reading time: 6 minutes

from rosé to red

So the last twelve hours have been super fun. Last night, after a lovely bowl of phở from Ribs and Broth, I settled in to watch the latest episode of Drag Race Italia with a small purple wine glass of Snoop Dogg’s 19 Crimes Cali Rosé, who incidentally has wine collabs with Marth Stewart and both Frankenstein and Dracula. It’s a great wine that I’ve had before. However, within moments, the skin on my arms and face began to feel a little warm. But, being in the throes of perimenopausal, I ignored it. But then it became too noticeable to ignore, hotter and now itchy and burning. That’s when I discovered that my arms were covered in a red, blotchy rash. As was my face and my décolletage. I ended up in my bathroom in my sports bra, having ripped off my t-shirt, cold washcloths on my arms. This is the kind of reaction one normally finds in alcoholics whose addiction has caused problems with metabolizing the alcohol properly. But I’m not an alcoholic; I rarely drink. And I’d had less than a full glass, a small glass at that. So what the hell?

Turns out… perimenopause is to blame. Of course it is.

the heat from hell

Even before the above nonsense, I’d felt inexplicably warm, but no one else seemed to notice. I thought I was losing my mind. But, in the midst of my skin issues, we realized that although the AC was set for 72 degrees, the house was sitting at 78, and rising. My husband investigated and discovered that the motor on the unit outside seems to have burned out. We called the after-hours maintenance number, only to hear a message telling us it wasn’t emergency so bugger off. Okay, not exactly the message, but you get the point. He later called back and left a message anyway. We had little hope of repair, since HVAC stuff usually requires a specialist rather than the average maintenance guy. But a guy showed up at our front door this morning, looked at it, and said… nope, can’t do anything. He’s going to “try” to find someone, but we’ll probably be waiting until next week.

Keep in mind… we live in Hawai’i. We’re expecting a high of 83, and our house is in direct sun all day. Good times will be had.

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1) In this song, Andrew Gold sings that these skeletons send shivers down his spine. Do you often involuntarily shudder or shiver?

Not too often. My husband? A different story. And when he does it, it’s a full-body experience!

2) While they appear frightening, these skeletons are harmless and only want to socialize with us mortals. Can you think of something — or someone — that intimidated you at first but that you were more comfortable with as you became more familiar?

My CSM (Command Sergeant Major) when I was stationed here in Hawai’i back in a day. He was my battalion CSM. I worked in Command Group, so I worked directly for him, the Battalion Commander and the Battalian Executive Officer. He was old Army, very stoic. But then my ex-husband, who was in another unit, starting causing problems for me while I was on maternity leave from having our baby. I’d kicked him out after discovering his affair (one of them, anyway). I hadn’t spoken to him for almost a week, and somehow he’d forgotten I was still on leave and showed up at my office. My CO handled him, but he called me and asked me to come in. Not because I was in trouble, but the Command Group liked me and was concerned about me. I came in with my baby, but he’d been called away, leaving it to the CSM to talk to me. I was terrified, but he was lovely. He totally changed my perspective that day, making me realize I was strong and capable, and didn’t need my ex’s BS.

3) The video for this song was originally created in 1929. Skeleton Dance was a short movie produced and directed by Walt Disney himself. In 2006, Disney Studios paired Gold’s song with this animation for a Halloween DVD. Do you have any DVDs that you watch seasonally (every Halloween, every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, etc.)?

Not necessarily DVDs, but BluRays and streaming. I watch the Halloween movies religiously. My favorites. The holidays are for every trashy Hallmark movie, plus a roster of standards. I am who I am.

4) You may not realize it, but you likely already know one of Andrew Gold’s songs. He wrote “Thank You for Being a Friend,” the theme to TV’s Golden Girls. Blanche, Dorothy, Rose or Sophia: Which is your favorite?

Dorothy because Bea Arthur was a Marine in the Women’s Reserve in the 1940s, so military women for the win! But also Rose because, well, Betty White!

These questions will help us get into the Halloween spirit ….

5) Introduced in the 1880s, candy corn was originally called Chicken Feed. It was developed by a candy manufacturer who gave it the orange/white color and special name to differentiate it from jelly beans. Do you like candy corn (a) all year around or (b) at Halloween only or (c) never?

A big C to that one. Hell to the no. My husband loves the stuff, and I love him despite that nuttiness.

6) What candy will trick-or-treaters get when they show up at your front door?

A handful of KitKats, Snickers, Reeses, etc.

7) Halloween was a 1978 movie by John Carpenter about Michael Myers, who kills while wearing a ghostly mask. In the original movie, the mask used was a $2 Captain Kirk mask, painted white. Both Halloween and Star Trek are successful franchises of more than a dozen movies. Have you seen more of Michael Myers or Captain Kirk?

It’s probably pretty equal, maybe slightly skewed to Kirk. I grew up on Star Trek OG, watched the movies, I just caught up Discovery and have started Strange New World, and then it will be Picard. I never watched The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise. My husband will likely rectify that situation.

8) In 2022, a survey of California schoolchildren revealed that Buzz Lightyear was the top pick of Halloween costume. When you were little, did you prefer to dress up for Halloween as a hero, like Buzz, or a scary monster?

I was a girlie girl. Princess Leia, princesses, etc. You get the idea. I’m older than Buzz, so there’s that, too.

9) Some long-time White House employees claim they have seen Abraham Lincoln’s ghost wandering the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Have you ever seen a ghost?

Oh yeah, and experienced.

We have a friendly entity who lives here; several of us have experienced it, on the balcony overlooking the living room and in the open area by the stairs. In Virginia, we had… something. It was not so friendly. Probably the most active was in my Grandma Ruth’s house, and the ghost was clearly Grandma Ruth herself. She was an… interesting woman, my mom’s mom. My mom, my stepfather (a former Catholic priest), and I all dealt with her at different times. One night, my mom and stepfather were sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV by firelight and talking. All of a sudden, the sconces mounted to either side of the fireplace began flickering. Not a big deal; it’s an old house with probably old wiring. One problem… the wiring was being redone and those sconces were attached to a section that was entirely disconnected. THERE WERE NO WIRES LEADING TO THOSE SCONCES. So that was fun. A few years later, she and my stepfather were living in Maine, and my kids and I lived in the house while my husband was in Arizona for 6 months of Army training. One afternoon while I was in the kitchen, doors began opening and closing all over the house, multiple times. Two children were at home with me, but they were in the kitchen with me, sitting on the floor and playing. I called out, greeting my grandmother by name, and it stopped. From that point on, she made herself known regularly. That was… fun.

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three things… I’m grateful for

1. The New York Rangers stats so far… 5 wins, 2 losses, 0 overtime/shootout losses. Then there’s the San Jose Sharks at the bottom of the league, with a far worse set of stats… 0 wins, 7 losses, 1 overtime/shootout losses.
2. the on-post library for my reading habit
3. my DaftBoy oversized fan for keeping me cool today

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currently

1. reading:  
   • The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
   • Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey
   • Freaky Reapers by Amanda M. Lee
   • A Pumpkin and a Patch by Jennifer Peel
2. listening:  Bad Bad Thing: Jennair Gerardot, Season 1/Part 1
3. writing: nothing today
4. loving: my Luluroe dress for being cool and comfortable

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