Afterthoughts: This Past Month

I know I'm like a broke record, but time is flying.  I repeat, I can't believe it's already October.  On to the newest update.

Sunday, September, 1, There are stages of grieving.  One of them is anger.  When TheNewCute told me she was quitting and going back home I went through denial and depression right off the bat.  Then came bargaining, where I was telling Gitmo that he could tell her that she could take a leave of absence instead of just out and out quitting.  I think I've accepted the reality of her leaving, but I didn't really go through anger.  I mean, I was a little angry at her ex-boyfriend for being a total dope and losing her.  Because, if he had been a good man to her she would have stayed.  I now realize I am going through anger, because of the response I made to her text message today.  I have been texting her since her last day at work, last Tuesday.  I've been trying to keep her in the loop, and all I got was silence.  I wrote about how I guess meant this was the end of our friendship.  I now realize that I'm angry.  Angry that she left.  Angry that she didn't text me back.

Let's back-up for a moment.  TheNewCute finally texted me tonight.  She said that she made it home.  I responded with a thumbs up emoji.  I'm angry.  Angry that she didn't text me before now.  Angry that she left.  Angry that I had nothing to offer her to stay.

I don't know what the future will bring with TheNewCute.  I had so many plans to keep in touch with her.  She has an iPad, so we could FaceTime.  If not, I was going to email her voice messages.  If not, I was going to have her download any sort of app where I could send her voice messages.  I still don't know if any of this is going to happen.  Most likely it won't.  Oh well.

I put bird seed in the bird feeders at 6:30pm last night, because I wanted to beat the little bird that likes to perch itself on the feeder.  I checked a little before sunset, which was at 7:15ish.  Sure enough, the little bird was there.  It was still light out enough that I was able to get some pictures.  Not light enough to get good pictures, so I had to use the camera flash.  I hate using the camera flash.  However, it did help me get a better picture of the little bird.  As you can see from the picture above, the little bird seems to have a growth on the right side of its beak.  I'll have to check online to see what the growth might be.  I feel for the little bird.  Birds bring joy to my life.  My ducks were so wonderful.  I feed the birds in my backyard because I love to see them fly around.  I know I can't help them, except to feed them.  Sigh.

Ilsa suggested that we go to Carmel for Thanksgiving.  I'm not sure I'm up to going all the way there in order to not do anything, due to her taking her dog.  Like last time.  I suggested going to Solvang.  It's a shorter drive, and it's nice up there too.  Not much to do, except booze it up.  Which is what I want to do.  But, I do want to go see that roadside museum.  I'll have to call to see if they are open that weekend.  Otherwise why even go?

While at the 99 Ranch market I found a Coke from China that was strawberry flavored.  I didn't know what to expect, but it was good.  The strawberry flavor is subtle.  Often when they make these flavored sodas and the added flavor overwhelms the soda.  This one is not like that.  It's good.

I went to the market, three markets actually, in order to get all the ingredients for Reuben egg rolls.  I had them up in Carmel and they were tasty.  The process wasn't hard.  It was pretty much assembly.  It took about two hours with the cooking time in the air fryer.  They came out good, but next time I need to get better pastrami.

Monday, September, 2, I went online to check on various meals that I could make for work lunches in the future.  While checking I found a video where they were making homemade ginger ale.  The steps were pretty simple.  Take some ginger, cut it up and boil it.  Then add some sugar and cool.  Once cool, pour it over ice and add soda water and boom... homemade ginger ale.

I added one cup of sugar per two cups of ginger.  The original recipe called for equal parts sugar to ginger.  But I felt that would make it too sweet.  I could always add more sugar after.  There's no way to take it out.  Well, the mixture was very gingery.  It's not quite what you get at the grocery store.  Rather it's more raw and real.  On the video I watched they pointed out that the leading ginger ales on the market don't contain any real ginger.  Most just have ginger flavoring.  Some are derived from ginger, but others are pure science.  I'll take my homemade ginger ale, thank you very much.

There's only one way to put it... TheNewCute is ghosting me.  Oh well.  I guess there's nothing I can do.  Vagabundo tells me how Misa doesn't text him back, and now it's my turn to be ghosted by a coworker.  I know that technically we're no longer coworkers, but I thought TheNewCute and I had a nice friendship going.  Looks like I was wrong.  TheNewCute had to change her phone number, and I'm pretty sure she didn't update many people from Glendale.  Last week Vivian mentioned that she texted TheNewCute and didn't get an answer.  I told her it wasn't TheNewCute ghosting her, but rather that she had a new phone number.  On second thought I think TheNewCute might want to make a clean break from everyone in California.  Perhaps she didn't have intentions of giving me her new number.  You know that old saying about actions saying more than words.  That's what is happening here.  TheNewCute's actions tell me she doesn't seem to want a connection with me.

Tuesday, September, 3, I was in the kitchen this morning looking out the back window.  I noticed that there were no birds at the feeder.  Normally there are a bunch at this hour.  I looked up and right on the clothes line was a hawk.  Bold as life (see above).  Yeah, that explains why there weren't any birds around.

I arrived at work at Casa a little before 1pm, which is when I start my shift.  When I went inside it was hot.  The A/C was not working - AGAIN.  The library was never one that was very cool.  The city really needs to commit to fixing the A/C problem at Casa.  The temperature hovered around 80 degrees the entire day.  The library is supposed to be a cooling center.  People came in today expecting the temperature to be cool, only to find the temperature wasn't that cool.  The joke was on them, and on me for thinking how it was going to be cool at work today.  Oh sure, it's better than being outside.  However, other locations are like freezers.  Why can't I work in a freezer?

When I got into work I had another surprise, a huge mess in the community room.  Apparently despite the A/C not working it still created condensation that apparently couldn't drain, because the drain was clogged.  You can't write this shit.  The leak in the community room left a huge mess.  What a surprise.  All of the damage without any of the benefit of having a working A/C unit.

I convinced Ilsa that going to Solvang was better than going to Carmel this year.  I think it's better to go closer to home.  Besides, there is something I want to do in Buellton.  But, I have to check if that place is open that particular weekend.  If not I will have to go up another time by myself. I booked us a room at the Wine Valley Inn and cottages.  It's a nice looking joint from the outside, but I've never stayed there.  I'm coming up with an itinerary, unlike when we went to Carmel.  I rather have some structure to my trips, so I can have fun without having to think on the fly what is to be done.  When I went to Carmel with Ilsa I played it by ear, but I think we missed out on so much.

I talked to my buddy tonight after work.  The subject of TheNewCute came up.  I told him how she hasn't been texting me that much.  Here or there, but nothing consistent.  I told him what I mentioned here before, that perhaps she wants to make a clean break.  Perhaps she didn't really want to give me her new phone number.  Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.  He mentioned that he sent her a text message last week, but it basically stayed in limbo.  We figured out that his text was sent after she got her new number.  Did TheNewCute bother to send anyone her new number, other than me?  Not that I know of.  Well, Vagabundo and I have both made up our minds that she's gone.  I told him how someone said I was acting as if she had died.  I mourned her like that for a bit.  I think I knew inside of me that her move would mean that I would never see her again.  I thought we would talk on the phone here and there via FaceTime.  Now I know none of that is going to happen.

Wednesday, September, 4, When I walk up to the library I often see a cute girl that works at the Adult Recreational Center next to the library.  I think I've mentioned her here before.  I failed to mention a new girl that appeared just a few weeks ago.  I think she's Latin.  What I do know is that she is attractive.  I also know that she puts up a wall between her and the world.  Or maybe just between her and me.  I would like to chat her up, despite knowing it wouldn't go anywhere.  So maybe it's best not to get my hopes up.  Ever.

As predicted, the route goes much faster now that TheNewCute isn't an influence.  For one thing, this past year I would go to Montrose and then to Pacific Park.  I would take the freeway to Pacific Park, so lessen the time.  Again, to be able to arrive at Brand in order to have lunch with TheNewCute.  Today I still went to Pacific after Montrose, but I didn't take the freeway.  I wanted to spend a little more time, so I took the streets.  Mission accomplished.

The A/C still isn't working at Casa.  The solution for the heat.  Oh that's easy.  Set up a portable A/C unit to throw some cool air at the problem.  Only problem is it needs venting.  Solution?  Open the doors to vent the exhaust.  You say that also lets in all the hot air from outside, effectively nullifying the efforts of the portable A/C unit.  You don't say.

I was checking my email on one of the computers at circulation when Junior walked by to use the other computer.  The conversation was light.  Then I don't know what subject came up that she turns and says to me, I thought you were dating TheNewCute.  I laughed.  Meanwhile, TheNewCute won't even text me.  I didn't volunteer that information to Junior.  I wonder how many other people thought that TheNewCute and I had something going.

TheGirl and I went to the Smoke House in Burbank, because it was so hot.  We knew they would allow us to take Cheyenne inside the restaurant.  Even the patio was going to be too hot tonight.  There was no way we could have been out on the patio tonight.  It was just too damn hot.

Thursday, September, 5, When I got home last night I found that all the doors were open.  It was not cool at all in the house.  On hot days like this it's best to just leave the doors closed.  But my aunt doesn't get it.  She never gets it.  I told her tonight not to open the doors unless it's ACTUALLY cooler outside.  She can't ever figure out what that means.

The A/C still isn't working at Casa Verdugo.  They took out the portable A/C unit, because of course it didn't work.  I saw the city guys working on the A/C unit on the roof, but that didn't matter.  The A/C was still not working.  It didn't work the entire day.  It started out kinda cool in the morning, but steadily got warmer as the day went on.  When I left work at 7pm the temperature inside the library was 86 degrees.  Unacceptable.  Oh, but it is acceptable to the city.

Friday, September, 6, Ever since TheNewCute left I've wanted to change a few things.  Certainly I changed the route to be more in line with what the route was before I modified it to spend more time with her.  In the spirit of change I decided to get rid of the old interdepartmental envelopes we used to use on the route.  I know for sure that we have not used these since the pandemic, and for sure since the reopening from the last renovation.  That was easily 2017.  They take up space, and no one uses them.  So, I decided to take them to the dumpster.  I was going to take them to the one downstairs, but I have one in front thanks to the construction going on now.  Goodbye envelopes.  You served your purpose long ago.

The new guy, Solomon, asked to talk to me after the morning huddle.  He told me of a new thing they are doing to track the amount of bins that are coming in and out on delivery.  Not sure the purpose of this count, but OK.  I took it at face value.  For the moment.  As I thought about it during the day I came to the conclusion that it's bullshit.  Like so many things at the library.  Side note, it seems that the bullshit is piling up higher and higher at an exponential rate now.  Just when I think it can't be any higher, or stupider, it gets higher and stupider.  I found a bit of a flaw in the count.  Solomon and my supervisor Nancy want to have Tony and me count the outgoing and incoming bins, with counts for each of the branches.  Only problem is we don't have a way of counting what is incoming to branches, because all the branch items are collected in the branch bins.  So we can only count what is incoming to Central and in general to the branches.  I'll have to explain this to them next week.  Clearly this shows they don't know what we do on the route.

The leak at Casa has been fixed, supposedly.  The acoustic tiles have been replaced.  So yeah, if only they could fix the A/C that quickly.  Never happened.  When I left work the outside felt like a blast furnace.  I mean it was stupid hot.  108 degrees in the Valley, according to my phone app.

Last night the little bird didn't show up at the feeders.  I suspect, but have no evidence for this idea, that my aunt might have scared it off.  She's often messing around in the backyard doing I don't know what.  Thankfully the little bird was on the feeder tonight.  I raced out there before 7pm to add seed to the feeders, and hoped that the little bird would show up.  When I checked later in the night I saw that it was there.  I have been wanting to name the bird, so tonight I asked ChatGPT for suggestions.  After asking about birds in mythology ChatGPT suggested the names Dusk and Scout.  I liked Scout, so the bird shall now be referred to as Scout.

Saturday, September, 7, Last night I jerked off to an old video.  In the late 90s I was buying porn movies on VHS.  I remember ordering them from the back of a porn magazine.  They had ads in those days that said buy two get one free.  I went ahead and bought a few.  One of them contained a movie called "Where the boys aren't."  It's one in a series of lesbian movies.  It contains a scene between Christy Canyon and Racquel Darrian in which Racquel uses a strap-on on Christy.  I remember my mind being blown.  Christy is one of the hottest porn stars I've ever seen.  She had it all.  Pretty face... big tits... great ass.  She was the complete package.  To watch her getting fucked is amazing.  When I first saw this scene I had probably seen other scenes with women using strap-ons, but this one blew my mind.  Christy looks amazing in the scene.  She was at the peak of her powers and beauty.  She has other great scenes that I've seen over the years, but this one was a game changer for me.  I did a screen capture of the scene and edited out part of it.  In the scene Christy comes into Racquel's room where they talk about Racquel having sex with the lady landlord.  That starts a whole contrivance where now Christy and Racquel have sex.  Interspersed into their scene is a girl who is supposedly listening from the room downstairs.  She gets so worked up that she masturbates to the sounds of Christy and Racquel having sex.  I cut that part out, because I think it's just used for padding.

I ordered some Zankou for dinner today.  I got myself a lule plate, and got my aunt some chicken shawarma.  As I inhaled my meal I noticed that my aunt wasn't touching her shawarma.  I'm sure she didn't even taste it.  She only ate the salad.  Of which she sprinkled her cumin salt mixture on it.  I find that when she doesn't like something she just sprinkles cumin on it.  Terrible.  I asked if she didn't like it, and she claimed that she was more in the mood for the salad.  Yeah, sure.  I'll never order her that again.

Scout didn't show up tonight.  I hope it's OK.

Sunday, September, 8, My aunt didn't touch the shawarma I ordered yesterday, so today I just said fuck it and took a handful and topped some nachos with that shawarma.  It really hit the spot.  I don't see how she didn't want to eat that yesterday.

My aunt did eat some of the shawarma at dinner.  She still has half a burrito from yesterday in the fridge.  And it's not like she's not hungry.  As I write this she's in the kitchen warming something up in the toaster oven.  It's 10:03pm.

The Algorithm likes to play jokes on me.  The latest joke, that's been happening for a few months now, is how my aunt is always where I'm going to be.  Today, I home from the market.  I bought some seed, which is stored in the washroom.  There's a cabinet there where we store the seed.  I go into the wash room and boom, she's standing right in front of where the seed goes.  I mean randomly just standing there.  She was putting furniture polish on a rag.  Again, randomly doing that.  I threw the seed on the dryer.  Earlier I was about to go to the market when I needed to use the restroom.  Of course she's in there, doing I don't know what.  I've chronicled my frustrations with my aunt always being in the bathroom at night, and having to use a piss jug.  It's super frustrating.  Honestly, everything she does frustrates me these days.

Monday, September, 9, I really shouldn't be surprised by any building issue that happens at Central.  I've railed against the idea of keeping the building.  I think that the city should have raised the building and built a nice new building with all the modern amenities.  Instead the city wanted to keep the old building, despite it being nearly fifty years old.  That's not old, but with a building that has as many issues as this one does, it sure feels old.  Renovations just introduce more problems on top of the old problems, compounding them.  The lights are a fucking mess.  I've never been to a building that is half lit like this one is.  The old lights were in need of a change, but at least they worked.  These new LED lights are a fucking mess.  And that's saying something.  Because LEDs are supposed to be easy, and long lasting.  But when the city is run by a bunch of morons that don't know what they are doing you get faulty lights that flicker until they die.  Today there were six lights that were flickering.  I don't think I've ever seen that many lights flickering at the same time.  Two or three, yes, but six, no.  That is the legacy of the people that went before.  The clueless directors that didn't care.  The city managers that probably pocketed money from the projects.  This would explain a great many things.  The city is hanging on by a thread, like many places are.  We have a skeleton crew at every location.  But the motto is to do more with less.  Pile on work on the workers who stayed.  There was a meme a while back about the workers that first leave.  They are the canary in the coal mine.  Leaving is an indication that things are going bad.  What is left are those who can't get out, and the bad workers.  We certainly have a mix of those.  I'm one of those who have tried to leave, but no one wants me.  I'm capable, but I think that other systems think I'm too old.  I've aged out.  So, I stay.  I have no choice.  I do have it good.  I do worry how long the gravy train can last.  The winds indicate change.  I have survived four different department heads.  I want to think of myself as a survivor.  That's why I choose to make this month Silent September.  Like my buddy said many moons ago, it's best to fly under the radar.  I've never been that way.  I have to be now.

I was going to open the front door, when my coworker asked me to open up the auditorium for her.  I ran up and the lights were off.  I told her I had to open the front door, but that I would be right back up to help.  She mentioned that she had a story time today.  Fuck!  I heard that the lights were out last week in the auditorium, but I thought they were back on.  Nope.  After opening the two out of four doors that actually work, I ran back upstairs to try to get the lights back on in the auditorium.  Meryl came up with an email from the new guy, Solomon, with instructions to reset the breakers in the control room.  I followed the instructions, but nothing happened.  I noticed that the right side of the panel had other breakers that were tripped.  So, I went about resetting them.  I turned my head to the left and low and behold, the lights were slowly coming back on.  Mission accomplished!

I walk out into the hallway and some guy from the construction crew is asking about the lights.  He starts telling me that I have to tell the construction supervisor about how I turned on the lights.  I've never seen this guy before, but he kept on insisting that they had nothing to do with the lights in the auditorium being out.  I keep quiet.  The only thing I say is that I admit to being the one that turned on the lights in the auditorium.  Another construction guy comes up, and Dan, the construction supervisor asks him if they messed around with the panel in the control room.  He mentions that they don't have access to that room, just like the first guy later says.  The first guy says that he saw some city guy messing around with the panel in the hallway.  I stay quiet.  I just acknowledge that I tripped the breakers in the control room in order to turn on the lights in the auditorium.

After the route I bumped into James, one of the city electricians, and I tell him the story.  I tell him that one of the construction guys was trying to wash his hands on the whole auditorium lights thing.  I tell him how the construction guy kept saying that they didn't have access to the control room, and how they didn't mess with anything that would affect the auditorium.  I also tell him that one of the other guys said that he was ONLY working on the emergency lights.  James then says that that box connects to the lights in the auditorium.  Bingo!  So it wasn't the city guys that messed things up, it was the construction crew.  And this is where I say, to be fair, the panels all over the second floor are cross connected like a Christmas tree.  James thanks me for telling me this little bit of information.  He is going to take it to his boss.  Nice.

Once again, I am Johnny on the spot.

Tony and I were told last week that we needed to keep track of the number of bins going in delivery.  Today was the day we started this useless activity.  I'm not sure what the purpose of this is.  Someone suggested it might be a way of keeping tabs on the drivers.  There are better ways.  Someone mentioned it might be a way to justify the end of floating.  I guess we shall see.

I got TheGirl a security camera for her birthday.  Stupid me forgot the darn thing at home this morning.  Which meant I couldn't give her the camera tonight.  I'll have to give it to her on Wednesday.  Sucks to suck.  It's so strange, because I had it right with my work stuff.  But I guess I was in such a hurry this morning that I just forgot it.  Stupid me.

Tuesday, September, 10, It was fucking hot today.  Even in the library, because the A/C was busted.  It was so hot that Gitmo was considering closing for the day.  I was wilting.  Eventually Gitmo did call for the closure and the administrators allowed the closure.

Gitmo told me I could go to Central to finish up my shift.  I thought about going home, but Gitmo made the point that I would be hitting traffic.  So, I went to Central for a couple of hours.  While I was there I shelved some books.  For a night I was the most expensive library page in the system.  When I left at 7pm it was nice out.  Not only was the weather actually cool, the sun was setting.  The days are getting shorter.  I love that.  I'm the weird one that likes it when it gets dark a little earlier in the day.  Maybe not dark at 5pm, but certainly at 7pm it's nice.  I'll get about a month of getting off work and it just getting dark.  After that I'll be leaving in the dark.

I lost another friend.  First it was TheNewCute, and now it's a lady named Jennifer.  I met Jennifer when I was working at San Marino.  She was cute, so naturally I wanted to get to know her, and sleep with her.  She was married, still is, but we hung out from time to time.  We went to the Huntington library on a couple of occasions.  Had lunch at Beeman's, and went to that Japanese garden in Pasadena.  That was the last time we hung out.  I thought we had a good friendship.  But, today she dumped me because I didn't talk to her on the phone.  I like sending people voice messages via the phone.  Jennifer did not.  She called while I was on the phone with my buddy, and that put this whole thing over the edge.  We've had a falling out before.  I thought we were past that.  Let this be a lesson to you all.  Women hold a grudge.  They never forget being slighted.  She left me a voicemail, which I'm sharing here.  Oh well, I'm not going to worry about this.  I'm done caring about dopes.

Wednesday, September, 11, There is an upcoming exhibit at Brand that is a big deal.  The city sent about ten city workers to Brand today to spray wash, paint and repair the exterior of the library.  I have to say, I can't remember the last time the Brand library looked so good.  It was all hands on deck for the city guys.  I think every guy that works for maintenance was at Brand today.

Today it seemed like every dummy was walking across the garden next to the employee entrance.  These dummies trample all over the garden, and the plants there are all dead thanks to these dopes.  Not only that, but these dopes think that the side door, that clearly says it's for staff only, is the entrance to the library.  I couldn't take it, so I took a couple of construction delineators and placed them in a place where people would understand that they aren't welcomed to walk through there.  I don't know how long this is going to last, but it kept dopes from interacting around me while I emptied the van of the delivery items.

TheGirl and I decided almost a week ago that we would go to Dog Haus in Burbank for dinner tonight.  We hadn't been there in a long time, until a few weeks ago when we found out we could take our own wine with us.  And no corking fee, either.  Now that we can bring our own booze Dog Haus will return to our regular dinner rotation.

Thursday, September, 12, I was sitting in my room eating my breakfast when I felt a bounce in my chair.  Moments later the house was shaking and my phone was warning me about an earthquake.  Initially the alert said it was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Malibu.  We had a similar earthquake last year centered in Malibu.  This one was stronger.

The weather turned nice yesterday.  The nice continued today.  I have been looking forward to cooler weather, that's for sure.

There's a guy that we call CD guy, because he checks out dozens of CDs each week.  A few weeks ago I told my coworkers to not print out all the slips for the CDs, because it's a waste of time.  Some bozo printed out all the CDs that arrived yesterday.  It was easily fifty or sixty CDs.  And I had to unwrap all those CDs one by one.  If I go in next week and see the CDs with the slips I'm going to take them out before the CD guy shows up.  Fuck this shit!

Vivian told me about a meeting she attended with a bunch of the librarians and the new guy, Solomon.  She mentioned that Solomon talked about wanting to phase out floating.  I'm with that, all the way.  Floating was a piece of shit idea the way AD implemented it.  Because it was the worst kind of implementation, with almost no planning.  At least that's how it came off, because every book floated to whatever branch it was checked into.  That meant that some branches would get more volume due to their location and popularity.  So locations like Montrose and Casa Verdugo would get more books than Chevy Chase and Adams Square.  This is why Casa has shelves that are bursting, because that branch gets a lot of returns.  Returns that may have once belonged to Central or even Montrose.  Well, hopefully Solomon will make the right choice.  But, knowing how things are these days things will go awry.

Friday, September, 13, I got into work and started working on the bins that were going out to the branches.  I focused my attention to the Brand library bins, because they ALWAYS have rubber bands on the CDs and books.  It's so stupid that the people who check in these items can't take the rubber bands off.  The picture above shows how many rubber bands I took off the items going to Brand.  Anyway, nothing is going to change.

I told myself to check the branches for the location cards TheNewCute and I made earlier this year.  We made a bunch, but for some reason I only had about a dozen I was juggling between branches.  When I got to the Chevy branch I looked in the back room and found the lot of location cards.  Over forty of them, just sitting there in their little box.  Chevy doesn't need but a couple, so for them to hoard these was nothing short of being an asshole.  I took them, and from now on I'll know not to trust them with any more than a couple.  And I'll make sure to check their back office for them.

Saturday, September, 14, Last night I bought the newest iPhone, and a ticket to Disneyland in October.  Ilsa wanted to go to Disneyland, and I wanted to go for Halloween.  So, we're going.  I booked us reservations for Carnation Cafe and Olga's Cantina.  Good times to come.

I can't wait for the new phone to arrive.  I finally got one of the fancy iPhones, with the really good cameras.  I want to be able to zoom into things, and also have a wide angle capability.  Two things I don't currently have with my SE 2.

Shake Shack is closing nine locations in Los Angeles.  Here's part of the story from Eater dot-com.

Shake Shack has grown steadily across Southern California since expanding to West Hollywood in 2016.  That strategy might've proved too ambitious, as the company announced the closure of five Los Angeles-area stores, including Culver City, Silver Lake, Koreatown, Bunker Hill, and Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park, reports Nation's Restaurant News.  The Southern California closures are part of nine overall across the company due to lower sales.

Shake Shack just wasn't good enough.  I remember going to the WeHo location shortly after it opened.  Sure, it was packed, but I wasn't overwhelmed by the taste.  It was just OK.  More importantly, it was expensive.  There are easily a couple of dozen burger joints that are MUCH better than Shake Shack.  After that initial visit I've only been back once.  And that was only because I worked an event at Central and thought to eat there.  When I bit into the food I thought of how I should have gone to In-n-Out.

Sunday, September, 15, Several times over the last week my aunt has been asking me about my birthday.  Today she asked if I wanted to go eat somewhere special.  Nope.  Certainly not with her.  Not with anyone, for that matter.  She wanted me to get a cake, but I got a pie.  They had a chocolate cream pie at the market and I'm good with that for my birthday.  I don't want to make a big deal out of my birthday.  I bought myself the newest iPhone, that's my gift to myself.  I don't need my aunt to buy me anything.  I'm good.  In short, it's just another birthday.  No big deal.

The weather turned cool on Wednesday.  Today the weather was super nice.  As I write this I'm in my backyard relaxing with a coolness in the air.  The weather liars say the weather this weekend will be nice.  Nothing too hot.  I'm glad.

Monday, September, 16, Today was a gorgeous day.  The weather turned cool last week after suffering a couple of weeks of blast furnace heat at the beginning of the month.  Yes, the weather liars are already telling us that this weekend is going to be hot again, but I don't care.  I'm enjoying the cool weather while it lasts.  Besides, come this weekend it's going to be fall, and even though October is a hot month in Los Angeles, the weather turns cool the third week of October.  But as I was saying, today the weather was near perfect.

The weather was so nice that I decided to take my lunch outside and have a picnic out in the park.  I noticed a couple of weeks ago that TheNewCute seems to have left the picnic blanket that they gave people who participated in the walking challenge.  I know she didn't have a lot of room in her car to carry everything she had.  And, if we continue on my theory that she wants to make a clean break from California then why take something given to her by work.  Although, I do think she took the tumbler they gave us.  Oh well, whatever.  I figure that the blanket is now the communal blanket, so I took it.  As I said before, it was so nice out today.  Near perfect weather, since it wasn't too cold or too hot.

CD guy checked out a LOT of CDs last week.  Vivian said that she checked in about a hundred and fifty CDs today.  I believe it.  Just look at all those bins and boxes that were returns from this one guy.  Achee commented that it was a lot of CDs, and went on to question the amount of CDs this guy was checking out.  Because we all know it's this ONE guy that checks out all these CDs.  Yeah, this is from the same group of people that didn't fight to have some kind of limits on how many CDs this guy could check out.  Instead they said that there were no limits.  Well, now here are the consequences.  Whatever!

I hadn't been to Mcdonald's on a Monday in a while.  I didn't have anything prepared for my Monday dinner, so I went back to Mcdonald's tonight.  I ordered the same thing I ordered the last time, a bacon McDouble with lettuce.  I ordered with the app.  I went inside and I saw the lady grab a little burger, stuff it in a bag, and call out my name.  I took it back to my car.  That's when I noticed it was not a bacon Mcdouble, but rather a triple cheeseburger.  I wasn't going to go back and exchange it now.  I figured that I would have it and the person who ordered the triple would have to deal with Mcdonald's.  It kinda hit the spot.

Today is Chan's twelfth birthday.  I can't believe he's been around for that long.  I know many people say, "Oh, that feels like it was yesterday."  I say that about a lot of things, but it truly feels that Chan has been with me forever.  He's just Chan.  I was talking to TheGirl on my way out of her place and I wondered if ChatGPT could answer what kind of monkey Chan is modeled after.  The response I got was not what I expected (see above).  I like that ChatGPT said that Chan's design is, "Adorable, with a friendly expression."  So true.  I've always said that whoever designed Chan got it right.  Hims has an adorable face.

I want to do a lot more writing, but the keyboard I have is a bit of a mess.  It's mostly my fault, because I've slammed it after getting mad.  So I bought a new "fancy" keyboard.  I wasn't expecting to be so thick, but it's good.  I'm definitely going to use this a lot.

Tuesday, September, 17, A couple of months ago Gitmo asked me if I could switch my schedule on Tuesdays to start later in the day and end at 7pm.  At the time he told me that it was just for the month of August.  That was then.  This weekend I was checking on a few things, including my when to work schedule.  Sure enough, the new hours extended into September.  They haven't been published, but I'm sure they will run until the end of the year.  Because why wouldn't they?  There's no one left in the system that can work those hours.  Look at how nearly two years ago Mala asked me to switch my route days from Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, to Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  OK.  That was two years ago.  Nothing is going to change from this point forward, unless someone else major quits.  Before the most part, I'm locked in to this schedule now.  And by that I mean Tuesdays I work from 1pm to 7pm.  With the weather turning cooler I can actually go and do some stuff before going into work.  That is how I ended up going to the Descanso Gardens today.

Today is my fifty-third birthday, and I took myself out to Descanso Gardens.  This weekend I went on their website, because you have to make a reservation for EVERYTHING these days.  Luckily, it turned out that today was free Tuesday.  I was able to get a free ticket, even better for my birthday.

I bought a ticket for the train, but I didn't go right away.  That was a mistake.  Instead I went around the grounds taking pictures.  Nothing much to report there.  When I was done with the gardens I then went to the train.  Little did I know that it would take me forty-five minutes to get on the train.  The good thing was I had that amount of time to spare.  There was more than one occasion that I thought of bailing and just going to work.  The line was slow, but steady.  After half an hour I figured I might as well just wait.  I didn't have to be at work for over an hour anyway.  I finally got on the train, and you know what, it was worth the wait.

We have another "scandal" at the library, which I'm naming "Receipt-Gate."  One of my coworkers was checking in some Link Plus items at Casa the other day, but the receipt was not in the proper formatting.  It wasn't his fault, the stupid system we use is a fucking mess.  Has been since they installed it.  Every damn time you login you don't know what you're going to get.  Will the RFID work this time?  Who knows.  Will the slips print out correctly?  Sometimes.  Anyway, my coworker was checking in items and the slips were coming out wrong.  He didn't know how to correct it, so he just sent them back to Central like that.  Of course the folks at Central had to make a Federal case out of it.  Because they have so much time on their hands that they can spend hours talking about this shit.  They never do anything about these things that come up, but they sure like sending messages that don't resolve the issue.  Suffice to say, eventually Raffy sent out a guild on how to set the printer settings.  If only the fucking computer would remember that from day to day, so we wouldn't have these problems.

On my way home I received a message from my astronomy app saying that tonight there would be a supermoon.  But not only that, there was going to be a partial lunar eclipse.  As I drove off the freeway the moon looked huge.  It had a little dark spot, and looked like it was wearing a hat.  It wasn't till I got home that I could read the entire message from the app.  It mentioned the partial eclipse.  After dinner I went out to the backyard with my Nikon to take a picture of the event.  I didn't get it when it was really dark, but I think the picture above shows a little bit of the darkness from the partial eclipse.  Still pretty cool.

The newest IOS version came out today.  Version eighteen, to be exact.  My phone took it, my iPad pro took it, but my tried and true iPad 6 did not.  It would seem that the seven is as far back as the update will go.  But that's OK, I still love my little iPad 6.  I intend to do a lot of work on this little iPad.  As for instance, this journal.  More often than not I'm writing this journal entry on my iPad 6.  I just bought a new keyboard that I intend to use on this iPad... a lot.  I was thinking that perhaps I should just leave my Pro at home and make this iPad the workhorse of my work life.  I wanted to use that hour of time I was spending at Brand on Wednesdays and Fridays interacting with TheNewCute on other endeavors such as my writing.  Hence the purchase of the nicer keyboard.  Too bad I can't name my devices, or I would name this one "Hey Jack Kerouac," after the song by 10,000 Maniacs.  Oh well, next lifetime.

Wednesday, September, 18, Laurel sent me the above text and photo combination this morning to wish me a good morning.  Nice combination, I say.  But, there was something strange about that picture.  I couldn't save it to my phone, for some reason.  Call it a glitch, but I couldn't even save it on my computer.  I wanted to see a larger version.  Later Laurel told me that the file wasn't working on her end either.  I like it when Laurel sends me sexy pictures.

I was talking to Albert about Link Plus and he mentioned that one of the other libraries sent a bag full of the Link Plus paperwork in an envelope that had written outside, Please stop sending trash thanks.

What followed was an email from my supervisor apologizing.

Subject: Routing Slips Oversight

Hello from Glendale Library, Arts & Culture!  We recently received a pile of slips with a note from a library. 

Our sincere apologies if we've sent trash to your library as well.  We are embarrassed as we did not realize that these slips are no longer helpful after receipt from our patrons!  Staff has been instructed to discard any unnecessary slips/paperwork when returning items to lending libraries.  Thank you so much for your patience with us.

Mind you, I have not been told anything about this officially.  I guess the last line is the people that work at Central, so they will now throw away these slips.  I always wondered about that, because once they are checked into our library the slips are a formality.  The lending library doesn't need that, they just check in their items.  I have to check next week to check if the returns that are coming from other libraries to Central have any slips inside them.  I suspect they don't.  This is similar to Rubber band-gate, where someone along the line doesn't know the procedure and just runs amok and causes issues later.

I suggested having Mexican for dinner tonight, which now usually means Don Cuco's in Toluca Lake.  We had the same bad waiter we had a few weeks ago.  He didn't even come up to our table to hand us our menus.  I had to ask for our menus.  After that dinner was pretty normal.  I ordered up some tacos, and TheGirl ordered up some enchiladas.  I must have been hungry, because I nearly cleaned my plate, with Cheyenne's help.  I have just enough room to eat one taco, but I order the two taco combo so I can give Cheyenne a bunch of carne asada.

TheGirl told me that it's been five months since the Vet took the cancerous tumor off Cheyenne's leg.  She seems to be doing well.  I hope.  When we got back to TheGirl's place Cheyenne did act a little funny.  TheGirl chalked it up to the walk we had after dinner.  Cheyenne isn't a spring chicken, and neither am I.  Maybe she was pooped from the walk.  I hope it's not a first sign of bad things a coming.  Then again, these days bad things come around without warning.

The weather has cooled.  I actually had to carry my jacket to dinner.  Not just carry, but put on while on our Cheyenne walk.  I love that it's cool at night.  I've been waiting for months for the weather to cool.  Now it's here and I'm going to really enjoy it.  As I get older I notice that the hot weather affects me more.  I get tired faster, and I'm much more sleepy than I was in my youth.  Oh well.

Thursday, September, 19, I used to start work on Thursdays at 10am and leave at 4 pm.  Since August I now work from 1pm to 7pm.  That makes for a long day.  But like going to Descanso earlier in the week, it affords me an opportunity to go somewhere in the morning.  I'm thinking of other gardens I can visit before going into work.  I spent part of my day today figuring out where I might go in the upcoming weeks.  I think I should go to the Arboretum next week.

Friday, September, 20, There has been a porta-potty in front of the Adams Square branch for months now.  Initially I thought it was brought in so the workers that were working on the street would have a place to poop.  The street has been complete for weeks, but this fucking porta-potty is still here.  I think someone forgot it, and unless someone calls the company they will just leave it here forever.  I am half tempted to move it somewhere else.  It's always in my way when I go to Adams.  Fucking bullshit.

I sometimes wonder why I bother.  Two weeks ago I found all the branch location tags at Chevy Chase.  I was able to give the branches the location cards, and yet two of the branches STILL used written notes to denote the branches bin.  I don't care.  I just work here.

The Link Plus artist is back.  They had two drawings this week.  At least I think it's this week.  I sometimes forget to check.

Now that the route is different I have more time to go to the fire department.  The problem is I don't like the new girl at the fire department.  Her name is Lana, and she always seems to think what I'm doing is wrong.  That's the best way I can put it.  She is pretty, but she definitely rubs me the wrong way.  I try to completely avoid her.  I ran into her on Monday, but on Wednesday I just didn't go to the fire department.  Today I went, because I thought it was her Friday off.  When I got inside the building I noticed that the light in her office was on.  Thankfully she wasn't there.  Saved!

Laurel sent me a picture of herself just before I got home.  What followed was an exchange that is best just transcribed and left here for the Universe to judge.  And I say that because one of the lines Laurel said to me made me angry.  To the point that I may not contact her ever again.  We pick up the conversation as I mention that I'm home.

Laurel: Have you eaten yet?

Me: not yet - just got home - aunt keeps on pestering me about what I'm going to eat - that's my business
I usually leave something to just heat up - but I was in a hurry this morning so I forgot

Laurel: Maybe she was hoping you'd get both of you something?

Me: she didn't say that so I can only take things at face value

Laurel: Ask her if she's hungry.  Maybe she wants takeout.  Maybe take her to a restaurant.  It's Friday.
I know you're tired.

Me: well that isn't happening
I'm warming something I had - leftovers

Laurel: Cheapskate

Me: yup

Laurel: Go eat your beans

Me: solid

Laurel: What?

Me: my beans

Laurel: Yeah but what do you mean

Me: that I'm having my dinner

Laurel: Oh then you should have said that
Ok you know I was joking but I'll let you eat and leave you alone now

Me: gracias

I've been single most of my life.  I haven't been on a date in I don't know how long.  Every lady that I've been invested in since TheGirl and I broke up has shown zero interest in me.  I'm not handsome.  I'm not even mildly good looking.  I don't have anything to offer any of these ladies.  I don't have it.  I've resolved myself to this fate.  I want to write a book about coming to terms with never being in another relationship again.  I've actively stopped trying with women.  I've stopped trying to talk to that girl from the market, Lisa.  Whenever I see Julia I say hi and go about my business.  Grimace thinks I should confess my love to TheNewCute, but that's no longer true.  I've been through the grinder and I don't want to visit it again.  I'm done.  So when Laurel texted me this tonight it hurt.  I don't even understand the concept except that I guess because I'm not willing to splurge on dinner with my aunt that I'm a cheapskate, and that equals no woman wants to date me.  Of course Laurel doesn't know the context of my relationship with my aunt.  I don't like spending time with her.  I'm tired of her antics.  I'm financially tied to her, so I can't say boo.  But really I don't want to spend more than a few minutes talking to her.  And at this point, except for missing sex I don't miss much else from a relationship.  So yeah, that's my feeling about this conversation.

September is three weeks old, and in ten days it's going to be over.  I think Silent September has been a success.  Which makes me think that I should continue this through October, and maybe until forever.  I'm tired of dealing with people.  Like Laurel, and Jennifer.  Maybe this is a good time to walk away from some things.

Saturday, September, 21, While my aunt and I were finishing up breakfast she turns to me and says, "I had to finish the watermelon because you didn't touch it."  We went to Costco a couple of weeks ago and while there she kept on trying to get me to buy something.  While at the watermelons she wanted to get a giant one.  I knew I wouldn't be eating much of it, so I told her to just get the small ones.  We did.  When we got home she cut it up, and told me to have some if I wanted.  Well, I did have a small portion, and I forgot about it.  See, this is the kind of shit I'm talking about with her.  I didn't want watermelon.  But, she insisted.  Now she's surprised that I didn't eat any of it.  I can't win.

After the watermelon remark my aunt wasn't finished with the stupid statements.  She turns to me and asked if I wanted a blanket.  I didn't even let her finish when I was already waving my hand at her no.  She kept on selling it, I kept on waving my hand.  The waves became faster and longer.  The fuck is she thinking?  First off, no.  I love the cooler weather.  It's not even that cold.  When I'm outside in my backyard it's cool but not cold, yet.  I'm absolutely loving the weather right now.  I did start to wear a hoodie, but last night I had shorts on while I was outside.  This is one of the things I hate about my aunt.  She only thinks of herself.  She can't imagine that I have ZERO interest in a blanket.  I told people that when it gets cold enough to wear a sweater I still won't wear one.  But, I will.  The other night I wore a jacket for the first time in forever.  It was cool on Wednesday night.  Still, my aunt really just needs to understand I don't want anything from her.  She keeps on trying to be helpful or something.  She used to cook for me, and now I've taken that away from her.  I'm independent.  I don't think she likes that, in some strange way.

I picked up my film from Samy's today.  Last time I went they said they didn't have it.  I figured they misplaced it, or something happened to prevent them from seeing it.  No mind, since I dropped off another roll that day.  That roll of film was interesting, because I thought it was from just a couple of years ago.  It turned out to be from about six years ago.  At least some of the photos were.  The left one above is of one of my former coworkers, that we nicknamed Curvy Page.  At the moment I can't remember her real name.  She was so good looking back then.  I added a picture of her current state, which was posted just yesterday.  I follow her sister, who I thought was not as good looking when I first met her.  Now I think she's the cuter of the two.  Curvy Page still has a beautiful face, but like all of us, she gained some weight.

Speaking of weight, the above picture is of another former coworker.  This time it's Ani, who used to work at Brand.  She went to the city's water department.  I texted her the picture, and she lamented that she wishes she could be that weight again.  Same as me, I wish I was back to the weight I was when I was walking more.  More on that later.  Ani was so sexy back then.  I so wanted to sleep with her.  Alas, the story of my life is that I didn't.

The other roll of film was black and white, and shot with my disposable camera that is not so disposable.  Either way, it also contained some surprises.  Such as, the two pictures above.  They are of TheNewCute.  The first one is with our coworker Shienson at Brand.  The second is with me at Grandview, before she got her full time position at Brand.  We're not wearing masks, so I'm wondering if it was before Covid.

Sunday, September, 22, I wasn't too pleased with Laurel yesterday after her remarks on Friday.  She must have known she fucked things up.  This morning she sent me a picture of her legs, which look pretty nice.  Still, I think it's a good idea to keep things a little more loose with her.

I bought the new iPhone 16, but it won't arrive until the first week in October.  It can't arrive fast enough.  My phone is really slow now.  It was already slow before the latest update.  If I went to take a picture it would think about it, and I would miss the picture.  That lag is now more, but oh well.  My current phone is from 2020, so yeah, it's time for a new phone.  My current phone turned out to be a really good phone, but I want the fancy cameras that are on the flagship phones.

I went to the market and when I got to the cold food section I noticed that they put doors on all the refrigerators.  They look good.

I hadn't run into Lisa in weeks.  Today I saw her from afar, but I didn't interact with her.  As I said the other day, it's a lost cause anyway.  No woman likes me.

While I was getting something else I noticed some new ice cream sandwiches.  They now have eggnog and pumpkin ice cream sandwiches.  I didn't buy any today, but perhaps next week I'll try the eggnog ones.  I'll see if they taste good.

Monday, September, 23, Last night I was listening to the news and the weather liar comes on and tells me not just how white my shirts could be, but also how hot it's going to be this week.  What?  I thought the warm weather was gone.  It was wishful thinking.  I know intellectually that the warm weather sticks around until the middle of October but I was hoping that maybe this year it would cool down early.  Despite it being Fall already the weather turned warm this week.  It wasn't so bad though.  Yeah, I had the A/C on full blast at times, but not the entire time I was on the route.

It was just on this past Friday that I found branch dummies using written location cards again.  This, despite the fact that i make it a point to give each location at least two cards.  Most locations just need one.  Brand and Montrose for sure need more, but not really anyone else.  Still, here we go again with this shit.

My aunt has an old T-Mobile prepaid phone from YEARS ago.  Recently I received an email from T-Mobile telling me that her service had been terminated due to some cockamamie excuse.  I already have another phone for her, one that I bought a few years back.  The problem is that it's a smart phone, and she can't use it.  Not only that, but it won't keep a charge.  I decided to get her a new phone that was not so smart.  It won't have the tracking ability that her old smartphone had, but now I have an Apple tag on her keys, so I don't need the phone to track her.  I bought her an in-between phone that's not smart, but is better than her old flip phone.  I'm going to print out the speed dial settings for me tomorrow at work and then I'll be able to present it to her to use.

Just before going to bed I was at my desk reviewing these journal entries.  In the past I've noticed typos and many mistakes.  Basically because I just type as my brain works things out.  Nowadays I do check my entries.  As I was saying, I was at my desk when a nice breeze came into my room.  I know it was kinda hot today, but the promise of cooler weather is still there.  It's just having to survive the next few weeks.

Tuesday, September, 24, My Tuesday morning adventures continued today with me going to the California Science Center to check out the Leonardo di Vinci exhibit. 

What is best about these Tuesday adventures is that when I go to these locations there are hardly any people.  That was the case at the Science Center.  When I went up to the di Vinci exhibit I was the only one there.  Eventually I did see a couple walking around, but I never bumped into them after that.  This I like.

I thought about getting something to eat before I went to work, but you know the quantity of museum food isn't always the best.  This is why I passed and instead ate a granola bar I had in my car.  By the time I had supper at work I was starving.  Maybe I should have eaten more, but I'm trying to maintain my figure.

After I got home I wanted to free up some space on my computer, after it gave me a warning that the hard drive was "nearly full."  So, I started to back-up some of my files.  While doing that I stumbled on a folder containing the files from my old Leica camera.  That's when I came upon some pictures of the Silmarillion.  I didn't remember having these pictures at all, because they're not on my Amazon back-up.  I thought I backed everything up to Amazon, but I see more and more that I'm wrong about that.

There were a bunch of pictures of the Silmarillion from the start of us hanging out.  I wish I had at least kissed her.  Alas, I blew my chance.  I can't believe it's been sixteen years since those days.  Another lifetime.  I do think about her these days.  I know she had kids.  I wonder what would happen if I bumped into her somewhere in the city.  I know for me the old feelings would probably rush back.  For her it would be meaningless, I'm sure.  Pretty sure she wouldn't even recognize me.

Wednesday, September, 25, I jerked off and then had a few drinks last night.  Of course I overdid it a bit and I slept through my alarms this morning.  I woke up at nearly 8am, which is the time I'm supposed to start work.  I ran into the shower and was out in record time.  I almost didn't shower, but I knew I didn't want to stink at work.  I flew out the door around 8:20am, and of course there was traffic.  I arrived at work a minute before 9am.  ARGH!  I'm such a dope.  I told myself I wouldn't do this again.  I will add that my main alarm, my TV, did not go off for sure.  Still, I should have heard my phone go off.  I didn't, because I was sauced last night.

I've mentioned Marie from treasury before, and how much I'm attracted to her.  I don't get to see her that often these days, because she sits at a desk that is barely in view from where I stand when I visit Treasury.  Today Marie was helping out Michelle at one of the two desks in the front.  She was standing there, in all her glory.  Her heaving chest was mocking me.  I could see the curve of her butt as well, and boy it was super nice.  How is it that I'm such a failure with women?  Why can't I have a chance with Marie?  With any woman?  I wouldn't know where to start with Marie if I ever got to sleep with her.  She has giant breasts that for sure I would have to tittyfuck at least once.  I only got to do that with Talia.  And while it's pleasurable, it's more about the visual for me.  Alas, I'll never get to sleep with her.  Probably never with any woman.

In my haste this morning I didn't realize that I hadn't seen my aunt on the security cameras.  It was nearly noon and I hadn't seen her.  I was starting to get worried, to the point that I was thinking of calling the house.  I told myself that I would give her five more minutes before calling.  Thankfully she beat that deadline.  When I got home she told me how woke up at 8am, but that she went back to sleep and didn't wake up until noon.  Retirement has its advantages.

It might be because I was in a rush to get to work quickly, but it felt like everyone is moving in slow motion today.  This is the case more and more.  What gives?  It's probably the algorithm messing with me.  Slowing everyone down to make me frustrated with humanity.  Again.

There's a new exhibit at the Brand library that is pretty neat.  One of the exhibits involves completing a circuit to turn on some lights.  I found out later that the lights are placed in the shape of the Big Dipper.  I recorded Shineson and Shannon trying to reach the lights that are a little farther apart than arm's length.  Unless you're tall, or have monkey arms like I do (meaning that my wingspan is longer than my height).  I sent TheNewCute a link to the video.  She didn't respond, again.  I need to stop with her once and for all.  I've mentioned to Vagabundo that TheNewCute NEVER initiates a conversation.  I think I got my answer, but sucker me still keeps asking the question.

Speaking of Brand, Jade told me today that Albert has been scheduled to work at Brand a few days in October.  We openly discussed if this was a move to put him there permanently, in place of TheNewCute.  We say this because admin has been pushing the narrative that there's no money in the budget for just about anything.  Joseph, the janitor, mentioned that Joe in admin said there is no money in the budget for a new automated towel dispenser in the men's room.  That thing can't cost more than fifty bucks.  The city hasn't even officially passed this year's budget.  This despite the new fiscal year starting July 1st.  And here we are almost October.  This make me think there is a way Albert could be moved up there and TheNewCute's position would never be posted.  The city is always pushing to have fewer employees do more work.  I won't be surprised when they name him TheNewCute's replacement.  I said it here first.

A patron came into Casa Verdugo yesterday asking for a voter registration form.  I went to where they usually are located, but they weren't there.  Grimace was insistent that we never had any at Casa.  Never, ever, she said.  I knew we had some at sometime, because I brought a bunch to Casa last year.  I remember because the registrar wanted us to replace the old ones we had due to them changing the form.  But Grimace continued insisting that we never had any.  I told her, I know that we did because I brought them last year.  She refused to believe me.  She even went as far as calling Gitmo, who told her that we did at some point last year.  Ah huh.  Gotcha!  I delivered the forms to Casa today.  All Grimace could do is smile.

TheGirl and I went to Isabella's a few weeks ago, but it was too hot to be there with Cheyenne.  The weather is now much cooler, so we tried Isabella's again.  This time it was good for Cheyenne.  I didn't know what to order, despite checking the menu beforehand.  I ended up ordering the lasagna, which really hit the spot.  I finished the whole thing, which is surprising because Isabella's serves large portions.  I guess I must have been starving tonight.

Earlier in the week I wanted to ask TheGirl when she was free to go to Enchanted Forest at Descanso Gardens.  I kept forgetting.  But I asked her tonight and boom, I got us tickets for December 7th.  I have an ever filling dance card from now to the rest of the year, with trips, dinners and Disneyland.

Thursday, September, 26, I don't remember the last time I had to wipe the dew off my windshield in the morning, but it was nice to have to do it this morning.  Means the cooler weather is upon us.  Yes, I've said it before, there are still at least a couple more weeks where the weather will still be warm.  Because that's what happens here in Los Angeles.  Fall weather doesn't start until after the second week of October.  We're nearly there.  And boy, time is flying.  It's nearly 2025.

The city posted a video to social media featuring my crush of the week, Nora from sustainability.  I don't think I'll run into her any time soon.  Sigh.  Well, not that I had a chance with her anyway.

There's a restaurant in Carmel called Casanova that has a great dish called Cannelloni.  It's a pasta tube with meat inside sitting in sauce and topped with cheese.  I found a version online that includes cheese along with the meat filling.  I plan on making a version of it for my lunch next week.

On Tuesday night the fella we know as Mr Lars (Lars is his first name) was not happy when we told him that the library was closing.  He made a couple of remarks, one addressed to Vivian and one to me, about being given the bum's rush.  When Vivian reminded him that the library was closing he said, "Why don't you run a vacuum cleaner?"  When he saw me with the key for the doors he said, "It's tacky to close the doors right behind someone."  Ohhhkaaay.  Well, tonight he showed up again, but he was a different man.  He left before the final warning at five minutes.  Let's hope he keeps doing that.

I was warming up my dinner when a warning sound came from my phone, as well as my other devices that have the earthquake warning app installed.  I was in the kitchen, and all I could see was the alert badge.  I was telling my aunt that it was an earthquake warning and that we might get shaking.  When I finally got my phone open I saw that it was an amber alert.  Fucking shit scared the fuck out of me.  Why would they make those two different events have the same sound?  Fuck that shit.  I'm going to turn off my amber alert on my phone.

Friday, September, 27, Every quarter, after one of the art shows closes at either Brand or Central, I end up having to move the art pedestals to and from Central.  Today was part two of the delivery I started on Wednesday.  Six pedestals total, two today, along with two acrylic bonnets.  This meant that I had to go to Brand on the route first.  This meant lunch at Nimbly park again today.  Which is fine, since I don't have a reason to have lunch at Brand on Fridays anymore.  I was thinking that on Mondays I should change the route so I can have lunch at another park.  Montrose park was a place I used to frequent, as as well as Verdugo park.  Maybe it's time to return to those days.

I was talking to one of the construction guys this morning.  He told me that there is a delay in the children's room mural.  I thought it was printed out, but it turns out that it's both printed and painted.  Apparently the artist is taking longer than expected to paint the characters.  The guy told me that it was supposed to be done two weeks ago.  Two weeks!  He didn't say that it would delay the opening of the room in November though.

The LADWP came by the house to install a new power meter.  My aunt called me to tell me that the technician said it was so that the utility can bill us over the air without having to have someone come by and check the meter.  They did this to the gas meter a few years ago.  I'm surprised it took this long for the city to do it.  Oh well, we have a nice new meter and no more visits from the DWP guy.

Saturday, September, 28, There's a cute girl at the local Pollo Loco.  I know it's stupid, but I like that she's Latina and her name is Abigail.  I wanted to give her a note with the meaning of her name.  I know nothing will happen after that though.

Monday, September, 30, Before going to bed last night I wanted to jerk off.  When I went to activate my computer I felt a little dizzy.  I wasn't entirely sure what I was feeling, I only knew that I didn't feel well.  Instinctively I took a drink of cold water.  Following that I turned on the fan.  I felt better, but not 100%. I checked on the symptoms of heat exhaustion and I seemed to fit those symptoms.  Before going to sleep I did feel better, but I couldn't get comfortable.  It took me some time to finally fall asleep.  But then I woke up a couple of times during the night.  Once around 1:30 am and then again at 4 am.  I woke up feeling normal.  I don't get why I felt like I did.  It came on suddenly.  Not good.

I made cannelloni for my work lunch this week.  I didn't have enough to try yesterday, so today's taste was my first taste.  I'm happy to report that it came out good.  I attribute the good taste to the Lawry's Italian seasoning packet.  I could smell the different Italian spices and herbs.  If I ever make these again I need to remember to get a pastry bag, and also to lower the baking time in the air fryer.  Twenty minutes was just on the edge of being too long.

I didn't get a chance to write about this yesterday, so I'll do it today.  There was a point yesterday afternoon when I went to the bathroom to take a piss.  I still have times when my stream will go left when I want it to go center.  So, on most occasions I sit down to piss.  I did that today.  When I pulled my shorts up I felt wetness on my ass.  I look down and there's a puddle of water right by the edge of the toilet.  That's my aunt's move.  She doesn't piss on the floor, I don't think.  She spills water from the bucket we have to catch the water in the shower before the water gets warm.  We don't like to waste water.  The bucket can sometimes be heavy, but instead of transferring some of the water to another bucket my aunt tries to carry the heavy bucket and of course spills some of the water on the floor.  Does she get some toilet paper and clean it up?  Nope.  This is why I end up with a wet ass.  Fuck my life.