OC/DC: Name for an AC/DC cover band that only plays one song, over and over again.

Automatic car washes are good fun.

I can't believe I didn't decorate for Halloween. Just tooooo busy. But I have candy! Come take it!

• Monster Crochet
  (tags: @sm crafts halloween)

I saw a ghost today.

I have my mother's nose. Not as large, but as acute. I have a few dozen french jam pots filled with herbs and spices, and I cook by flipping the lids of several to see what will work with the dish. When someone passes my seat on the bus, I breathe them in. I know their most recent habits, and consider how their scent contrasts with their appearance.

I took the glass elevator down from the seventh floor of the parking structure. It stopped at six, admitting a woman my age. It stopped at four, admitting a young couple, a tan-raincoated man who expressed his individuality with his odd soul patch, and another young man wearing a rust-brown leather coat with light stitches, neatly faded jeans, and blue sneakers. I was jammed into a corner of the elevator, looking out the glass to my left. Sneakers was in front of me. Soul Patch was to my right. Sneakers was average in every way, dark hair neither long nor short, chin needing a shave a few hours past, attractive but unassuming. He had no scent. He smelled of nothing at all, not soap, not aftershave, not smoke, not lunch (though someone beyond him smelled faintly of ketchup). I thought it must be me. A slight turn of my head to the right instantly picked up the musty scent of Soul Patch's raincoat, telling me he'd grabbed it out of the back of the closet this morning, after long months tucked away. Still, nothing from Sneakers. Not even the leather of his coat. He stood only inches from me, I should have at least smelled the leather.

We all exited at the ground floor without incident. I didn't watch Sneakers to see where he went, but I suspect he faded quietly while no one was looking.

• OpenVein - Art - Comics - The Listeners
  A live-drawn, 24-hour, socially-distributed, replayable/digital Web Comic incorporating stroke capture as a means of embedding hidden meaning, notes, symbols, commentary, nonsense, and other such invisible ink into otherwise static narrative frames.
  (tags: comics art)

• Chat Noir - Flash game
  (tags: games)
• Cereal Killers
  Creepy cereal boxes--genius art.
  (tags: @sm art dark)
• What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople? | Ask MetaFilter
  *drool*
  (tags: learning spouse)

I took some time off from the computer, mostly. Still am, mostly. But I know there are folks watching for updates, so I thought I'd slide one in here.

What I've been up to:

Selling paperbacks online, which I am really enjoying. And yes, I will buy paperbacks off my friends, though I'm a stinky greedhead and will only give you .25 each. A girl's gotta eat.

Making jewelry. Those last few months were kinda hard at work, leaving me so disorganized I couldn't find my camera until recently, so the Halloween jewelry is a bust at this point. I will be making more creepy stuff that I will sell at Spooky Moon. So I am getting started on Christmas stuff. This is where all the crafters who started making Christmas stuff in March laugh at me. Nothing is up for sale yet--I have been massively busy on the book thing. It's harder work than it sounds like.

I've been writing a little, reading a lot, and playing some. I've been really healthy, which was the whole point of leaving the job, so that is gratifying.

Oh, and being a turd, I am pretty sure I forgot to thank my wonderful in-laws for the birthday presents! I especially loved Masters of Deception, which I slurped through in a couple of days.

I also want to thank all the work friends who have left comments and sent emails. You thoroughly rock, and I do miss you, and if you wanna have lunch, just say so. I'm downtown all the time still, as my mailbox, bank, etc., are there.

• YouTube - How to Cope With Death
  (tags: death humor)
• Five Differences, animated
  (tags: games)