Here it goes again.

Well.  November is here once more, so you know what that means:

So the insanity begins.  Two years ago, I failed miserably.  Last year, I didn't even enter, thereby really failing.  This year, I've got a bit more support, and I bothered to take the time to pen out a synopsis and a rough outline, so I'm really hoping for the best.

You can track my progress here.

Anyway.  A heads up that I may not make my 2-posts-a-month quota for November (because I was clearly doing so well before.)

Wish me luck.

Until the next.

With Apologies to Taylor

***Courtesy of: http://www.blogactionday.org

There is a story that I have avoided sharing with the Internet for a few years now, for fear that its main character would stumble upon it.  However, today seemed like an appropriate time.  So, without further ado.

Several years ago, I was feeling a bit lonely and sort of bored.  On a whim, I tried using Omegele for the first time, without much success.  For an hour or so, all I got was repeated requests for A/S/L, etc., etc.  I was starting to get fed up, when a young girl was paired with me.  A freshman in high school, maybe younger. A runner.  A fairly diligent student.  She seemed pleased to be matched up with an older woman, and cheerily asked me for little tidbits of advice about life, the universe, and everything.  Nothing of a serious nature.

She had a boyfriend, she told me.  He was also a runner.  They spent their time together, doing homework, and generally just hanging out.  A happy couple.

At least, that's what she said at first.

Trick or Treat: The price we pay

I fracking LOVE Halloween, for pretty obvious reasons.  Namely, it is the only time of the year that I get to dress up like an idiot in a costume of my own design, and it is more or less completely acceptable (unless, of course, you are my parents, in which case I am viewed as being a totally immature moron.)  With Halloween just around the corner, and GCS about a month away, one might imagine that I'm getting ready to dive headlong into the sewing fray.

And it's true; I am.  But maybe with a little more reluctance this year than most.  The reasons are twofold.  First, I have some mixed feelings about Halloween, or at least, the modern practice of it.  I'm not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination, but I appreciate the original roots of the supposed "All Hallows' Eve" and other similar festivals of the dead.  It seems unfortunate that such a reverent occasion was first Christianized for convenience, and then bastardized for consumerism.  The other day, on a whim, I walked into a Halloween Adventure to see if I could find any items that might be easier to purchase than attempt to craft.  I was shocked to find that a simple fleece hat would cost me a pretty $25, which brings me to my second source of reluctance:  costs.