He
was going to be Princess Leia, but a) I couldn't find the side-bun-hair
hat, and b) everybody I told was like, "He's a BOY, he can't
be Princess LEIA." Listen, any child of mine who doesn't have
a sense of humor big enough to weather that storm is gonna have
bigger problems under this roof. But Yoda won, because Yoda was
available at Target. And the green on his face is blended peas,
which he promptly rubbed all over his jacket with his fat baby knuckles.
He's
dressed like that because Friday night was Gray's annual work Halloween
party, and those people went all-out again just like they did last
year, with themed 'haunted house' rooms at the studio for different
shows. And the buckets of readily available candy at the end of
each room were even bigger this year than last, and once again I
shoveled fistfuls into my candy bag with abandon. At the end of
one haunted house room there was this little kid blocking the candy,
and his parents had already gone on to the next room, and Gray and
I were behind him waiting, and the kid was picking up and examining
each piece of candy and then putting it in his bag, and in total
juvenile frustration at not getting our own candy we both said loudly
at the same time, "Okay!" It's always nice to bully the
children on holidays. God, I really do become a candy whore though.
Like I don't think I've bought anything besides gum from a supermarket
checkout stand for the past 20 years, but once a year it's like
I'm crazy for it. Maybe it has something to do with it being free.
===
Over
the weekend we went to the beach to escape the shitty fire air here.
It
went better than it did when I took him to a different more southern
beach early last week to breathe clean air. When the air quality's
worse at the edge of the ocean than it is in inland Burbank you
know you're in trouble. But over the weekend it was good and clear
and we all breathed deeply and wished we could trap some in a bottle
for later.
The
fires have been terrible. It's really scary how awful they were
and how many houses were destroyed. We were completely unscathed,
with the closest about twenty miles away, but I know someone who
lives in San Diego and has a second home in Lake Arrowhead and lost
both of them. Can you imagine?
This'll
sound ridiculous and naive and maybe even mean, but something beautiful
came out of the fires and that's all the amazing photography that's
been showing up in the newspaper. Beautiful, haunting photographs
that you could never get under any other circumstance. Also, I love
the Santa Ana winds, I love them completely. Not everybody likes
wind, I know, but I'm a wind lover, especially when it's warm and
soft here in the fall and spring. But the Santa Anas always come
with fire, and now I feel guilty for loving them like I do.
===
In
other news, my crap Panasonic 24p camera is back from having its
$700 makeover, so if you live in Southern California and you're
pregnant and scared of needles, come be in my film.
