One encounter.

This is a reproduction of a conversation I had at yesterday's event. 

Me ( looking at the spread of food, knowing it's Vegan)  "are there nuts in this?

Twentysomething snobby girl ( insert know it all voice)   "It's Vegan"

Me Yes I know it's Vegan, but are there nuts it it? 

Twentysomething {sighing}" it's VE-Gan" ( she was speaking slowly, as if she were explaining to a three year old.)

Me:  "YES, I am aware it's vegan, but vegan food can contain nuts and I am allergic to nuts.  Not just mildly allergic; I am CALL THE FREAKING PARAMEDICS allergic.   I am Call 911 BEFORE I put it in my mouth allergic.  So I REALLY need to know if there are any nuts in this food."

Twentysomething.  "It's vegan"

Monday

I read a meme that said "if every day is a gift, I'd like to know where I can return Monday"  Yep.  I seem to never be ready for it, when the alarm goes off in the morning. Monday.  Again.  It doesn't help that the weekend was a blur of feeling blah and going to an event that was just plain.. weird.  I need to process the things that happened, both verbal and nonverbal encounters with people I have "known" in some way for the past several years. I need to figure out what it all meant and how I will respond in the coming weeks.  When I do, I will post about it at the appropriate time.  If you are dying of curiosity, message me.

Who ordered this rain, anyway?  Last week it was a million degrees and today it is raining!  Welcome to Spring in California. 

The Mayoral election is coming up in a few weeks.  Whoever wins will have the interesting task of explaining how we went form "OMG the City is going to file for bankruptcy any minute now" to  "oops we have a surplus of 119 million."  How did THAT happen?  Did they "manufacture" a crisis to slam  the workforce with "Austerity measures"?  Yeah. They did.  Is anyone surprised about that?  I don't mean to go all "conspiracy theory" here, but local politics is a shell game.  The City workers, more than any other issue is held up as the problem.  Our salaries are just a small part of the budget but it's the BIG bugaboo when it comes to making any kind of cut.  For the record, I took a salary CUT last year to work for the City of Los Angeles, when they knew all along there was a surplus, otherwise what are we paying those budget people in the CAO's office to do?   If they keep it up, I will be paying to work there.  You lose bright young people if you don't pay a decent wage to begin with.  Commitment to public service only goes so far and it doesn't put bread on the table.  If they "fix" the pension system as they claim they need to I will NEVER be able to retire.  I will be rolling my walker down the halls at Central Library until I am 85....

Happy Monday.

How do you deal?

I have a social obligation this week which promises to bring me in contact with an associate who, the last time I encountered her , was UNSPEAKABLY rude.  I would like to ( quoting Jacqueline Kennedy) cut her dead, but I was not raised that way.  My mother gave me constant lessons in manners and social etiquette is ingrained in me.  I hope I can just avoid this person. The problem is, she sees nothing wrong in her behavior and she has a HUGE ego about her abilities ( my mother would have said "well, SOMEONE has to like her" see Mom COULD be snarky!) I hope to avoid her.  Fingers and toes crossed, but it does make me wonder, how do you deal with interacting with people you would not be friendly with if you were given the choice? One thing is for sure, I will keep my mouth closed and move away if I am near this person.  Not a fan.  Funny because before I got to know her, I liked her.

Saturday night

Boy I am a barrel of FUN!  I have been sleeping on and off all day long.  No idea why but I feel crummy.  I was NOT out drinking last night, just up at 5 and fell into bed around 2 a.m.We went out last night with one of our neighbors to go out for dinner and a show at the Downtown comedy and Blues club.  It's been a while since we went there and longer still since I have been on Spring St.    I used to work on Spring in the early 80s and again in the early 90's  It's become "Yuppified" but still holds the air of shabbiness that people seem to think of as "hip"  The club used to be on  rth and Main, now in the old Alexandria Hotel on 5th and Spring, which I remember as a flop house and drug haven.  It still reminds me of that, but I bet the rooms that are apartments are pretty cool. I don't know though.  I used to know the guy who owned it, but have no clue if his kids still own it or they sold it.  It is weird. When I asked where the bathroom was, someone from the Comedy club actually walked me down the hall to one of the restrooms.  He told me that the place was haunted and yeah it is.   We had dinner at a Mexican place where the food was decent, nothing that makes me say "oooh YOU have to try this place" but it was nice to sit outside and have dinner on a warm spring night.

The show last night was hosted by a friend, Julian Michael, who is one very funny guy.  He started the night out singing with the band and I was really impressed.  The band was the Deacon Jones band ( NOT the football player who played for the Rams in the 60's)   They were pretty good.  The comics were only mildly funny, Julian always makes me laugh and he did again.  The "warm up" comic was better than some of the "acts" and the headliner was just NOT funny to me.  She was bombing and she knew it and took time to pick on the white faces in the crowd as being "uncool and not getting it"  I GOT it, alright, but I stopped laughing at toilet jokes in first grade.  Here's  a clue; threatening people to make them laugh is not funny.  I won't go out of my way to see her again. 

Friday , are you trying to tell me something?

It's FRIDAY, finally!  I thought it would never get here.  Another Fun filled week at work.  ( The fun never stops at the Fun Factory)  I shouldn't complain.  I actually like my job, most of the time.  There are days I would chuck it all to live under a bridge, but mostly I enjoy the process of getting things repaired.  This morning, however, it's all I can do to talk myself into doing another eight hours.  I broke a glass in the dishpan and neatly sliced my finger on a piece I missed .  Argh!  Can I JUST go back to bed and start over?

It's funny, but I am at the end of my career and as we get closer to retirement, the  old-timers ask each other "how much longer do you have?" as if it were a prison sentence and not something you worked hard to get!  I think I have six or seven years.  I have to have that meeting with the retirement people soon.

Planning on going to see my very funny friend, Julian Michael, this evening.  He is performing at the Downtown Comedy Club, actually he is HOSTING the show this evening.  He always makes me laugh.  Check him out- he has a few things on youtube, but he is NOT the exercise guru - that's Jillian Michael.

Resturant Rules

We eat out from time to time, mostly at small establishments, if we are not grabbing fast food after a long day.  I have come up with a small list of things that I look for in judging whether my dining experience will probably be a good one .. or not.

Here they are in no particular order

1-If the coffee is bad, the rest of the meal will be too.  It's not hard to grunge the pot and if they haven't done that, they don't care about the rest of the food either.

2 If the tables are sticky, the place is not clean.

3   If the menu goes on for pages, they probably don't do ANY of the dishes well ( thank you Gordon Ramsay)

4 If you ask the waitstaff what THEY eat and they hem and haw, leave IMMEDIATELY.  It's not good when the staff doesn't eat their own food.

5  Try to see if your waiter or waitress is running all over the place and doesn't have a clear work station before you decide he or she is just a poor server.  Sometimes mismanagement shortchanges the staff.

There are probably more but that's all for now.  Last night we went to a place called the Hill Street Cafe in La Canada.  DON'T go there.  My "fajitas" resembled bad chicken soup and the waitress tried to tell me that the over-boiled mess was something I should "expect" when you order from the "Fit Fare" menu.  YIKES!  I can cook something that is low fat and low sodium and tastes good.  It's not that hard if you have an idea of what you are doing.  I am NOT a master chef, but it IS possible.  Just NOT at the Hill Street Cafe in La Canada.  I posted a negative review on Yelp.  This was the third time we went there. The first time the breakfast was pretty good.  I only remembered the negative experience of the SECOND visit after we sat down.  I recall thinking I should never come back to this place.  The third time's the charm, as they say.  Never again!

Writer's Block

I made a promise to myself to try to write something every day, but I have not kept that promise; although I do write often it's just not every day.  I struggle with what to say and sometimes the news is NOT helpful.  I was heartened by the news that tobacco growers are turning to garbanzo beans.  That's good   I LIKE garbanzo beans.  Hummus is yummy and I like them roasted.  I am allergic to nuts and roasted garbanzos are a nice nut-like snack.  But is this something people want to read?  I doubt it. I try to be positive, although I speak "Sarcastic" fluently and sometimes the snark overtakes what I want to say.  It's been a trying week already. Yesterday, a homeless patron was found dead at one of the libraries.  It appears to be natural causes, but it's distressing nonetheless.  I hate to say this, but this sort of thing happens more frequently than we realize.  It makes me sad to think of people dying alone on the sidewalk.  I wonder about the man's family, if they miss him and are looking for him. It's just a sad thing.

Changing up my meds to see if the ringing in my ears is caused by the medication or something else.  The noise is annoying.  I have been trying to get a handle on some of the anxiety I am feeling by listening to music with my MP3 player.  I don't play music that other  people can hear in my cube.  I think it's somewhat rude to be blasting your music in the office.  My musical taste may not be for everyone.  I have been listening to the wonderful Jeff Larson, whose music is so soothing and energizing to me.  He is quite a find- another "gift" from the band America, who I say are my favorite band.  I love them.  I know their music is not for everyone and I have had a polite disagreement with a friend who is a real music aficionado and I appreciate his take on things.  He just doesn't "get" 70's "California Sound" singer-songwriter music.  As my dad would have said "that's what makes it a horse-race"  America has introduced me to many of my favorite musicians, including the beautiful and talented Cindy Alexander and Jackson Browne.  YES I saw Jackson OPEN for America in 1973 at  the Hollywood Bowl. Just Jackson and his guitar.  He was ( and I hate this word) magical.  I still remember "Song for Adam"  that was the one that got me.  It still does.

Looking back at this I guess I DID have something to say.  I guess the way to conquer "writer's block is just to start writing something- ANYTHING-and see what comes out!