Mold spores and tree pollens are both HIGH in mid-November.
Today feels almost as bad as Sacramento. Although on an emotional level, the positive vibes are still there, so it's only physical suffering. I'm puffy faced, breathy voiced, and vertigoish, though.

On the plus side, Economic Stimulus job fair tomorrow. Wish me a favorable breeze or something for it.

... when the human resources department at a university says, "We're just posting two new jobs, please apply." Allan got that as an email today, and I'll be applying for them too. It's CSU Monterey Bay, so if we get job/s there, we'll be moving to their staff housing.

Thanks, many thanks, to those of you who gave me input on my dilemma yesterday.

(That wasn't a typing issue, I'm paraphrasing NASA.)

Turned out they wouldn't have a ladder for us, but could get balcony access. While waiting for the maintenance guy, some nice people with a 2nd story apartment let us go ahead and use their balcony rater than keep kitty waiting. We coaxed her half into a box with food in it, then Allan gave her hindquarters a bit of a shove and we lowered her gently, then I scooped her into my arms and we carried her to our apartment, letting the office people know she was down and safe. We fed her inside our apartment, then she wanted to go out. She didn't seem as traumatized by her adventure as *we* felt.

Allan managed to throw some kibble up to her, which she scarfed eagerly. She should be safe up there overnight, and we'll be able to use the maintenance ladder tomorrow. I found the perfect bag to carry her in, and we figure we'll take her into our apartment so she can eat, drink, and nap away the stress in safety.

The good: we were pretty sure a raccoon has been nibbling on the cat food we put out, and tonight we cu. It seems less afraid of people than a feral cat, and calmly pulled pieces of kibble from the dish to feed on while I watched from a distance and some neighbor stood about 8 feet from it, talking on a cell phone. I figure cat food is probably healthier for a raccoon than most things they eat, and I noticed he didn't gorge, so he's still having a varied omnivore diet, just enjoying the protein fix.

The bad: the cat that we put the food out for is stuck on a rooftop. She didn't let the maintenance guys get her down, but she loves Allan and me, so we plan to ask the office to let us try. If they can supply a ladder, we'll sign whatever liability waivers we need to. We both think using a bag with a zipper to bring her down in will be safer than trying to climb with an armful of cat.

I got in a job application this morning and found a few other things to look into. Mostly it's part time stuff on offer right now. I've also made a bracelet, an anklet, and a necklace. Best of all, I finished an art piece of an aspen dryad.
I wanted to do some driving practice today. I haven't done much because by the time a parking lot is clear for driving, Allan often has been hit by asthma and vertigo. He was doing all right, so we went out and... before the parking lot cleared, *I* was hit by asthma and vertigo. I really need my license, because about 60% of the jobs I'm looking at demand one, and employers kind of discriminate against non-drivers even when it isn't necessary-- i.e. the bus lines here are TERRIFIC, but they aren't thinking of that when they ask if you have reliable transportation. They want a car, and they want you driving. I even had to pass up applying for a job on the street where I live because they required a driver's license, and I didn't see any duties I would need it for listed.

Oh, wow, that turned out to be a rant.

I guess that's why I'm not posting on LJ as much as I used to. I worry it will turn into something negative, when I was so hoping my life would be, well, fixed by now. I figure people are as sick of hearing about my troubles as I am of having them.

I had a dream the other night where I was driving, though, and for the first time ever, I didn't feel incompetent behind the wheel. Otoh, in the dream I was looking for a hospital because a friend's child had been bitten by a rattlesnake when I took him out for a walk in the hills (Tracy, I will never leave H unattended in rattlesnake country, I promise!) When we got there, after a few mishaps, I took out my cellphone to call her and find out his insurance information. And it wasn't until I woke up I realized I should have called 911.
So, the driving I could manage, but I basically sucked at life in the dream.

Most people will be getting ecards from me for the holidays. I know paper is more fun, but for the price of 2 stamps, I can buy my shampoo for the month. We're just that bad off.

Allan has been downloading for us, not only Dancing With the Stars (US), but Dancing With the Stars (Australia) and Strictly Come Dancing (UK).

I really like the Australian people. I don't think they are half as scripted as the others; contestants are okay with saying they are not going to win the competition, and the hosts seem to ad-lib more. The judges aren't very personable, though, and Helen in particular gets ugly when someone seems to buck authority, even a little. For instance, she chewed out one contestant who, having trouble with a solo, told her trainer in practice she wanted something that would "look pretty not awkward and uncomfortable". Her instructor *had* in fact, altered her solo more to her liking, and it was the best solo of the night. I noticed in particular, she was the only one to twirl into it instead of backing into it, which I had been saying a dance or two before would be a better way to enter a solo.

Len and Bruno are on both the UK and US judging panels, and the difference in Len is amazing. You see, Bruno and Carrie-Ann, the US judges, are soft on technique a lot of the time, and Len has to be the strict one. In England, there a judge named Craig who is mean and technique oriented, and Len is able to lighten up. He always says something nice, no matter how bad the routine, and his criticisms are very specific and constructive. Although I've noticed he's been getting better in America, too, about being constructive. I think he's learned from what irks him about Craig, in fact.

The UK version is the best for learning to dance by watching it. The American routines incorporate so many tricks, sometimes the proper footwork for the dance disappears. In England, they dance much more by the rules and we can watch a section and go, "Okay, I know how one of the runs for Quickstep goes, now," or "hey, we know how to do that move in foxtrot; in tango, you just finish it off with a slow close!"

One of my favorite things is when someone who hasn't tried dancing and don't know if they can, turns out to have a tremendous knack for it. There are naturals, and when they really get it, the joy that comes out is so fantastic. They may not win the trophies (all too often they don't), but they've discovered something wonderful and that's worth a lot more than a mirror ball.

Also: the judges should NEVER try to throw the competition. The moment the audience susses that either the judging is unfair, or a ringer is in the mix (no to professional dancers)-- the voting will swing widely away from the official favorite in rebellion. It doesn't matter where it takes place. People loathe a fix.

November Sale. The theme color is RED: autumn leaves, roaring fires, and red ornaments going up. 20% off any item with "red" in the title or tags. For all discounts, use the contact button in the sidebar and I will edit the discount in for you.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade krummenacker.etsy.com

After a really rough asthma week, we had a good day, just in time.

We walked around downtown for almost and hour and a half. They close down Pacific Avenue to traffic so everyone can walk around to see and be seen. It's a sort of unofficial costume parade, and the positive energy is so strong I didn't mind the crowdedness at all. So many amazing costumes and I took some pics to get the general idea for y'all, once I get new batteries into the camera and download it.

I was thinking vampire for myself, but after I put a clingy black dress over a spiderweb shirt, I realized I just needed a red hourglass to be a sex-ah black widow, so I pinned a scarf to my middle and went for it. One guy said he'd like to be bitten by me, so that did my ego good.

Some of the businesses giving out candy didn't care about age, so I got a mini Milky Way and a bubblegum. A town where you're never too old to trick or treat simply ROCKS.

Oh, and I have to photograph the house on the next street. There's a guy who owns the company that's refurbishing the Haunted Castle at the Boardwalk, so he took a bunch of the figures that they had to pull during the reconstruction and put them on his porch. Plus, they have some awesome pumpkins.

I had some energy left, so we did some ballroom practice. "Abracadabra", "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" (from the Lost Boys), and "The Night" by Heart. If Allan's knee hadn't twinged, I might have gotten in "Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran, too.

Now we're winding down for the evening, but I have to say this has been one of the coolest Halloweens I've had in a long time, and next year hopefully will be even better.

eta: We decided to unwind in the hot tub. I put on my purple tankini and purple witch's hat-- being in the hot tub is no reason I can't be in costume. :)
I did get photos of the cool haunted house, but my batteries died again, so expect pics tomorrow.

$20 million to Elaine Gregory. She has a generous nature, and a large circle of friends who could use help, and a great love of cats. Given the resources, she could do a lot of good and have her own financial worries eased.

Blue Suede Shoes.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33447284

Pyrex was NOT bought out by a Chinese company. However, they did change from borosilicate glass to tempered lime-soda glass. Thank you, brother unit, for the Snopes link. It's a bit of a pity when the newspaper runs information without a fact check.

Allan's been finding Dancing With the Stars, as well as the British and Australian versions, available on the Internet. So we've been catching up on that. I wish Gilles had won last season-- how fabulous was he?! The British version is more strict to ballroom competition standards, so we find we learn more. Also, in England, Len is the NICE judge. They have another one, Craig, who is the snarky one.

Mom & Dad are visiting. We went to see the butterflies in Natural Bridges State Park, and I got a great idea for a large canvas painting. See, when the sun shines through their wings, the underside of the wing is as bright as the top, so I want to paint looking up at them as they fly between the trees against the stunningly blue sky. The colors are just unbelievable. It is like a fairyland.
The park is also doing an art competition for their butterfly festival. I'm going to enter!

I suggested Mom visit Lenz, the art supply place here she hadn't been to before. It's an odd building. My dad called it a TARDIS: one of those places that looks small outside butt here's so many rooms you can't imagine how it fits in the little thing you saw. I bought some extra Deco Peach pencils. Prismacolor discontinued, it, and it is my favorite color for pale skin.

There's a place here called the Tannery; it's an official artist colony made in an old industrial site, remodeled into apartments with studio use in mind. It's also subsidized so that the rents are affordable, and only open to artists. As you can imagine, they are full up right now, but we will look into getting on a wait list and hopefully maybe get to be part of something really exciting and get a boost to our creative efforts.

But the thing is, at this stage it makes my allergy issues less bad, so as long as it's a cold and not flu, I don't really mind.

One of my friends has strep and another has swine flu. A cold looks pretty good by comparison.

I started actual writing on the comic script I want to try to sell to Marvel. Lots to be worked out, but I think I have a miniseries here, and if I can't sell it to them, I've already thought of a fall-back plan-- sending it to the author who created the whole Tomb of Dracula cast, the aptly named, Marv Wolfman, and ask him to revise it and resubmit it as a collaboration with his name at the top. I wrote to him once a few years ago to compliment him and ask about his current projects, and he wrote back, plus he's written some articles for writers, so I think he's approachable. Considering one of the major reasons for my project is I want to sort of rehab a character who was side-lined, I guess he'll either love or hate the idea (a non super-powered character would get powers.)

Painful rash.
And I almost re-injured the elbow I broke last year when I slipped getting out of my bath. Mold allergies cause weak legs through my asthma and vertigo issues, but I think it was the legs that made it dangerous.

The molds are usually not this bad around here this long. But the rain/heat combo we've had isn't normal. It feels like tropical rainforest, not northwest.

We wanted to go to the library, but parking downtown would have been a nightmare. One small street was blocked off for an outdoor party, where people in wild costumes were dancing to a samba beat. We decided to walk to the library instead, but it was closed by the time we got there, so I suggested we detour through the main downtown street before heading home. Oh, the window displays, the street musicians, and the weird clothes-- often it was hard to tell where Halloween weird ended and Santa Cruz weird began, but really, the love of weird here is why Halloween is such a joyous holiday here. Yesterday we saw a college age guy walking down the street in a Wizard hat, and Allan wondered if he was going to a costume party or just wanted a wizard hat. I said I thought maybe he was using Halloween as an excuse to wear the wizard hat he loves. :)
There's a house just around the corner where they dug the dirt in the front yard into ditches and mounds. thought at first they were going to lay in sprinkler pipes, but the next day, there were old shoes sticking up at the foot of each mound-- graveyard-scaping for the holiday!

I wish all of you, all over, could come visit Santa Cruz at least once in your lives. There's just this amazing vibe most of the time.

And the trees are either turning red with fall foliage or blossoming out with spring flowers. Seasons just don't seem to keep themselves separate here, but visit each other. :) Come spring, the ones with red now will drop their leaves at the very last minute before breaking forth in new young leaves.

This is life.

A Chinese company bought them out, and now, instead of using borosilicate glass, which is what made Pyrex legendarily heat resistant and damn near indestructible, they are using a cheap glass, I think it was called lime soda glass (like alkaline chemicals and sodium, not like a beverage), that is shoddy, has microscopic cracks, and eventually shatters under heat use.

I read about it in the newspaper today, and was surprisingly shocked to find that a name brand that had, for decades, a very specific meaning, had been entirely devalued.

In fact, I was angry. I suppose it might be because I don't give a rat's ass about most brand names, because most of the so-called quality difference doesn't exist or doesn't matter. But Pyrex made glass for chemistry labs, and for the kitchen, and you could presumably put your frickin' measuring cup over your bunsen burner and make cocoa in between experiments. Not that I ever would be in the position to do that, but I didn't have to worry if the glass was too close to the gas burners on my stove and that truly meant something.

It's possible to find good in what seem to be bad situations, like losing a job you didn't like can turn out to be a lucky break after all if you're inclined to make it work for you as incentive to find something that will make you happy. But that kind of creating your luck is NOT the same as the luck I had, for instance, in being born to sensible, caring parents; having a knack for learning; having a natural beauty; finding my soulmate so young I've never had to suffer the pangs of loneliness.

I'd be a callous idiot not to see those are pure chance, and that I'm a happier person for being blessed in those ways.