allyson rang me this morning just before 8; i suppose one expects me to be the kind who would be up. :) did i want to go to the farmers' market? she wanted to know. i didn't think the farmer's market would be open this early in april, but i hoped it was, and anyway what do i know? it could well be, and if not we could always breakfast downtown. had been reading northrop frye on the four kinds of metaphor when she called - and quite pleased to leave it for a while. when i went downstairs i saw the roads lined with faded orange cones and stray police officers standing at the road junction - ah, the charlottesville ten-miler, i remembered, which last year coincided with the english department faculty conference. i remember this because nohrnberg had spoken at the first session, and, wandering out of minor hall because hardly anyone was seated yet, i was astonished to see him, suited and tied, running towards me. i just won that race, he panted on arrival. he had driven to school, been diverted by the traffic wardens this way and that, and finally drove home again, parked, and ran to school. which means, it lighted on me, that allie would probably have to take a very circuitous route to get to me. it was a while before the familiar orange beetle (carrot suhendra) appeared, and getting in the car she reproached me for having written, in my journal, last semester, that she was not the kind who could get up to go to the market. well, here she is, bright and early! further, she submitted, she has been getting up at 6.30 to go to the gym with a friend. well done!

the market wasn't open, but streams of runners were just going through the downtown mall, we stood and watched them for a while. quite a few supporters standing and clapping - and a small boy was holding a bright orange sign that said "go daddy!". teehee. funny, in a slightly suaku way. allie wished she had someone to cheer. i picked up a copy of the race guide in higher grounds - i never knew this event has been going on for close to 30 years! that made me feel happy about charlottesville, and happy for a sort of continuity, that i can hang on to on this end. on the way back we saw the last runner (she was, because the cones were being picked up as she passed.) allie asked why i was so happy-glowy. i don't know. i feel like i'm in love or something. i wonder if those tissues in my brain have settled down, the ones that nohrnberg says make you go giggly-silly. aha, i told bob reeder, who, on the other hand, is in love for the first time at 28, you've missed out, my friend! it was quite chilly on the way back - it already was when i left home, but i'd dressed in expectation of warming weather. in fact, it was beginning to rain as we got into the car. i hoped to goodness it wasn't going to snow again. i'm sorry for the runners - it would have been lovely had they run yesterday!

zak was online when i came home - and i couldn't resist saying to him: saya baru baku puasa. salah! he sniggered, that's baru buka puasa - and besides that's i just broke my fast! i had breakfast is saya baru bersarapan. then he countered with: saya patut makan malam sekarang tapi saya makan tengahari pukul empat. in the full knowledge that it would take me a month to work through that one, since i can just about count up to five in malay. i gave it a shot anyway. the trouble is that, although i recognised quite a few words in that sentence, most of them are conjunctions. oh well.