May 10, 2017

 I did things today, I'm sure of it, but this day really seemed to disappear. It's weird.

I spent the first two hours of my shift on desk doing who knows what. And then I had a walkthrough followed by a meeting with the IT lady to set up the adult summer reading page. That was a productive meeting and I am feeling better about the whole summer reading thing.

In my hour before lunch and the hour after I read the chapter from the book we've been discussing in our department meeting. It was an interesting chapter, talking about the stories we tell ourselves that lead to the emotions we feel in various situations. Which is maybe hard to explain. An example would be, are you mad at the act of someone cutting you off in traffic or are you mad at the story you just created in your head to explain why they cut you off? In any given situation, are you upset by what actually happens or the story you have created about why it is happening? And are you creating a story where you are the victim, someone else is the villain, or where you are helpless? It was interesting to think about. I also liked that they brought up humanizing people, don't put them into these small generalizations in your stories. I keep relatively calm in most situations because I make a conscious effort to humanize people and put myself in their shoes. My stories are often coming up with reasons why they have done what they have done, trying to explain it away as an accident or because they have a lot going on in their life. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I'm not perfect at it but I try. In general, I want to believe most people are good and have good intentions. There are plenty of inconsiderate assholes out there, but they are in the minority.

The department meeting went well. We talked about the book chapter, the policy for the month (which I forgot the review), handed out kudos, and figured out our personality color. My kudos went over well. I gave a couple to the librarian who is leaving, one of which was for putting up with all of us for almost a year before making up all this “Japan” business just to get away from us. I also wrote one for the librarian I do homebound deliveries with for checking to make sure I hadn't been killed by an old lady with severe macular degeneration during our last delivery when I had been in the house for over half an hour. The last part of our meeting was spent figuring out our personality color. Coincidentally, I'm a green. In general I view most personality tests as being in the same realm as horoscopes, but they're still fun.

After work it was Chipotle night, but I minused the Chipotle, so that may just become a Kleenex or Xerox term, just meaning dinner regardless of where it comes from. I spent twenty minutes trying to find a parking spot within walking distance before saying screw it. That is way too much time trying to get food that I haven't really enjoyed in quite some time. To at least stay in the same realm I decided to go to Qdoba. There was ample parking and barely any line, which was instantly an improvement. There are also more food options, so maybe it will stay interesting longer. With all the college kids being gone next week, and for the rest of the summer, Chipotle should be fine for a few months, but I think I am going to extend the break for at least a little while.

After dinner we watched videos and sat around and talked until around 9:30PM when I finally called it a night. When I got home I watched a bunch of YouTube videos, clicked around the internet, and now I am finally coming to the end of this entry. At 12:38AM. To say I got distracted by other things while writing this is an understatement. But now I'm going to record my audio journal so I can go to bed.