So there was a weekend.

And stuff happened. I had good intentions of writing it all down but then that never happened and it was Monday again and the end.

Don't come here looking for organized thoughts or deep insights, because there are none to be had. This is a straight-up brain dump, an unformatted download of the nonsense that's been on my mind for the past few days.

Last week Poetical, enchanted with the idea of being an OPI nailpolish namer, sent me a list of ten possible names for a monkey-themed line. Then she challenged me to come up with a pajama-themed set, a task I have spectacularly failed at. I came up with "Reading in Bed Red," "Pink Silk Nightie," spent three days trying to come up with something involving Teddy Bears, then fizzled. I bow before the unmatched greatness of "Poop-Flinging Purple," my dear. If I had prizes to give out, I'd give you one.

Considering he's been in Gary, Indiana the whole time, there's been an awful lot of Flip in my life recently. He drunk-dialed Sam and I on Thursday night, and, I have to say, nothing is quite as fun and odd as surfing his stream of consciousness. Friday night he called while This Guy and I were at dinner and I called him again late Saturday in an attempt to bail out of a conversation with This Guy. While I enjoy the joking around/best buds aspect of our relationship, some things are best left in Flip's court. "Who would win in a fight, Megas or a Gundam?" for example.

Speaking of Friday and This Guy, we went to the first opera of the season! It was Rigoletto, which is the first opera I ever saw and also the only one I've seen three times. At least. If you do the math, this means I've spent most of my post-college life with "La Donna e Mobile" stuck in my head. The MOT production was pretty good, but not the best I've seen. Gilda managed to avoid being screechy, which is nice and fairly rare for sopranos. On the other hand, most of the time you could hardly hear her (well, back in the cheap seats, anyway), so maybe she was screechy as all get-out and we just couldn't tell. I also feel the need to add here that before the opera, This Guy and I got our high-society on by having dinner at a local brewpub whereat we split an order of DEEP FRIED TWINKIES for dessert.

Yes, I said DEEP FRIED TWINKIES.

Saturday there was an anniversary/housewarming party at the Casa. Much fun and food were had by all. I love parties. I love getting people together and feeding them and listening to them laugh. I love it all so much, I even love the annoying preparation parts. When Falstaff, Commander Pop, and I were living in the House of Horrors, I'd come home on Fridays to find an whirlwind of housecleaning going on. Floor mopping! Dishes-doing! Dusting! It's been a while since I've had a chance to do that again. Technically, this was mom's party, but I threw myself into the preparation anyway. It's fun.

I like the post-party, too. That moment when the door closes and it's just you and maybe one or two other people, and you can kick your shoes off and collapse on the couch with a big sigh. "That was fun," someone says, and "Look at this mess," someone replies. You sit there for a few minutes and then get up with a groan and begin scavenging around with a trash bag. Some one does dishes, and some one dries, and you all pass around the gossip that you picked up throughout the night. I like that, it's quite in the way that can only come after a whole lot of noise.

Then there was Sunday, which was leftovers and pajamas and bad football and trick-or-treating with the kiddies.

And now it's Monday again. I'm trying to decide if I want to say anything about the election before tomorrow, but you can all probably guess what I have to say about it so maybe I don't even need to. On the one hand, I can't wait for this mess to be over. On the other had, I think we all know the mess is only beginning. Right of Center and I spun out worst-case scenarios over lunch yesterday and Dad and I decided to resign ourselves to the worst. No matter what, I'll bet you a dollar I'll be the rant-o-matic on Wednesday. Lucky you guys!