Graham crackers for breakfast

Because I can’t bring myself to walk all the way across campus to the cafeteria for pancakes or French toast. It’s one of those mornings. So glad it’s Friday, though. And the first day of fall is tomorrow :) I’m so ready for hot cocoa and fuzzy socks, comfort food, dreary days and blustery nights. I’m planning to have my crock pot and oven doing overtime as soon as it the temperature drops. It’s cooler than it has been but not cool enough to crank up the oven. Last night both my son and I had to leave our puppy for 3 hours, alone at home in his crate and he was so utterly distraught. His front paws were soaked up to the joints with his drool and his heart was pounding by the time I’d come home to let him out. And then, he was so worked up, that he ran all through the house and outside into the yard. I hate when he’s like this. It’s so hard leaving him and not being able to calm his fears. He’s such a sweet, obedient puppy, he doesn’t even bark at us. This weekend I’m going to try to train him to be alone in the house without us. I just don’t know if he’ll be able to stay inside without being in his kennel and not destroying the place. I’ve become so attached to him.

My neighbros are scallywags

They are absolutely despicable human beings who have the nerve to go to church faithfully every Sunday. Or maybe they’re getting dressed up and pretending to go, haha. They certainly need to. Repent, you bastards! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the dad had the nerve to try to wave at me. Don’t wave at me unless you’ve got my thousand dollars, you rat bastard. His elderly father sideswiped my parked 2012 car on the very first day of my vacation in July. How do I know? Because I hadn’t left the house all day – I was on vacation – and when I did finally go outside to leave, it was just after his father had left and his kids said “that looks like grandpa’s paint” on my car. We share a driveway with nothing in between us. Two days later my lousy neighbor went out and put an alarm on that tuna can of a Honda he rides around in, which aint nothing but guilt. 5 years I’ve lived next door to him and he’s just now deciding he needs an alarm on that raggedy ass piece of shit car with a million dents and scratches on the sun-scorched paint job? Really!?!? And last night I caught that sneaky asshole hiding in the dark crouched down between my car and his wifes mini van doing something. If it weren’t for Axl begging me to take him out into the front yard, and my neighbors young son saying “hey dad! Whatcha doin’?” all loud, I wouldn’t have even noticed him stooped down in the dark quietly shielding a big spotlot. So today I ordered a surveillance system from Costco. That’s right; I am putting cameras up around my house and if I see one funky act or even him loitering around my property suspiciously, my entire wrath will come down upon his square-assed head.

Another Halloween is approaching.  This holiday is always the most memorable to me because something dramatic happens around it almost every year.  The last two Halloweens, my ex tried to reconcile.  The first time I wasn’t feeling it.  The second time I gave it a shot and we failed miserably. This year, there’s no chance in hell either of us will even be speaking to one another, let alone trying to reconcile.  But I still love this holiday so I’m not going to let the past ruin it for me.  I’m not dressing up this year, unless I manage to find a party to attend. But I do hope to hand out candy for once.  When I first bought my house in ’08, I was so excited about the prospect of giving out candy.  I bought tons of it, too.  Only to discover that folks these days suck at Halloween and all the kids stick to one street simply because their parents are too lazy and paranoid to do it the right way.  As you may have guessed, it’s not my street that they venture to, it’s Orange Grove Blvd.  Droves of parents drive and park, drive and park, all up and down that street while their children knock on 10 to 20 doors begging for candy.  And then they go home and that’s that.  So if I want to give out candy I’m going to have to go to someone else’s house this year.  But Halloween lands on a Wednesday, so more than likely I’ll just be home chilling with my dog.  Or shit, maybe I’ll take him out for a walk so he can get excited and try to clobber all the children we encounter.  He’s an extremely excitable dog. On his profile at doggy day care it states “Axl is a goofy puppy and should be placed in a group with similar puppies and older dogs that can gently correct him, but not overly-correct him.”  I took him there today and he was on level ten with his excitement. Poor pooch could barely control himself.  He really likes being around his own kind. 

If I Had A Boyfriend Right Now...

...we'd be making plans to go to this tomorrow - A Taste of Old Pasadena! Enjoy a walking sampling tour of the best Old Pasadena restaurants in one evening! Over 30 restaurants are participating, this is going to be so fun! More info here: http://www.oldpasadena.org/gc_calendar_detail.asp?cal_id=2148 Then after that, we'd go check out a movie with drinks at Goldclass Cinemas. Or maybe just back to my house to sleep. For the fall, and the first rain/snow, we'd have reservations to stay in a cabin up near Mt Baldy. We'd pick up groceries and movies on the way up so we wouldnt need to leave the cabin for anything except to maybe watch a sunset or the stars at night. Or maybe we'd be making plans to go to the lake for some fishing and canoodling, and what-not. If I had a boyfriend right now, we'd be catching each other up on Dexter and all of our other weekly shows. I'd get to try all these new tricks I've been practicing in my head on imaginary Dhani Jones and imaginary Michael Ealy. I've gotten pretty good at them. Who knows how much longer I'll have to use them. I damn sure aint getting any younger. My boyfriend would like my dog and wouldnt mind chilling with him when I need to take The Boy somewhere that I cant lug the dog. And because he cares about me, he'd be willing to go to Disneyland for Mickey's Annual Halloween Haunt with me. If not there, then a hayride or something. Hey, at least I wouldn't ask him to dress up...this year :) I love this time of year when the weather dips and the days are shorter. The only thing I miss is having someone to snuggle up indoors with.

It's been a while

I haven’t really been in the mood to write about my life or anything, really.  A lot has happened, of course. I’m still living J  Went to a cool concert at the Hollywood Bowl to see Jeffrey Osborne, Freddie Jackson, Mindi Abair, Euge Groove, etc., The Boy graduated (did I post about that? I don’t recall), and I got a new fence…um, that’s all I can think of that’s noteworthy to me.  Oh, and a friend of mines got married and other one got engaged.  Other than that, I’ve just been piddling around, a hermit for the most part. I haven’t wanted to get out and do anything. Or, nothing I’ve been invited to do has appealed to me, and now it’s beginning to weigh on me.  I need to get out and meet some people.  I’m starting to miss black folks, lol.  I realized this a few weeks ago when I took The Boy to get a haircut in north Pasadena up near Altadena.  I went to drop him off but I wanted to ask the new barbers how much they would charge, so I parked the car and went inside with him and his friend Kai.  The looks I got from those men were blush-worthy.  Boy had I missed that.  I had been feeling so old and undesirable. And all it took was a pair of yoga pants, flip flops and a tank top, and a drive to the other side of town to remind me that I still got it.  Then, the other day while I was on the phone with my mom, my cousin stopped by her house to bring her a plate of fried fish and oysters, which also made me miss “home.” I could practically smell that delicious fish through the telephone.  Black men and fried fish is what I need in my life right now. Ha. I’m thinking about putting the dog in the car, driving up the hill to Altadena/north Pasadena, and getting out and walking him around a few blocks in my yoga pants, lol.