t rex and oogie boogie, too!

A dinosaur!
Stomping
around
in the
Learning
Center!!
In the
middle
of the
afternoon!!!

Sure enough,
it was a baby
Tyrannosaurus Rex,
waving its
tiny little
arms about
as it
ran amok!
Awww...
How very cute!




What was the special occasion?
"Bring your favorite prehistoric beast to school" day?
No, silly!
It was Halloween!
I was even wearing my "scary pumpkin" t-shirt today!
I was at the LC for my usual Monday Office Hours.
Only one student showed up, but that was okay. I had plenty to grade while I waited.
Plus, I had the dinosaur as entertainment.
(smile)

After tonight's lecture on reaction kinetics and equilibrium, I bounced over to the Muse Arts Warehouse.
Odd Lot was getting to do a Halloween-themed show on...
wait for it...
Halloween!
Such a treat!

Here, an eleven-headed monster
is attempting to tell us
a story called
"The Origin of Halloween".
What a hoot!!!
Being a monster,
it mistook
"origin"
as some kind of creature!
(Good going, Zach!)
Very funny!

The cast of the improv troupe weren't the only ones clad in costumes!
Not by a long shot!
These five were part of the many contenders in the costume contest earlier in the show.
(They were all very gracious about losing to a little boy dressed as a teen-age mutant ninja turtle.)
(smile)
My favorite was the "low-cost Batman".
He reminded me of my "buck-toothed vampire" costume that I wore for one of Monica's Halloween parties at the A-frame!
Ah, good times!

Oogie Boogie had been a late arrival for the show, but he had almost stolen it!
Well, for just a few moments...
(smile!)
Happy Halloween, y'all!

counting blessings during the 19th film festival

I am so blessed.

I am so blessed to have been born in the USA.

I am so blessed to have been born Caucasian.

I am so blessed to have been born physically whole and healthy.

I am so blessed to have been born heterosexual and gender-specific.

I am so blessed.

None of those descriptions of my physical essence were by choice.

All were completely by chance.

I may not have wealth, but I am rich compared to most of the peoples of the world.

I may not have beauty, but I have an appearance deemed desirable by many.

I may not always like my options, but I have choices that few on this Earth are granted.

I am so blessed.

i thank You, God.

happy 49th, Dood!

This is my youngest brother's 49th birthday.
He's the one in the white shirt.
I do hope he will be back in Savannah for his 50th.

Since he and I have "email" communication now, I sent the following.

"Dearest Tony,
Happy birthday! I know you don't recall the day you were born, but I sure do!
There we all were, the whole family watching television after dinner that evening.
Then Mama got up to go to the bathroom and next thing you know, she and Daddy are off to the hospital because her water had broken!
I think Mary Norman came over to watch us...
Mama wasn't at the hospital even an hour before you came into the world! I guess you just couldn't wait one more minute to come into the world!
I'm hoping you will still have a blessed day, even if you are still on lockdown.
Know that my thoughts and prayers are always with you, but even more so on this day.
with much love from your one-and-only ever-loving sister!"

I wasn't able to go see him this year, due to my hands.
I really missed being able to give that visit to him this year.
Soon, the weather will shift and I will have to wait until spring to see him.
That'll be fine.
My hands should be good for long drives by then.
(smile)

in memory of Gwen, a little midnight madness, in pink

I had first noticed the event at least a month ago.
"Glow The Mall Pink Midnight Madness 5K", listed in the upcoming announcements.
A midnight fundraising race?
That sounded like it was meant for me, right?
Especially as I don't even glance at upcoming announcements in the paper, as a rule.
So I checked out the website.
Major coolness! Funds would be raised for breast cancer research!
Also, the race was billed as "beginner", with walkers, joggers, and even folks pushing strollers welcomed with open arms.
Definitely my speed!
I started filling out the registration...
than put it aside.
Then, this past Tuesday, I mentioned it to Kevin while we were dining.
He's in training for the upcoming marathon in November.
He encouraged me to register, but didn't push it.
Good man.
I did "like" the facebook page of the event...but didn't register.
On Thursday, the newspaper's stand-alone entertainment section had a big story about it.
This would be the inaugural event for this race in Savannah.
I liked the idea of being in on this in its first year...but still didn't register.
Then, late Friday night, tooling around on the web, I decided to go for it!
But the online registration was closed.
However, there would be the opportunity from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday to do so...
and so I did.
I was even there at 10 AM, to be one of the first.

Last night, I arrived at 11:30 PM to the Oglethorpe Mall.
Pink was everywhere!
Right place, right time.
The DJ was playing some good tunes, to get the crowd moving...
so I danced, as a little warm-up.
(Hey, it was already quite chilly and heading for the low 40's. Brrr!
And yet, I was there. Clad in long pants, pink socks, "Morgan's galaxy" tennis shoes, with my race shirt over my long-sleeved American Red Cross VIP Lifesaver shirt. Fuzzy pink socks with polka dots covered my hands cozily!)
Then, it was time to assemble at the starting line.
I went ahead and went to the front of the pack.
And who was beside me?

Deadpool.
I kid you not.
You know
what a
serious crush
I have on him...
I even shared him
with my first niece...
and she loves him, too!


Right place, right time.
Seriously.
Then, during my mile-eating walk, I paused briefly twice.
The first time, the cape had blown off an older superwoman, unbeknownst to her.
I had paused, bent, scooped it up, and had it waiting on my arm when she circled back for it.
She was so glad I had saved it!
Then, moments later, a coppery glint caught my eye!
I paused to retrieve the smashed penny, barely discernible as being face-up.
"Don't pick it up if its face-down, that's bad luck," someone shouted.
"It's a message from my mother," I replied, scooping it up and into my pocket.
Superwoman, behind me now, found another penny!
"A message from my mother, too," she said.
Right place, right time, for both of us.
In retrospect, the penny could have been from Gwen and David. I had a very distinct image of them when I was on my way to the BYOP party in Georgetown. Or perhaps it was placed there for me by Mother Pat.
The penny, with its front and back images nearly obliterated from car traffic, may have been a joint effort from all of them.
Right place, right time - not a simple coincidence.

I finished
the 5K,
or 3-mile,
course with
a time of
33:32 minutes.
That garnered me a 3rd Place medal for my age group!!!
Pretty good for my first-ever race!
(smile)

ain't no hurricane gonna stop this byop!

Even my odometer confirmed
that I was going to the
right place, right time!
181000 was the mileage -
such a nice, round number,
as befit the occasion.
And just what occasion was it?
Where was I enroute to?

To Dawn and Chris' house,
of course,
for the annual
Bring Your
Own Pumpkin party!
Nice and round, as I said!
(smile)

In addition to the
skeleton band
jamming out the tunes...

and the absolutely
scary
amount of food
weighing down
the tables...

and the one-eyed,
one-horned,
flying
purple
people-eater...

we also were treated
to our magnificent hosts
awarding prizes
for the carvers
of the great orange squashes.
Very nice, y'all!
Now, I need to prepare for
my first-ever 5K,
the Glow The Mall Pink Race...
wish me luck!

dancing on the ceiling!

When the man on the telephone asks, "Are you sitting down?", you should always sit down, then answer, "Yes".
The tremble in the voice is optional.
(smile)
What marvelous news Kurt Nelson had for me!
The precious funds spent to research my invention had returned favorable news: My design is unique!
Not only is it unique, but totally marketable, copyrightable, and patentable!
Yeah, I think I may be making up words now...
but I am so very excited!!!
What am I talking about?
My version of the Periodic Table!
The one I created this past summer!!!
The one original I had packed up in case I fled Hurricane Matthew.
The research had found that NO ONE ELSE has EVER had my idea!
Not ever!!!
Amazing, isn't it?
Honestly, I can't seem to wipe this smile off my face!
(SMILE!)

On Tuesday at two, I'll be chatting with Michael Meyers (no, not that one, and certainly not that one) about what to do next.
Soooooo excited!!!
I'll have to see about a crowd-sourcing campaign to raise the funds for the industrial patent - the twenty-year version which my invention warrants!!!!!
Mama and Daddy would have been so proud of me!!!
i thank You, God, for granting that inspiration!

there's a light, in the darkness

... of ev-er-y bo-dy's life!
I do so love that song!!!
Even with someone other than Susan Sarandon singing it!
What an absolute treat tonight lay in store for me on the telly!
You see, I had glanced at the article about the reprise of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" coming up some time on tv...but I figured it was about some new series and didn't read it.
Tonight, I had no particular plans. I had been at sixes and sevens all day and had thought I'd go see the new play about a woman in red. Honestly, though, I couldn't seem to get revved up about it.
I had gone to the store today to at least partially restock my fridge and freezer... and had dropped a hundred bucks on the effort.
Ouch.
Maybe I would just stay in this evening...
and what a right decision that turned out to be!
For comfort, I had my variation on Mama's salmon chowder for dinner. That meant I'd had that dish four times in the last eight days. In fact, it was the first thing I cooked when power came on last Wednesday and I had milk again.
As I dined, I watched the two episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" that are re-aired from 7 PM to 8 PM on FOX.
That's fairly common, if I am home at that time of night.
Then, I was a little slow to turn the tv off...
and what a good piece of fortune that was!
As soon as I saw that little usher come on, I knew I was in the right place, at the right time!
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again" was following my boys of science!!!
And no, it was not some new series... not at all! It was the entire play!!! Complete with audience par-ti-ci-----pation!

You bet your bippy that included me!
I danced, danced, danced
as Frank-n-Furter strutted and moued and moved about on the stage!

And here's my favorite part:
bad boy biker Eddie,
clad in black leather
and racing in on a black beast!
(Of course, I prefer Meat Loaf, myself!)
(smile!)

And what a blast that Tim Curry was part of the celebration of the play's 41st anniversary!
Hooray!!!
i thank You, God, for allowing my silly self to stay home to bear witness to this visual and aural feast, and for the presence of mind to contact others about its airing, too!
What great comfort to know I shared the experience with so many who are dear to me, even though we were not physically together.
Yes, indeed.