April Fools

Good evening,

It's good to see you. I'd like to jot down some notes. 

First, once the holiday months passed, work became a lot slower. Typically in retail grocery this happens every year. Business picks up again in spring and summer. The holiday period was so intense this year that I'm glad to see less hours across the board. That doesn't sit well with the other employees though, who are counting on 40+ hours every week to make ends meet. But once April comes around the bend everybody will be working a lot more again and making more money. 

Second, the most exciting thing that has happened is the developments around A.I. I've been especially into A.I. art. I started doing A.I. art the first month the art generators came out and I've really taken to it. I've tried all the best ones but the one I've taken to the most is Stable Diffusion 2.1 version, using BlueWillow on Discord and Magespace. I would like to use more Midjourney and Dall E2 but those cost $10/month. 

With Stable Diffusion I can practice a lot of prompts to keep tweaking my art styles without paying money. I don't know if there's a path along the road where I can change my knowledge into money, but for now it's been a big thing for me because it's something I can do solo and its using new, cutting-edge technology. 

One of the best things ever about doing A.I. art is that I learned that I have a good eye, I can tell good art when I see it. On top of that, the prompts work by text, so depending on how much you know, or potentially could know, you can create almost anything, endlessly.

Check out some of my A.I. artwork on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/jazzerrocker779/.

Third, I've kept up with a lot of reading. Tonight I did a lot of reading reading the news. The big story is that Trump has finally been indicted. 

I've read seven books so far this year: Will and Ariel Durant's Rosseau and Revolution [history], Will and Ariel Durant's The Age of Voltaire [history], Anna LindenWaller's A Memory Called Empire [scifi], Anna LindenWaller's A Desolation Called Peace [scifi], Babel by R.F. Kuang [steampunk], Rite of Passage by Alexi Panshin [scifi], and Tales From A Thousand and One Nights by N.J. Dawood [canon]. 

I've also still been practicing reading in Spanish and occasionally Italian and French when I have the time. One of my goals for the year is to read the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. I bought a copy at a library book sale for a dollar and it's a handsome hardcover edition.

Life seems to have slowed down for me in many respects. Most of my friends have moved far away, driven by what they think will be more happiness if they go somewhere else. Others we've simply broken up and went our separate ways because of personal problems between us or their lives just simply fell apart. 

Even though some of my friends were extremely toxic when we spent too much time together I still feel for them and hope they go on to greener pastures. But I only know too well that just by moving from one situation to another, it does not simply make all the bad stuff go away. In fact, through my own experience I've learned that it's mostly worse when you think you can run from your problems and think things will be better. Out of the frying pan, into the fire, as they say. 

That being said, I wish them all the best. But the reality of the matter is that life is tough, for all of us, and we can't run from our problems, and magically everything will be better. This isn't anime or video games or Hulu TV. 

I've tried to make the most out of my new lack of a social life by reading more, getting more rest, continuing to play and practice instruments, working on ai art, and music, using chatbots for ai art prompts, writing more, being more creative. As time goes on, I realize more and more that I have to be a creative and keep creating. 

image ai generated 

Retail vs Corona 2021-pt.3

Hello everybody. Tonight I'd like to describe in detail what its like working retail grocery during this current time period of the pandemic on April 30th 2021. For the record, anyone who wants to use my notes on what it's been like to work grocery retail during the pandemic is free to do so. Please credit me though using the name Ogspace. My notes go back to the day before the pandemic began when I was at a punk concert, you can find it all here, http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html.

Okay, so for starters, we are getting paid pretty well right now. We're currently getting an additional $5 per hour, which totals over $20 per hour from the original $15 per hour. Not bad for retail grocery really. The problem is that it will only last for three months. But there's been rumors from other grocery store workers [within and without our union] that somehow the union will prolong the additional pay period. I'm skeptical but hoping it will happen. You never know. This pandemic isn't going to end soon so it makes sense for the workers to think this way. 

In the beginning of the pandemic my pay was so low and I was getting such low hours that I qualified for EBT. However, at this current juncture, I've somehow made too much money, and my EBT has been cancelled. Bummer. But it's good to be making great paychecks. 

In addition, because of the increased $5 pay, management and upper management have decided to lower hours of all employees significantly in addition to our company closing stores in Long Beach and LA. This has affected most of the staff that doesn't work on the front end the worst. However, because I know how to operate a register, I've somehow been getting increased hours. It pays to want to cashier and be good at it and have a good attitude. 

The front end is the worst affected department out of all at this current stage of the pandemic. That department, the online delivery department, and the deli as well. Many people have quit the deli department so they're always short staffed. It's a very disorganized department. Every night there's only a few people to help our many many customers on the front end. When I left tonight there were only four people that were working the afternoon to night shift. That's hardly enough. Customers were unruly, they were getting aggressive and they complained like there was no tomorrow. It was a bad scene man. Even when I helped the customers a lot of them were still super aggressive towards me. It is what it is. 

The online delivery pick up department has been the second worst affected department. The manager works the 6 am shift and then he has one other person come in at 1 30 pm, and another employee comes in around 3 or 4, and that's it. That's a hardcore breakdown of hours and staff. In the beginning of the pandemic that was the most desired department because the employees didn't want to operate registers so it's easy non-comital work and you shop for other customers who order things online and bag it and bring out the bags to the customers' car, its the easiest job in the entire operation. You don't have to deal with customers too much first hand. It's a shame that the department has ended up so short handed so recently. I would've liked to see it stay a big department. It was doing so well until they cut hours and everybody quit and/or went to other departments. Not to mention staff reducing the staff's hours to about 20 per week. C'est la vie. 

Our store director gave the employees an incentive to get the Johnson and Johnson vaccine through our store. The deal is that you get the vaccine and you show the store director your vaccine card and you get an additional $100 on your paycheck. It's a great incentive. But because it hasn't been advertised at all not many employees have taken up the great opportunity. Consequently most of the employees are still working without having been vaccinated. A lot of them come from Hispanic backgrounds and may be fearful of vaccines because they are scared of the side affects and missing days of work if they get severe side affects. Honestly I can't blame them but the way upper management is doing it is wrong headed, meaning they aren't advertising vaccination at all, meaning most of them aren't going to get vaccinated, meaning some of them are still getting COVID and potentially spreading it to other employees and/or customers! Not good. A few people have caught COVID recently. That hasn't stopped.  

It's been pretty stressful. Most of the staff are tired, exhausted. Most of them have their hours cut. Honestly, I might be one of the few people who's hours somehow went up at this current stage. I even asked around to see what kind of hours my coworkers were getting and most of them were getting pretty low hours, something like 24 hours, or more, but barely more, maybe 28, if even. 

I would say this is a pretty bad time for the store. The front end department [cashiers/baggers/combo clerks] are getting overworked with not enough help at nearly every shift, be it morning, day, or night. Supposedly the pandemic is getting better, but anyone who's actually intelligent knows that this pandemic won't go away soon. It'll get worse before it gets better. This summer is going to hit hard with COVID. Anyone with a brain knows that. If you're reading this pray for all grocery store employees. Tip anyone who helps you out to your car. Don't be a whiner and complainer. Be a mensch. Do some mitzvahs for them.  

Jazz duo recordings [4/1]

Back again with more jazz duo recordings. I have two recordings that turned out sounding good. One thing to note is that on both of these cuts, my demenor was a somber one. The day before didn't go so well for me, and it shows in my playing. I think the attitude and/or spirit of the jazz musician isn't discussed as much as the music. It plays a big role.

As a result we ended up sounding not unlike something off the ECM, European jazz label. You hear these lush guitar arpeggios, and Jason [alto sax] is improvising over the top of it. I didn't really get into my typical straight ahead jazz guitar comping style. Instead I was rather subdued, and played back. 

Enjoy the tracks. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/going-home 
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/tune-up 

What are you playing this weekend? End of April Edition

Hey, I wanted to take the opportunity tonight to talk about video games! Its been a while since I've posted about gaming. Here's what I've been playing lately.

Overwatch: After putting in about 500 hours into this game I'm really progressing into a much better Mercy player. The higher up the ranks you go the harder the game becomes but there's a very gradual skill ceiling so that it doesn't feel overwhelming. The great thing about being a Mercy main in competitive? Everybody loves you!

Team Fortress 2: I used to be so bad at TF2 it was kind of pathetic. I've got about 200 hours put in and now I'm an Uber-God Medic (laughs). You know you're good when you're the only medic in a 12 player game and you're top of the scoreboard most of the time. My friend Griff (steam name) has about 8,000 hours and sometimes I play with his hardcore TF2 buddies, which sometimes includes famous players from back in the day, like Vexon (check him out on YouTube). When I play with this great players being a beginner medic with like .1 of the amount of hours they have, I just have to sit back and play my best. After all we're just doing pub casual games. Its super fun.

Warcraft III Frozen Throne: So I had been talking about playing Warcraft III for a super long time and I'd always attempted 1v1 matches but didn't really get anywhere. I took my friend Brian's advice and started doing teams, mostly 4v4 games. Brian used to be one of the top ten Warcraft III teams games players back in the day. He still plays to this day. And I'm finding improvement in my playing although it is still a steep learning curve. The main thing I like about this game as opposed to Starcraft is that the units and battles are smaller, with more focus on the hero play, like a moba. Heroes of the Storm anyone? Its pretty cool. I main Undead, really focusing on learning the race as best I can.

Heroes of the Storm: This has been a mainstay game for me since technical alpha. Still enjoying it. I don't enjoy ranked mode so much but unranked draft is my main hangout. I play most of the healers but I also dps with Nova, Guldan, and Illidan. My main character is Lt.Morales, of course I'm always the medic.

Starcraft Brood War: So I finally got back into Brood War ever since I bought the new and visually improved Starcraft HD. You can pick it up for as cheap as 15 smeckles. The game looks like a brand new baby, a shiny new coat that improves upon its outdated pathing and visual discolorations. Like in Warcraft III I play team games with a focus on the Zerg race. For the Swarm!

Marvel Vs Capcom 2: I've been playing this game for a long time with my buddies in real life. We play this more than Super Smash Bros now, its become a cult classic. My main team is Spiderman, Rogue, and Doctor Doom with a rotating roster of those three sometimes mixed with Magneto, Jill, and Jin. Its a true fighting game and takes a lot of skill to master the infinite combos.

World of Warcraft: So I resubbed to WoW and I've been enjoying pvp a lot. Its super fun. I'm even leveling a low level character with my friend Griff and we're doing a lot of low level pvp. Its surprisingly fun although difficult. Pvp  in WoW can be super tricky, especially at max level on my Holy Priest. I think Holy Priest might be the hardest class I've ever played in the game. I've got my work cut out for me on this one. Especially because I mostly just log on to pvp.

Honorable mention: My friend Gordon's Super Nintendo and N64 collection. We've been playing a lot of classic video games from Nintendo at my friend's house. They have nostalgic value as well as amazing replay-ability.

I play a lot of games but I also try to play in moderation with a rotation of the games so it doesn't get too stale. This is going to be a great weekend for gaming!