So, how AMAZING are these pumpkins! Please note the Alaska and Moose designed ones by James and Clare. They are frickin' amazing--and free-hand. Talented housemates.

So, a lot has happened lately, and I don't think I'll be able to type it all up without spending pages and pages on it.

Highlights: A few Fridays back we went to a Lakota Native Sweat Lodge, which was AMAZING. It was hot, and I think I got delirious, but it was so culturally interesting. We passed the PEACE pipe around and sweated our asses off. On that Monday, we went to a Jewish synagogue to celebrate Simchat Torah. It's basically Torah Dancing and celebrating the end of one scroll and starting the next. It was fun. Had falafel. Pretty daggone tasty.

Of course, Halloween was AMAZING. Our foosball costumes were out of this world. We had tons of people over, carved pumpkins, ate seeds, ate food, drank beer, played foos, played pool, played darts, and then I went out with some friends afterwards to a bar and stayed out until like 5AM. HAHA. Doing it simply. Not.

And as of late, I had Strep Saturday through Tuesday. I'm on antibiotics now, but felt miserable. I guess that was my penance for partying too hard! The funny thing is it's never about drinking copious amounts of booz, but just enjoying the social atmosphere of Alaska and friends. Of course, I love the great microbrews that everyone brings, but it only heightens the times I have with my housemates and newly acquired friends up here.

My office is very cold. I can't feel my fingers. They're going to get me a space heater, hopefully. It was 9 degrees this morning as I waited for the bus. It is officially ass-cold, and my bones are chilled. I had to wear my long johns this morning, which seemed extreme, but they kept me warm. Oh, and it snowed on Saturday night! We woke up to some white! It was GLORIOUS!

I'm headed to L.A. the first week of December for my brother's wedding reception/celebration. In case you hadn't heard, he eloped back July 3, much to our surprise, and now is realizing he needs to invite people out to actually schare in this special experience. And it'll be a good chance for me to escape and see him in sunny L.A. Plus, I haven't seen my mom since the end of June, and I really am missing her.

Things at work are going swell. I'm sort of behind in some work, so I'm going to crunch out some work today and tomorrow to catch up. It's crazy that the weekend is almost here. Oh, and the whole light situation. It's dark by 5:30 now, and the sun comes up at 9. And it's bloody dark. It'll hit 10-3 daylight hours by winter solstice and it's just working it's way to that maximum now. Insanity.

Other than that, nothing much new. I have this client who has a crush on me. It's really disturbing, but I don't want to have a "talk" about it if I don't really have to. But, he asked me out, and keeps coming by, and it's really gross, but he's nice enough, just mentally unstable and unattractive (that's mean, I know). So, I'll keep you posted on that front because I'm sure there will be more stories.

Interesting story of a housemate's work experience: Katie had her first experience with a mail-order bride. Basically, a 20 y/o Phillipino was in her domestic violence shelter, has herpes, was verbally abused (not too too bad), but her husband is a 63 (!) y/o who "ordered" her. Isn't that messed up????

We're going to see this Tibetan Monk tonight: Palden Gyatso out at University of AK Anchorage. He's really really cool. (Wow, that was really really lame and non-descript.) But, he's been imprisoned most of his life for speaking out against social injustice, and is talking about his life in prison and how he deals with it. He's speaking next Tuesday too at the library on a different topic. And it's free! I think it'll be really neat--keep ya posted on that as well.

We're also watching a bunch of foster kids this weekend. It reminds me of doing the Circle K high school kid watching. But we're on shift from 9-9 Friday and Saturday at a nearby hotel. I'm only on Saturday, but oh well for fun times at night. I'll just have to make the most out of the days, but I think I have some interesting plans on Friday. :)

That's all I can really think of right now. I need to break these mothers up, so they're not so long.

And...leaving you with another picture. Us and Foos=love.