Today will probably be two parts... now, which is about five in the afternoon, and then later, after I get back from going out.
OK, I don't do this often, but tonight I'm going out with some people I know from one of the newspapers. There's a party that somebody from the UC faculty is giving, and apparently this one woman, Marcy, was an assistant to this woman from UC, so, they all invited me to come along.
I don't normally do that. I tend to be one of the ones who stay home and hand out the Milk Duds to the kids from the neighborhood who always seem to manage to buzz into the building and plow up and down the halls. I never went to Halloween parties much in high school or college, and since then, as I've said, I've moved often enough that I never seemed to meet the sort of people who had gatherings like this. So, we'll see what happens.
What am I dressing as? Well, you won't believe this, but I'm going as Glinda. Remember The Wizard Of Oz? I watched it on video a week or two ago, a few Fridays ago when I had nothing to do, and it hit me that that might be a good costume. I don't have the hair, though. But after Marcy called and asked if I wanted to go, I knew exactly what I'd be. So have found this place on the North Side that had the perfect "good witch" sort of costume, sort of a million layers of this white mesh over a low-cut white bodysuit with lots of sparkly things on it. It came with the veil. And the magic wand. It was delightful, so I bought it and in a while, I have to change.
The costume didn't come with shoes, so I recycled a pair of white pumps left over from a wedding I was in two summers ago. Pulled them out and went to the craft store and bought some white and blue sequins, and glued them all along the edges and all over the heel. With some white stockings and glitter in my hair, I think it'll be great. It looks pretty great.
No, I take all that back. I'll look like a moron. Everyone will laugh. I don't know. Arrr! Ask me in a few hours. I have to go change.
Ok, it's later. About 1:15, so it's really November 1, I suppose. I've been home a few minutes, but I haven't changed. So this entry is being brought to you by the Good Witch of the North, and... I feel great. It was really fun, I felt fine, I had a good time, I met some very nice people, I danced, I got lots of compliments on the costume, and all is right with the world.
I got over there about ten after nine, and I ran into Marcy and the people from the paper almost immediately. I will now have to make an honest attempt to remember the names... Marcy works with Phil, who's the ad manager and does some editing. He's single but brought his girlfriend, Annike, who is German and even taller than I am. Marcy introduced me (again) to Tasha, who works in the office, and to a guy who apparently just joined the paper, a writer and editor named Sean.
The place was very nice, a really well-restored house that I'd have to say was built around 1870. It's owned by a couple from the UC faculty, a woman who's a professor in the English department, and her husband, who is a researcher in biology. Nice wood floors, some beautiful rugs (not all of which were rolled back to make a dance floor) and gorgeous furniture, which the perhaps 80 or 90 guests were careful not to harm. If I owned a place like that, I'd be far too anxious about the furniture to have over that many people, but this couple apparently had done this for a number of years without incident.
The music was good, I had a little more wine than I normally might, I danced with one really nice guy who came up and asked if I had any spare ruby slippers (OK, ok, I know, it was a line, but for someone who never hears that sort of thing in everyday life, well... I fell for it). Everyone seemed to be alive and interesting, and it was just excellent. I'm really glad I went. I spent some more time talking to Marcy and also talked to Annike, and found out that Annike was a pianist and plays with several small ensembles at UC. She mentioned that she knows a flutist who'd like to form a wind quintet, but needs... an oboist.
I'll not think about that for a couple of days, because right now my playing distresses me. Fargo still seems to like it...
Speaking of Fargo, I just had to go take the magic wand away from him. He was swatting it all over the floor and it was losing its little sparkles everywhere. I'll be sweeping up sparkles for weeks. He has them all over his paws and his back. Kitten!
So it's very pleasant to come home, come up the stairs, and see this princess image of me in the mirror on the landing. Princess Jeanne, Good Witch Of the North... Side.