here's a sample of this season's more interesting costumes, culled from the pages of the latest party needs circular.

zorro	barbie	guerilla soldier	britney
child bride	beat up boxer	"just like mommy!" witch	mommy

keep your eyes open for these characters this halloween!

if i didn't have business there, i would probably never in my lifetime ever visit the town of marion, population 5123 (2000 census), on the southern coast of massachusetts. it took me nearly two hours to drive there, getting caught in some serious morning commute traffic on 93. marion is just a quaint little new england seaside town, very peaceful, very quiet, i fel like whispering or walking on tiptoes as to not disturb the natives. i was in town to get ramped up on a freelance lingo gig, 20 hours worth of work for next week.

for lunch, the guys took me out to a local restaurant right across the street, the moon fish, where i had a delicious reuben sandwich on focaccio bread (my mouth is watering just thinking about it). maybe i was hungry, but the food was very good and if i'm ever passing by in the neighborhood, moon fish is definitely worth a repeat visit. tom and ryan told me their story, how they ended up in marion. it's a great little setup, they do a lot of local business, the pace of life isn't anything as hectic as it is back in the city (or so it appears), very laid back, everyone knows each other.

i left marion close to 4pm. up to 93, traffic was fine, picturesque as the highways were flanked by trees in the middle of seasonal color changes. approaching boston though, it became bumper to bumper, and i sat in the car blaring my music. once i got on the turnpike, i was able to quickly speed home.

i haven't been in my belmont backyard for over a week, and took some time to walk around. the lawn hasn't been mowed for a month, and the backyard was a sea of long green grass. ask me: electric or gas mower? call me old fashion, but i like mowing with an eletric mower, the kind with a long cord snaking in the back that's always in danger of getting chewed up by the mower. not that i've mowed the lawn in a while, my father has been doing all the mowing for the past few years.

all day long i was thinking about returning to cambridge to do some painting. i'm not sure whether i really enjoy painting or i've just been so conditioned that when i'm not doing it, i start to miss it. i ended up not going back, i only had so much daylight left by the time i got back to greater boston. i'm itching to my paint back on tomorrow though.