A Frosty Friday...

It's a frosty Friday morning and I'm ready for the weekend. As I drove in, the frost was thick on the cars parked outside, the grass and on the tall piles of leaves that have been raked at the side fo the street.

I always think it's nice to see those piles of leaves. I admire the people who rake that diligently because all it really takes is one gusty day or one enthusiastic leaf-pile-jumper and all those leaves are scattered again.

I have a lot of leaves in my own yard. I don't even have a tree. I have a sneaking suspicion that the leaves came from both the hickory nut tree or the sycamore tree that belongs to my neighbour. I suppose I could rake the leaves but the thing is, I don't want to. I personally like a coating of leaves because I think it does the grass good to be covered up for winter; sort of a thermalizing effect.

Also, it means that if I have too many leaves, I can't really find my lawn which means I don't have to mow anymore. The Dog Whisperer next door mowed his lawn last weekend. My own grass hasn't really grown that much since it's hit the 'hibernation' period. His grass wasn't that long either. I've always heard that you're not supposed to mow after the first heavy frost because it's bad for the grass. Since he now has several dead-looking patches, I can't help but think there might be something to this. Even if there's not, I don't care. It's a handy excuse to avoid mowing the lawn.

I'm hoping this Friday will fly by. All in all, it hasn't been a bad week. Most of the managers have been gone at conferences and the atmosphere in the office is a little more relaxed. Besides, it's Friday and everyone loves Friday.

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend but, then again, that's nothing new. I'm not sure what I'm up to yet for the weekend. It's supposed to be Indian summer weather in which it gets up to nearly 70. Since I have some final work to do in the garden, I need to get that done this weekend. There's a lot of things that need to be cut back so that they don't rot and make a mess over the winter.

In addition, I want to do a little Christmas shopping. I'm liking my strategy of starting very early with shopping because it's making it more economical. If I see a good gift for someone at a good price, I'll buy it.

Yet, just because I plan on doing a little shopping, it doesn't mean that I think it's really time to start getting ready for Christmas. As I blogged last year almost on this exact same day, it seems as though Christmas is already in full swing, according to the retailers. Last night was my 'busy' TV night and even though some of the shows were recorded on my handy-dandy DVR, I still had to sit through commercials. Apparently, it's time to start decorating, to start buying cell phones as gifts and going to 'pre-Thanksgiving' sales with the "Lowest Prices EVER for the holidays."

I don't know why I'm still horrified that we're already seeing these advertisements. By now, you'd think I'd be used to it. Retailers want people to jump into the holidays with both feet starting the day after Halloween. Actually, if I want to get nit-picky, they started stocking Christmas stuff at Walmart about two weeks before Halloween. Yet, as much as I love Christmas and all the trimmings that go with it, I'm not ready to start getting ready for Christmas. I want to enjoy that Thanksgiving turkey first. I want to feel that little rush of thrill when I'm close enough to Christmas that I can start getting excited about it. I can't do that now although, I confess, when I got to a store and see aisles of decorations, wrapping paper and lights, I want to start getting ready for it. This idea, naturally, makes me angry when I make myself remember the date. I'm being manipulated by retailers and manufacturers and I don't like it.

I mentioned the other day that there's a house on my street that has the decorations up already. I've noticed that every day, they add to it. It started with candy canes lighting the driveway. Then they added a row of ginormous outdoor fairy lights. I say ginormous because they're not actually normal lights; they're these massive plastic things that are more like a lawn decoration than a lighting method. On Tuesday, they added a snowman to their yard. Yesterday, they added a penguin and a caroler. Today, they've added a stack of 'presents'. I'm not sure about those. They're no plastic-made-for-the-outdoors type of decoration, they're actually cardboard boxes wrapped up with shiny wrapping paper and tied with ribbon bows. They've been out there less than 24 hours and, already, they're looking a little saggy and soggy. I'm thinking they're going to be one of those Griswold type of families that is going to be the best and brightest house on the block by the time it actually is close to Christmas. Thus, they add slowly but surely and eventually, their house will be visible from outer space because of the glow.

I haven't seen anyone else in my neighbourhood put their decorations up yet but since it's the weekend and it's now been a week since Halloween, others will most likely follow. I'm not going to join them. The most I'll do is peruse the sales and see if there's anything worth squirreling away until Christmas. I will NOT be putting my decorations out yet. Also, I will not be listening to Christmas music yet even though the radio tries to tell me otherwise. There's a station that I flick to once in a while that has now become "All Christmas Music, All the Time!" It's TOO early!

Ok, I'm not going to talk about that anymore. Although I'm curious to hear an opposing viewpoint to mine as to why we should be preparing for the holidays already. So, if you have one, comment away and I'll happily entertain the notion of breaking out my Transiberian Orchestra CD's and baking gingerbread.

Most likely though, I'll try to ignore the fact that it's hard to walk in a store and avoid the Christmas merchandise. Even the giftcards that places like Target, Walmart and K-Mart have on sale are emblazened with festive decorations. The question I have about this is...REALLY? Do we need Christmas gift cards yet? I mean, hello, it's a GIFT CARD. It's not exactly something that stores are going to run out of. The one thing they want to ensure is that people will spend money in their store and gift-cards are the most secure way of doing that. Thus, you can walk into store at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve and buy a Christmas gift card. You don't need to run out and fight the crowds for one of those so, I ask, is there any reason we should have them on display already? I'm not going to buy those yet! If I did, I'd probably talk myself into using it and buying the intended recipient something else!

Still, there is no escape: In the World of Retail Merchandise, the holidays are already here. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's going to stop. All I have to do is not let myself get sucked into the vortex of hollyberry scents, shiny ornaments and glittery lights.

Right?

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend.

Of Toilet Seats and Spiders....

It's Guy Fawkes' Day today across the Atlantic in England. I won't go into detail as to what that means and what it is because I did that last year and I try not to repeat myself terribly often. I haven't really celebrated the occasion in many years, mostly because when you live in an apartment in Los Angeles, it's not acceptable to light a bonfire and burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the flames. Nor is it acceptable to set off fireworks in the beginning of November. Last year, when I moved back to the Midwest, I still lived in an apartment and I didn't do much to honour it, other than to blog about it and remember that it actually was Bonfire Night in the UK.

This year, I had sort of hoped that maybe I could at least have a fire but it turns out that unless it's a firepit type of fire, it's not allowed in the limits of my city. I contemplated buying a firepit and every time I go to Lowes, I admire them lovingly but, alas, as a newish homeowner, I have quickly learned that there are far more useful, far more necessary things to do with the $100 I could spend on a firepit. Thus, while I continue to stare at them lovingly in Lowe's, I don't make the move to purchase one. Also, they've started adding a new item to the price tag- a $10 assembly fee. I looked quite closely to see what that meant but couldn't figure it out. On some of them, it seemed to imply that you just got the pit- the actual place to hold the fire was sold separately which is....odd. Still, on my weekly trips to Lowe's, I shall continue to try to solve the mystery of the assembly fee. I do go to Lowe's fairly frequently. Last week, it was for a new toilet seat. That was an adventure. When you think about buying a house, the idea of buying a toilet seat is something that doesn't really cross your mind, at least not for me. There are a lot of things that don't cross your mind until you realize you need something. For example, for me, a toilet seat is something you sit on...on the toilet. Who knew that there were so many options? There are wood ones, anti-microbial ones, foamy ones that are soft to sit on, economy ones, wood grain ones....there's an entire area of Lowes just dedicated to toilet seats.

These are the things I have learned over the past few months; the insignificant things in my house are not so insignificant that there isn't at least two or three options to choose from. Take my bathtub. I needed a new plug so I could take a bath. It seemed like a normal sized drain hole so I innocently thought I'd be able to find a plug at Lowe's fairly easily. Oh, silly Captain Monkeypants! There is a huge supply of bathtub plugs at Lowe's. They're all different sizes. No matter how confident you are that you know the size of your drain hole, when you start staring at all the plugs, you quickly forget and the self-doubt creeps in. Fortunately, since the plugs were less than $1 each, I did the smart thing: I bought three that looked about the right size and hoped for the best. The one I thought would be the candidate to most likely NOT fit turned out to be the one that fit.

The toilet seat was easier. I opted for a wooden anti-microbial one. I hate the foamy ones. They feel vile when you sink into them. You're not supposed to sink into a toilet seat. It's just....not right. Of course, because my toilet is a rather unpleasant shade of mustard yellow, I thought white might look a bit odd so I opted for a 'biscuit' coloured one. The one I was replacing was one of those nasty wood grain ones. I think now I have my biscuit-coloured seat on my toilet that I understand why there was a wood grain one on there. The biscuit and the mustard clash just enough that it gives the impression that the toilet hasn't been flushed. Also, I tightened the seat as much as I could and yet when you sit on it, you take the teensiest little trip to the right as the seat swings away from under you. Until I really tightened the nuts on the seat, the trip to the right was much more severe and a little alarming.

How did I get on this bizarre topic? Umm....oh, right! Sorry- Lowe's. It's amazing how easy it is to digress.

So, back to the original topic, firepits for Guy Fawkes' Day. I didn't get one. So I won't be having a bonfire. Which I probably could have said way earlier without talking about toilet seats...

Still, the nice thing is that I could have a firepit if I wanted. That's the lovely thing about owning my own house. I can do whatever I want. For example, I noticed that my bathroom ceiling is vile and I'd never noticed. Thus, I can fix it.

There are some things I'm learning about having a house though. I used to live on a second floor apartment. My house is one story. Thus...I'm closer to the ground. This means that on these chilly nights, the warmth of my home is appealing to outdoor types such as Herbert 2.0 who I met last night.

Herbert 2.0 is a rather large spider. He's version 2.0 because the original Herbert lives in my cubicle here at work somewhere. He comes out to visit once in a while. He's quite large and the first time I saw him, I was a little worried and almost squished him with my stapler. Then I realized that it wasn't his fault he was a spider and I put down the stapler and decided sharing is caring and if he wants to make his home in my cubicle, then so be it. We made our peace. As long as I don't find the Original Herbert on my being anywhere, crawling on my skin, in my jeans or anywhere spiders shouldn't be, I think we can both share my cubicle.

Herbert 2.0, however, is not as welcome. Not when he moves towards me as though he's coming to sit on my lap. I was on my settee last night, talking to my friend on the phone when I saw this rather large lump moving on my couch. Naturally, I did the traditional thing. I squealed like a pig. Quite loudly. In my friend's ear. Once I had finished my mini panic moment, I gathered my wits and investigated nervously. Herbert 2.0 was a VERY large spider. He was at least the size of a quarter and he had big yellow eyes. Also, he kept inching towards me. Even though they make me a little nervous, I still don't like to kill spiders because, as I keep saying, it's not their fault they're born creepy. So, thanks to the sane presence of my friend on the phone, I managed to scoop up Herbert 2.0 and put him outside while trying not to squeal again. I made my friend promise not to hang up until Herbert 2.o had been removed just in case he grew even bigger and ate me.

Of course, in retrospect, I realize that there is no possible way Herbert 2.0 could really have grown. Nor could he have eaten me. Yet when you're being faced down by a large, hairy spider with beady little eyes, anything seems possible. I even managed to not squish him accidentally as I tried to liberate him. I hope he doesn't hold it against me that I put him out into the cold when all he probably wanted to do was come and say hi and thank me for my hospitality. Spiders don't hold grudges, do they?

Then again, maybe I shouldn't talk about grudges. We British still apparently hold a grudge against poor old Guy Fawkes who committed his crime over four hundred years ago. If Herbert 2.0 hunts me down, I'll let you know. He probably has a right. For all I know, he's been living in my house longer than I have and I just evicted him.

Oh dear.

Happy Thursday!

It Really is Just a Job....

This week seems to be going rather quickly. That is definitely not a complaint by any means. I like it when the work week goes quickly, as long as time slows down for the weekend.

Outside, it's one of those strange fall days where there are now more leaves on the ground than the trees, where there are some clouds look almost like smoke where you can see rain showers happening in certain areas but the sky is clear in other patches, preparing the blueness of sunny day. It is chilly out there though there's no frost this morning. We have had some glittery frosty days recently but I'm spoiled now and I only see them from the warmth of my unfrozen car. Having a garage is nice though I do need to get a bag of salt for when my driveway gets icy.

Today, at work, miraculously, I have no meetings scheduled. This is literally the first day in a week where that has happened. Following the lines of "be careful what you wish for," I have been put on a project team. It's a team that gets together to take one of our software applications and find ways to improve it according to the specifications of one of our clients. It's actually quite fun and I'm trying to actually contribute. The tricky part I'm finding is that in my former life, I got to act as a liaison between computer programmers and the end users. This means I learned to translate technical babble into plain English. It also means that I learned an awful lot about the technical side without actually doing any programming myself. I'm finding that in this company, they don't seem to understand that concept because here, you're either a developer/programmer or you're a functional person, meaning you use the software and help other people use it. There seems to be little in-between. I've tried beyond reasonable measures to get my boss to actually look at my resume, to see that when I ask a technical question, I want the answer because I might actually understand it. Instead, my boss just gives me a flippant response and moves on. It's not his fault; he pretty much inherited me as an employee. The boss that hired me left during the transition a few months ago.

Nevertheless, at least I'm on a project team so I mustn't complain.

The thing that I hate about jobs is that when they're not going well, they tend to colour your entire life. No matter what other happy stuff is going on, you still have to go to work for 40 hours a week. That's a big chunk of time and there's no way to ignore it; it's a fact of life: Jobs affect us mentally. On bad days, I despise my job; on good days, I can actually get excited because I find the prospect of hope and challenge enjoyable and I think I might actually have some of both. The problem is there are usually more bad days than good. Sometimes, all you want to do is complain about your job, to have someone listen sympathetically and then help you verbally bash the crap out of your company because it's therapeutic. Unfortunately, I, like many, have discovered that most often, that's not what you get when you vent. More often, you'll vent to someone, wanting them to be on your side, and they'll say something like, "it'll get better soon," or "don't let it get to you."

The truth is, I've probably said those words myself because it's the easy response, especially when the person saying them is ok in their own job and getting along just fine. That has been me, I know it. It's easy to look at the rosier side of life when things are going well for you or, at least, fairly well. I've done it. We all do it. The words are good and most likely true. It will get better soon. I shouldn't let it bother me.

Except, it's never that easy. If you work 40 hours a week somewhere and it's not going well, it's impossible not to let it get to you. It does get to you because even when you leave for the night, driving, relieved, out of the car park, headed home at last that you have to go back there, that you might have escaped for the day but it'll be waiting for you the next day.

There does come a change in attitude eventually that we do all get to. I call it the Office Space approach. I was there a couple of weeks ago. I'll be there again in another short while. This approach means you've got to the point where you really just don't care that much, that you've done everything you can to remedy a problem and no one's listening so why bother worrying anymore? This stage is fun because I start enjoying my job. It's the phase during which I doodle most creatively, when I carve pumpkins at my desk. I love being in this mood. Yet, somehow, it never lasts as long as it should because I really do care, I really do want to like my job. I start getting sad that my attempts to talk to my boss are forgotten and that I start noticing all the things that are wrong with a job instead of the things that are right.

That's a bad place to be and I'm fighting it now. It is just a job. It is not life. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. I think we probably all do. Instead, I need to look at the other aspects of my life that are not work: Friends, family, writing, cooking....there's a lot more to life than the way I earn my paycheck.

I apologize; I actually didn't mean to get all heavy in my blog. Sometimes it just slips out. I'll try to be lighter tomorrow, to be less reflective and more constructive. I also need to actually write about writing again. I'm planning on compiling a series of short stories based on my doodles and I'm working on a novel for National Novel Writing Month. It's a challenge to authors to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I'm making good progress. It's probably going to be a silly effort but that's precisely why I'm writing it...sometime you just need to be silly. People need silly. I need silly. I'm hoping if I get a silly book out of my system, it'll undo some of the damage my last novel did- a novel that turned out well but was more effort to write than I ever thought it would be and one that I still can't decide if I like or not. I'm planning on liking the one I'm writing now: The Reluctant Demon . I won't tell you what it's about because I don't really know. I'll let you know when I've written it; that's usually how I figure out what's going to happen.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Happy Wednesday.

Sometimes, You Just Need a Good Rant...

Today is one of those days in which I'm feeling rather fierce. I don't quite know why other than there are some days where I just wake up feeling that way. It's the type of day where I don't let any other driver on the road get away with behaving badly. If they cut me off, I will yell at them. If they get on my tail, I will slow down.

It's also the kind of day where I just feel slightly cantankerous about things, stupid little things that irk me but inspire a rant because they simply exist and I don't like them. So, today, rather than try to be sunshiney and positive, I decided to spend today's blog having a little rant about the insignificant things that annoy me. Since I don't want to write a novel, I'll try to limit the list. However, I did come up with quite a few things in the short time I thought about it.

Item #1: Turtleneck sweaters.

I despise turtlenecks. I hate wearing them and I don't like seeing them worn. The only time I find them acceptable is on those winter Olympic athletes who need them because otherwise they'll freeze. I hate the way they cling around people's necks, making them look like they're being smothered by their own clothing. It's like the turtleneck has a life of its own and it's trying to slowly eat their head. It probably has something to do with the fact that I, personally, hate anything tighter than a loose scarf around my own neck because I hate feeling constricted. Therefore, when I see someone's head being slowly devoured by their turtleneck sweater, I have the urge to take a pair of scissors and set them free. Fortunately, I have some common sense and even when I'm in my most advanced stage of turtleneck loathing, I have the sense of mind to know that if you move towards someone while holding a pair of scissors and looking slightly maniacal, that's not good.

Item #2: Nicholas Cage

Nicolas Cage irritates me. Nicholas Cage irritates me a lot. First of alll, he only has two roles that he plays. His first role is: "Look at my enormous saucer eyes! I'm emoting. I'm Mr. Compassionate. I'm sad. Look how sad I am because my eyes look like a basset hound's after it's peed on the floor and feels guilty. " (examples of this: "Leaving Las Vegas," "City of Angels", "The Weatherman" and any other romantic movies he has made.). His second role is "I'm Mr. CRAZY! LOOK AT MY CRAZY EYES! I'm cool! I'm edgy! I'm going to go find the Declaration of Independence because I'm CRAZY! I'm going to save the day in my Con Air plane! I'm going to be all goofy and be Gone in 60 Seconds because I'm crazy, man, I'm CRAZY!" So, yes, Nicolas Cage bothers me a lot. The other reason I don't like him is because he sounds like he's chewing his cheeks when he talks, rather like a hamster. I suppose when I think about it, he does sort of resemble that hamster, Rhino, from "Bolt". See evidence above.

Item #3: People who already have their Christmas decorations up

People, it's NOVEMBER 3rd. Christmas in December 25th. I understand that the holidays are a fun time and you want to celebrate them as long as possible but it's NOVEMBER 3rd. Halloween was TWO DAYS AGO. It is NOT acceptable to take down your giant inflatable spider and giant inflatable orange pumpkin that was usually flat anyway and replace it with a giant inflatable Santa Claus and a row of candy canes. Seriously, I saw that someone on my street had done that this morning. I love Christmas. I love everything about it, the smells, sights, shopping and chaos. Yet, it isn't even Thanksgiving! If you have to put something giant and inflatable up in your yard, put up a giant turkey! They sell them! I've seen them! Just because the stores are selling Christmas/holiday stuff does NOT mean you have to give in to the power of manipulative commercialism. Be strong! Resist!

Item #4: The Trailer for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon"

Oh, you knew this was coming. I saw the preview last week. All I can say is "GAHHHH!" Are we REALLY teaching our teenage girls that it's perfectly acceptable to go crazy when you break up with your boyfriend and turn into a thrill seeker who rides motorbikes, jumps off cliffs and essentially tries to kill herself? Also, what the heck is up with that Taylor Lautner kid who is playing Jacob? He looks like he's grimacing all the time. I don't care how much he works out, he still looks like he's twelve. Jacob the former werewolf who became a shapeshifter because Stephanie Meyer either a)couldn't make up her mind or b)read some of Charlaine Harris' books, is supposed to be a strapping, sizzling seventeen year old. Taylor Lautner looks like the Disney Channel version. Also, that's a bad wig. Actually, all the wigs in the movie are bad except Robert Pattinson because he's not wearing a wig, it's his real hair that looks bad. Finally, the preview is very DRAMATIC! Bella almost dies but Jacob saves her. Edward thinks he's dead so tries to get permission to kill himself. He almost wanders naked into public but Bella SAVES him. Hurrah! Then they get to go meet with a council of vampires who all look like they'd rather be in an Anne Rice novel. Sorry Dakota Fanning but red contacts and a pout does not make you that scary. You're still Dakota Fanning.

Item #5: Tootsie Rolls

We've discussed this. They are NOT chocolate. They might have cocoa in them but they are NOT chocolate. Chocolate melts in your mouth. It does not require chewing. When I crave chocolate, I'm not about to reach for a Tootsie Roll. It is not the same thing. Enough said.

Item # 6: The ABC Television Network

Ok, ABC, what are you THINKING? You remake V, the beloved mini-series from the '80's and then you decide to SPLIT UP THE AIRING BY FOUR MONTHS! You can read my review of the first episode of V on my TV blog because I saw it at Comic-Con. It had flaws but it was entertaining. I know a lot of people wanted to see it because they remember the original. Also, ABC has been promoting the crap out of the show. I salute their brilliance in using Muse's "Uprising" as the background music because it's perfect. However, if you're going to drive people potty by showing them the preview over and over then perhaps you should rethink your airing strategy. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, ABC is going to let you watch four episodes now! Then they...make you wait for the rest. UNTIL MARCH! Now, they say it's because they want to make it 'event viewing'. Also, the Winter Olympics would get in the way anyway. So, here's my question. Why not air the show when there are NO Olympics? Also, what kind of an event is that? Do you really think that people would go to an event and then be willing to wait four months for the conclusion? It's like going to a concert, seeing the opening band and then waiting FOUR MONTHS for the next band. That's just silly!

Ok, I promise I'm done for now. I apologize if I've offended anyone. Please bear in mind that Captain Monkeypants was just in the mood to rant and did not intend her opinions to be hurtful, rude or mean. Except perhaps the Twilight ones because irritating Twi-hards and their mothers is actually sort of entertaining. No offense to my friends who like "Twilight." I still think you're insane but I love you anyway. And, um, I'm sorry if I was mean when I compared Nicolas Cage to a hamster. It doesn't mean I take it back but it was a little cruel, I suppose.

Sometimes it helps to just let it out. Thanks for sticking with me.

Happy Tuesday

Halloween Nights...

I'm not quite sure where the weekend yet but it seems to be Monday already. It's been a bit strange today. I woke up in my normal Monday morning stupor, wondering how it managed to be 6 a.m. already when it was just 11 p.m. and I was going just going to bed. A couple of bashes of the snooze button later and I did finally manage to crawl out of bed. As I was getting ready, I went to start the kettle boiling for my morning cup of tea and I noticed something strange: It was daylight outside.

For a moment, I was thrown. I wondered if it was possible that I'd overslept by a lot, given that it's always dark when I leave in the morning. Only after a minute of undue panic did my brain catch up: Daylight Savings Time had ended.

The ironic thing was that I had already changed all my clocks and adjusted mentally to having that blissful extra hour of sleep. It wasn't like I didn't know about the time change. I think it was more that it was a Monday morning and on Monday mornings, thinking is not my strong suit.

I managed to wake up enough to drive to work after listening to the weather. (Vague report for the day: we might have renegade rain on Wednesday. Renegade rain apparently is the same of 'impulses of rain' or the simpler version: It might, or it might not). When it's actually daylight outside, you tend to notice things that you normally ignore. For example, there is an entire row of trees that looks like they're holding their hands to the sky in exclamation with the entire middle section cut out because of power lines. Also, mangled roadkill looks far worse in the light of day, particularly when it's fresh. Also, college students still cannot cross the street without texting, in daylight or in darkness.

So, I did make it to the office. Everyone's talking about Halloween. My Halloween was pretty nice. As I said in my earlier blogs, I've never really had the option to pass out trick or treat candy before so I was prepared. I had literally over four lbs of candy. My massive bowl was overflowing. I had my awful '80's costume on, ready to go out to a party as soon as the trick or treating was done. Trick or treating was supposed to begin at 6 p.m. At 5:50 p.m., my doorbell rang. There, on my doorstep, were three little girls dressed as fairies and princesses and escorted by their parents. They were adorable, even if they were early. One of them told me how pretty I looked- considering I was wearing legwarmers, jelly bracelets, a hideous neon jacket and my hair was hairsprayed up in true '80's "Mall Hair" fashion, I fear for her sense of fashion. I was a little worried for her, actually. She was shaking a lot as she spoke, quivering, even. She actually reminded me of my parent's pet chihuahua which quivers when it gets excited. I asked if she was cold, a little concerned about her shivering. Her dad sounded a little affronted, saying, "No, she always does that when she gets excited." So, she was a lot more like the chihuahua than I originally thought. Of course, I hadn't intended to be offensive with my question: I mean the normal response to a child who is dressed in a little thin white princess dress on a chilly night who is shaking like a leaf is that she was cold.

The rest of my evening consisted of long stretches of waiting for kids to show up and, when they did, they came in droves. I confess, I was a wee bit disappointed with the costumes. Some of them had gone to some trouble but there were an awful lot that had just put on a mask. The ones I liked were the ones whose parents were waiting and who reminded their kids to say "thank you." I'm a sucker for good manners.

I was gung-ho about my candy bowl at first until I realized it was only 6:45 and it was emptying fast. I tried to hold back on giving handfuls of candy to the kids but some of them grabbed it before I could stop them. I even had one little girl who didn't even have a bag but held her hand out expectantly. I almost offered her a grocery sack but she didn't seem interested, just took her candy and scurried away.

Then, the worst happened at 7:15 p.m. I ran out of candy. All I had were starlight mints which I'd realized were not the best thing to be giving out to little kids because they're a choking hazard. I felt horrible but I had to do the unthinkable: Turn out my porch light and close my door.

Strangely, this did not discourage the next batch of kids who rang the doorbell anyway. I offered them mints and they took them. As soon as they left, I did a very bad thing: I turned off all the lights inside my house except the ones not visible from the street and pretended I wasn't home.

My lesson from this evening is that I need more than four pounds of candy. Also, kids don't like lollipops as much as chocolate. Also, kids who are unescorted by polite parents will compare what they get before they even leave your doorstep so if you give one Twizzlers and one Oreo cookies, they WILL call you on it. Personally, since I tend to think of Trick or Treating as authorized begging disguised by a costume, I think kids should be a little more grateful for whatever they get. At least I didn't give 'em the dreaded Tootsie Rolls. My coworker was telling me about a mother who actually knocked on her door last Halloween because she'd given out peanut M &M's and her child was allergic to nuts. To that I say, "SHUT UP!" If you're going to take your kid out begging for candy, even if it is in tribute to a pagan holiday of sorts, you CANNOT tell people off for giving out candy. If your kid is allergic to nuts and it's a problem if he even looks at the candy then DON'T LET HIM GO OUT ASKING FOR IT!

Anyway, after I'd hidden in my house from the packs of dressed-up kids, I headed out to a Halloween party hosted by my coworker. That was fun. She's big on the holiday so her house was decorated tastefully and cleverly. It was an '80's party. I'd gone to some trouble to procure an authentic '80's outfit with the right accessories but as soon as I got there, people said, "Who are you supposed to be?" I didn't realize I was supposed to BE someone. I said, "I'm wearing '80's stuff," I said. They looked puzzled. I finally said, "I'm a Valley Girl," to which they were like, "OH! Neat." Then they gushed over my other coworker's costume which she'd pretty much bought off the rack at a Halloween store. She was an '80's rocker. I was...an '80's person. I tried to blend in with Richard Simmons, Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Nicks (?) and Ally Sheedy as well as the Ghostbuster and Pac Man but I stood out because no one seemed to know who I was. See, my misunderstanding was that an '80's party meant dressing in '80's fashion. Alas, it was secretly a "dress as your favourite '80's person party."

I never have been good at parties. I tried to mingle but it was very couple-y. Note to the world: Couples don't like to be separated by strangers attempting to be friendly. In the end, I had a nice time but it wasn't the most social of events I've ever been to, even though I attempted to be friendly.

All in all, it was a good Halloween if not the best ever. When I got home from the party, I was relieved that my pumpkins were still glowing; I'd been afraid that my lack of candy would lead to tricks- usually they involve smashing pumpkins and such. Fortunately, the kids in the neighbourhood were nice and I appreciated that.

Now it's time to take down the Halloween decor and think about the next season that lies ahead. To me, it's Thanksgiving...to retailers, it appears to be Christmas since they've had the merchandise on display for at least 3 weeks already. I'm not ready for that yet but now that there's frost on the leftover pumpkins and turkeys in the store, Halloween is officially over. The candy is 50% off even though it's no different from the other candy that stores sell at full price. It's too bad it's a year away, maybe if I start now, I will have enough for next year. Ah well, you live, you learn, right?

Happy Monday...

Happy Halloween!

The only possible way I can open this email is to say, "thank goodness it's Friday."

It's not that it's been a long week. It actually hasn't been that bad, actually. It's more just a question of me not getting enough sleep this week topped off by the horrible fact that I might be coming down with the flu. I'm desperately hoping that it's just because I stayed up too late, ate the wrong thing and didn't sleep well but today is definitely one of those days that I had to fight to get out of bed.

Naturally, today is also a day when there's no way to miss work. I have three long meetings today, meetings that aren't the type of meetings I can miss. It means I'm going to be counting down until 4:30 p.m. this afternoon so I can get out of here and go home.

It's mostly my own fault. Last night, I went to see the touring production of "Rent." Yes, again. This was actually my third time seeing this tour with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, two of the original leads from "Rent" from almost 15 years ago. Ironically, while I love the show, I'm really not as much of a groupie as saying I've seen it three times makes it sounds. It's just that I have friends in L.A. who love the show like me and I happened to see it while I was there. I also have best friend in Washington D.C. who loves the show and so we saw it while I was there. This time, I mentioned to a coworker who's seen the show 12 times already, although not this particular tour, and she wanted to go. I figured that it'd be a good chance to check out downtown Cincinnati as well as enjoy the show again.

It was a good show. It always is. Anthony Rapp continues to amaze me with his enthusiasm and ability to play his role. The problem that both he and Adam Pascal have is that everyone who's ever heard "Rent" has, most likely, heard the original soundtrack in which the two actors are forever framed in their roles. Thus, it's impossible to see them both without comparing it to that Original Broadway Soundtrack. I can't imagine how hard that has to be, that almost 15 years later they're reprising their roles and they've become legendary because they created the roles and are forever going to be the standard that everyone sets for them. Anthony Rapp, the original "Mark" in the show is flawless. He still plays the role as though it's new to him. He still surprises me with how strong and familiar his voice is. Adam Pascal, on the other hand...I think it must be hardest for him. Somewhere in the past 15 years, he's gone from being a raw-edged rock performer who happened to get a job on Broadway to being a Broadway singer who tries to sound rock. It's not that he's bad, per se, it's just that he sounds like he's auditioning for "La Boheme," the show on which "Rent" was based, for a large percentage of the show. It's like watching Eliza Doolittle go from being a fiery little cockney to being a somewhat more dull polished lady.

Still, it was a great night. I had fun. We stopped for dinner at one of those fancy upscale Mexican restaurants that tries to make every dish sound fancy. Since I'm the Food Network junkie that I am, I saw the opportunity to try pork belly tacos and I took it. Pork belly is one of those things that doesn't sound appealing but it seems like it's one of the most ubiquitous meats for chefs because of it's flavour. I've never tried it so I thought I would. The tacos were delicious, a mixture of a bacon flavour with tender pork in the middle. It's probably not something I'd try often, mostly because despite my new 'foodie' status, I'm also not planning on turning into a beach ball. However, I'm glad I tried it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so glad when I woke up at 2:30 a.m. when my stomach was disagreeing with me. Pork Belly tacos are much better on the way down. I think it was mostly just the richness of my food not agreeing with me.

So, by the time my alarm went off, I was groggy and really, really wanting to use one of those precious PTO days. Unfortunately, since two of the meetings are with my boss and my boss's boss, it wasn't like I could not come in.

It didn't help that I woke up in one of those slightly fuzzy moods in which I had a horrible song stuck in my head and it buzzed around and around like a fly that would not be swatted. I think they call songs like that "ear worms". Do you ever wake up like that? Where you wake up with a song in your head, an idea on your mind, a phrase in your mouth that won't go away no matter how much you try to replace it with something else? Well, that's what happened to me. The song I had stuck was, "Under the Milky Way Tonight," that song by The Church that was popular in the '80's. I like that song. The only problem was is that I had that diabolical version used in the Lincoln car commercial that's on at the moment. I hate that version. It's sung by one of those women who try to sound both edgy and sensitive, sort of Avril Lavigne meets Feist while trying to dance on a stripper's pole and be sexy.

So, waking up with that song in my head did not make my day begin well. Then, when my alarm went off, Coldplay was on. I mostly dislike Coldplay. I like that song, "Vida la Vida" but I don't like their whiny, dreary, rainy Sunday afternoon sound. I find this a shame because I rather like Chris Martin, the lead singer, in interviews. He's nice and English and has a dry sense of humour.

Then, when I turned on the news, Mr. Weatherman did his typical, "it might rain today!" thing. Except instead of being Mr. Weatherman, he was Mr. Bare Bones. It was still his voice but the TV station had animated a skeleton who could present the weather to celebrate Halloween. I quite liked Mr. Bare Bones but it would have been better if it wasn't Mr. Weatherman in disguise. Especially as Mr. Bare Bones was as vague and unhelpful as Mr. Weatherman.

So, I begin this Friday not feeling like I want to be here. However, since that's pretty much the way I begin every day, I don't feel that bad. Also, the very fact that it's Friday, that it's Halloween tomorrow and we get an extra hour to sleep in as of Saturday night means that today is automatically better, no matter how much I don't feel like eating or how that annoying song gets stuck in my head.

I even have a Halloween Party to go to so that's even better. I've never been to a real Halloween party before. I was invited last year but I got rear-ended on the day of the party and didn't feel up to going. This year, it's got an '80's theme. I'm bound and determined to go because I have my hideously '80's costume all lined up. I grew up in the '80's. I was also a child through most of them so my view of the '80's is a bit skewered but then again, I am Captain Monkeypants. Would you expect anything else? It should be a fun time. I'll let you know on Monday.

See? So even though I could be in the foulest mood thanks to rich food, annoying songs, Bare Bones Weather Reporters and work, I'm still thinking positive. That's the way I planned to start the week and since I'm ending it in the same way, I would say it's been a rousing success. Even if it is all relative.

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween!

Kit-Kat Wars and (Hopefully) Quiet Days....

It's a bright sunny day today. It's supposed to get up into the seventies this afternoon. For October in the Midwest, that's rather nice. I did think about writing the next installment of Humberto the Strawberry of DOOOOOM but I'm going to hold off on that just because today doesn't feel like a good Humberto day. Some days just don't feel like good Humberto days.

I did get my apple peeled yesterday, you'll be happy to know. I managed to do it in one long coil. Then I ate the peel. My coworkers were a little baffled as to why I'd peel the apple and then still eat the peel but the thing is, I like the peel. It's tasty. I don't always peel my apples but sometimes it's just fun but I'm not going to waste the peel. I'm not sure what today's creative project will be but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Yesterday, I ended up having two meetings. The meetings are a little monotonous but the nice thing about meetings at this time of the year is there's always chocolate and sweets in the meeting room. Someone is always bringing in one of those bags of miniature chocolate bars. I don't always want chocolate but sometimes, it's just nice. Especially when it's the only thing standing between you and a power nap while your boss is talking.

Yesterday, my meetings were with the President of our company. He's my boss's boss. When he's in a good mood, he's a lot of fun. When he's in a bad mood, we hide. Fortunately, yesterday he was in a good mood. I'm glad because when we both discovered the was one Kit-Kat hidden in the bottom of the candy jar, we almost came to blows. Fortunately, I won. I suppose I should have done the polite thing and given it to him but I like Kit-Kat's. He did say that the person who gets it quickest can have it so I simply snatched the jar, emptied the entire contents out, took the Kit-Kat and returned the rest of the chocolate to the jar and offered it to him.

He sighed and took a Snickers bar. I did offer him one of the sticks of Kit-Kat but only after he'd seen me put my fingers on it. I knew he'd refuse.

Sadly, I think that was the highlight of my meeting. I didn't even get to doodle because I had to actually pay attention. That is a sad thing.

I'm not sure what's on the table at work for today.I have no meetings so that's good. Of course, since I've been in the office, I've managed to discover one of our servers is down again and I'm the liaison between the developers and the users. It's funny- I don't do this kind of thing very often anymore but it's what I used to do all the time in my old job at USC. Back then, if I could figure out the problem, they'd let me fix it. Here, there are very defined roles as to who does what. It makes for an easy fix...I just tell someone something's broken and that's it. I like to fix things myself. Of course, I did have to resort to using an ice-cream scoop to start the decaf coffee this morning so maybe I shouldn't say that. Yes, sadly, my handy trick of simply hitting the button didn't work so I had to wedge it with an ice-cream scoop. I can no longer mock my coworkers for doing the same thing.

It seems like it's going to be a fairly quiet day here. Then again, none of our days are particularly loud. For one thing, we get told off if we get too loud. For another, there's not much going on aside from the every day stuff. Now we have our move date, there's a strange sense of anti-climactisim going on. Up until now,e very meeting we had as a company, someone would ask
"When are we moving?" and we'd here. "We don't know but we know it won't be before X...date."

Now we technically know when we're moving. We also know, technically, that we're going have to work at home for a day or two while our stuff is moved. Since it's the week of Thanksgiving, I have the urge to say, "Does it have to be my home?" I mean, that would be rather lovely to be able to work from my parent's house since I'll be spending Thanksgiving with them anyway. But, alas, that's not allowed. Of course, given that my house is ten minutes from the new office, it's not like I'm complaining. The people who are complaining are those that will now have to commute when they've had the luxury of working ten minutes from home. It's like the office has been flipped: the people who live closer to the new building- the majority of the office- is getting excited. The local people who live near where we currently work are all crotchety and complaining about the drive. Some of them are even indignant that they have to drive because that wasn't part of their condition in being hired; they took this job so they wouldn't have to drive. The same people are trying tactics such as including the drive time as part of the work day. To that, I say, "don't be ridiculous!"

I feel sorry for them, I do. I bought my house closer to where we will be working than where we're working now. I've been commuting for three months now and there are times when it's a pain in the neck. It was nice to be able to leave the office and be home in ten minutes. It was nice on days where I'm tired and sluggish and I just want to go home and it was nice if I forgot something and had to run home at lunch. Now I live 45 minutes away, it's not so convenient but it's also not so bad. I've taken to listening to audiobooks, as I've mentioned. It's nice to see the beautiful scenery. It's also a good way to decompress if I've had 'one of days.'

I can see why the people in the office are upset because they don't want to have to drive. I just think some of them are acting rather immature about it. I've heard fits of quiet venting to one another. I've heard snarky comments uttered aloud in meetings. I've heard rather a lot of venom in regards to the subject. Overall, it's not a popular decision among the locals.

As for me, I'm going to miss my audiobooks but I'm not going to miss the $30 I'm spending in gas each week. Once upon a time, a tank of gas lasted me two weeks if I drove to work and made the odd trip out of town to shop. Now, I'm lucky if I can get seven days out of a tank. It also means I'll soon be having a little brown, rather longish dog named Sausage coming to live with me. I promised he'd move in with me as soon as the commute to work ended and so soon, he'll be an Ohio resident.

My other coworker just came in. She's in a foul mood, it seems. She's already sighing and typing quickly into her instant messenger. She does that a lot. It usually means something's wrong. I probably should ask but...I don't want to. She'll tell us if there's drama. She always does.

Maybe the day won't be so quiet after all.

Happy Thursday.