life by candlelight

What an interesting weekend. I started off by going to see "Kill Bill." Which I really enjoyed. The violence is extreme but not always in a realistic sort of way. And if the protagonist hadn't been female, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. But I remember watching those old kung fu films as a child and "Kill Bill" brought back a lot of memories. I look forward to part two.

Saturday I drove to Estes Park for my Junior League retreat. The weather was beautiful. It seems weird to have weather in the eighties in Colorado during October. The retreat was a lot of sitting and listening to presentations but it gave me the chance to get to know other new members better. I even won an award. My advisor nominated me as one of the best new members. That was a nice surprise. I wish I could have stayed on Sunday and gone to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike but I felt I needed to get back. There is always so much to do. It makes me feel completely overwhelmed. My house looks terrible. I have bills to pay. I need to buy groceries. I need to work on my scrapbook and sift through the piles of magazines that keep accumulating in my house. Work really gets in the way of this stuff.

Last night, I had dinner with my friends Amy and Greg. They always cook the best meals. Amy and I had to watch HBO's "Carnivale" before doing anything else. Neither of us understands it or even particularly likes it but somehow you can't stop watching it. Once that was over, we headed out to a haunted house. I give it about a 5 or 6 on a scale of ten. I think we get spoiled by Disney. Being the old fogeys that we are, we complained about the dangerous steps and ramps that you couldn't see in the dark. Haven't these people ever heard of glow-in-the-dark tape? It's almost like what makes it scary is the fact that you could trip and fall. We then proceeded to the haunted maze where we were chased by a dread-locked monster who wanted to eat our toes and a chainsaw-wielding clown. Luckily none of the things I'm most scared of were there. (cyborgs, mascots and, occasionally, mariachis) Dave Brown can tell you about my cyborg problem. I'm afraid it led me to trample him in a haunted house a few years back. Sorry again about that, Dave.

I've always loved Halloween but it will definitely be different this year. My former partner in crime has gone through a big lifestyle change and seems to no longer want to do any of the things she previously enjoyed. It makes me wonder if our friendship will survive. We became friends based on certain things. What happens when those things don't exist anymore? It worries me. Things are definitely changing around here and I'm getting left behind.