I'm becoming more accustomed to the curious double takes on the job. Other subcontractors and the customers are unsure about the girl on the job. The elderly woman whose bathroom I am helping rennovate seemed confused when I arrived at her house. She thought maybe I was the general contractor's daughter, although he doesn't have one and is couple years younger than I am. She was more surprised to see me actually doing work, like maybe I was an inspector or supervisor. She even started asking me structural questions about her house as if I was the contractor.

She caught me out by the trailer where I was trying to balance the weight in the trashcans of concrete rubble, tile & drywall. She had a lot of questions about how I came into this job and what were my intentions. She seemed delighted and fascinated and said that she would have loved to have done this when she was younger. It struck me that maybe she had always done what she was supposed to do, what was expected of her. I don't want to be looking back with those regrets.

It's tougher to explain my presence to Spanish speaking subcontractors. I need to learn a few phrases. Sometimes I know the subcontractors have asked about the "chick on the job." Other times they just look over and I can see they are surprised. I can't stop and talk to everyone, even though I like talking to strangers.

I am enjoying being out of bounds a little bit. The step over the line wasn't that big, since I had been hanging out at the boundary for a while. I lived inside the bounds for a long time and it surely didn't do much for me. It's very freeing outside the box and I don't mind explaining to the curious. I like curious people.

I'd love to hear about you guys. Are you in bounds or out? Curious or bored? What's just over your lines? Who drew all those lines anyway?