Afterthoughts: This Past Month

Some people think that the start of Halloween should start a few weeks into Summer.  Not quite.  There are many days to go, and I'm in no rush.  It would seem that time is flying, as I always say.  On to the update.

Tuesday, July, 1, I had my follow up with the doctor and she says that I have type two diabetes.  Confirmed.  She wants to test me again in three months after I do some lifestyle changes.  Number one change is to get more exercise.  She wants me to get two and a half hours of exercise per week.  I don't get that much a week, but I could if I just walk more.  She didn't mention anything about changing my diet except to not have as much sugar.  I checked online and I can have fruit and vegetables.  Less red meat and carbs.  After my first visit with the doctor I already started to eat more salads and less meat.  I was already going in that direction.  Now I just have to continue with that.

At Casa, the whole back office is going to change in that it will have different shelves and built in desks.  Obviously before that can happen they need to get rid of all the old stuff.  And that's why we ended up moving furniture today.  Supposedly the new furniture is going to be installed in August.  The way time flies, it's not that long before August comes around.

I get home and I'm about to sit and have dinner when I notice my aunt standing close to the washing machine, and looking down at the drum.  She had a puzzled look on her face that I wondered if something was wrong with her.  Nothing was wrong with her physically, but as always she did a dumb thing.  She thought that the water level was too short, so she figured she would mess with the settings.  Predictably she set it to the highest setting.  She was using buckets to keep the water for later use.  Which is the only smart thing she did.

Wednesday, July, 2, I'm not sure why I'm even bringing up Marie from Treasury again, only to say that she looked extra abundant in the chest today.  Sigh.  I really wish that I had any kind of a chance with her, because I find her so attractive.  She's a big girl, but that's what I like about her.  She's just so abundant.  I've wished that she would crack and give me her personal number.  I've tried to share my number with her.  Like last year I texted the gang saying that if they ever needed to contact me on the route to call or text me.  Except for out and out asking for her number I don't know what to do.

But then what would I want to do with all that abundance?  To quote the Joker in the Dark Knight, "You know what I am?  I'm a dog chasing cars.  I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it!"  I guess I figure I would drown myself in her chest.  For sure I would have to titty fuck her.  And that ass... I guess I would drown myself in that too.  I say that knowing I'll never have the actual chance to do such wonderful things.

I really don't get the more bullshit Wednesday version of the bookmobile at the park.  I asked Tony to drive the route for me, but I could have done it in addition to this bookmobile BS.  I was at the park for just over an hour, and part of that time was just chillin, shooting the breeze with my coworkers.  So next time I'm scheduled to do this I'll just do the delivery around this bookmobile shit.  And as I look at the schedule, it doesn't even look like I'll have to drive the bookmobile to the park on the subsequent Wednesdays.

This thing has taken over my work schedule, and I don't like it.  I never really wanted this job.  And though I feel that I should do it right, because that's who I am, I'm already tired of how much this gig dominates my work life.

To go back to the Wednesday bookmobile thing... This week they had me drive the bookmobile to the park and just park it there.  No check outs.  Which I'm happy with.  But, next time I won't even drive the stupid bookmobile, so I don't understand the purpose of me being at the park at all.  I guess to help with the activity?  Who knows.  Pretty sure the powers at be don't even know why we're going to the park.  They claim that this thing is under a grant to feed kids lunch, and I guess to promote the library.  Excuses.  Whatever!  Today was some of the easiest money I've made at this job.

I've mentioned the guy that lives under the 405 underpass, and how he wears make-up that makes him look like an awkward member of KISS.  Well, I saw him at the library today!  WTF, I thought to myself.  Did he follow me?  Apparently he is a regular.  Jane said she helped him today, so she looked back at her history on Sierra and we found his name to be Willy.  Interesting.

TheGirl and I agreed earlier in the week that we should go to Tallyrand in Burbank for dinner tonight.  She ordered a turkey burger and I ordered the fish and chips.  Not going to say that they were the best, but they were pretty good.  Good enough that I polished the entire plate.  That's unusual these days.

Cheyenne is still eating like a horse.  TheGirl even thinks that she gained some weight.  Happy to hear that.  And see it, because after a rough patch where she was dealing with leg pain and then a bad tooth, she looks good right now.  She's been slowly getting better.  TheGirl even said that the limp is gone.

Just across the street from Tallyrand is the Safari Inn.  The sign is a great example of googie neon signs.  I know it's been featured in at least two books.  I'll have to come back one night in the fall and take better pictures of it.

Thursday, July, 3, This morning I put my briefs on backwards to test an idea I have.  My briefs are getting old and loose.  There have been times in the last couple of years where my junk leaks out.  I thought that having the bigger part in the front would help me keep my junk in its place.  You know what?  It worked.  Now I have to get some new underwear while I wear my current underwear backwards.

I think I mentioned that the new normal at work is to leave part timers to close.  In the past that was not how things were run.  There always had to be a full timer in the building, just in case something happened.  I don't know how many Thursdays I've closed with my other part time coworker.  Not OK.  We're lucky that nothing bad has happened since this new normal.  But, how long will that luck last?

Misa mentioned to me this evening that she sent TheNewCute a text message.  Here is what Misa texted me:

I left (TheNewCute's real name) a voice message and she text me back and a short message back.  I asked her what she was doing for the 4th.  She read it but never replied back

I told Misa not to hold her breath.  I still don't know what TheNewCute's deal is with all of us that worked with her at Glendale.  She did the same thing to me.  Not ghosted, per se, but for all intent and purpose we have been ghosted.  Oh well.  It was me, then Vivian and now Misa on the ghosted list.

Friday, July, 4, I wasn't feeling very festive today since this is our first post democracy 4th of July.  Especially after the election of dumb dumb, and his way of dismantling this country.

I ordered Skyline chili from Amazon last week.  I didn't get a chance to write about me eating it, so here it is.  I'm not a huge fan of the chili straight.  Maybe if I doctor it up with some crackers and cheese.  Or maybe it's super good over spaghetti.  I have four cans.  Well, three and a half cans now, to eat.

Misa shared the text that TheNewCute sent to her (see above).  The context is that Misa told TheNewCute that her daughter is pregnant, and that means she's going to be a grandmother.  Then you have the text above, followed up by Misa's follow up text.

I was jerking off long time last night.  I was watching this one video with a curvy lady with a big butt who is being fucked in my favorite sexual position (see above).  There are a couple of names for the legs up in the air position, such as for instance some sources call it the butterfly position.  I nearly lost it watching this particular part of the scene.  I created a small album from the many pictures I've collected over the years.  I'll always have porn, since there is no way I'll ever find a woman that wants to sleep with me ever again.

Saturday, July, 5, I was on YouTube and I saw a video that I've seen before, but this version is upscaled.  I wouldn't say much about this, but trying to download it was a mess.  I downloaded the video and the computer said that it couldn't play it.  Then I downloaded it again, and it was in a weird format that also didn't play.  I finally got a version that played, but there was no sound.  I had to then download the soundtrack separately and then merge it in LumaFusion to the video.  Then I cropped it.  Following that I resized it so I could upload it to this website.  Whew.

Jessica Williams is gorgeous.  She posted the above photo last month, but the Algorithm didn't come around to showing me the picture until now.  She is stunning.

Sunday, July, 6, Last night I was jerkin off and found a pornstar that looks as close Marie from Treasury as I've seen yet.  Alyx Star is an instant favorite, and will join the regular jerk off rotation from now on.

My buddy asked if I could help him move some furniture at his mother's townhouse.  I said I would help.  Well, we had set up a time of 5pm at her place, but he needed some help up in Granada Hills.  They had put some of her items for sale, and the house that was hosting the sale was up in Granada Hills.  After that we drove back to Reseda to move those pieces of furniture.

As I drove behind my buddy to his mother's place we passed by CSUN and turned south on Lindley.  On the corner there used to be a Cupid's hot dogs.  I know it closed a while back, but now I saw what it has become... a Tacos 1986.  I'll have to try that place again, because the first time I tried it the taco I had was flavorless.  Why give them another shot?  Because the food critic Johnathan Gold mentioned that he never wrote a review until he visited the restaurant three times.  Because what if they were having a bad night, or a good night for that matter.  He wanted to give restaurants a fair shake.  I don't have to, but in this case I want to.  Mainly because I was suffering from the sniffles when I went the first time.  So maybe my taste buds were compromised.

There's not much to say about the furniture moving.  Other than my buddy's mom is already in an assisted living facility.  Sucks getting old.

I really hate it when my aunt comes into my room just before I'm going to go to sleep.  She just sits there like a bump on a log.  The other day she fucking made me so angry that my blood pressure was off the charts when I took it after she left my room.  That's my quiet time.  I want to decompress from the day and get ready for bed and jerking off.  My counter move for this is going to be locking my door just before I go to bed.  I should put a do not disturb sign out too.

Monday, July, 7, My buddy and I were talking about finances yesterday.  I told him how I was paying a principal payment to my mortgage every two weeks after making my regular payment.  He told me that I should take that money, sometimes $200, sometimes $300, and put it towards my credit cards instead.  I don't know why I didn't think of that before. The interest I pay on my credit cards is like four to five times what I pay on my mortgage.  I want to pay these credit cards down faster.  By doing this I don't even have to get another gig to pay them.  I already have the money, I just need to send it to them.  Brilliant.  I did the math when I got home and if I pay $100 more to American Express and $100 more to Discover every month I will pay off Am Ex in fifteen months, and Discover in eighteen months.  Not bad.  This is give and take interest and such.

I walked into Pacific Park and Krishna greeted me wearing this tight black top.  I've said that her chest was nice in the past, but I think it got a little bigger.  Or maybe it's wishful thinking.  Her chest isn't as big as Marie, but no one is that big.  Still, I'd like to see Krishna naked.  When I first met her she was smaller in size, but she was cute.  Now she's abundant, and as I told my buddy I like abundant these days.  Ha.

Another one of my coworkers has a nice chest... Stephanie.  Today I got a quick picture of her.  As an added bonus her nipple is hard.  I so love looking at Stephanie's body.  She's so feminine, and curvy.  Which is, to say it yet again, what I like these days.  I bring these ladies up as two examples of woman that I didn't realize had big chests.  I never really looked at Krishna, because I was always checking out her butt.  However, a year or two ago she wore this low cut top that showed off her chest.  And I mean I was like, "Where did those come from," to myself.  Stephanie was the same way.  I was always checking out her butt, and one day she wears a tight top and I was mesmerized.

After dinner I went to the other room to use the treadmill.  It was so hot in that room that I could barely walk for more than a dozen minutes.  I wanted to do at least fifteen minutes, but I just couldn't make it.  I need to bring a fan into that room when I use the treadmill.  Especially now that it's summer.

I got curious about the grapevine on the side of the house.  My aunt mentioned that the vines were trying to attach themselves to the side of the house.  Well, when I peeked back there I found a few of grape bunches.  I tried one and it was actually sweet.  I remember trying one a few years ago and it was bitter.  Maybe I'll eat them up.

Los Angeles public library announced on social media that it has a menu collection.  I have been thinking and searching for menus for places I've been in the past.  Today I remembered a place called Los Arcos, in Encino.  Sure enough, they had the old menu from Los Arcos.  It was damn cool to look at that old menu.  I don't know how many times my Mother, Grandmother and me had meals there.  I still remember how much I loved their enchiladas.  They also had an apple burrito, which was a flour tortilla with apple pie filling inside.  They would fry it up and sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon on top and boom... the best.

Cole's downtown is said to be closing doors come the start of August.  To quote the LA magazine article, "... recent issues such as the lasting impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and rises in both rent and labor costs have led to the decision to permanently close Cole's, owner Cedd Moses told Eater digital media."  There's a rumor that the place is up for sale.  Maybe it will survive.

Milana Vayntrub is an actor, comedian, and writer that is probably best known as Lily in the AT&T commercials.  My Instagram feed is teeming with pictures she took for some photoshoot promoting her podcast.  At least that's what I think she's promoting.  She can promote all day for all I care.  She looks so nice.

Tuesday, July, 8, I had a bit of a wild ride this morning on my way to CVS.  It was as if everyone else was on some kind of slow-motion.  Or maybe I just got lucky.  Whatever it was, there was traffic around me, but I seemed to slice through it.  Yeah, I was just lucky.

Today was round two of lunch at the library with the bookmobile.  Boy, today was one of the chillest shifts I've had.  First, I'm not sure why the bookmobile is at this lunch with the library stuff.  I guess just to represent the library.  Even still, hardly anyone checks out any books.  Which is good for me, because I don't have to do much work.  The most work I do is when I set up the computer for checkouts.  Oh, and then putting all the stuff away.  Other than that I'm usually just chillin.

The bookmobile is going to have a birthday party next month.  I see that the vehicle is dirty, and could use a wash for its anniversary.  I was talking to one of the social media ladies about getting the bookmobile washed at the bus wash.  It could be nice to have for our social media feed as advertising for the upcoming anniversary.  So, I sent the new director an email about getting permission from the Beeline to use the washer.  Even if it's only once, for social media.  What I got was a series of emails back and forth where at the end it came down to me taking the bookmobile to the garage.  I could get that done on my own.  I was asking for the washer, not the garage.  I'll have to clarify.  Because cleaning the vehicle is missing the point.  It's about getting some B roll for social media.

Part two of my all day bookmobile shift was going to... say it will fanfare... Maple park!  Yeah!  My now old friend, Maple park.  Where I also didn't have many checkouts.  It was the same lather, rinse, repeat that I had at Pacific Park.  I joke that it's easy money, but nothing is easy about sitting there for hours in the heat.  The good thing is that while I was at Maple park there was at least a nice breeze.

The last time we were at Don Cuco's we had to sit at a table that was not ideal.  It's one of the four tables that sit on the sidewalk near the hotel driveway that's next to the restaurant.  TheGirl doesn't like sitting there, because Cheyenne is not protected from other dogs behind the fence of the patio in front of the restaurant.  Also, that table is station to Mario, a really bad waiter we've had issues with in the past.  Last time we were there we had slow service, and we didn't even get menus.  So, I told TheGirl that we should see if we could make a reservation for that particular table.  She said she would call them.  She later texted me to say that we were all set for tomorrow night at 5:30pm.  Nice!

Wednesday, July, 9, I was in the administration office when I figured that I would tell the director the backstory of wanting to get the bookmobile to go through the bus wash.  With the information the director said she would work on my request.  But first Krishna is going to ask, because Krishna said she has "connections" over at the Beeline.  If she can't get it done then the director will reach out to the Beeline director.

After that Lessa asked me why I didn't go out for the bookmobile job.  I told her what I tell everyone... I didn't want the job.  But, I went on to say, "It's my job now."  Then she says that I'm not on the list.  The list is the thing that the city uses to hire someone.  If you made the list it means you're automatically listed for the next position that opens.  I know that the guys on the list don't even want the job now.  Grigor was planning on turning it down if he was offered the job.  Joseph also said the same thing.  Chuck recently got a promotion at Beverly Hills.  He might have taken the bookmobile job over the BH job.  It's easy to say that none of these guys would not take the job, but who knows.  What I do know is what they have said, and that leaves just me standing.  By the way, they won't give me the job either.  They should, but they won't.

The route was pretty standard today.  Nothing really to report on.  The real action happened after work when TheGirl and I went to dinner.

When we drove up to Don Cuco's I saw that there were people seated at the table we supposedly reserved.  I told TheGirl that perhaps they were just about to leave.  I've been to restaurants where they know they have a specific table reserved at a certain time, they will tell you that you have a limited seating.  They told Ilsa and I that when we went to Musso, because we were seated at the Marilyn Monroe table.  The seating is limited to an hour and a half.  But, by the time we got around to parking the party didn't seem to be moving, and it was now 5:30pm.  So we went to the front and I went in to talk to the person at reception.  They told me that I could sit somewhere else.  That was the whole fucking point of making a reservation, we wanted that table.  I went outside and told TheGirl that they were not going to move the party.  And really it wasn't their fault.  I was not happy.  I told TheGirl, "So where do you want to go... Smoke House?"  She turned her nose and I knew that she really wanted to eat at Don Cuco's.

Just then our favorite waiter comes out and asks me if everything is OK, and I tell him no, and try to explain to him the whole situation as quickly as possible.  I guess he must have told one of the other employees to get the manager, because in a couple of minutes an official looking guy is standing in front of me.  I told him the situation, and he listened and tried to offer a solution.  I tried to be diplomatic, but firm.  I told him about how last time we were there we didn't get our menus, and that we had to wait a long time to even get our drink order in.  TheGirl finally said it was OK for us to sit at the table we don't like, but as long as our favorite waiter, Juan Carlos, waited on us.  The manager said done, and we were seated.

Not that everything was perfect.  There was a slight misunderstanding when TheGirl busted out her sparkling wine.  She has been bringing it with her to have some Mimosas at dinner.  She doesn't want to drink margaritas.  The manager thought we didn't expect to pay a corkage fee, but we said from the start we would.  After that was settled they bought me out a huge margarita, and OJ for TheGirl.  The margarita was a gesture.  We left Juan Carlo a good tip.

After dinner TheGirl drove us all over to the side of Warner Bros studio, on California street.  Which borders the studio, and is a really quiet street.  In Cheyenne's youth TheGirl used to let her off leash for her to chase the bunnies.  No more chasing the bunnies, but she still gets to walk around unleashed.

Thursday, July, 10, I'm working on Saturday so I had today off.  I decided to head out to Claremont again, but first I had some things I had to do.  My aunt reminded me that she asked me to get her monthly $200.  I also needed my gasoline/tip money for the next two weeks.  Also, also, I needed to get my aunt's pills.  I got a text telling me that one of her prescriptions was ready the other day.  The chat-bot is way pushy about picking up the prescriptions.  I went by the CVS and was on my merry way to Claremont.

I received a letter from my bank pertaining to my equity line of credit loan.  Here is part of what it said:

Thank you for choosing U.S. Bank. We are informing you that the account referenced above will be coming to the end of the draw period on June 28, 2026. This means you will no longer have the ability to draw funds from the account.
For your convenience we have listed a few end of draw options:
1. To apply for a new line of credit and transfer the current balance.
2. You may be eligible to lock in rate(s) (Fixed Rate Option) on your balance during the draw period only.
3. Request a payoff quote and pay off your entire balance by the end of the draw period.

The last time I was in Claremont I walked around Foothill ave while I waited for Ilsa to show up for our lunch.  I walked by a bank that is currently a U.S. Bank, but on the side it says that it was formally the First Pomona Federal Savings.  So, I thought to myself let's do a two for one deal with the bank.  I needed to ask about the letter, and get money, but I also wanted to see the interior.  Inside I found a huge mural called Early California history, by Robin Dunitz.  It was completed in 1956.

Anyway, I got my money and my answer to the letter question.  I don't have to do anything.  Next year in July the ability to draw on the account will go away, and I'll just keep making payments until I pay the loan off.  Simple.

Ever since that first walk around with Ilsa in Claremont I really wanted to go back.  Since I had Thursday off this week, I decided to go to the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology.  They are also closed on Tuesdays, so I figured I could go today.  And it was an excuse to walk around Claremont.  I went on a stroll around downtown Claremont to check out the sights.  It's a nice town.  Other parts of Los Angeles has storefronts that are empty, but not Claremont.  I don't think I saw a single storefront that was vacant.  One I did see was a restaurant, but that was being worked on and remodeled.

The Alf museum opened at noon, so after a rest at the library I went there to check it out.  It's not a huge museum, and there's a whole process to get in, but it was neat.  It does house a huge collection of dinosaur fossils.  But, like I said, it is small so I was done with it in about forty minutes.  I had plans to go to the Vincent Price museum as well, so I couldn't just go there, because they don't open until 12pm.  Also, I told my aunt that I would be home at 3pm, because she thinks I'm going to work.  So, back to Claremont I went.

This time back in downtown Claremont I was devoting to getting my steps in.  I put on my hat and made my way north on Harvard avenue.  The houses in Claremont are quite nice.  That part of town has a lot of homes that fit a certain style and period of time.  I don't remember seeing anything ultra modern.  The streets are full of shade giving trees, so walking around in the heat is much easier.  I made a huge loop of the grounds of the colleges.  I did take some pictures, and a few are good enough that I'm going to work on them and post them online.

I was warm from my walk, but I still wanted to kill some time before heading to the Vincent Price museum.  So I grabbed my iPad and walked over to the library.  At Glendale I used to work with a woman I used to refer to as Snow, but her real name has always been Katherine.  Katherine is super nice, and pretty.  As I was leaving the library to head out to my car I run right into her in the entrance of the library.  Just like that, out of a movie.  I had totally forgotten that she had moved to the Claremont library, which is part of the larger Los Angeles county library system.  She gave me a huge hug and asked me what I was doing there.  I told her how I was visiting Claremont because I was smitten with it now that I had been introduced to it.  She said that I should tell her when I'm going back to Claremont and we could have lunch together.  I will do that.

After the reunion I went to the Vincent Price museum.  It was cool, they had some good exhibits.  My favorite was the self portrait exhibit.  It had a self portrait of Leonard Nimoy (see above).

I don't know why my aunt ALWAYS moves the direction of the backyard fan.  There is no good reason for her to even touch it.  AT ALL.  But, she can't leave my things alone.  Fucking frustrating.

Friday, July, 11, Someone, I came to find out later it was Michael M., 3D printed a little stand for the parking validation scanner.  Years ago I advocated for little stand that would elevate the scanner so people wouldn't have to bend down to see if the validation was good.  I'm glad that Raffy finally thought to ask for something, because I gave up bringing it up years ago.

Robert said something about markers at the start and end of a scanned sequence the other day when we were trying to figure out the problem with the newest unwanted pop-up on Sierra.  I figured that perhaps those markers were interfering with Sierra and causing it to think that I wanted to search for a book.  I don't know anymore these days.  I tell people I'm like the little Dutch boy.  I know I'm the only one that cares enough to fix these issues, but that doesn't mean I don't need anyone's help.  I need everyone's help.  I'm going to look for the manual and see if one of those alternate coding will help with the pop-up.

One of the things I do on Friday is fill the van's gasoline for the upcoming week.  I don't run into too many others pumping gas when I go, but sometimes there's someone there gassing up.  Today was such a day, and this guy took his sweet time.  Instead of pulling up, pumping gas and then leaving, this guy was socializing instead of pumping.  Socializing instead of driving away.  Wasting my time.  He took nearly ten minutes to finish pumping gas.  Fucking hate that shit.

I was passing by the children's room when I spotted Aurora.  Always good for laugh I stopped by the desk and saw this little box on the desk.  It had the Red Cross symbol on it, so I picked it up.  I keep saying that I want to donate blood, but I never do.  In the year of getting things done I will do it.  And I'll make it a regular thing.  Anyway, I saw that they were a pair of sunglasses.  Nothing fancy, but Aurora kept repeating that they were running glasses.  She added that they were just there on the table.  I told her I was taking them.  I found out later they sell them online for $25.  Not bad, and if I lose this pair I can go online and get some other ones.  The lenses are polarized.  Nice.  Cuts down on glare when I drive, but they make my phone screen look like a rainbow.

Glendale is the capital of bad drivers.  I see so many stupid moves ever damn day.  Here's one that happened today.  Some street crew was digging up Wilson street right at Isobel street.  OK, so they needed to restrict traffic and merge the two north lanes to one lane, converting the other northbound lane into a southbound lane.  Some dummy ignored all the signs that pointed to that lane for southbound traffic, and just drove up the crosswalk.  I honked the horn and the crew guy saw and just shook his head.  The final good move was the driver running over a cone.  You can see in the picture the car isn't even close to the cone, but somehow this dope drove over it.

I didn't download it, but I saw on my security camera that my aunt was looking through the items on my desk.  As someone said, what does she hope to find there?  I joked that clearly she's looking for cocaine.

Since it is that time of year a picture from 2017 popped up on my photo feed.  It's of the leftover lunches from previous lunch at the library programs.  This was specifically from the Grandview refrigerator.  Katherine, who I mentioned a couple of entries ago, didn't like throwing out the food.  I perfectly understand.  So she would store the food for days.  I think she eventually would toss it, but she made the effort to not throw it away immediately.  Sad that all that food went to waste.

Saturday, July, 12, Both Jaclyn and I question going only to Maple park, because we don't get that much interaction with the public.  Today was mixed in that I had issues with my equipment that didn't allow me to check any books out, but the bubble program was awesome.

It started with me trying to program the scanner.  At one point I scanned default settings, and after that it wouldn't work with the books.  In troubleshooting it later Soloman and I were able to get it to scan the book barcodes, but then another problem came up.  There is a code that sends the barcode to the computer without certain markers.  Well, whatever I did added the markers that didn't allow for a proper check in.  It would scan the books but in addition to the barcode it added a letter A to the front and back of the barcode.  Basically rendering the scan ineffective.  I tried finding the right code to bring it back to normal for the library, but I ran out of time.  I'll have to check on it next week.

I went out the other side of the park to take my break.  While there I saw a Cooper's hawk taking a bath in a small pool of water.  Later I saw it in the tree and also saw what I believe are two fledglings.  They had a lighter color to them.

My buddy wanted to hang out tonight, since I think tonight was the night he was going to hang out with his now ex-girlfriend.  They had made plans, he said.  In the process of the break-up she said that he should find someone else to go with.  Yeah, like it's that easy to just walk away from that.  There isn't much to tell, we ate and talked about dealing with the break-up.  It's the standard break-up story - you're blindsided and then you're expected to just be OK.  Well, it takes time to get to OK, and for my buddy it's all still too fresh.  I told him I knew he was going to be OK in the long run.  He just can't see it.

One of my coworkers posted the above post saying it was a pacifier, but I really think it looks like a butt plug.  I say that because to me that plug part looks like the wrong shape.  I always thought pacifiers were supposed to mimic nipples.

Sunday, July, 13, I don't like hoodies.  A while back I checked out some jackets online and today I pulled the trigger and bought a new jacket.  My plan is to donate all my hoodies and only ever wear this jacket.  I have at least five hoodies, and I never really wear any of them except one.

My right forearm was itchy, so I scratched it.  When I looked down I noticed how ashy my arm was.  I didn't moisturize this morning.  Yuck!  Must remember to moisturize.

I was chillin in my backyard when my aunt came out to show me some old papers.  Just as I was going to look at the papers I heard a noise behind me.  I saw a hawk on the ground behind some pots.  I thought it might be hurt, so I waited.  The hawk was moving, and then I saw that it had caught a mouse.  Wow!  I have wondered if the hawks caught mice as well as mourning doves.  Now I know for sure that they do.  Wish they would catch more.

Monday, July, 14, My buddy and I were talking about how I have to change my lifestyle so I don't get diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.  Part of that is diet and part of it is exercise.  He told me that he has fruit with plain yogurt.  When I went to the market yesterday I grabbed three different plain yogurts, because I don't know which one I'm going to like.  They say plain, but sometimes they taste a certain way.  This will let me know which one I like and which one is truly plain.  I do have to get some other fruit other than canned peaches, which I love.  So yeah, my breakfast was yummy yogurt and peaches.

I knew that Raffy at Central would have the codes to reset the scanner, and sure enough he did.  He had a little book with them, and there was more than one that had to be scanned.  He scanned them and now the scanner works.  Whew!  One less thing to worry about. I think I mentioned the flirty cleaning woman at the Perkin's building.  Today Mo and I were talking about her, and how she flirts with everyone.  Hmm, OK.  So it's not just me, huh?  Dang.

At lunch I came to find out that I forgot my salad dressing.  Thankfully the fridge at Brand has several salad dressings.  It wasn't too bad.  But yeah, gotta make the effort to not forget my next lunch.

I just want to say again over the past couple of years, I've been able to use the library quite a bit. I've found Eric to be the most helpful, knowledgeable, and supportive Library Staff Member in terms of him trying to get me various Movies, TV shows, and Books which is part of my research and reference that feeds into my creativity.

I also find Eric quite personable and kind which really means a lot to me especially during these times. I work in Film & TV production and these past two years have been horrible. When I'm working, it really limits my time at the library so that's why I miss the Saturday & Sunday openings the Casa Verdugo Library use to have.

There are other Staff Members who I have enjoyed however I'm not recalling their names to reference, but all in all, Eric remains the standout for me. He's able to really dig in the system to find what I need and his efforts continue to pave the way for me to start crafting an alternative to my creativity and open up to other possibilities while I continue to deal with the day to day issues, ponder a very uncertain future, and wonder how the heck I am going to survive these troubling times with cost of living that keeps increasing, lack of jobs, and questioning the direction of our future.

There is also another Library Staff member that I also find very helpful to me. I believe his name is Joseph. I was in the library yesterday. I appreciate his presence and assistance. He's very personable and adds further value & comfort to me when I come into the library. I also want to point out the Security Guard there. I don't know his name, but I have found over time that's he's very gracious and holds a wonderful presence in the library that's not imposing or intrusive.

Two big compliments in less than a year.

My aunt's sleeping pattern has recently changed.  She's now active at around the time I start to get ready for bed, which is around 9:30ish in the evening.  Not that I go to bed right away, but I start to get ready.  Tonight I was in my backyard and I passed out and woke up several times.  When I finally did get up my aunt was stirring in the wash room.  She was doing laundry.  I come inside needing to use the restroom and she's asking me about a spatula that she found somewhere today.  She asked me if she should throw it out or not.  I told her I didn't know, which really means I don't care.  She starts to protest so I tell her abruptly to just throw it out then.  She constantly does this shit where she asks a question and then questions the answer.  She looked at me knowing that I wasn't too happy at that moment.

There must be a name for this questioning of the answer.  Today it happened to me while I was at Montrose.  I was just about to leave when a woman comes up and asks what street was the next one over.  I told her it was Sunset.  She looked at me and said it wasn't, but it is.  Then I thought she meant to one the library is located on and I said "Orange something."  Just then Desire jumps in and says "Orangedale."  The woman tells us no and walks out of the library.  Like, yes, those are the fucking streets.  Why ask if you don't like the answer?  Idiots... just like my aunt.

Tuesday, July, 15, My aunt is an idiot... as such she is really stacking up the shit points with me these days.  Today's bullshit with her happened when I was going to cook up some breakfast this morning.  Our stove burners need matches to start up, because the spark doesn't work.  I reached for the matchbox and slid it open, only to find that the opening was facing the floor.  Of course all the matches in the open area fall out on the floor and counter.  Why would she place the matchbox the wrong way?  Who knows with this woman.

For this week's Tuesday Adventure I took myself to the Holocaust museum.  I know, pleasant.  But it was informative.  I know the overall history because I've read a couple of books on the subject.  It's interesting to see some things in more detail.  They are currently expanding the museum, so in a couple of years it will be bigger.  In the drawings it looks like they are expanding to have a cafe and an auditorium.

I didn't plan on having anything to eat before going to work, but I felt a little hungry.  I didn't plan anything out, so I had to get something on my way to work.  Burgers Never Say Die are sorta on my way to work from the Fairfax district.  So I drove there.  The burgers are still good, but I think they cost $9 the last time I was here.  Nearly $12 for my double burger today.  Getting pricey, but then again what isn't?

Today seemed like I was troubleshooting everything.  Be it the library computer having a screen that was blinking on and off.  And then when I moved the tower to unplug the monitor something must have come out, because the screen was fine, but then the mouse wouldn't work.  It was the same with the public computers.  It seemed like the print queue wasn't working at times on my computer.  It kept crashing, but that's nothing new.  I don't know, there are more things, but I can't remember now.  It was a busy day.

The library seems to have this unwritten policy not to show people's faces in emails.  And I'm talking internal emails that only employees will see.  For years they will mask out the faces of children in events that we worked.  They claim it's for privacy, but I know that Pasadena, Los Angeles city and county both, regularly post pictures of people that attend their events in public emails.  I've told people a million times, if I've told them once, there is no reasonable thought to privacy in a public building.  But, these dummies still block out people's faces.  The height of this silliness happened today.  An email was sent out telling everyone about a shifting project that gets rid of a collection of books that no one even views.  In the email it names my supervisor, Nancy, and my coworker Tony.  But the accompanying photo has black bars hiding their faces.  For what?  Are they suddenly in the witness protection program?  Dumb.

Wednesday, July, 16, This morning I used the third notch on my belt.  It is a milestone in my lifestyle change.  Over a year ago I looked down at my belly and told myself that I needed to do something about how fat I had gotten.  I'm not a big guy, so there is no way I should be weighing over two-hundred pounds.  When I was in high school my driver's license listed me as weighing a hundred and forty pounds.  That means when I weighed myself just over a year ago I was over sixty pounds heavier.  I didn't like that, nor the feeling of just being too heavy for my size.  So I went on to try and eat better and do a little more walking.  With the doctor recently telling me I'm now considered as having type two diabetes, I really need to lose weight and get even more exercise.  I have put it as the highest priority to get moving and to eat better.  I do not want to go on any diabetes drugs.  Though I think my drinking will probably have me using some sort of blood pressure drugs.  I don't want that either.  My newer efforts seem to be working, because this morning I put my belt on the third notch.  And this is a new belt, much smaller than the old belt I had, and yet I'm on the third notch.  I'm kinda in between, because while I could put my belt on that notch, during the day it did feel a little tight sometimes.  But then the second notch felt loose.  Getting there.

I met a girl named Danielle at the Brand library something like two years ago.  We exchanged Instagram user names and I've been following her ever since.  Today she posted a monumental photo in her feed.  She posed wearing a one piece... and oh what a one piece.  She's a pretty girl, with an excellent figure.  I've wanted to invite her to something, but have been too chicken to do so.

When I came back from the route on Monday I saw that there were a bunch of things going to Grandview for Cruise night.  This morning I come in and the items are still under the table, despite my coworker Tony driving yesterday.  Remember, they were there Monday evening, which means they were there Tuesday morning.  I don't know the reason why he didn't take these items, but this is why I have no problem making more money than he does.  I do every little thing asked of me.

I was scheduled in the middle of my route to help out with the so-called lunch at the library program.  But it wasn't at the library, it was at Maple park.  And I wasn't asked to bring out the bookmobile.  Huh?  Then what am I actually doing here?  That's what I asked Cindy E.  She asked the same thing.  The other fun part of our little lunch program is that I had zero idea why I was there.  I was given no direction.  What else is new?  It was easy money though.

Lately I've been getting comments about the whiskey I buy at the supermarket.  It happened again tonight.  I went to the Vons on Pass ave, before going to TheGirl's place.  I grabbed two bottles for the rest of the week and some guy tells me, "I wanna go where you're going."  Two weeks ago I also had two bottles and Damon Wayans said the same thing.  I wanted to geek out, because it was Damon Wayans, but I just said, "Let's go."

TheGirl and I originally thought of going to the Yard House for dinner today, but there was a woman with a little dog sitting at the table that we wanted.  Here we go again with the table thing.  To be fair, it is the only short table on the Yard House patio.  So we pivoted and went to Wood Ranch instead.  The last couple of times we've been there the food has been more miss than hit with me, but I was down.  Tonight my burger was just meh.  I think next time we go there I'll stick to the chicken sandwich.  That seems to be good most of the time.

Thursday, July, 17, I went to Disneyland for the 70th anniversary of what is commonly known as opening day, but it wasn't opening day.  That was July 18th.  So why celebrate on the 17th?  Because that was the day Disneyland debuted to the world via television.  There were only supposed to be certain guests there, but the story is that many people bought counterfeit tickets and went into the park.  So for the world July 17th is opening day.  I've only been to one other opening day anniversary, and that was some time in the 1990s.

Upon entering the park I was given a guide book and a button.  Both commemorating the 70th (see above).  When I was leaving I thought to look for another guidebook, because mine had been in my pants pocket most of the day.  I was told they ran out.

I thought that the park was going to be packed, but it was surprisingly empty.  Well, for part of the day.  When I got up to the entrance gates there was hardly anyone in line.  There was five people in front of me.  Later in the day, when I was leaving, there was a ton of people in the park.

One of the things that may have kept the attraction lines short is the fact people were in lines for picture experiences, like a photo with Mickey.  I've never been one to do photo ops, because I'm at Disneyland for the attractions and the food.

I wasn't sure what I was going to eat, but I was going to just see what was available.  When it was getting hungry I went to Main Street to check out a couple of places. My first choice was the little red wagon, but had a long line in front of it.  Refreshment corner was my second choice, but that wasn't even open yet.  So, I went to see what I could mobile order.  Turns out that the Royal Street Veranda had the best order window in terms of time, and item... a Monte Cristo sandwich.  It hit the spot.

In the middle of my food search I found myself next to the Opera House, where the brand new "Walt Disney - A Magical Life" show was debuting today.  I had forgotten that the show was debuting today, but it was cool that I got to see it on its debut.  The show was pretty good.  Online comments I checked later said that Walt's face was not quite right, and I have to say there was something a little off about it.  Still, the show was good, and touched on the feels in just the right proportions.

It was warm today, but what dragged me down was the humidity.  Walking from one side of the park to the other did allow me to feet my steps in, but it also wore me down.

Friday, July, 18, When I got up this morning I was thirsty.  When I went to the fridge I noticed it was partially open.  Did I do that, I thought to myself.  The fridge was not hot, but it wasn't really cold either.  I closed it up and drank the sorta cold water I had poured from a decanter from the fridge.  This could happen to anyone, but I wonder if I did it last night while feeling nice from the booze.

I forget the reason why Tony doesn't give the branch destination cards.  It's super easy, but he doesn't give them cards, so they have to take a piece of paper and write the word "Branches" on them.  This wastes paper, and time.  It's something that's small, but it is also something that already has a solution... the fucking cards I made.  ARGH!

I was getting out of the van just after arriving at Casa Verdugo when I noticed someone driving into the parking lot right after the fire truck left the parking lot.  I'm pretty sure this dummy didn't know the library was closed when he came into the parking lot.  He put his books in the bookdrop and walked away.  But he came back when I was taking the book bins back into the library.  He tells me, I'm stuck, I can't get out the gate.  I tell that he just has to drive up to the gate and it will open.  He says, I did.  Oooookaaaay, I thought.  I tell him that I can open the gate using the clicker.  After I was done I wanted to check if the sensor wasn't working.  I drove up to the gate and sure enough... it worked.  Dummy.

Ilsa sent me an Instagram story which shows one of the content makers I follow on YouTube, Hey Brickey, showing a hidden Donald Duck at Disneyland.  He showed a building in Galaxy's Edge that kinda does look like Donald Duck.  I kinda see it.

The WeHo library social media featured the Glendale library card.  I texted TheDesire after I saw the post and she mentioned that it was the card that I sent her.  Woo hoo!

The restaurant Acapulcos in Glendale wants everyone to know they are still open.  I was driving down Pacific when I saw a sign proclaiming just that fact.  A few months ago there was a rumor going around that there was going to be a change, and an In-n-Out was going to be built at that location.  I have to say, that Acapulcos did look like it was abandoned.  I NEVER saw anyone going in there, but they must be busy at night.  And maybe they have a really cheap lease, because it is kinda incredible that they are still afloat.

Misa and I were talking about Junior not having any pictures with her so-called husband.  Then I thought, do I have any pictures with my exes?  There are only three.  TheGirl... check.  Laurel... check.  Talia... not sure.

I had to search my archives and found the one selfie I think I ever took of Talia and me (see above).  There it is... proof we were together in the same area at one point in our lives.  That's a lot more than Junior can say about her so-called "hubby" and her.

Saturday, July, 19, I dreaded working Cruise Night, mainly because of how late we would be getting off from work.  But, it was actually a good experience.  The day flew by, because we were so busy.

We don't know the future of the bookmobile, since the city needs to cut budgets from every department.  The only events we have coming up are the National Night Out and the bookmobile anniversary thing.  After that in mid August we don't really have anything scheduled.  So I get to go back to Casa in the meantime.  I get to have my Tuesday Adventures.  I want to ask Katherine if I could have lunch with her on a Saturday rather than a Thursday, because I'm not sure when I will have a Thursday off again.  I have to say, I do like the idea of having my Tuesday Adventures turn into Thursday Adventures.  Only because there are more museums, parks, and gardens open on Thursdays rather than Tuesdays.

One big positive about working Cruise Night was that there were a gaggle of nice looking ladies walking by.  One that didn't stop by the bookmobile was the girl I met at Brand two years ago.  I just mentioned her in a previous entry... Danielle.  She posted something on Instagram showing she went to the car show.  Dang.

Sunday, July, 20, I come out to run my errands this morning and I find that my neighbor's mom has parked in my driveway.  Now it may not seem that bad, but exiting is a little adventure since I live on a curve.  I don't just look to my right, I have to look right and back.  In that time I've had cars come out of nowhere on my left.  Any little thing that adds to that turn messes me up.  Also, the placement of the car there makes cars coming around the corner have to make a wider turn.  Many times I've seen cars come really close to hitting each other because of a car being parked in that spot.  Love how nobody gets these concepts.

Can it be that it's been three years since I stopped working at the Crowell pubic library?  It is.  My photo feed told me so today.  Nuts.

Just as I was getting home last night the low gasoline light came on in my car.  I think that light has come on maybe three or four times since I owned my car.  That's fourteen years.  I'm always paranoid that I'm going to run out of fuel, so to me half a tank is a reason to go get more gas.  It also works out that I use about half a tank per week.  But this week I not only worked on Saturday, but I also went to Disneyland on Thursday.  Hence the extra milage on the car.  First thing I did was go to the gas station and filled up.  Whew!  Ilsa is always running her tank all the way down.  I can't live like that.

Monday, July, 21, I went into work and found that the gallery walls were torn off the regular walls.  I came to find out that the gallery people will just be installing the artwork directly into the drywall, instead of those foam walls.  It's a better way of displaying.  The foam walls were kinda shitty.  You couldn't drill into them, so the artwork had to be placed with pins, and that never worked.  Anything framed had to hang from a wire, which was way better than the pins, but a little cumbersome.  Also, the foam walls were getting a little ratty.  Bye, bye!

I've known Amamda since the time when my Grandmother was dying of cancer.  That would be around 2004.  She and I met somewhere online, I can't remember where exactly.  I want to say Diaryland, because so many of my friends from that era were from Diaryland.  When I first got to know her she was getting out of a bad marriage, in which her husband tried to kill her and his son.  She moved out of Ohio and went to Maryland, where she was in a bad relationship.  Then she moved to Kansas, and got into another bad marriage that ended in divorce.  But she had two kids with that guy.  Recently she got in and out of another bad marriage.  Through it all she still looks really good.  Back when I first met her she was very sexual.  I feel that she may have been molested.  I believe she told me that, but it's been so many years now.  She would send me girlie pictures and nudes.  We were supposed to meet, but that never happened.  I guess it still could.  Anyway, she posted the above left picture.  Nice!

Tuesday, July, 22, Today was another round of bookmobile fun at Pacific and Maple parks.  And when I say fun I mean hours of not doing very much.  At Pacific park we have the camp kids, but the counselors have them on such a tight schedule that they don't have time to stop off at the bookmobile.  Not only that, none of those kids carry their library card with them.  I've given up trying to search for them, because half the kids end up not even going to school in Glendale.  All the kids in GUSD are offered a library card, so most of them have one.  But if they're from outside the district I have a horrible time looking them up.  So yeah, I'm good with them just walking by the bookmobile.  The other possible group of people that could visit the bookmobile at the park are the families that come for the free lunches at the park.  And there aren't very many of those people coming for the free lunches.

I received a text message from my doctor last week asking me to make an appointment.  I was way busy last week, so I figured I would call the office today.  I was on hold for forty minutes while I waited in the queue.  At one point I was twenty minutes in the first call when it said I could be in a virtual queue, where they would call me back.  When I didn't get a call back after about twenty minutes I looked at my phone and the return call was blocked by my spam filter on my phone.  So I called up again and had to wait forty minutes until I got on the phone with a human.  That totaled an hour on hold because of that damn virtual queue.  What I don't like about my doctor is that they have a million phone numbers.  If I save a number on my contacts then the spam filter will not automatically think some random call is spam.  But even when I list the doctor's office number they go ahead and call me from a totally different number.  ARGH!

One thing that always happens when I'm about to end my bookmobile shift is that inevitably a family will come up and want to check out the books we have.  Today was no different.  About ten minutes before the end of my time at Pacific park a mom and her kids came up and were checking out the books.  I've seen her at the bookmobile before, so I knew she would check out some books.  With about three minutes before I was going to lunch she finally checked out her books.  Just made it.  But this happens all the time.  I think I'm going to start locking up the bookmobile at around fifteen minutes to go.  Done.

When I was at Maple park there was nothing to do.  It was even slower than Pacific.  I decided to tidy up the items we have in the back of the bookmobile.  Like we have supplies such as pens, tote bags, and all our fliers.  At the end of any event we have been just throwing things in the back of the car, because we just want to bail and go home.  Hence there being a big mess back there.  Since I wasn't busy I decided this was a good time to get things the way I want them.  After all, I'm the dude having to deal with this stuff.  Well, it was mission accomplished.  Now I just have to maintain that tidiness.

While tidying up I turned on the vent to let in some cool air into the cabin.  That's when I noticed that the vent had a way of closing it, so that water can't get inside the cabin.  That means I can close it.  That means we can run it through the car wash.  I told Krishna about the vent closing, and she's going to try to get us through the car wash.  If there is a car wash.  I did a search online for video showing the buses going through the bus wash, but I could not find it.  I really thought they had a new bus wash in their new facility.  I guess we'll find out if there is one or not.

Wednesday, July, 23, I carry a lot of stuff to work.  I looked back at all my bags and decided to take a picture of every bag I carry.  Today, in addition to Chan coming with me to work, it was my new backpack, my lunch pail, my messenger bag, and another little bag with some snacks.  I almost forgot, I also had my so-called Wednesday bag.  Which is the one with a change of clothes so I can go to dinner with TheGirl in comfy clothes.

At work there is a new round of prizes for the summer reading challenge.  One of the new prizes is something called a knitted emotional support dumpster fire.  Funny but sad.  They should make one with dumb dumb's face and call it the Trumpster fire.  Because he has been the biggest cause of all of us who didn't vote for him having anxiety.  With him in office it feels like we're all expendable.

I got a preview of some of the artwork for the Brand on paper 53 show last week.  I loved this one piece, but I didn't know its name, because they hadn't put the name up yet.  Now I know, it's called Astral Muses Noir (see above).  Pretty cool.  Being that the subject of the work is ladies who happen to have nice hips, of course it's going to be my favorite.  I posted the work on Instagram and the artist liked my post.

Speaking of ladies with their hips, there were a lot of nice looking ladies out today.  Almost everywhere I went on delivery today I encountered some lady seemingly posing for me.  They were all in front of me in silhouette.  The first was the one at Brand.  I was coming out of the gallery when I saw this striking woman standing at the end to the front patio area (see above).  The next one I half thought was the same woman, because she was walking down the street from Brand.  The third was a lady at Pacific Park.  All nice.

We were supposed to eat at the Yard House last week, but because someone was sitting on the only short table we couldn't eat there.  But this week no one was at that table, so we finally got to eat at the Yard House.  I didn't want to have another burger, so I ordered the fish and chips.  TheGirl did too.  I thought they were really good, with a seasoned batter that gave it a really good taste.  But, TheGirl didn't like it.  She said there was too much breading.

At dinner tonight TheGirl mentioned how Cheyenne seems to be gaining weight.  I agreed.  This dog is a fighter.  She has not lost her appetite.  If anything she could eat TheGirl out of house and home.

Thursday, July, 24, I had so much trouble looking at the computer screen at work today.  The letters looked blurry.  I was making a library card and I could barely make out the letters on the ID I was using to enter the information.  I have to get some glasses, ASAP.  I was going to make an appointment while at work, but we were actually busy for once.

Two young ladies came in looking to get library cards.  Well, one needed a new one, the other wanted to get an adult card, because her card was a teen's card.  Neither looked much older than teen age, but they were both over twenty years old.  In looking at their IDs I saw the DOB of one of them being 2005.  Yeah, that was TWENTY years ago.  Sigh.

Debbie Gibson.  I follow her on Instagram, and I still have a bit of a crush on her from when I was a teen.  Today she posted a picture of her with the now dead Hulk Hogan.  I commented, "The picture of Hulk ranks up there in terms of the most 80s things I've seen."  I know, it isn't a complete thought, but it was the best I could do today since we were busy at work.  A little while later I got a notification saying that Debbie Gibson was following me.  OMG!  I geeked out.  I later told someone the story and they commented, "You can be besties."  Absolutely!  I had pie in the sky dreams that I could meet her.  Hang out with her.  Date her?

I took my break and I could geek out all I wanted in privacy.  Then came the realization that it wasn't the real Debbie Gibson that was following me, but rather some fake account that added some numbers to the back of her actual account name.  Crestfallen.  Crushed.  All those bestie dreams were now smashed.  Sigh.  Oh well, I dared to dream.

When I got home it was nice and cool out, but the house was warm.  I don't understand how my aunt doesn't get what should be done when the house is warm and it's cool outside.  I mean, it's super simple, open all the inside doors that have screens.  I opened my room window and within minutes it was cool inside, because there was a nice steady breeze coming in.  So nice.

Friday, July, 25, I wonder about my co-driver sometimes.  He didn't leave the van any spare book bins, and I never know if I'll need them.  It just so happened that I had a surplus of bins when I finished the route.  But that's unusual.  The good thing is that we now have new bins.  I hope my supervisor got more than the twenty-five that was originally going to be ordered.

Marketing Jacqueline and I had planned on getting the bookmobile washed at the city garage today.  Originally we hoped to be going through the bus wash, but the guy who takes care of the pool cars said that we should get the bookmobile washed now and right before the anniversary next month.  I'm not sure if there even is a bus wash, but this wash was to hedge our bets when it turns out the city doesn't have an automatic bus wash.  So, Jacqueline and I went to the garage behind city hall and I washed the bookmobile while Jacqueline filmed stuff for the socials.  At least the bookmobile doesn't look so ratty now.

I was at the main fire station to pick up their mail when I see TheLooker at the door waving at the new fire girl to let her into the building.  I'm like, really?  I think she might have hugged me, but I was sweaty and I didn't make the move to physically say it's OK to hug.  I joked that she never visits the library, but she countered that I never visit her.  Well, of course I don't.  Guess I should now.  She said she had just finished her last class.  Next stop is taking the bar exam.  I should use TheLooker as an experiment to see just how much we follow our programing.  How much I follow my own programing.

There was some sort of meeting in the auditorium this morning.  Food was ordered, and some of the leftover food was brought down to Circulation for us to take home.  I didn't think to bring anything home, until I noticed that I had taken a piece of the potatoes and eaten it.  Now I had to take it home.  So, that became my dinner tonight.  But only half of it.

After the hard fail while making those library cards yesterday I made an eye exam appointment for this coming Tuesday before work.  It's time I get some reading glasses.

Saturday, July, 26, I woke up early today.  I had thoughts of what I was going to do today, because Stephanie from work told me yesterday that her exhibit was going down today.  She invited me to see it before they uninstalled it, and added that perhaps she would be there and we could run into each other.  I think she's so cute.  I took a picture of her a while back and said that I wanted to do the book of Stephanie, because she dresses so crazy and unique.  Really I want to study her form... I want to get to know her better... I want to see her body and travel above and below.  I'm finding it hard to find the right words... I'm inelegant when it comes to describing how much I want to get to know her.

I entitled this part of my journal "Trying not to be weak," because I'm trying not to be a dummy and reach out to any of these ladies that are circling my brain right now.  There's TheLooker, who I ran into yesterday.  And then there's Laurel, who mentioned visiting her a few months ago.  Then there are the ladies I find attractive at work, which include Cindy E, and Desiree.  Especially Desiree.  Reaching out to any of them is foolish.  Oh and then there's Olga, who Misa mentioned she hung out with last week.  She's the only one that I have an actual history with, be it brief.

To quote Homer Simpson, "She knew my one weakness... that I was weak."

vI've been wanting to go to the Lomita railroad museum for a while now.  I figured that if I was in Torrance today I could easily go to Lomita as well.  As a matter of fact, I went to the railroad museum first.

The main reason I came out to the Torrance art museum was to possibly bump into Stephanie and get to see her outside a work environment.  It wasn't meant to be, I guess.  She wasn't there when I was, and there was no extra workplace mingling.  Oh well.

As I was leaving the museum a gorgeous blonde walked by me and went into the museum.  I HAD to go back and see if I could get some shots of her.  And I did.

I had a plan of getting my aunt and I some dinner while I was out.  I told her that I would be back at 4pm, but I was still on the road at that time.  I was thinking of getting a pastrami sandwich from Johnnie's, but then I wanted to try something new.  I had scoped a place called Humble Potato in Culver City.  They had a chicken sandwich that looked good to me, so I got it for us.  I only bought one sandwich, because neither of us eat that much these days.

Sunday, July, 27, I've lost more weight.  I'm definitely thinner.  The other day I mentioned that I was using the second notch on my belt.  I'm hovering between the second and third notch.  Today I wore my belt on the third notch.  It was a little tight, but I could do it.  Watch out fourth notch, I'm rounding the corner.

I received an email today from LADWP saying that the house is considered a water saver house.  The email says my house averaged fifty-eight gallons a day, as opposed to the average household which uses over a hundred forty gallons a day.  I attribute this change to when I fixed the pressure regulator earlier this year.  Because back then we were averaging sixty-three gallons a day.  That's five gallons a day difference, which is what I estimated what was flowing out of the leaky faucet.

Monday, July, 28, I'm continuing with my new breakfast routine.  Only thing is - I love this yogurt I bought, but it has way too much added sugar.  I'll have to check the others I bought to see which one doesn't have added sugar.  In my quest to find a good yogurt I neglected to check if it had added sugar.  What a dope.

I have this little wound on my shin that feels to me I've had for some time.  It's like a permanent scar now, I'll have to keep an eye on it.

Bill Elwell passed away.  Who that, you ask.  He was the Bill in Bill's burgers.  With his passing the public doesn't know what is going to happen to his burger stand.  I have not heard who would continue running the stand.  I hope it doesn't go into the hands of someone who will mess with the winning formula.  Perhaps it will just close for good.  Sad if either happens.

My supervisor asked me to print out the certificate that I get once I finish my harassment training.  I did that training like two months ago.  In the past the managers were emailed when I completed my training.  I guess they don't do that now.  So I had to print this thing out.  I first did the simplest move, hit control P to print it.  I picked the Circ 01 printer, because that is the one that defaults to.  When I went to get my print job I found nothing.  Just perfect.  I thought I would send it to the library's online printing service, but the website always just kept hanging.  So I tried emailing it to the server.  Every time I tried attaching it to my work email the computer would ask if I wanted a link or to attach.  I would click on attach, but it wouldn't attached.  I thought it did, but when I went out to pick up the print I found that it had only printed the email and showed it as a link.  ARGH!  Finally the online printing portal was working, so I sent the job to the queue.  When I went outside to pick up the print there was a woman printing on one printer and a guy printing on the secondary printer.  I had to wait.  And wait I did.  I finally was able to print out the certificate.  I went to my supervisor's office and handed it to her.  The whole thing took twenty minutes to print.  After I gave it to her she says to me, "Oh, you could have just emailed it to me."  She distinctly said to print it out.

I went over to TheGirl's place for my Monday visit.  She was telling me that Cheyenne's tumor has grown again.  She took her off the anchovies a while back, because they were giving her diarrhea.  But, when she was eating them is when the tumor shrank.  Now, I know that it could just be a coincidence that while she was eating the fish the tumor diminished in size.  But I hope it was the fish so that by eating anchovies it will further diminish the size of the tumor.

On a rare Monday phone call with my buddy he informed me about some inside information regarding hours being cut at the library.  This is not a secret, but it is something no one openly talks about.  Well, I did talk to Vivian about how they would probably cut hours.  A while back, when we got some new fliers with the library locations and phone numbers.  Vivian pointed out that the hours were missing.  Someone else said, "Perhaps because they don't know what the hours might be."  I agreed.  With all the budget talk being about how bad they needed to make changes and cut costs, the idea that they would cut hours sparked in my brain.  That's exactly what was going to happen.  The hours missing on the flier wasn't incompetence, it was knowledge.

Tuesday, July, 29, For months I have been having trouble viewing things on computer screens.  Especially at work, because I had some of those store bought reading glasses at home.  After helping the young ladies last week with their library cards, where I struggled to view their ID, I decided to finally make an appointment to get some glasses.  Today was the day of my eye exam.  It was a smooth process, and there was a nice lady there to do part of my exam.  There's always a nice lady where I go.

Sure enough, I need reading glasses.  I picked out a couple of pair of frames, because the one I liked was on clearance so there was only one of that frame.  They were surprised that I didn't try on a bunch of frames.  I mean, I'm not going to see myself wearing them, because I'll be wearing them.

Vagabundo told me he overheard that some of the branches will have fewer hours coming soon, because of the city budget problems.  Sure enough, the shoe dropped today via email.  Only Central and Casa will have diminished hours.  Casa will open an hour later than before, at 11am to 7pm from Monday through Thursday.  Central will open an hour later at 10am and close an hour earlier at 8pm.  Not sure what that accomplishes, but OK.  We shall see how that affects my hours at Casa.  I don't see it impacting my delivery hours, but you never know with these dopes.

We had a puppet show at Casa tonight.  There's not much to report about the show, which turned out to be pretty good.  There was a point where the performer grabbed Mary and her chair and bought it out the "stage" area.  Mary was dying laughing.  I had to get a picture (above).

One of the patrons pointed out that the sign used to advertise several upcoming programs had a spelling error (see above).  These things happen. There was a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake in an area of Russia that is Northeast of Japan, and West of Alaska.  Because of where it was located their actually issued a tsunami warning for the California coast line.  Yeah, that's just what we need is a tsunami.  It was later downgraded to a watch, but still.

Wednesday, July, 30, I made my first bigger payment to AmEx today... $311.  The tradition of paying $211 came when I dropped whiskey on my keyboard and the zero stopped working.  Even after I got an external keyboard I still paid $211.  Following that tradition I'm now going to pay $311.  Excluding interest I will pay this bill off in about fifteen months.  Realistically with interest I still estimate I'll be done in about a year and a half.  Hopefully.

Today was another lunch at the library event at Maple park. There's a girl that works for the community center that I have grown a little fond of.  Last time I was here I asked her her name - Casey.  That knowledge won't help me ask her out, of course.  She's a big girl, but I like her look for some reason.  I was joking to myself that these days I like ladies with big boobs and big butts.  Well, Casey does qualify in that department.  She's a big girl, but I like it.  This is our last lunch at the library event, so I probably won't see her again.  It's not our last event at Maple park, so there might be a chance.

I was talking to my coworker Joseph and he asks me if I got my cost of living raise.  Ah, no.  Not only did he get the cost of living, but he was also moved up a step.  So he cleaned up, with a raise that's over $2 an hour better than before.  I'll have to find out why I didn't get the raise.  Because later I asked Grigor and he got it.  So did Vagabundo.  Seems like an oversight.  Emails will be sent tomorrow.  Right now I'm too steamed to not say something that I might regret.

Dinner tonight was at the Toluca Lake Dog Haus.  This place is a good example of what we see when we go out... empty dining rooms.  I think they are making up for some of that with delivery, because there was almost no one eating with us tonight.  It's a shame, because the prices aren't that bad for what we had.  I indulged with a burger and the love boat tots.  For me, that's a lot of food these days.  But I finished the whole thing.  We got Cheyenne a patty, and TheGirl had some turkey burger.  The evenings lately have been so nice.  There is a constant nice breeze that comes off the ocean, and makes it to the Valley.

Thursday, July, 31, Fifteen years ago was the start of my relationship with TheGirl.  We went out hiking that day, and ate at Slaw Dogs in Pasadena, and almost slept with each other at her place.  I had whiskey/nervous dick, so we never did it, but we made out.  Yeah, that was the start of something good.  The relationship didn't last more than two years, but the friendship has endured.

I don't know how long my pinky finger has had a callas.  It's super dry and sometimes my skin cracks, which is painful.  I started putting tape on the knuckle, to keep it from getting too bad.  I don't know what I'm doing with my pinky to merit a callas.  Sucks.

I found out from Joseph that he got a cost of living raise.  When I brought it up to my supervisor via email she responded that everyone who is a part of the union, GCEA, got the raise.  As a part timer I know I can't be part of the union.  So that's mute.  At that point I felt I should either call her on her BS, or just give up.  Part of me wanted to just give up with this thing.  Part of me wanted to email her and say something like, "I guess I'm not a valued member of the library."  Or something like that.  Cooler heads prevailed.  I simply asked what was the deal.  She give me the runaround before I pointed out that as a part timer I can't be part of the union.  After that she said she would investigate.  Then came the final answer... I'm not eligible because I don't have a title that qualifies.  Since my official title is hourly city worker, and not library assistant, I don't get the COLA.  Yeah, that's not fair.  The union rep that I work with said she would look into it further.  Because it truly isn't fair.