Ah, now I see why they call it 'fall'

: 'Bright Lights' by Matchbox 20
: Surprisingly chipper

So, the big ball of flame has gone down and so is the temp. I don't think it was much above 60 today, which is a little unusual for us. I know, you're saying, well, what do you expect--it's autumn, right? The leaves have begun to turn (there's a lovely orange ash outside, a few feet from another that's still quite green, due to the courtyard's microclimate. But autumn doesn't usually come quite so quickly to Kentucky. It's been downright nippy. I can't remember when I last had the heat on before Halloween. Some years are like that...we seem to skip spring or fall and head right to the extremes. Still, we'll probably have an Indian summer sometime in late October or early November, so I can't complain. So, we say goodbye to our pool, which they drained and covered this week, and to our growing season. On the other side of the coin, though, I can lay down on my carpet and not a flea nips. Yay for diatomaceous earth and autumn!

It was a surprisingly good day.

1. Maintenance came to change out our furnace filter, and the guy came before I left for work, so Cerys and the cats didn't have to be relegated to the bedroom for their protection. I know the guys try to look out for pets, but I'm still afraid they'll wander out. This was a new guy, so he saw the paintings in my house. I suppose it's a crime that I take living with really cool art (no, I didn't do it, I'm merely 'storing' it) all over my walls for granted--I shouldn't. It's just been a part of my environment for so long. I love living in a place where a) there are no rats in the walls--been there, done that, and b) they actually come and do maintenance on a regular basis so you're less likely to have something awful happen. This may be the first place I've lived in for years that has both a furnace (as opposed to the experiment in gas space heaters, what I like to call boxes of flame) and filters. :)
   
2. My apartment manager graciously let me finish paying for September's rent tomorrow, rather than the original deadline of 1 pm today. I get paid tonight, so this is very, very good. With the unemployment not kicking in until so late I got really behind in September...but October is looking better. Last night I was a little forlorn and thinking my whole paycheque would go to the fairly small amount I owe...then I remembered that that's what I make a week now, so it'll be double. Yay! Groceries! And a bill or two! And part of this month's rent, with more coming in next week! So, I'll still run late in October, but not more than a couple of weeks, at least. Hopefully I can get back on track in November. (And at least they still want me to sign a lease.)
   
3. I got word from KET that I'm being recommended for the part-time position and my official application is winging its way to the acting director for approval. Yipee!
   
4. Another librarian asked for permission to quote me in her newsletter.
   
5. The library advisory board should be meeting this week to discuss adding a couple of new members, including me.
   
6. I got pressies. I got a free phone as part of a promotion and a Harry Potter cookie jar from a co-worker. (Hey, it's the little things in life.
   
7. I get paid tonight.
   

So...things kind of perked up. On the downside, I was busted at work for hoarding forks. Okay, I didn't mean to. I just don't always remember to bring them back to the cafeteria. But I don't leave them out, cluttering things, either. I put them in my drawer. Which means I don't see them, and therefore don't remember to take them back. See how that works? The vicious cycle of forks. There's a lady in housekeeping who stops in every morning, usually before I get there, and she quietly takes any glass I may have left back on her cart. Today she came in and it went like this:

Mari: Okay, hand it over.
Me: What?
Mari: Your dishes. I haven't come in today, so I know there must be one. What's that over there?
(Points to my glass from this morning)
Mari: Hand it here.
(I lift the glass, look at her sheepishly, then open my desk drawer. Inside are about eight forks. I put them in the glass and hand them to her.)
Mari: Elisabeth! (Most people at work use the full form of my first name...long story.) No wonder they keep running out of dishes.
(I mumble excuses about meaning to take them back, and hey, I actually ate my doughnut this morning with my hands because I didn't want to take any more forks. I put my head down on my desk.)
Mari: I'm telling. Don't you dare take your head off that desk for several minutes, even to come up for air!
(She starts to leave. My head comes up. She sees it in the mirror ball...) Keep your head down!

I call Dwana and explain that I was SO busted. At lunch the dietary staff tease me. Mari told the whole kitchen. Ah, I have been reduced. I am...a fork thief.

Sigh. Yes, I should get a life. I don't know what's worse, that this sort of thing happens and is amusing, or that I'm sitting home blogging about it. I really need to do laundry and I'm home tonight, but I really don't want to do laundry...sigh. I don't know why I'm so tired. Maybe worrying about the rent...and the weather. I do have a black dress I can wear tomorrow...and Friday is jeans day. Maybe I'll go that route and do laundry Saturday. I don't really want to lug stuff down to the laundry room very late. With my luck I'd twist an ankle (or worse) and ruin what's been a good day. Well, I didn't take much arm-twisting to convince myself. Instead I think I'll spend some time with the animals and maybe...gasp...read. I've managed to read on chapter of one book in the last month. That. Is. So. Sad. One of the comments I tend to get is, 'oh, you're a librarian? It must be so wonderful to sit around and read all the time.' Ha! No...I work, during work. Now that I'm down to 20 hours, I'm squeezing more work into less time. Granted, I probably spend too much time on the computer these days. I did think about watching 'Angel'. I'm intrigued by the fact that Spike has moved to that series after supposedly sacrificing himself on 'Buffy'. But I didn't keep up with 'Angel' after they killed off my favourite character, Doyle, after like nine episodes, so I'd be hopelessly lost without watching some of the series. (In their defence, apparently it was supposed to be a short run for the half-briar daemon...but unfortunately the actor himself, Glenn Quinn, died almost three years later.) A shame, that.

In terms of keeping up with the story, fortunately there's syndication and DVDs. I have to admit, I've fallen into the pattern of occasionally watching things that happen to be on TV rather than following particular series. In today's world, most of it will eventually be watchable later, after all. It is nice to finally have a WB station here in Lexington. For a long time we couldn't get it at all. The only people who got to watch 'Buffy' during her high school days around here either had a satellite or knew someone who did who didn't mind making tapes for them. Then the local UPN station would show WB shows, but at odd times, so you'd never know how they were shuffling them, it was never the same as, say, the website, they didn't show previews, and 62, the UPN station doesn't have a very strong signal, so they were always very dark compared to the same shows when shown on other stations. Now our cable system has picked up the WB station out of Louisville, because 62 dropped the shows. Since one of the few shows I do follow is 'Charmed', that's good--I can finally see them on Sunday nights. I keep forgetting to tape 'MI5', even though it's a great show. I've been mostly watching mysteries and cartoons lately. How odd. And I finally did see half of The Breakfast Club. I must say, in high school I was somewhere between the Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy characters, although, like them, I could connect with something in each of them. I don't remember actually grunting rather than talking in high school, at least. I generally sat against a concrete wall reading until my legs went to sleep all the way up to my waist. I was a quiet geek; not the type to play jokes or bring a gun to class, etc. Instead, I had fish guts put in my locker, gum in my hair (I wish I'd known about peanut butter for that back then!), and Jeff Gregory calling me 'Orez'--Zero backwards. Sigh. I'm so glad I'm not in high school and never have to repeat it. I wonder if I can get a bypass adolescence card for the next go-around?

Nifty language geek trivia for the day: The plural of talisman can be talismani or talismans, although talismen seems to be used in some traditional occult circles, although that use was not supported by the OED.

Well, that's enough for now. Happy October.