Operation Get Ted To Celebrate Responsibly and Happily With His Community was a huge success. 

Shelle & Houser let us tag along with them and Captain America. Ted stayed on the sidewalk with other costumed adults while the kids did the candy ritual. 

We sang "Grim Grinning Ghosts" and "Headless Man" while we walked. A few people recognized him from The Media Theater, and greeted him kindly, which made me really happy. It was also surprising, considering Ted's heavy disguise, 

The boys got tired and it was time for ghosts and heroes to call it a night. I asked Captain America if he wanted a hug or to slap me five, and he didn't answer, so I held out my palm and he slapped me five. 

As I turned away, I heard a tiny voice say, "I want a hug." 

Oh, the creaking down on one knee hurt, but the heroic hug was gold. 

Let's get this party started!

Archer and I were disappointed by the Muppet Show reboot.  In fact, we almost stopped recording it, but we decided to give the second episode a try ... and we were still not thrilled.  The third was a bit better, but we were still not enthused, and we're HUGE Muppet fans.  Come on, Muppets, give us something!  We're your biggest fans!  We're oscillating over here!

In Episode 4, Pig Out, they gave us something. That something is glorious and totally worth waiting for.  You don't have to slog through the first three episodes if you don't want to (though episode 3 has some charming Kermit and Fozzie moments), because you have your humble Muppet curators to present the best part of Episode 4.  It's not the bear.  I've had bunions that were funnier than that bear! Heh heh heh.

It's the Swedish Chef karaoke-ing "Rapper's Delight".  The video's only 55 seconds long, and they may be the best 55 seconds of your day!

Lear's done. It was a tough week with not much sleep. House was very disappointing; maybe 24 the first night and at most fifty the second. Contributing factors I suspect the choice of venue (hidden in a University campus where parking isn't free), lacklustre marketing, it being a "staged reading" (though we did fully stage it with movement), and it being Lear (which is not a happy evening). Still, it was a good show and it would have been nice for more people to have seen it.  

Good people to work with. Didn't really connect with them much, which is kind of disappointing. The rehearsal cycle was too short to really bond with people, and we're all from such disparate groups it will probably take a serious expenditure of energy to see them again. Maybe I'm wrong. It did feel a lot more like "bye" than "later" after the last show though.

Still tweaking the toning algorithms in the camera app. I am wanting to break down and put an editor in for the toner, rather than just present a couple hundred procedurally generated options. It would be better to not do that, however, and make it something for an upgrade to the app for later. And yet because the app's for me, why shouldn't I make it do what I want?

"Winter" is settling into my mood and it's not a good thing. Social activity is more important now than ever and yet I'm feeling pretty cut off. There's an audition for another staged reading this week, which I'll go to, but a couple days doesn't stave off four months of dark.

That's about it.​

Ever watch a video and think, "They captured my essence in this short film!  This right here is the expression of my soul!" I felt that way when I watched the following video, which you should watch, especially All of You.

Herein we shall all be unsurprised that my soul is pretty violent and loves books.

Safe for work with headphones.  Safe for older kids but not little guys.

​

He's getting settled in awful quick. 

Not that it was easy. The minute we pulled out of the parking lot, he took a dump in the carrier.  He carefully turned around, folded his towel over the evidence, and meowed the whole way home. 

If one of us is in the room with him, he's snuggly and purrs a lot. If we're both in there with him, he's curious and playful. 

Squeaky busted in at one point. She headed straight for the food bowl. We told her not to touch it. Squeaky looked at us like, "oh, this bowl? This one right here?"

The cat waited, sniffed Squeaky's back legs, waited for Squeaky to look at him, and then EXPLODED into a whirlwind of claws and snarling. Squeaky ran toward the door. The cat hopped onto the chair, and back onto Squeaky, who cringed and whimpered in the corner. The cat circled around to block the door. We threw a blanket over the cat, and hustled the dog out the door. She refused to leave the room until Vince went into the hallway with her. 

"I haven't bitch-slapped a dog in a long time, but that doesn't mean I forget how." 

Anyway. It's going to be hard to get these two to peacefully co-exist, but this guy's so snuggly it's worth it. 

Also bitey. Very very bitey. 

P.S.: Jury's still out on the name. His personality suggests Thrym, King of Jotunheim, but Vince wants to name him Turd Ferguson. 

He says he looks like a Mr. Ferguson. Fergus would be a good name for him, but I think we're going to wait and see what name sticks. 

Lactase pills seem to mitigate my cheese "problem". Thanks Costco for having cheap lactase pills. And cheap cheese. I guess. Well, anyway, more protein sources is good. I just need to not eat all the cheese.

Breakfast this morning was dried cranberries, dried grapes, dried cherries, peanuts, and Sesame Snaps. No fresh fruit. Winter is here. 

Have had a couple bad mental health days in the past week. Anxiety, feeling trapped, feeling on edge. Walking helps. As does talking with friends. There are probably pills to help with this too.

Making great progress on the camera app this past week. Even working on it today. I've added coloured lens filters and paper tones. Need to clean up the toning a little still but I found the bug that was bothering me.

Lear performances this week. I'm finding the rehearsals somewhat confusing but that's good I guess. I'm learning things. Or at least getting direction. Either is good for the performance. 

Later today meeting with Shannon Dea, director of woman's studies at UW, about a short theatre piece I'm working on. Hope to get some good ideas and feedback.

Looks like we're getting a new housemate tomorrow. 

He's bitey, spunky, and fun. We filed the paperwork a couple weeks ago, and finally, tomorrow, we can pick him up. 

This means two weeks of Cat Introduction. Hope he likes us. 

We stopped by the Northeast Philly PAWS building today, so Mo could get her annual vaccines, and we could do the final paperwork. It's a beautiful shelter, lots of windows in the adoption rooms, very clean, lots of cat perches. I took Mo out of her crate and held her to walk around. She purred a lot, and sniffed at a friendly orange & white boy named Rubio, who was quite enamored of her. But we're committed to this stripey boy. 

We're planning to name him Thrym, The King of Jotunheim, although a close second was Benedict Thundercat. 

Too many emails from Hillary Clinton. I swear to God, she's stalking me. 

It is annoying to be about the same weight I was two months ago. I haven't been getting enough activity as the colder weather is settling in. Something must be done. I have some exercise bands on order, and I should probably go ahead and join a gym. Or find some actual reason to get out of the house every day for a long, long walk. If only I had to chop wood for heating. That would be awesome.

My daughter got married in North Carolina this weekend. I wasn't there because obviously I would have had to go to the US. And I won't do that for any reason that I can presently imagine. Also, even if I didn't have an attitude problem about crossing that border, driving a thousand miles to be socially awkward with a bunch of Republican gun nuts for a few hours while my daughter is rightfully focused on her new husband doesn't strike me as a good use of my time. I would, however, be very happy to have them come up for a nice chill visit where we can really catch up on the past few years. You may think I'm a monster for not going. I just think of it as weighing costs and benefits. 

It's a beautiful fall weekend, and Thanksgiving in Canada. We don't have any plans for the day. We might have chicken soup. Maybe some potatoes. Certainly a nice long walk, and d is going to vote in the advance polls. (I'm going to wait for the day.) Some video gaming. Maybe another episode of the Korean soap opera. 

La.​