Halloween is one of the holidays I most enjoy. I don’t have trick or treaters where I live, but I used to at my previous apartment. I always enjoyed seeing the little kids in their costumes. As an adult, I’ve gone to my fair share of adult Halloween parties (and by that I do not mean it in an adult movie kind of way. I merely mean a Halloween party with all adults in attendance. I used to regularly visit a friend of mine who lived in Thibodaux, Louisiana, at Halloween. She always hosted a fun Halloween costume party. A few times we went out to bars in Thibodaux where everyone would be dressed in costumes. Thibodaux is a college town, so there were a lot of hot college guys, usually in sex costumes that were a lot of fun to watch. I haven’t been, nor am I going to any Halloween parties this year because I’ve had a lot of other stuff going on, and I did not want to have to find a costume. Still, I enjoy Halloween.

Halloween is an institution in the LGBTQ+ community and is occasionally referred to as “Gay Christmas.” Halloween has risen from its roots as a pagan fire festival about celebrating harvest and warding off spirits, to a day of celebrating everything spooky, transgressive, and fabulous. Halloween though plays a special role in the LGBTQ+ community not only because it can be a lot of fun, but also because LGBTQ+ people spend large parts of their lives hiding their true selves and presenting in a way that is at odds with their desires and identity. Halloween’s emphasis on dressing up as something you are typically not ends up being a powerful outlet to present ourselves in a way that expresses who you really are.

Each year, my friend Susan send me a Halloween card. This year she sent two. The Hello Kitty cards are always cute no matter what occasion they are for, but I think they are especially cute when they are Halloween cards. The other card she sent looks a lot like Isabella. Black cats get a bad reputation for being bad luck, though they are not seen as bad luck all over the world, but it’s a persisting superstition in the United States. One of the joys of having a black cat is that I have a natural decoration for Halloween, especially when she stands in the window and stares out at people.

I did not have a picture of Isabella in the same pose as the cat on the card, but the look in her eyes is similar to those of the cat on the card.

However you think of black cats, my Isabella is a beautiful, kind, and loving cat who brings me a lot of joy and is most certainly not bad luck.

I slept a tad bit later than usual this morning. I’d probably have slept later if Isabella wasn’t quite so persistent. Anyway, I have a big day today, but thankfully, I get to start it later than usual. I have an important speaker presenting a program at the museum today, and I am praying we have a good turnout. There have been so many issues with this particular event, I just want something to go right. Regardless, I need to have something nice to wear today, hence the picture above. I’m pretty sure I know what I want to wear, but because I will be up in front of everyone to introduce our guest, I need to try and look nice. I’ll then be entertaining the speaker this afternoon before returning him to the airport. It won’t be as long of a day as yesterday, which ended up being just over 12 hours, but it will probably end up being longer than usual. *Fingers Crossed* All of this goes well today.

My mother often woke us up by saying “Up and at ‘em.” Sometime, she’d be silly and say, “Up and at ‘em, Atom Ant,” although I used to think she said, “Up and Adam, Adam Ant,” which doesn’t really make sense, but I was a kid. Up and at ’em means there’s a lot of work to be done, and there certainly is this week. Today should be the calm before the storm, but Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be whirlwind days when I will be hosting a special guest to the museum. Usually, I look forward to these guests. I get to entertain them and take them to nice dinners, but usually it’s over a three-day period. This time, it’s all packed in two days. So, when I woke up this morning, All I could think was my mother saying, “Up and at ‘em.” Actually, it felt like that was what Isabella was telling me this morning when she started trying to wake me up at 4 am. I kept sleeping until after 5 am. She was not pleased with me, but she forgave me when I finally got up.

I guess Dolly Parton sang it more accurately:

Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin’
Out on the street, the traffic starts jumpin’
With folks like me on the job from nine to five

I actually work eight to four, but you get the picture. It’s a busy week ahead.

Today is a much needed work from home day. After having covid the week before, working in the office this week has drained all my energy. By the end of each day this week, I felt like I was a battery that lost its charge. Working from home allows me to be more relaxed, and if needed, I can lay down and possibly take a nap. I need a weekend of nothing to do and nowhere to go. I need to rest and recover. I will probably answer and send some emails today, but I plan to mostly read. I have a presentation to make on Monday, so I will finish up the PowerPoint for that. It will be a short 5-10 minute presentation on a class I will be teaching next semester.

Here’s hoping for a restful and relaxing weekend. Have a great weekend, everyone!

I came across this picture the other day, and it brought back wonderful memories from my time teaching in Alabama. Back then, I’d be so tired when I got home that I’d lay down for a nap. It had been a stressful and exhausting job. The cat I had before Isabella, Victoria, was always my cuddle companion for these naps. When I would lay down, she’d lay down with the upper half of her body on my chest, and we would take a nap together. 

There are two main differences from the picture above: Victoria was a gray tabby and I’d have been wearing a shirt because Victoria hated naked skin. I don’t know what her issue with naked skin was, but she would not cuddle if I wasn’t wearing a shirt. Otherwise, this picture is the exact way we’d have our after work routine.

Victoria would sit in an upstairs window watching for me to get home. She’d meet me at the top of the stairs where she could see through the window above the front door. She would either rush down the stairs as soon as I got inside or meow and beckon me upstairs. If I did not lay down for a nap fairly soon, she’d get very agitated. Like Isabella, she had her routines, and you’d better follow that routine.

I loved Victoria so much. I love Isabella just as much, but Isabella and I have a different relationship than I had with Victoria. Victoria was a cuddle buddy. Isabella usually just wants to be in the same room I’m in. Isabella will lay on my hip and on occasion stretch out from my abdomen to my chest facing towards me so I can pet her.