Afterthoughts : This Past June

Half of 2023 has now come and gone.  Let's see what the second half of the year has in store.

Thursday, June, 1, I ate last night's leftovers from Don Cuco's for breakfast this morning.  It's funny how some leftovers taste better than the initial meal.  Because the meal last night was good, but it sure did taste better this morning.  I've eaten leftovers all week, now that I think about it.  I had to finish that Amazon pizza, which wasn't as good this time as it was the first time I had it weeks ago.  Even then it wasn't THAT good.  The appealing thing was that it was cheap and tasted good.  It also tasted better as a leftover.

TheNewCute sent me a picture from CLA, up in Sacramento.  She's up there because she's a full timer now.  I texted her that I couldn't decide if the three in the picture looked more like dorks or dweebs.  I'm sorta leaning towards dorks.  Yeah, I convinced myself... they're dorks.

I turned around and thought to myself that it must be nearing closing time, because the day seemed to be super long.  Because of the gloomy weather it's been hard to gauge how late it is.  When I checked my watch it read that it was only 4:30pm.  ARGH!  That meant I still had two and a half hours till the end of my shift.  WTF?

As I write this paragraph it's 6:19pm, and time is still going slow.  At least there are three patrons in the building.  Last week we only had one, and that person left a little after 6:30pm.  That could happen tonight, who knows.

Friday, June, 2, There is only one bathroom in this house.  This is because the original house was super small.  It was a kitchen, a bathroom, a "living room" and a small bedroom.  Four rooms, and a small hallway.  That's it.  The owner added a side to the house and a garage at some point.  When my family bought the house we closed off the front patio while also making the garage into a bedroom.  My bedroom.  We never added a bathroom though.

So now when I have to go I have to hope that my aunt isn't there as well.  I was jerking off last night and drinking.  I had passed out, but needing to piss woke me up.  Guess who was in the bathroom at 4:17am?  Of course whatever time of night I want to use the bathroom my aunt is also in the bathroom.  It's so frustrating.  I couldn't hold it in, so I had to piss in my piss jug.  Fucking shit, I shouldn't need to have a piss jug.  Sigh.

I have a dash cam in my car, and of course I capture a bunch of awful driving all around town.  Today it captured some impatient idiot being so in a hurry that they made a right turn from the left lane.  I was waiting at the light and the guy behind me just couldn't wait for the light.  They went around me and crossed in front of me.  Just awful.

Saturday, June, 3, I bring up pictures that come up on my photo feed all the time.  Here is one I showed last year.  It's Talia back in 2004.  The reason why I bring it up again is nostalgia.  I've been feeling nostalgic for a while now.  Especially since the start of the pandemic.  I look back and think of what I must think are "better days."  The past was always better.  I saw something online referencing the show The Office, about the "Good old days."  The quote is, "I wish there was a way to know you're in 'the good old days', before you've actually left them."  Amen.  I think more and more about how today is the good old days, just like tomorrow will be, just how last week was.  But that's just how our brain works.  I looked up the definition of the word nostalgia from etymonline dot-com.  Here are two entries.

1726, "morbid longing to return to one's home or native country, severe homesickness considered as a disease,"

1782, in medical writings, "relating to, characteristic of, or affected with nostalgia, homesick"

So, of course a picture of Talia comes up on my feed this morning and I wish that I could dwell in that moment again.  Talia and I went up to her house on Rial Lane in Bel Air to take some nude pictures.  I wanted to fuck her, I know that.  But there was no where to do it up there, the house was stuffed with things.  I should have known it was a hoarder's house.  She let me take a couple of pictures, but nothing major.  Nor did we have sex.  For some reason we somehow ended up at the Santa Monica college parking lot.  Where I took the following picture.

This is a picture of Talia in the front seat of my car, my old Subaru Legacy.  I was seated in the back seat, with my camera.  She pulled her top to the side and I got what I think is one of the best pictures I've ever taken.  She was so beautiful at that moment.  No other girl ever wanted to be sexual with me.  She was openly sexual.  I think back now and I don't understand why she was like that.  We went out on a date to the museum and she stripped in the front seat of my car, in broad daylight and right in the middle of a parking lot.  The first time we fucked was in that Subaru in that same parking lot.  Crazy.  I still have affection towards Talia, despite her spiraling down to crazy town.  I guess it's true, you can't go home again.  You can't go back to the past.  They're all the good old days.

TheNewCute sent me a link to a portrait that she took while at CLA conference in Sacramento.  I told her it didn't even look like her.  I looked at the other portraits and they were all bad.  TheNewCute said that the photographer was angry.  I joked that he must have been using the old set up from the Sears portrait studio.  Bad.

Sunday, June, 4, I went to the market and I got to have a nice exchange with the pretty self checkout lady.  She actually acknowledged me and gave me a smile.  As I left she thanked me and flashed another smile.  Sigh.

Monday, June, 5, I looked into my closet this morning and saw the dress shirt I bought a few months ago specifically for the full time job interview.  Back then I bought the shirt on people's advice that I should dress nice for the interview.  How was I to know that I didn't have a chance?  I didn't want to buy the shirt.  It cost me like $60, or something like that.  But, after initially thinking it was a waste of money I took people's advice because I thought it was a small price to pay to get a full time job.  I do like the shirt, but I'm pretty sure that wearing it will remind me of this whole incident.

I went to Brand and while going to get the books I found that one of the two plexiglass partitions were gone from the circulation desk.  I've wondered why we still have these things, but I'm not in charge.  I texted TheNewCute about what I found and she didn't see any internal Brand emails saying anything about it.  Hmmm.  Well, there is definitely one less plexiglass partition on the desk.  I'm sure it's broken, because the patrons have hit these things more than once.  Even the one that is left has tape on the side trying to keep it from breaking completely.  It's only a matter of time.

I had my quarterly meeting with Mala today.  As usual, it was a total waste of time.  She asked me how Casa was doing.  That was new.  I told her things were getting busier there.  On the route I told her that Montrose is definitely busier.  I mentioned how Montrose is back to pre-pandemic amounts of books.  I can't say the same for every branch, of course.  Nor did I.  She did tell me that some time next month or so she wants me to show the new guy the route, just as a "refresher."  Whatever that's supposed to mean.

A couple of weeks ago I had a Big Mac and I found that despite it not being a large burger I felt so damn full after I ate it.  It was just too much.  On Mondays I usually pick up a burger from McDonald's before going over to TheGirl's place for our now traditional Monday visit.  Today I ordered a McChicken and a cheeseburger and took the bottom buns off both and married the other halves.  The combined sandwich really hit the spot, and it didn't leave me feeling bloated and full.

I have to train myself to not give anyone any advice.  In the past people have asked me for advice, but of course they don't follow it.  Or in the case of Shannon she did follow it and took herself out of the gallery director job running.  But this notion comes from telling Ilsa that maybe she should be prudent about her restaurant job.  She didn't have a good day and wants to quit.  I told her she should give it another day at least.  She said she was just going to quit.  Oh well.  Guess it's best I just keep my mouth shut.

Tuesday, June, 6, MontereyGirl came up on my photo feed today.  It was on this day back in 2015 that we hung out at Universal CityWalk, and made out.  I don't remember if she invited me or the other way around, but there we were having nachos.  We went to the piano bar and had drinks.  We basically went all over that place and had drinks.  At the end of the night I grew bold and kissed her.  I thought it was grand, and the culmination of years of flirting.  But, it didn't lead to more, for some reason.  I'm half tempted to text her to see how she is doing.

Here's a better picture of MontereyGirl from a few years before that other picture above.  On this occasion we went drinking to the Valley Inn.  She ordered me a Long Island iced tea.

Today was the first day that I got to leave Casa at 3pm.  This is because the powers that be think I'm working too many hours.  We all think that I'll probably go back to working until 5pm in July, after the start of the new fiscal year.  But who knows for sure.  Today was good after I left, because I got to run a couple of errands that I've been putting off.  First I went to get the car smog checked in Pasadena.  There's a place that I've been going to for years.  Of course the car passed with flying colors.

The second errand I made was going to IKEA to get a new chair.  I've been wanting to go for a while, but I'm too lazy on the weekends.  But, since I had some time today I jotted over to IKEA in Burbank and picked up a new chair.  It's just like my old chair, only it's of a different color.  Actually, this version of the chair doesn't even have upholstery.  I bought a cover for it online, because the store doesn't have any covers that are darker in color.  They just have light colors.

When I got home there was a bottle of Melatonin on the shelf by my desk.  I took it to the kitchen where my aunt was and I asked her what the deal was.  She told me that I could take some since I have been having trouble sleeping.  What the fuck is she talking about.  Trouble sleeping?  I have nearly zero trouble sleeping.  What she is probably referring to is when I stay up late jerking off.  Sometimes I drink a little too much whiskey and I have to piss in the middle of jerking off.  She must think I'm tossing and turning in bed, instead of me tossing one off.  BTW, I don't know why she doesn't just ask me if I'm having trouble sleeping.  She just assumes it to be true, because that's how she operates.  Whatever!

I think part of the problem is that I stay up late on the weekends jerking off.  She must think I'm tossing and turning, instead of me tossing one off.

Teni is one of the many cute Armenian girls that work for the city.  She works in HR, and I think she's cute.  I must confess that I like her big behind.  It's funny how I'm attracted to women with big behinds, but I've never had the opportunity to be with a woman of that shape.

Wednesday, June, 7, We were supposed to have the K9 unit come for a visit to Casa yesterday.  But, in anticipation of a large protest happening outside the school district offices the officer had to cancel that storytime.  Well, all hell broke loose at the protest.  People got hit and there was a lot of posturing.  Many of the protestors against the LGBTQ "agenda" were just professional protestors from out of town.  It did look bad on TV, but then that's the TV's job to make things like that look bad.

Steve Martin's Born Standing Up is a book that pops up from time to time.  Usually when something is about to change in my life, and usually for the positive.  One of the first times I encountered this book was moments before I had my interview for the job at San Marino.  I encountered it when I first started out with TheGirl.  Then again I've also encountered this book and nothing has happened.  We shall see.

One of the librarians asked me on Monday for some help getting some items to the Adams square library in preparation of the Pride event on the 17th.  Well, that turned into a cluster, surprise, surprise.  Mainly it was Syco that did this, but there were others.  Basically they got into the contestation with Krishna objecting that the items were too big and would need to be stored in the basement.  OK, fine.  Then there was all this talk about the key.  OK.  Then there was talk about access to the library, because the history room librarian is going to be conducting interviews there.  Suffice to say I'm glad they took me off the loop.  Tony and the librarian are going to take the items over tomorrow morning.  Good.  Let them all figure out their clusterfuck.

TheGirl and I weren't sure what we should have for dinner.  I had suggested Italian, yet the one Italian place that we always go to isn't that great.  I've said it many times before, but never to her.  Today TheGirl said that she thought Novo was expensive and not very tasty.  Amen.  So we decided to go to the Smokehouse and get fish and chips.  They hit the spot tonight.  So did the booze. 

Thursday, June, 8, I was told that the new guy, Anakin, was a disciple of DrDeath, or his student.  Of course.  This shit isn't even funny anymore.

He was supposed to ride alone with Tony today, but apparently some other training was more important.  Meh.  I took today to revise the route document I have online.  I'm going to go back to basics with this guy.  I'm pretty sure he will NEVER actually drive the route, but I still have to show it to him.  And I'm going old skool by dusting off the old route, the pre-pandemic route.  We're going to take it nice and easy.

Tonight was another quiet night at Casa Verdugo, but the day was not so quiet.  We had a program at 4pm, so that brought in a bunch of people.  Earlier we had a steady stream of people coming in to study and to check out books.  It was good.

The city had a chili cook off today, and they sent out an email with some pictures.  Sure enough, TheLooker was in one of the pictures.  I saw her wearing that white jacket/vest thing a couple of week ago.

Friday, June, 9, The new Teen librarian is sure not making any friends at the library.  Today I arrived from the route to find her asking "Who stole my shrinky dink," meaning her drawing that was going to be turned into a shrinky dink.  There were three trays in circulation.  One had the dink plastic, another had some printed cartoons of various things like food and pets, and the third was empty.  That was where you were supposed to place your ready to heat shrinky dink.  But Sarah said that it wasn't upstairs and there wasn't anything in the empty tray.  But it wasn't like, "Where did it go," it was, "Who stole it."  Big difference.  Well, she made such a stink about it that one of the ladies in the Children's department had to email the entire library about it (see above).  No one took that stupid thing.  It can't be personal because no one knew it was her drawing.  Oh, and it was her drawing.  She drew some cat, but when someone said she should just redraw it her answer was apparently no, because it was "Perfect."  Hmmm.  Well suck it then.  There was no need to make a federal case out of this, but she's Sarah the arrogant.  It might be time to give her a nickname.  Maybe Succubus.

The other day there was an email sent about how Montrose was packed with donations.  I always ignore the donations because I fucking HATE hauling them.  I'm not a garbage man.  I hate having to take these donations when it would be easier to just dump them in the bin next to the fire department.  But, now thanks to the stupid email I have to take two boxes with me every time I go to Montrose, which is every time I drive.  I wish I could burn all donations.

TheNewCute was feeling overwhelmed, because she had a bunch of things that she had to finish before the end of the day.  Here is her text to me about all the stuff she had to do.

I have to start the pride craft, we have money issues but no one is picking up in treasury or munis, Shineson is out again, Sonia is out, we have rehearsals, I have to turn in a CLA report, and CLA money reimbursement stuff, also Kristine wants me to check something before Monday. I am not here tomorrow or Monday so it has to be today.

I had my abbreviated lunch at Brand and told TheNewCute that I would come back later to help her out.  Before leaving I helped her rough sort the yarn for the art kits that need to be ready by Friday.  The rough sort was meant to know how much more yarn needed to be ordered.

When I returned with the special delivery I walked in as TheNewCute was swamped.  She had three patrons, one of which wanted a new library card.  I jumped in and made the library card for the patron and checked out another patron as she made another card for a patron that arrived after we dispatched the three we had earlier.  As Stacie was having lunch I helped TheNewCute with some patrons and the kits.  Each kit needed a small ball of cotton.  I jumped in and within a few minutes I had busted out a couple dozen cotton balls.  By the time I left I had made sixty cotton balls.  Get it done, that's my motto these days.  TheNewCute blew me some kisses, a clear HR moment.  Ha!

Speaking of Brand, I had a special delivery with Stacie to take up some plexiglass tops to the basement.  Mission accomplished, but there was a small glitch when the elevator doors refused to open on what was supposed to be our second trip down to the basement.  I could hear the switch in the equipment room, and to me it sounded like the switch was not connecting.  The elevator is from the 1960's, for goodness sake.  Stacie and I had to carry the last two pieces down the stairs. 

Grayce, the school librarian is out for the summer.  I like talking to her when I go to Pacific Park, but that won't be happening until August.  It stinks because she's a good conversationalist and she's cute.  Oh well.

Saturday, June, 10, I had a talk with a friend the other night and we talked about going out now that things are pretty much back to normal.  And we mentioned that life is too short.  In the spirit of that I told myself I need to go out and do some fun stuff.  So, I took myself to the Descanso gardens to take some pictures and generally get out of the house.

The weather was overcast and that meant I didn't get too heated while walking around the gardens.  There were, of course, a bunch of dummies.  I tried my best to avoid them and to avoid eye contact.

I'm still pretty sick of people.  There was a point in which I was taking some pictures when I saw a big crowd of dopes coming over in my direction.  That was my cue to get the fuck out of there and walk towards another part of the gardens.  People suck.

On my way home I picked up some food from King's deli in Burbank.  I'm not going to say that the food was that amazing, but it was OK.  My aunt ate half of her sandwich and told me that the other half was mine.  She didn't like the pastrami as much as the pastrami from the Hat.  Must admit, the Hat is better.

Sunday, June, 11, I went to the market as I do every Sunday.  I got to see the self checkout lady today and she looked so marvelous.  Her hair was so silky looking, and she had her tight pants on.  What a body she has.  Worst part was that I got lazy this morning and didn't take a shower.  I was sure I stunk a little.  How can I get to talk to her more?  How can I ask her out?  How can I find out if she's single?  How?

I noticed the last few weekends that my aunt will not eat leftovers.  This weekend especially.  I got her a sandwich yesterday and she said she wasn't going to eat the second half.  Today I got her a wrap from California chicken cafe, and same thing.  She only ate half of it.  What gives?  I'm not saying her sandwich from yesterday was amazing, I pointed that out in the last entry.  But it was better than mine, and I liked it when I had it for dinner last night.  I just don't understand, but many things that she does can be traced right back to her TV guru.  The faux Jewish guru that she watched seemingly day and night.  Whatever.

Monday, June, 12, My aunt told me to eat her leftover wrap from California chicken cafe, so I decided to have it for breakfast this morning.  I don't like to order my wraps with tomato, but the one I ordered for my aunt did have tomatoes.  They put so many tomatoes in the wraps.  I took out some and like clowns out of a clown car they just kept on coming.  It felt like a quarter of the mass of the wrap was tomatoes.  This is why I don't like eating my aunt's leftovers.

I got into work and the bins for the route were all fucked up.  A few of the bins were overflowing with books.  One of the things that we do when we sort the books is to not overfill the bins, like in the case in the one pictured above.  It makes it difficult to carry the bins, because I can't put my fingers though the side slots if the books are all the way to the top.  Also, it makes for a heavier bin.  What's worse is having some bins overflowing, while having another bin for the same location have only two or three books in it.  That's just dumb.  But, the weekend crew that sorted these books yesterday is trash.  They do this to me every time.  Every fucking Monday the delivery bins look like a disaster.  Fuck those guys.

TheNewCute sent me a text and the picture above to say that she had the new Grimace milkshake at McDonald's.  We were talking about it a couple of weeks ago, and she asked me to remind her, which I did earlier today.  I wanted to get it before I went to TheGirl's place, but I couldn't find it on the app.  It would seem that you have to order the Grimace meal to get the shake.  I'll wait until this weekend.  I was in the mood for a filet-o-fish today.  TheNewCute described the taste as being "Berry."  Gee, that's specific.

One of the new girls from treasury has quite a figure.  She's stacked and has a really nice bottom.  I figure why not make a play for her.  I know I probably have little chance with her, but what else do I have going on?  Today I used the city's internal chat client to send her a couple of funny little lines about the money uses with one particular branch, Montrose.  I need to expand the parameters of the conversation though, and I'm not sure who I'll go about that.  I have to give it the old college try though.

Tuesday, June, 13, I know I keep harping about this woman's hips, but I can't help it.  I'm sure it's just perspective, but every morning I think that her hips get more prominent.  I think I'm just getting more horny.  That's probably it.

I kinda like having a shorter shift on Tuesdays.  It allows me to get some things done.  Today I left work and went to Grandview.  I had to cover the breaks there.  After leaving there at 4pm I took myself to Pasadena in order to drop off the roll of film I finished up on Saturday when I went to Descanso gardens.  I want to see how the pictures came out, and it takes about two weeks turn around time to get the film back.  That's fine.  But, the faster I get it to the lab the faster I can check out the pictures.

There isn't much to say about the shift today, except that it went by slow.  It's only five hours, but today that time dragged on.  I was bored, because I wanted to write a little something, but I was interrupted by patrons coming in and out.  It's funny how when you're trying to get something else done the patrons just keep on coming.  There needs to be a term for when you're trying to get something done and you're constantly interrupted at work.  I was basically trying to stave off my growing drowsiness.  After lunch I'm only on the desk for another hour, so that went by fast.

When I was at Grandview I noticed the TV slide that showed the above.  The middle book looked interesting, so I decided to look it up.  I couldn't find it on the catalog.  Hmm.  I thought that maybe I was wrong, so I checked again.  I checked to see if it was a new book.  Not that new, it came out in 2022.  I then checked other libraries and sure enough they had the book.  Ah, what?  How come we have an author talk for a book that we don't even have?  Typical.  I was actually interested in checking it out.  I'll have to see if we have a digital version of the book.

I've been reading (listening) to the book "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London.  On Saturday I was walking up to the art house at Descanso gardens when I got to the end of chapter three.  The main character of the book is a dog named Buck.  He lives a good life until he is dog napped and sold to men that will take him up the the Yukon, where he will have to work on a sled team.  He has a rival dog that he challenges for leadership.  Buck has slowly gained insight on his primal instincts the longer he is in the wilderness.  There is a moment when one of the other dogs in the pack startle a rabbit, and the chase is on.  The following lines brought me to tears.  They speak for themselves.

There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight. He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of Time. He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars and over the face of dead matter that did not move. - Jack London

My buddy and I were talking last week and we of course got to talking about life, and how brief it is.  It's a thought that I can't shake these days.  These words put a fine point to many of my thoughts.  One has to just live.  When I was with TheGirl and we were going to Disneyland, and it was the time of my life, I was just living.  Not thinking.  I've been doing too much thinking lately, and not enough living.  I have been entrenched in the idea of thought rather than in the act of living since the pandemic started.  For obvious reasons.  It really is time to change that.  It will take some effort, since I'm so used to just being at home.  Slowly, but as sure as I write this I have to change my ways before it's too late.

Wednesday, June, 14, Now that I have a new chair in my room I'm able to take a seat and write on my iPad pro.  Like writing this journal entry.  The old chair made it hard to really do anything while watching TV.  I didn't even like sitting in that chair.  So much so that now I have to get used to sitting in my room, because I usually sit on my bed.  Thank the maker for the new chair.  It's nice and comfy.  I don't know why I allowed myself to live with that old chair.  Having the new one feels so much better than the suffering I did with the old chair.  I shouldn't do that to myself.

Facebook added a new feature on their messaging app, which helps me with my messages from Ilsa.  They introduced listening to voice messages at one and a half speed.  Actually, there are now three speeds: regular, one and a half speed, and two times normal speed.  It's so great because I can listen to a twenty minute message in half the time.  Woo hoo!

TheGirl and I went to one of her favorite restaurants, Reno's in Burbank, for dinner tonight.  I told TheGirl late last week that I was craving a chicken parmigiana, so she said we should go to Reno's for dinner.  Check.  Well, I got my meal and it hit the spot.  Was it the most incredible meal?  No, but it did hit the spot.

You know who else liked the chicken?  Cheyenne.  Pictured above is her begging for more chicken.  I gave her a few pieces.

Here's a picture of me with Wonder Woman in front of the Warner Bros. studio tour.

Thursday, June, 15, Today was a long day.  The library was busy, which usually means that the day will go by faster.  Not today.  Today it was busy but also felt like it was dragging.  It was a long day, to be sure.

A while back TheNewCute was talking to me about how she sees a bunch of people making out in and out of the library.  Misa posted an article how the Brand library is one of the top ten spots in Los Angeles to make out.  TheNewCute confirms that, and now so can I.  On Wednesday I was walking out of the gallery when I saw two ladies making out as they walked up to the main entrance.  It was a cute peck on the mouth, but to be sure it was passionate.  It wasn't just two friends.  OK, then yesterday I was at Casa and I saw another couple, girl and a guy this time, making out at one of the tables by the big window.  Again, it was passionate.  Today, as I was leaving Brand I saw a couple posing for what looked like some sort of engagement picture, making out.  Yes, it was technically for the camera, but they kissed.  And to answer your question it was two girls.  So in the last three days I've seen three couples kissing at the library.  I was telling Ilsa about it and she said that it was perhaps because Spring is in the air.  Could be.  Could be.  It's as good as an explanation as anything I can think of.

One of my coworkers told me that a patron didn't like our "Rainbow" library card.  They didn't have to say why.  But the thing is, it's not a LGBTQ library card.  A kid designed that card.  Now anything rainbow is a bad thing, I guess.  They asked that my coworker exchange it for another library card.  Jeez, this stuff has gone too far.  What is a rainbow, supposed rainbow, on a library card going to do?  Anyone that possesses it will turn gay?  Morons.

We have an internal chat client at Glendale.  The dopes upstairs encouraged us to use our portraits that the city took for us last year.  The people at the TV station offered to take a nice professional picture at the TV station.  Well, TheNewCute didn't get that picture done, but she did take a photo when she was up in Sacramento for CLA.  I showed it in a previous entry and told her that she looked like a dork.  Well, today I noticed that her chat client photo was that dorky photo.  She said she didn't think anyone would notice.  I'm not just anyone.  I noticed the dork.  Shake my head.

We have been having shelving issues at Casa for a while.  Today someone complained about someone talking on the phone, so I went to the stacks that were near where the patron was, so I could hear if it was loud.  In my quest to listen I found a couple of shelving issues.  Mind you, I'm not looking for this.  After years of doing this job a mistake like this is noticed subconsciously.  There was another mistake that I didn't take a picture of, but it was just as bad.  If you didn't know Arm is different from Ar.  The fact that someone put this book on this shelf like this means they are not paying attention or they don't know what they are doing.  Two of my coworkers have said that there have been these issues lately.  Not good.  No wonder I can't find some things when I'm pulling the holds.  I'll have to say something to Gitmo.

Friday, June, 16, My aunt isn't very good at anything.  In fact she seems to be bad at everything.  Case in point, the napkins on the table.  I often find it hard to find just one napkin.  I will pull what I think is one napkin and it turns out to be two or three.  Wanna know why?  Because she puts the napkins in the holder the wrong way.  She should put the side that is folded facing up, not facing down.  The other way fans out the sheets and you may end up grabbing one from one napkin and the other end from its neighbor.  I turn these napkins around to make sure I'm only reaching for one napkin, not three.

I got a text message from Isis this morning asking me to be careful with a speaker that was needed for tomorrow's drag queen storytime.  I told her I would.  When I got to Adams I noticed that there was no cord for the speaker.  I asked Isis about it, but the text did not come in for a while.  In the meanwhile I was texting Joe from administration to see if we could get a cord and a microphone for the speaker.  He said he could.  When Isis finally got back to me she texted me to say that the speaker was battery powered.  D'oh!

I hurried the route today in order to get to Brand by noon, so I could help TheNewCute with the knitting kits for tomorrow's Pride in the park celebration.  We took the kits from the upstairs office to her car.  I mean, could she have done it herself?  Of course, but I was happy to help.  Why wouldn't I be.  Above is a picture of her and her stuffed trunk area.  My car is just as full of stuff.  The ratio of clothes to items is less in her car, more in mine.  I carry some clothes, but in my case my car has more items than clothes.

Just as I was leaving Brand TheNewCute was checking her email and noticed that there was a new one from the assistant director.  That's when we got the bad news.  The drag queen that was going to show up to the Pride picnic tomorrow was canceled.

Here is the partial email from the assistant director.

Library, Arts & Culture has been directed by the City Manager's Office to cancel the Drag Storytime with Pickle that was scheduled for tomorrow at glendaleOUT's Pride in the Park event.

So yeah, the main event for the picnic tomorrow is now not showing up.  I openly wondered if there had been some sort out threat to Pickle, or the picnic, was made that made the city manager cancel this event.  The sad thing is that LAPL had Pickle appear last week at the Atwater branch.  That branch is less than two miles away from the park in Glendale where the picnic is being held.  I don't know this for sure, but I didn't see any problems when Pickle was there at the LAPL appearance.  TheNewCute was very disappointed, because of all the efforts everyone put into this project.  And now the main event isn't showing.  That's some bullshit.  It's the state of the world.  This fucking Trump made it OK for racist, assholes, bible thumpers, to come out of the woodwork to harass people with their antiquated ideas.  These types want to drag people back into the Stone Age.  Maybe further back, who knows.

I just hope that everyone has a good time tomorrow and that my coworkers don't get hurt.  Sad that I have that thought in my head.  Sad.

We were at the circulation desk talking when Stacie came around.  She was at work in order to take a pedestal with her to take some pictures of the upcoming art.  She is curating the art show in September.  We were talking about the upcoming Pride in the park event when the email came in about the cancellation of the main event.  The talk went to me saying Stacie should dress up, and that's when she started listing all the Halloween costumes she has worn over the years.  In one of the list she says, "One year I went as Robin, the same as my boyfriend."  BOYFRIEND!  Finally some heterosexual confirmation.  I didn't think she was a lesbian, but one can't assume these days.  OK, but now the question is, is the boyfriend still in the picture or is he in the past?  Hmm, how to find out?  It took this long to even find out that she was straight.  I didn't have much doubt, but again, you never know.

Saturday, June, 17, All these dopes at work have been complaining about the weather, saying that it's too gloomy and too cold.  Well, I'm sure I'll start hearing them complain about the warm weather now.  As I write this it's 82 degrees outside.  Fuck this heat already.

My coworker shared a post from the drag queen that was going to appear at the Pride event. It is nothing less than scathing.  Once again the library fucks up.  I secretly like that this is going to make the library look bad, because this reflects directly to the dummies upstairs.

bar that was located inside the Grand Central Market.  I don't know how many times I visited that juice bar when I was a child.

I asked Talia if she had any updates on her tumor, and she said no.  She still insists that she won't have surgery to remove it.  Then she said that she wanted me to come over to impregnate her.  I wouldn't mind going through the motions, that's for sure.

What if she does get pregnant?  I would assume that having a tumor on your uterus means you shouldn't be getting pregnant.  Right?  But horny me does want to jump at the chance of getting laid.  But then what if she does get pregnant and it causes her more health issues.  Or worse yet, what if she goes to term and now I'm a father!  FUCK!  Then I've done it, I've ruined my life.  This is clearly playing with fire.  Course horny me makes the argument that I never got Talia pregnant all the times we fucked.  Hmm.  Decisions, decisions.

Nare is one of my most attractive coworkers.  I would love to photograph her, especially like one of my French girls.  Alas, that will never happen unless she brings it up someday.

I wasn't there, but I was getting updates from my coworker Shannon, who was monitoring social media.  It turns out that Pickle did show up to the park.  And it would seem that it was in spite of being canceled.  Interesting.  If TheNewCute was a better texter than I would know more, but I guess I'll have to wait until next week to know the story.

I found TheNewCute in one of the social media posts.  Dork.

Sunday, June, 18, I went out to pick up some food when I noticed a bag from Carl's Jr. sitting on top of my fence.  The news had a story about a rash of take out being delivered to homes that didn't order them.  Sadly there is no definitive answer to why these orders are being left at homes.  There are theories, but nothing conclusive. 

My aunt suggested we make potato quesadillas.  She went to the store the other day and bought a bag of potatoes, and some cheese.  I went online to find some ways of making the quesadillas.  I think they came out OK.  I wish my aunt had seasoned the potatoes.  I'll have to add some salt before I eat them.

I really love having my new chair.  I finally get to sit down and watch TV, as well as use my iPad.

I said I wouldn't post more pictures of Talia, but this one is one that I don't think I've posted.  It shows you why I stuck with Talia.  There were some good times.

Speaking of my photo feed, here is another picture that came up today.  It's from way back in 2006, and it's from my old job, Ralph's.  That job wasn't a great job, and it could never compare to my CSUN job, but it fed me.  Now that Ralph's is gone.  It's now an Amazon Fresh, and all traces of what was once there are all gone.  Just like everything.

Monday, June, 19, I went to the market today, instead of my usual Sunday visit.  I should have predicted that the pretty self-checkout lady wouldn't be there.  Boo!  Sigh.

Tuesday, June, 20, The children's librarian is out on vacation this week at Casa, which means we're short staffed.  Gitmo also forgot that he had two meetings set for this morning.  One was at Grandview, where he had to meet with one of the librarians from Central.  So he had to physically be there.  He ran out and told me he would be back as soon as possible.  So for the first hour that we were open I took care of the library.  I finished up the holds, checked in the rest of the book drop and processed the newspapers and a whole mess of magazines.  I got a lot done today.

Here's a picture of Talia's butt from 2008, for no other reason other than I like how her butt looks in this picture.  I don't exactly remember why she was looking at my computer at that moment.

Gee, I seem to be on a Talia kick these days.  I guess I'm nostalgic for some old times.  I'm pretty sure that I've posted this picture many times.  I really need to get new pictures of new girl friends.

I was talking to Ilsa about the old Sherman Oaks Galleria, and it got me curious to see if I could find anything on YouTube.  Sure enough I found a video that showed clips from a movie that used the mall as the setting for the story.  I had to do some searching to find the name of the movie.  The movie is called "The Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge."

Anyway, here is a shot of the old food court.  You can clearly see the Perry's Pizza and right besides it the Mexican Dan's.  Also visible is the Swensen's ice cream.  I used to love the enchiladas at Mexican Dan's.  I also loved the salads at Perry's pizza.  The pizza there was alright, but for some reason I've never been able to replicate the salad there.  Not pictured is the New York Deli.  I was telling Ilsa how I loved the chocolate mousse from that place.  Also not pictured was the waffle place, as well as the Hot Dog on a Stick.  I'll check out the movie for more locations.

I think I must have eaten at every one of those establishments.  I know that I was a regular at the Orange Julius, which was right next to the arcade.  That Orange Julius was run by one person, and they made the best burgers there.  There was a juice bar that might be the only place I didn't ever go, but I seem to remember ordering something there one time when a friend came over for a visit.

This morning I made myself a muffin with egg and sausage sandwich.  I know McDonald's has that, but I remember as a child I would go to this place called the Winner (pictured above) at the Galleria.  They would use better ingredients than McDonald's for their sandwich.  I remember my mother said that she could make it just as good at home, and for years after the Winner closed she would make it at home.  So yummy.

Since I get off at 3pm now on Tuesdays I figured that I would take some pictures around town before I go home.  I didn't want to tell my aunt that I was getting off sooner from work.  Today I had the plan of going to the Griffith Observatory to take some pictures of the building.  Well, that didn't quite work out like I wanted to.  The parking situation was not what I expected, so I ended up going to Ferndell to take some Polaroids.  Some of them came out OK, but like three of them are pretty much useless because they're so dark.  I don't even want to scan them into the computer, but maybe I'll just take a picture of them to illustrate how dark they are.

Here are the three dark Polaroids.  I even lighted these up a bit, and the first one on the left is super dark.  Yeah, I'm tossing at least the first two.  The third one may scan better.

Wednesday, June, 21, When I took out the money bags from the safe I knew right away that there was going to be drama.  This money bag was like that song on Sesame Street, "One of these things is not like the others."  The wonky way the name "Brand" was taped on the front of the bag was the biggest indicators that this wasn't going to work out.

I was looking over some pictures from previous years, like I'm apt to do, and I noticed that this time last year and the year before that we were doing the summer lunch program.  I'm super glad they didn't continue that fiasco this year.  So much food was wasted last year that I felt it was obscene.  These dopes upstairs finally got the thought in their head that they can't make people show up.  Also, the rules kinda ruined it for everyone.  The food could only be eaten at the library.  No adults could have food.  This despite the fact that so few showed up and that more than half the food was thrown in the trash.  What a fiasco that was.

My phone app showed today that it was 75 degrees when I was on the route.  It got up as high as 79 degrees today.  To me it felt so hot, especially the sun.  It felt like a heat lamp was baking me.  I can't imagine how awful I'm going to feel when it gets really hot in the summer.  I'm going to be melting for sure.

One of the new girls at treasury is named Marie.  She's unique in that she has one of the biggest chests I've seen on a woman in person.  She also has what I think is a really nice butt.  Her body is a playground.  Ah, but of course she's Armenian so I don't have a chance with her.  Or do I?  Time will tell.  So far she seems amenable to me texting her, but only via the city's texting client.  I have to figure out how to get her phone number.  I tried sending her my IG today.  She commented that they were nice pictures, but didn't follow me or anything.  Dammit.  Come on woman, follow my social media.

TheNewCute is having issues with the money reconciliation.  Since I'm not a full timer I don't know the ins and out of the money issues, but people have told me things.  I told TheNewCute not to listen to Misa, because she does things that aren't exactly Kosher.  So now TheNewCute has to do the money and it's something that's been a bit of a challenge.  Mainly because, as she puts it, "Where is it written how to do this?"  I told her that a lot of the little ins and outs have been passed down by oral tradition, rather than in a manual.  This is an area that I can't help her with.  Everything else I know the answer to, but not this.

TheGirl and I went to Don Cuco's for dinner tonight.  I told myself beforehand that I would not order the two item combo, but just the one item.  Well, I went back on that almost immediately.  It turned out to be too much food.  Next time for sure I'm getting the one item combo.  I felt so full when I went home.  I was also full of booze.  But, it was still good times.  Wednesdays are still the best day of the week.

Thursday, June, 22, I had an awful night last night.  I went to bed and I usually fall asleep within minutes, but not last night.  I tossed and turned, and then I was sweating.  I was sweating so much that I turned on my A/C.  I kept it on for about forty-five minutes, but I was still sweating.  I got up and went to take a piss and get some water and for some reason I stopped sweating.  Then I tried I tried to go to sleep, but I still couldn't sleep.  I just lay there for hours.  I think I may have finally nodded off at around 2am, but then I woke up again after having a bit of a nightmare.

The nightmare had me walking in a bazaar when some sort of creature that I was told was a woman walked up to me.  The creature had stumps for legs that were similar to an amputee that had had their legs amputated at the knee.  Not only that, but the creature also had a stump for one arm and another arm that looked like it was amputated at the elbow.  The creature didn't have a human face either, but some sort of a mess of a face.  It's hard to describe.  It was not OK, but this creature kept following both my mother and me.  It was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't figure it out, so I just walked away.  But the creature continued to follow and finally my mother talked to it.  It seemed to understand something, but after a few moments the creature continued to follow me as I was trying to shop at the bazaar.  That's when I woke up.

I finally must have fallen asleep around 3am, only to wake up again at 4:15am, followed by 5am.  Thankfully I wasn't any more sleepy than normal today at work.  Hmm.

The day was a long one, but thankfully the big sleepiness that I expected to hit today never really hit.  Yes, I did get a little sleepy after lunch, but I thought I would get sleepy several times during the day, but it never happened.  Thank the maker.  Thursdays are long as it is, it would be horrible to deal with boredom and sleepiness.

Friday, June, 23, As I walked up to work this morning I looked over to the car that belongs to a dead man.  Yes, a dead man.  A few weeks ago a pair of my coworkers found a dead man at the wheel of this car.  Yes, weeks.  No one has moved the car, or given it a ticket, or anything.  I talked to the social worker about the car and he said that he would look into it being taken away.  Yeah, I think it's time.  Cars are full of fluids that are going to start leaking.

The Link Plus items are wrapped with a rubber band when they are lent to another library.  For some reason someone here at Central does not take the time to take the rubber bands off the books returning to Brand.  Actually, they don't take the rubber bands off any of the books returned to the various branches either.  But it's more egregious with the items going to Brand, because they have the bulk of the books coming and going via Link Plus.  I'm the only sucker that takes the time to take the rubber bands off the books and CDs.  I'm the only sucker that does a lot of things the correct way here.

This morning my photo feed had a picture of the gallery at Brand.  I sent it to TheNewCute and Stacie.  For her part, Stacie texted me back, "I'm in the middle of a conversation because I want to use Brand Gallery as a location name and I'm being told that it's Brand Library & Art Center."  The thing is, I guess the associates want the location to be referenced by its full name, "Brand Library and Art Center."  But no one calls it that, except us.  It's like how the library department's official name is "Glendale Library, Arts and Culture department."  No one knows it as that.  Or when they wanted to rebrand the library as "Downtown Central."  NO ONE called it that.  That little name change caused people to get confused.  One time there was a reception at the Reflect Space, but serval people went to the Downtown Los Angeles library branch because they saw on the notice that the reception was at the Downtown Central library.  Naming things is important, and so is staying consistent.  I told Stacie that I don't know why they don't let her say the gallery at the Brand library blah blah blah.  I also pointed out that the gallery is officially named the "Skylight Gallery."  She kinda chuckled at that, via text, saying that no one calls it that.  Yeah, well, no one calls it the Brand library and art center either.

I was kinda fed up with the potato quesadillas that I've had all week for lunch, so I decided to just get something to eat on the road.  I was thinking of getting something at Jack in the Box, since they have some new celebrity meal, and it's close to Brand.  Well, TheNewCute informed me that she called out "sick" and that she wasn't at Brand today.  That sealed it, I went to Troy's since it was the closest thing to eat where I became hungry.  I did the route in a funny way today, and ended up doubling back to Adams and having lunch there.  It worked out, because Krishna needed the number off the so-called outreach van, and I just happened to be having lunch when she called me to ask me the number.  I tried finishing up the burger, but even though I tell myself to buy smaller portions of food I still don't.  Like I didn't have to make it a combo and get fries with his gigantic burger.  That was a mistake.  I really have to listen to myself.

When I finally did get to Brand I checked up on TheNewCute's plants.  Not good.  Well, I shouldn't say that, because while the plant I gave her is dying from what seems to be overwatering, the other plant that we thought was dead is spouting some leaves.  Maybe there's hope for the one I gave her.  Doesn't look good.

I got to Casa and while separating the interdepartmental mail from the books in the bin I noticed the above envelope.  There are two names from the past, one is Alan (aka Bundy in this journal) and Arpine (aka TheDesire).  I took a picture and sent it to both of them.  Oh how this envelope has traveled, or not traveled.  Crazy.  It gets me that it may be used for years to come, by a set of people that won't know the people who are attached to those names.

The library's social media is sometimes comical, like today.  They had the teen librarian, one of the children's librarians, and one of the guys from Circ, JoKwin, pose on the front steps of the library.  They look so unnatural, especially JoKwin.  So hilarious.

Whatever she is, Sarah (the teen librarian) is pretty.  Her look reminds me of ladies in paintings by Mucha and Waterhouse.  I would love to photograph her in that style.

I got to mid morning and thought about how I need to continue my campaign to win over Marie from Treasury.  I decided to send her a text message saying "Happy Friday."  She reciprocated.  I said "Yay," and she liked that.  That's were we are.  Well, that's where I am.

Saturday, June, 24, I got up and got my aunt and I some breakfast.  After breakfast I was just about to get into a shower when the Chevy Chase manager sent me a text asking if I could work today.  I told her I could, and that I was on my way.  Thanks to stupid traffic I got there at 12:20pm.  When I got there I noticed the parking lot was packed.  It turns out they were doing the firefighter storytime.  After the storytime the place cleared out.

Actually, we were kinda busy today.  I'm not sitting here saying we were Grand Central station, but we were much more busier than when I worked up here last.  That was years ago.  As my coworker said, "We are much more of a on a first name basis place now."  Yeah, I see it.  He knew many of the regulars, which is good.  You go to a place because they provide a service, but also because they treat you right.  Yes, it's still pretty quiet, but no more than Casa Verdugo.

The library now talks by itself to the patrons to tell them to get out... politely of course.  I like the idea of a speaker telling patrons that the library will be closing soon.  I also like that the speaker says that the alarm is activated.  There's no alarm.  Nice!

Sunday, June, 25, Last month TheGirl and I were talking to one of the waiters at the Smokehouse.  He mentioned a Sunday brunch, which I thought was more buffet style.  But, he did mention they have chilaquiles one the menu.  That perked my ears and TheGirl noticed that and said we should come and try it some time.  Sure enough, today was the day.  the chilaquiles were OK, nothing super special.  It's still nice to get out of the house and day drink.  Especially day drinking.  I wish I could do more of that.

There is a young lady that goes around taking pictures of people and then offering a "Free" postcard.  Yes, technically the little postcard is free, but then they show you three or four other pictures and you feel like you have to buy one.  I didn't mind paying this time, because I gave TheGirl the rabbit ears.  Ha ha!

There is a legend of a woman that the bar, which has been told many times.  I've yet to met a lady at a bar and have a conversation, and perhaps more.  There was a lady at the bar today.  From afar she looked nice.  She moved her seat to the one pictured above.  I think she's attractive.  Enough that I am considering going to the Smokehouse by myself to see if I can chat her up.  I got her name, Liza, from the bartenders.  She's a regular.  Nice.  She's no spring chicken, but she looks nice.  Better than nice.  I don't know, I do want to meet her, and at least talk to her.  Who knows after that.

There is a Vons near TheGirl's place.  I thought of going there instead of my local market, just to make things easier.  But, then I thought to myself, "I won't be able to see the cute self-checkout girl."  Yeah well, to cut a long story short, she wasn't there.  Fuck me.

Monday, June, 26, Today was a chill day on the route.  I was able to chill with TheNewCute at Brand for a couple of hours.  She usually doesn't work on Mondays, because Brand is closed on Mondays.  But she mentioned that her supervisor told her she could work this Monday for another day that she didn't work.  She doesn't quite understand how floating hours work.  Not being a full timer I don't know how those hours work either.  Can't help her there.  It did mean that we had Brand nearly to ourselves.  The gallery installers were in the building, but they hardly bothered us.  So yeah, we got to hang out for a couple of hours.  After that I did have to make a special delivery, but even that was easy.

Mondays and Fridays are usually chill.  Fridays more than Mondays, but for a different reason.  Fridays I don't have to go to treasury, but I do have to go to Chevy.  It's a minor change.  I tried texting Marie at treasury, but the other girl, Michelle, informed me that Marie was in Mexico.  Nice.  I wonder if she wears a bikini.  Fuck, that must look insane.  Oh gee, what if she went with her fella?  Does she have a fella?  I think she's pretty, but you know how guys are.  Now I'm going to wonder if she has a fella.  I don't know why, but for some reason I seem to assume most ladies are single.  Maybe it's wishful thinking.

As I was leaving work today I stopped by the main desk.  Sarah was there, and she gave me a smile.  She then told me that she just finished moving into her new place.  I asked her where she moved to, but not why.  Emma told me a few weeks ago that she was getting a divorce.  Sarah didn't mention the divorce.  She did tell me that she moved to an area on Western in Burbank.  A patron came up and she started to help them.  I walked away since I had to go home.  Before that I got a look at her butt, and it is kinda amazing.  It's big, and has a bubble butt quality to it that I hadn't noticed before.  It's certainly more than a handful, but I like it.  Like I said the other day, it is funny that I find women with big behinds attractive, but I've never dated one with a really big butt like Sarah's, or Marie for that matter.  How can I get my hands on those?

I started noticing a tickle in my throat around noon today.  I was hoping I wasn't getting sick, but I did start feeling a little down after lunch.  I told myself that I was not getting sick, but I could feel the tickle getting more and more prevalent.  When I got home I was feeling sleepy, but not awful.  I took a Covid desk and it came out negative.  So it might just be a common cold.  I haven't had a cold since November 2019.  This is assuming I don't have Covid and it hasn't manifested itself enough for the test.  I'm going to take another test tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, June, 27, I woke up feeling better than last night, but I still had a little bit of a tickle in my throat.  So of course I took a Covid test.  I passed, it was negative.  Whew.  I'm pretty sure that my coworker on Saturday just had a cold.  If this is Covid it's really weak version of it.

I have a feeling that this summer is going to be warm.  I know how things are, and even though there is an A/C at Casa I feel that it's going to be weak and not cool the library enough.  It's not even that hot right now and I can already feel that I'm burning up at Casa and on the route.  Because of that I went ahead and bought myself a little desk fan.  I'm not going to sweat this summer.  No way.

I had to be at Central in the afternoon to have a refresher course of the Narcam training.  It was sooooo boring.  I was falling asleep the entire time.  TheNewCute was too.  It was so useless.  The resuscitation dummies were out, but we didn't even get to "practice" on them.  What the fuck?  At least I got paid.

I had to be at Central in the afternoon to have a refresher course of the Narcam training.  It was sooooo boring.  I was falling asleep the entire time.  TheNewCute was too.  It was so useless.  The resuscitation dummies were out, but we didn't even get to "practice" on them.  What the fuck?  At least I got paid.

Both TheNewCute and I had to take a refresher training today.  OMG, it was so boring.  Both of us were nodding off from the sleepiness.  I like that the fireman said he would not, "Powerpoint us to death."  Meaning he would keep the amount of slides to a minimal.  Too bad he didn't promise he wouldn't talk us to death, because that's what he did.  He went on and on about the Narcan spray we use in case someone is overdosing on opioids.  He repeated himself at least three times.  Get me out of here, is all I could think.  TheNewCute and I hung out a little in Circ and then I went home.

Wednesday, June, 28, Krishna decided to buy a cold water dispenser for Adams Square.  She said that it's so the employees can make coffee and tea without having to use the water from the tap.  Also, the water is cold or hot.  Nice.

Violeta brought in a couple of boxes of donuts, but in the afternoon we noticed that one of the donuts seemed to have been nibbled or torn away around the ring.  Old fashioned donuts have a unique shape where they have a slight ring of dough that makes them look like an old timey flying saucer.  That's the best way I can describe it.  But as you can see from the picture it looks like someone just picked at the edge.  The people at circulation suspected the new guy.  Another demerit against him.

Salbi posted the above photo on her social media.  OMG, what an amazing girl.  I wish she would ask me to photograph her.  Nudes, please.  Ha ha.  Maybe I'll drop the idea on her (sans the nude part).  That's going to have to be her idea.

Brand is now hosting some art that was at the Adams gasoline station.  The art was supposed to stay at the Adams gas station, but because of all this LGBTQ controversy they moved the art to Brand.  The controversy still follows the art, because Brand has been getting many calls complaining.  With that as the background I can tell you how I followed TheNewCute into thinking I was a protester. TheNewCute called me while I was at Grandview to ask me to bring something up to Brand that she forgot when she was there no more than half an hour before when she came down to celebrate Gitmo's birthday.  I was happy to help, but when it came down to finding the thing I couldn't find it at all.  So I called her.  The spiel when you call the libraries on the phone is so slow that I was getting annoyed.  So when TheNewCute answered I went ahead and changed my voice and told her that I was protesting the art because it, "Wasn't that good."  All she heard was me saying I was complaining, and didn't stop to think that I wasn't really saying anything about LGBTQ.  So I went on to ask her to transfer me to DrDeath's office.  She once again didn't get that it was me, even after I followed up the DrDeath request with a request that she tell me where the Cricut machine was.  She later told me that she wasn't sure what was going on.  Finally she got that it was me, and boy was she steaming.  I got her good.  Later there was a real protest phone call.  These idiots need to get a life.

TheGirl and I weren't sure where to go for dinner.  We had two places, but when I got to TheGirl's place she said we should go to the Smokehouse.  She needed a drink.  She went to a pinning ceremony this morning and once again she watched as her son was pinned by his wife, and not by TheGirl.  It is sorta a tradition that the parent would pin the firefighter moving up in rank.  But I guess TheGirl's son doesn't think that way.  It hurt TheGirl.  I feel bad for her. We didn't get seated at our usual table, because there was a larger party on the patio where we usually sit.  This meant we had a different waiter, one that we've had issues with before.  Well, we had issues again.  I ordered fish and chips, but I didn't want cole slaw with the order, I wanted something else.  The waiter said that there were no substitutions.  Yeah, but in the past I've picked another side with my meal.  Whatever.  Then we asked him to split the check with TheGirl's check paying for the food and the first round of booze.  I was to pay the second round.  But the waiter said that the restaurant doesn't split checks.  We were able to talk to one of the guys in charge and then the waiter did split the check as we asked.  Yeah, next time we're going to stay away from his station.

Thursday, June, 29, So the new guy was on the desk with me at Casa nearly the entire day.  He got to work a slow desk on a slow day.  By the end of the day he told me that he had a splitting headache.  Probably because he hardly had to do anything.  Even Vivian told him that today was going to be slow since there was no programs going on this week.  Yeah, it's true that we didn't have a program today, but we did have storytime.  This is the grind.  This is the job.  This has been my life on Thursdays.  It's a long slog, I'll admit it.  TheNewCute said that someone should have told him to take a book with him.  Yeah, that's not me.

Nothing really happened today.  The new guy worked but we were not very busy at all.  I kept busy doing little things like shelving books and processing the one magazine that showed up in the mail.

Friday, June, 30, The route was chill today.  I had to double back from one location because something was going from Adams to Pacific, but I went to Pacific first.  So I had to double back to Pacific after going to Adams.  That was the only hiccup today.  The rest was smooth.  I got to Brand just in time to have lunch with TheNewCute.  She was telling me how her boyfriend was going to go to a concert without her.  Instead he was going to go with of friend of their's girlfriend.  TheNewCute was not asked if she wanted to go as well.  Hmm, she thought.  "We might have to have a talk," said TheNewCute.  Yeah, that's some BS.  I'm sure it's innocent, but at the same time not.

I think my aunt is losing it (if she ever had it to begin with).  I got home and I got some muffins from the fridge to use for my chicken patty that was in the oven warming up.  I wanted to spread some mayo on one side and when I went to get the mayo from the fridge I found a spoon still inside the mayo.  I don't know if I mentioned it, but yesterday my aunt mentioned that she made tuna salad.  I ate some this morning, by the way, and it tasted awful.  Well, the spoon was left in the mayo.  She was totally clueless.  She also took the water from the birdbath in the backyard and didn't refill it with water after she dumped the water out.  I mean come on.  When I got outside there was a bird searching for water.  I quickly filled the birdbath with fresh water.  I told myself that I needed to do that more often.  Maybe even once a day.