The last day of October. It sure went by fast this year. But at long last I have a nice, relaxing weekend. I have the day off from work tomorrow (it’s my ‘official’ one-year anniversary day). Yesterday went very well. For once I was able to hold some concentration after Andy left for work and I sat down and wrote 4 very good pages of the new piece. My only concern is that it ended up coming out a little too much like Hemingway. I’m reading “Islands In The Stream.” Still, it felt great to get it out. Then last night while Andy was at a cocktail gathering (which he admitted to me this morning turned out to be a little dull) I hung out with Jeremy and we shot the breeze and watched SNL. It was cool to see Emminem do his anti-Bush song. Then it was Sound Asleep.

In a little while zephsright will be over and we’ll order some pizza, have some wine and pumpkin pie and watch some scary movies. We rented “Island of the Lost Souls” and “Poltergeist.” No costume schenanigans for us this year. The last two years we tried to do something to that effect and it turned out lame. So this year we’re just gonna be couch potatoes. It’s been amusing if slightly envy-inducing to read everyone else’s accounts of whooping it up and bar hopping till 6 am.

October seems to be the last real moment of meditation each year. November and December always get so busy and filled up that it’s all but impossible to find any extended period of time for reflection. This is when I usually start to take stock of the year and see where things have gone. And this being an election year has made it easier to look at what’s happened and try to picture a new tomorrow. If Bush wins, it will be harder than ever for many of us to face the day with optimism; that isn’t right, and it’s sort of sily, we’ve all come so far and become so much more engaged in what’s going on, but it’s human nature to take disappointment personally. We’re going to the Neo-Futurarium Tuesday night for “The Election Show,” with bits of comedy and commentary to go along with the live media coverage and I’m really hoping it will make the tension easier to endure, easier to laugh away.