8:58 p.m. - March 31, 2004
12-45
Worked this afternoon for an hour, then went to Annie�s house (husband-who-despises-me-because-I�m-gay is away) to go on a walk that turned into the ridgeway hike and damn it if neither of us had the right shoes or clothes on, but it was fantastic and no need to say again how out of shape I am I did it and had a blast. She is in the gray f/Friend zone, a same-program-buddy of sorts, who told her husband I was gay to ameliorate his control over the men in her life. So we hiked in the sun for hours, rolled on the grass and sat at the ridgetop and looked down on my old hometown (Pleasanton), talked politics, yoga, Shakespeare, and mythology. The sun had set long before we made it back to her house and how fun to walk downhill in the dark, then back up to have tea on her deck. Talked some, then I left and drove too fast through the canyon with the windows down and the cold air good on my face.
And drove up into a very wet driveway. It is not raining and the sprinklers don�t operate until May so confusion reigns. Approach the hose and it is dry. There is an inch of water roiling down the driveway, the planting beds are floating, and I can�t see anything. Lights on, lots of water bubbling from the ground. Not good. Turned the main water valve off, called the plumber. He will be here in the morning and thus, no water. No toilet; no shower; I�m roughing it and pray throwing off my normal digestive routine won�t cause bacterial nastiness inside. Please, broken pipe, be outside and not inside. I opened the crawl space and from what I could see the area is dry, so I put my faith in a broken pipe in the front yard. Let it not be under the driveway; a new driveway is not scheduled until fall of 2004 and I stick to my schedules.
Such great things happen when I take a chance, you know? Annie wants me to come back Friday for dinner with a few friends (non-school people) and I said yes.
