At one minute past midnight is the Official Start of NaNoWriMo! 
Got something of a plot (though I’m rather hazy as to how it’s going to end) and some characters, so all things considered I’m in pretty good shape.
I hope to maybe get in 500-1000 words tonight.
Hoping’s free. 
The Halloween counter is On. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and snack-sized Snickers have been waiting in the bowl since the afternoon. The porch lights are on.
Number of trick-or-treaters served by…
6:45 p.m. 0
7:40 3! 
8:15 still 3, plus a UPS man (offered him some candy, but he civilly refused, saying he’d already had so much candy his teeth are in danger of falling out)
It was this evening – well, late afternoon – at the Crystal’s Pizza in
Irving, and to my intense pleasure I was able to meet Aisling, aka:
Justagirl, and her precious poppet, Aralyn:
Rachel,
one of the NaNo participants from foreign parts….Plano!….kindly
took the photo for us. ;^) Here’s our table, where only Aisling and
Aralyn paid attention:
Sigh. Okay, it’s not my best work. I haven’t developed Jeanne’s knack for arranging people so they’re actually looking at the camera.
Need to work on that, obviously. There were a few dozen people
present, which I think is darn good, considering most of us don’t know
each other, and had to drive a goodish distance to get to Irving. By
having something of a plot in mind, I was an anomaly at the table, as
the rest of ‘em are counting on literary inspiration to drop on them
come the 1st like so much manna in the wilderness.
We’ll see. Admittedly, I’m going to look really lame if I don’t finish, but the no-plot-no-problem group zooms merrily past the finish line. 
Brianna’s third from the left.
This evening Don and I went to see Brianna in her annual appearance with the North Richland Hills Dancers at the city’s Hoot-n-Howl. First person we found was Taylor, Brianna’s paternal grandmother, who was going to a Halloween party afterward, so thought “What the heck…”
Tracked down Brianna standing in line with her group, waiting their turn:
At last it was show time!
After their dance, Brianna quickly donned her Halloween costume for us to see:
Isn’t she darling? She’s a Drama Witch. (Could make a comment here, but won’t.) To her dismay, Jessica refused to allow her to keep the costume on, instead getting ready for the next dance:
In between the dance segments there was a puppeteer, who was quite skilled. I recall as a child attempting to make puppets do something, but nothing much happened other than the strings becoming entangled. This guy obviously figured out the knack:
Love this sneaky shot taken of Don and Jessica:
Finally it was time for the last dance, the music for which was the theme from Ghostbusters:
I took a video of the dance, and if only Xanga or YouTube would cooperate, will post it. So far neither site is minding its manners worth a flip.
Bwah-ha-ha! That’s what they get for living on the other side of the world. 
Beth posted a link to an on-line album of pix taken by her friend when they were at that Japanese hot springs/bath place on the 24th. It was discovered as Beth prepares to leave for a nice weekend outing with Alex, Hannah, and some of their friends.
The field is clear, in other words.
I didn’t cull many…just a few. 
For those who didn’t make their way to Beth’s blog, she and a friend went to an elaborate “park”, I guess you’d call it, featuring various baths….coffee bath, green tea bath, sake bath, charcoal bath, etc. Check out the “kiddie bath”:
Would the grandkids and nieces get a kick out of that or what?
A favorite of Americans and Japanese alike appears to be the wine bath:
Yes, Hannah, that IS a big bottle!
And I’ll tell you what, I’m not positive I could really dive into green water….it’d require some playing with first:
Look at the Japanese-style jackets! Goin’ native, that’s what they’re doing. Will be forgetting their English next. 
That’d be such a cool place to go.
Got to give the prez of Park Cities his due, apparently he actually did listen to the neighbors who gathered last night to tell him why they’re not enthralled at the proposed building’s placement, for I just received a email from the Arlington Heights Neighborhood Asso. president:
Very good! I’m quite pleased, mostly to find the bank is clearly determined to not start off on the wrong foot in the neighborhood. 
I consider myself tagged by Fortworthguy. 
1) Grab the nearest book.
2) Open the book to page 123.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5) Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet. Just pick up whatever is closest.
6) Tag five people.
Y’all’s turn, if you’ve a mind to! Either in the comments here or on your own blog.
