Wow

I haven't talked about much news lately and that's basically because I always have two opinions that contradict themselves and I usually just end up ranting. And no one wants to read that.

But I just read an article, titled "Sex Offenders locked down, in the dark for Halloween" that actually made me say out loud, "wow".

To be honest I've never even thought about the increasing danger of sex offenders to children on Halloween and I am very impressed by towns like Anderson, SC who are requiring all their registered sex offenders to report to a specific location for the hours between 5:00 and 10:30 PM. In California, parole officers will be checking registered sex offenders' houses to ensure that there are no decorations on any of the houses, "No Candy" signs posted on the doors and lights out.

I have never heard of anything like this before.

However, it does lead to some questions of course. I do understand that this is a precaution but the evidence shows that once a sex offender, always a sex offender. So if there's a possibility that a child in a costume may be a temptation to someone, then perhaps this person should not be allowed to live among the general public. Just a thought. Because if this is the case, how are these towns protecting their girl and boy scouts or any child for that matter out selling candy for school?

I thought about saying something about well, they did their time so leave them alone blah blah blah, and decided against it. I don't feel the restrictions put upon sex offenders tonight are infringing on their rights at all. They're sex offenders. That's all that needs be said about that.

This article really shows what kind of world we live in. But I'm so happy that people are taking precautions and calling it what it is. I sure as hell rather read about precautionary measures set against sex offenders (a real problem) than all the ways your child will bite into a razor this year.

Happy Halloween

I thought it might be nice to keep my fingers out of my little cup of roasted pumpkin seeds and wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

Mike carved his pumpkin last night and I roasted the seeds. (A first). October felt like a wonderfully fulfilling, lengthy month just like it should. It may have been the best month of my life so far! And we're looking forward to getting rid of the candy tonight and I guess this weekend the decorations will have to come down. Sigh. It was a great run.

On another note, I've decided not to pursue my Associates Degree from Camden County College before moving on to Rowan. I've done a great deal of research and work and it seems that a good six or seven classes I would need to take to get my Associates from Camden mean absolutely nothing to Rowan. So why take them? I couldn't care less about having another Associates but I just assumed this was the way to go. I called Rowan to confirm and my future advisor reassured me that I was correct - there's no need for the Associates if my intentions are to go get the Bachelor's.

So I can fast track this thing after all. I can't really calculate it yet though because Camden accepted credits from Berkeley that Rowan may not. That's the next step - to find out if Rowan will take credits from Berkeley. If not, I'll have to take the classes at Camden.

Same time next year!

The party was AWESOME!

Friday night and Saturday was a very fun blur of preparing, chopping, cleaning, setting up, beer shopping, last minute touches, etc. It was all so hectic and then people started showing up and before I knew it, there was a party going on.

Everyone loved the food (and seemed impressed I must say). There was more than enough but everyone just kept taking eating breaks and there was nothing left but a handful of chips and some candy corn by the end of the night.

It really is a blur now - not only had I been drinking all day more or less but I was just so excited at the same time. All my friends were over eating my food wishing Mike a happy birthday and enjoying our home - it really is a great feeling and totally makes you feel "high as hell". LOL

I had a lot of fun with an old friend and made a new one, and strengthened newer friendships with some great people who I was just thrilled to have in my home so I really am just so happy with the way it went but wish it wasn't so much of a blur. But such is life - all the kick ass parts go by way too quick.

So this was our second Halloween type party so I think this will definitely be our annual party and I'm keeping the bratwurst on the menu.

I feel like Sunday never came though - we slept till 1:00 pm on Sunday and I went to bed for the night at 6:00 so I guess that would explain it. 13 hours of sleep and I still feel groggy.

But Mike and I are off tomorrow for his birthday! I'm looking forward to sitting by the fire with him tonight and just cleaning up and relaxing - we can do whatever he wants!

Perhaps there's a link between violence and fugliness

Here it is folks.

"Philadelphia has the ugliest people in the country, according to Travel & Leisure Magazine.

Of the 25 major American cities ranked by citizen attractiveness, Philadelphia finished dead-last."

Let me tell you something, Philly really does have some damn fugly people come to think of it.

But who comes up with this shit?

Read the full article here, appropriately titled, Hey! We're not just fat - we're ugly too!

Mmmmm, mallow cremes

Oh, what an awesome weekend we had! I am thrilled to report that annual pumpkin picking day was indeed excellent.

The great thing is that the weekend felt long too kicking Friday night off having drinks with friends.

So I won't bore you with the details, we made all the same stops we've made the past two years and bought some cool stuff including six new cheese at Delicious Orchards. We made it home quite spent and hung out on the couch for a while snacking on the plethora of goodies we picked up including apple cider doughnuts, pistachios, very decent quality mallow cremes, mmmmmm. For dinner we sampled our new cheeses and had some fresh baked semolina bread and olive oil. (Yeah, I'm fasting today)

Oh, and we picked four pumpkins too! We were the first people to get to the farm so the hayride guy dropped us off and left us completely alone in the pumpkin patch. There's something pretty damn cool about being alone in a pumpkin patch especially the kind where you don't see a car, a road, anything but pumpkins, dirt and corn stalks.

It was great! BUT little did I know it was by no means over. Mike woke me up Sunday morning climbing back into bed to inform me he decided to call out of work and spend the day with me. We woke up pretty early and had coffee and got started with some party preparations including yard work, putting out the haystack, pumpkins and scarecrow and doing lots of little things around the house. Then we got to relax and watch football together.

So you may be thinking, "so?" Well, Mike and I haven't spent a consecutive Saturday and Sunday together since last May SO THERE. It was awesome!

AND THE COWBOYS LOST! (insert maniacal laugh here)

I'll see it rise, Mike'll see it set.

Last night during dinner Mike asked me what I thought about him going to California with his two childhood best friends, Roman and Knarr, and meeting up with his other childhood best friend, Dayv, who lives out in California, so that they could all attend Roman's graduation. Roman lives out here in NJ, but is graduating from an online animation school in California. He thought it would be cool to go to the ceremony and do some networking.

I told Mike he'd be a fool not to go.

For some reason, Mike was surprised by my response.

I explained to Mike that I think it is very important that he travel, and that by going out on this trip, him and his boys are going to make memories that will last a lifetime. I said I hope they plan trips as they all get older too and get married and what not. This is the time to start doing these things. We all work hard - why not be a little spontaneous and play a little too?

So Mike's going to go out to California in January and I'm stoked for him. Knarr's a traveler so all the arrangement making will be in his hands so that's kind of a relief. Mike just has to make sure he gets on planes. Everything else will be taken care of.

As for me, I'm looking forward to eating cereal for dinner every night that he's gone and hearing all the crazy stories I'm sure he'll have when he gets home.

Examination Civilization

So I took my exam last night and it's a damn good thing I did since I thought my head was going to explode if I didn't get the three pages of memorized text out of it. It all spilled out of me nicely and in order, but damn, did my hand hurt! I haven't handwritten anything lengthier than a post-it note or grocery list in ages. Every few minutes I had to stop and shake out my hand and flex it a bit. It was pretty painful.

I don't know for sure how I did but I think I did fine. I'll let you know in a week or two when I get the exam back. I just feel so much better to be done with it.

What's up with me?

I have my first exam tomorrow and it's hard as hell. I've been studying my ass off and I'm a nervous wreck. I just want to be done with it. I have to study all night tonight and I'm meeting up with a classmate around 11:00 to compare what we've each come up with.

Next Monday is my first Stats exam but I'm not as nervous about that one. I have all day Sunday to study for that and that's good because nothing's gonna put a damper on ANNUAL PUMPKIN PICKING DAY! I've been hyping this day up since August and it's finally this weekend. Then it's all about getting through the Stats exam Monday and pulling Mike's party together for Saturday. I know it will all come together. I think last year I was way more excited and nervous and neurotic but I think it's just because it was my first party. I know what to expect this year, and well, if there's no more food, you got here too late; have some cheese.

But I'll be super stoked come Friday night when I get to start making the food and Saturday I'll wake up like a crazy person! Those are the good times. I love having people over.

I'll be sure to post lots of pictures!

Title

Ugh, I feel so gross. I'm having such a gross week. And I'm fairly overwhelmed which just adds to my overall feeling of grossness. I'd like to just watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and lay in my bed and nap.

Anyway, mine and Mike's anniversary was very cool. We actually got drunk on Friday night which is pretty rare for us especially since it was just the two of us. But we had fun and met some crazy guy at the second bar we went to and heard all about his affair with his next door neighbor. That's always fun.

So Saturday didn't go as planned. Do any of my plans ever go as planned? We slept late (10:00) and just threw on clothes and headed out to the Farmer's Market and had crepes with apples for breakfast and bought some goodies. We ended up playing follow the yard sale signs on the way home and hit up about a dozen sales. Yard sales are really only good for three things to me: frames, photo albums, and bottles. So I picked up all three along with a much larger caesar salad bowl than the one I have ($2.00!) and Clerks II on DVD. Not a bad take.

The funny thing about the day was that we ate about 5 soft pretzels and some apple cider donuts for lunch and fell asleep for four hours. The house was a disaster and I don't know how it got so bad and it bothered me but after a little concentration on making it not bother me, it didn't anymore. I just went with the proverbial flow.

So dinner was very nice and Mike looked fantastic! I thought I did too which wasn't bad for suffering a hangover and eating several pounds of carbs for lunch, but I guess we clean up pretty nicely. ;-)

Lastly, after Mapquest took us on a RIDICULOUS route threw murderelphia, we got to the Jim Gaffigan show and he was hysterical. Seeing a really good stand-up act makes you realize that you don't laugh enough and how laughing for an hour straight gives you this really great high, makes you feel less tense, and makes you feel more alive.

We had fun. It was cool.

So now it's Thursday and I just want to be done with this work week. Mom's coming over tomorrow and I wish I was in a better mood, but Mike is getting all the Halloween stuff out of the attic tonight so seeing some old friends should help.

There will be a lot of, "Oh, I forgot about this! - I love this thing" and it's fun.