'nother reading last night. this one was two short stories in the spirit of halloween--Edgar Allen Poe - The Cask of Amontillado and H.P. Lovecraft - In the Vault. the event was an american shorts reading series event. both readers were really quit good, and the venue, the mellon mansion at chatham college provided the perfect ambiance for the halloween motif.

as for halloween tonight, i don't really have any plans. none of my friends seem to return my calls. most likely i'll just spend the night catching up on some reading unless something else comes up later.

international communities. tonight i went to a poetry reading that was entirely in spanish. casey let me tag along to her friend's poetry reading. since i don't speak spanish, i went specifically to listen to the sounds and rhythms of poetry in another language. afterwards i went out with a few of the folks there for a drink and a bite. it was nice to have an international group to hang out with, even if was only for a night. the us, columbia, el salvador, and mexico were all represented. it felt good to be out meeting folks. especially interesting peeps with diverse backgrounds.

something else for philadelphia to be proud of: two of the most dangerous intersections in the nation.

this weekend i read. it was nice to feel like i was reading the quantity i was last year. i finally finished Atonement. two thirds of the way through, i was starting to have my doubts about it. but like most of the books i enjoy, that last third came through. next it's Catch-22, a staple that i never got around to reading.

i have to say that the latest strongbad emails have returned to their old form after a stint of not-so-funny emails.

here's a little preview of our pumpkins from the other night...

left to right--mine, casey's, crystal's.

last night casey, crystal and i carved pumpkins. there will be pictures to follow. maybe. not having broadband upload from home might cause significant delays. all the pumpkin-now-jack-o-lanterns are brilliant displays of the halloween spirit. in conjunction with that spirit, the weather seems to be turning colder. the radio said that the high would be in the mid 40s today.

its official, i didn't get the job in la. ryan said the new guy started today. he also said he wasn't impressed. after all that time it sounds like they still made the wrong decision.

last night i spent 3 hours on the phone. i haven't done that for years. but i needed to catch up with some peeps, and i had my new phone to try out. dave asked me to be in his wedding, that'll be my fifth. caught up with my sister and jen some as i hadn't talked to either of them in a while.

tomorrow night is pumpkin carving night. stop by with a pumpkin if you want to join in the fun. i have high expectations for crystal since she just graduated from art school.

my new phone

reconnected. and in case you didn't notice, dialup has been established.

two weekends, two weddings, too tired. yesterday i went to a friend's sister's wedding. she was the maid of honor, which meant we didn't get to talk or hang out as much as we would have liked, but that's just how it is when your in the wedding. it was the same way when i was in my sister's wedding. all the other wedding party dates were at the same table, so we all were in the same boat. i'm looking forward to having a weekend to spend entirely at home tho.

crystal was home from her fashion show when i got back. she said it went really well. good thing after all the work she put into it. i'm wanna see a tape or at least some pictures of it.

i think we're carving pumpkins tonight.

can't get dialup to work from the apartment yet. but at least i now have an apartment, phone line, heat and electric all functioning.

yesterday i found out that it is probably faster to walk home than to take the bus. i took the bus for two reasons: to try to minimize the amount of time in the rain, and to see how long it would take. next purchases will be a bicycle and a mobile phone.

disconnected. email and blog posts will be significantly decreased as i have no phone, let alone dsl in my new apartment.

the wedding weekend in philly went well. i got to see a lot of the family that i haven't seen in probably close to two years. even tho i stayed with megan, we only saw each other for about 3 or 4 hours total. she had to work, or i was out partying. emily was a good sport at the wedding. the in-laws were able to empathize with the introduction by fire to the murray clan.

yesterday i finished moving into my new apartment. its taking shape, crystal still has a lot more work to do than i do. we need to get the heat on and i need to get a phone...soon.

bright spots. PittArts holds free lunch lectures about once a week. not only do i get lunch, but also get to listen in to some something that is not related to what i deal with all day. and i definitely need more outside intellectual stimulation right now.

today's speaker was jeremy boyle. he is an artist that does installations 'bridging the boundary between visual art and the recording studio'. although i wasn't totally blow away, it was still interesting enough to make me want to visit the mattress factory.

after a long silence, elan had a few short things to say.
ryan keeps on rambling...literally.

ma & pa helped me get more stuff moved into my apartment last night. first stop was ikea for the bed, then to the apartment. i think my futon is way cool. and the 'hood @ night seemed good too. tonight i'm headed to philly for a wedding on friday night. but i plan to start living at my new place when i get back.

uninspired. have i mentioned that i haven't written a word since i've been back? this is not desirable in the least. but i did sign my lease, which means i now have an apartment that i am paying for but don't have time to move into.

blogging statistics i just read this short article on blog usage. i was actually surprised to find out that there are more females that blog than males. it also seem ironic since i just took a blogging survey for blogger.com.