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Dear Lord, October is already over. How did this happen? Where have I been for the past 31 days? October is my favorite month, that must be why it always goes by so quickly. Now there's only a month until Thanksgiving, and less than two until Christmas. Aren't you lucky to have me here to clarify these things for you?

We spent the day (and what a huge waste of a day,) getting ready for tomorrow's mass. We have to make a banner to hang at the altar. I, of course, have no idea how to do this, being neither Catholic nor particularly artistic. I think it turned out alright. I suppose I'll take a picture tomorrow to show you.

I'm certainly doing this mass in the most cursory fashion, but I justify it by saying that I don't want to do anything too complicated for fear of making a mistake. That's sort of the truth, anyway.

We shall see what crazed, sugared, sleep-deprived children walk in my door tomorrow morning. What a weird week.

Please be careful tonight!

I was kicking across the pool with my kickboard and zoomers (sort of cropped fins, they're neat,) when I saw him come out of the locker room. "Oooh, white Speedos are a bad idea," I thought. He put his towel and bag down and I could swear I saw a fly (not the insect, either) on the front of his swimsuit.

Yep, he was wearing tightie whities! He swam about 5 laps, thrashing like crazy, and then got out. I wasn't sure that I had really seen that until I got to the locker room– all of the other women were laughing about it. Look for that one in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition next year.

Other people who grace us with their presence at the pool:
-Machismo orange suit man, who sprints across the pool, then pants at the side for 5 minutes. He tries to race with me. I laugh at him and pass him without looking like I'm trying.
-Too much equipment man, who brings two sets of fins, a kickboard, a mask and snorkle, hand paddles, and this bizarre aqua jogging suit. He spends his entire workout adjusting his equipment.
-Makeup lady, who wears lipstick and eyeliner and swims with her head out of the water.
-Webbed hand lady, who wears these funny gloves with webbed fingers. She also wears socks. I get the webbed gloves. The socks, not so much.
-The guy with one leg. He uses a fin and swims faster than I do. Whatever.
-Tidal wave man. If you time it right you can surf off of him. If you time it wrong the tsunami will knock you over.
-Mermaid lady. She doesn't swim so much as dive under water and float around on her back. It makes her happy, though.

That's it, kids. I'm getting ready for Friday's mass, which I have to plan. My training as a fomer protestant has not prepared me for this. It's a little scary because I can screw it up without even knowing I've made a mistake. I hope people don't expect too much of me.

Will you remember October 29th in a year? Two years? Does it matter? Sometimes I wish that I could remember everything that happens to me. Sometimes I can't wait for memory to soften my perceptions into something more manageable. Memory has never felt like something I could control. And so I write to remember and also to forget.

Today was lovely. Unexpected. Worth writing down and remembering. I think I'll keep it for my own, though.

Today went so smoothly it was a little eerie. I guess I should stop waiting for bad things to happen and just go with the flow, shouldn't I? Anyway, nothing interesting to report. My class is just so…docile…this year. I guess it probably helps that two of my most persistant attention-getters were absent today.

The only small problem today was with C. I'm not sure what's going on with him. He had a bunch of missing work last week, and would have "forgotten" to give mom the late work notice if I hadn't asked him to get it out of his backpack and give it to her Friday afternoon. He's a sneaky one. Today he forgot his backpack. Astounding. He was marginally out of control all day. Time for a conference, I guess.

So help me God I am not going to open the Halloween candy until Halloween or I will eat it all. Why is it so expensive? There were bags (big ones, but still) for $10. Holy crap.

I found this survey at Intermission. It was hard to answer, but interesting.

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