Breaking in and Whiplash.

**I wrote most of this just after the car accident, and after sharing a bottle of wine with Alex. I was going to edit it later, but upon reading it, decided just to let it lay. Why not?

What a month! Earlier this month our car got towed. It was soccer night, and since we live right behind the soccer stadium, there was no place to park. We parked next to the Westin hotel, and, of course, when Alex went to go to work the next day, it was gone.

Then, on Thursday night some freaks broke into The Bohemian Café by crawling into one of our high windows. They didn't steal anything, however. They broke an ashtray, pulled the paper tray out of the fax machine and threw it on the floor, but left the money in the cash register just above the fax machine. The alarm went off, but for some reason, it didn't connect with the main office, or connect with the police office. Wierd.

After talking to a few people in the neighborhood, it seemed as though this was a common theme - breakins without any theft. This was my theory...

Maybe someone was doing a study on bringing excitement into people's lives. He'd break into their places of business, which typically doesn't make a person feel violated in any way, and leave things fairly intact, just to create the notion of disorder and in doing so, bring the inevitable excitement that break-ins incite.... What do you think? Was it really a do-gooder in disguise?

The other theory was that it was a gang initiation and that they may have taken something, but just something small as a souveniour.

Two years ago yesterday, Alex proposed to me in The Bohemian while dancing to the song "Satisfy my Soul".

Yesterday he sent me red roses with a little note that made my eyes water.

So finally, today we were going to go out on a uncommon date to see the movie "The Reader" and afterward to a romantic dinner at the Japanese restaurant, Zen, that we've been wanting to try out for the past three years. Unfortunately it was raining. Rain to Valencia is like Snow to Seattle. People FREAK OUT when they drive. It's like all driving ability gets thrown out and we move back to primitive times, but with automobiles. YEAH...SCARY.
On our way to dinner, we were involved in a three car pile up. The car in front of us stopped suddenly, occupying two lanes (they do that frequently here), so we stopped just in time, but the two cars behind us didn't. We got smashed TWICE from behind and had to go the the emergency room. They are making me wear a neck brace, but Alex got off easy.

We did make it to Zen where we indulged in a bottle of WINE. No valium for me this time. I'm still breastfeeding. I get to cuddle up with my old friend Tylenol if there are any problems. Nice.