I don't use Twitter.  But since someone brought it up today; I might as well write a twit on xanga. 

"We had a fire drill this morning, in the middle of my research to prepare for a meeting in about half an hour.  Bad timing!"

Just a work day, just a beer, just a long drive home - I am more tired than I thought. Just washed my face now with cold water. Why did I do that, if all I want to do at this moment is to fall asleep?

Instead I am up and typing, thinking about dinner at BJ tonight, reminiscing about the dinner at BJ in Boulder two years ago. Time really waits for no one. All of a sudden I started missing people. At dinner tonight I was once again surrounded by lovely people who gave meaning to my life in Novato, but I must be guilty to admit that I was sitting amidst a swirl of conversation which were not quite processing in my head. I was distracted by the trees planted between the restaurant and the parking lot. They were lit up by spotlights - romantic, beautiful, peaceful, but a little bit eerie. Yet I could not help to stare at them and had to work hard to blend in the strangely familiar circle.

What is distracting me?

After taking cold showers for a couple of nights last week, we finally replaced the water heater and have hot water restored.  But there came Sunday and Judy found that our gas heater would not turn on.  It has not been freezing these days yet, but Judy would turn on the heater for a little bit in the morning to aid the process of getting up.  Last night I came home and turned on the TV, expecting some noise from the evening news to accompany my cooking.  But on the screen was one line "Your program will be available shortly."  I waited and waited and decided something probably went wrong, too, with the cable system. 

Life in Novato - isn't all that ordinary after all...

Yesterday morning I woke up and stepped into the tub and received no response from the shower.  I walked around the house (with clothes back on) and every faucet reluctantly released that last drop.  Then the land-lady walked up and informed Judy and me that the water heater broke.  She realized the leak last night as she got up in the middle of the night to the bathroom, but the moment she got on the ground she was awaken by the flooding water on the first floor of our house.  She spent all night cleaning up and walked out in the freezing darkness, not to mention wild animals might appear, in search for the water valve.  I felt bad that this whole time I was wrapped in bed like a burrito and had no idea of all that was happening.
Anyhow, we called Home Depot, then I rushed to work and brushed my teeth in the restrooms at work.  It was a little awkward - students used to do that all the time in Berkeley (brushing teeth in the library bathrooms), but doing so at a professional environment made me feel a little uncomfortable.  But no complaints... I felt obliged to help out in the house, but there was really not much I could do.

When I got home in the evening, there was a small monkey doll sitting on my door nob.  On it attached a note saying "Lan, I love you!"  (Okay, this is irrelevant to what I am trying to say.)  I was told that the water was back on but we would not have hot water till late Friday.  See, it is when you missed something that you realized how much you've taken it for granted the whole time.  Cooking, drinking, washing dishes, washing your hands, flushing, watering the plants, etc... what have I missed?  Yes, my cold shower!
It was fun, especially when I had to wash my hair as well.  I got goosebumps even before I turned on the faucet.  Of course, I did grow up taking cold showers in China in the summer, and the last time I had a cold shower was during the Berkeley dorm days when something went wrong, but those were all during the hot days.  Here in Novato at the end of October with a cold front carrying gusty winds sweeping through, that idea did not seem very appealing.  I had to go with it anyway.  The washing hair part was a little tough; it almost felt like getting a brain freeze.  The showering part was, actually, not as bad as I imagined.  You got 20 seconds of wtf, then you debated whether you should stay in the water or not because the water was cold but it would be colder if you stayed out. 

Last night was the first girls' night out after Fruida's wedding. As for the venue, by no surprise - a Japanese restaurant. We started off with the usual greetings of how's work and how's life, then we shifted ourselves to Yogurt Harmony to yield more space for the line in front of Kirala. Sitting down with an extra large bowl of chocolate yogurt, the conversation also shifted to a topic of that three-letter taboo word we never really touched. It was an interesting transition, so much that kept me philosophizing as I drove home. Sometimes you just take in a lot of information, then you chew it, then you form your own ideas about it.

I spent a good day in the City today: taking a drive, meeting lovely people, hiking around Lands End, having Taiwanese dim sum, Burmese soup and salad, and Japanese crepe, walking into a random bookstore, a floral shop, and an aquarium, and being amused about how a good day could be spent with minimal effort - just be content and appreciative of everyone and everything around you.