At the parties, I don't think anyone knew I was a spy, except for at the second party where there were some of the same people from the night before. Actually, only one person asked "what I was." I'm guessing the others just didn't care, or were drunk, or didn't notice me. But maybe them not knowing means I made an effective spy.

I talked a little bit to Dave Madden, who has cool found photographs on his web site and who is himself a cool guy. Dave dressed as a member of Pittsburgh computer rock band Operation Re-Information for Halloween. He told me that with my blonde wig and corresponding getup I looked like Anne Heche "if she were five times cooler." Steve (Halloween persona: Kiss's Peter Criss) made me a mixed tape—a little bit country, a little bit (cheesy) rock and roll. Like "Love is Like Oxygen" by the Sweet cheesy. No one has made a mixed tape for me since high school, and I appreciated this one thoroughly as I listened to it at work on my amazingly durable 1987 Sony Cassette Player that actually belongs either to my brother or mom. These days, mixed CDs would be even better, but with the trusty Sony, I am riding high with the cassettes. Just not in the car.

It's getting dark way too early now.

I have decided this holiday season to devote an internet web site page to my own greed. It will feature a nice list of all the online wish lists I create as I try to boost the economy back to its former self through the generosity of my parents and boyfriend.

One thing I really wish for, though (aside from all the unselfish wish things, of course; I am being materialistic and greedy right now, because I still can), is that experimental films were available to purchase. I really would like a copy of Robert Nelson's Bleu Shut, Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon, and other movies that people haven't seen enough of. Preferably on DVD, but I question whether this will happen in my lifetime. But I would pay kind of a lot for copies of these things, I think.

File under DAILY. Posted at 12:00 AM

I have decided to be a spy for Halloween. A spy from the 1970s. I have a wig. Maybe there will be photos of me in this getup, but I seem to have problems delivering on promises of photos.

What's going on right now: Greg is looking for a job. I am looking for an apartment with hardwood floors that's closer to the city. And I think we're both looking forward to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh people this weekend.

I have been getting a lot of reader response lately. I like reader response. It usually gets filed into a folder called "stranger email," a category that can be interpreted in more than one way. I was going to include an excerpt from a recent email, but I don't want to insult or offend anyone.

I haven't been reading books lately. And you know, it always depresses me to think of all the things there are to read, and how it is impossible to read all the good things to read. People always are creating new art, and I haven't caught up with the old art yet. And I never will. I am so glad art exists, though.

So what are you being for Halloween? My brother (whose site has been remodeled - it looks cleaner but still uses frames) needs suggestions.

File under DAILY. Posted at 12:00 AM

So, it's been a month since the last post. Since then, a birthday has passed. I've downed a lot of wine. Cleaned a lot of wine glasses. Broken a non-wine glass. Written a bunch of thank-you notes, one of them twice, because I forgot to thank someone for a pumpkin candle holder and corresponding pumpkin-scented candles.

I just started a sentence with "written." I am overly conscious of grammar today, because a client had a "professional proofreader" go over the site I put together for him, and she found a number of errors. I was slightly insulted when, in her notes, she said to make sure to put the period inside the quotes (it was not due to an error; she had instructed me to place a new phrase inside quotes). I always put the period inside the quotes, dammit! Unless the quoted parts are in the middle or something. But she didn't know that about me. Anyway, I was able to console myself because I hadn't spent much time proofing the site myself.

Last weekend, Greg and I went to the mall and watched people do karaoke to Britney Spears songs. It was thoroughly entertaining, at least for about an hour. Greg refused to join me in a Britney duet. The promoters gave us 4 Britney tattoos that said "HBO Britney Spears November 17." I plastered them all over my body, because I really want people to watch this special. (Do I have to say "not really?")

Then on Sunday, some friends visited whom I had not seen since high school. It was a fulfilling evening. (As a side note, I never know how much to trust niceties, but I gained a new appreciation for my apartment. They really seemed to find it charming.) It's too bad they don't live closer by, because it would be so nice to have people to sit with comfortably in the living room sometimes, discussing things like Nintendo's Game Cube, the turkey-roasting fetish (unfortunately can't find a link for this) or the leg amputation disorder.

P.S. - Everyone should buy Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers.

File under DAILY. Posted at 12:00 AM