needless to say, either a water pipe burst or one of the joints to the water pipe broke overnight. i really could not diagnose the problem as everything in the crawlspace was simply wet. the broken water pipes, however, seem to be coming from the bathroom on our first floor. sadly, this may expedite our first floor bathroom renovation.
the only good news, however, is that i was anal enough during the times i was working on the plumbing of the house to install shut off valves at every room. so rather than having to shut off the water to the entire house, i simply shut off the water to the first floor bathroom. (and for anyone curious, the pipe that burst... i did not work on because karen and i had always envisioned redoing that bathroom. so rather than change the plumbing way back when for that bathroom, i figured i'd change the plumbing when i worked on renovating the bathroom.)
anyway, the broken pipe is obviously another headache to worry about. luckily, i can put off worrying about it until karen and i figure out exactly what we want to do with the bathroom layout.
speaking of luck, last night karen and i went to my parents for chinese new year. too bad i suck at chinese new year. (for anyone curious, i believe this year is the year of the ox.) in addition to karen and i, my parents invited my cousin (betty), her son (marvin), and her friend (jane) over for a pre-chinese new year dinner. chinese new year actually falls on the 26th of this month this year.
needless to say, my parents made a lot of food as usual. the food was actually very good. typically, the pre-chinese new year dinner that my parents have is more chinese in that the food is a lot more... different (involving things like tofu, seaweed, bamboo, etc.). my parents generally make food that is less different for when they invite karen's family over.
(pictured below is my dad... doing his kojak impersonation as he told us.)
anyway, it was a nice night. marvin and i got to hear stories about my dad. apparently, my dad claims that he used to be referred to as "the king of dog racing" in chinatown during his younger days because he could pick the dog race winners with ease. i believe the story went along the lines that when my father was first exposed to dog racing, my dad asked some guy to make a bet whereby the second place finisher in a particular race was dog #7. he apparently told his friend that he thought dogs #8 and #3 would finish first and third respectively, but he did not care if his friend placed those bets. apparently, those three dogs finished as my father had predicted. had my father placed bets on those three finishes, he supposedly would have won a lot of money because the winning dog was a long shot. i guess ever since then, my father was consulted for dog racing.
whether the story is true or not, i do not know. my dad believed that he was always lucky... in that he would always find random money, pick horse or dog racing winners, win at mahjong or whatever. as he was telling the story, i actually started to think about my friend (aimee) who for some reason always thought that i was lucky. perhaps aimee sees something in me that i do not. if i were anything like my father, i guess i could also be "the king of dog racing". if my father's stories are true, i sometimes wish his luck would rub off on me... especially now since my son (braden) passed away. things just haven't seemed to go according to plan since braden left.
who knows? maybe with the chinese new year my luck will change for the better. i can only hope.
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