The Visible Woman...December 13, 2003

Oh, I didn't have that firm a plan. I figured on a leisurely trip to the gym (with some time on the weights...I was due for my shorter and easier chest, shoulders and triceps routine), maybe some time with FFP and then, while he went to Nutcracker again tonight, a little fun with one of my pals.

Then...before either of us could make our way to the club, the plumbers showed up. We figured that they didn't make it yesterday and would come Monday. We figured wrong. Maybe they told the contractor they would be done Friday and they didn't start.

FFP went to the club. I figured I'd go later.

Then...FFP said that there was a matinee of Nutcracker and so he had to go to that to see the mayor do Mother Ginger. At first, he said he was going to only to the matinee. I made plans with my friend for movie and dinner and mentioned he would go.

Then...FFP was back from the club, had his lunch and needed to shower to go to the performance. But...the water was off and the plumbers were gone (lunch I guess). So...I packed a bag for him to go back to the club and clean up and he had, by this time, decided he had to go to the evening performance, too, to entertain some patrons. So, I made plans with my friend (actually they didn't change) but I told her he wouldn't be there..

The plumbers came back and filled the house with noise and fumes of some kind of PVC glue or something.

FFP and the plumbers met in the driveway as he came home from one performance and they left. It was already 4:30. So if I was going to go to the club, workout and get back and showered and dressed by 6:45, I had to step on it. The weight routine was a victim although I did some cardio and ab work and stretches. I wasn't too rushed to shower and dress, dodging around FFP who was changing into a suit for the evening performance.

The movie planned was Lost in Translation and we did see it. [See review below.) We sort of talked about going to Reed's Jazz and Supper Club for food and maybe music and maybe some talk about my friend's future plans and such. Reed's accommodated us for a nice dinner. I planned to drink a little as my friend was driving and she planned a half a glass or so of wine. We eschewed drinking after two wines by the glass we tried were off-putting. The waiter sworn they were from fresh bottles (although he volunteered to 'make sure they were poured from new bottles') but we just gave up drinking. Our talk was restricted a little, too. It was noisy. And one of my friend's boss bosses was seated just behind us!

Things don't always go according to plan.

it's sunny now but the stone masons gave up on Friday in the rain	the unexpected You have a plan for the day. Life has other plans for you. Oh, I didn't have that firm a plan. I figured on a leisurely trip to the gym (with some time on the weights...I was due for my shorter and easier chest, shoulders and triceps routine), maybe some time with FFP and then, while he went to Nutcracker again tonight, a little fun with one of my pals. Then...before either of us could make our way to the club, the plumbers showed up. We figured that they didn't make it yesterday and would come Monday. We figured wrong. Maybe they told the contractor they would be done Friday and they didn't start. FFP went to the club. I figured I'd go later. Then...FFP said that there was a matinee of Nutcracker and so he had to go to that to see the mayor do Mother Ginger. At first, he said he was going to only to the matinee. I made plans with my friend for movie and dinner and mentioned he would go. Then...FFP was back from the club, had his lunch and needed to shower to go to the performance. But...the water was off and the plumbers were gone (lunch I guess). So...I packed a bag for him to go back to the club and clean up and he had, by this time, decided he had to go to the evening performance, too, to entertain some patrons. So, I made plans with my friend (actually they didn't change) but I told her he wouldn't be there.. The plumbers came back and filled the house with noise and fumes of some kind of PVC glue or something. FFP and the plumbers met in the driveway as he came home from one performance and they left. It was already 4:30. So if I was going to go to the club, workout and get back and showered and dressed by 6:45, I had to step on it. The weight routine was a victim although I did some cardio and ab work and stretches. I wasn't too rushed to shower and dress, dodging around FFP who was changing into a suit for the evening performance. The movie planned was Lost in Translation and we did see it. [See review below.) We sort of talked about going to Reed's Jazz and Supper Club for food and maybe music and maybe some talk about my friend's future plans and such. Reed's accommodated us for a nice dinner. I planned to drink a little as my friend was driving and she planned a half a glass or so of wine. We eschewed drinking after two wines by the glass we tried were off-putting. The waiter sworn they were from fresh bottles (although he volunteered to 'make sure they were poured from new bottles') but we just gave up drinking. Our talk was restricted a little, too. It was noisy. And one of my friend's boss bosses was seated just behind us! Things don't always go according to plan.
JUST TYPING Best laid plans. Against forces of nature. Or subcontractors. Or remembering things. Or the lack of water. Plans are a measure. Of chaos. As they are upturned and ignored.
		Food Diary. *breakfast* banana *lunch* a clementine *snacks* another clementine a plate of nachos cappuccino with sugar and about half a small bag of popcorn at the movies *dinner* tuna tartare and little fried chip things part of my friend's wedge of iceberg with bleu cheese and bacon miso sea bass in broth with Chinese vegies and a couple of dumplings several spears of asparagus Today I - had a very weird diet but, um, I did have some fruits and vegies.
		Time flies.... Man...talk about sleeping in. It was after eight when I got up. Then the plumbers (who were supposed to come yesterday) showed up. I stayed home while FFP went to the club. He came back and the plumbers had (1) cut off the water; and (2) gone to lunch. So...he needed a shower to get off to the matinee of "Nutcracker" where the mayor would appear as Mother Ginger. But no water. We packed him clothes and such and sent him off to the club to shower up. Somebody who works at the club had said to me: "You wouldn't be the first to use the club as a 'headquarters' while you remodeled." I've increased my showering and grooming there and today it is a necessity. But now I can't go to the club because I guess (and hope) that the plumbers are coming back to finish and turn on the water. I have wasted part of the morning talking to a friend on the phone. So...I decide to be patient and hope the plumbers finish in time for me to go to the club and be ready for the evening's entertainment. Might as well make use of the time and do some organizing here. I actually do reduce the newspaper pile a little and I shop some online for lamps and stuff. You would think, with all this time, that I would get a lot more of this office organized. I stop to snack, spy on the plumbers (actually the plumber's helpers who I would like to call Dumb and Dumber in the future), take the dog out, think. Finally get to the club after 4:30. I leave a little before six. I get home, shower, dress, dry my hair and, shortly, my friend picks me up for the movie.

		Reading. FinishedSerects of D-Day on the bike. This book, by Gilles Perrault. It's a translation of a 1964 book that this Frenchman wrote about all the espionage and trickery leading up to the landing. Pretty interesting perspective. I'm going to make As Eagles Screamed by Donald R. Burgett my new bike book. This is a 1967 book by a guy who was a nineteen-year-old paratrooper on D-Day. Old newspapers wherein I discovered that swizzle sticks were hot collectables and that people were mapping gene activity in mouse brains and that some divorced parents take turns living in a house with the kids rather than shuttling the kids back and forth. I was also reminded, although I remember reading about it at the time, that Seattle rejected a proposed espresso tax.
		nada
		Exercise Thirty minutes on recumbent bike. Ab and stretch stuff. Twenty minutes on recumbent bike.
	. .	Mood is pretty good and hopeful and upbeat. Maybe its the PVC 'dope' fumes. My friend said maybe that's why they call it dope and not adhesive or glue. Maybe that accounts for Dumb and Dumber, the plumbers friends.
	It's a Tangled Web we weave...these days of our lives.	One year ago "I wonder how different it is for the young people I see coming home from college and claiming their rightful place in the gym and tennis courts and the grill. How different to expect to belong to such a place." Two years ago "Very Gift of the Magi in a perverted, new millennium kind of way. Or not."