Do I wake or sleep?

I just finished running around and it's quite warm outside--very comfortable for someone in shorts or a skirt, but too hot for someone in leather, as I am. It's cool in the morning, cool in the evenings when I leavr, and hot during the day--aaaugh! I can't win.

I was in Hallmark getting tokens for my ducklings and was drooling over all the adorable Halloweeny stuff. They had fluffy stuffed pumpkins, Ty black- and orange-colored cats ("Scaredy" and "Fraidy"), autumn leave garlands...it's all so glorious. In just one more week I can officially kick off my pre-Halloween countdown and can pull out the lights and the candles. Hallmark did have something completely irresistable--tie-dyed jack-o'-lantern invitations. I had to buy them. So now I have to have a Halloween party. You know how it is. I guess I'll have what used to be an annual ritual in the Northern Virginia days--my pumpkin-carving party. Stay tuned.

Saturday I slept late (quite late) and woke up around 1:40 (bad Clara! My Daddy-induced Protestant-work-ethic enhanced shame at sleeping so late kicks in). Puttered around, cleaned up, finally got moving and called Duncan to see if he at al. wanted to try to see Igby Goes Down again. I liked the movie although it didn't touch me in quite the way it did Duncan. A few possible reasons: I've read a lot of comparisons to Catcher in the Rye and I liked Catcher better. There's more sincerity, less "everyone in the world is wrong but me." Also, I'm intimately acquainted with the world Igby portrays; maybe it hits too close to home. And I thought the anti-Semitism was a bit overt for today--WASPs aren't that obvious about anti-Semitism these days, even old-school WASPs (especially not in New York). (BTW, Cassidy Ladden had a bit part in the movie. I'll have to tell Mia.) It's very good; it just didn't move me the way it did Duncan.

Afterward Duncan, Paula, Jason and I went to the Rocking Horse Cafe in Chelsea. It was bit overpriced but I love going to trendy places like that. One of the many reasons I love New York. We sat outside and people-watched, and talked about Dik and Jayne. (Jason is going to be playing Gregory. Yay!) Duncan talked about how at one point he'd considered casting Paula as Wendy, and Jason had said to him, "Oh, thanks for putting that into my head!" Hee! It's so easy to press men's buttons. We talked about auditions for Joseph; I'm very interested in the role of the Narrator, even if it means working in Hoboken, where no agent or CD will see me.

Afterward we went to a piano bar in the Village and kicked out to showtunes for the rest of the evening. I love living in the city for these reasons. Showtunes at 2:00 in the morning. Walking home through the Village. Trendy cafes. Seeing movies that no one in the rest of the country can see yet. It's all good. I love my life.

Of course I woke up quite late again on Sunday--12 noon. Puttered, cleaned, put up Halloween decorations. I want to add a little more structure to my weekends, and I'm trying to go to either ballet or church on Sundays. Yesterday I went to church, St. Mary's on Times Square. I like the guy that does those vespers Masses, and he recognized me. I sheepishly admitted I'd been there before and said "I need to go more; I'm in danger of becoming one of those 3x a year Episcopalians."

My Halloween lights are up and as always, Tatiana fiercely resents and despises these taunting orange grins that invade her tiny loft. I was risking my life to hang them; while driving nails into the wood, she kept batting at me. Doodness! Such a ferocikitty. She insists on knocking them off their precarious hooks at every opportunity. She's just very bad.