.  She seemed to be feeling well, but TheGirl mentioned that she hadn't finished all her dinner.  I hope Cheyenne feels better soon.  She was very playful for a dog that wasn't feeling well.

Friday, September, 25, When I started the route today I found that there were more bins going out to the branches than I've had in weeks.  Months, really.  There were a dozen bins going out to the branches.  Not that every bin was full, but that's the most bins I've taken out in months.  There is definitely an uptake in things.  Time will tell how busy I'll be in the coming weeks.

Things are definitely changing again at the library.  When this whole stay at home thing started it was pretty quiet at the library, all the libraries.  Now things are starting to move.  People are returning to the branches, and they're getting busier.  This will definitely impact my work load in the coming weeks.  Next week I'm covering on Wednesday for my coworker.  I didn't want to do it, because I do like going to San Marino on Wednesdays.  But, at the same time it does mean more money.  Nice.

I didn't write about this before, but in the last couple of weeks the city has been installing a copper film all around the city.  The film looks like little like cellophane with a slight red tint (see above).  Of course these dopes start installing this stuff all over the city because someone said it stops the virus.  I found an article in the NY Times that I'll quote here.

"It's not like it hits the copper and poof, it's gone," said Dr. Marr.  So you might want to keep that in mind before you buy a copper or brass tool for using touch screens and opening doors.  To minimize transmission risk, people should still wash their hands, avoid crowds and maintain a safe distance from one another.

Things like this film will give dopes a false sense of safety.  I just know these dopes I work with.

Saturday, September, 26, Today was a chill day.  I got up fairly early and made breakfast.  My aunt asked me what I wanted, but I went ahead and cooked it.  I over did it with the salt, but the eggs I made were still good.  I took them with butter, not oil.  For lunch I went down to the California Chicken Cafe and got my aunt some of their yummy vegetable soup.  I got myself a wrap and some mashed potatoes.  I only had half of the wrap.

Then I passed out in my bed after retiring to my room after breakfast.  I woke up around three-ish and ordered the food for lunch.  After lunch my family in Mexico said they wanted to talk to my aunt.  Solid.  I went outside and swept up the side walkway.  After that I went and sat in my backyard.  Which is where I am right now as I write this.  Nothing too exciting today, but it was a nice restful day.

I've had a few shots of whiskey.  I've spaced them out, which is why I'm not totally sloshed.  Though, I did just have two "shots" directly from the bottle.  That did it, because I'm now feeling pretty damn good.

Sunday, September, 27, Jerry's Famous Deli in Encino is said to be closing up at the end of the month.  I was never a big fan of that deli.  I found the food to be kinda on the meh side.  But, it was a busy place.  But, now you can count it as another victim of Covid-19.  Someone commented online that they should open up a Brent's deli here.  OMG, now THAT would be awesome!  Brent's has the BEST pastrami in the city.  I would surly be there all the time if they decided to open it up as a Brent's.  But, time will tell.

For the last month I've been peeing sitting down.  My dick head just doesn't have the aim that it used to.  Even if I aim dead center of the bowl my fucking urine falls all over the rim.  I fucking hate that.  When I cleaned the toilet I would notice just how much urine would fell on the rim.  And that's not even to mention what with falls on the floor.  YUCK!

The Lakers are back in the finals.  Having watched them since the 80s I'm happy to see them go back to the finals after a ten year drought.  There were some dark years in the history of this franchise.  The years after Magic retired.  The late Kobe era when they couldn't build a good team around Kobe.  But now they're back.  They once again have the best player in the game, and they're back.

Monday, September, 28, My aunt has this habit of making tuna salad without dying the celery.  This means that the salad has a lot of water when I go and eat it (see above).  I was going to tell her yesterday, when she made the tuna salad, that she should spin the celery just like you would spin lettuce.  However, I passed out and was taking a nap when she made the tuna.  This is why the damn tuna salad is so wet.  ARGH!

Tuesday, September, 29, Last night my aunt made a little trip around the front yard.  I closed my door to my room, because I was going to jerk off before going to bed.  But, then I noticed on the security cams that she looked at my room, went outside, and then went around the side of the house to my East facing window.  Fucking bullshit!  Honestly, I don't know what she was thinking she would find.  I fucking hate that she does this shit.  Ilsa asked me if my aunt expected to find me selling drugs out of my window, or perhaps that I had a girl in my room.  If only.  All I know is that it makes me fucking mad to have her sneak around like that.  I don't know what she was expecting to find, but she always does this little move where she goes up to my car and looks inside.  There's nothing but a mess in my car, so I don't know what she expects to find.

When I went in to work today I noticed something new by the elevator (shown above).  They made a collage and entitled it "Curbside in Action."  I guess these dopes did it to make us seem like we're one big happy family.  Yeah, we're not.  I talked to a few people today and the consensus is that moral is zero.  Everyone I talked to told me the same thing, those in the administration don't listen to our opinions and criticisms.  They only want to hear what they consider positive.  Anything that might make them look bad is immediately labeled as negative.  And now most of us have been conditioned to not say anything.  Because why bother?  They don't listen anyway.  Or, if they do listen to a good idea they take credit for it.  Nothing but bullshit.

I went out to the bookdrop this morning to empty them out, since no one was here on Monday.  Which means they hadn't been emptied since Saturday.  When I got there the old bookdrop's door handle was jacked up.  The moron that closed it before me shut it in such a way as to jam the door.  If you do it right there is a little hitch, but nothing bad.  But if you do it wrong then it really sticks hard.  Of course this dope didn't take a moment to reset and try it again the correct way.  No, just did it wrong, jammed it, and then walked away.  Meanwhile I had to really work that thing in order to get it to move.  I finally did, cursing the idiot that did this.

At the end of the day I actually had a lot of bins coming in today.  Mainly because those at the branches pulled books today and yesterday.  And since I didn't drive yesterday, I got two day's worth of books.  That's that.

I wasn't going to watch the debate tonight, but then a few people texted to ask if I was going to watch.  That made me more curious.  I ended up watching the entire debate, so should I say the entire circus.  It was a shit show, thanks to the President interrupting.  His presidency has been nothing but shit, so why not the debate.

Wednesday, September, 30, For tonight's dinner TheGirl and I went to the Counter.  We didn't have Cheyenne in tow because TheGirl thought it was too hot for her.  And you know what, she was right.  It was barely OK for us.  But, we did have a good time, what with the wine flowing.