Afterthoughts : This Past Month

It's that time of year again.  Christmas has come and gone and now it's time for a new year.  It was a good year, I feel.  Now, on to the update.

Thursday, December, 1, When I walked into circulation this morning I went up to the side desk that has a stupid plater from weeks ago when something was served.  For some reason I wanted that thing out of my way today.  I've had to suffer with it right where I sit.  Well, when I went to put it in the other room I noticed a little bag that said "Central" on it.  I became curious as to what was in that little bag, and sure enough I got a surprise.  The bag contained the well wishes from Central staff to our coworker that left back in September.  I told Vagabundo that I was going to follow up on this, but on my drive to work today I said, "Fuck this shit... if they don't care I don't care."  Well, I don't know if you want to point this out as some sort of sign or something... but there it was right in front of me.  The answer to the question I've been asking for months.  Where are his well wishes.  They have been there, right in front of me, for MONTHS.  I should have seen them before.  But now I said, "Fuck it," so do I now take ownership of these things and take them to him?  Today I didn't want anything to do with them.  Perhaps next week I will reach out to my coworkers and ask them to tell me where he lives so I can send them to him.  Or perhaps mail them to him.

Today was payday and sure enough my promised raise was included in this paycheck.  I'm not making $27.13 an hour.  In my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be making that much.  Granted, money is worth less now than in the past, but $27 an hour is still nothing to sneeze at.  With great salaries come great bills and taxes.

that I'll be working thirty-nine and a half hours a week now.  I was working thirty-seven and three quarters, so I'm gaining hours.  Nice.

For the last couple of years these boneheads at Central have been putting out some of the saddest looking trees I've ever seen.  I mean look at this thing (see above).  Charlie Brown's Christmas tree was way better.  I had the thought just now that what they should have done is invited the public to make some ornaments to hang from the tree.  This tree is just sad.

I stepped out the staff door in order to start my route when I turned back to check that the door was closed.  I usually give it a good tug in order to make sure that it's secure.  Well, I pulled it and it popped open.  I tried pushing it so that the lock would engage.  I pulled on it again and sure enough the same thing happened.  What a trash door.  They probably bought it used.  This door has NEVER worked.  And it's never going to work.  What a piece of trash.

Tuesday, December, 2, My aunt was telling me last night that the side of the house by the electrical box was leaking when it rained.  And since it rained last night I figured I would check on claims this morning.  Sure enough, I went to the location where she said it was leaking and it was dry (see above).  Her claim was that she saw a lot of water in this area, and she implied that it might effect our electrical box because it was, "Really close to," it.  But there it is, proof no water is leaking in this area.  Oh, and less you think I didn't check the rest of the patio, because I did.  Only the edges were some water spilled over from the overhang were slightly wet.  I don't know what my aunt is smoking.

I had this notion that I may be able to find that woman from Wednesday night when TheGirl and I went to that wine bar.  I went on the wine bar's social media and within a few moments I found someone that I'm pretty sure is the lady that sat us (see above).  I'm nearly completely sure that it's her, but of course I'm not 100% sure.  Still, I didn't see anyone else on the social media feed that night that had red hair like that lady did the other night.  So yeah, I'm pretty sure.  Her name is Caryn.  She's attractive, and her body is kickin.  As I said in my entry from Wednesday, TheGirl wants to go to this place next Wednesday.  I'm sure game.

them in particular has always caught my eye.  Ever since they planted it just as the renovation was finishing up it has been something I love during this time of year.  Its leaves turn a yellowish-orange color that is quite wonderful.  Sadly my phone doesn't capture the beauty.  That's why I decided to take my film camera with me this morning.  Now the only problem is that I can't show you those photos until I get the film developed.  That could take weeks.  Until then enjoy the short gif photo above.

A couple of weeks ago I labeled the keys so that it would be easier for people to find them.  Clearly no one even notices that the slots are labeled, because these idiots keep putting the keys in the wrong spots.  After coming back from the route I went to put the keys to the van back on their hook and I saw what is represented in the picture above.  Clearly no one reads the labels, so you know what?  I give up.  People can do what they want.  I'm done.  They can fuck themselves.

Today was Vagabundo's last day.  As I drove off I was a little sad and I got a little emotional thinking that I wouldn't be seeing my friend as often.  He will still be working some Mondays, as he said.  But how long will that go on?  Come Tuesday I'll be taking over his shifts.  Patrons will ask me where he is, and I'll have to tell them that he's hours have changed.  I guess that's as good an explanation as any.

When I got home I noticed that my room was a bit on the chilly side.  I was OK with that, because the other night it was really warm, and I knew that my aunt messed with the setting on my space heater.  In general I keep it at a two on the dial.  At night I'll move it to a two and a half, but my aunt set it to a three on the dial.  It was pleasant, but I also consider the cost of electricity in all this.  Why have it that warm when setting it at two and a quarter is just good enough.

Tonight I got home and my room was chilly.  My aunt did not touch my space heater, or so I thought.  I was just writing something above when I thought to myself how I had not heard the space heater kick in during the evening.  Well, I went to check it and my fucking aunt had set it to something different and prevented it from automatically coming on.  ARGH!  No wonder it never got warm in my room.  I just now reset it to the old intensity setting and the damn thing came on.  It's already feeling warmer in my room.  Fucking shit!  My aunt really needs to lay off.

My former coworker Shawnee and I were today and in the conversation she mentioned that Gil died back in November 22nd.  He was ninety-two years old.  He was retired, but he came back to work as a page when I started working at the library.  But the pandemic prevented him from continuing working.  His health had taken a turn the last couple of years, where he had to re-retire.  Poor guy.

Saturday, December, 3, I try not to watch the news expect for the traffic and the weather reports.  But, last night I was watching and it would seem that the county is getting ready to reinstate an indoor mask mandate.  That's fine.  There are too many sickos around now.  The other day I was at the Adams Square library and this family comes in with a kid that was coughing like a dope.  No effort to cover his face when he coughed.  ARGH!  This is yet another reason why we can't get past this thing.  Just terrible.

Months ago I went up to El Sol, a restaurant in Montrose La Cresenta, for dinner.  It was on a Wednesday where TheGirl went somewhere and I was left to my own devices for dinner.  Instead of just going home I went up there for dinner.  That night I had the sopes, and I loved them.  They make good food.  I told TheGirl about it and ever since then we've been trying to come up here for dinner.  Thankfully they didn't disappoint TheGirl.  She ordered flautas and I ordered a huarache.  I loved my dish, and TheGirl didn't finish her's so she gave me half of a flauta and boy was it good.  I already knew it, but I was happy that TheGirl liked the food.  It was goooood.  In two weeks we're going up to Descanso, so I wonder if we could eat here again.  Hmmm.

After dinner we jetted over to the arboretum to check out the lights.  There wasn't that much traffic, and thankfully there wasn't a huge line for the preferred parking.

The lights were quite different from last time.  I liked that they mixed it up.  Anyway, here are some pictures.

Monday, December, 5, When I arrived at work this morning I saw the above sign on the staff door.  I told the people t work that if we broke the door they would HAVE to replace it with a new one.  Well, now it really is broken.  Let's see if they replace it.

The route today took me to Brand at lunchtime.  This isn't the first Monday I've driven, but I'm still not used to driving on Mondays.  Brand is closed on Mondays, so I decided not to have lunch inside.  One, because no one is around.  Two, it's such a wonderful day out that I want to enjoy eating outside.

Tonight I applied for the full time library position tonight.  I don't know what my chances are, but they would be zero chance if I didn't at least apply.  So I did the minimum.  As I was saying, I don't know what my changes really are, but time will tell.  I am certainly one of the more qualified candidates in terms of years of experience.  I still worry that they have someone already in mind for the job.  That would not be good.  Fingers crossed.  If it doesn't happen then it wasn't meant to be, and I can just continue driving around.

Tuesday, December, 6, So my new adventure at Casa started today.  TheNewCute mentioned how she and I used to work together at San Marino, and that it was the return of the dream team.  Woo hoo!  The day was pretty chill, and if most days are like today at Casa this should be pretty easy money.  Of course I've probably jinxed it at this point.  For sure the way was steady, but not too busy.  Thankfully.  Day one of this Casa adventure is in the books.  Certainly having TheNewCute by my side helped with the transition.  I say that because I haven't really worked a service desk much in the last few months.  At first when I started working at Central on Mondays I was on the desk most of the day.  But then they moved me off it and I've been answering phones.  Which isn't easy, but it sure is easier than dealing with the public sometimes.

TheDesire and I exchanged texts last week and she mentioned that Vagabundo was going to go up to her branch up in Stevenson's ranch to shadow one of the library assistants there for him to get the feel for the job.  I told Vagabundo that TheDesire said she would see him there.  Sure enough, his first day on the job TheDesire said she would try to say hello to him.  Sure enough, here's a picture of TheDesire taking a selfie with Vagabundo.

Gitmo insisted that Vagabundo pose for an outgoing picture.  He told Vagabundo that it would be good if he posed for a picture of the weekly email update.  So poor sap had to pose.  It's funny how these pictures all look the same.  I guess that's just the nature of humans when a camera is pointed towards them.

Wednesday, December, 7, The other day there was an interdepartmental envelope in delivery.  I didn't think anything of it, because these dopes have started doing that this past year.  It's not kosher in any way, because there is a thing called the chain of custody.  An interdepartmental envelope could pass through a dozen hands before it reaches the person that it belongs to.  That might OK for paperwork, but for money there must be a clear chain of custody.  I talked to the manager up in Montrose about that today and just hand-wayed it away.  She said something about delivery had already left, and she wanted to send the money.  But it was delayed because these dopes addressed it to finance, not treasury.  Imagine if that money had gotten lost.  I tried to emphasize to this manager that it was NOT OK to send money through the interdepartmental mail.  But she didn't care.  And you know what, I don't give a shit either.  She wants to send the money that way that's on her.  I TRIED to tell her different, but she knows better than I do, I guess.  Whatever!  I tried.  If the city ever finds out she's doing this it might not be good news for her.  Then again, these days there aren't any consequences for anyone's actions.

TheGirl and I have our short list of places we go out to eat on Wednesday nights.  We went to Cuco's last week, if I'm not mistaken.  This week she asked if I wanted to go to Wood Ranch.  I reminded her of that place we went after Don Cuco's with the wine and that really pretty hostess.  I was sure she wanted to go there tonight.  But, when she said it so enthusiastically last week I believe it was the wine talking.  I say that because when I was texting her I said, "Didn't you say we should go to that wine bar?"  Because she was asking where we were having dinner tonight.  Like I said, guess she forgot.  Anyway, we decided to go to the Counter, since we hadn't been there in a long time.  When we got there there was a sign stating, "Temporarily closed."  TheGirl shouted, "I had a feeling this would happen."  She didn't explain what she meant by that.  Did she have some knowledge I didn't know about, but wasn't sharing?  Oh well.  So we thought about our options.  The tavern called Forman's is just a half block up the street.  She mentioned we should try there.  From a distance it looked like their front patio was empty except for one person.  That's nothing.  But, when we got there it showed that the front patio had been reserved for 6:30pm.  That was nearly an hour from when we were standing there, but we would then have to rush our dinner.  We ran through some options, including Wood Ranch.  But that's way up on the other side of Burbank, so we decided on the Smokehouse.

I really wanted to see that pretty hostess at that wine bar that we visited.  Alas, I'll have to wait to see her again.

After dinner we went for our traditional walk for Cheyenne.  We saw some of the Christmas decorations in the neighborhood next to the Smokehouse.

Thursday, December, 8, My morning did not go well today.  First, I usually wear my boots on my route days, not when I'm on the desk.  But, as a force of habit I put on my boots today.  It's not all bad, since they are comfortable.  Then I put on one of my new work shirts that I bought myself a couple of weeks ago.  I bought a dark blue one and a black one.  The pants I wear when I'm on a service desk are dark blue.  They almost match my new shirt.  Well, since I got dressed in the mostly dark this morning I didn't notice until after I left home for work that my shirt and pants REALLY closely matched in color.

Later a gentleman came into the library asking to buy a bus pass.  I said sure and told him the price, $18.  He only had a credit card so he had to go to the ATM.  When he came back he gave me a $20 and I went to the register.  I tapped in the number one and the number eight and then hit "cash."  Wrong move.  Because the machine registers that as eight-teen cents, not dollars.  I was like, "Oh fuck me."  Thankfully my worker said, "Why not add the balance to it and that's that."  Brilliant.  I added $17.82 and boom, it was now $18.  Smooth.

A few weeks ago FireGirl moved back up to EMS instead of working the service window at the fire station lobby.  A new girl started, who is really cute and pretty.  I know I can't text FireGirl or her husband will think I'm still fucking her on the side.  Because that's what he was thinking weeks ago.  FireGirl told me then that she deleted my number as well as the phone numbers to all the males on her phone.  This was done to keep the peace with her husband.  That also meant she wouldn't know who was texting her anyway, because she wouldn't have the information on her phone.  Because of this I haven't even tried to text her.  However, the city has an internal texting client that allows all city employees to send messages.  Knowing this a few weeks ago I sent her one of these messages and here it is weeks later and she hasn't responded.  I guess THAT's the response.  OK, another one bites the dust.  Was nice knowing you, FireGirl.

I'm going to have to find something to do during the later hours of my shift on Thursdays.  Because tonight was really chill, but also a bit boring.  I should have brought my handheld gaming system.

When I was shelving the books we checked in I noticed that the brush outside had some Christmas lights.  I went outside and it would seem that the firemen next door put the lights up.

Friday, December, 9, Last night was the city holiday party.  I didn't go, because why should I.  Also, TheGirl told me TheHusband was most likely going.  I also figured that TheLooker would show up as well.  Both people I don't want to run into.  Sure enough, this morning TheNewCute told me that TheLooker had shown up to the party.  As predicted.  Super glad I didn't know.  TheHusband still doesn't know what I look like, so I know I'll be safe.  However, TheLooker does know what I look like.

I have nothing against TheLooker, but I just don't want to run into her.  I'm sure she has a fella, so running into her would be futile.

As soon as I started to move the car out of the parking structure I noticed that the transmission was slipping.  I managed to limp home.  For the first time ever I thanked the fact that there was traffic.  The traffic going slow helped in a strange way.  This is mainly because I didn't have the highway gear.  The car got up to 60MPH and but it never changed gears to the highway gear.  So I kept it under 60 as much as I could.  Like I said, there was plenty of traffic that kept my speed below that.

Saturday, December, 10, I woke up super early in order to call AAA to tow me to the dealer.  I got to the dealer a bit after 8:30am.  TheGirl said she would pick me up and take me home.  I was good with that.  She would have taken me to lunch, but she was hanging out with TheHusband today.  She's buying him a Xmas gift at some golf shop.  So, she took me home.  The dealer said they would let me know what they find wrong with my car.

As I sit here it's just past noon.  The dealer called me to say that the car would likely be ready by 1pm.  They also said that they didn't find anything wrong with the transmission, but that the transmission fluid needed changing.  This is true, because the car itself had the display code showing the number three.  That code means change transmission fluid.  I had an appointment for the first weekend in January, so I don't have to do that now.

Sunday, December, 11, Mala texted to see if I could cover at Central today.  I told her it had to be after 2pm since I was taking my aunt to get her booster at 1pm.  She was good with that.

When I got to Central I started out by giving everyone their breaks.  But after that it was smooth sailing.  I choose to answer the phones, but really I could have just sat around doing almost nothing.  The last couple of hours was easy money.

Monday, December, 12, Grayce is the children's librarian for the school.  The Pacific Park library also serves as the library for the school next door.  Hence having a different librarian for that spot.  Anyway, Grayce is pretty cute.  I've wanted to get a picture of her for a while now.  Today I got a chance.  Krishna wanted me to take some stuff for the holiday party at Central on Thursday.  Before I went my coworker said he could take a picture of the two of us.  Sure, I jumped at the chance.  How do we look?  Grayce of course looks cute.  I just look silly.

Mala emailed me that she wanted to talk to me about my annual evaluation today.  I went in expecting good stuff, but what I didn't expect was that they had to put the thing I said to Janette during the whole run-in with Kvon.  I won't rehash what happened, but it's now in my permanent record.  But, overall I got a positive evaluation.  Whew!

On Mondays I usually visit TheGirl and Cheyenne, but we don't go out to dinner.  However, tonight TheGirl asked if I wanted to have dinner tonight in lieu of Wednesday.  She is going to have dinner with her son and her family on Wednesday.  Sure, I said.  We went to Novo, which is hit and miss with my meals.  Tonight it was a partial hit.  But it's been a while since I've had a really good meal there.  It's usually par for the course.  Still, the company is good.

Tuesday, December, 13, My shift at Casa was pretty standard today.  The only thing out of the ordinary that happened today was an interaction with a lady having issues with her bus pass.  She came in wanting help with her bus pass.  She claimed that the drivers would not let her use it after two weeks of purchasing it.  The pass is good for thirty-one days from the first time you use it.  It's not a regular monthly pass that would be issued for each month of the year.  That's the kind of pass I used to have as a kid.

The added bonus to all this was that the woman only spoke Armenian.  Thankfully this patron sitting a few feet from us came in and help me translate.  She was great.  From her I got the information that the lady was saying.  She was very frustrated, but the frustrating wasn't focused on us at the library.  I told the young lady that I was going to call the bus office.  Sure enough I was calling them telling them what I was told about the pass situation.  They said they would call her back, so I got her information.  I added that they needed to have an Armenian speaker talk to her.  That seemed to satisfy the lady.  The young lady was happy to help, but did say she was terrified at the idea that she may have to tell to the bus people.  I told her that was my job.  Done and done, another good deed done.

Wednesday, December, 14, There is an epidemic of dopes that love to make U-turns in front of other drivers.  I've seen it happen to others, and talked to people that it's happened to as well.  Why must you dummies insist on suddenly making a U-turn before LOOKING to see if someone is behind you?  I honked at this dope and of course they got mad and honked back at me.  Piece of shit!

There is a holiday party happening tomorrow.  And as the delivery guy I had to get some stuff for the party.  First was getting some paper plates and cups, as well as utensils, from the warehouse.  Then I was asked to go back to Brand to pick up some garland.  I was so far ahead on my route that I welcomed something to do.  Thanks to all these extra deliveries the route was busy today.  Which is fine. 

Wednesdays I usually have dinner with TheGirl.  But as I pointed out in an earlier entry she was going to have dinner with her son, who is celebrating his birthday.  Hence us going to dinner on Monday.  Well, on these occasions I have taken myself out to dinner on Wednesdays.  I had plans to try out this place in Burbank named Chili John's.  You can tell by its name that it specializes in chili.

Those plans went out the window when the librarian at Casa asked me if I could work later tonight.  I figured why not.  So after my route shift I went out to Casa and covered I don't know what.  TheNewCute told me she was supposed to have a program tonight, but no kids showed up.  So she packed everything in and was on the desk with one of the new library assistants, Alex.  So really I went to Casa for no reason other than to get paid.  I don't mind that.  And I only spent about $8 on dinner.  I bought a McRib and a water on my way to Casa.  So yummy.  As I write this I have will have worked forty-five hours this week.  But, if I attend the holiday party tomorrow at Central I could add another hour to that.  I don't want to go there though.  I may shine it on, but TheNewCute was telling me that if I go she will go.  I know she wants to go, but I want to be away from all dopes.

I was texting Ilsa and she asked whatever happened to that one girl that I talked to her about at Central.  The girl would always say hi when I opened the door.  She was nice, and Stacie is nice.  But honestly ladies are not a priority, I texted Ilsa.  And that's when it hit me.  They really aren't.  Any effort put forth these days is not a full effort.  I really don't have the energy for a pursuit that is futile.  She didn't text me for a while after that statement, but the funny thing is she knows first hand it's futile.  Tonight she told me that the guy that she's been talking to isn't the guy for her.  Mainly because of stupid religion.  Whatever.  See, futile.

Thursday, December, 15, TheNewCute convinced me to go to the holiday party at Central today.  I wanted to go buy some booze before work, but I've had too much booze this week.  I was in the process of cutting down my intake, but it would seem that I like feeling buzzed at night.  Every night.

But yeah, I went to the party.  It was actually not that bad.  They sure did serve a lot of food.  There was the standard breakfast stuff: eggs, bacon, sausage links and fruit.  So yummy.  I ate six links and could have had another six if I hadn't already eaten breakfast this morning.

DrDeath sent out an email about what they call an, "Inflation Relief and Medical Premium Stipend."  And it would seem that I will qualify for that money.  In the email it said that part timers that worked more that 1,387 hours this year they would be eligible for the money.  I did some quick math and turns out I'm over 1,400 hours now.  Cha-ching!

Friday, December, 16, The HVAC system at Central is whacked out.  Most of the building is freezing, but Circulation is like a sauna.  I have shown in other entries the temperature in Circulation hovering around 78 degrees.  Someone drew a Christmas tree, but then those in Circulation amended it with a sad face.

But then someone else came by and made it more accurate... Xs instead of Os for eyes.

Saturday, December, 17, This morning I ordered some food from Taco Bell.  On my way there I noticed the check engine light was on.  Crap!  I picked up my food and instead of going home I drove to the car dealer.  I called a Lyft to take me home.  But it wasn't that easy. Today I had plans.

Ru is a cute coworker from Glendale.  A few weeks ago she mentioned wanting some pictures taken.  I was hoping for some boudoir photos, but no luck.  A couple of weeks ago Ru told me her plans for the photo shoot was to get some photos of her mom with her grandchild.  See, her mother is dying of cancer.  Ru has no idea how much time she has left, so she really wanted to get these photos done ASAP.  This is why despite not having a car I HAD to make the appointment, no matter what.

TheGirl told me to text her when I was done with my photo shoot.  Sure enough we wrapped up the shoot around one o'clock and I texted TheGirl.  But, not before using the restroom to play off that I didn't have a car from Ru.  Once Ru left I walked down to the street.  I ended up walking all the way down to GCC, which was just three blocks down, because I wanted to buy myself a drink.  I was thirsty, and I knew TheGirl wouldn't be there for at least twenty minutes.

While at TheGirl's place she asked me if I could help her hang up a frame she had.  A few weeks ago she went to Downtown Disney and bought one of those character letter things where they use Disney characters to represent letters of the alphabet.  In this case they spell out Disneyland.  I asked her if she had a stud finder, but she did not.  I told her that studs are usually sixteen inches on center, and that if we knew where there was a stud we could find the one we needed to nail in the hook.  Sure enough I hit the stud after measuring.  Ta da, we had a hook.  But, it was too low, so I went ahead and moved the hook up a few inches.  Now it was perfect.

I mentioned to TheGirl last week that we should eat at El Sol and she agreed.  There isn't much to tell about the dinner other than the food was way yummy.  We each had two margaritas and we were feeling GOOD.

And then it was FINALLY time for Enchanted Forest.  TheGirl was saying how much more she likes Enchanted Forest than Lightscape.  I like them both pretty equally at this point.  I like that the arboretum has variety and mixes things up from year to year.  Enchanted has mixed some things up, but they also tend to keep the same things over and over again.  Still, both are lovely.  As we got to the gardens TheGirl says to me, "I want a hot chocolate."  As soon as we entered we went right to the booth where they sell them.  Boom, not only hot chocolate, but spiked hot chocolate with Bailey's Irish cream.  That combination was amazing.

TheGirl dropped me off just before 10pm.  So it was a twelve hour day.  I was out of the house the entire day, and while some of the day was fun not all of it was fun (especially the car thing).  I was exhausted.

Monday, December, 19, In order to get to work on time I had to set my alarm clock for 4:45am.  That way I could wake up and get out of bed and make my way to a shower.  I gave myself about the same time to get ready as I do on a normal work day, just shifted one hour before.  I knew that my trip to Glendale would take about an hour and a half after checking online on a couple of different sources.  I did Google maps and the Metro's website to compare.  I saw that my route had to take me to the North Hollywood subway station.  The plan was to take the bus on Ventura and Sepulveda, hoping for an express bus.  However, they don't run express buses that early.  My first bus was the 240 going East, and there was only about four people on the entire trip.

I was nearly out the door at exactly 6am when I realized that I didn't have my keys.  I scrambled to look for them.  I ALWAYS have my keys with me.  If not they are on the hook on the door to my room.  If they aren't there they are lost.  Well, they were not there either.  I looked and looked, wondering where I may have set them down.  For nearly ten minutes I looked around until I sat at my desk and looked to my left and realized I had them connected to my computer.  I was downloading the Ru pictures so I could give them to her later today.  I totally forgot about them and had to wait for them to download, since I closed my computer.  This meant I didn't leave home until 6:11am.  Of course when I got up to Ventura there was a bus that flew by me stop while I was still on the other side of the road.  I would have been taking that bus if not for the lost keys.  Oh well.

The last stop for the 240 bus is the terminus, which is also the Universal city metro station, which connects to many other buses but also to the subway.  I would need to take the subway to the North Hollywood station for one stop.

Upon arriving at the North Hollywood station I checked my phone to see where I was to pick up the 501 line.  The schedule said it would be parked at bay thirteen.  I started walking to where I was supposed to go, but one of the signs pointed down and read "Orange line."  Meaning that was for the Orange line, but I knew that the Orange line is on the west side of Lankershim.  I didn't want to go that way, so I went the opposite way.  Well, that was actually the WRONG way.  I ended up on wrong side of the street.  Instead of going down again I just crossed the street and walked across to where bay thirteen was.  Of course it's the last bay.  As I walked there the 501 drove by me and parked itself in bay thirteen.  I got on and in a few minutes we were on our way.

I got to work fifteen minutes before 8am.  Plenty of time, and just in time because I had to take a wicked piss.  I booked it to the library.  That's when I ran into my buddy Dane.  We talked for a couple of minutes but then told him I had to go inside because I really needed to use the bathroom.  I was in the building at 7:58am.  Superstar!

I packed the van and got it ready for the route.  I was on my merry way to delivery the books.

When I got to Casa I was expecting a party to be going on, but instead they were still having their meeting.  I was pretty sure Gitmo would keep the meeting super short, but it was Grimace that was monopolizing the meeting.  It pushed everything back.  That was fine, I found that I forgot the big red Link plus bins at Central.  I figured I could be back in no time, and maybe by then the meeting would be over.  I also picked up the little lighted tree that was standing next to the delivery table.  I figured why not kill two birds with one stone.  When I got back the party had finally started.  We played a little white elephant and I won a tiny took kit.  But it was stolen, but I ended up with a squeeze toy for stress.

DrDeath also made an appearance at the party.  Imagine that.  He was clearly annoyed with Grimace, but seemed to have a good time during the white elephant.  Nice.  It was the magic of the Christmas spirit.

Right before I left for Central the first time I received a call from the dealer asking if I had had a chance to review the email they sent me with the recommenced services.  I told them I did.  They told me that they would need to put in a new pressure sensor for the transmission.  I had checked online for reasons why the D for drive on the dashboard would be blinking.  Almost all the sights I visited mentioned it was most likely a sensor failure.  So that was no surprise on the report.  The lady asked me if I had added transmission fluid to the car, because it was above the recommended level.  I told her that I didn't touch the car, and told her that I had gone to the deal the previous week to have the transmission fluid replaced.  She told me she would call me back.

To cut to the chase and spare you all the details, she didn't call me.  I had to call her about three hours later to find out what was up with the car.  She told me that they were nearly finished with replacing the sensors, and went on to say that nothing about the transmission fluid until I asked her how much was the final cost.  She told me there would be no cost, since I had gone last week for this same issue.

What happened is they wanted to blame me for the transmission fluid overfill, but when they saw on their own records that they had done this repair, AND that they missed the faulty sensor they must have decided to comp me the price of replacing the fluid and the sensor.  That's why she said, "Oh, there's no charge."  That's right!  I was fearing having to spend a ton of money on transmission repairs, because those repairs ain't cheep.  But, I got lucky that it was only a sensor malfunction.

Tuesday, December, 20, I've now worked three weeks at Casa.  There isn't much to do at this branch.  Tonight I was bored enough to download the audiobook I was listening to so I could read it.  I can't have my ear buds on while I'm on the desk, but I can certainly read a book.  This is what I did tonight at work.

Wednesday, December, 21, The route today was pretty standard stuff.  A couple of special deliveries.  That's about it.  When I got back from the route I was a little early so I stuck around circulation in order to leave at 4:30pm.  While in the office one of my coworkers and I were checking out some snacks that were left on the tables.  One snack intrigued me, a potato chip from Spain that had the taste of sparking wine.  Wow, was it bad.  My coworker and I tried it and the taste punched us in our face.  We got two other people to try it and one said it was bad, but the other said it was good.  Yeah, no.  I'm staying away from that.

Whenever TheGirl and I go out we get a lot of attention from people that have dogs, because of Cheyenne.  Today we ran into this couple that rode in on a motorcycle that had the shape of a reindeer.  The lady in the picture was showing TheGirl pictures of her dog.  Cheyenne makes it easy for people to come up and talk to us.  Good times.

Thursday, December, 22, Viv came to me while I was at Casa today and she tells me, "I cleared out a shelf for you in the back office."  So yes, I'm now official.  It's so strange how I have worked at so many branches this year.  More branches on a regular basis.  Because I was working up to three days a week at Adams Square, and of course working on Wednesdays at Brand.  And now I'm working at Casa for the foreseeable future.  It's nice to be part of so many teams.  So yeah, I'm official at Casa.  I'm not sure what I would put on this shelf though.

I've already pointed out how I don't have much to do when I'm working at Casa.  Today Viv gave me some busy work to do.  She handed me a box that had a "game."  She wanted me to figure out how to play it.  OK.  I know she did this just to get me off the desk and have me do something.  Busy work.  OK, that's fine.  I played with this toy for an hour after lunch.  At least it kept me from falling asleep.

A few weeks ago I was reading a book entitled "Becoming Los Angeles."  One of the chapters was about how we in Los Angeles never get the white Christmas that is depicted in movies, post cards, books, you name it.  Here we get warm spring like weather on Christmas.  Usually.  I had a friend that loved the old commercials for Corona that had a palm tree with Christmas lights.  Yeah, that's about right.  When I went out to the front of the library I saw the row of palms trees and also noticed a nutcracker (bottom left of the photo) and thought about my friend's statement and that book chapter.  I went TheNewCute that picture and she sent me a video of her driving home.  Everything was white.  There was snow everywhere.

You know how I pointed out in my entry for Tuesday that I don't do much at Casa?  Well, tonight was the same thing as last Thursday and Tuesday.  I read.  I don't remember the last time I actually read a book, like text.  They used to put me to sleep, which is why I switched to audiobooks.  Still, I can't listen to them on the desk, so now I just read.  Which is fine.  It's nice to make money for just sitting around reading.  Not going to look this gift horse in the mouth.  Still, the hours are long.  Thursdays until 7pm.  And since TheNewCute is back home for the holidays they asked me to stay until 7pm both next Tuesday and next Thursday.  Good times, long times.

Friday, December, 23, I bought the ingredients to make myself breakfast burritos on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but silly me forgot to make myself a burrito yesterday morning.  So I figured I would make myself one this morning.  It pushed my schedule back a bit, but the burrito hit the spot.  I have more time in the morning, so I think I may start thinking of making other items those mornings.  Maybe omelets.  Maybe pancakes.  Time will tell.

While I went to fill the van's gas tank when I ran into some old pals from the route.  A few years back, when Vagabundo was first starting to work at Glendale, we would often run into these two (pictured above).  These days things are different.  While I'm still on the route, they are now more like relics of a past era.  The city went and hired a private company to do the janitorial work around the city.  The employees that remained under the city were basically given nothing to do.  These days these two go from location to location and check on the janitorial supplies.  That's pretty much it.  They don't clean anymore, unless there's some sort of emergency situation.  So their jobs have become quite easy.  They represent the last of the old guard.  The city now has yet another firm cleaning locations all over the city.  The city went on a kick of hiring outside firms for a lot of city services.  First was the janitorial crews, and then the parking enforcement, and just in the last two years the trash pick up.  Where they were city entities doing that, now it's outside firms.

Anyway, I bumped into them and then sent the above picture to Vagabundo.

The old FireGirl moved up to the EMS offices a few months ago.  I'm not sure if I mentioned that FireGirl (Erinn) pretty much stopped texting me on the Teams account (which is the city's internal texting service).  The new FireGirl is named Lana, and she's super adorable.  I thought she was Latino, but it would seem that she's actually Armenian.  Of course.

When I finished up the route I was putting back the van's keys when I saw that these dopes once again placed the keys in the wrong place.  So I went ahead and took the empty spots and put other keys in those spots.  This takes away the empty spots that people like to place the keys, instead of where they're supposed to go.  I guess time will tell if this works.

Saturday, December, 24, My coworker and friend from San Marino, Annie, asked me to help her get her computer fixed a few weeks ago.  That was a big fat fail.  So she just said to buy her a new one.  OK.  We were supposed to meet up last weekend, but I didn't have a car last week.  Hence us postponing our meet up until this week.  She asked me to meet her at the Live Oak library, a branch of the Los Angeles county library system.  She said that's where she started working when she first got a job with county.  But, the old building she used to work in is now replaced with a new building (see above).

The Live Oak branch is not a huge branch, but it is a nice looking library.  The picture above is basically the entire library.  Yes, there are some stacks of books behind me and to my left and right of where I took this picture.  But the coolest feature is this glass study room.  The wide angel of lens makes the room look more like an oval, but it's circular.  I think it's a cool feature that allows you to be there in the middle of the library with some sound privacy at least.

My aunt has a way of pushing my buttons.  Today while eating she turns to me and says that I should buy those shoes "I wanted," on her dime.  OK, that's fine.  Then she says, "But you have to show me the shoes after you buy them."  I was completely insulted.  I told her, "Of course you'll see them, I'll be wearing them."  I wanted to call her an idiot for that, but I just got up from the table and went to do anything else.  I didn't want to blow up at that moment.  Oh, I was livid.  I'm not going to buy any shoes now.  Fuck it.  I don't want them.  I do need them, but no way I'm going to buy shoes on her dime.  Let her think she bought them.  I'm paying.

Sunday, December, 25, The weather finally cooperated with me and made it nice outside, not cold like it has been for the last couple of weeks.  I went outside and got to use my new iPad for entertainment.  Yay!  The brighter screen really shows when the sun is behind me.  Good work.

I went back to check out some of my old entries in order to get an overall feel for this year.  I did this to be able to do my yearly wrap up.  I noticed something I thought I fixed.  I make a lot of mistakes on the captions for the pictures I post with these words.  Typos, or just out and out spelling errors.  When I write this journal I used a regular old text program with zero formatting involved.  I then take that text and move it over to the HTML file for that month and past the words in their designated spot.  Like obviously these words are going to fall into the second paragraph of the entry for December 25th.  But when I write the captions I don't write them on the text file, I just write them on the HTML file.  But I think I'll have to write them first on the text file so that it can catch any errors in spelling.  I hope that cuts down on my mistakes.

My aunt watches some cooking shows on that Create network.  One of the shows she was watching was with this guy named Jacques Pepin.  Today at the end of his show he showed how to make a really simple recipe for something called coffee panna cotta.  Apparently panna cotta means cooked cream.  It's a super easy recipe.  The ingredients are cappuccino, half and half, sugar and gelatin.  And it's simple to make.  I ended up making it, because no way my aunt could do it on her own.  Only problem is that we didn't have any cappuccino, so my aunt just used regular coffee.  We tried adding more grounds in order to make it a little more stiff.  After tasting the final product it came out fine, but certainly a stronger coffee taste would be better.  We will definitely make more of this, since it's simple.

Tuesday, December, 27, When I got to Casa this morning I noticed that the parking lot was more empty than usual.  There is an automatic gate that prevents just anyone from parking their cars at night.  The automatic part of the gate was reset.  Gitmo thinks it was something the firemen did to prevent the gate from being on open yesterday, since we were closed Monday.  But, the problem with the firemen hitting some switch made so that the timer thought it was a different day.  That meant people came in asking, "Why is the gate closed?"  The best we could say is that we were working on it.  I tried to keep the gate open, but my efforts didn't keep the gate open.

It was pretty quiet at Casa today.  From 5pm on there was only one patron in the library.  That made for a slow night.

Wednesday, December, 28, I rarely see fog in my neighborhood.  I guess it's just geographically incompatible with fog.  I say this because there were so many days when I would drive out to San Marino and Pasadena would be super foggy.  Anyway, it was nice having a wee bit of fog this morning.  As soon as I crossed the 405 though, the fog was no longer present.  Sad.

TheGirl and I went to the Smokehouse to get eat some fish & chips.  I wanted to go to the fish & chips place down the road, but since they don't have heaters in their little patio we can't go there when it's cold.  The Smokehouse fish & chips are good, but the one's at Auld Chip are REALLY good.  Oh well.  When it warms up we'll go there.

When the waiter came up to us asking what we wanted to drink I ordered a gimlet.  It's been a while since I've had a gimlet.  The first one was good.  The second one was a little weak.  Still, it hit the spot.

TheGirl and I usually walk around Toluca Lake during Christmas.  We did the same this year, but we didn't visit as many locations.  It was cold, and we had booze in our bellies.  Oh, and it was getting late.

Thursday, December, 29, I drove up to work at Casa today and found the fire truck was blocking the area where I planned on parking my car.  Since I started working at Casa I've been parking at the employee parking spot closest to the entry gate.  Today I had the notion to park at the spots next to the library, which is closer to the fire station.  The other day I went to my car during my break, which was parked close to the gate.  While watching my iPad the distance from the library's internet disconnected it from the wifi, but the iPad played for a few moments more since it had some of the video buffered.  I thought the wifi would extend to where I parked my car, but I was proven wrong.  This is why I wanted to park next to the library.  Thanks firefighters.  I did move my car before we opened after they moved the truck.

I talked to Sarah yesterday at Central.  She told me that she used to be a nurse during 2020.  She went on to tell me that she experienced losing five patients a day, on average.  That's awful.  I used to know a nurse and she told me that losing patients is just part of the job.  My friend did say that losing a patient for the first time is the hardest, but that that loss hardens them for future patient deaths.  I would expect the same thing happened to Sarah.

What Sarah isn't ready for in this job is the banality of the library dopes.  Erin from Brand told me that the administration dopes wanted some new ideas.  Erin mentioned that other libraries have seed libraries.  She thought to reach out to the parks department to couple with them for the project.  She did a lot of leg work only to have the dummies upstairs to poo poo the entire project.  THAT is what Sarah isn't ready for.  She told me that she has a lot of ideas.  I just hope she can handle rejection as she handled death.

Friday, December, 30, True to her word, the new teen librarian Sarah, brought donuts today.  Two boxes.  She really does give off a former children's librarian vibe.  Catherine would always have a ton of snacks wherever she worked.  I wonder what motivates them to bring snacks all the time.

I have to admit that I did mess up a little.  When I printed out what key goes where on circulation key holder I left some things to be interpreted incorrectly.  After seeing that the label "inside keys" could mean the master key, which says "inside door key," I figured I would be more specific about what keys went where.  I then made a new label that said exactly what the sliding door key ring said, which is, "North/South public entries."  When I got back from the route, the keys were in the right place.  Finally.  Winning!

Saturday, December, 31, I spent most of my day after lunch out in my backyard.  It was raining the entire time, but it was great to be out there with the rain.  Loved it.  I fell asleep at one point.  But of course I would.

gorgeous (click for full video)

I follow various ladies on social media.  Mainly because they are attractive.  One of the most attractive is Nicole M (pictured above).  I downloaded a video where she tries a bunch of yoga pants.  *Faint* So insane.  She has the most wonderful hips.  I love so-called saddlebags.  I finish this year's posts with this short gif from a longer video.  Farewell 2022!

December Wrap-up: I worked a lot of hours this past month.  There are pros and cons to that, of course.  More money is the obvious pro.  The con is less free time.  Though working at Casa is like being at home doing nothing.  As I've said in my entires about the subject, I'm having to find things to do when I work the late shift there.  That's fine.  I can say that this was a good month.  I went to a couple of light shows this month, and bought a new iPad.  I had some good food, and good times.  I started a few adventure at work by now working at Casa branch.  I have to give this month a grade of B.  And now the yearly wrap-up.

2022 Wrap-up: I was looking back of some of the entries from the past year to give me a feeling of how this past year went.  It seems to be a mixed bag, but what year isn't?  There is a through line with certain parts of my life during the past year.  The first thing that jumps out at me is how San Marino crashed and burned with the firing of Irene and the hiring of Linda.  Not that things weren't going downhill before they fired her, but Linda was my bane.  She is the direct reason for me leaving San Marino.  I wasn't the only one that left San Marino, a whole lot of others left before I did.  Smart move.  It is still a shit show, and sadly I probably won't work there ever again.  I don't see them calling me in to cover any shifts.  I should just quit.

Another thing that pops out at me was the whole sage with TheLooker.  I found some entries where things looked so positive and yet at the end she ghosted me.  I will probably run into her in 2023.  I don't know how that will go.  I wish it would have been different, but alas it turned out to be a dumpster fire.

My aunt's health issues in the first half of the year gave me pause.  Thankfully she has kept on the straight by taking her pills properly.  Yes, she does plenty of stupid things, but I love her.

Glendale is now my "full time" job since I don't work at San Marino any more.  I've been lucky to have been able to pick up hours at Glendale, and not just pick up hours but work many extra hours.  This year was dominated by forty plus work weeks.  I applied for a job in Burbank but didn't make the cut, but as of me writing this I'm about a month away from an interview for a full time job at Glendale.  Then I really will be full time there.

Overall the year wasn't so bad.  I caught Covid, which sucked.  But since I was vaccinated and boosted my symptoms were really mild.  Though losing the senses of smell and taste was different and a little scary.  But Covid turned out to be more like a cold for me.  Thank the maker that I didn't get super sick like some people have.  As of me writing this I plan on getting my fifth shot, another booster.  I don't want to catch this thing again.  Ever.

I worked a lot this past year, and I've let some things of my life kinda stay stagnant.  Like I want to go out and take pictures, but then the pull of just wanting to rest on the weekends is strong.  But I need to go out and have some fun.  Life isn't going to get any longer.  It's only getting shorter.  Every day I think about that, but instead of making me want to go out and do more and experience more I've let it drag me down and keep me from doing anything.  Someone suggested during this time of the year back in 2020 that many of us were depressed.  This due to the fact that we had to stay at home due to Covid.  Not that Covid is over, but I should be able to go out more these days.  Certainly Covid never stopped me from visiting TheGirl and having dinner on Wednesdays.  If TheLooker and I were at least museum friends I would definitely get out more.  Sure, I wanted to sleep with her, but a friendship isn't a consolation prize.

Ilsa is that kind of friend that will get me to do things.  She got me to go to the Cicada club for dinner and fun.  She got the reservations for Blue Bayou.  She and I plan on going to a couple of famous restaurants in Hollywood in the new year.  See, that's what I need.  Someone who has that breath of life and wants to go out and do stuff.  It doesn't have to be every weekend.  I do love that I got to see Paul McCartney, but sad that I missed Sarah McLachlan due to me being sick.  If she had been able to play when she was originally scheduled then I would have been able to see her live.  Oh well.  Hopefully there will be a next time.