Dear Diary . . . day by day

Mail is welcome.

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Thursday, April 16, 1998

My BART ride home last night was interrupted just shy of West Oakland station. Usually, when there's a problem, the train stays running, but this time they shut down everything, the lights, the constant hum, it all stopped. The conductor told us there was an "emergency under the train". Suddenly, all the strangers on the train started making eye contact. I talk to a man who's taking his young son home to his mother. "She'll never believe this excuse!" We speculate, and all work to calm down the little boy, "It's an adventure!" I claim. Out the window we can look down into a West Oakland neighborhood, where one kid is held by another while a third beats him. Up the street a goat (no, I'm not kidding) grazes in a yard. Someone comments that goats don't often wander too far, and we all watch, amused, until the goat squats by the road and takes a dump.
Finally, we start walking. We have to walk up to the front car, and I, of course, am in the last (so I'm closer to the escalator when I get off the train; my left knee and ankle have been really bothering me lately). As we step off the first car (which was halfway into the station), I hear the sirens, see many cops looking down the side of the car . . . "what's going on?" I ask. "Move on". And then I hear her, crying, screaming in pain from under the car I'd just stepped off of.
I almost threw up. It was all I could do not to burst into tears (I kept it down to "dry sobs") and further upset the little boy. It took me most of the night to calm down.

Ian came over later and we had pasta with Sharon. He took over an hour to look at our wiring, and was very impressed with the LAN that was set up in our house (and suggested we set one up, as the "hard part" is done already). I'm *so* grateful Ian is my friend, as he figured it all out (w/out tearing out our nice wiring, as P*B would have) and connected up my phone line! Whoo-hoo!!! I have a phone line!

It turned out to be a very pleasant evening.

Today:
I walked up to South Park for lunch again today. There's a little italian cafe up there called Cafe Centro that has *delicious* salads, sandwiches and specials. It also can be noted for their incredibly attractive staff. Today, I got a Brie and Pear Salad, which was incredibly yummy. The mixed greens (spinach, lettuce, red lettuce, boston lettuce, dandelion etc) and thinly sliced pears were dribbled with a sweet, thick dressing, topped with imported brie and two pieces of crusty italian bread. YUM. I always get it to go and walk across the little street to the central park (er, that would be South Park) and eat it in the sun. Today I noticed an older man picking through the garbage, pulling up the uneaten portions of people's lunches. When he had a few, he sat on a park bench and ate it while he shared the bready bits with the numerous pigeons. Made me a little sad, as I feel it a little undignified. I couldn't help but watch, and he didn't seem to upset by it. He was well-dressed, too, so I wonder if he was just trying to save money (my grandmother's been known to "save" sugar packets from restaurants . . . older people sometimes have odd ideas). When I left, later, I smiled at him and he said, in a loud voice, "Hullo there, lady!".
People have been calling me "lady" alot lately.

The pigeons are in heat. I love watching the males puff up and strut around behind the hens, trying to mount them while they peck for crumbs. There was this fetching little hen with a white tuft on her head who gave this look that I swear said, "Let me eat, dammit".
I know, I'm weird . . .

After I ate I went over to the swings and swung like I used to when I was a little girl. I used to be *good* at swinging; I know how to pump my legs and get *really* high. My hips are much wider these days, and I make the set creak a bit, but I luckily found a swing that was high enough. I leaned waaaay back and let the tree tops rush past as my hair dusted the sand. Aaahhhh. To be 4 years old again!

Totally different news:
The authors for Maiden Voyage have been conversing with each other via email, and it's been *so* much fun! We've already started to exchange ideas, and the group is a fine bunch, to be sure. I've already started fantasizing about creating an "online" writer's group; maybe we can put together our own anthologies and sell them as a group. I'm already mentally scheduling our North American and European tours!!
Ahhh, I love living in my head some days . . .