Well, I had sort of a dry spell with blogging for several weeks and now I’ve got the itch again. But after my “serious” blog yesterday I feel like I should lighten up the situation. Here are some madcap adventures and ponderings for October.

Beginning: October begins with a crazy Monday night trip to Chicago on the train to see the fabulous Ani DiFranco in concert. Heather, Sara, and I left South Bend at 4:00 p.m., ate supper in downtown Chicago, went to the concert, rode the train back, and I walked in my door at something like 4:00 a.m. Along with my sad tookus that I dragged in the door, was the realization that a 31 year old should probably give up pulling all-nighters.

Pondering: Why do men spit? I don’t understand this need to spit. I have asked Brian why he spits and he gave me some song and dance about how he thinks he produces too much saliva. And I’m like, NO YOU DON’T! You don’t sit on the couch watching a movie and all of sudden have to jump up and run to the sink because you can no longer control the drool that is leaking out of the corners of your mouth because you can’t possibly swallow all the saliva your body is producing. And men sometimes spit before using the, umm…facilities, I’ve discovered. I have never entered the bathroom and thought, “ahhh, I’ll just spit in the turlet here before I do my business.” Where does this come from?

Haunted Doings: As a child I was not allowed to celebrate Halloween. As an adult I have fully embraced it, minus all the satanic associations. I love handing out candy to children (it builds community), I love being scared, I love watching spooky movies, I think I would love dressing up again. So, Brian and I hauled, along with Dan and Felicia, all around Northern Indiana to some haunted productions. First we hit the Warsaw Haunted Hospital. Huge DUD! Not scary. Stupid. So we drove to Cherubusco to a haunted school in the middle of rural Indiana. There I confronted my claustrophobia and battled gravity. It was the coolest place. We then drove south to the Silver Lake Haunted woods. You may ask yourself if it is fun to be attacked in a corn field by masked men in the dark. And the answer would be a resounding YES! Bring it on! A corn maze in the dark with people jumping out at you and then a spooky walk through a spooky wood – superb, just superb.

Fondue: We threw our first fondue party. We did a practice run several days before the actual event. We invited our friend Colin over as a guinea pig. He was such a good sport. I learned not to show the cheese any fear. It can smell it, and then you wind up with a glop of cheese laying in a pool of oil mocking you. But, along with the help of my 1970’s age-of-Aquarius fondue cookbook, Brian and I threw a successful party. Cheese and bread, meat and veggies in batter and oil, and then chocolate and fruit. Our house smelled like peanut oil for days (i.e. like the fried food at the fair). Made me hugely hungry at all moments. Thankfully, nobody at the party passed a large painful cheeseball the next day, nor did they suffer from salmonella. I now would like to don some swanky 70’s wear and fondue all the time.

Ending: Well October is going to end with another trip to Chicago. You might never guess where I’ll be going. My dear friend Heather is a huge Madonna fan. So, we’re hauling to our second Madonna concert on Sunday. It should be interesting at the very least. The material girl just keeps going.

Oh and I guess there’s still Halloween (or "the big dance") itself left. I’ll have to let you know how it turns out.