A Sunday Walk

Panda saw a squirrel just before I shot this, so she was too occupied to mug for the camera. People keep saying she's gotten bigger, but I can't tell.

1%

There's always one, every year. 

We tricked this guy. You know - as in "trick-or-treat." At the time, he seemed a little stunned but none the worse for wear. He half-heartedly asked us for the candy back, and we kind of laughed and tried out one of our slogans: "We're putting the 'trick' back in 'trick-or-treat!'" and "You just got tricked!" 

Three houses later, we realized he was following us down the street. We asked him why he would do such a thing. He told us we should be ashamed of ourselves; that we were stealing candy from children; that we should get the f*** off his street. We defended ourselves, citing an apparent (and real) lack of children on the street; the fact that we are clearly young at heart, otherwise why would we be trick-or-treating?; and that he should stop following us. "It's a free country, I can follow you if I want!" he retorted. "If it's a free country, why can't we be on your street?" we asked, reasonable and calm as ever. 

He continued to follow us, to verbally abuse us, to threaten us. As he grew more belligerent, we grew more concerned, ultimately leading to the following scene. (See below for a transcript, since it's hard to understand everything.)

Weirdo: Go! Move!

Matt: We are. We're calling the police.

Weirdo: Call the police! Go ahead!

Louis: Hi, uh, there's someone following us, down the street.

[Unknown source: I think they're scared.]

Louis: Uh, what street . . . this is Willow.

Weirdo: You're stealing candy from little kids.

Louis: Somerville, sorry.

Weirdo: Move. Now. Move. Get your ass out of here. Get your ass out of here now. Move. All of you. Get outta here. You ruin the whole spirit of Halloween.

Weiiiiiiiiirddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!

Election Day

Of all the incredibly important things to consider on election day, here's perhaps the most important, as seen on Somerville's sample ballot:

It says, "Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of amending the state Constitution to replace the state Legislature with 100 randomly selected adult residents of the Commonwealth, each serving a one-year term, to be called the Commonwealth Jury and to have all the legislative and other powers of the current Legislature?"

I hope we all vote an emphatic "YES" on this non-binding question. Then, I could be randomly selected to rule Massachusetts for a full year!!!!

Also, vote no on question 1 (abolishing the state income tax is reckless) and yes on questions 2 (decriminalizing marijuana doesn't mean legalizing it) and 3 (greyhound racing: probably not quite the economic pillar its proponents make it out to be).

Halloween!!!

As usual, I went trick-or-treating Friday night. The schtick is, I put a white sheet over my head (with two holes cut out for eyes), get down on my knees, and pretend to be 4 years old. I mumble, "trick-or-treat!" in my best Mickey Mouse voice. My legal guardian - played by my friend Matt for the last two years, and his girlfriend Madeleine this year - makes a big deal out of the whole thing. "This is his first Halloween. Ooh, he loves Kit Kats! What do you say to the nice lady?"

After I get candy, I stand up, throw the sheet over my head and say, "Thank you!" in my deepest Barry White voice. 99% of people love it. Here's a typical reaction:

Ahh, classic. After surprise, shock, and resignation comes joy and even satisfaction.





Can't wait until next year!!

Panda is here!!!

Panda is coming . . .

We have the crate . . .

We have a dog bed . . .

All we're missing is the dog!

Insert Huge Sigh of Relief Here

Generals, Written portion: done. Around 20 single-spaced pages, 12,000 words. I had 12 hours to demonstrate everything I learned this summer. Maybe tomorrow I'll post some of the topics so you can see how ridiculous musicology is.