Happy Halloween to everybody! Hope you were scary, safe, and sugared.
The Ho and I went out into the neighborhood tonight with the dogs, as we do every night I suppose…but we were all dressed up as pandas. The dogs included. Coco’s panda-hood kept falling in front of her face, especially on the downhills, so we had to finagle it to the side so she could see. It was amazing.
There was *nobody* out during the first half of our walk, and we were afraid it was going to be a slow halloween, but it was only because we went out a bit too early to see the festivities. By the time we were looping our way back towards home, we ran into a bunch of trick-or-treaters.
Today also happens to be the last day in October. It would be easy for me to be hard on October – it didn’t start off so hot. I’ve struggled mightily these past couple months to hit my goals in terms of productivity…BUT, and I was just thinking about this: at the very least, October has been the month that I re-discovered my routine. Being out of the routine and still succeeding is still very much a challenge, but at least I found my routine again, and it works.
I was feeling a bit stressed out today after having not accomplished what I felt like was enough work, and rather than giving into that feeling and shutting down, I sat down and did my writing for the day. Just plunged right in. And once I’d done that, I listened to some music and I did some household stuff like dishes and some laundry, etc.
After that was done, I decided to make myself some tea, opening up the sliding door to let the cool night air in, and I read the rest of The Martian Chronicles, which I was almost done with. I have to say…it took me a LONG time to read that book…and I friggin loved it. It really, really brought it home towards the end. Got more cohesive as it went along. I’m thinking about setting aside some time in the next week or two to do a write-up for it. I actually need to do a write-up for Rendezvous with Rama, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress too…but those I read, now, almost two years ago. Ugh. I really *should* write them, though, because people seem to enjoy reading my write-ups on them. Some of my most enduring page views.
Anywho, back to October: it was an up-and-down month, to be sure. But, I finished it off in style, and I’m really, really looking forward to November. November will also be a challenge to the routine…but I’ll do my best. I’ll aim high, and hit as closely as I can.
How was your October?