I don't mind the rat race but I could do with a little more cheese.

(N.B. Being in the tech industry, I snicker when I see "Desolation of Smaug" shortened to "DOS" for fairly obvious, to me anyway, reasons.)

So anyway. Yesterday, the two girls behind the Happy Hobbit recorded their reaction to the film trailer and posted it to their YouTube and Facebook pages. Apparently PJ found and shared the video on his Facebook page and then recorded his main elven actors' reaction to the initial reaction video. Too adorable.

It's been mentioned elsenet, and I may have alluded here: Hubbyfink is going in for surgery on Tuesday morning to remove a golf ball-sized acoustic neuroma, which is a benign tumor behind his left inner ear. His balance has been deteriorating as well as his hearing and his audiologist prescribed an MRI a few weeks ago. When they found a mass, the office set up an appointment with a neurologist who confirmed our fears; although, we joked about it being an absorbed twin and they'd find hair and teeth in it.

We've been going with gallows humor during this time to keep the terror at bay.

At way too early o'clock on Tuesday morning, we'll head up to Holy Cross hospital in Maryland and he'll be under for eight hours or so while I try to distract myself with telecommuting (if the hospital has decent wifi... of course, Bossman isn't expecting me to do anything this week) or reading or wandering the hospital.

What does this have to do with Les Mis? carthew was horrified that I hadn't seen the musical movie version and scheduled a movie night for me, psalite and LJ-less Kim. I've never seen a stage production, but I did read the book in high school and have seen a couple of non-musical movie version, and I've had the original Broadway cast soundtrack. So, I'm familiar with the story and the music. Because I didn't lose it during "I Dreamed a Dream" nor Gavroche's death, I figured I'd get out of the movie with my shriveled, cold heart intact. Then came the penultimate scene and I wept like a newborn babe.

Movie weeping then set off actual weeping from the build up of stress and worry and everything else, and carthew held me and stroked my hair as I released keening wails and wracking sobs. I was able to unload and then go back to my normal wise-cracking self. At this point, Hubbyfink and I are back to being brave for each other but we do know and understand that the other is worried. He'll be okay, and in less than a week from now, he'll be back home and fending off his spot in the bed and on the sofa from Margiekitten and Oreomonster.

Nerdiness ahead.

Last night, in between watching Sunday's episode of "The Talking Dead" and part two of "Top Gear"'s new and improved adventures in Africa episode, we had the theatrical release version of "The Two Towers" on as background noise.

"I can't watch the non-extended edition of the movies," I complained to Hubbyfink as I swept the kitchen while he unloaded the dishwasher.

He gave me the side-eye and asked, with some trepidation, why not.

"Not enough Merry and Pippin," I replied. "They're the best part of all three movies."

He was aghast. "But what about Aragorn? And the Rohirrim?? And Helm's Deep???"

"Those are your favorite parts of the movies, and they're okay I guess. But in the theatrical release of 'Two Towers' it's just Rohirrim and then slogging through with Frodo and Sam," I lamented. "Right now in the book, the battle of Helm's Deep is over and Gandalf and the gang have arrived at Isengard where Merry and Pippin are filling them in on what they've been up to. I'm almost finished with that half of The Two Towers and then the Frodo and Sam part starts. Maybe it'll be more exciting in the book?" (N.B. I'm currently reading the trilogy for the first time.)

"Mmm, not so much," Hubbyfink replied. He then dropped his voice conspiratorially. "When I watch the movies by myself, I fast forward through the Frodo and Sam parts."

Me too, my darling. Me too.

Frankenstorm is on its way and the right side of my face hurts so badly that I only managed to cat nap with an ice pack on my face, two Tylenol PM, and four Advil. Good times. Other storm-related unhappiness is that I will dismantle and stow away the graveyard and ghosts lest they blow away and create hazards for other people. The one year that I decorate well in advance of Halloween... Ah well. The Halloween weather forecast has gone from dry and sunny to rainy and windy.

Poop.

Saw "Sinister" last night. I alternated between boredom and tension. At one point, I even pulled out my phone to check Fandango to see how long the movie was supposed to be. The jump scares were cheap, the characters were stupid, and the lighting was atrocious. I'm pretty sure that the lighting was supposed to be "atmospheric", but the darkness was annoying and distracting. I should have sneaked out of the auditorium and into "Paranormal Activity 4".

Happily, I am working a half day due to a mid-afternoon hair appointment and getting a jump start on my birthday weekend. Tomorrow is the big four-oh and I've got a lot of celebrating planned. Tonight, I'm heading over to carthew's house to play sous chef as she prepares my birthday cake. Tomorrow, I make the final tweaks to my costume for flonzy and azpapillion's Halloween/Birthday party. I may also jump on a bike and take a forty mile ride if my sinus stops hurting long enough for me to stop feeling like I'll pass out.

Oh, and Scott did get me the Lego Haunted House. It hasn't arrived yet, but he did order it. Yay!

If you thought the promos and hype for "Insidious" looked good, you were as fooled as I. Decent idea, poorly executed. PAINFUL dialogue. At several times, I thought about leaving the theatre because I was so bored. I should have waited to hear one of my horror podcasts review the movie first. Ah well.

Today I am dressed like a cherry blossom: pink/white/purple/black top, pinky-purple cardigan, and light grey slacks. I am also sporting pink lips, pink cheeks, and white & purple eyes. I don't like matching my makeup to my clothes, but browns and neutrals seemed so blah against the pink.

zipmeister and boyfriend arrive Friday. Can't wait! There will be Legals Seafood, a Potomac cruise, a visit to the WWII memorial, a visit to the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space center, and sushi. I'm sure there will be other things as well, but these are Zippy and J's Must Dos.

It's yearly checkup time for the kittehs. I think I'm going to move Margie to Oreo's vet because 1) the office is closer and 2) the vet I really liked at Margie's practice left late last year. Gotta make appointments and figure out how to get Margie's records to the new doctor. I'm also very interested in seeing how much Oreo actually weighs. He's SO heavy.

Hubbyfink and I are going to see Cirque du Soliel's "Totem" in Baltimore for our anniversary. I know even less about this show than I knew about last year's "OVO".

Hubbyfink had a rough day yesterday and I suggested we check out "Paul". It turned out to be a very good idea. We laughed and clapped and howled. We also realized that we were the nerdiest viewers in the auditorium because most of the obscure, and even some of the obvious, references to other movies were completely missed by other folks. Of course, I ribbed Hubbyfink for not picking up on the music cue at the roadhouse, but he was too busy taking in other references during that scene. So, if you're a nerd and aren't bothered by foul language, go check this film before it disappears.

I had no reaction to the Aveeno Positively Radiant daily scrub last night. Yay, I have a cleanser! I also started the Retin-A treatment with no ill effect beyond my skin feeling reeeeally tight. So far, so good.

What else is going on? Playing with makeup application and colors. Continuing my walking workouts. Trying to be on the straight-and-narrow, food wise, and occasionally splurging. I had quite a set-back last week because I really indulged during Mom's visit. Still, my jeans keep getting baggier in the waist. I can't wear regular size pants and capris from Target yet because I'm still too bootylicious, but the Womens size bottoms correspond with the Lane Bryant size bottoms I wear.

The weather is so chilly, but I'm looking on the bright side (I am Mary F'ing Sunshine, after all) and seeing this as an opportunity to wear my adorable cold weather clothes one last time instead of grumbling about how much I want to wear my adorable warm weather clothes.

Mom visited our happy home for a long weekend. She got in Wednesday evening after a harrowing and much-too-adventurous flight from Memphis to Dulles via Chicago. Her trip included a late flight out of Memphis, sitting on the tarmac at O'hare and watching her Chi-DC flight take off, and waiting at O'hare as her new Chi-DC flight kept getting delayed further and further into the afternoon. Poor Mom. She was exhausted when I greeted her at bag claim and was VERY happy to get to my house. We spent the evening doing a house tour and acquainting her with His Floppy Fluffiness Oreo. She was charmed by both.

On Thursday morning we dined on bananas and water before heading out to walk my three mile neighborhood loop. Mom did a fairly good job of keeping up and I tried not to get too far ahead of her on the hills. It was so much fun walking with a buddy instead of my ipod. I could get used to that. After a proper breakfast and showers, we hit the stores and shopped like, well, like we usually do when we're together. We bought clothes and shoes and paint for the bathroom and a firepit for the backyard and toiletries. I took her to the campus so she could see my cube and meet a few coworkers. We continued shopping until Hubbyfink got home from work. We picked him up and headed out for our Mexican feast at Don Pablo's. Because we'd shopped through lunch and had fairly empty stomachs, I got pretty drunk off my one Slender-rita. Mom blamed my sucking up the margarita through a straw. She sipped hers and was juuuust fine.

On Friday morning we dressed in some grubby, paint-stained clothes and set to work painting the full bath. Mom said, "Oh! This will take no time at all!" She didn't factor in the spackling, sanding, and priming with Killz. Six hours later, the bathroom looked great with its fresh coat of "Renoir Bisque" (a goldeny-peachy wheat/sand color) on the walls and crisp white on the trim, door, and mirror. Something happened to the light switch, though, and Hubbyfink replaced the dimmer switch with a standard switch so I could put CFLs above the mirror. I am in love with the wall color and with having lights that don't put out so much heat that I feel like I'm roasting when I put on my makeup. We got cleaned up and met psalite and pirategirleee for dinner at Amphora. Much fun (and food!) was had.

Saturday was Mom's last full day in town. We took another walk: this time to the trail and up through Hannah's neighborhood. It was a little too long a walk for Mom, but she hung in there and wouldn't let me race ahead to get the car and pick her up. What a champ! We breakfasted, cleaned up, and headed out for a little more shopping before catching a matinee of "The Adjustment Bureau". What a lovely movie. I was expecting something like "The Matrix" and got that plus a sweet love story. A little more shopping and we were ready for an evening at home. I tortured Mom with "Lake Mungo", an Australian ghost movie I really like but she found dreadful and dull. We stayed up late watching "Say Yes to the Dress".

Mom was up before us chickens on Sunday and managed to get all of her new purchases in her already overfull suitcase and the rolling duffel I lent her. I got her to Dulles over an hour before her flight's departure and she just barely made it to the gate because security took FOREVER. She got delayed in Chicago again thanks to terrible weather and eventually made it safely back to Memphis. We're sending her through Atlanta next time.

On Saturday I tagged along with boneshard up to Gettysburg for Horrorfind Weekend. I was so nervous about going that I almost canceled, but I really wanted to see what a convention like this was like. I was expecting Arisia- or Philcon levels of people and dealers and costumes and celebs. Unfortunately, it was more like a crowded swap meet. There were some cool things in the dealer room, but honestly, the best dealer set-up was the Steampunk vendor (what does Steampunk have to do with horror??). boneshard was captivated by another vendor's wares which included flatware with pewter bones and baby arms for the handles. I kind of liked her bracelet of pewter wisdom teeth.

The celebrity room was kind of sad. Ted Raimi was dressed up in a suit which was wearing him. He looked like a little kid going to someone's wedding or funeral. Jake Busey had a million watt smile. Gary Busey looked like he'd been fished out of a gutter that morning. Dee Wallace Stone was very sweet when I told her how much I love her work. I also got to meet Terrance Zdunich and tell him how much I loved "Repo! The Genetic Opera" and compliment his singing voice. He was an absolute sweetheart. I talked myself out of getting Kristy Swanson's signature on a stake as I'm not that much of a collector. A lot of the movie celebrity stations were unmanned, though, so I missed seeing lots of folks. To be honest, the celebrity room had sort of a petting-zoo feel to it: the celebrities looked sort of sad, but resigned, to their lot in life.

boneshard made a bee-line for the author row where we both picked up some Joe R. Lansdale (of "Bubba Ho-Tep" fame) books. One of the guys on Night of the Living Podcast has been raving about Lansdale for a while and he kindly suggested the two best books for a newbie to his work (The Bottoms and a collection of short stories). It turned out that the authors were the best part of this con for me, even though I only know two of them through movies made of their work: Lansdale's "Bubba Ho-Tep" and Jack Ketchum's "The Girl Next Door". We attend an author panel and spent ninety minutes listening to the guys discuss not apologizing for their art and their views on the industry and hacks within the industry.

We ducked out for a quick dinner and came back to the site to discover that the line to get into the theater for the costume contest was the length of a football field. The staffers keeping the line... in line told us that the theater was already filled to capacity and we weren't getting in. The hell? We decided to bail for home. All of the sudden there was a flurry of activity at the front of line. Cheering and camera flashes. It was Bruce Campbell. He walked the line, apologizing to the crowd for "traveling so far and paying for a con we couldn't get into." Such a cool guy. We spent a little while at the back of the theater peering through the window and naming off as many character costumes as we could figure out and then headed home through the more scenic and "Jeepers Creepers"-esque parts of Pennsylvania. Fitting for a horror con day, really.

boneshard assures me that Monster Mania on the 18th will be much better.

I'm still getting used to the new ride. I had said that I didn't want anything too big and the Highlander is definitely big. It's taller than me and wide enough to accommodate the headboard of the bed we bought at Gulf Wars. I keep thinking that I've made a terrible mistake and Hubbyfink keeps reminding me that I always go through a short period of buyer's remorse and then everything is peachy keen again. Okay, he didn't say "peachy keen", but I got his drift. It does handle like a dream and the sound system is pretty sweet.

I've registered her with the county and am waiting for my insurance agent to call back so I can get her insured have put her on my insurance. The county and DMV know that Jeepfink is no longer mine. (*sniffle*) I've decided upon what I want my personalized plates to say but I don't have a title number yet so I can't order the plates online or by phone. Bugger.

In non-car news, Hubbyfink and I made a dent in clearing camping gear from the dining room and kitchen this weekend. The rooms are still in disarray, but it's less disarray. We also did countless loads of laundry and Hubbyfink worked on some cutting drills while beating the indoor/outdoor rug we'd set up under the shade fly during Gulf Wars.

I saw "Alice in Wonderland" with pirategirleee this weekend and... it's pretty. Still need to carve out time to see "How to Train Your Dragon".

I'm about to pop I'm so excited about Halloween. I pulled out a few more decorations last night and have set up costume bits in the craft room. I hope to work on my dress tonight; there's a lot of draping and pinning to do. I should probably do a test run of some of my makeup, too, so that I don't frustrate myself on Saturday.

We have SO much candy. We've been mobbed by kids the last couple of years so I got two big bags of Tootsie Roll stuff (yum!) and an even bigger bag of Gooey Brains (barf!). Half of the Gooey Brains bag filled the candy basket. We may have too much candy. Hubbyfink and I have been good and have only eaten one piece each from the Tootsie Roll bags.

I hope it doesn't rain Saturday. It will adversely affect the evening's fun and hurt my planned decorations. See? I didn't start decorating outside because I knew it was going to rain yesterday. Oh! I still need to get a couple of real pumpkins.

Speaking of pumpkins, the local ABC affiliate pre-empted "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for election coverage. Can you believe it?? The only show I've wanted to watch on broadcast television this year and they pre-empt it. It's supposed to air this Saturday at 2pm, but it's not listed in the guide.

So, instead, I let "Poltergeist" play in the background on AMC while I worked on homework last night. I still can't watch the face-ripping scene. Hubbyfink's never seen the movie and came in during the part when Diane and Carol-Anne fall through the ceiling covered in red jello. He looked a little pale. I proudly announced to him, "My parents let me see this when I was nine! And I had nightmares for weeks afterwards because of the child-eating tree." My dad agrees that taking a seven- and nine-year-old to see "Poltergeist" probably wasn't the best idea. Of course, Mimi and I had already whet our horror appetite on "Halloween" and "The Exorcist" by then so they probably figured we could handle a Spielberg movie. Maybe that's what is wrong with me. Hm...