The weather during this past month of June has been weird.  Rain, sun, heat, mild-- we've had everything.

When I looked out one of the windows in our office in Brentwood before I was about to leave for the day, I was dismayed to see serious-looking storm clouds east of us, headed right in our direction. Yikes.  My car got hit the last time I drove in Brentwood in the rain.

I got to my car, slowly pulled into the traffic on San Vicente and settled in for the long commute home just as the mega-sized rain drops started to hit my windshield.  Rolling down my window in an effort to enjoy the rain, I felt a blast of muggy heat hit my face (it was 84 degrees, according to the weather app on my phone, which I checked while parked).  Not the brisk air I was expecting!

Then I got a hit of the foul-smelling, electricity-charged air.  I can only describe it as the same smell I remember my hand smelling like after I rifled through the bottom of my moms unlined leather purse looking for gum and only coming up with old pennies, unwrapped Certs and leaky ball point pens when I was a kid.

That's exactly what the air smelled like.

I rolled-up my window and hit the a/c.

Welcome to Southern California.

This was from June 9th. Not sure why it didn't post.


Okay, the last four days have gone as follows:

Day 1: found out something really shitty (current job work-related). Then I found out that someone I worked with closely for years is dying and taken home for hospice-type care.  He was always nice to me and would tell me how he was glad to work with me and how good I was at my job.

Day 2: While checking on my bosses house,  I got there to find part of the house flooding. Had to take control, stay calm and deal with the situation.

Day 3: had to deal with contractor and insurance, plus continue working on projects due when my bosses get back.

Day 4: (Today) I spoke to another former co-worker who told me they got a call from the one that is close to dying and they said they were calling her to say goodbye. How heartbreaking is that? She reported directly to this man for many, many years. I feel terrible for her.  Then, as I was starting on my drive home, an older man making left turn at the intersection I was crossing through, decided that my car was a mirage and that it would be a good idea yo drive through me.  He hit the back door. I. Don't. Need. This. He doesn't want to go through his insurance. My pen ran out of ink while writing down his info, so I took pictures of his cards, license and card. One didn't turn out and I don't think I can fix it.  Of course.

Tomorrow I have to go get blood drawn at 7:30am for annual tests, then  an annual doctors appointment at 9am (far away from work), afterwards I have to rush back to my bosses house to meet with a contractor, then I have to get back to the office to take over from the gal covering the office for me. Then I have to try and finish more of the projects. How and when am I going to deal with the car thing?

I am trying to keep good spirits and thinking of the positive, but jeez......there's only so much I can deal with at a time.

I. Am. Stupid.

It turns out that me going out Friday night when I've been sick, stressed-out, haven't eaten since Thursday morning and getting only sporadic sleep was pretty much the worst thing I could have done. Combine that with one huge margarita from hell.... POW.

I still feel gross and sick and my weekend is almost over. What a waste.

Pathetic.

I've been feeling down the last few weeks. I think I'm going to go to EC's tonight in hopes that it might help.

I think (and my GP agrees), among other things, the stress of work in combination with the flood at my bosses house while I was house sitting (giving official written statements to them as well as their insurance as to what happened), the car accident, dealing with the jerk who hit me, then the insurance company of the jerk who hit me after he decided to lie and say it wasn't his fault (it was), my bosses going out of town again and leaving me projects to do as well as looking in at their house every day (again), my eye doctor's office never doing what they are supposed to do (so I still don't have my new glasses) and having a supposed day off to go to doctor's appointments, but still having to do favors/errands for my boss (including getting-up at 5:30am so I could check their house and still get to my first doctor's appointment on-time at 9:30am). Feeling crappy the whole time.

I feel like I'm spread really thin and I feel like crap. I'm exhausted and achy. I want someone else to deal with all of this stuff and give me somewhat of a break.

We have our big quarterly project at work starting next week and I have to take my car in to the other guy's insurance quote/repair place tomorrow.

I hope a margarita (just one) and a taco will help me relax and feel better, even if it's only for a little while.

On the way home tonight, I was sad to see that they changed one of the billboards near Wilshire and La Jolla (near Wilshire and San Vicente, west of Fairfax). I usually get stuck in traffic and spend some good quality time near that traffic signal and, about a week ago, they updated the third billboard in a row of three.

What we had as the first billboard, just west of La Jolla, with an ad for "San Andreas" that had a close-up of Dwayne Johnson as a pilot or something. The third in the row was an ad for "Ballers", again, with Dwayne Johnson. This time he's got some sort of championship ring or something. His arms look pretty huge.  He looks really good in both (as you do when a movie PR machine is picking out the billboards).

What was sandwiched in-between, you ask? I'll tell you! An IFC ad with a slightly disgruntled curmudgeonly-looking Marc Maron sitting in, what looks like, a huge number of those small multi-colored balls kids play in.

If you are familiar with Marc Maron, you'll know the expression.  It looked like he was thinking "Of COURSE my billboard would be placed between two with The Rock on them".

In reality, I was probably the only person who who noticed, and/or thought it was funny.

I'm glad I got a couple of pictures on my phone (while my car was stopped thankyouverymuch) before Marc Maron went away.

It's the little things that make me laugh. :-)

Soooooo, yeah.  I just had a birthday. Getting older for a woman sucks! It was a quiet day.  I had to work since my bosses are out of the country.  It was dead at the office, but hey, I DID get a hug from the UPS guy. It was unexpected to say the least. He's a nice guy.  I'm not sure why I even mentioned to him it was my birthday, that's not something I usually tell people!  I think he felt bad that I had to work and the office was empty. I got a pity hug!

I got a few nice texts and emails, which was nice.  My parents each sent me a text.  That's the second year they have done that.  I used to get a phone call!  Weird that my parents are embracing technology like that.

Since my bosses are away, I'm looking in on their house every day.  I forgot how much of a pain it is to get to / from their home with the different schools enroute.  The "checking the house" part is fairly easy, it's getting stuck in traffic in Brentwood (near Sunset by the office and again on Sunset nearer to their home) that's a pain. There is only one way to get to their house, so if you time it wrong, you're stuck. Today, I timed it right (mostly). Only got stuck in moderate traffic by one of the schools.

We've had some drama at my apartment building the past few days.  The gas to the entire building was shut off last Thursday morning due to a small non-dangerous leak. That meant no hot water or use of the stoves.  I took it pretty much in stride. Yes, cold showers suck (but my hair is really shiny!) and having to cook with my George Foreman / microwave/ pressure cooker has been a pain (and boring), but it's not like there wasn't a reason for them shutting it off.  I once lived in an apartment during a really cold and very wet winter where we didn't have electricity for a week due to a car crashing into and destroying the power pole thingy.  That was WAY worse.  No heat, no hot water, no lights, no fridge, no freezer, NOTHING.  Except the stove, THAT worked (too bad all the food in the fridge / freezer went bad!).  These past few days were a cake walk. 

I came home yesterday the hot water was on! Hooray!  No stove yet, but I'm hopeful it will be back on today or tomorrow.

I also came home to a petition up on the bulletin board by the mailboxes. One person in particular seems really angry about the gas being shut-off. A couple of people signed it, but not many.  It was really intense, lots of "we must band together" stuff.

I had no intention if signing the petition until my apt manager called me (on a different matter) and mentioned it in passing and then said I should sign it.  I figured I would do it in the morning. When I got to it this morning, I saw another sign from the lady who posted it, complaining that hardly anyone has signed it.

I didn't want her showing-up at my door (we're friendly with each other) and asking me to do it face-to-face, so I signed it as I left.

I just don't see what the big deal is.  Apparently, most of the other tenants don't either.  Maybe we're just too laid back and easy going?  Ha!  Who ever would have thought that I'd be described as either of those two things?  I tell you, the last year and a half has seen me develop the ability to let a lot of things that used to make me angry slide right off my back.  I was told recently that I am a "really patient person". Wow, was I was flattered when I heard that!

I know I get dramatic with  my complaints / rants on here, but that's usually for effect so that my friends will laugh and shake their heads when they read it.  Normally, I just go about my business and keep it calm / serene.  Pretty much, with few exceptions, the only places I get pissed off are in the car and sometimes at work and those are totally justified.  :-) 

Back to the apartment thing.  Fingers-crossed the stove will be hooked-up again when I get home.  If not, I'm sure I'll be fine until it is.

Not much else is going on.  A friend got me a ticket for Eddie Izzard at the Bowl Saturday as a birthday gift, so that should be fun.  I'm supposed to pick a place to go eat, but I don't know where to choose.  Maybe I'll keep it casual and request Juicy Burger, if they're still in business.