Go With the Flow

No good deed goes unpunished. Seriously. Think how that little aphorism plays in your life. In spite of good karma (and, believe or not, I do have some of that), it's the little things that end up nipping us in the derriere. Like Tuesday morning, for example.

I'm desperately trying to adjust to this real job and long commute lifestyle, and desperately trying to fit the gym in there somewhere. It became painfully clear during week one that the after-work scenario was not going to fly. That meant an early morning call. I'm a night owl by nature and generally allergic to anything pre-noon. The six-ayem alarm screech has been met with multiple snooze button smacks. While that felt good, there wasn't a huge calorie burn or cardio benefit. (If only. Imagine how big that DVD would be.) After four bumpy weeks, I seem to have finally gotten my act together, and am waking up early enough to scramble to the gym. Not for the workouts of yore. No. This is a twenty-twenty split (twenty minutes of weights, twenty of cardio). Granted, there's not a huge calorie blast from this regimen, either, but dragging my ass there is half the battle. I get brownie points for that somewhere, right? (And can I use those for cake?)

There is no stretching apres workout, though. No time for that. Instead, I rush home and turn on the shower while I peel out of my gym clothes and begin the mad dash that is the remainder of my morning. So, it was a major hiccup yesterday when I turned on the tap and nothing came out. I stood there rather perplexed. There was water running before I left, right? Flashback to teeth-brushing, face-washing, toilet flushing and water refilling the tank. Yes. Water was intact an hour ago. So what the hell happened? I didn't see any signs of construction highjinks or burst mains on my way back home. Perhaps it was just a problem with my shower. Which I realize is a daft idea, but you know how it is when you are faced with a nonsensical problem -- you are driven to examine every possibility, no matter how dopey. Of course the bathroom and kitchen sinks were a no flow. I put on my robe and hit the phone.

Every moment counts on this new pre-work workout plan. I've got forty-five minutes to get ready and get out the door. I was losing precious time. My property manager had no idea why my pipes were dry, but she called the maintenance dude across town to come over and check it out. While I was on the phone with her, there was a pounding at my door. Through the security gate, I saw a man donned a reflective orange vest. He spoke no English. Me no hablo Espanol. After several attempts at Spanglish, I took the card from him and saw my street number next to my cross street, thus showing me an address that does not exist. I tried to explain this and that I had no water, and if he was in anyway involved in that to please remedy the situation. He said something I didn't understand, so I asked him to bring over his supervisor. He apologized and went away. Whatever. I needed a shower, and he obviously couldn't help me.

I called DWP hoping they might have an answer. Nope. No outages in my area. Blast. I pulled on some yoga pants and a tee and went out in search of the non-English speaking plumber, or some sort of explanation. Nothing out of the ordinary but me traipsing around the neighborhood when I should've been applying makeup or something as productive. I emailed my boss to let him know of the dire situation and that I would get there as soon as I could.

I tried to think of a Plan B. Go back to the gym and shower there? Yeah no. Showering with flipflops on is saved for camping trips. (I no longer camp, by the way.) Should I dash to the liquor store and buy a few gallons to heat up? Nah. I would rather see this as a sign from God that I deserved a personal day.

Another knock at my door. The maintenance hero. Someone had turned off the main. One day, I should find out where that is.

It seemed God would rather I worked. Emailed the boss man again that the water was back on, hopped in the shower and rushed out the door. And, even with all the time lost, I was only five minutes late for work, and that included a stop at the slowest Starbucks in the world. There's a lot to be said for not enjoying your shower or giving a toss what your face or outfit looks like in the harsh light of day. It saves a lot of time. But we all know I'm a spender not a saver.