Friday the little man had an impromptu overnight with his grandmother, which left me free to head out…to our regional NaNoWriMo kickoff event. A couple dozen folks showed up, including a few familiar faces, but there was one in particular. Figuring out how I knew him nearly drove me mad. While mentally ticking off the list (did we: work together? go to the same school? see each other at shows? have a one night stand?) I found myself staring more than once. Eventually he took off his jacket and put on a name tag and then everything clicked. He is a juggler I’d met years ago, in another lifetime, through the little man’s bio-dad. So I approached him and jarred his memory. He then introduced me to his lovely girlfriend. It turns out the lot of us have a number of shared acquaintances, and more than a few common interests. I spent the evening talking their ears off. Hopefully I didn’t overwhelm them too much. Also in attendance, the store clerk who assisted us at Wild Rumpus last Wednesday, who happens to be a friend of theirs. Such a small town.

Saturday morning we set out bright and early to retrieve the little man, then headed directly to a four year-old’s birthday party. It was lovely. So many small children, many in adorable costumes. The little man started out dressed as Batman (courtesy of his grandma) but wound up swapping with the birthday boy, to become a super-deluxe Buzz Lightyear. And our gracious hosts had gone above and beyond the call of duty, by baking a vegan birthday cake for us. All in all a brilliant way to start the day, but a draining one. Upon returning home our little trio was too wiped out to do anything remarkable for the rest of the day. A friend’s Halloween party was straight out, as was leaving the house for any reason at all. Hopefully we’ll make better use of today.

Equal parts swamped and sluggish…a lethally useless combination. Too incoherent to come up with my own content, so I must send you away. For now.

• Enjoyed this interview with one of my favorite artist/illustrators, Seonna Hong.
• Two beautifully done games, Treasure Box and A Murder of Scarecrows.
• Couldn’t help but smile at this unhappy little ewok.
• Looking forward to learning more about Lane’s new iJob.
• Note to self: email film suggestions for next year’s Music & Movies in District del Sol.

And now what…sleep? Or more Spaced? Or maybe falling asleep, again, with the Two Towers extended edition playing. Such an exciting life I lead.

Despite starting out with a most unfortunate meal, and missing the blood-red lunar eclipse due to cloudy skies, Wednesday night’s pumpkin-carving activities were good fun for everyone. My favorite of the night? The collaboration between the little man and my velvet vamp, Zophia. He drew the face on, and she carved it (pictured below). Many thanks to her for hosting the messy event (upon my suggestion…after I invited myself over). And extra mad props for her safety-conscious pumpkin carving tip. Cut out the bottom instead of the top. You’ll be glad you did.

Thursday. Three spider-mans. Two princesses. Two power rangers. But only one crappy homemade ghost costume. Still, it’s what the little man wanted, and I think he looked awfully danged cute. But I’m his mom so what do I know. Well, I do know that yesterday was exhausting from start to finish. In the morning I hitched a ride in on the school bus with my boy, which he thought was great, and I got to see the roundabout route he takes every day. It’s a long one. Then I spent the half day following the lad around the school. Sure, it was a little out of the ordinary. They don’t regularly go trick or treating, but I know that managing that group of young’n’s must still be a handful every day. Don’t know how the staff there does it. When we got home I was ready to pass out, but just a few hours later we headed right back…for the first meeting of a support group, for parents of pre-school age children with special needs. There are 980 such children enrolled in our district. Only parents of 12 of them showed up. Just 12. I understand that time is in short supply for many of us. The husband was unable to attend because of his work/sleep schedule, and I’m sure many others are in the same boat. But of the parents who showed up, many were like us. Floundering. Our kids are most at risk. One of the social workers imparted some alarming information, about the path that special needs kids often follow…starting with low self esteem in grade school, early ostracism causing them to be social outcasts in junior high, leading them to hang out with “the wrong crowd” in high school, and culminating in incarceration. Cheery. Makes me want to home school the little man, but we won’t be able to protect and shield him forever.
An aside: listening to Elliott Smith’s posthumous release, as much as I may like it, only dampens already soggy spirits. Lunch with friends and an evening out at the local NaNoWriMo kickoff should help turn things around some.

Halloween has always been a big deal for me, probably because my Dad went above and beyond the call of duty, creating the freaking coolest costumes around for the lot of us. We never had the store bought kind, those were so gauche, darling (it didn’t occur to me that we probably couldn’t afford them). Instead we wore works of art (photos of which I am unable to locate at this time). Dad’s hand-crafted Darth Vader and Storm Trooper costumes won contests, and he received requests to produce more of them for others. So I feel like I’m dropping the ball here. My child has, thus far, worn a store bought costume every year. For shame. Until now. This year he requested a costume so simple I figured I could make it myself. And I started to. But it needs more oomph. And I just realized I need to put on the finishing touches…tonight. As he is supposed to wear the danged thing at school tomorrow. Doh! So it looks like there’s some manic errand-running in my near future, before heading over to Zophia’s this evening for some pumpkin-carving. The next several days are going to be a blur, and then November is already booked with NaNo, a small project for a new client, and more. Tomorrow I’m attending the little man’s party at school, riding the bus with him and everything. Then we’re going right back there in the evening for a Special Needs Parent Support Group. This is followed up with a weekend of parties. Friday night is the NaNo kickoff party, Saturday morning a four year-old boy’s birthday party, and Saturday night a Halloween party. Still trying to figure out what my own costume could be, on the cheap, from materials commonly found in my own home. Aging goth girl? That might be a little too close for comfort. I should have enlisted my father’s help, but it’s a bit too last minute now. How the heck did Halloween sneak up on me this year?

It turns out I’ve been completely out of the loop. For about nine years. You see, no one told me there had been a little elf living at Lake Harriet. But the local rags knew, and CNN did too. Somehow I came upon the knowledge yesterday morning, and was determined that the little man and I would seek out Mr. Little Guy. We set out after school. Directions were vague, with little more than “the south shore of the lake” to go on. I drove around the lake, around one bend and then another, until my spidey-sense was tingling. Parked at the first available spot and hopped out. Down a set of stairs and a little to the right…and bam, there it was. Had to get down on my knees to read the little plaque on the door:

FROM THE CABIN
I have moved home to my castle toward the East. You may write to me at:
Mr. Little Guy
P.O. Box 50358
Minneapolis, MN 55405

Maybe we’ll drop him a line. But it was too cold to linger at the lake. We headed back to the warmth of the car, and, as we were already in the neighborhood, it was the perfect excuse to pop by another magical place…Wild Rumpus, the most charming children’s book store around. I guess it was a day for fancy doorways…the bookstore has a purple child-sized door built into the boring black bigger one (I always forget to photograph it). Inside it’s overstim central, but can be fun for the little man and I, in small doses. My goal was to pick up a gift for a birthday party we’re attending on Saturday. Naturally we came away with something for the little man as well. But Go Away, Big Green Monster, by Ed Emberley, is a book that we have been checking out from the library at least once a month for the last year, so the lad may as well have his own copy. Overall, a lovely day…even if no elves were to be found.

Yesterday we were granted another fine Fall day. That made for two days, in a row, of bright blue sky (the weeks of dreary gray had been getting me down). When we weren’t outside I persuaded the husband to make some snickerdoodles, and I whipped up a batch of curried squash wild rice soup. I know, it might sound sort of iffy, but it turned out pretty tasty. Sadly today it’s back to blah indefinitely. But all things bright and beautiful can be found on the internets. I plan to try my hand at more crafting and knitting (another lesson Zophia?) over the long winter. Speaking of which, somehow or other I stumbled upon Diva Muffin (the youngest spawn of Frank) Zappa’s site. Nice knitting, I thought, until the sticker shock hit. $275 for the hat, and $500 for the scarf. Yee-ouch!

Yesterday was an off-day. Most it was spent in a fog, with me thinking it was already Sunday. Upon figuring out that it wasn’t I was instead convinced that it was time to Fall Back. Wrong again. That’s next weekend, just in time for Halloween. Thankfully today has gotten off to a better start. Whipped up some blueberry pancakes before our little family went out together, to run an extremely geeky errand. We arrived at General Nanosystems just as the doors were opening to the geeks who had gotten there ahead of us. Our objectives were clear. An ethernet cable for me (to get the new addition to the family, my PowerBook, on the home network). And for the husband, to pick up parts for a small contract job (a wireless router and another ethernet cable, for a client’s laptop). Mission accomplished. Though I don’t want to get too used to internet access on my laptop, as next month I’ll be using it strictly for writing, and not for my usual goofing off. The husband and I made a few other acquisitions today. The intersection of our musical (and other) tastes seems to be shrinking these days, but there are some artists we still agree to agree over. One, Neko Case, now with a new live album called The Tigers Have Spoken. Been meaning to give it a good listen, but I’ve gotten sidetracked by Mirah’s mesmerizing C’mon Miracle, which isn’t exactly new (having been released back in May) but is new to us. And ever so fabulous.
Bonus: MickeyTosh needs you…to join the gang (via Veer).

Back in the old days, when the husband was working just one overnight part-time job, it was like we were playing host to a crew of magical house-elves. I would often wake to a sparkling clean house, with the dishes washed, the floors swept and mopped, and sometimes even find fresh baked goods (such as apple galettes) waiting for me. Now that he’s working two overnight part-time jobs it’s another story. If I wash all of the dishes before I go to bed, inevitably I’ll wake to find every glass and pan in the house is magically filthy again. Hopefully times will change. Again. For the better.

You know what a pair of winter boots for the little man cost me? $11.55, plus my first piece of negative feedback on ebay. Sigh. The seller had nothing to complain about. I paid her immediately after I won the auction, but now I’ll be paying even longer…with my rating dropping from 100% positive to 97.6%. After four days I had not received the item, or an email from the seller, so I took the initiave and contacted her. In return I received a rude response. But a day later the boots arrived, as described. So I left her a neutral feedback, mentioning that it hadn’t been the best transaction. How did she respond? By retracting the positive feedback she had already given me, and changing it to negative. People are people, I guess.

Continuing with the cantankerous news, I just found out what I’m missing. First, Bollywood Hungama, a screening of three Bollywood hits: Mohra, Munnabhai MBBS and Sholay took place this afternoon. And this evening, Palestinian-American comedienne Maysoon Zayid was at The Loft. Ignorance would have been bliss.

But in better news, the Upper Midwest Blog Managers Association is proud to announce that our very own Starfire, aka Scott Lunt, is definitely the best of the runner ups…in Coudal’s One Day Crash Ballet Contest. Compare the edits for yourself.

For the second Friday in a row the UPS guy has delivered us new toys (but we’d best not make a habit of it or we’ll be totally broke). Today saw the delivery of the husband’s new faux leather workboots from Pangea (the last Vegetarian Shoes pair held up for many years but were in sorry shape). Ah, compassionate consumerism. And the arrival of my new used laptop. It is absolutely lovely and everything is running perfectly. But. The husband had a great “I Told You So” moment not long after I’d received it. A new posting appeared on the Minneapolis craiglist just today…for a reasonably priced and slightly better G3 Powerbook. Could have been mine, if I’d only waited. Doh! But I love my baby just the same, and it came from a seller with a good track record, rather than this unknown entity. And more importantly…I have mine in my hot little hands, right this red hot minute, and have already been loading up the old iTunes. Yeah.

In other news, I received the most random piece of mail today…a postcard inviting me, and a guest,

to the suburban Southdale Cinema on Monday night. For a special preview screening of, get this, a television show. It’s called House M.D., the title character touted with “solving medical mysteries like Sherlock Holmes with a stethoscope.” Uh, yeah. But it does star Hugh Laurie, an actor I adored back in the day from Jeeves and Wooster (but who the little man recognizes from Stuart Little). And stranger still, it is directed by Bryan Singer. Of The Usual Suspects and X-Men movie fame. I don’t get that. I heard he pulled out of X-Men III because he doesn’t have time, what with working on Superman Returns and all. But he does have time to direct a weekly television program? Go figure.

I take straightening my hair very seriously. If I could afford a Japanese thermal perm, I’d do it. In the mean time, I spend far too much of my time taking a hairdryer and flat iron to my hair, and often injuries are sustained. For instance, the carpal tunnel in my right wrist is severely aggravated by both appliances, but I’ve actually been burned by the latter. On the forehead, the cheek, and, last week, on my left wrist…where two shiny pink welts remain. I mention all this as mother nature has defeated me, yet again. This morning I got ready, in a time-consuming manner as I often do, before heading out for our morning constitutional. The little man rode in the wagon as we headed to the library to return the Returner DVD. On the way I discovered that, while I had brought the case along, I’d managed to leave the DVD itself at home. Doh! No matter, it’s not due just yet, and we still had a hold item to retrieve. And it was a nice morning for a stroll, despite the misty almost-drizzle. But I could feel the weather working its change. Though it wasn’t until we returned home that I caught a glimpse of my reflection. And the giant wavy puffball that is my hair, looking like I’ve sprouted Dandelion fluff all over my head.