Afterthoughts : This Past July

I keep asking myself, "Where does the time go?"  I don't know, but it's going.  Here is the update for August.

Friday, July, 1, We have a laundry hamper in the wash room.  My aunt loves to move the hamper into the little cove where it is placed.  My grandmother and I want it as it's like in the left picture above.  But for some reason my aunt ALWAYS moves it back to the more internal position.  It so frustrates me that she moves it back every fucking day.  Why can't she just leave things alone?  She ALWAYS has to move my things around.

Well, after my email about not being able to work on Mondays at San Marino the city librarian emailed me back.  The screen cap I posted above is little hard to read, so here is the full text of the city librarian's email.

Thank you for giving us advance notice; I was going to reach out to you regarding scheduling so your email is timely. Currently you work 12 hours a week on average, and occasional Sundays for 5 additional hours. This has you at 17 hours a week for those weeks you work a Sunday. Our operational needs are such that Library Assistants are scheduled to work 15 hours a week on average. You are in this range assuming you work 12 hours one week and 17 hours the next. If you are unavailable on Monday what other week day can you come in?

Also, as we strengthen and develop our reference desk team, we are asking that everyone work alternating weekends. You are welcome to pick Saturday or Sunday and let me know if you would like to start that rotation the week of July 10 or the week of July 17. Please let me know by the end of your shift Wednesday July 6.

My response to the city librarian's email was short and sweet.  I wrote, "I'm afraid I'm not available on any other days."  It would seem that they will not allow me to just work on Wednesdays, that means my time at San Marino will likely be coming to an end.  I already asked Kvon for Monday hours, but today while at Brand I asked if they could use someone to shelve.  Their mail page just left last week, and they are in need of having someone help shelve.  I also need to get the thing started with Talia.

Saturday, July, 2, A few weeks ago TheGirl suggested we take a trip to Downtown Disney.  Day drinking is always the best.  We had planned on going back in June, but I think I had to work on some random Sunday and I had to postpone it.  Never mind that I didn't actually work on that Sunday, we had already agreed on making the make-up day today.

I drove us down there and we found a parking spot rather quickly.  Some dope was trying to chisel into that spot, but I was able to beat him to the spot.  We weren't sure where we would start off our drinking, but I suggested the Craftsman bar at the Grand Californian.  TheGirl and I had never been there.  The last time we went to Downtown Disney they didn't have any room for us.  This time we were early enough that we were able to get a nice seat.  TheGirl liked the place.  It's a nice joint, and I'm glad they added it to the bar line up at the hotels.

We went and got some drinks and food.  I ordered up some chicken skewers with a quinoa and arugula salad.  I almost went with the hot dog of the mouth, but the chicken really hit the spot.  I liked my choice.

In a quiet moment I checked in on my social media.  I thought about posting a picture of the food or the booze, but that's when I saw some pictures of TheLooker.  She never posts anything on her social media, but our former coworker, that now works at the Huntington, tagged her.

I'm not sure when the pictures were taken, but it would appear that TheLooker has time to go visit our former coworker at the Huntington but not go with me.  That is some major bullshine.  Oh well.  What can I do?  She does look nice.

Tonight I finished watching the movie "High Fidelity."  I couldn't remember if I saw it or not before, and it turns out I had.  But, I didn't remember it well, so it was good I rewatched it.  Anyway, the poor sap in the movie is going through a break up, and the death of he's ex-girlfriend's father triggers a change of heart within the ex's mind.  The ending is that everyone lives happily ever after.  My buddy and I were talking a little about this the last time we hung out.

Women.

TheLooker is a woman, no duh.  It would have been a nice run with her if we could have lasted a couple of years.  Anything more than that I would not expect.  She would likely be forced to marry an Armenian fella and I would be left alone with my memories of her.  I could live with that.  I really could.  At least that's what I tell myself right now.  I won't have to worry about that burden though.  We're not going to BE together in any way.

Monday, July, 4, I was feeling kinda blah last night.  I wanted to jerk off, but I didn't have the energy to do so.  So I went to bed early, around 10pm.  But, I couldn't fall asleep for a long time.  Around midnight I was still tossing and turning.  I finally just went ahead and took my anxiety pill, because my heart was pounding.  In about twenty minutes I was feeling MUCH better.  After that I was able to sleep, though I did wake up twice during the night.  Not good.  I hope I sleep better tonight.

I pretty much spent the rest of my day in the backyard.  But not just laying around.  After 7pm I went and did several things to prepare for the upcoming week.  I got my clothes ready, and I got my lunch ready as well.  I watered the plants outside, though I should have done it last night.  Currently the city only allows households to water on Sundays and Thursdays if you have an even numbered house.  I should have watered last night, but I totally forgot.

As I write this I'm hearing the fireworks in the distance.  I'm also watching five hummingbirds fight it out for the bird feeder.  I wish they could share.  I wish I had tomorrow off work, but it was nice to have three days off.

This coming week many things will happen that will change things.  The big thing is going to be what San Marino says about my hours.  Do I hope they keep me on?  Yes, of course.  But perhaps that's just the safe way of doing things.  I always play it safe.  I always go for the safe.  I hope that this time taking a risk will pay off.  If not I'm going to have to find some other job.

Tuesday, July, 5, I was checking my email this morning when I saw something I had half given up on... an email about the Burbank library assistant job I signed up for a few weeks ago.  The email specifically said the following:

Your application for the position of SENIOR LIBRARY ASSISTANT with the City of Burbank has been reviewed for minimum qualifications. Your Supplemental Questionnaire is currently being blind scored.

You will be advised of the next step of the process in the next few weeks.

Let's see what happens in the next few weeks.  Fingers crossed.  I still wonder if I have a legitimate chance at this job.

My first stop these days is the Grandview branch of the library system, due to the fact that I have to deliver them the school lunches.  Which is fine, because I avoid the whole thing with the school (not that there is any school because it's summer) and I get to interact with TheNewCute for a little in the morning.  Anyway, I sat down to take a load off and to talk to her when she comes up to me and steps on my toes.  She didn't do it on purpose, but she did it.  She is pretty adorable.  The more I think to myself that I am just an older voice of reason the more I think I'm making myself like her more.  I do like her, but like with every woman in the world I don't have a chance.

Last year around this time of year I had to pick up and deliver about fifteen wood planks, thirty A-frames that hold the planks in place, as well as about a dozen signs and about twenty so-called delineators.  This year I only had to pick up one "road closed" sign and two sandwich boards.  Thank the maker they didn't have me pick up so many stupid barriers and signs as last year. 

It's day camp time at Brand park.  In years past I've seen people dress up as so many things, like lady knights with swords, and fairies.  Well, today I saw what may have been a fairy or a nymph.  The girl was cute, to say the least.  I could tell she was an actress since she stayed in character even after the children walked away from her.  I suspect she's supposed to stay in that area and be a nymph or something to interact with the kids.  I heard her say something about, "Whatever shall I do," blah, blah, blah.  You can see from the dramatic pose she made here that she was full on in character even as she walked past me.

My radio show is on break during the summer, and instead of listening to the old episodes I decided to check out some other stuff.  On the website Archive dot-org I've found such a treasure trove of stuff that I am seriously thinking I need to stop paying for all those streaming services I now have.  One of the things I found is the old Abbott and Costello radio show.  I've been listening to them this week.  Good times.  I love that someone preserved those shows and put them online for anyone to listen to if they choose.  The show has me in stitches at times.  Nice.

I had this thought tonight about the possible side hustle with Talia.  I have no idea if she's going to cooperate with my ideas.  She's kinda whacky, and because of that she's kinda unreliable.  She just doesn't fit well into things.  She has strange ideas that could easily derail this whole endeavor.  I hope not, but I have to be ready for this whole thing to blow up in my face.  Because our relationship is all about me having too much of her, and then later forgetting how whacky she is and going right back to her.

Wednesday, July, 6, I suppose I expected the new city librarian to come in at one point in the day and come up to me and ask me why I can't work on the weekends and Mondays.  But, nothing of the sort happened.  As a matter of fact nothing was said to me about my schedule.  So I guess for now I'm just coming in on Wednesdays.  Which is fine for now.  If I get this side thing going with Talia and it takes off then so log San Marino.  Until then I'll keep the gig.  Or until someone there communicates to me that there is going to be a change.  But, I know the city librarian isn't confrontational, and she's also uncommunicative.  Fine.  I waited the entire shift for something to be said, and nothing.  I guess that's my answer.  I called their bluff and they have nothing.  I know that they are either trying to figure out what to do, or they have just said oh well and will just let the chips fall where they may.  By the way, I still think they're trying to figure something out.  I don't think they can leave sleeping dogs to lie.

When I first started at San Marino one of my night time duties was to stamp the due date cards that would go into the books.  But, when we went to the RFID system we bailed on that.  But, today I stamped some due date cards, because only one of the circulation printers work.  This has been our reality for not just months, but now going on years.  I think the last time the printers worked was back in 2020.  If the city librarian was on the ball she would have had this thing fixed in her first week as the city librarian.  But no.  She's been the boss for nearly four months and we still don't have working receipt printers.  This is just another fail.  This is why I need to go.

TheGirl and I went to Wood Ranch for dinner tonight.  I ordered up a tri tip sandwich, and immediately Cheyenne wanted some table scraps.  The tri tip was SOOOO good.  After that first taste Cheyenne could not have enough.  She kept on giving me the paw.  When I wouldn't give her something right away she then put her paw on the table.  TheGirl scolded Cheyenne for that, but Cheyenne didn't care.  The tri tip was SUPER yummy, so I know why she wanted more.  I gave her some more.  Later when we went back to TheGirl's place I was leaving and the sandwich shifted in the to-go container and I could smell it.  Cheyenne smelled it as well and went straight to the bag, sticking her face into the bag looking for some more yummy tri tip.

TheGirl knows the story about my old buddy Joe telling wait staff that it's my birthday, even when it's not.  Tonight she told the waiter that it was my birthday and showed him a coupon that her friend Mary Kay gave her for a free dessert for someone's birthday.  So yeah, they brought out a cake for me to eat for my "birthday."  This butter cake was SOOO GOOD.  Despite the deception I will say that I'm glad TheGirl ordered the cake.  It was amazing.

Thursday, July, 7, Today was a long day.  When I started this morning I had no idea that I would be at work until 9pm.  But, I'm the main man they turn to to cover when someone is sick.  Today the new library assistant, who just started working on Tuesday, called out sick.  Yeah, "sick."  Whatever.  I stayed at work until 9pm, which means I had a thirteen hour day today.  Makes for some nice bucks though.  But it was a long day.

Jokwin, pictured above, came by the library this morning to visit.  He says being at home doing nothing is driving him nuts.  He's the kind of guy that can't just sit still.  Unlike me, who is only happy to sit still.  Anyway, he updated us on his surgery follow up.  He had knee surgery, and he says it really hurts still.  Because he works out the doctor says that it's gonna hurt more.  If he was flabby it would hurt less.  Probably not that much less.  He says he may milk the amount of time he's going to be out.  Because he is in pain.  Which means the latest he can stay out is until September twenty.

Another thing that contributed to the length of the day was that I had to cover lunches at Adams Square library.  I'm going to be doing this every Thursday this month.  That means my Thursdays will be be a little longer.  I figure that I would probably be leaving work around 5pm instead of 4:30pm.  I guess we shall see.

As I said earlier, the new library assistant called out sick today.  That meant they needed someone to cover the desk this evening.  My supervisor asked me to stay until 9pm.  It's a long day.  Thirteen hours in total.  But, it also means good money.  I'm good with that.  Also, I know that the evening hours on the desk are pretty chill.  And they were.  I was able to chill for a good amount of time in the evening.

Working with the public you see a LOT of strange behavior.  Tonight was pretty chill on the desk, but then someone had to go and do something strange to stand out.  This guy comes up and my coworker and I ask him if he needs any help.  He says he just needs some hand sanitizer.  Fair enough.  He takes it and pumps out a couple of squirts and rubs it on his hand.  Then he takes a few more pumps and proceeds to pull down his loose t-shirt collar and jams his hand in under his arm pit.  This didn't really shock me, but I was surprised to see this person basically take a shower in front of me with hand sanitizer.  He repeated this move on his other arm pit.  Then he goes to my coworker and asks her if he can have one of the Lysol wipes.  She tells him something about how it's not safe on skin, and he just says, "It's OK."  He takes one, squirts some sanitizer on to it and walks away.  I have no words, except these.

I know I'm always posting picture from the past and basically wondering what might have been... and the trend continues.  Today is my cousin's fifteenth wedding anniversary.  It's also fifteen years ago that I took TheSilmarillion to my cousin's wedding (pictured above).  I had such a wonderful time.  I wish we had been more than friends.  Oh well.

Friday, July, 8, Today was another long day for me.  But, instead of working until 9pm I worked until 6pm.  These days are long, but hopefully the money is going to be flowing.  Sad thing is that I have to pay more for gasoline these days, and that pretty much wipes out any gains. 

I said it the other day that I knew that Talia would tell me it would be best if we did our little photoshoot on another day.  Sure enough she texts me in the late afternoon that she isn't feeling well.  She said that we should try doing taking pictures next week.  OK.  We shall see.

Saturday, July, 9, I think you can safely say that I HATE it when people get in my way.  And that means on all levels, but specifically today I want to focus on people physical getting in my way.  I do my best to go through my day not getting in other people's way.  In any sense.  But especially physically.  So this is what irritates me most about others ALWAYS getting in my way.  The above is an example of some idiot driver getting in my way as I went to get us some food this morning.  Why must idiots make the exact wrong move when doing anything?  It's so frustrating.  At home my aunt is constantly in front of the fridge getting something when I'm trying to walk by.  Or she's in the bathroom every minute when I need to pee.

This morning I went out the backyard to relax and not two minutes after sitting down my aunt is in my face about something that came in the mail from the LA department of transportation.  They are the ones that run the city ride program that she no longer uses.  When she has to go to the doctor's office she now just uses one of the app car services.  I was having her get picked up by Uber, but they overcharge for reserved rides, and Lyft doesn't.  Hence us using Lyft nowadays.  I told her to leave the flyer with me, and I grabbed it out of her hand and placed it in my basket.  But she went and took it.  Fine.  I didn't want to deal with it anyway.  I now just check her mail for her, because I don't want to hassle of having to answer twenty questions when she doesn't understand that the flyer she was sent is some scam.  Or the letters that tell her such and such about her insurance or BS like that.  I take them straight from the mail box outside and take them with me to work at Glendale and use the big shredder there to dispose of them.

Ilsa went into work today at San Marino, and she was texting me about stuff.  She then tells me that the circulation supervisor comes up to her and tells her that he needs her to shelve some books during her shift.  She then said the following, "Ok so Jeff tells me they are doing away with the page position."  Where is the rolling eyes emoji?  Just another reason why I need to leave that place.  It's been going downhill for years, but especially in the last year.  How sad.

I don't know how I ran into this information, but the Howard Johnson's in Anaheim has a room called "House of the Retro Future Suite" that is inspired by the old Disneyland Monsanto House of the Future.  Lately I've been trying to find more pictures of the House of the Future at Disneyland.  There is ever a social media fund for a book about the history of the House of the Future.  It's something at Disneyland that most of us who visit there never got to see.  It's always been in old pictures of the park in the 50's.

Anyway, the Howard Johnson's across the street from Disneyland styled one of their rooms to look similar to the old House of the Future (see picture of entry way above).  I showed it to Ilsa and she wants to try and stay there.  I'm game.  I never do anything fun.  I only do things like this when someone motivates me to.  If it wasn't for Emma wanting to go to Disneyland a few years back I would have never gone on my own.  I had my annual pass before she asked to go with me for nearly a year and I only visited the park four times in that year.  With her, it was ever three weeks.

So, Ilsa and I are going to look further into staying at the suite some time next year.  We don't even have to go to Disneyland.  There are things to do around Anaheim, like Founder's Park and the packing district.  I'm game.

Monday, July, 11, Well, the other shoe dropped at San Marino today.  The meeting I thought was going to happen last week on Wednesday happened today.  I went up to the city librarian's office and that's where she reiterated that they did not want me only working one day a week (Wednesdays).  As she pointed out in her email they need library assistants to work at least twelve hours.  BS, I say.  I have been working eleven hours a week.  She also wanted me to work on a weekend.  No thank you.  So that's it.  She asked me if I wanted to be "on call."  Sure.  I know this means I'm not going to have a constant shift.

I had a feeling they would push this issue, and you know what I'm done.  I haven't felt good about going into San Marino in a long time.  So now I have to make up that money at Glendale.  Hopefully.  I still want to see if I can get that side gig going with Talia, but that might never get off the ground.  I better figure something out.

This is the first time in just over fourteen years that I don't have two incomes.  Maybe I don't need just one side gig, but two.

After the whole thing with my San Marino hours I checked my email and I got another one from Burbank.  It would seem that I didn't make the cut for the library assistant job.  Oh well.  It was nice to even make it past the first round.  I often don't even hear from many of the places I apply to.

I ordered a new blind for my East fasting window last week and it arrived today.  I figured I would go right into installing it.  My room was super hot, so I turned on the A/C and went about my task.  The air was still warm and it sapped my energy quite quickly.  I championed on and got everything installed.  What I wanted in a blind was to be able to open it from the top and not just from the bottom.  Mission accomplished.

Tuesday, July, 12, My aunt's Medi-Cal reevaluation came in late last week.  I went ahead and filled out the form on Saturday so I could send it in as soon as possible.  I had her sign it on Monday and today I wanted to scan it and then send it in.  I went to pick up the food for the school lunch program and then went to the post office to drop off the package.  This time I don't want to wait until the last minute, because then my aunt gets all in my face about it.  I don't want that.

I also sent out my aunt's smart phone, the one I used to track her when she goes out.  The damn thing wasn't taking a charge last week, so I tried different things to see if I could make it work.  I even got a new battery.  Nothing worked.  So, I contacted the company and they said to send it back to them.  If they see there's something wrong with it they will replace it.  You know, I'm not sure what will happen if they don't find the problem is under the warranty.  Hmmm.

I stopped by at Pacific and figured I should have lunch there, because I was hungry.  Krishna was there, and she was wearing a nice little dress that showed a nice amount of cleavage.  Gotta say, nice work there.  I think Krishna is cute and attractive.  Today my eyes nearly popped out of my head like that Tex Avery wolf from his cartoons.  I've always checked out her behind, but now I will give her chest more looks.  Wink.

Wednesday, July, 13, I went into work today with the idea that I should gather some of the last things that are mine, so I can take them home.  I didn't grab everything, but I did grab nearly everything.  And yes, it fit in one bag.  This isn't everything I have at the library.  I still have a few books that I want to take home, including the giant Edward Hopper book that TheBecks gave me.  It's a huge book, and that's why I hesitated to take it home.  But now I must take it home.

Some things are going to change, like Chan's little spot will be empty.  He'll have to sit in a new spot.  Where that spot is on Wednesdays is not determined.  If I get more hours at Brand then he'll go there with me.  If it's somewhere else, then that's that.  If it's at Talia's house while I work on the side hustle, then I will have to get Chan a towel to sit on.  I don't think Talia takes care of things like that.

I have some, what you may call "Emergency food" at San Marino.  Sometimes a guy doesn't like what's on the menu, or I have to supplement what I have for lunch.  For instance when my aunt makes me lentil soup.  I sometimes need something more substantial to go with that.  Hence me having some emergency food.  Now that I won't be going that often I figured that it was a good time to eat some of that food.  Good thing that chili I made from a packet is something I don't want to eat now.

The exodus from San Marino continues in earnest.  The newly minted library assistant, Carrie, told me that she gave notice.  She got herself a full time job at USC.  Good for her.  She was saying how hard it is to get a job in an academic library.  Yes, I know that for sure.  But, she got it.  She's going to give the library three more weeks, and then she's out.

On my way to TheGirl's for dinner Heather texted me to say that she was going to give notice on Friday.  Boy, everyone is leaving.  The people in charge at San Marino have made nothing but mistakes.  The city manager is all about cutting cost.  Well, over a half dozen people have left and that money isn't being spent.  I guess she will be happy.  She certainly doesn't really care about the patrons.  You have to wonder what these people are thinking of all their employees leaving.

Wednesdays are going to change a bit when I don't go into San Marino on a regular basis starting in two weeks.  Whatever happens during the day I'm sure I'm going to still be having dinner with TheGirl on Wednesday evenings.

Tonight we headed off to the Counter in Toluca Lake.  They know us there, so they just ask us, "The usual?"  We say yes.  This time we had twice the usual.  At one point our waiter asked if we wanted a second bottle.  We always so no.  But tonight the good times were rolling, so we ordered the second bottle.  We were feeling really good tonight.  We went for our usual walk after dinner to give Cheyenne a chance to pee.  By the time we were done with the walk I was nearly sober.  I was sober by the time we got back to TheGirl's place.  Sigh.

Thursday, July, 14, I was thinking about how I need to just trust that things will work out.  Lately everything seems to point to this idea that I should just let things be and trust.  I guess I should give it a crack.

Yesterday on my way home Erinn from the fire department had sent me a message on the city's chat client.  She asked me to call her at her work phone.  I couldn't call because I had seen the text as I was leaving work.  Also, I had to call my aunt's doctor to make sure they got her meds.  Today I was able to call her.  Well, I didn't expect to hear what she told me.

Erinn's marriage has been on the skids, and I guess it's all coming to a head.  When we talked on the phone she said that her husband went through the phone bills and saw my phone number come up a lot a few months back.  The phone bills show every time a text message is sent and received.  It doesn't show the content of the message, but shows that the messages were made.  Anyway, he saw my number a lot and immediately went to jealous mode, and now he may call me to I don't know what.  Confront me?  Accuse me?  Why is this happening?

Erinn's husband also thinks that he will confront her boss, who is a battalion chef at the fire station.  Not good.  She did mention that she feels that she will have to separate from him, because of his jealous nature.  I can't blame her.  I told her I felt bad that she has to go through this.  I certainly worry that this guy may try something.  But, he doesn't know much about me other than I work for the city.

When I was messing around with TheGirl this happened to me.  Her husband called me, but I was at work and the signal back then was bad so I never even got the call.  It went right to voicemail.  But I heard it as I was leaving and it shocked me.  I don't want to deal with that again.  This time I'm not even having the affair with the woman.  I guess my bad reputation will always haunt me.

In other news, Heather told me that she couldn't wait until tomorrow to give notice.  She did it today.  The city librarian asked if she could have a meeting with her in order to, "... learn what I can do to make this Library a great place to work, and I really can't do that without staff input."

Ah, what?  If that were true she would have listened to our concerned when we showed our displeasure about the one desk thing.  That move is, to me, the pivotal mistake that the city librarian made.  She has compounded the problem by not looking at the situation and let the reference staff go back to the reference desk.  This is how she lost me.  I hated working the front desk, because I often didn't even get to do reference.  I did more library cards than reference.  Whatever.

Friday, July, 15, I went over to the fire department and talked to Erinn there about the status of her relationship.  She pretty much said her marriage is over.  They went to Disneyland last week and had a great time.  She thought they were making progress.  But then on Monday her husband blew up again still accusing her of cheating.  So yeah, she can't see this going well from this point forward.  She did warn me again that he may want to call me.  I should play dumb, she continued.  I am dumb.  I don't know why he would think I'm having an affair with is wife.  As Erinn said, she goes to work, and goes home.  She doesn't have time for anything else.  Her routine is pretty standard.  Kinda like mine.  I'm sorry she has to go through this, and that I got dragged into this as well.

I was up at the Brand library after dropping off the lunches at Grandview.  I was chatting with the librarian there and she says, "Shouldn't you be on a desk?"  I didn't know what she was talking about, so she clarified that I was scheduled to be back at Central at 1pm to relieve one of the librarians in order so they could go to lunch.  This is the first I had heard about that.  I texted my boss but he didn't reply quickly.  So I went left Brand and went to get something to eat at Jack in the Box down the road in order to eat and still be able to drive over to Central in time.  As I was ordering my lunch I got a text from Kvon saying that he had found coverage.  That meant I didn't have to hurry now.  So, instead of eating my lunch in the van I drove down to the next block and parked myself at Pelanconi park.  I sent TheGirl a picture of where I was having lunch and she told me that her father used to go there sometimes for lunch.  Full circle.

When I was in the middle of eating I suddenly realized that I smelled smoke. Not from a fire, but from a cigarette.  I turned around and sitting on a chair he brought is this dummy of a man, not more than fifteen feet away from me.  Thankfully he only smoked one cigarette, and didn't linger.  He nearly ruined my lunch.

DrDeath announced that they finally hired a new children's librarian.  She is formally from Pasadena.  I texted my former coworker Helen to see if she knew anything about this lady.  She said, "Jennifer is wonderful to work with.  She is approachable and does well in communicating with staff and patrons.  Pas lost a great person and librarian."  Wow!  Winning endorsement.  Actually, the lady she replaced, Ashley, was a really nice person as well.  No word on when she starts, but we shall see.

Sunday, July, 17, The weekends are way too short.  I loved those three day weekends we had just recently.  Maybe I'll have a better outlook on things once I start working on Mondays at Glendale.

I finished watching the last part of the movie Cannery Row last night.  I'm finishing up the book "Sweet Thursday," which the movie is mostly based on.  I know it's called Cannery Row, but really the main story is from Sweet Thursday.  The movie was meh.  But, it did make me think about Monterey and Carmel.  I want to go back there.  It's been nearly four years since my last trip up there.  Part of it was because of the Covid closures, but before that it was also because I wanted to go to San Francisco but cancelled that trip to to me worrying about my aunt.

Monday, July, 18, I didn't go and broadcast that this was my last week at San Marino, because it's kinda not.  Certainly I won't be working on a regular basis, but I didn't quit.  But I guess for all intent and purpose I have quit.  Quit on them, for sure.

People came up to me and were surprised to hear that this was my last week on the desk.  They thought that I was going to still work on Wednesdays, but I told them that the people upstairs didn't allow me to just work one day a week. In their current state, where everyone is quitting on them they would rather not give me hours than just a few hours.  Their loss.  People were sad to hear that I would not be coming in anymore.  Not my idea.

Tuesday, July, 19, There has been a problem patron roaming around Central for the last few weeks.  Last week I was witness to him verbally harassing my coworker, and trying to bully her into giving him more time in the study rooms.  Well, that day he got his way.  Today he was thrown out and suspected for a day.  Only one day, sadly.  Most of my coworkers were hoping for at least thirty days, so one day is pretty weak.  But, at least it was one day now.  The next time he fucks up he will have to get thirty days.  I hope.

Here is part of the execution letter, which lists the reasons why he was thrown out.

During the time span between 6/28/2022 and 7/18/2022, you repeatedly made inappropriate comments to library employees of a harassing nature. These comments have included referring to staff as babe, friend, girlfriend and/or mother.

There's more, but it's just more of the same.  Here's how the letter ends.

Your behavior has continued to be harassing in nature and has repeatedly disrupted library's staff performance of their duties. As a result, you are being issued a one-day suspension.

There ya go.

Just as I was finishing up loading the van I get a text message from Kvon saying that they need me to go on the desk until 1:30pm.  I told my coworker Tony that I could do the second half of the route if he wanted to do the first half.  He agreed, though he was not happy with Kvon leaving things until the last minute.  I get it, but one has to be flexible.  Tony is not flexible at all.  So I worked on the desk until 1:30pm and then went to lunch.  After lunch I finished up the route and for some reason I was way tired.

I was finally able to get my aunt's meds.  I checked online and the website showed that they were ready to be picked up.  I went right to CVS right after work and picked them up.  I hate that there was such a delay with this thing.  Good thing it wasn't one of her vital meds, just something that inhibits the creation of stomach acid.

Wednesday, July, 20, I asked Siri to tell me how days ago was January 26th, 2008 and she said it was 5,289 days.  That's how long my journey at San Marino lasted.  It was one of the longest things I've ever done in my life.  I keep saying it's not completely over, since I'm still on the payroll, but you know what I mean about it being the end.  The day to day grind there is over.

On my "last" day I had to get some things done for the friends of the library.  I entered a couple of donations into the computer and sent out the thank you letters.  Pseudo supervisor thinks that I won't be allowed to come back and enter any other donations in a batch here or there.  I don't know why she thinks I won't be allowed into the building to do such things.  I'm still a responsible dumb dumb who would want to do to those things.  Oh well.  I should really take all this as the actual end, not a let's see what happens thing.  But, because I didn't quit outright I'm still an employee there.  As such I still have things that only I can do.  I guess I'm just in limbo now.

TheNewCute sent me a text asking me how my last day went and went on to ask if they got cupcakes for me (above).  I told her nope.  And yes, again I'll say I know I'm not completely done there, but I guess they could have given me some sort of thanks for your service thing.  Whatever, I never live my life with the goal of having a party at the end of something.  Fuck that.  I never cared if I got a party at the end of this thing, and I'm sure not going to press for it.  No fanfare is just fine by me.  When I left my CSUN job it was without fanfare as well.  I just closed up shop and went to my car and drove home.  Done and one.  A era has finished, and the only one that needs to acknowledge it is me.  And I'm not one to make too much of a fuss about it.

I didn't really speak much about my San Marino departure at dinner to TheGirl.  What is there to say, really?  What's done is done.  We went to the Dog Haus and I had a yummy burger, but afterward I thought I should have had a corn dog.  Still, it was good and I was stuffed.  We went walking around the rim of the Warner Brother's studio.  The little neighborhood right by the studio's Eastern rim is quaint and quiet.  During the day it may be busy, what with the studio and the studio tour building being right there, but in the evening it's super quiet.  Just yards away is the busy Riverside drive, and beyond that the 134 freeway, but standing there in that neighborhood you wouldn't know it.  We walked and returned to the Dog Haus.  Last week we ordered up two bottles of wine at dinner.  Tonight we did order two of cans of wine each.  Certainly not the same amount of wine, but it got me feeling nice.  I could certainly live the rest of my days with wine in my belly all day long.  Tonight was a good night.  San Marino was far, far away.

Thursday, July, 21, On Tuesday one of our new problem patrons was given a one day suspension.  Most of the staff felt that it should be at least thirty days.  I chronicled what the suspension order said in a previous entry, but in short he was harassing employees.  Today this guy was served with a thirty day suspension, but they upped it to ninety days due to his behavior during the time that they were informing him of his thirty day suspension.  We found out that he was suspended from the Burbank library and that's why he showed up to our doorstep.  Next stop, who cares.  Just as long as it's not here.

If I wanted my aunt's advice about anything I would seek it.  This is why I NEVER ask for her advice about anything.  Just like how when I ask her what she wants for breakfast on the weekends she NEVER has an idea, she never has a good opinion about anything.  Hence me not asking her for her opinion.  Tonight I was fixing the fan I have in the backyard, and just as I was finishing up my aunt comes out and puts her two cents in.  I wanted to throw the fucking fan at her.  She was like, "If it doesn't work you could buy a new one."  Yes, I could, but I can fix this one.  I just want her to leave me alone.

Friday, July, 22, I got what might be my second to last paycheck from San Marino today.  It totaled $288.68.  Yeah, I'm swimming in money.  The more I think about it, the more I see that I was leaving a lot of money on the table by continuing to work at San Marino.  In a way you may say I was granting them charity, since I did so much there for so little money.  Economically I've been cutting my own throat by working there.

Earlier in the week I was asked to pick up some stanchions from HR.  I told my coworker I would do it today.  So after fueling up the van I drove around to the front of City Hall and went into HR to pick up the stanchions.  Boy, were these things heavy.  I don't know how heavy each were, but they were substantially heavy.  I carried two at a time to make it fast, but I should have just done one at a time since afterward my arms were burning.

On social media I follow a couple of food bloggers that showcase fast food meals.  A couple of weeks ago I watched two of these bloggers review the new "Southwest Bacon Whopper."  My burger was all jacked up.  First off, it was supposed to have tortilla strips, and mine didn't.  It was supposed to have some sort of spicy sauce, mine didn't.  Instead mine had a TON of mustard.  That mustard overwhelmed the taste of everything else, where I couldn't taste anything but mustard.  The cook staff also added pickles, despite me asking for no pickles, and jalapenos.  Which isn't something that goes on the Southwest burger.  You can tell I didn't have a good lunch today.  And I was so looking forward to having this burger.  I missed out last week, and this week it was just ruined for me.  Yuck.  I think I'll stick to the regular menu items from now on.

Ilsa wanted to go to the Formosa on the 30th in order to piggy back our dinner with going to something called "The Constellation Club" which runs from 9pm to 1am on the roof of the Formosa.  I was pretty sure that she said that the club was happening on the 30th, but then tonight she was asking if I was ready to go to the restaurant tomorrow night.  Well, I couldn't let it go.  I checked the Formosa's calendar just now and sure enough the Constellation club is happening on the 30th.  She thought it was this week.  But you know what, I'm good with not going tomorrow night or next week.  Next week I agreed to go to work and I'm not sure how tired I would be after working to go to dinner.  Whatever.  Things happen.  At this time I don't take any change in plans personally.  Most of the time I actually welcome it.  I'm not going to correct Ilsa.

Saturday, July, 23, I don't do much on my weekends except sleep during the day.  Part of it comes from staying up late at night because I'm jerking off.  But I so sleep during the day as a defensive move to not deal with my aunt.  She is constantly on me on weekends that it just pisses me off.  Years ago I remember I used to go to work, on my day off, in order to just escape.  Now I sleep to escape.

I've said it many times here on this journal... I wish she would just leave me alone.  I'm working next Saturday, which I'm not looking forward to doing.  However, at least I won't have to deal with my aunt.

Sunday, July, 24, I have so many doubts about going over to Talia's on Wednesday.  I feel that she will just tolerate me going over.  I'll try again on Tuesday to bring up the subject.  Because I would love to get this side hustle going with her.

TheGirl mentioned that her friend loaned her the free parking pass for CityWalk, and she invited me to go up there and have lunch.  Since I'm going to be working on Saturday we figured it was better to go today.

TheGirl wanted to go to Johnny Rockets, but they don't have much of a menu, and the food is just meh.  They do have booze though.  Then again, a lot of places at CityWalk have booze.  When we got to Johnny Rockets we couldn't get a seat in the patio, because the tables were being used.  On big table was taken by a lady having fries.  The hostess said that she was only having fries, but I knew she was going to take her sweet time.  The hostess said it shouldn't be more than fifteen minutes.  TheGirl suggested we walk around a bit.  We went to the end of CityWalk and then back to Johnny's.  When we got back the lady was still there, and she had hardly made a dent into her pile of fries.  That's when I suggested the NBC grill.  They had a nice little patio and no wait.  So we decided to eat there instead.  I was happy since I don't really like the food at Johnny Rockets.

Monday, July, 25, So the "new" Monday journey started today.  I worked the desk the entire day, which was fine.  It makes the day go by faster being on the desk.  I was on the desk practically all day at San Marino, so there's no difference there.  Only I make more money.  I'm happy with my decision.

Chan still has to travel with me on Mondays and Wednesdays.  This is the first Monday that he travels to Central with me.  I have to find a proper place for hims to chill while I work.  I don't want anyone messing with him.  I thought to just leave hims in the car, but I also worry some dope might steal hims.  That would be much worse than someone messing with him at work.  I don't think people at work would mess with hims though.

I have been really gassy again lately, and because of that I've had quite a bit of flatulence.  Lately that has been a problem that has caused what you might call swamp ass.  It feels like I have poop in my underwear, but thankfully when I check there's no poop.  But that feeling doesn't go away.  And I do have to say that I feel a little moist down there.  Sometimes there are small remnants of poop in my butt, but not my underwear.  Thankfully.  Still, it sucks to walk around feeling like this.

I texted one of my coworkers from San Marino for a report on what was going on there.  Not much, she said, but then she mentioned that the city librarian didn't look too happy.  My coworker went up to her at one point and this is what she wrote in her text about the exchange.  "I asked her I said are you going to the picnic she said no I can't go because I have to cover the desk nobody here and then I said oh that's fine, I'm not go either and her face looks mad, I walked away."  I love that my coworker trolled the city librarian.

When I got to work, and after dinner, I got to working on fixing my backyard fan.  Even though the weather has been really pleasant at night, there are times when the fan is necessary.  But, the fan was not working.  I took it apart tonight in order to see what the deal was.  It turns out that it was because of lubrication issues.  I was able to oil it up and now it works like a charm.

Tuesday, July, 26, I don't have much to report from today.  The route was pretty standard.  I didn't have swamp ass today.  Thank the maker.  The rest of the week is going to be interesting though.  Tomorrow I'm going to the Brand library for my first shift.  I was asked by the reference librarian to go in at 10am to 2pm instead of my "official" schedule that's from 9am to 1pm.  That means I won't have time to visit Talia.  Yet another barrier.  I'll try next week.  I guess I'll kill some time going to the 99 cent store and maybe going to Chinatown to take some pictures.

I was getting out of the van and I felt my sides hurt.  I wasn't sure why I was in pain, but then I remembered that I had a little much to drink the other night and I actually dry heaved.  That explained the side pain.  I'm drinking a new whiskey, so I'm not entirely sure what my limit is with that.  Booze just feels so good.

I was inputing my hours into the system we use at Glendale and while double checking I found that I will potentially work forty-four and a half hours this week.  That's insane.  Just doing the math in my head I'm going to get a nice payday in a couple of week.  Nice!  It more than makes up for the loss of the San Marino hours.  In spades.  Sure, I'll have to do a lot of working, but hopefully I'll have a nice fat paycheck in the end.

At dinner my aunt mentioned that she feels well enough to want to go to the market on her own.  Not just right now, but next month perhaps.  I'm happy to hear that.  Obviously her taking the meds properly has meant that she's feeling well.  Because, in the past I have reported here how she would be saying she couldn't breath or sleep.  The sleep part she still has a problem with, but that's mainly because she sleeps so much during the day time.  Thankfully she hasn't had moments like in the past where she was going to sleep in the other room, or says silly things.  I'm glad.

Wednesday, July, 27, Before I go on with other stuff I just want to say that today was a good day.  My routine is changing and I wasn't sure about the timing of everything.  In the past I would leave for San Marino at 8am.  But now despite the fact that I start at 9am, I'm about half the distance to San Marino.  I got to the 99 cent store on San Fernando road before 9am.  I went in and got some things my aunt and I needed.  Chan was in tow, and the trip to the store was brief.  We then made our way up to Brand, and arrived just before 9am.  Erin asked if I could work from 10am to 2pm, but I figured I would help her set up at 9am.  That's what my schedule showed.  As it turned out I only worked until 1:30pm, but I didn't change it in my time card online.  I'll stand pat at 9am to 1pm.  It's fine.

When I worked at San Marino I had my own desk in an office that was secluded.  That mean Chan could sit on my desk unmolested.  But, now that I'm working at Glendale I don't have my own desk.  Chan isn't in a place where he can sit unmolested.  I know my coworkers at Glendale wouldn't harm him, but I do worry about where he would go to be safe while I work.  Today I just sat him on the desk that contains the mailboxes for Brand.  It's super cluttered, and isn't a permanent solution.  Maybe he can sit in the tower next week.

As I said I was a little early for my shift.  I helped out Erin with setting up of the whole tie-dye program.  And just as an example she said my other coworker and I should make something in order to know what we're doing and help the patrons.  Solid.  I took a handkerchief and folded it like Erin told me, and then twisted it around a pole that she had around.  Erin then said to really soak the dye into the cotton and that the rubber bands needed to be tight.  Again, I followed her directions and my handkerchief came out great.  As a matter of fact, it became, "Problematic," Erin said, because it was done correctly that everyone wanted their creation to mimic mine.  But, these dopes didn't take the time to follow the instructions.  Many of the patron's handkerchiefs came out pretty sucky, but not all.  Some came out pretty good, but certainly not as good as mine.  Mine was the best.  Woo hoo!

One of my coworkers at Brand asked me today, "What's with the monkey," as I was getting ready to leave for the day.  I told him about how he's my mascot and how we visit our friend's dog.  Ha ha.  If they only knew.  No one needs to know the real story.  Only Chan and I need to know.  Just before going back to my car to get out of Dodge, I took Chan to the front of the Brand library so he could pose for a picture.  I should have taken his mask off.  Oh well, next week.

After work I took myself, and Chan, to the Super King market just down the road from the library.  I wanted to go there to check it out, as well as to get my aunt the animal crackers she likes.  I ended up only getting her crackers and a Coke.  But, I also scoped out the things I could get there.  A thought came into my head.  Most of the things I get at the Pavilions market by my house could be had at the Super King.  A few items I will need to go to the Pavilions, but the rest I should go get at the Super King.  There's one on Sherman Way that I should go to, on Sundays, before the Pavilions.

You could practically say I grew up in Chinatown.  When I was a child we would go downtown to the Central Market to get our groceries.  While we were downtown we would take the bus to Chinatown in order to get something to eat, and to walk around the plaza.  These days I go to Chinatown about once a year.  I wanted to go to Chinatown to take some pictures, in lieu of being able to go visit Talia.  I went around and took some pictures with my film camera and my Polaroid.  The Polaroids came out good.

After my little Chinatown photo "adventure" I drove to TheGirl's place in order to have our traditional Wednesday night dinner.  I suggested we go up to Burbank's Don Cucos restaurant.  A few months ago I ordered the carne asada taco plate, and it was yummy.  Now that is my go to order there.  Not only that, but I get to give Cheyenne the bits of carne asada that falls off my taco on to the table.  Tonight I was given a choice between soup or salad, and since I don't like how they don't dry their lettuce at this place (meaning that the dressing falls off the leaves) I decided to have the soup.  My choice between the tortilla and the meatball was meatball.  I've had the tortilla soup before and it's kinda meh.  The meatball soup hit the spot tonight though.  Maybe it was the whiskey, combined with the margarita, talking, but it was good.

As I said before... today... was a good day.

Thursday, July, 28, I came in to work today to find the bins had been sorted by an idiot.  Why else would someone fill one bin above the rim and leave another practically empty?  I hate that some dopes do this to the bins.

This week I'm working forty-four hours, but after this week I'll settle into thirty-five point seven-five hours.  I'm good with that, especially knowing that I'm sure to get more hours from covering shifts here and there.  Still, I'm getting too old for all these hours.  I need a side hustle that will make money while I do nothing.

TheLooker hangs out with the girl that's the IT chief at the library.  Today she was at the desk visiting as I worked.  There was a moment when I nearly turned to her and asked her how TheLooker was doing.  I thought about how that would go over and then decided not to say anything.  What's the use of going down that path?  Nothing.  TheLooker made her choice.  I'm not her choice.

While at work I downloaded the newest firmware for my Insta360 camera in hopes that it would bring it back to life.  The process was fairly easy, and yes, once the SD card was in the camera recognized the new firmware and it started to update it.  In a few minutes my camera was working like a charm.  I'm glad, because I spent a bunch of money on that camera and I have barely had a chance to use it since we were on lockdown.

Friday, July, 29, I got an email from the assistant director having having to be interviewed for what they call an, "Interviewed as a witness in an administrative investigation into allegations of inappropriate workplace comments."  Which means my boss is in trouble for some things he said to one of my coworkers.  Last week Kvon was in the circulation room and he said, "Hola mi amore," to one of the ladies that work in the children's room.  She did not appreciate it and obviously went to administration to say something.  Now he has had a target on his back for a while now, so I'm not surprised that this remark of his has him in hot water.  Well, now come next Wednesday I'm supposed to testify.  I'm not even sure that this is the remark they're talking about, but I guess I'll know on Wednesday.  Syco had a talk to me about the very same phrase, because I went ahead and said it as well.  Only in my case I'm not a supervisor, and I apologized right after it happened.  Still, I have to be careful not to self incriminate myself while also trying not to burn my boss.  I don't think he meant anything by it, but I know that they want to nail him on something.  I'm not looking forward to this.  Lately there's a feeling that even while the administration dopes talk about the library being a family they turn around and attack anyone that actually wants to make the time at work a sorta fun time.  I told Kvon earlier in the week that he needed to put his head down and just work.  Maybe he'll take my advice after this blows over.  If it blows over.

I was texting with Heather from San Marino today.  She reminded me that today was her last day at San Marino.  She also told me that T was texting her via our online employees text client.  She was asking Heather about what programs she worked on for the fall.  Ah, what?  Heather mentioned that she pitched several ideas to T for the fall just before she gave notice, but that T never followed up with her.  Well, that is until today.  Literally one hour before Heather was going to leave.  T claimed she that "forgot."  Just like she "forgot" to do Heather's evaluation, which prevented Heather from getting a raise.  Now it seems silly to seek a raise just weeks before quitting, but at the time when Heather was inquiring about the raise she still felt that she was going to work until late August.  But, after that fiasco Heather decided it was time to go early.  Hence her leaving now.  T failed her, so of course Heather had no interest in working on any programs after T "forgot" do her evaluation.  But that's not all, T didn't follow up with her after she pitched the her ideas.  This is typical of the BS we all had to deal with at Crowell.

Lastly, when someone leaves the job the administration dopes buy cupcakes or something like that.  They didn't get me anything when it was my last day.  But, they did get Carrie and Heather some cupcakes.  Only, as you can see from the picture above, they misspelled Heather's name.  No one cause it.  It says Healher not Heather.  What a bunch of dopes.  This easily encapsulates what that place is now.

I came to find out that some prizes were given away at the employee luncheon on Monday.  This guy named Chris got the, "Best customer service," award.  Oh jeez.  Ilsa told me about it.  I tells ya, this is some major bullshit.  I don't seek awards like that, but dammit if I don't deserve it more than he does.  Fuck that place!  I told Ilsa that we were probably disqualified because we are now "On call."  Fucking piece of shits.

Saturday, July, 30, Mala asked me to work today about two weeks ago.  I had plans back then to have dinner with Ilsa at the Formosa.  But then she said that she got her dates mixed up and we postponed it for next month.  But, before that I was scheduled to work 10am to 5pm today.  I told them I had dinner at 6pm.  But I didn't update them on the timing now, because they would have me stay until 8pm.  No thanks.  Although, the money would be good.  I was afraid that I would be working like a dog today.  But, as it happened I barely had to do anything.  I arrived at 10am and no one was around.  The group that I was to help out wasn't in sight.  I sat around the circulation desk waiting for any signs of them.  But, it wasn't until half pass noon that they showed up.  In short, I got to sit around for a couple of hours.  Not sure why they needed me there that early, since no one showed up until past noon.  Oh well, easy money.  That doesn't often happen.

Mari is a librarian that left the library for a full time job at the Huntington.  She still subs once in a while, and today was one of those days.  She knows TheLooker (see above).  As a matter of fact, as you can tell from the picture above, they are friends.  TheLooker went to visit her earlier this month at the Huntington.  The very same Huntington she was supposed to visit with me.  I had a notion to ask Mari about TheLooker, like say something stupid such as, "How is she doing?"  But, I know nothing good can come of any of this.  So, I just let it slide and didn't mention TheLooker to her at all.

About twenty minutes past noon I finally saw some of the people that I was supposed to be taking care of for the event.  What followed was about two hours of me running around trying to figure things out.  The podium in the auditorium was redone so that it's easier to have video go from there to the equipment in the back.  But, no one told me.  So I was struggling and struggling to find which Ethernet cable went into what slot.  Because, the slots in the wall were not labeled, but the cables were.  After about ten minutes of trying to figure it out I finally texted Joe from Admin to see if he could help me out.  He finally told me which cables go into what.  But, the ones on the wall were not labeled.  Turns out there's another bunch of Ethernet plugs in the wall that are to the left of the ones that I was trying to plug the cables in.  Those were labeled.  But what threw me off is that the plugs were adapted to the old microphone plugs, so I thought those were just for the old mics.  Turns out they retrofitted them to be Ethernet plugs.  Yet again, no one told me.  Once that was done we were off and running.  I asked Joe about the cables and he was saying that they had tested them on Friday to make sure they worked.  I asked him who the fuck unplugged them then.  So stupid.

While the kids had their summit meeting I found some time to go downstairs and get my frozen enchiladas that I brought so I could eat during the day.  I knew today was going to be long, so I didn't want to starve to death.  The enchiladas were not the best, but they weren't bad either.  I would definitely have them again for emergency food.  The only thing is that the rice was meh.  But, in a pitch these enchiladas saved me from starving.

I was off at 5pm, but I stuck around for another fifteen minutes after in order to film the actual ribbon cutting.

I like the exhibit this month.  I think they should make it permanent.  If you click on the picture above it will send you to a short video of the exhibit.

Wrap-up: The days just melt away, I seem to always say.  But, it's still true, the days do melt into one another.  This month marks the end of an era for me.  I didn't officially quit, as I keep telling everyone and myself, San Marino.  However, for all intent and purpose I'm not working there anymore.  I'm "On call," whatever that means.  They won't call me, and that's how I want it.  I want to still be able to "work" for the library so I can help Pseudo Supervisor with her event in October.  So for that reason this month is quite significant.  It's an end and a new beginning.  I started working at the Brand library on Wednesdays, and my first shift there was way fun.  Chan got to meet new people, and I got to make some money to make up for the hours I lost by not working at San Marino.