The other day when Shawn and I were out for a walk in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul, we ran into a woman who was out walking her alpaca. 

And you just need to see this cutie:


Image: alpaca out for walkies....

 I'm in a fairly foul mood right now.  There's no real good reason for it. The only hassles that I've had this morning are that my favorite radio show host is on vacation and I do not like his replacement as well, AND my stupid car mechanic is too busy to take my car in today and now I'm going to have to bring it in on Tuesday when I HAVE PLANS WITH SOMEONE.  

None of this constitutes any kind of real crisis, but, you know how it is, right?  I'm just mad.

I think I'm also mad because I didn't get coffee until much later than I'm used to and that just threw everything into some kind of tailspin.

There are so many bigger problems out there than mine.  I think one of the solutions to my mood is to go outside and work on the garden in back. The only thing stopping me from doing that is that I have been annoyed by our garbage people because they have not picked up over two weeks worth of yard waste, despite the fact that I called them to do it, TWICE. (Apparently, they're coming Monday, but at this point I'll believe it when I see it.) What's especially annoying about that is that WE PAY FOR IT.  We pay a monthly fee whether or not _we_ use it, yet _they_ can't be bothered to actually provide the service when we _do_ use it.

GRRRRR.

I suggest standing a few feet from me today.

Unless sunshine cures me. I hope the sunshine cures me.

I'm out of coffee in the house again, and I was feeling lazy, a bit down, and very self-indulgent, so I stopped off at my new favorite coffee shop in Downtown St. Paul, Claddaugh. Mary, the owner, and I are casual friends--we've known each other on and off since back when she used to work at my previously favorite coffee shop (before it moved) called Café Amore. At any rate, she asked me how things were, and I started in on a little whine about how I'm still without a contract. The guy standing beside me, who was waiting on his latte, asked me what I write. I told him I wrote science fiction and fantasy novels, which were, until recently, published by Penguin. He gave me a funny look. I figured the conversation was over and then he said, "How would you like to be a content manager for a web designing company?" And I said, "What? Are you offering me a job?" To which, he said, "Well... er, I'm offering you an interview."

I don't know if he was high or utterly charmed by my dog/bear hat or what, but I thought about it for about two seconds and said, "Sure, why not?" and handed him my business card.

I have no idea if anything will come of this, but it was a cool random act of... well, randomness, which I sorely needed this morning. I'm feeling a bit down because I have a sick fish. I haven't even wanted to write about my fish escapades lately because they've been so f*cking depressing. Death, death, with more death sauce. But, I was seriously considering getting out the camera yesterday because I've had one fish who I really thought was going to make it. We NAMED HIM AND EVERYTHING. But, this morning he's listless and kind of sunken to the bottom of the tank....

And, oh my god, it just about killed me, you know?

I mean, I have to say that, for the most part, despite the set backs in my life, I try really hard to remain a chipper and upbeat person. But goddamn fish.

sigh.

I should try not to let this bring me down, but I hate being a bad fish mommy, you know?

But, back to the happier news, Shawn, Mason and I had a wonderful Halloween night. Mason got a decent haul of candy and we went to our usual spot at Sargent Avenue (near Cretin). The next block up decided to get into the spirit, too, so we ended up with twice as many houses to trick-or-treat at. Mason, however, seems to be getting to that age when what REALLY thrills him (beyond the costume) is handing out treats. This used to be my favorite part of the holiday, too, and I felt all warm and nostalgic sitting inside the house last night with Shawn listening to him talk to the little trick-or-treaters on the porch.

Here are a few pictures of the evening festivities:

I went as defeated Renji, because I found this just-a-bit-too-orange wig, but which had the right cut to be down-Renji hair at Party City where we bought Mason's costume:


Mason (as evil jester) and I getting ready to head out:


A close-up of Shawn (as witch) and Mason (still the scary harlequin):


As is typical for our neighborhood, and despite all my house-decorating efforts, we normally only get a dozen or so kids at our door. So, we're also left with a huge bucket full of the candy we bought. But, since this happens every year, we've gotten in the habit of not only buying cheap, but also buying a lot of the stuff we know _we_ like. So, I may eat every Sixlet we bought over the next several days. All I can say is that I'm glad I was weighed and had my cholesterol test LAST week....

Tomorrow Mason has another one of those "early release" days (days off for good behavoir?) and I'm thinking we might need to do some outside time again. On the radio I heard an appalling statistic (that might not be true, because it was part of an ad,) but they claimed that Americans spend UPWARD of 90% of their time indoors.

I have to say on chilly days like today, I'm totally one of those, but... jeez, we need to go out more, people!

Also, I baked an apple pie today. I've been baking a lot. Part of it is because I'm home more, and part of it is because of that creeping sense of the coming apocalpyse/economic collapse/McCain victory. (Banish, banish, banish, banish, banish...!)

My fish are all well. I think my minnows may have laid eggs. Most of which I think they ate, but there are still a few clinging to one of the plastic plant leaves -- though those could be snail eggs, of which there are a ton all over.

My writing is happening. I've decided I'm going to divide my time between my two books. Today is prequel day. Tomorrow I'll be Tate. We'll see how that all works out.

I found out today that my agent dropped a friend of mine as a client. I'm really, deeply bummed, but she hasn't been able to sell his awesome novel and maybe someone else will have better luck. Still. It makes me sad. I absolutely despise a lot of the business stuff that goes down in this profession.