Boy, it would be handy if they put the questions on this screen so I could see to answer them.

I haven't had that many Halloween costumes of note. Last year, of course, I dressed up as Mr. Peeps:



That was me making a sad face. I don't WANNA be a Peeps. I WANNA be a dumptruck.

A year or two before that, I was... well, I don't know what I was:



That's a Mexican wrestling mask, a red feather boa, taped wrists, a loosely tied tie, and a studded collar.

Many years ago, in my larger days, I was Amish:



That's me with my grandma (I'm the one in the hat.)

At the time, I'd just started dating Kristin (which I guess means this was in 1999). She hadn't yet told her parents about me. When she did so, she sent them one of my Amish costume pictures and told them that there weren't a whole lot of pictures of me; for religious reasons, I didn't like having my picture taken. I am not sure how long her mom believed that for, but I think it might have been a few months.

And of course, though it was not Halloween, I dressed up as Bea Arthur for one of Laura's parties this year:



...and Arthur Dent for one of Laura's parties a few years ago:



(Wow, I've aged a lot in two years.)

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is I really like costumes. No idea if we're doing anything for Halloween this year, though. If we are, I can always be Mr. Peeps again - a problem with costumes is their limited re-use value and so far, I've only worn the Peeps costume at work (and briefly to the mall for lunch). 

Or or OR, I could combine my two costumes from Laura's parties and go as Bea Arthur Dent. Shady Pines, Zaphod...

As promised, I went to work yesterday in the Peeps suit. Only two other people on my floor dressed up, so my costume got a lot of attention. My picture was taken repeatedly. It was one of those days that I will regret when they make the slideshow for my retirement, I am sure.

The costume was a hit around the office. Scott Argue laughed his fool head off. One guy suggested I should take my pants off to show off my chicken legs. My boss tried to hug me because I'm so soft and fuzzy (but he fled in terror when I tried to hug him back).

The real question was whether or not I would wear the costume to the mall to pick up lunch. hansen9j  said I should, because his friends were going to be at the mall and he had high hopes of hearing about the dude in the weird chicken suit. Chad also said I should, but admitted that he himself would not do so. Chad then asked Dean, who said that I would wear the costume to the mall if I had any balls.

Well. I have balls! Two of them, in fact. So off to the mall I went.

The first thing I noticed was that surprisingly few people even notice if you walk through the mall in a chicken suit. It is Halloween and all, but there weren't that many people in costume. Maybe a dozen, not counting the people who were working there and had their costumes mandated by head office. I turned surprisingly few heads. Of course, I did have a big yellow flap obscuring my vision so my powers of observation were hindered.

In general, though, people like you more if you dress like an big yellow marshmallow bird. I got laughs from the people working at Edo, as well as a friendly chat with the lady running the lottery kiosk - she rarely seems in a good mood so I counted this as a big victory.

Of course, the big PEEPS logo on the bottom of my outfit was too subtle for some people. I was misidentified as the following:

• chicken
• duck
• Big Bird

Other stats:

• Percentage of cute girls who will smile at you if you are dressed as a Peeps: high
• Odds that they are not laughing WITH you: high

I was in line for food when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to have my picture taken by my dad's friend Dennis. I didn't think about it at the time, but I'm glad he was there to document this occasion - now I have proof that I wore the costume to the mall (and, by extension, non-graphic proof of my balls). I do not know what Jeff's friends look like, but if they did not see me, it was not for a lack of trying on my part.

Photos:



Mr. Peeps has come back at long last!



(shhh - don't tell anyone, but it's just me in a fantastic costume)



At the mall.



My hilarious end-of-day, post-costume hair.

I gave blood today! It is my favourite charitable act in the world because once it is over, you get cookies. Today I finished the blood donation experience with two blood Oreos, a bag of blood Bits & Bites, and a very foamy blood Diet Coke. It was all pretty good.

This morning, I made some garlic toast and burnt it horribly. I rushed to throw open a window so as not to set off the smoke alarm. It was actually quite lucky that I did this, as not only did I avert a fire-department-summoning disaster, but I also saw Regina at its frostiest and prettiest.

This was the view from my apartment this morning. Excuse the reflections on the glass:





Since I'm posting pictures, here are those posters I referenced last week (with all the references to my workplace carefully - and badly - Photoshopped into oblivion):



And here's my shelf of Potato Heads and wrestlers, complete with Abdullah The Butcher holding his own head:



From left to right, it's Arn Anderson, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, IRS, Dean Malenko (w/o dog) (because he ate it), Eddie Guerrero, and Abby. The back row has Artoo-Potatoo, Spider-Spud, Optimash Prime, Spudtrooper, and Darth Tater. Coming soon: Indiana Jones: Taters of the Lost Ark. Why it is not Idaho Jones, I do not know.

A few weeks back, Dave and I saw Collective Soul. My review is here.

Mr. Peeps has sent in an update from the Caribbean. He says he's retiring, but for some reason, I think there's more to the story. Cough cough. Anyway, you can see his final (?) pictures here.

And now I really need to go outside because it is beautiful out and I don't want to waste more of this day at my computer.

The Weight Watchers email of the week suggested putting cinnamon on popcorn instead of salt.  Turns out this is actually a good idea.  You still use butter (or your substitute of choice) and you can include sugar (or, again, your substitute of choice) and you come up with something that's like cinnamon toast, only, y'know, on corn.  S'good.

So I have been faithfully uploading Mr. Peeps' pictures to savemrpeeps and I have finally finished my Ted Leo review for music_kma (now I'm only one behind!) , but I've been neglecting this place.  That tends to happen.  I've been sitting on an idea for a post and I've told myself that I'm not allowed to go play Guitar Hero (got the third one - this time, for the Wii) until I've written something.  By the time I'm done, I'm sure it will be too late for Guitar Hero - not that this always stops me.

I spent last week working in Saskatoon - not for any real reason, but mostly because I could.  I'm there most weekends anyway, and with a friend's retirement party on Wednesday, it made sense for me to stick around for the week.  Overall, it was an interesting week.  I have been feeling blah in general, lately, and I've felt blah about work, too, but last week was different, and in fact, it was kind of invigorating.  I put effort into showing up early and I got more accomplished than any week in recent memory (it was also busier than any week in recent memory, but I still felt that my productivity-to-work ratio was up).  I imagine a big part of it was just that I had more opportunities for social interaction - I had Harold around during the day, I went to Mika's place after work, and I saw Josy and Dave and family types over the course of the week.  Also, just mixing up the routine makes you approach things differently.  I went to bed earlier and woke up earlier and got to work earlier and left work at the same time - okay, that last one is kind of a raw deal for me, but whatever.  A change in the routine is still welcome.

Now I'm back in Regina and everything is as it was. 

The biggest problem I have with life in Regina is that little things can result in such a big dent in my personal life.  Icy roads or a big work project are a mild inconvenience when you live in the same city as your friends and your girlfriend and your family.   For me, they can cut me off from any real social contact for a week at a time.  But then, that's really my fault. I always looked at Regina as some place where I intended to work for a while before going home.  I never really put any effort into meeting people or putting down roots. 

I've covered this before, and it wasn't where I was planning on going tonight.  Really, my point was that I liked last week's change of routine and scenery and company and though I find myself stuck with Regina's scenery for now, I could still look at mixing up the company and routine.

I have been thinking about doing NaBloPoMo - basically, you vow to write one blog post per day for the month of November.  It's like that thing where you write an entire novel(la) in a month, only it's for losers like me who lack commitment and focus.  Just think - you could get drivel like this every day for thirty!

I'm not as mopey as I think I sound.  More introspective than mopey.

I had Monday off, and so I have my days all mixed up.  I had no idea tomorrow was Halloween.  I thought I still had a day.  Not that I have a costume to wear to work anyway, and not that I'm convinced wearing a costume to work is a good idea (unless you know everyone is doing it).  I suppose I could always bring my Mexican wrestling mask, but I did that last year.  Is it too late to make a giant Mr. Peeps costume? 

It's probably too late.

I have an idea for a super great costume and one of these years I'm really going to do it, even if it means shaving my head one last time.  Not this year, though.  But sometime.  I bet I'd look really weird with my head shaved now.  My head's an entirely different shape than it used to be.  The old shape would actually fit the Halloween costume idea better, but there's only so far I'm willing to go for my art.

Bed time.  Guitar Hero time?  Maybe.