Afterthoughts: This Past Month

Half the year is over, and things aren't slowing down.  On with the update.

Saturday, June, 1, I didn't get to record many videos at the concert.  I tried to record a few, but only ended up recording one.  At one point I thought I had recorded one song, but it turned out I never hit record.  Failing this I went online and found that Sarah's official Instagram account had uploaded the above video.

As part of my VIP package I got this cool little wooden coin that entitled me to a free drink.  I was told to take it to the Circle bar, which I thought was a bar near the entrance.  But, I was wrong.  When I got there the bartender told me, "It's good at the bar over there," as he pointed toward another bar higher in the hill.  He then asked me if I still wanted a drink, and I said yes.  I went to what I thought was the other bar, and they directed me to yet another bar.  None of them had the hard stuff, so I figured it would be best to just keep the thing as a keepsake.  I rather like it, despite it just being a wooden coin with a sticker on top.

Sunday, June, 2, For some reason I started watching the TV show It's a Living, on the Tube app.  It's a show from the 80s about a group of attractive women working at a restaurant on the top floor of the downtown Bonaventure hotel.  I had a bit of a crush on one of the actresses, Barrie Youngfellow.  I searched her out and found that she passed away two years ago.

I watched a few episodes today, and yeah, I can see why ten year old me watched the show.  It's a bunch of attractive ladies.  I don't think it was that funny of a show, however.  Still, I like it.

I went to the Super King market for some items I can't find at the Pavilions.  I usually park far away from the front door, to avoid dopes.  Today I walked by this one area that they roped off so that people wouldn't park there, because that's just not a parking location.  Well, Today some dope moved the chains and parked there despite it saying no parking.  Savages.

Monday, June, 3, I was able to check out some of the construction, and it looks like there is some progress.  There is still a lot of work to get done, for sure.

I had lunch at Brand today, and I got to see a little beak peeking out of the hummingbird nest (see above).  It's so cute.  I only saw one beak, but the way the nest is placed high on the tree makes it hard to see the entire nest.  So cute!

I passed by for my usual Monday visit with TheGirl and she told me officially that she quit her Universal Studios job today.  They were making her work until 3:45 am.  AM!  What the fuck are they cleaning at 3:45 am?  That's some horseshit.  Well, at least she gets some money this month.  She had an interview but that job hasn't called her back.  She thinks it's a front for some crimes.  It could be.  There are a lot of those businesses in Glendale.  One of the biggest crimes in Glendale is fraud.  She has another job possibly lined up, and it would be great, but she thinks it's a phantom job.  Bullshine!

Tuesday, June, 4, On Tuesdays Grimace pulls the holds.  There is almost always one book that she can't find.  That's where I take over and get things done.  I don't know how Grimace missed this particular book, LA Weather, because the library has three copies.  THREE COPIES!  Guess they might have fallen under the shelf, or something.  Yeah, all three.

I walk into work this morning and as I'm placing my lunch pail on my shelf I notice that some dummy, or dummies, "sorted" the books in a most jackass of ways (see above).  They didn't even try sorting them, they just threw one in after the other, like they were building a Jenga tower.  I went ahead and fixed it for my fellow driver.

After getting the bookdrop I tried shelving some of the new books.  The problem was that the new books section was packed to the gills.  The retention on new books is six months, which means anything before January this year should no longer be considered new.  I started to weed the books from August 2023.  That was enough for this week.  Next week I'll tackle September 2023.  Mind you, this is one of Grimace's tasks.  She doesn't do it at all, otherwise I wouldn't be finding books from August 2023.

Wednesday, June, 5, I think I wrote about TheDesire telling me the story of her father and her being held up at gunpoint a couple of weeks ago.  Of course she was scared.  I saw on social media today that she went to tactical school in order to learn how to shoot a gun.  I guess that's one response to being robbed.  I like this video because it shows off her figure.  I like that she's getting training at least.  Some dummy would just go out and purchase a gun, without the proper training.  I hope she never has to use that gun.

Sue was scheduled to do an Armenian storytime, but she called out sick yesterday.  Gitmo mentioned that he would ask Grimace to do the storytime, but he didn't tell Grimace immediately.  I actually spilled the beans about that to Grimace.  I told her I might have to pick up the book from Sue's house, because I assumed that she had the only copy in the collection.  I was wrong to assume.  Grimace found a copy at the Adams Square branch.  They put the book in delivery yesterday, which meant I would be picking it up today.  I made a special delivery back to Casa, despite already being there in the morning.  When I saw the book I wondered if there was a mistake.  The book was much smaller than the regular book in English (see above).  I come to find out that the collection only has this smaller, board book size, version of the book.  I also came to find out that the storytime was not well attended.  So I guess all my efforts were for not.  Oh well, that seems to be the nature of my job.

TheGirl and I had our traditional Wednesday dinner.  We both want to spend a lot of quality time with Cheyenne.  I usually eat the Reuben sandwich or the fish & chips at the Smokehouse.  I wouldn't mind having a good burger, but the Smokehouse burger is meh at best.  It's really a waste of money, so I ordered a Reuben and shared a lot of it with Cheyenne.

After dinner, but before I went home, I got on the floor with Cheyenne, who was laying down.  You could say we were "cuddling."  I don't want her to go anywhere.

I tried inviting Celine, the cute social media intern, to the employee picnic on Friday.  No dice.  I must be insane to keep doing this and expecting a different outcome.  I keep saying I must quit these actions, but then a pretty girl comes along and I change my mind.  Then nothing happens and I'm left holding the bag, so to speak.  I'll say I need to change this pattern, and then I go back on my own promises.  I need a real change.

Thursday, June, 6, I could not stay asleep for more than a couple more hours at a time last night.  I'm not sure why I was restless.  I had a nice bit of booze in my belly, which would normally knock me out.  Not last night, however.  It fucking sucks, because in my lifetime I have not had much trouble going to sleep.  Thankfully the lack of sleep didn't make me a zombie today.

TheGirl told me the other night that her son was going to get some sort of rank change pin, which means a ceremony.  She would like to be the one to pin the pin on her son, but TheGirl's son didn't ask her to do that.  He had his son do it.  I asked TheGirl why it couldn't be both her and his son?  She didn't know.  Poor thing.

I was in a text exchange today with Talia, and really her stupidity knows no bounds.  She told me that she is losing weight.  That's never good when you have some other health issue going on.  She insists that she doesn't want her uterus taken out, because then she can't have a child.  She's forty-five years old, I think nature is going to prevent her from having a child.  I've been trying to stay in her life, because I do care for her.  But, she's delusional.  Who is going to have a child with her?  First off, if the doctors are telling her that they need to take her uterus out that means that the tumor must be a part of the uterus, or near it enough that it affects it.  All I know is that I need to just let her go.  She just doesn't get it, and I'm wasting my time.

BTW, as I read that text from Talia over again I realize she says she will die and become blind if she has the surgery.  Obviously she meant that the other way around, but it just sounds silly that she would die then become blind.

Friday, June, 7, I get off at 7pm on Thursdays.  When I get home I usually just want to have some dinner, because I do anything else.  The last couple of weeks I have run into the house before closing the gate and bringing in the trash cans.  Well, last night I totally forgot to do either of those things.  Oops.  I think I should just take the two minutes when I get home to bring in the cans and close the gates, and not leave both out all night.

I know people at work don't know what they are doing a lot of the time.  I expect the people that are at Central during the renovation to at least know how to sort the books for delivery.  That is obviously asking for too much.

These post Covid days the higher ups want to have the gang have opportunities to hang out.  Like this picnic that's happening tonight.  As part of that charade they make me take the giant connect four game to the location of the event.  No one fucking uses that shitty game.  I hate having to haul it around the entire city.  I fucking hate the stupid giant Jenga game they also make me take to these events.  That shit is heavy, and the bag is falling apart.  I get the speaker, because it means music.  I ended up providing the music tonight.  By the way, no one played that stupid giant Connect Four game, or Jenga.  Fuck these games.

I checked on the hummingbird nest today and I could clearly see two little beaks peeking out.  They are getting bigger by the minute.  They're so cute!

It was time for the work picnic.  They said it would start at 5pm, but nothing was ready at that time.  I thought the food would be there at 5pm, but it was still another half an hour before the food arrived.  And then they didn't have plates, or cups, or anything.  Thankfully I have all those things in my car.  I had to retrieve them in order to eat.  Such bullshit.  I didn't plan on staying too long.  Certainly not until 8pm, which is what they said was the end time.  I ended up staying a little past 7pm.  That meant I was there for nearly two hours.  That's enough.  TheNewCute and I didn't get to talk much at the picnic.  She seemed to be more interested in hanging with others, which is fine.  I was leaving when Gitmo said we were going to gather for the group picture.  I just said, "Bye," and left.

I've decided that I need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.  I know that I'm going to be a bachelor for life.  I'm not going to be in another relationship again.  I know this.  I know, because any woman I'm interested in sure isn't interested in me.  I've said it countless times that I need to stop getting interested in any women.  I've joked that I should become a Vulcan, but in a way I'm not joking.  Vulcans are not emotionless, they just keep their emotions in check.  That's what I want to be able to do.  I want to be able to tell myself, "Don't go there," any time I become even slightly interested in a lady.  I guess that's just something I have to have in the back of my mind.  For sure I need to also stop trying with these women.  If they liked me they would let it be known.  I say that all the time, but sometimes tell myself that a certain lady is just shy.  But even if they are shy, they let you know in some way.  Certainly when I throw an invite at them if they are busy then I know.  I'm talking in circles here.  I know what I have to do.  Now I just have to do it and stick to it.

Saturday, June, 8, I bring home some food this morning from Firehouse Subs and I ask her if she wants a plate.  I usually use paper plates because they are easier to deal with, and don't require her having to wash as many dishes.  It's especially easy in the mornings that I go to work, so she doesn't have to deal with my mess.  In short, I like them.  I offer her a plate and she says to me, "On the weekends it's OK to use the paper plates, but on the weekdays the regular plates should be used."  Huh?  What the fuck is she talking about?  Of course, I'm going to ignore her.  Does she not get that I ALWAYS ignore any of her not so sage advice?

I went on Instagram and saw that Victoria Justice posted a video recorded right up the street from me at the Whole Foods on Sepulveda, and the Coffee Bean on Ventura.  I already knew she was my neighbor, but I never run into her.  That's because I don't really do much around my neighborhood.  The only things I do is go to the market.  I certainly don't go and get coffee.

Monday, June, 10, I was about to have lunch when I noticed that the hummingbird nest was missing one of the two chicks I spotted last week.  I looked around the tree and there, on the floor, was a tiny hummingbird chick.  It must have JUST fallen out of the nest.  My hero coworker Chloe got some plastic gloves, picked up the bird and using a ladder put the chick back in the nest.  The momma hummingbird returned a short time after and feed both of the birds, I think.  At the angle I was I could see her moving and I thought I saw her feed both birds.  Here's hoping the little chick survives, because hummingbirds are wonderful. The thing is, if that bird lives it's because Chloe put the bird back in the nest.  I saw the bird and I looked at it and told it that I was going to leave it there to die.  "Circle of life," I told it.  But then I told my coworkers, and that's when Chloe went into action.  I was prepared to let it go, only because any time I've tried to help wildlife it's never gone good.  I was afraid that the momma bird would abandon the nest, because I had touched the chick.  That would mean both chicks would have died.  Chloe getting plastic gloves hopefully keeps the momma bird from knowing humans touched her chick.  I hope that little chick grows up to be a great hummingbird.  The fastest in the area surrounding the Brand library.

I bought new underwear a couple of weeks back.  I ordered large and extra-large, to see which one fit better.  The XL is way too big on me now that I've lost some weight.  I wore the XL to work today by mistake.  No wonder I was swimming in my underwear today.

Due to the renovation I've been loading and unloading the van in the dock area.  Which means I don't have the opportunity to see the regulars that frequent the area in front of the library.  Like that girl Julia. Well, today I saw her pushing a person in a wheelchair on Harvard.  I was kinda tempted to go up to her and fail, just to confirm what I already thought.  But, I didn't.

I ran into Karen today.  She told me that her grant ends at the end of the year.  That means no job after December.  She said that Lessa was able to get funding until December, because her grant originally ended at the end of June.  I feel bad that they didn't even give Karen a chance to interview for the open children's librarian job.  Assholes.

Tuesday, June, 11, More books that should have stayed at Central have somehow migrated to Casa today.  These dopes at Central, and I know but also don't know who it might be, are making these trivial mistakes.  And by trivial I mean that they shouldn't be making these sort of mistakes in the first place.  These are mistakes made by dopes that aren't paying attention.  There is no excuse for these mistakes in their totality.  I get missing one item, here and there.  This is ridiculous.

Wednesday, June, 12, This whole renovation thing has shown me that Nancy, my new circulation supervisor, doesn't have it on the ball.  She should have had this place moving with the goal of understanding what we all have to do during this transition.  Instead, people have zero clue as to what we should be doing.  The holds for Central have been sent to the Casa Verdugo branch library.  But some bozo continues to place the holds on a cart, as if they were going to go upstairs.  No, not happening.  Those books should be going to Casa.  I already wrote her an email about a related subject.  I think certain dopes don't know that the holds are going to Casa.  The public sure doesn't know, because the dummies that are supposed to tell the patrons about this change have not.  They don't even answer the phones.  Talk about bozos.  Nancy should be on them to call.  She should be on them to get these books in a bin to Casa.  Total mismanagement.

The city created a walking challenge to get people moving.  I'm not participating, because I don't walk enough to win any challenge/contest.  Some of my coworkers are going a little nuts about it.  Gitmo said that on Friday he walked home from the picnic in order to maintain his lead.  I used the fact that the treasury department is dead last in the city as an excuse to text Marie.  She was walking around today with a giant shawl looking thing.  Her chest is so enormous that it's impossible to hide, even with the shawl on top.  I know I don't have any chance with her, but I do want to be friends with her.  So I texted her about her department being dead last and she says that she didn't even know this was happening until today.  I'll give her a pass, for many reasons.

The good news is that the little hummingbird that I found on the ground earlier this week is still in the nest.  Whew!  Per Stephanie's suggestion we named the pair "Pip" and "Pop."  Pop being the one that popped out of the nest earlier this week.

TheGirl and I went to the Yard House for dinner tonight.  They have a lot of different dishes to try.  Last time I had a burger, if I remember correctly.  This time I had fish tacos.  Everything I've had there has been pretty good.  Tonight's fish tacos were just right.  They served them with limes and that really hit the spot.  TheGirl had me check on Cheyenne's wound where she had her surgery.  It doesn't feel like anything is coming up again, but what do I know?  We just hope that she's well.  Maybe we've been given a little more time with her.

Thursday, June, 13, Today was a busy day at the library.  I put myself to the task of weeding the old books that are in the new book section.  The retention time for new books is six months.  After that they are not considered new.  Grimace is supposed to go and periodically check for books that don't meet that criteria.  Does she?  Nope.  I do.  I'm constantly going through those books.  But I let a month go by to see if Grimace was doing it.  Nope.  Not one bit.  So on Tuesday I did some books, and today I did more books.  I think I took out about eighty books in total that were from as far back as August of 2023.  2023, for goodness sakes!

I was talking to my coworker Katie about how lunch time is so sacred because of the need to unwind and relax for a little bit.  Today I had to deal with the special needs GYA's handler, for lack of a better word.  He's huge.  Has to weight three hundred fifty if he weighs a pound.  He's a big boy.  Today I go to lunch and he's sitting in the only seat at the table.  He's having his lunch, while he's supposedly watching over the GYA special needs kid.  He wouldn't move, even after i came in with my lunch pail.  He knew it was my lunch time, and that he isn't there to have his lunch.  He's only there two hours, with this kid.  But instead of being outside with the kid, you know, "watching him."  He's stuffing his face with fried chicken in the kitchen.  I finally had to just take my food into the office.  Not OK.  I want to tell Gitmo, but this kid is supposedly not coming in after this next week.  Good, I don't like him barging in when I'm having lunch.  And I don't like his keeper sitting in the kitchen as well.  Fuck them both.

About an hour before we closed tonight one of the troublemaker patrons was leaving after being on the phone in the lobby.  On his way out he spit at the security guard.  He missed, but that's not the point.  I told Gitmo via Teams text.  He later called the guard to get his part of the story.  The dope is going to get a thirty day suspension.  Only thing is he doesn't know he's suspended.  He may show up tomorrow and I guess we'll be calling the police after he arrives.

The marketing team is trash.  I like the lead lady, but a lot of stuff just doesn't get done right, or at all.  Now I don't know if it's all her fault.  The marketing team sent these fliers out en masse, and almost no one picked them up.  The market team keeps printing way too many fliers for every event.  They printed a thousand bingo sheets for summer reading.  I know that the number of sigh-ups is nowhere near that number.  The city is supposed to be using less paper, but in reality we aren't.

Friday, June, 14, I had a technician come by the house to check the fridge, to see if he could fix it.  He could, but it would cost $350, and there's no guarantee that it won't ice up again in a matter of weeks or days.  I'm going to have to get a new fridge.  Super sucks.  I can't get above water with these things falling apart.

A message came up on Teams this morning, just before 10:30am, from TheNewCute saying that the guy that spit at Ronald yesterday was at Brand.  They called the police and served him his thirty day suspension.  Good.  I was worried that he would show up here when we open and make a scene.  As I write this sentence it's 11:10am, so now Gitmo and I wonder if this Saleem idiot will show up here when we open at 1pm.  Time will tell.  Some banned dummies will go to another branch pretending not to understand that the ban is system-wide, not just at one particular branch.

Casa was super busy today.  Thankfully that Saleem guy didn't show up at Casa.  That's all we needed.  I got to work with my newish coworker Barry today.  We were both on the test the entire day.  The higher ups took me off delivery today, for some cockamamie reason.  That meant I had to be at Casa all day.  As a matter of fact I started working at 9am, hours before anyone else showed up.  I went ahead and did the things we needed before we open.  But yeah, Casa was busy.  I think this was the busiest I've ever experienced Casa Verdugo.  We had fifty-one patrons coming in and out at our last hour.  Yikes!

Saturday, June, 15, I finally got to have the tea at the Huntington Library.  I was amazed at the flavors of the food.  Each of the items were very good.  The little cake was so nice.  The chocolate square was incredibly dark chocolate.  The little tart was yummy.  The lobster roll was OK.  I've never eaten lobster, and I'm not thrilled.  I could say more about each item, but they were all so full of distinct and rich flavors.  The only ones I didn't like were the salmon and the turkey, which surprised me.  I've never had salmon like this.  I've always had it cooked, but this way was no bueno for me.

The tea I got was a special Huntington blend, exclusive to them.  It was wonderful!  One of the best teas I've ever had.

Ilsa said we should make this a new tradition and come back every year.  I will say that I would love to come back and have different items, bug I don't know that they have other items.  These were really good.  The only thing is that if we do come back I'll ask for no salmon.  That's the only thing I didn't like.

After the technician's visit yesterday there was no choice but to buy a new fridge.  It's coming on Monday.  $800 for this thing.  ARGH!  The bills just keep on coming.

I forgot to mention this when it happened on Wednesday, but TheNewCute mentioned that she went to the doctor's on Monday and they told her that since her last visit she has gained ten pounds.  I have to say she must have gained half of that on her chest, because it's looking really big lately.  I try not to look, because I don't want to be that guy.  But sometimes I can't help but turn around and see that her chest is looking really big.  She mentioned that she wants to do more hikes in order to maintain a lower weight.  Hey, I get it.  I was happy that this week I got to walk two days, instead of my one walk.

Sunday, June, 16, When I got home from the Huntington yesterday I bought my aunt and I a pastrami from The Hat.  I didn't eat my half, because I was still stuffed.  I could not eat a thing, and I didn't have dinner yesterday.

My stomach felt a little queasy this morning thinking about my aunt saying she wanted to make eggs.  She claimed that the eggs were still good, because she's been putting ice on top of the eggs, but I wasn't sure.  I don't want to get sick.  My aunt planted some potatoes in the backyard, and she got a bunch to cook.  She asked if I wanted some this morning, and I said yes.  Little did I know she would add thyme to the potatoes.  A lot of thyme.  I didn't like them, and I only ate one.  She asked me if I like them, and I said no.  It was all thyme and onions.  They needed some salt.  Also, she needed to make the potatoes more crispy, like mojo potatoes style.  I think it's best for us to make potato quesadillas or latkes.  No thyme added.

Monday, June, 17, Today was delivery's last day in the basement.  My new supervisor, Nancy, emailed Tony and me that today she wanted me to shift our work to circulation.  Apparently we are all clear to move back.  I still started my day in the basement.  I won't be driving on Wednesday, because of the Juneteenth holiday.  I'll drive again on Friday.  I was glad to return to circulation at the end of the day.

The fellas that were dropping off the new fridge called me to say they would come around the 10 o'clock hour.  I told my aunt, and she was ready.  They arrived, she later told me, and they set up the new fridge and took away the old one.  When I bought the fridge online it had the option to have them haul away the old one.  I said no, because they were charging me $50.  But, they told my aunt that it was no cost.  OK, then.  When I got home I checked out the new fridge, and it looks good.  The delivery guys helped my aunt move the freezer items to the new fridge.  Nice.  She said she gave them a tip.  Good work.

Since I didn't have any food for my lunch I grabbed something from the freeze that is there for just such an occasion.  I don't remember how long ago I bought those enchiladas, but they have already hit the spot for me.  They did again today, saving me from having to pick up some fast food.

I was hoping to see the hummingbirds one last time, but when I got to the patio at Brand I found that the nest was empty.  I did look around the pots, but I didn't find anything.  I guess the birds both made it to maturity.  I'm glad I did a little part to save that hummingbird's life.

Tuesday, June, 18, The new fridge arrived yesterday, but there was still no food in it.  Yesterday I had my emergency enchiladas for lunch, but what would I have for lunch and breakfast today?  I figured I would kill both of those birds with one stone, or one can of chili.  I took out some tots from the freezer and opened up a can of chili.  I poured about 1/3rd of it on the tots, and kept the rest for lunch.  I would have liked to have had some cheese on these tots, but I didn't have any.  Just the tots and the chili.  What a way to start the day.  Like did I know today was going to be a lousy day.

The stupidity kinda took a break for a couple of weeks.  In other words, things have been relatively OK since the Sarah McLachlan concert.  Today broke that streak.  My aunt started off the stupidity.  I was chillin on my bed before going to work, because I don't start until 10am today.  Fine, dandy, I say.  It was nearly 9am, about ten minutes before I told myself I would leave for work today.  I wanted to have some extra time to go to the Ralph's next to the library and buy some Arizona tea.  But after breakfast it was still 8am, and I thought to just watch videos from my bed.  I was relaxing.  But my aunt can't have that.  She was outside watering the plants.  The front yard has a faucet that she can't ever close.  There is literally a stone she can use to just hit the faucet and close it semi-tight.  She asked me to close it, and since I was so close to leaving I thought I would just do that on my way out.  However, she insisted that water was being wasted.  Every little moment of rest before going into work is needed.  As it turned out I could have used those extra five minutes she wouldn't let me have today.  I ran out and closed the faucet.  Then I ran back inside the house and grabbed all my things and just flung them into my car.  My aunt approached the car, but I just waved at her and left.  I knew what she wanted to ask.  If I had left the front door unlocked.  I had, because I didn't want to deal with her at that moment.  This may seem like such a trivial thing that she did, but it's just the accumulation of years of this shit.  She never considers my feelings on anything.  Maybe I wasn't feeling well.  Maybe I was about to call out sick, or did.  Nope, close the fucking faucet now.  I didn't want to be in her presence.  I just want to be left alone.  That's clearly too much to ask.

Last week I asked a simple question, "What is the retention time for new teen books?"  I asked the teen librarian, and she wondered why I asked that. She didn't tell me that, but she was already steaming from what Grimace did to the teen books at Casa.  Sarah said that she did it wrong, whatever that means.  The teen collection is shit at Casa.  I thought that when Sarah was hired that she would fix the collection at Casa.  I was told that she can't oversee the entire collection, because she's not a supervisor.  She can only oversee the collection at Central.  OK, but no one is cultivating the one at Casa.  She can only order new books for the system, but can't curate the individual branch collections.  That's kinda stupid, but OK.  Well, me asking questions made her wonder what was going on.  She started asking Gitmo questions, and that got to Grimace, who didn't like it.  Of course not, she done fucked up.  Ah, but I done fucked up too.  I shouldn't have been asking questions no one wants to answer.  Like with TheNewCute, she keeps asking because she needs to know in order to do her job.  I have to remember that I'm a peon.  I don't need to know about collections, or curation.  I'm just there to move the books.  I'm sorry that I see things that need to get done and failing to see anyone do them, I step in and do them.  Grimace is right about me staying in my lane.  She basically said what I have said many times to others.  Keep your head down and just do your work.  My mistake was in saying anything to Sarah.  Emma had already warned me that she was a snitch, and is ready to throw people under the bus.  I don't even think she wanted to throw me under the bus, but she used my question to open up a can of worms.  Instead of keeping me out of it, she mentioned me.  I'm going to take my own advice, Grimace was right to say it to me.  Time to go submarine.  I also need to not talk to Grimace about things anymore.  I'll do my thing and not broadcast it to her or anyone else.

On the radio show I listen to the host mentioned something about getting things done in increments instead of trying to do it all at once.  That sounds like a good plan to make changes in my life in increments, instead of thinking I can change things overnight.  What I do want to do is work harder on my photography and my writing.  And I want to pull back a lot at work and stop going above and beyond.  No one really appreciates it, and it's a waste of energy.  And after this week it's something I shouldn't be doing in anything other than the delivery aspect of my job.  Casa's new books can be "new" for a year, for all I care.

Wednesday, June, 19, My aunt grew some potatoes, which is pretty awesome.  What was not so awesome was how she cooked my potatoes this morning.  I wanted to cut my hair before breakfast, so I could shower after my cut.  My aunt couldn't wait, despite her seeing that I was cutting my hair outside and taking my clothes to the shower.  I wasn't hiding the fact that I was cutting my hair.  Well, she went ahead and cooked the potatoes in the wrong oil and not crispy.  If she had not jumped the gun and let me do it, like I told her, I wouldn't have had to eat the mess of potatoes she made me.  They were limp, and at the end of breakfast she had the nerve to ask me if they were too crispy.  Mind you, they were not crispy at all.  Insert Picard facepalm here.

Last night I wrote down my plans for this morning.  Number one was to cut my hair, with number two was cutting my beard into goatee.  Done.  Time for some small changes.

TheGirl and I originally thought last week that we could have dinner on Tuesday of this week, because TheGirl was going to go out to Fontana to visit her son.  While she was still going to visit her son, she knew that she would be back by 5pm.  So we were able to have our traditional Wednesday night dinner.  We went to Don Cuco's in Toluca Lake.  It's better in one way than the Burbank location.  That being that the Burbank location gets bombarded by the sun while on the patio.  The Toluca Lake location has a huge building blocking the sun.  Nice.

I ordered sopes with carne asada so I could give Cheyenne some pieces.

Thursday, June, 20, The magazine rack at Casa was a mess this morning.  I initially walked away, but I actually did have to fix it, because it's my job.  I won't touch the new books though.  Oh, and I can't ever talk to Sarah about anything.  In a way, she snitched on me with the whole teen book thing.

One of the girl's studying at the library today was wearing white Daisy Dukes, with the ass cheeks showing for good measure.  I certainly don't mind any lady coming in with short shorts.  Like those MILFs that come in with super short shorts, or super tight yoga pants.  I've talked to my buddy about how at some level they must know that their ass cheeks might be exposed.  I know some ladies don't care, or don't think about it.  I don't mind the view.

At the end of the night we open the bathroom doors so that no one can hide in there and stay in the library at the end of the night.  Two ladies came in after we had propped the doors open.  They asked me where the bathroom was, and I pointed it out to them.  One of the ladies walked in and turned on the light, but didn't close the door.  I told her, "You can close the door," but she hand waved me away.  She looked inside the bathroom, then said something to her friend and her friend went into the open bathroom.  She did her business and flushed the toilet.  Then the first woman went in and did her business.  I wasn't actively listening, but I didn't hear the first woman peeing, but I definitely heard the second woman peeing.  I'm not sure why she didn't let me close the door.  Strange.

Friday, June, 21, I was asked by Vivian to help her out with her storytime at Nimbly park.  Easy peasy.  The cute au pair showed up!  The last few times she has visited the library, which was months ago, she has been wearing a mask.  Today she was in her full glory.  I couldn't get a picture of her though.  I wonder what her story is, not that I'll ever find out.  Remember, no lady is interested in me.  Karen was supposed to come by the park in order to shadow Vivian, but she never showed up.  She probably thought to herself, "Fuck that shit... I'm not going to have a job here after December, why should I shadow anyone."

The story walk book was interesting.  One of the pages shows a group of robots sleeping, and they are dreaming of electric sheep.  I don't think anyone got the reference.

My former coworker from San Marino, Heather H texted me to tell me that she was offered the children's room librarian job.  Nice!  I'm sorry it's not Karen, but I'm happy for Heather.  It will be good to work with her again.  She texted me to say that Altadena has had a lot of turnover.  I'm not surprised.  Nikki, formally known here as AD, was a terrible manager.  Heather said that she was one of about ten people that have left Altadena this year.  THIS YEAR!?  Shit!  Nikki continues the culture she left here at Glendale, which was one of favors and kissing ass.  If you kissed her ass you got ahead.  The same goes for Mala now here.  Fuck that shit.  My hope was that Lessa would counter that, but until we get a new director nothing is going to change.

I hadn't seen TheNewCute since last week, because I was taken off the route last Friday, and we had Wednesday off..  I was able to get to Brand by noon, even after the story in the park.  But the thing is, instead of leaving us be Maureen followed us out to the park.  TheNewCute wanted to be away from Maureen, but she followed us out to the lawn.  Take a hint, lady.  Later TheNewCute told me that Vivian mentioned she could talk to Maureen about leaving TheNewCute alone while she has her lunch.  TheNewCute felt that it would be like her mother calling out Maureen.  Not good.  I think she said no thanks to Vivian's offer.

When I got to Brand I noticed that there was a TR, transmittal report, for the money on the copy machine.  I didn't think anything of it, because things happen.  But then later I went to get the bins and noticed one of the money bags on top with a key.  I am not allowed to take the money like that, and I pointed it out to Misa.  She was on her way to lunch, and seemed annoyed that she had to come back.  Her fault.  Her excuse was that she got busy.  Yeah, busy texting.

Last night the bathroom at Central was clogged.  This morning I came in and some guys were working on it.  When I left for the day the bathrooms were still not working.  One of the city guys mentioned that it was a clusterfuck as he showed me a picture of underwear that he took out of the pipe.  Despite taking that out the water is still not flowing.  Both bathrooms were affected.

When I got back from the route I started to get the bins ready for Monday.  I got to work and noticed a lot of books going back to Brand.  Then I noticed two of the books on top wrapped with rubber bands.  Since the reopening we must have gotten a load of books from Link Plus.  Hence the many bins going to Brand.  But about half of them had rubber bands on them.  Why can't the dummies at Central take them off?  That's still a mystery to me.  Clearly, if I can do it, they can do it.  They just don't want to, I guess.

Saturday, June, 22, My aunt wanted to have a heart to heart again, this time to tell me that she's worried I'm not eating enough.  She asked how much money we had in the bank, because perhaps I was eating less because we didn't have the money.  Ha!  I told her we have plenty.  She's always worried that we don't have enough money.  Yes, money is a problem these days.  More people are homeless.  I happen to be making a nice amount of money right now.  How long that will last, I don't know.  But last year I made the most money I ever have.  Again, who knows how long that lasts.

My grandmother always said that there was always money for food.  In other words, food was the priority.  Above buying clothes and such.  And if my aunt continues to grow food in the backyard then we are golden.  I want to try to grow some tomatoes, in order to make sauces and such.  I'm not sure what other items would be good to grow.  But it is funny that my aunt sees that I'm eating less and automatically thinks we don't have any money in the bank.  We're not rich, but we have a few bucks.  I just hate that I'm trying to better myself and she sees it as a negative thing.  Oh, something must be wrong since I'm eating better and smaller portions.  Dumb.

Sunday, June, 23, My aunt planted a potato a few weeks ago.  Last week she showed me that one potato became five big potatoes, and about six little potatoes.  The question was what to make with those potatoes?  Last week my aunt made me the sorriest dish of potatoes.  Since then I thought that I should make Latkes.  They came out pretty good.

Someone posted some pictures of old Disneyland's Starcade in Tomorrowland.  I do miss some old Disneyland things from that era.  Like the Starcade, and the People Mover.

Monday, June, 24, I checked on the bins when I got in today and sure enough the Brand books had a bunch of rubber bands on them.  Like why?  Why must it fall on me to do this?

When I got back to Central I was unloading the bins.  At one point I had my head in the van but I could hear in the distance the sound of a wheelchair approaching.  I knew it would be Julia with one of her patients.  I moved the book cart out of the way, so they could pass, but I never lifted my head to say anything to her.  She also had her head down.  Only lifting it up after she was clear of the van.  Wow, it's like we broke up.  All the pleasure of a break-up without the pleasure of the relationship.  That's a new one for me.

Meryl told me last week that one of the librarians was going to leave for another job.  Today they made the official announcement that Jackie H was leaving for LAPL.  I don't know the entire reason, but I'm sure she's going to get paid more at LAPL.

When I got home I was feeling tired, so after changing my clothes I went out to my backyard to chill.  I passed out, and woke up a couple of times feeling really sleepy.  I got this way a few months ago.  When it turned 9pm I told myself I needed to get up and finish some things.  Mainly getting my lunch ready for tomorrow.  When I looked inside the fridge I noticed a pot full of spaghetti.  I don't know when my aunt made that, but it must have been today.  That spaghetti wasn't there yesterday.  Hmm.  I don't know why she made SO MUCH spaghetti.  She eats like a bird, and I'm trying to eat less.  Maybe it's a response to me telling her I don't want to eat so much.  She, of course, does the opposite of what I told her to do. I told her not to worry about me.  Well, I'm not going to eat more than a little.  I still have latkes to eat.

I was chatting with Laurel tonight via Facebook Messenger.  I was talking to her about how when we were with each other I wished I had taken more pictures of her.  I told her how I was so nervous to be with her back then.  She was sexy, to be sure.  I desired her, but I was too stupid to know what I was doing back then.  I hadn't dated much.  I had really only been with Talia up until that point.  I made myself so nervous that I did have a little trouble with performance issues.  Not good when you're trying to impress a lady.  Tonight Laurel sent me some pictures that she took back in the day (see above).

Tuesday, June, 25, I went into work with the notion of avoiding talking to Grimace.  Well, the Universe took care of that, since she had a special thing at Central today.  That meant I didn't have to deal with her today at the desk.  My plan was to not engage her, but I'll have to wait until next week to put that plan into practice.  I HAVE to remember that she is not in this to be helpful.

Wednesday, June, 26, It would seem that the theme for this week is avoiding people that annoy me, or have done me wrong.  I've mentioned Maureen before and now she can't take the hint that lunch time is alone time.  TheNewCute mentioned that the other day Maureen took over the kitchen with her paperwork, and one of our coworkers had to eat somewhere else.  That's not fair.  Lunch is a sacred time to unwind before having to face the public again.  This week I had no hot food with me, so I simply went out to the front of the library and had a picnic by myself.  It's been weeks since TheNewCute's schedule changed and she has to take her lunch later on Wednesdays.  So there's no use waiting for her.  I ran into Maureen in the kitchen, taping up her box of important papers.  I'm sure she had them out on the counter.

The library was closed for three weeks and I didn't see much of the new construction, mainly because those zones are covered and I can't just go in there and see what's up.  Perhaps they will put some finishing touches on the children's room, which looks pretty close to opening.  The teen area still needs a lot of work, but it's getting to the point where that area will soon be finished.

TheGirl told me that she was going to have a special guest with her for dinner with us... her grandson Elisha.  We joked that he had to meet Chan.  Sure enough he did meet Chan, and of course he loved him.  I joked with TheGirl that this meant that Chan could join us at dinner.  Like actually going inside the restaurant with us.  He did!  For the first time!

Elisha is full of energy, but he's a good kid.  I think he had a good time tonight.  Certainly meeting Chan was fun.  He asked a lot of questions about Chan.

One thing I know is that Cheyenne was overstimulated.  She didn't know who to focus on when I arrived at TheGirl's.  She goes nuts when I come in any other day, but today she went extra crazy.  It was kinda adorable.

Dinner went well.  Elisha behaved himself.  Chan behaved himself.  The food really hit the spot.  Not sure when we'll do that again, but I know we all did well.  Even Cheyenne's walk went well.  I was given charge of Elisha by TheGirl.

Thursday, June, 27, Today was the GYA worker's last day at Casa Verdugo.  I don't have any problem with him.  Arman is special, and I know what to expect from him.  My problem was with his helper, who I feel just sits there and does nothing.  I don't know what his official duties are, but taking a ten to fifteen minute shit isn't one of them.  Neither is having phone conversations.  And that's where he pissed me off, when he was in the kitchen while it was my lunch time.  Lunch time is not only important to feed myself, but to decompress from being on the desk.  Where have you heard that before?  Especially on Thursdays, when I'm on the desk the entire day.

When it was my lunch time I grabbed my lunch and told myself I wasn't going to stay in the building.  They were having a celebration for Arman's last day.  Arman is a kid in his twenties that is on the spectrum.  I didn't want anything of today's celebration.  I hadn't thought of it, where could I go to have my lunch?  Then it hit me.  I could go to the park.  Nimbly park isn't that far away from the library.  I hot footed it there and found a bench in the shade.  Better yet, the park was practically empty.  When I got back no Arman, no stupid helper.  There was a cake and some other items in the fridge that were the only evidence left of the celebration.  Bye, bye!

I found a new book that shouldn't be considered new in today's check-ins.  Instead of fooling around with it I just put it on the shelf.  Fuck it.  Let's see if Grimace does her job.  She doesn't.  I know.

Friday, June, 28, How many times have I mentioned the stupid ass pipes that the construction crew put in for the new bathrooms next to the new children's room?  Today I went into work and the pipes were painted white.  Oh yeah, that's going to cover up how fucking horrible the pipes look.  You can tell that this is the only measure that the construction crew is going to take to "hide" these pipes.  Total butchers.

TheNewCute and I are on the same wavelength when it comes to lunch on Fridays.  Our goal is to have a nice peaceful lunch without Maureen messing with our lunch time.  TheNewCute voiced it today, I need my Eric time.  She explained that we had a unique work situation where we saw each other nearly every day of the week when TheNewCute was working at San Marino and Glendale.  That was a unique time, to say the least.  We got to see more of each other when we worked at Casa, but then they promoted TheNewCute and she had to move to the Brand library.  That was OK, since we could have lunch twice a week on Wednesday and Friday.  Then they changed her schedule to closing on Wednesdays, so that interfered with our Wednesday lunch.  All we have is the one day now, so she doesn't want to share it with Maureen.  I don't either.  I miss our time on the desk.  I miss our Wednesday lunchtime.  So, I made myself a sandwich and she bought a salad, so we wouldn't have to spend time in the kitchen where Maureen could see that we're both going to have lunch.  So we had our little picnic in the park under a tree close to the car port, but not in direct sight from the back of the library.

A few weeks ago my aunt asked me how we could grow some potatoes.  I told her that it was basically shoving it into the ground.  She figured that carrots were the same, and she shoved a carrot into the ground.  No, no, no.  I told her that every plant has its own way of developing.  I asked her if she wanted to raise some tomatoes.  She added that we should grow some chili peppers.

Growing carrots isn't as easy as growing potatoes.  I found out online that it's best to grow them from seeds, but failing that we can use the actual carrot.  Online they said to put a bit of a carrot in water until roots sprout.  Then they can be transferred to a pot.  It's going to be a while.  Next week I want to get the things necessary to start growing tomatoes.

Saturday, June, 29, I don't have any other place to put this, so I'll just put it here.  A picture of J Lo's butt.

Sunday, June, 30, The above is a picture of Nicole, who I first met at the end of my college career at CSUN.  She's one of the girls that can be in the file called "What might have been."  She went to some festival and posted some pictures on her social media.  She looks so nice.