t's y'all that commercialised Hallowe'en. We didn't even do trick-or-treating until fairly recently.

Are you somehow implying that trick or treating is a BAD thing? Because it was probably my favorite day all year, as a child!!

Okay. If you get the chance later, natch.

I'm already kind of planning a Thankgiving dinner too. Just because I will miss it too badly otherwise.

I'm home. Yay for standby on earlier flight!

I walked into my apartment, though, and thought, "WHO RANDSACKED THE PLACE?!" And then I remembered.

That's how I left it.

Real life. Welcome back.

I am always dismayed when the House Elves fail to clean up when I am out of town.

Kinda wish they would empty, refill and run the dishwasher right now, actually.

I always get like that, too. Just, somehow, houses should be clean when you get home from vacation.

Ugh. I'm suddenly starving. I have no food, and no clean dishes. Do I go out and buy something, or trying to make something with the random stuff I've got here, or just ignore starvingness until breakfast?

Big ol' meara. The longest bit is about Joan of Arcadia, so if you haven't watched it, skip on down to the second quote.

Season 2 was a botch job. I think a lot of the problem was Judith, or at least, she's the part I objected to, the most.

Really? I was just looking over the recaps from Season 2, and remembering how much I actually kind of liked Judith. Even if I hadn't, she was gone so early in the season. Sure, I guess her shadow affected the rest of the season, but the season mostly sucked, I think, because of over-playing the Joan/Adam relationship to the point that it interfered, consistently, with the whole God thing, not to mention the family storylines. Which undercut the entire premise and point. When it became Yet Another Show About High School Angst, then it lost its power, I felt.

I mean, in my ideal world, Judith wouldn't have existed because the second season would have spent a lot longer dealing with Joan's doubts - maybe even have started during her recovery - but that was always a pipe dream. They needed to establish pretty quickly that yes, God really was talking to her, for the series to maintain its audience. I think the early episodes that included Judith - much like the early episodes of Buffy S7 - were all okay, and some of them were brilliant. I actually really liked the premier and Judith's last episode ranks among my favorite episodes of TV ever. I'm a sap.

Baby and Emmett pics (okay, not really a quote)

Adorably adorable!

"WANT BALLS WANT BALLS!" Joe looked at me and said, "That's your kid."

Tea. On. My. Keyboard.

I can't remember if I posted in here about my back injury last night, but if I did, here's the punchline: spent the last five hours in urgent care and at the pharmacy.

This is the TOTAL suck. I'm sorry. Hopefully all those cool medicines will make you feel better. And high.

All the stuff about Nora's friend (I'm really bad at actually quoting in these, but the topic break is nice)

Oh, Nora, I hope things improve for you and your friend.

I just found out my best friend has cancer.

(SA and friend)

Emmett should totally be Gir.

Wrod.

Everybody I missed that needed/wanted ma for one reason or another.

~MA

Everybody I missed that said something funny

Ha!

When I lived alone the house elves would go in and clean up while I was gone (in the form of my mother). I used to pretend to be mad at her for doing it, but it was nice to come home to a perfectly clean apartment. Now that I live with Dave, she wouldn't dream of doing that, which is good, I suppose.

Welcome home, vw!

{{{Maria}}}

ION, I have survived 8 online labs and I only have two more to finish before this class is over next week. Woo Hoo!

At 23, with a grand total of 3 serious relationships under my belt, I should still be a little wary of judging my own reactions too early, right?

Maybe this will be easier to answer if I give some context.

I'm dating this girl. Pretty seriously, I guess. I just spent most of a three-day weekend with her (three days because NYC Board of Ed gives Jewish holidays off, which rocks).

I like her. A lot. She's adorable, and funny. We talk easily and about a lot of different things. She uses fantastic adjectives. She kicked my ass in a strategy game, and she loves and appreciates art - performing and visual. She makes great pancakes. We're sexually compatible. And she liked the pilot of Veronica Mars. Pretty much everything I can name about her is good. In fact, I can't name anything bad about her, off the top of my head - she's great.

But I'm not smitten. Not yet.

Now, maybe that's normal. Our first date, which was very exploratory, lasted an hour or so, and involved no physical contact, was less than a month ago. Barring special occasions like this weekend, we don't get to see each other all that often. So I haven't really had that much time to become smitten, maybe.

Still. Worried. By the time fluids were being exchanged with any regularity in my previous relationships, I was completely head over heels. Many of you may remember the giddiness of the early Gershwin Girl days. I don't feel that here. In some ways, I think the slow building of this relationship is a lot healthier than the instant burning fire I've had before, but at the same time, I'm worried that I'm stuck at candle-flame level this time.

How can I tell? Can I? I mean, I know I should keep going with this - even if I'm not smitten, yet, I have no reason to think it won't happen, other than the fact that it's been faster than this in the past. But none of those relationships made it past 8 months, so I shouldn't be using those as a judgement basis anyway, right?

Mostly, I just really don't want to let it go so far that she's completely in love with me and I'm not headed there. Because I know me, and I will wait too long to break it off, and so I'll end up as the guy in the Barenaked Ladies song "Break Your Heart." Which sucks more than anything. The one time I played that role ranks among the worst parts of my life, and is certainly the low point of my romantic career.

Grr. Why can't I just think with my penis like most guys? You guys would hate me, but my life would be so much easier...

Mostly, I just really don't want to let it go so far that she's completely in love with me and I'm not headed there

Do you know you're not headed there, or is that conjecture at this point?

Do you know you're not headed there, or is that conjecture at this point?

That's just it - I don't know. I don't know how to tell if I'm heading there or not, because it's always been so fast for me to fall into serious twiterpatedness.

I don't like her any less today than I did last week, but I don't really like her any more either, despite spending about 30 hours with her this weekend. My emotions are at about the same place. Which is "I like this girl," but not "ZOMG heart pitter-patter I shall spend a lot of time grinning and dancing about and fantasizing about marriage and babies and making up poetic nicknames for the Buffistas!"

I think it's probably too early for me to assume I'll never get to that point, but... when do I know?