We are licensed! This morning Heather and I headed down to the Alameda County Clerk Recorder's office (which is not much at all like a hellish bureaucracy -- i.e., not at all like the DMV!). Nice lobby. Fish-shaped benches. Weird bronze inlays in the floor. There's one room where births, marriages, and deaths are recorded -- the big three primary historical documents. Kind of neat. We went in, filled out our forms, and got our marriage license with less sitting-around-and-waiting than I'd expected (though there was some of course).

Now I’m back home... wondering if I can stand to work here today. The foundation of the house is being repaired, and it's VERY LOUD. Jackhammer. Noisy. The cats are freaking out. It's hard to concentrate with the high-speed thud-thud-thud pounding at me. But we'll see. Maybe if I crank the music and get into the Bridge novel I'll stop consciously hearing it.

All right. I have an outline for the next couple-few chapters. I should stop dithering and get writing.