07/27

Nothing special to report other than to note that it's been 10 days since my last post. Finally got almost all my stuff moved in. now going through boxes figuring the finer points of where things are going to go. did over 6 hours this morning requiring a half hour lunch break, followed by 10 minutes doing nothing and then clocking out. then i tutored from 10 - 2:30, i saw this coming and went to bed at 5pm last night/. now my sleep schedule is totally disrupted.


07/28
got to bed by 10:30 got up at 2:20 and comfortably made my 3am call time. got pulled off smalls for a bit to unload a truck, earning kudos from a couple of managers. floated for the rest of the shift which allowed for use of initiative which actually made it enjoyable.

i was tired, but a good tired, and i filled my cup with ice before i left, and i took surface streets home, enjoying the leisurely drive, temperature in the mid 60's, windows wide open enjoying the breeze going 40 mph, and casually eating ice cubes on the drive home. dare i call it contentment?

shoer, nap, shop for groceries. no tutoring today. maybe have fish tacos with derek and get his spare clippers. i need a haircut. it's actually been 2 months.

07-17

i've got a roof over my head again. been here almost a week now.  today was noteworthy in that i slept almost the entire day. i worked from 3:15-8:45, got home for a few and was back out tutoring from 10-12. went and got new tennis shoes to replace the new ones i bought whose uppers separated from the sole within a week and made my feet hurt more than my old shoes, which i had to wear to work last night. they're a 1/2 size too big but the toes didn't feel all that roomy. got home by 1pm, slept until 2 when i had to get up to allow an appraiser to see my room. so i made a steak salad went back to sleep at 3:30 and slept all the way until 10pm. made dinner, ate, and about to go back to sleep for a am call time - and a $3/hr surge rate bonus this weekend as NO ONE from the regular "smalls" group showed up last sunday, prompting my manager to change my sunday day off to a saturday day off - which i'm working for the surge bonus. i try not to think about the fact it comes out to only an extra $24 over the eight hours i expect to work this weekend.

i hate to admit it, but the 10-12 tutoring shifts are killing the sleep schedule i'd hoped to maintain by sleeping in until noon and than going about the rest of my day. today, i had maybe 15-20 minutes before i had to head off to tutor.  wednesdays i have a 10-2:30 block scheduled, but at least i have wednesdays off. well, i already told them i'd go in, plus i can go right to sleep when i get home tomorrow morning.

Getting by during the quarantine -with a car

Without access to the public libraries, there's few locations to access a public electrical outlet. A few places I've discovered:
1) the metro station in Arcadia - there are electrical outlets behind 3 of the benches in the park area, and another over at the west end of the platform. People have jammed things into some of the outlets. I've pulled a few out using pliers. Others are unaware that the circuit breakers occasionally trip and need to be reset. There's also a portapotty and a place where you can wash your hands using recycled water. I'm surprised more homeless don't show up there. The sun is kinda hot in the afternoon, so I go with an umbrella and a couple of bungee cords and lash the umbrella to a bench, providing shade - and if i set it low enough, gives me enough privacy to doze off while my laptop recharges. I also bring a power strip to allow others to recharge at the same time.

2) Victory Park in Pasadena: there's an outlet behind the baseball field. I have yet to use it myself, but it's there.

In the afternoon, finding shade is a big deal.

Target: the two stores in Pasadena and one in Eagle Rock all have covered parking structures, and it's easy enough to find a spot with at least 50 feet of space between you and any other car parked there.

Bathrooms: supermarkets are a good place. stick a face cloth inside a plastic bag and you can go in, towel yourself off a bit and help stay fresh.

07-12

i moved in yesterday. after getting settled in (unloading my car and getting most of my stuff from derek's) i slept until 5pm, and was asleep again before 10pm sleeping until 9am this morning. after a takeout lunch of banh mi's, asleep again until 5pm.

i mention this only because it's been over 100 degrees in various parts of LA yesterday and today. i would have been brutal, though i probably would have bought a polar pop or two and parked underground at target for the shade. timing is everything.

still i can think about how brutal it must be for those living outside this weekend.

07-10

3:15-7:45

stopped by BMCC again but only bought 3 egg rolls and munched on them on my way to von's where i took advantage of two of their friday specials: $5 sushi and a $5 big sandwich made with a whole loaf of french bread. being mindful of the carbs, i cut away about half of the bread before consuming the entire sandwich over the course of the day. catnapped until my 10a-12 tutoring session, during which i recharged my laptop. websurfed until i nodded off, slunk back to the car (i parked on a side street under a huge tree that provided shade all day, keeping my sandwich from spoiling/melting) and slept for another hour then had to go back in due to all the food i ate yesterday completing its brief sojourn in my digestive tract, websurfed some more, did my 4p-6p session, bought my last polar pop (i hope) for a while and ate the rest of my sandwich at eaton blanche before websurfing at REI until almost 10pm at which i finally noticed that i'd gotten an answer to my text about when the floor was done. i could have dumped my stuff there this evening. but i'm content to spend one last night here in the fedex lot. call time isn't until 4am so i have plenty of time to light up a cigar, and if this battery runs out, i can use the backup battery and recharge both tomorrow at my new place.

i will call to confirm a move in time tomorrow and wing it from there. i think i'll wing it on whether to take sunday off. 

so tonight apparently is the last night of this season of sojourn. i have no profound observations to make at this moment. but i do note that my biggest apprehension of commode access was largely a non issue.  the one time i was unable to reach a bathroom in time i actually got there and was able to clean up though i had to discard a pair of soiled boxers. the other two occasions where i had to use my fallback were in the fedex lot and as far as i know i had sufficient privacy unless i was being watched by someone else also sleeping in their car here overnight. i've managed to stay relatively clean by bringing a face cloth to work and shampooing my hair and toweling off my upper body after work each morning. i wasn't my freshest, but then everyone was working hard here at work so by midshift no one was pristine.  i find that i am reasonably well rested - i hope. at least i haven't experienced the kind of lower back stiffness i've dealt with when i was younger and hadn't gotten sufficient rest. it occurs to me that i was carrying a lot more emotional tension around then. that and i've been wearing a back brace at work.

the tennis shoes wearing out the way they did caught me by surprise.  apparently the stance i use at work to get my eyes lower to the belt to make out the numbers blew out the outer sidewall of my right shoe. a temporary tape job currently provide enough support so that it doesn't hurt as much as it did earlier this week during my shift. ironically, i've found the same model shoe - possibly from the same stock as the model in question is being sold with the same discoloration issues as my current shoes - though i'm paying $10 less this time around. if it's from the same stock that shoe has been sitting in storage for at least a couple of years since i bought the last pair.  the tread is relatively unworn. my new pair of shoes have been delivered to les' address. they weren't supposed to arrive until monday - and truth be told, i didn't want to be doing a lot of unloading wearing these shoes. i'd almost prefer wearing my sandals. so that worked out.

things are working out in general. i got a total of  13.5 hours tutoring this week, which more than made up for the missed hours fourth of july weekend. but even at the fewer hours every week, if i get at least 10 hours a week from huntington, i should still clear enough between fedex and huntington to allow me to apply an extra $500 a month towards my credit cards.  in four months the BOFA card will be paid off, allowing me to concentrate on the discover balance. or i could reward myself and pick up a used glock 19 at that point.

on another note, i texted "rob" today and let him know that if he really is coughing up blue mucus he should notify a doctor ASAP. i hope he's going to be all right. going back to yesterday's phone call, i noted his concern for "wayne" as well; "rob" didn't want to risk infecting him. 

people are getting off shift now around 11pm while i'm standing outside typing on the roof of the car. so i lit up a cigar. why not? it's my last night. i wouldn't normally pair a cigar with a polar pop, but tonight, it works. the coldness of the drink cools off the smoke a bit. actually, it's a pleasant night, especially after the heat of the day. i kinda regret getting the big sandwich. i had a craving for seafood chow mein from sam woo, though i was a bit dismayed by how much prices have risen - though it also could be the location. maybe i'll drive down to the branch on valley in alhambra where i used to go 30 years ago. has it really been that long ago? it's been a heck of a road trip from there to here, that's for sure.

some bugs are coming out, but the cigar smoke is keeping them at bay. i regret that almost all the ice has melted in my polar pop while over half of my cigar remains unsmoked. it's now well after 11pm and any place selling drinks with ice are now closed.

i don't know if i've recorded anything of substance in this post, but the bottom line is that this season seems to be over, and a new one is starting. i can see that i'm allowing myself to be more approachable and this has to lead to only good things, despite all the crap that's going on with the pandemic, politically, etc.

my laptop has been on since 6pm or sol it's 11:30 now. so i probably have 1/2 hour left or so plus the 1.5 hours left on the backup battery. i think it's time to call it a night. leave me just enough juice to post tomorrow and charge for a bit.

07-09

hopefully this will be one of my last entries for a while.

3:15-8am again. i'd done the buy two get one free  banh mi deal at BMCC, scarfed down two and finishing getting wifi at denny's and parked in a shady spot and was napping when i got a text from stephen saying the room was mine if i wanted it. i said yes. the floor still needs to be refinished, so i'll probably move in saturday and move in as help permits - i have access to my futon mattress and will be more than happy to sleep on the floor for a few days until i can get help setting up the loft and shelves.

i tutored from 1-2:30 pm and surfed the web at work until 4-ish.  before i left, i let the person now running the office have some feedback in that i was pretty sure that everyone was happier she was there vs. the person she'd replaced.  besides the favoritism the former person showed in assigning hours, the overall atmosphere had been... repressive. she was grateful to get the feedback. apparently she feels somewhat overwhelmed and not up to the task, but this is unknown territory in terms of dealing with the quarantine.

tried ranch 99 hoping they'd have some cold items on sale BOGOF (buy one get on free) especially the cold noodle & celebrate. settled for some spicy tuna roll, which, along with the remaining banh mi filled me up. but i still stopped at sam woo's thinking i'd celebrate by getting some take out there, like maybe some seafood chow mein. clearly, i still look to food to medicate/celebrate. the good thing is that there was a 168 market which i needed not to shop, but to use their restroom at 7:45pm before they closed at 8pm.  but before i went to the restroom, i got a disturbing call from someone i've referred to as rob in other blog posts. the short version is that he was exposed to the coronavirus because he took over another driver's cab who later tested positive although he had tested negative at the time of the request, and he's experiencing some of the symptoms. he says when he coughs, it comes up blue. so even though he'll be in town next week, he's going to keep his distance.

his dedication in appointing himself my bodyguard after my attack was a big factor in my choosing to continue to feed the homeless; he's almost like family.

speaking of family, i'm kinda hoping things continue to open up with not just my sister but also with the kids and their families. mike, kristin's husband, sent a couple of kind texts affirming my choice to help the homeless.  i need to follow up on that.

07-08

tutoring 10a-12p and 4p-6p today. another tutor offered her condolences which i thought was very kind. we also talked about the center, and it turns out i wasn't imagining the favoritism being exercised by the previous person in the office. since the center is looking for more people (they put an ad on craigslist) i should be getting more hours in the short term. and i'm up to 9.5 hours this week. i plan on taking the extra income over budget and paying down the credit cards.

the flip side of not paying rent is having all that cash to pay against my cards - minus the extra money being spent on food/gas.

they asked me to fill in from 2-4 today - and they still hadn't filled a 4-6 slot on friday so i guess i'm getting 13.5 hours this week. i celebrated by getting two orders of kimbap from hmart. maybe the new spot i found near the denny's lot can be where i nap tomorrow before my 1-2:30 slot tomorrow.

i find myself feeling some sort of residual emotions initiated by my co-worker christine's overture earlier today. i wonder what that's about. anyway, it's already 8:30 i guess i'm going to head down to fedex. 3:15 call time tomorrow morning, and thursdays tend to be pretty busy.