Hope you all had a formidable Halloween party and your costumes will be in your friends' memories forever (at least till the next theme-party!) And here's a Post-Halloween scare:

The final settlement took way more time than you can possibly imagine. Arrangements, appliances, tons of stuff crammed into the space of its final destination. I am really done for now and there are even two glasses from the thrift shop to celebrate the official settlement. But god saves me from any housewarming party and all those "concerned" who never cared about a simple e-mail or a phone call.
Anyway, it's a pretty interesting location; a mixture of Mexicans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indians, and Koreans. Their cuisine and manners can be nice and interesting one day and shocking on the other.  Plus there is a unique DC breed of selfishness and self-importance (oh, FL, I miss you). I am sure they are nice and cordial individuals when taken separately, but all together... they are something you have to face every day with no way to avoid. Except that there is always a choice to move to a different area, but... I am already kind of settled here. And I will have to decode this new place.

All I know is that my spirits are shattered! Another friend proved to be nothing but a manipulative meaningless bitch.
To put myself together needed:
- a cup of tea in a special "don't let the bastards wear you down" cup
- two toasted muffins with butter (slightly melted)
- one peach
- public comfort
- general approval
- shower
- Bond? James Bond?
- disclosure that leads to public execution of that human vermin - Chicago style.

...

After James Bond and another cup of tea in a different cup here is what I think - let it all go by. We do not need this crap in our life.
Mood changed.
Page turned.
And I am going for a walk.

Here is another creepy crawler. Locust – a monstrous yellow-red grass-hopper, once imported from far-far away. I spotted it at the kitchen window, and while I took my camera and rushed outside the insect didn’t move an inch. It seemed to me as if I had all the time in the world to take this picture. THe locust wasn’t in a hurry at all. A perfect model, it was calmly posing in the afternoon sun. As I turned away to cast a look at the kitchen window I realized why the insect was so calm. It was just waiting for its turn. I was in a locust bed-room. And the bed was my ivy-covered kitchen-window. Two huge insects were sharing pleasure without paying attention to anything around. I guess my camera would be the last thing to distract them from their bed sport.

PS: Those happy creatures enjoyed each other for more than three hours before their ball of clutched legs bumped heavily from the ivy and disappeared in the grass.

Michael Jackson has died at age 50 after being rushed to UCLA Medical Center, NBC News has confirmed.

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told the L.A. Times that Jackson was not breathing when paramedics arrived at his home and CPR was performed.

TMZ.com reported that he may have suffered cardiac arrest.

As soon as I wanted to open the door my eye caught a strange movement right at the threshold. An old piece of gauze was moving in a jerky way. After a closer examination I discovered a huge beetle tangled in an old fabric. In wild life my chance to meet such a spices would be minimal. To find it right at my door was a miracle. The beetle was transferred into a glass and I attended the Mouse who wouldn’t stand any other miracles but himself.

After an hour or so I took a camera and went outside. I chose the brightest background to show the beetle’s beautiful armor and three sharp hooked horns. My camera was out of power so I had to borrow a wallet-size picture-taker that I didn’t trust t all. The light was beautiful, the background was right, but the beetle was surprisingly still as if it was petrified in its own shell. After the first hundred shots were taken, I left my model outside and went to check on Mouse. Dinner followed. The beetle was sitting motionless on the very spot I left it. The sun went down. When I looked out of the window one more time I found the beetle on its side, the tiny perfection of its legs still. It looked dead. It was dead. Had I been taking pictures while the beetle was saying its last goodbye to the sun? Did I capture the last rays of light on its armor? Still it was a beautiful beetle to be thrown away. Carefully, I put it into a paper towel and transferred it to the garage.

The Mouse was set for the night. The dinner table was set and cleaned when again I looked into the garage. The beetle was on its side the very way I left it.

I couldn’t take my eyes from it. It was dead but… it was so massive and threatening. It was a fighting beetle. I put the sheet with the beetle next to my computer when I heard something that resembled a sigh. And it was coming directly from the beetle. It was alive after all! I checked it carefully and noticed its legs it moving slightly. I was right after all – its stillness hadn’t deceived me.

I took the beetle outside and raised it high to see the three horns one last time against the moon. It was perfect. A real war beetle. Slowly I put it down on the very spot I found it and immediately it was gulped by the darkness.