McAnally's Pub

It is officially my birthday.

I don't feel any older or wiser. But, I don't suppose you ever really do.

It's also Halloween. That never changes either. Not sure how I was lucky enough to be born on All Hallow's Eve, but them's the breaks, right?

You'd think having a birthday on a holiday (even one that isn't recognized by the post office) would mean people don't forget your birthday, but it doesn't. There are those people who just don't remember things like that.

Then there are those who wish people would. This year, though, hasn't been too bad. Murphy got me something nice and Molly brought me things that should never be displayed in public anywhere I frequent. Things her parents would not approve of at all.

I'm not usually home on Halloween, so I don't usually buy candy for little goblins to come thieve, but this year's different. I'm home, I have candy and my dog is giving me looks that say he should get a piece or two before the end of the night. Maybe. Chocolate wasn't meant for pets. Just ask Mister. He walked over, sniffed the bowl, turned tail and stalked away back to his bookshelf.

I don't even know if there are kids in my neighborhood. Guess I'll find out tonight, huh?

Rosa has spent just enough winters in Chicago to understand that she needs to have thick clothing for the rapidly approaching cold. This is the reason that she is sitting on a bench in the park and knitting.

To her credit, it is a) still light out and b) underneath a streetlamp anyway. See, sometimes she learns from her mistakes! Sometimes.

Right now she's working on a massive ink-blue blanket, the finished portion draped over her knees.

What should I read next, The Call of the Wild or The Gun Seller? Both have been sitting in my paperback stack for months. The stack's in no particular order. It's not even really a stack. More like a bunch of books tossed into a box. These two just happen to be the ones I plucked out when I reached in with both hands.

Decisions. Decisions.

Current Location: Harry's Office

It isn't that Rosa stops paying attention on purpose ... it's more that she does it without really noticing. At least it's still early in the evening when she steps into the park so there's nothing dangerous, but unless someone taps her or she runs into them, she's probably not going to notice them.

She's thinking -- about what she's going to do with her engagement ring and with her engagement in general, about how Harry is and how she should go to see him, about the papers that she has to touch up or finish off.

She hadn't spoken to Harry since she had dropped by on St. Patrick's day, and now it was the weekend...so naturally, Rosa found herself milling around the general neighbourhood that Harry's apartment was located in near what could be described as the very beginning of the evening.

Probably not the smartest thing to do, but she wasn't sure what she was doing there in the first place. Their last meeting had been awkward (to the point where she had gotten upset enough to take off her engagement ring and store it in the top drawer of her nightstand), so she wasn't eager to have another.

And yet ... she did want to. At least some things would become resolved if she did.

That said, please feel free to bother the poor girl sitting on the bench in the dark park. She probably needs the company.

Current Location: streets of Chicago

Business is slow.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't really mind that on some days. Today, I mind. Why today? Because in today's mail I received a polite note from my landlord about my rent. I'm a little late with the rent this month. Okay, a lot late. I can't help it that Mouse and Mister both needed annual check-ups and I needed a few repairs to the Beetle... all at the same time.

That little bit of change from the Council isn't as much as one might think.

I could try that savings account thing, but I don't know that it'd work out as well as everyone thinks.

Current Location: Harry's office