The skittish Selina, our orange tabby who visitors rarely see, has sunk to new lows. She is now so fat she’s no longer able to jump into our bathtub. Granted, it’s a large clawfoot bathtub…but still. There was a time when she would jump from the floor to the top of my 6-foot high curio cabinet in one graceful leap. These days…well, watching her feeble attempts to move her massive bulk is rather dispiriting. Maybe it’s too much of a reminder that I’m not so lithe myself anymore. Sigh.

This morning I was shocked and surprised…when I stumbled across Too Much Coffee Man’s Bizarro World counterpart. Apparently he’s living in Italy…and picking up the chicks. What a costume. In more Halloween related news…I’m in the mood to watch the cheesy spoofy Love at First Bite. I don’t remember the last time I did so…or watched anything else starring the tanned one. Scarier still, how about A Very Scary Solstice: the HPLHS Solstice Carol CD and Singalong Songbook. Over at McSweeney’s, sample their ghost stories with hidden agendas. The Morning News has a feature about A.G.H.O.S.T. (Amateur Ghost Hunters Of Seattle/Tacoma). And our local rag, City Pages, has Five Tales of Real Life Terror. Mouhahahaha. Enjoy.

Our allegedly high-speed internet access is actually a bit sluggish. I’ve had DSL through Qwest for several years now, but have never been satisfied with it, or them. For one thing, our access is automatically disconnected every two hours…and a five minute waiting period is imposed before we can reconnect again. There is one workaround. If we catch it before the two hour mark we can manually disconnect, then reconnect without having to wait the five minutes. But that’s still a hassle. Further proof that Qwest is just plain evil. So switching to a cable modem has been on the to do list for a while now. Friday seemed to be my lucky day as the Comcast guys just showed up on my doorstep. The little man was so overjoyed that he kept trying to hug these strangers and asking them to come into the house. I didn’t do either, but I did sign up for some deal of theirs. Comcast seems to use sporting analogies of all sorts to describe many of their services. The special I succumbed to is no different…I think it may have been dubbed the “triple play” but I keep thinking of it as the “triple threat”. Included in the package is a digital phone line, high-speed internet access, and digital cable…with free or really cheap installation ($10 I think), and a low monthly price guaranteed for one year. What’s that you say..cable television? What, are you my husband? Then maybe you should have been on the doorstep with me Mr. Smartypants. Yeah, I know we don’t watch teevee. But the deal sort of seemed all or nothing. And there’s no contract, so we can always cancel the teevee part a month or two down the line. Only problem is, the cable guy never showed up (we had a two hour window blocked off today, and while I was waiting downstairs nobody showed). If this is any indication of Comcast’s customer service, I’m afraid they may not be much better than Qwest after all. Ugh.

I should be sleeping right now. But I can’t. Somewhere along the way I’ve lost the ability…to sleep through the night on a regular basis. At this point it seems like that must be some sort of superpower. Sucks to be me. But at least I have plenty to keep me occupied (aside from the cleaning I would so like to do now, which would only wake the little man). What would I do without my MeFi? I’ve found my favorite site of the day, and it isn’t even dawn yet. Never mind that it’s Benetton-based, this selection from the Colors magazine is nifty. A peek into photo studios around the world…the differences in style are remarkable. From India’s sad one-shot snaps, to Beijing’s elaborate Operahouse portraits. From intense Bulgarian black and whites, to one Egyptian’s vivid Warhol-esque retouching. I should be giving a shoutout to Saida, Lebanon…but those were among the creepiest pix. Oh, my people. Still, spend some time at that site. You’ll be glad you did.

Today I’ve been eating brussels sprouts like they were bonbons.

It was a long, disorienting day. Damn that daylight savings time. I know most folks appreciate the extra hour when falling back…but I dislike the disruption of our routine (besides, springing ahead really sucks). This morning I tried to change our clocks, but seem to have only gotten to about half of ‘em. Then we nearly left for the co-op long before they would have been open. Couldn’t quite get into the swing of things all day. Did manage to make a submission to the mirror project, and update my profile at the recently re-tooled waferbaby. As well as picking up a pumpkin and some tulip bulbs (need to get those in the ground soon) at the local nursery. All the confusion of the day was worth it, though, as the evening brought us to the most wonderful pumpkin carving party…an event I’d been looking forward to for at least a week. We hung out with friends I’d unintentionally lost touch with…including our hostess with the mostest, who hadn’t really seen the little man since he was crawling (exclusively). Whoops. She, by the way, has a splendid abode and had planned quite well for the event. There were delicious vegan vittles…veggies and dip and a most palatable pizza. And for dessert a yummy bundt cake (will have to get that recipe) and caramel apples. Especially cute, though, were the pitchers of Cosmopolitans and virgin Cosmopolitans…labeled “Bitches Brew” and “Un-Bitches Brew”. When we got down to business, setting down newspaper and busting out pumpkin carving tools, naturally the little man’s attention wandered. He was too busy socializing to help mom much. I have to admit, he was the life of the party. Some folks started to wonder if he’d gotten into the Bitches Brew by mistake…as he repeatedly shouted out “YOUCRAZY” at random, and sang Happy Birthday over and over again, though it was nobody’s b-day. But I reassured them that’s just how the boy is. He only settled down some when a most appropriate video started playing.

Missed the initial broadcast, but caught the clip on NPR’s site. Apparently the 2003 Rock Paper Scissors World Championship happened yesterday in Toronto. Granted, it seems a bit silly…but I have to admit, the World Rock Paper Scissors Society has a great site. The little man is especially enthralled by the animation on their index page, while I’m coveting a couple of their clever t-shirt designs.

Cold weather, crankiness and slight head colds have kept us from leaving the house today. At least we’ve received more news from the outside world by staying in. Some of which only reconfirms one of the husband’s theories…that the citizens of Minnesota are conspiring against him. When he was living in Berkeley his allies all lived in cat-free households. But since his repatriation, most of our Minnesotan friends have begun cohabitating with cats. And today one more safehouse fell. One friend, a long avowed cat-hater, has been converted by her husband. Today they adopted a kitten from the Animal Ark. There’s nearly nowhere for the allergy-afflicted husband to turn these days. My parents have always had cats, and now his parents have one too. Even our own home is shared with not one, but two cats, that he’s barely built up an immunity to. We suffer without silence, having to live with the constant whirring of air purifiers, in an attempt to cleanse our “contaminated” household. Some days I think it would be best to build him an elaborate treehouse in the backyard, and declare it a cat-free zone. Then again, there are a lot of strays in the neighborhood. The poor man is doomed.
Addendum: One unforseen result of staying in today…I unwittingly exposed the little man to something that has become his new obsession. His last was with a Pixar short called Geri’s Game. But he’s now moved on to a music video…of Mo Kin, a three year-old North Korean girl, playing the xylophone. I thought it was cute the first couple of times…but now it’s starting to get a little creepy. Sigh.

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have a playdate with one precocious little girl and two lovely ladies. Socializing is good for the soul. Today, debating whether or not to attend one of the Wellstone World Music Day events. The happening at Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre sounds pretty cool:
BARB TILSEN, MARGO MCCREARY, and GAYLA ELLIS will perform in a family concert at 11 A.M., 1550 E. Lake St., Minneapolis. “Halloweeno!” is a fun-filled non-scary celebration for children with music, puppets, slide shows, plus a musical slide show for children about Peace dedicated to Paul and Sheila’s memory.
Tomorrow we’ve got a pumpkin carving party to attend. All in all, another action packed weekend is in the works.

Dagnabit. Woke up this morning realizing that I’d totally spaced. Again. Where did this week go? Neal Pollack was here on Monday. He gave a reading at Ruminator Books, followed by a show at the 400 Bar. Also managed to forget about Angel this week, even with the special “graphic images and mature content” advisory. It’s all I have left of the Buffyverse, and one of only two shows I watch regularly (the other being The Jackie Chan Adventures). But this week I forgot all about it…as I was so absorbed by the book I’m reading. Stupid books. Actually, it’s a fascinating book…but still, I wish I’d remembered to tape Angel. Did anyone else happen to?