Alive!

I am alive! I have been buried by work (both work-work, and freelance work). But I live, and am still watching The Sarah Jane Adventures and Sarah Connor Chronicles and other television series without "Sarah" in the title. Some of them about serial killers, 6th century wizards, Madison Ave. ad men, and vampires, and such.

This week-end I am leaving for a week's holiday with friends in the UK. I've never actually been to London on my own before. I've been with family a handful of times, but never as an adult, and never with just my mates. It's thrilling and terrifying and thrilling, in that order.

So far, a week of outings have been planned, involving monsters, Crystal Palaces, lots of second-hand bookshops, seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of "Hamlet" in Stratford, meeting Lee Binding (of Glitter for Brains fame--or is that infamy?) face-to-face at long last, and a lot of visiting with folks I normally only get to see in Los Angeles in February.

No, I haven't packed yet. Other than a giant bag of Hallowe'en for my cousin Rhona's wee girls, including sparkly witch hats and magic wands, Scary Godmother and Magic Trixie, and candy corn.

(Yes, I am taking candy corn from the Americas to London. Clearly, I'm insane. But you all knew that.)

In other news, Autumn has finally arrived in Chicago and it has been stunningly beautiful. I've been trying to get as many long walks in as my schedule allows, and I've missed walking like mad. The ankle I injured this summer is holding up, though after 2 or 3 miles, I'm having trouble. But I'm hoping it's just going to take time. Or else there are a lot of medium-sized walks in my immediate future.