Afterthoughts: This Past Month

I don't know why I thought things would get better the longer we traveled into this year.  Wrong.  The Universe continues to hand out gut punches to everyone.  On to the update.

Monday, April, 1, Today flew by.  I got to work early and hit the ground running.  I had the van all filled before 8:30am, and the rest of the day just continued that quick feeling.  I went to treasury and Marie was there all by herself.  She processed the money super fast today.  I had four money bags and she did them in less than five minutes.  I wish she wasn't so fast, because I like having some face time with her.  She was quick though, and I was out of there by 9:35am.  That gave me enough time to pick up my coworker Tony, drop him off at the car dealer to pick up his car, and then make it to Montrose by 10:15am.  That's early, since I'm usually getting out of the treasury department at nearly 10am.

As I drove up to the Brand library I realized that I forgot to submit something to the next gallery show, Brand 52.  I didn't have anything that I thought was good enough, and crazy looking enough.  I've noticed that the art they choose usually has to look crazy.  I don't get contemporary art.  I've never had any of my work in the show.  I should have worked on it this past year.  The picture above was the artwork that I thought of submitting.  It's a picture of Talia from nearly twenty years ago.  I mortified it to only show her chest and the outline of the leaves on it.  None of the versions I processed looked good enough.  This was another factor in me forgetting, I had nothing good to submit.  Maybe next year.

One of my coworkers mentioned last week that the hummingbird was back at Brand.  I didn't believe it until today.  I checked the nest and sure enough the hummingbird is back.  Not only that, there are two eggs in the nest.

On Mondays I usually go to McDonald's before heading over to TheGirl's for a visit.  McDonald's isn't really good for anyone, so I figure I should eat something else.  Maybe I could make a sandwich, or a salad.  Well, I forgot to do that, so I went to Panda Express.  The small a la carte serving hit the spot.  I'm not sure what I'll do next week, but I should get a moving to figure it out.

Tuesday, April, 2, Last night, TheGirl told me that the Auld Chip shop in Burbank has closed.  I checked online and sure enough they are closed.  That really sucks, because they had some of the best fish and chips I've ever eaten.  TheGirl and I suspected they were struggling from the last time we visited.  They hardly had anyone in the restaurant.  Which is sad, because they had some really good food.  But I guess it wasn't on top of anyone's list.  The ladies that worked there were also quite attractive.  I remember one time the girl that met us at the door was practically waring hot pants.  Nice!

I checked, the last time we were at the Auld Chip shop was October 4th, 2023.

I made my delivery to Casa yesterday afternoon around 2pm.  I left and that was that.  I arrived today and I immediately notice that one of the plexiglass shields that sits between the first computer and the second computer was gone.  I immediately texted Vagabundo on the subject and he comes to tell me that Gitmo took it out as a "test."  A test of what, I wonder.  Stupidity.  Anyway, I'm not the one in charge, but I did mention it to Vivian.  She was surprised.  She didn't know it happened.  Well, now you do.  If she wants it back she will have it back.  She knows how to play the game.  We pretty much all voted to have the plexiglass stay.  None of the other locations have a complete set like we do.  We're the only branch, that I can think of, that hasn't had any plexiglass break.

Wednesday, April, 3, My aunt made me some enchiladas yesterday.  I told her to not assemble them, that I could do that when I was ready to eat them.  This morning I was trying to assemble two of them for breakfast, but I couldn't find the tortillas.  I looked and looked but I had to give up because the morning was getting late.  I got some waffles and threw a pair of them into the toaster oven.  It wasn't until just before I was going to leave for work that I thought to look in the pantry.  Sure enough, that's where they were.  And they weren't in plain sight.  My aunt does a lot of foolish things, but not telling me where the tortillas were is pretty foolish.  Now I know, so I can have a pair of enchiladas for lunch on Friday.

TheNewCute often has cold hands.  After lunch today we were at the desk when she put her hand out.  I thought that she wanted me to, "Give her five."  I paused and then slapped her hand.  I hit her hand and she winced in pain and said ouch.  She was like, "My hands were cold."  I didn't understand that she wanted me to warm her hands.  Hence giving her five.  I went on to warm her hands by rubbing them.

TheGirl told me the other day that she saw Dole Whip at the supermarket.  Specifically Vons.  I have yet to see it at my Pavilions, which is basically a fancier Vons.  I must admit, I had forgotten about looking.  Tonight I went by the Vons by TheGirl's place and sure enough it was there.  I had one after dinner.  It tastes good, but the consistency is more like an Italian ice rather than a Dole whip.  The whip is smoother when you get it from Disneyland.  This is harder.  Maybe it's a good idea to let it stand for a little while to have it melt a wee bit.  I'll have to test that idea on the next one I eat.

On a side note, Jack in the Box has their pineapple express promotion going on.  Which means pineapple shake time!  I checked, Jack has also introduced a new chicken sandwich with pineapple and bacon.  OMG, I must try it.

TheGirl and I went to the Yard House in Burbank for dinner tonight.  I ordered some tacos, which came with rice and beans.  They really hit the spot.  TheGirl got a veggie burger, which she didn't like too much.  Womp, womp.  When we go out the person who is buying dinner will pay for the mains and the first round of drinks.  That means that the other person can pay for the second round of drinks, if we have a second round.  And we almost always have a second round.  We always tell our server to put the second round on the other's check.  Most of the time it's OK, but lately we've been getting mistakes in accounting.  Tonight we had a mistake where TheGirl owed more, because one item was put on her check that was supposed to be on mine.  It's so frustrating.  Most of the time I just sign the bill, but I really should be more careful from this point forward.  Good thing TheGirl caught it.

Thursday, April, 4, After lunch on Thursdays I usually have about a half an hour to walk around the neighborhood.  Today after lunch I was shelping my bag, and my lunch pail, to the car when I realized that I had left my jacket on the seat at the circulation desk.  ARGH!  I wasn't going to go back and get it, so I just grabbed another one of my jackets that I keep in the car.  I put on my red Harrington jacket and also put on my English cap, because it was windy and my head was getting cold outside.  As I walked up the street I saw my reflection of myself in the window of the building next to the library.  I realized that I was wearing the same items that my uncle often wore when he would visit us in the States.  I had become my Uncle.  We were both fans of James Dean, and hence the Harrington jackets.  I do miss my uncle Gil.  He and I bonded many years ago during, what I call, my lost summer of 2005.  That was just before I found a job and started going to CSUN.  He and I would often eat at Hometown Buffet, and go to the Observatory.

Friday, April, 5, The load of book bins was light today.  Because of that I finished up the first part of the route pretty quickly.  I was at Grandview by 11:15am, if I recall correctly.  I had enough time to sit on the couch and take a quick nap.  Then I stayed at Brand for about two hours talking to TheNewCute.

A bunch of people, including TheGirl, sent me text messages telling me that the news had just announced that the 99 cent stores were all closing.  That fucking sucks.  I've noticed that when I've gone into the store lately that they had completely empty shelves.  I remember going to get some stuff at the Van Nuys location and a bunch of shelves were empty.  They were not doing well.  It still sucks, because I would get so many things from there.  I guess I can always go to the Dollar Tree or similar store in lieu of the 99 cent store.

I got the motivation to mount the security camera in the wash room after finding the mount for it in one of my drawers.  I was looking through that drawer because I was looking to change the batteries in the backyard camera.  It didn't seem to be working, so I decided changing the batteries might do the trick.  While looking for batteries that fell out of the packaging I noticed a box that was from the doorbell.  I wondered why I still had that box.  When I opened it I found a bunch of money inside.  There was a twenty dollar bill, and a five dollar bill, and then a whole wad of singles.  I haven't counted them, but there has to be more than fifty.  I can't even remember why I put that money there, but it's nice to know I have a bunch of money.  Maybe it was to be able to buy things in cash after society collapses.

While moving the security camera in the wash room I noticed a lot of dead ants on top of the new water heater.  About a week ago I noticed a swarm of ants in the area above the water heater.  I sprayed a bunch of bug spray on them.  There, they were dead.  This time I didn't spray them, but there were still a bunch of dead ants on the water heater.  I cleaned them off and continued my camera installation.  I think there's a nest in the area above the water heater.

When I was in my twenties I was hoping to sleep with a lady.  I didn't have a girlfriend, and I wouldn't lose my virginity until I was thirty.  Of course I didn't know that at the time.  So, I would jerk off.  At some point I got my hands on a magazine called "Men's Health."  It talked about a great many things, one of them being sex.  It would often mention lasting a long time to prolong the pleasure and to give pleasure to the woman.  It made the point that lasting longer would mean greater pleasure for all, but especially the lady.  Well, I went about training myself to last a long time.  I remember pacing myself, and counting the strokes.  Five hundred.  One thousand.  Two thousand.  If I was getting close to cumming, and the number of strokes was low I would either slow down or stop.  Sometimes stopping would do no good, and I would blow my load.  The majority of the times I could calm myself down enough that I wouldn't orgasm.  By that I taught myself to last longer, and not be a minute man.  Fast forward to about three years ago, when I come upon a video entitled "Cock Hero."  It was a try not to cum challenge video.  That first video really did the trick.  I lasted a good long time, but the pressure was high.  When I finally did cum I shot such a strong load.  One of the best orgasms I've ever had.  Top ten, for sure.  From time to time I will seek out one of these videos.  The other night was one such night, but the link I had was a dead link.  I figure it was taken down for copyright issues.  But, I found another, and it was good, but not as good as that first one.  They can really go one way or the other.  There are some that do some fancy combination of strokes.  Like one I watched the other night had beats of three fast followed by two slow strokes.  That was not pleasurable.  The best are the ones that mix a variety of speeds.  Like that first video I watched was choreographed by a genius.  He knew how to pace himself to get a mind blowing orgasm.  I wish I could find that video again, because for some reason the porn sites don't have a lot of good challenge videos.

With TheGirl not working many summer plans are up in the air.  I can't ask her to plan anything while she's unemployed.  For one thing, what if she has to work on the weekends?  What if she's still not working by September?  I wish I could find her a job.

Saturday, April, 6, I apparently peed myself last night.  When I woke up this morning I noticed my jerk off towel was on the floor.  When I picked it up it was slightly wet.  I wondered if I had spilled something on it, but the glass of water I have by my chair was not empty.  So, I smelled the towel and it smelled of urine.  Right under the towel was a pair of boxers.  They were slightly wet too, and smelled of urine as well.  How could this have happened?  Did I pass out and pee myself?  I won't know what happened, but sometime after I finished jerking off I peed myself.  That's nuts.  I must have been quite buzzed.  I wonder if I should turn on the security camera in my room after I jerk off to see what I'm doing sometimes.

After peeing myself last night I have to wonder how I became such a mess.  I didn't write about it, but about two weeks ago I noticed that the left side of my head, above the temple, was tender to the touch.  As if I had fallen.  I later noticed a bruise on my left arm, by the bicep.  Had I fallen and not remembered?  That does happen when you drink a lot.  I do drink a lot on weekends.  Just look what happened last night.

Sunday, April, 7, For the last month I noticed that the "nectar" I use for the hummingbird was turning clear from red.  I'm not sure why this was happening, but it was wrong in my mind.  I decided to get some better stuff online.  This new nectar is supposed to be all natural, and the closest to real nectar as possible.  They all say that, but so far so good.  Oh, and it's not red.  The dye is supposed to be bad for them.

I saw the girl in the striped yoga pants at the market today.  I mentioned that she looked like she gained a little weight, but I still love her body.  I am too much of a coward to go up to her and say something, but I should do it anyway.  But, I won't.

Monday, April, 8, I told myself that I wouldn't drink on a Sunday night, because I was late for work last week.  Well, surprise surprise, I overslept this morning because I drank and jerked off last night.  I was able to shower and eat breakfast though.  Not only that, but I was actually early to work.  Fifteen minutes early.  How did I manage that?  Either way, I did it, but I do have to not drink on a Sunday night.  Not just not to be late, but overall I need to drink less.

The big event at Central was viewing the eclipse.  I started the route by going up to Montrose.  This was at the beginning of the eclipse.  When I was up there the sky was a little dim.  I decided to go back to Central for a little bit.  I arrived a few minutes before 11am, which meant I was all set for the peak, which was said to be at 11:12am.  I would turn around from time to time to check out the progress.  There were a lot of people on the sidewalk in front of the library.  Some were waiting for a glimpse with the telescope.  Some were looking through their eclipse glasses.  The library ran out of glasses pretty quickly.  Joseph and I blew up some balloons to illustrate the size difference between the Earth and the Moon.  Then we illustrated how far they are from each other.  The Moon is about nine times the circumference of the Earth.  That's why he looks so far in the picture above.

The girl above is someone I helped at Adams about two years ago.  She's cute.  Today she was at Central for the ellipse event.  She was looking for glasses.  She had to settle for a light box.  I saw her looking through the box while she pointed it at the Sun.  I had to go help her.  I told her that wasn't the way to view it, then I offered my glasses.  She looked through the glasses, looked for a moment and handed me the glasses.  She turned around and left without saying a word, but she gave me a look.  I wish I knew what she was thinking.  What was that look about, I wonder.

I had this itch in my ear today and when I looked in the mirror I saw some ear hair.  I could feel it.  But when I took the above picture I didn't realize I had so much.  I could only feel the really long one in the middle of the picture.  The other two I didn't feel.  I got the tweezers from the first aid kit at Brand.  I blindly plucked and plucked until I could see in the pictures that all the hair was gone.  Why?  Why does this have to happen?  I hate ear hair!

I went over to TheGirl's as I always do on a Monday.  I noticed a new bump on Cheyenne's left hind leg that I didn't see before.  TheGirl tells me, "I didn't tell you about that?"  No.  She told me it's cancerous, and it will have to be removed.  Cancer?  Fuck.  Then TheGirl broke down and asked why this would happen to a good dog.  It's a good question in a world that's fair.  But this life isn't fair.  Far from it.  Good people, and good pets shouldn't ever be sick.  They should live long lives and die in their sleep one night after a LONG life.  But my mother didn't get that.  Cheyenne is not young, but obviously ten years isn't a lot.  That's how long TheGirl has had her.  That's how long I've known her.  She's a significant part of our lives.  TheGirl will be devastated when she passes away.  I'm trying to be positive and say that this is just a little scary thing we will endure.  She's going to be fine and live a good time still.  I can't say more than three years, because dogs don't live that long.  If they make it to fifteen that's old.  I'm so saddened today.  I looked at her a few weeks ago, which her grey snout and told her not to go anywhere.  And now this happens.  Fuck.  I know this is going to kill TheGirl and me.  Every time I think about it I start to cry.  But as I said, we have to stay positive.  It doesn't look like she has cancer anywhere else.  TheGirl told me it's a form of skin cancer.  She is going to have it removed next Monday.  Not soon enough.

Tuesday, April, 9, I'm scheduled to get an oil change in less than a couple of weeks.  When I go to the dealer they inspect the car and tell me what I need.  I know they will mention the tread of the tires on my car, because they are getting a little worn.  So, I figured that I would get some new tires to avoid them trying to up-sell me on some new tires from the dealer.  $220 for two new tires.

A new MILF showed up to the library today.  She told me she lived up the street, and wanted to visit the library more often.  She brought two kids with her, one of them a baby and the other eighteen months old, she said.  She was wearing jean shorts, and just like the last time a woman wore jean shorts she bent over at the waist and I got a eyeful.  Practically the full moon.  The picture above is a good reenactment.  The lady was a little more covered, but not much more.  The crazy thing is how it seems that the moon is targeted to my eyes.  Because I got a full unobstructed view.  She said that might come by for storytime on Thursday.  Crossing fingers.

Wednesday, April, 10, My coworker Tony was out yesterday, which meant no delivery.  We don't have a backup driver, so if one of us calls out they have no choice but to cancel delivery.  Though, I never call out.  The new guy was supposed to have been trained shortly after he arrived, nearly a year ago.  Oh well.  So I got to train him today.  He seemed to get it, because the route is sorta simple.  What happens is that when you're new you are apt to miss a step, and there are a lot of little steps.  Hell, I still miss a step once in a while.

When we got to Brand, TheNewCute told me that there will be a change in lunch plans on Wednesday.  This is because she was asked to close on Wednesdays.  That means she'll have her meal break at 4pm.  So, I guess I'll be eating alone on Wednesdays, but I'll probably still do my hang at the desk move.

Nothing lasts forever.  We've had a good run though, and we still have lunch on Fridays.  Our time together at work is kinda unique.

The library gave all of us a Stanley type metal cup for it being National Library workers week.  Yay, I guess.  I mean I don't mind getting this cup, but I don't need it since I already have a bunch of cups for work.

I saw one for Staice and I texted her so she knew about it.  She asked if maybe I could give it to her when we meet for lunch.  She suggested going with Misa.  I let her know, but man it's going to be hard to coordinate three people's schedule to have lunch together.  We will see.

I just had a thought... is Stacie inviting Misa too as a chaperone?

Thursday, April, 11, In order to get my tickets for tomorrow night's game I had to download some app called MLB Ballpark.  This is after I mistakenly downloaded the regular MLB app, in my confusion.  Why does there need to be two apps for baseball?  Why can't the same app that shows the scores carry the tickets.  What I ended up doing was downloading the Ballpark app.  It prompted me to verify my email, and then it allowed me to put the ticket into my Apple Wallet.  Why did I have to download an app if I was just going to be able to place the ticket in my wallet at the tap of a button?  What a waste of time.  Why couldn't I directly download the tickets from the email?  It's so stupid.

Friday, April, 12, As I got out the front door this morning I noticed about a dozen dead bees on the floor.  I'm not sure what is going on.  I did spot some bees hovering around the ventilation pipe on my neighbor's roof.  That might be unrelated.  Again, I have no idea why these bees are dead.  I've heard on the news over the last few years that the bees are dying.  They are drawn to the lavender plant right by the door, but what killed them?

As I walked up to the library I couldn't help but notice some new pipes in the back hallway.  I'm going to tell you right now, these pipes look horrible.  Why are they just hanging out there?  How did someone find this to be OK?  There has been a lot of awful construction during the last two renovations, but this takes the cake.  I mean this is absolute horseshit.  If this is the craftsmanship of this firm then I would worry about the rest of the construction.  How could they not hide these things?  Maybe they will, but they probably won't.

Work went by fast today, and it was time to get to Union Station to get some food and booze before the game.  I got there pretty quickly.  I parked and decided to try to get a drink at the bar in the lobby.  Well, I wasn't the only one that had that idea.  The bar was packed.  With My first option gone I decided to go with plan B, which was Denea's diner downtown.  I got onto the metro and exited at 7th and Figueroa.  The Google lady told me to turn North on Figueroa, but she forgot to tell me to turn on 6th street.  But I turned around and saw the Delphi hotel in my view.

I arrived at the diner and ordered a Manhattan and chilaquiles.  My waiter was slow.  When he came back with my food he was on the phone.  Like what?  Still, the chilaquiles were super good.  My Manhattan really hit the spot.

I headed back to Union Station to take the shuttle up to the stadium.  Because of the delay earlier when I went to the bar at Union Station, I was running a little late.  I didn't get to my seat until the bottom of the second inning.  That's fine.  I had a good dinner, and booze.

The game itself was just meh.  But it was good to be with my coworkers.  Sarah was a little tipsy.  Vagabundo appreciated my call of the game, I think.  The game went into extra innings, so it was getting late.  I told Vagabundo that I was leaving after the bottom of the tenth, win or lose.  Sure enough the Dodgers didn't score.  I was on the shuttle, about halfway to Union Station, when I saw one of the other passengers on the bus looking at an app that had the score as 8-7 in favor of the Padres.  I checked online after getting to the car and the Dodgers had lost the game.  Oh well.  I hot footed it home and I was home just a minute after 11pm.

Saturday, April, 13, I checked my bank account and I saw that my tax refund from the state had arrived.  Nice.  That helps with having a reserve amount of money for anything that might come up.  Like my upcoming oil change.  They will need to do more than change the oil on this visit.  Which means more money.

My cousins's husband Sergio had a stroke.  Last year was rough for him.  He had a bad liver and needed a transplant.  Well, last week he had that transplant, and now this happens.  It fell like everyone I know gets a step ahead only to get gut punched.  I know that's how 2024 has been feeling.  I was telling someone the other day that I was happy that I didn't have any major aches or pains.  Yeah, well, I do have other issues.  No aches, but my eyes are going.  I drink like a fish, which can't be good.  I feel so bad for my cousin and her husband.  My cousin said she and the girls were going to Arizona to visit him.  That's where he went for the transplant.  Godspeed.

One of the things I dread the most is when my aunt decides to take a seat on one of the chairs in my room.  Nothing good ever comes out of her being in my room for more than a minute.  She has stupid opinions that she likes to tell me.  I NEVER take her advice, but she still offers it.  ARGH, just leave me alone.

Sunday, April, 14, I ran into the girl with the striped yoga pants at the market.  Not just ran into, but found myself face to face with her for the first time.  She looked right through me, because I'm hideous.

I finished up making lunch for the week, and having dinner at the same time, when I noticed a strange feeling on my front tooth.  It's a chip.  My teeth are all fucked up.  I have that one molar that is crumbling.  I have the other molar that is being pushed out of place, and now this.  I'm falling apart.  I don't have the money to go to the dentist.  If I did I would force myself to go.  Because I do have issues with my teeth.  I don't like going to the dentist, because it leaves my wallet empty.  Much of the debt I still have on my mortgage is from the time I had to get my teeth fixed about a decade ago.  That cost me I don't know how many thousands of dollars.  Tooth problems never get better on their own, this is just going to get worse.  ARGH!

Monday, April, 15, I hadn't seen the roof guys in a while.  They are apparently back, and they are causing issues.  It rained this past weekend.  Not a lot, but enough that if you have a bad roof things will happen.  Well, the roofing dopes somehow let the water drain and it leaked from the lights in the upstairs study area.  Just great.  The running joke is now to say, "it was the lowest bid."  The more they "fix" the roof the more leaks that happen.

A couple of weeks ago one of the social media ladies asked if she could ride along with me on the route.  Sure, I said.  Today was the day.  I was asking to do a couple of things, but nothing crazy.  Before I knew it we were done with half of the route.  I didn't get to see the footage yet, but I'll certainly post it here as soon as I get it.

A couple of weeks ago one of the social media ladies asked if she could ride along with me on the route.  Sure, I said.  Today was the day.  I was asking to do a couple of things, but nothing crazy.  Before I knew it we were done with half of the route.  I didn't get to see the footage yet, but I'll certainly post it here as soon as I get it.

I went to TheGirl's to visit TheGirl and Cheyenne.  I thought she would have a cone around her head, but she didn't.  She did have a bandage around her leg, but she was doing well.  TheGirl isn't going to walk her very far until Wednesday or Thursday.  The tumor is being examined.  There is a level that indicates that it has not metastasized, and that's what we want to hear as the diagnosis.  We won't know until next week what the results of the tests will be.  The best outcome would be that the tumor was the only cancer, and that they extracted all of it.  Otherwise who knows.

Tuesday, April, 16, As I was getting ready to go to work I found that I was feeling cold.  I couldn't find myself to feel warm.  I put on my jacket while still inside the house.  Then when I got in the car I blasted the heater, because I was still feeling cold.  I've been loving the cooler weather, but today I wasn't feeling it.  Kinda a strange feeling, because I usually don't feel cold.

The city told us that a crew would be covering the street with an "asphalt slurry seal application."  I found an explanation on the county website as to why this is done.  "Slurry seal is typically applied on either an intermittent or cyclical basis. Location, weather, traffic loading, and pavement conditions are factors used to determine if a slurry seal application is appropriate."  OK.  I wish they would fix Haskell, because that street is trash.

Wednesday, April, 17, The sound of my aunt's cane is like hearing a twig snap in the darkness.  It's like hearing a creak on a staircase in the middle of the night.  It's like all the boogie men combined into one.  Last night I was dealing with the stupid AirPods not connecting to the computer when I heard her cane in the distance.  ARGH!  That was my thought, ARGH!, why is she still awake?  I try to not make too much noise when I jerk off.  Especially the TV sounds.  Which brings me to this.

The stupid AirPods wouldn't connect to the stupid computer.  I had some whiskey in me, so I became really angry and I slammed my AirPods onto the floor.  Of course, I broke them.  Now I have to buy a new pair, but I don't want to spend too much money, so I won't get another pair of Apple brand.  Besides, I have the new pros that I don't intend on using to connect to the computer.  Just the phone.  The reason I use the buds is to prevent any sound from the porn movies be heard by my aunt.

I continued to show Albert the ropes today.  Next week he drives while I direct.  It's not a hard thing, it's just getting used to the pattern.  For me it's like a muscle memory at this point.  I had a thought while on the route with Albert, what if I'm training my replacement?  Then I thought, no way.  He has his masters, there's no way he will want to drive full time.  Not only that, but while on the route today he mentioned that he went out for the children's librarian job at Central.  Interesting.

TheGirl mentioned earlier this week that she was craving Mexican food.  We were all set to go to Don Cuco's in Burbank when she remembered that the sun is pretty bad at this time of year on the patio at the Burbank location.  So, she suggested that we go to the Toluca Lake location.  We almost didn't get a seat, because the good corner table was taken.  She likes that one, because she has a better view of the street to see other dogs.  Cheyenne is not a social dog with other dogs.  She does not get along with bigger dogs than her.  She's fine with small dogs, but a dog of equal or larger size seems to trigger a response to some old trauma.

Still, we stayed and had a nice dinner.  I vacuumed my meal, because I was starving.  We didn't go for a walk after dinner, because Cheyenne is still recovering from the other day.  Also, TheGirl had to walk Henry, which is the dog she is being paid to walk.  It's one of the things that is keeping her afloat while she finds a new job.

Thursday, April, 18, There were even more dead bees outside my front door this morning.  There must have been about twenty to thirty of them.  Certainly enough that I noticed the difference from the other day.  I wonder what's going on.  I must consult the internet on this one.

I went for my usual Thursday after lunch walk around the neighborhood today, and I got to see what the other side of the street looked like with the new configuration to accommodate a bicycle lane.  I gotta tell you, the parking spots are really wonky and narrow.  It doesn't look like the planners of this change knows how wide the average car is.  I already see that cars are not fitting in the new spots.  As my coworker Mary says, "It's Glendale."

TheGirl sent me a text saying that it was not good news for Cheyenne.  Her tumor is grade two.  We were hoping for it to be a grade one.  The cancer is also aggressive.  TheGirl is going to take Cheyenne to the vet tomorrow to get her a chest x-ray.  The x-ray will let us know how much time she has to live.

Friday, April, 19, TheGirl texted me to tell me that the x-ray of Cheyenne's chest shows no cancer there.  She said the vet would like to have her have another x-ray in three months.  I don't know what all this means, but there is still a threat of her having the cancer from her leg spread to the rest of her body.  I guess I'll know more on Monday.

I broke down so many times today and cried thinking of Cheyenne.  I felt better after TheGirl told me about the x-ray.  Still, we have to figure out some things about when Cheyenne.  Like when she does get sick.  When we have to put her to sleep.  I think it's better to think about it when minds are clear and not when in the middle of grieving her loss.  I'll have to talk to TheGirl about this on Monday.

The route was pretty chill today.  I finished up a little early and cruised the last hour.  I forgot to mention that on Wednesday Stephanie was bouncing around looking really cute.  She has a really nice behind.

Tomorrow I'm going to take the car to get an oil change, and tonight I'm trying to think what I can get my aunt for breakfast.  The other day she mentioned that I wasn't supposed to work Sunday.  I should say toil.  I don't know what holiday she's talking about, but I don't care.  I have things to do on Sunday, and tomorrow.  So I'm wondering what I want to get her for breakfast.  I'm thinking McDonald's.  It's easier because it's close by.

Saturday, April, 20, It seems that every year I pay and pay for older car issues.  I still get off much better than having a car payment every month for years.  I'll gladly pay $1,400 once a year to get some car repairs rather than a $300 plus car payment once a month for five years.  No thanks.

They did an oil change today, but next week I'll have to bring the car back to the dealer to have the rear shocks replaced.  I mean, the car does need new shocks from what they showed me.

I was viewing some videos online when one of them mentioned that there was now a game emulator in the App Store.  I immediately went online and downloaded it.  Sure enough, it works.  Now I can play Heiankyo Alien anytime.  That's my favorite game on the Gameboy.  It's great to kill a few minutes.

When I went to the car dealer they showed me that the engine had orange rinds in the engine compartment.  That means that some animal is spending some time in the engine.  Probably to keep warm.  I ordered some repellent today, because I had some but not that much left.  I'm going to need more if I want to keep my engine safe.

Sunday, April, 21, My aunt asked if I could take her to Target today.  Ohhhh-kaaaayyy, if I must.  It wasn't a total nightmare, but it wasn't fun.  At the end she turns to me and asks how she should pay.  I'm like, I don't care.  She decided to pay with a check.  She asked me the date and I told her the twenty-first.  The check was rejected.  So I told her to pay with her card.  For some reason that was declined.  I finally just whipped out my phone and tapped to pay.  I looked at the check and in the date box she put April 1.  Shake my head.  Let's not do this for a while.

Going to Target pushed me going to the market to a later time.  This meant I missed possibly seeing the girl with the striped yoga pants, and the self-checkout girl.  Oh well.  I couldn't get my winning lotto tickets paid out, AGAIN, because there was a woman at that counter the entire time I was in the market.  When I walked in I noticed her, because she looked really nice.  So of course I couldn't miss her when I left and she was still at the customer service counter.  I wonder what her issue was.

I did a search on Instagram to tag an organization on an upload I did today.  In the search field there are suggestions.  One jumped out, because the girl is STACKED.  I checked out the reel that was on display and it held a secret in it.  Another image.  For one frame there was an image of the girl, but nude.  She has many such reels.  I hope she keeps up the good work.

Victoria Justice is absolutely gorgeous.  I exchange pictures of her with my buddy Vagabundo every day.  I've told him several times that I think she lives in my neighborhood.  I'm absolutely sure she lives in the Encino hills.  She posted a picture today that was in Encino.

I did a quick check of something and sure enough she took this picture on the corner of Ventura and Balboa.  There's a sushi place next to the Encino post office.  I think I would die if I actually ran into her.

Monday, April, 22, I had some drinks last night, and this morning I overslept again.  I said I wouldn't drink on Sunday nights, but I did it.  The thing is, all my alarms failed me.  I didn't drink that much.  But when I woke up I noticed that none of my alarms had gone off.  Or I shut them off, somehow.  Thankfully I only overslept a little bit.  I showered and got to work early.  I didn't have breakfast.

Because I didn't have breakfast I got hungry.  I went ahead and ordered a cheeseburger from Burger King.  I've said this before, the burgers there are getting worse and smaller.  Sure enough, today the burger was super tiny.  Worse, it wasn't even tasty.  I need to stop drinking on Sundays.  Also, all fast food is trash now.

The new branch labels are now in the wild.  Montrose had them on their outgoing bins today.  Nice!  I love how they look, despite still having that terrible logo.  I went ahead and "fixed" it by taking out the stupid drop shadow and the letters.  You could barely make out the letters.  This logo isn't perfect, far from it.  But it looks better.  A thousand times better.

I had to cover a shift at Pacific Park today, so Chan got to come in with me since he was in tow with me.  Everyone thought he was adorable.  Duh.  The person that designed him created perfection.

Talia's birthday is on Thursday.  I went ahead and bought her some flowers.  I think I keep getting her flowers for various things because I still want her in my life as a potential sex partner.  For my entire life since I've known her she's the only woman that consistently sleeps with me.  I know it's from time to time.  Like the last time I slept with her was like seven years ago.  I guess I think that it's an open door, but I don't go over there.  Not for years.  But I still buy her flowers.

Tuesday, April, 23, I know I keep repeating myself, but today is the anniversary of my photo shoot with TheDesire way back in 2011.  It was a significant event in my life.  There are times when I have been able to capture the beauty of the girl of my dreams.  I didn't get to sleep with her though.

Not going to lie, I loved TheDesire's butt.  There aren't many pictures like the one above, from that photoshoot.  That's because I didn't pose her like this.  She was following her friend's direction.  The few shots like this one are among my favorites, for obvious reasons.

A few months ago I saw myself in the mirror and I saw a fat fuck.  I decided that I would eat smaller meals, and do more walking.  Thanks to that I can say that I've lost weight.  I've lost enough weight that I may have to buy a new belt.  The one I have now doesn't have a smaller notch.  I pulled it the other day as far as my stomach was and there was no hole to put the pin in.  Having to buy a smaller belt is a good thing.

I want to take a trip to Solvang this year.  Not sure when, but I do want to go out there and stay at least one night.  I want to drink it up at the many wine tasting spots.  I wanna go to that roadside museum in Buellton as well.

I want to take more black and white pictures.  I wanted to take more film pictures, but instead I figured I would download an old app that I used to have on my phone.  Sure enough they updated the app, but the new one sucks, and costs money.  Thankfully I was able to get the old one, which I already paid for.  I took the picture above at the library today.  I think it came out pretty good.

Wednesday, April, 24, The new guy, Albert, drove with me on the route today.  Actually, he did the driving.  He was good.  This is the last time he'll drive with me.  The next time he drives he drives alone.  That's if we are absent.  I know I won't be, because thankfully I don't get sick.  Tony constantly calls out sick.  As a matter of fact he does it to use his sick hours, because as a part timer we don't get to carry over our sick hours.  That's fine.

Anyway, Albert did well.  Towards the end of the training day he says to me, "I'm glad I'm getting training, but I hope I never have to drive."  At least he's being honest.

While showing Albert the route details we went upstairs to check the mail in administration.  While there I noticed Krishna was up there, and when we walked in the office I saw the back of Jade's head.  I also spotted Mala.  The new assistant director was there, but I didn't see her from my viewing angle.  Jade later told me she was there.  He also said that they threatened his job, and that he's currently on a three month probation.  They are really out to get him this time.  He's slippery though.  He said he was going to complain to the city directly.  He certainly doesn't want to lose his job.

Jade is many things, and over the years he's been good with me.  However, I always hear stories about his disappearing and not doing his work.  He does disappear, but he is right about getting the job done.  I don't want to sound like I'm defending him, I'm not.  He has a long wrap sheet that speaks for itself.  I do wonder if some of the complaints about him are more about personality clashes rather than his work.  I guess we shall see if he survives.  He told me that years ago when they did a survey of where he wanted to be placed he put Pacific last on his list.  As you know, that's just telling them where they are going to send you.

TheGirl mentioned she was craving the Smokehouse for dinner tonight.  I'm game for the Smokehouse all the time.  I love their Reuben sandwich.  I usually give Cheyenne some.  But now that I think of it I don't think she did much begging tonight.  I know TheGirl was giving her yummy chicken from her salad.

We don't know how many more dinners we have with Cheyenne, so we want to make each one of them special.  When I arrived at TheGirl's place Cheyenne completely jumped me and I gave her a huge hug.  And I repeatedly kissed her and pinched her.  It's our thing.  I don't want to mourn her when she's alive, because I think that will diminish the time we have with her.  I just want to enjoy that time as much as possible.  I want to interact with her as much as possible.  I want her to know how much she means to me.  How much I love her.

Thursday, April, 25, There are crews working up and down Brand blvd. outside of the library making a bike lane.  The idea is that there would be a bike lane and that one traffic lane would be taken out.  There is an idea in urban planning that installing bike lanes creates motivation for people to use bikes instead of cars for trips.  That's the theory, but will it work in Glendale?  Glendale has the highest car insurance rates in the nation because of the notoriously bad drivers.  Hell, a car crossed in front of me as I was in the crosswalk.  The fucker didn't stop her right turn even after I put my hands up as if to say what the fuck!

There are already problems with the new layout.  One, people keep making their own parking spots in areas that are not parking spots (see above).  Two, the parking spots are too small.  I don't know what car they measured to paint the lines, because so many dopes drive SUVs that are wider than the spots provided.

The other side of the street has the necessary barriers to prevent the cars from parking in the bike lane.  They have K rails.  Ideally there would be a curb there, but this might be a better solution, because the K rails are easier to see.  They still need to install K rails on the West side of the street.

Despite having K rails on the East side of the street there are still dopes that make their own parking spot nowhere near the actual parking spot.  Like this dope who parked in an area that's a driveway.  The main problem is that the project took away parking spots, and the spots that are there are smaller.

Friday, April, 26, People have said that marketing is trash.  I've said it myself.  Here's proof (see above).  The flier above has two events.  One for May 14th and the other for April 23rd.  April 23rd, three days ago.  Three... days... ago.  What took them so long to get this flier printed?  Because I'm sure that it wasn't because the graphics department couldn't do it.  Though the marking lady has said that graphics had fallen behind.  I know that in the past the graphics crew has told me that marketing sends them files rather late.  They often have to rush to get the job done that same day.  In other words, I know that the fact that this flier is late is because of marketing.

There is more and more paint on Brand blvd. every day in regards to the bike path.  I'm not sure why there is a random green box in the area that is next to the bike path.  There is still a lot of work to be done on the street.  They said that the work would continue until the middle of May, so we still have about three weeks to see the final product.

I got a text from TheDesire asking for some help with a video she took for her library's social media.  I asked her for the file to edit, because she did clip the end of one of the videos.  I sent the file to my iPad and worked on it there.  I didn't really have to do too much, just make sure that the clip was tight.  So I clipped a bit from the front of the video and a bit from the end.  Voila.  I like her reaching out to me for these things.  It's nice to be needed.

I have wanted to find a better way to write on my iPad, and I think I got it right now.  I have a Bluetooth keyboard that is not the best, but it works for my purposes.  I think in the future I need to get a nicer keyboard.  For now, this works.  Also, because my chair is comfortable I'm able to not think about it.  The last few days of journal entries have been done mostly on my chair with this set-up.  I think I'm able to write more here than even on my desk.  Maybe.

Saturday, April, 27, I took my car to get an oil change last week.  In the process they found that the back shocks were leaking.  They didn't have the part so they ordered it and I was to bring the car this week.  Sure enough, that's what happened.  I decided to take the bus home.  I had all these plans to pick up some food along the way, but the couple of places that looked good weren't open at the time I left the dealer.  I got on the bus and went on my merry way home.  The bus took me to the North Hollywood station of the Metro, but instead of going on the subway I decided to walk to the Universal station.  It's just over two miles, I checked.

The walk to the Universal station was nice.  I didn't encounter too many homeless people.  What's best is that I got the chance to take a lot of pictures. 

As I said before, I had a notion to pick up some food on the way home.  The two places I looked at for food weren't going to be open, so I figured I would just go to IHOP.  The cute waitress from years ago was there and looking great.  Her butt looks amazing.

My aunt has questions about her funeral plans.  She has this idea that despite paying all her premiums to her policy that I will have to pay more when she passes away. I mean it's possible, but she needs to ask Forest Lawn, not me, about those details.  She just won't shut up about it.

Sunday, April, 28, The best security guard at the Glendale library was a man named Rene.  He left two years ago.  I'm pretty sure that he knew that the library was on a big downhill ride.  I know he left because of how he felt the library administration let him and the other security guards down.  He and I would talk about how administration wouldn't back the guards or the social workers.  He had had enough.

TheGirl and I took a friend of hers to lunch at Hail Mary pizza today.  It was good times.  I thought he didn't have a good time, but TheGirl informed me later that he, Rob, said he wants to do it every weekend.  That's nice, but TheGirl doesn't have a job, and I have bills I need to pay before having bunch every Sunday.

After lunch we went back to TheGirl's place where I got to chill out with Cheyenne.  I'll get to see her again tomorrow.

Monday, April, 29, On my way back from the car dealership on Saturday I picked up some food from IHOP.  I got myself a sandwich and my aunt a waffle.  But because she was celebrating Passover she couldn't eat the waffle.  I figured I would eat it today.  It hit the spot, but it was big.

Speaking about food, I only ate once yesterday.  I went to lunch with TheGirl and her friend.  But I didn't eat dinner after that, and I wasn't really hungry.  Strange.  I rarely go through the day without having at least two meals.  Although, I did have that tart at the bakery after leaving the pizza joint.

The children's room renovation requires that the library be closed for about a month.  There are things the construction crews need to do without having patrons in the building.  The employees can stay, but the public can't be inside.  Well, they told us today what time period the library will be closed: May 24th to June 19.  Vagabundo and I predicted that it would be a month.  Originally they said two weeks.  Yeah, right.  I wrote my supervisor an email about my hours, because I assume my hours won't be cut.  If anything, I'll be more busy, because all the holds are going to be transferred to the Casa Verdugo branch.  I'm not worried about my hours though, despite my supervisor basically saying we'll see.  She just doesn't get it that the books will keep us busy on the route.

That cute girl that brings the special needs people to the library was standing outside of the library as I arrived from the route.  I stopped the van and waved at her.  She waved back.  I tried to get the courage up to ask her for her number.  But before I got out of the van she lifted her phone to her ear and walked away.  Womp, womp.  That super sucked.  Yet another gut punch.

When I got home tonight my aunt says to me, "I got my dates wrong.. it turns out that I can't eat bread today."  Whatever.  She told me that she considered vomiting the bread that she accidentally ate.  I mean come on, you already sinned.  Throwing it up won't help you.

I'll be so glad when Passover was over.  My aunt hasn't washed the dishes for days, because according to her she can't do any work.  It's usually the orthodox that claim one should not work during this period of time.  My aunt takes everything to the Nth degree.  It's very frustrating to deal with her and her religion.  She often gets the details of her religion wrong.  She gets dates wrong.  And she will constantly tell me that it's a full moon when it's not.  Just because her calendar says so.  I have told her many times that her calendar is wrong.

Tuesday, April, 30, A few weeks ago one of the social media ladies asked if she could film me while I ran the route.  Sure, I told her.  Two weeks ago she filmed me running half of the route.  Today that reel was posted (see above).  TheNewCute said that it made my job look easy.  I joked back that it was so easy that the new guy Albert doesn't even want to do it.