It was an emotional weekend. Tears ran down my face at the opening of our local No Kings event. I did get indignant at the white male Democratic state rep from Raleigh who went on about fascist supporters being afraid, quoted MLK Jr about light and darkness, and said we needed to pull them from the dark. Wrote him a note saying i didn't need a leader to talk about that, i needed a leader to talk about the fear that is valid of transpeople, people of color, anyone who wants to speak their truth and keep their job, etc. I'm very happy he's not my least objectionable choice for some ballot.

Can't remember the afternoon -- think i poked at the internet -- and then we went outside. I haven't done yard stuff in ages, so that was really good.

Sunday found me crying over Bruno and how spooked the sound of Marlowe's bell makes him and just crying because i think i am depressed. And then i had a sneezy, sinusy, allergic flare and realized i had not taken my antihistamine the night before.  The hangover from emotions and allergic flare lasted through much of the day.

Christine and i made a plan for Bruno and Marlowe for the week. I think i have convinced her to isolate Marlowe from Bruno for some time, to give reintroduction a chance. We now have some schedule for making sure Bruno could roam if he wants. Fortunately Marlowe likes outside.

I'm outside this morning (which reminds me, GELID is not a Wordle word). I've been spending early mornings coaxing Bruno which doesn't do my mornings any good. Part of plan discussing is that i don't need to do that. So i've watched Juniper and Gemini above me slowly fade in the dawn. I probably ought to bring in the Coleus collection tonight. But it probably won't be too cold. This week looks like lows won't be enough to kill off the lemon grass and basil, which still needs harvesting. But my fingers have gotten cold....

Ha, i figured out the book. I read it through "The 2025 Pride Bundle - Curated by Catherine Lundoff and Melissa Scott" via StoryBundle. It was The Map and the Territory by A.M. Tuomala. Really, quite a good book.

I am OK. Some depression. Some avoiding of communications. Today i Did All The Things until 17:00 at which point i couldn't beat it and ate peanuts, candy corn and read a novel. I am STOPPING, putting the book down, and gonna Do The Last Things.  More or less.

Bruno is staying very careful, either in the little felt cave, in the tube of the cat tree, or on top of the cat tree. We have bought a second one hoping to create some additional territory for him. I have also bought a pee revealing UV flashlight. Christine is finding it a little hard, i think, to not feel like we are locking him out of the rest of the house when we give him a quiet space away from Marlowe. Keep going slow with him.

Given some insecurities i am feeling about work and the need to communicate with people fairly new to me, i have bought new tech so that i can have a white board experience. An iPad, the Apple Pencil Pro, and the "Rock Paper Scissors" --  textured writing experience that makes it easier to control writing for this person raised on paper. I think it will be very helpful to be able to explain with pictures on demand and to do so without having to remember various the various nouns that describe components of UML diagrams while talking to someone about something else. Big splurge. I hope i get to use it for a few more years.

The reductions in force that began in July have finally unfolded in Germany where worker's rights are ... well, they have many more. So another colleague gone. And a very respected colleague who was impacted in a different way by the June layoffs is leaving. And i meet with my manager to talk about goals this year and... sigh.

Happy Halloween: 2022 stats on US attitudes towards Horror Films: https://today.yougov.com/entertainment/articles/44107-no-film-genre-divides-americans-like-horror-does