i note with some interest that my blog posts are now getting a few views.
now charging over at the metro. both benches are taken, so i go over to the platform, lash my umbrella to the rail for shade, and start charging my laptop - and for the first time in a month - my phone; i'm usually pretty good about keeping it plugged in to the lighter when i'm driving the car, but between not doing so yesterday and the number of texts i exchanged about dinner and the curfew had my phone beeping about its low battery around 5am this morning. i elected to shut it off.
it's only 9am and the sun is already pretty hot. it's going to get hot today. i consider checking the forecast online but i decide i'd rather not know and just find my sources of shade today. i've considered trying the arcadia park parking lot; it's huge and there are a number of trees, but there are also already a number of cars occupying a lot of them, and i won't finish recharging until about 10:30 this morning. head back to pasadena, grab wifi at my mechanic's, grab lunch at vons and head over to eaton blanche park for the afternoon. even after being just baout eveyr morning for a couple of weeks, there are a number of faces at the park i don't recognize. i wonder if the curfew has disrupted their schedules in how they're all tapping the outlets.
i suppose i should mention the recorded messages that play over and over at the metro. they all typically end with: "LA is better when we're healthy together", er, togetter? the translation into spanish that follows doesn't come close to rhyming. oh well.
i've read accounts of the excessive force resulting in another tragic death and i've started to follow the news about the unrest that's prompted the curfew. it's another tragic event, no doubt, but i can't help but wonder if it's as much cabin fever vs. outrage that's motivated people to protest. perhaps it's less cynical to suggest that a lot of the outrage is displaced frustration related to the quarantine. the bottom line is that any sort of mob mentality that goes unchecked does not bode well for the future.
even with the shade, the black t-shirt i'm wearing is starting to feel warm. perhaps this is what's prompted the (to me) unusual number of people already at the park this morning. i guess i'd expect fewer people early in the month; last night at dinner one of the regulars started ranting about how some folks getting some sort of government money would pool their funds to get a hotel room, drugs & females for a two week binge. it segued into how the quarantine disrupted his going back to school and how he didn't want to spend another winter on the street. as he got more animated he got closer and closer to the table and i had to ask him to observe the social distancing thing, which set him off even more. frustrations are running high, and i could have handled that better.
i told my boss tuesday morning that i'd come in thursday instead of taking the day off. with the curfew and my needing to leave derek's so early part of me regrets not having gone in to work this morning, but i do need the rest and a day to run errands as needed. for example, my brakes have been squeaking intermittently. i should have my mechanic take a look as they were only recently replaced, in which case i can continue to charge AND get wifi there. i just got called to confirm my coming in, and that my call time was 2am.
all the lifts were full - they asked me to come back at 2 after their lunch. so i picked a package of lunch meat and made sandwiches at the park. bread isn't going to last all that long in the car in this kind of heat; i can already see condensation inside the plastic bag.
i got a phone call from a girl named natalie who i met at a christian dance a few years ago. she's terminally cute, but i have t-shirts that are older than she is. so this was a bit out of the blue - she's been writing short stories during the quarantine and wants me to read a particular story based on covid-19. i told her i'd try to read it before the end of the day. i gave her my email address. she's also itching to go dancing. i jokingly suggested one of us bring a boombox to a park and dance together there. she said she'd be up for it. hmmm.
turns out i need to have the front brakes AND front & rear rotors replaced and it's going to cost me about $520. still cheaper than rent, and i've spent the rest of the afternoon in A/C recharging my laptop and getting wifi. i read through the short story. i think i'm going to sleep on it before providing feedback.
at 6pm i decided to head out to the metro, mainly just to be social. and it paid off as i got a chance to talk a bit with jeff the cook who was there with food to cook, but john (the vet) and paul weren't there - and apparently john has the stove. jeff is a fellow buckeye, though he hails from the southern end of the state near cincinnatti. he noted that northern ohioans have a different mindset compared to southern ohioans. i had to agree. jeff was more than a little p.o.'d that he wasn't able to cook and disclosed some info about paul which confirmed my initial impression of the guy; food is really important to him. he's spent time in jail and is banned from using any dating app. apparently he had a lot of first dates where he ate and ran, sticking his dates with the check. he justified it by saying that eating good food made him feel better. they dropped all the felony charges and convicted him of petty theft. it would be interesting to see if i could get an idea of how food became so important to him - and help me better understand why i medicate with it. jeff also touched on scott going into housing for a month. apparently one of the conditions is that the room is inspected nightly - no women, etc.
i'm thinking about getting a camping stove - or borrowing derek's. but i'll be house sitting in a few days - his assignment starts on the monday the 8th, but he's thinking of heading up early and visiting his mother for the weekend so i could be in as early as the 6th. part of me wants to stay out there and learn more about jeff - or when i get funding, find a way to get him involved with cooking for more people - i think i like his ability to improvise with what he's got.
i hung out until 7pm, and headed off to fedex. on my way to the car, i got texted by another female i know through dance (very good follow - dances ballroom, salsa and WCS well).joyce wanted recommendations on where to get the best xiao long bao (XLB) since my favorite place, shanghai dumpling house, was closed. i had no good answer since i didn't know which places were open.
instead of heading to my normal spot where i sleep i decided to park with other cars and move a bit later after confirming that that part of the lot didn't have any other people in their cars, or hanging out talking. i ate my takeout from mcdonald's.
i just texted joyce back and asked where she'd gone. she told me and then asked me if i wanted to go with her when shanghai dumpling house reopened. you need to understand that when i've contacted her in the past to go dancing and stuff she's always had other plans. having a couple of cute females contact me out of the blue on the same day makes the day worth commemorating . i treated myself to two mchicken sandwiches AND two mcdoubles for $6 tax, along with another polar pop from circle k.
today's been a full day. i think i need a day off after feeding the homeless. but i'm rested and ready to get back to it. call time 2am tomorrow morning.
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