Fabulous times. My family was around for Thanksgiving / my dad & my birthday weekend! My favorite holiday, my favorite birthday. Thank you mums & dadsy! Pics to follow shortly!!

photos from the family visit, Thanksgivingish2005!

I realized last night that I never explained why the bathroom:

It was an easy-going Sunday night. Finally had some downtime after a grueling run. Had been working every weekend for a month and a half which meant not a single day (or night actually) off, which had caught up and taken its toll. I opted out of a party to take a nice, long, relaxing bath. As I was laying in the tub, I put my feet against the wall to stretch….

and kicked in the wall.

I called my apartment manager and he said, "You brute!" But he’d stopped by the place anyway to discuss my roommate’s imminent departure, so he popped into the bathroom to take a look. "It’s okay - I can caulk the tile" was his original assessment. Armed with gun in hand, he began the repair only to realize the entire wall had been rotted away by a leak in the shower upstairs. Now a simple misplaced tile turned into tearing out the entire shower wall.

"Not to worry," he said. "I can have it done by the end of the week!" Not for him to worry, but we both needed a new place to bathe. So the rounds of phone calls were placed, solutions found and the imposing began. We two tried to spread the grief as widely and thinly as possible but still leaned most heavily on a select two. (Thank you, thank you!)

Sunday came and Sunday went, and the shower had yet to be rebuilt. "Not to worry," he said. "You can still (sort of) take a bath. The shower will be done at the end of the week."

The tiler would be in on Monday, no, Tuesday, no, Wednesday, no, Friday. And my roommate would be home to meet him, right? On Saturday he stopped by to build a window frame with a promise that Monday they would install the concrete foundation. Tuesday we were told it would only be another day. And yet, another day, and yet another day.

I have guests who will soon be in town. It’s the holidays, so the workers won’t be around. But surely, definitely, 100% we’ll have everything finished in time for that yet. Sigh.

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My theme song for the day:

"Don’t push so hard against the world
You can’t do it all alone
and if you could
would you really want to?
Even though you’re a big strong girl
come on, come on
lay it down
the best made plans
come on, come on
lay it down
are your open hands…"

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of November 17, 2005
"In ancient Greek mythology, Tantalus got into trouble with the gods for spilling some of their secrets to human beings. As punishment, he was condemned to spend eternity standing in a pool of water surrounded by trees full of ripe pears, apples, and pomegranates. Whenever he bent down to take a drink, the pool dried up. When he reached out for a fruit, the branch would recede out of his grasp. He was always parched and famished even though nourishment was inches away. His name is the origin of the English word "tantalize." There has been a situation in your life with a certain resemblance to his, Sagittarius. Luckily, I see it ending soon. I’m not guaranteeing that you will finally sip the water or eat the fruit, though that’s a possibility. At the very least, you’ll be allowed to walk away from the accursed place and start fresh elsewhere."

I assume he is referring to my bathroom. Or maybe it’s the roommate search? In any case, I couldn’t think of anything else to post about and it’s getting to be too long a lapse. The next one will be much more inspired, I promise.

A year ago I subscribed to this blog b/c of the original post he refers to…. and when he found it again, I was pleasantly shocked to realize it applied to me again as well. It’s been a few weeks but for whatever "random" reason(s), today is so reflective of this cycle, as it was then and will be again, that I felt him worthy of sharing. Thank you, Irish.

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I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health.
There is no way to escape having ill health.
I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature of change.
There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My deeds are my closest companions.
I am the beneficiary of my deeds.
My deeds are the ground on which I stand.