I would just like it to be noted for the record that at this very moment, Ross is wearing two bloom spikes sheared from our orchid strapped to his head, and is busily drawing a large floppy disk onto a piece of cardboard.

He’s heading to a Halloween party (I’m skipping it) dressed as a software bug.

After Ross came up with this idea, he almost rejected it for being too dorky, but then he decided that it would be okay if really he was going as the kind of supreme dork who would dress up as a software bug for Halloween.

I cannot decide if this is a more or less sophisticated approach to the whole costume problem than what he did the last time he dressed up for the holiday.

Edited to add:

Do I need to tell you that I had a wonderful time with Megan and Tina on Saturday night?

No, I didn’t think so.

As I said while I was putting on my coat to leave Megan’s warm, good-smelling apartment, it has been a long time since I’ve had two girlfriends who not only knew each other but also (as Tina added, nodding in agreement) lived in close enough proximity to make joint hanging out possible. I’m usually a one-friend-at-a-time fanatic, but even I have got to admit that there is something marvelous about a small party of three kindred spirits.

Since then, I’ve been working pretty hard; I’m trying to get a few assignments out of the way before this famed big project I’m supposed to be starting actually gets going later this week. Yesterday, that meant researching the state of scientific evidence proving the benefits of various forms of arts therapy. Today, it meant writing about prokaryotes. Did you know that some bacteria move around only with the help of tiny bundles of minerals embedded in their cytoplasm, constantly orienting and reorienting themselves in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic poles? I did not. Now I do. I also learned a new word: magnetotactic. Try saying it. Go on. You’ll like it.

By all of which, I suppose, I mean to say that perhaps work isn’t so bad right now after all. And as you can see, play is pretty good too.

Dinner was a bit of a bust tonight, but there’s this new spot in my house, see, and I feel like for a little while that is mostly going to make up for everything.

I had things I wanted to tell you about, but unfortunately/fortunately work is picking up again and I have to finish something tonight, so in the meantime I can only say

clouds of ladybirds ross in a suit wild grass glowing in the afternoon light my arms held straight out beside me like a warrior

I find myself exhausted at the end of a long day in which I accomplished a few important things and allowed myself a few unimportant indulgences, and so there is not much time for contemplation. Still, I wanted to note here, for the record, how fortunate I feel at this moment. A year ago today I didn’t know a soul in this city I could call a friend, and now there is more than one bright spark of comradeship in my life here, more than one hand holding a glass raised high to clink against my own. It’s a good, sweet pleasure to begin to find them, these folks; the ones who will make this place kindly.

Besides which, Tom just took the most wonderful photograph of a friendly praying mantis, and that is also a good sign if ever I saw one in my life.

…please go away and leave me be to sleep.