"Hello. I'm Janet"

Okay, so the glasses (which I can't do without) kind of spoil it but....it's not too bad a likeness. The outfit isn't *perfect* but short of buying something I would not likely wear again, it's pretty good:

Without glasses, but I can't see, and I feel like I don't "look like myself" (though really that's the point of Halloween)

It's not a *great* costume, I guess (I look kind of dumpy in it) but it's better than nothing:




I'm actually kind of a hybrid of Janet 1.0 and 2.0: the outfit and hair are closer to 'classic' Janet, but the cactus is from the early stages of her reboot when she was messed up.

(I also added a "Hello, my name is JANET" sticker over here at work - I had left the stickers over here)

****

I am trying but somewhat failing to maintain good cheer today.

For one thing: someone posted in my Twitter feed a "screamer" video without warning about it and I was startled fairly early in the day and I don't like that.

For another: driving in, pulling up Wilson, a small child (perhaps not even school aged yet) in dark clothing ran out in front of my car. I slammed on the brakes in time, but his father (? I presume, maybe older brother?) sloped out across the street as I was sitting there and it made me frustrated that he hadn't bothered to hold the kid's hand or told him to hold back and wait or even look both ways (he would have seen me coming). I'm really glad I was able to stop, largely so I don't have to live with 'but you hit a kid' on my conscience but good grief - the kid was in dark clothing, I barely saw him, the nominal-adult with him made NO EFFORT to see he was safe.

I think of all the insistence my parents made on "don't cross the street by yourself" (Until I was like 7 or so and could prove I was smart enough to look both ways) and it just frustrates me. (And you know that if I hit the kid by accident, I would be 100% presented as the villain in the news)

News item about "doctors encourage parents to play the switch-witch game with hallowe'en treats" and I presume that means that when the kids trade their candy for a small toy or whatever, that candy gets thrown out, and what a waste. (I haven't seen the "candy for the troops" thing of late, at least around here). I guess trick or treating is dying out, both because of "safety" concerns (and granted: the walking in the street one is a big one, but the "what if the neighbors put straight pins in the candy or hand out unmarked pot edibles" one is pretty laughable) but also the "kids shouldn't have candy!" one. (If anyone "should" have candy, kids, with their faster metabolisms - and at least in some cases, tendency to run around a lot* - are those people)

(*I dunno. I was an active little kid, running around outside was a big thing when I was a kid. Maybe it's changed, again with the safety concerns but also with stuff like video games and smartphones. We didn't have that much to do when I was a kid so running around outside - even if it was just you because all your friends were busy or grounded - was the most-attractive option a lot of the time)

I dunno. It seems like this current decade is bent on undoing everything that was just simple fun when I was a kid. (In fact, when I was a kid - once my brother and I ate the choice candy - anything chocolate, anything caramel - out of our halloween bags, we were done with them; the unwanted candy usually hung around until Christmas, at which point one of our parents asked us if we wanted to throw it out and we usually sad yes. And there was no eating-ourselves-sick on candy; we ate a couple pieces after getting home on Halloween but slowly ate the rest of the good stuff as dessert with school lunches or whatever. I suppose the problem is that some people DON"T do stuff with moderation, so we all wind up with asceticism)

And I have a slight headache again, probably the changeable weather. I wound up not going to the recital one of our choir students was doing (her senior recital). I was beat and I was low-level migraine (the fact that I barely remember yesterday evening is a good indicator I had a migraine, and just didn't have the typical pain with it; they affect my memory and cognition badly)