Happy Halloween. These guys were the first Halloweeners I saw tonight. I'm highly doubtful anyone will top this. It's so good in so many ways.

check out my package

I love sending mail. Whether I will receive something in return doesn't matter, I just like putting it all together. This is the diorama I made; I'm sending it to Sophie. In an ideal world, the contents won't get damaged or destroyed in the process, but given my luck in recent weeks, I have a feeling that Murphy's Law will apply.

As an obliquely-related aside:

The other day, while working at the New York Botanical Gardens, I hit my neck on the flipper of a giant frog sculpture while trying to capture live frogs in order to relocate them to another pond. A quarter sized red splotch that strongly resembles a love bite resulted from the mishap. In the past, I remember, my friends would explain to their parents when they had hickeys that they'd gotten hit in the neck. We all knew that the lie was stupid, because it seems totally improbable that a person would get hit in the neck and usually these friends were steadily involved with someone, making the hickey so much more likely. Who gets hit in the neck, right? Of course, it happens to me. And of course when I knock neck on something, it's on a giant frog's flipper, making my story only more implausible. If only it were a love bite.

a cute dead bird :(

strangers on a train

First, it is amazing to me that I can update my blog while standing at a bus stop in the Bronx waiting for the Bx19 to the Botanical Gardens.

Second, I find it amazing also how incredibly easy it is to get a complete stranger to start gushing about his/her life. I mean, seriously - the things they divulge. I was just on the 5 train and I complimented the lady beside me on her hat. That was basically all I said. "I like your hat."

And it was a dope hat. I liked it a lot. Kooky faux fur, white. Somehow, though, by the time I had gotten to my stop, she was starting to tell me about all of her friends who had died recently. This after talking about wanting badly to retire, her dreams of opening a barber shop, her daughter's pregnancy at 14, and the possibility of opening a liquor store with her boyfriend.

Amazing.

Thanks to Kevin for putting this beauty together.

Having a scanner that works makes me feel like a million bucks. I still don't have a chair in my room, so my work is done either from bed (which makes me feel like a shlub) or sitting on the floor (which simultaneously hurts my back and makes me feel like a kindergardener).

For the background of this collage, I used wrapping paper that I found at one of the 99 cent stores near my apartment. The box of wrapping paper at the store was full of reject rolls, which I found both awesome and amusing. Although I felt tempted by the various congratulatory wedding-themed rolls, I thought that this Barbie misprint ruled hardest and it would be ridiculous to own more than one roll of defunct wrapping paper. Until I finish this one, I guess it'll just be Barbie and me.

I miss: my cat, my parents, and watching Project Runway with my parents and my cat.

Things I got today: a job and a Moebius book - hell yes.

for alison

diorama progressing

Better, but still not finished.

pathetic diorama

At least I'm trying....

Last night I ate monster ice cream sandwiches with friends. We filmed the experience, but the file is as large as the ice cream sandwiches, and I'm having trouble uploading it to share with the world. Screenshots will have to suffice.