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The B A Start estate has been decked out in holiday fashion. Where one finds dead twigs during ordinary time, one now finds dead twigs with dead berries on them. We’ve got a spindly, skellington-looking tree the branches of which can barely withstand the weight of our ornaments. The presents are uniformly wrapped and stacked for maximum photo-opportunitousity. A few miniature santa hats, positively garish by comparison are relegated to the distant bedroom, far from the eyes of house-guests and mail-carriers.

And then there’s Yoda Claus.

People keep telling me I look like Clip Smith. Like just like him.

Aside from the ugly tie, I don’t really see it. And the bad hair.

In lieu of having anything legitimately interesting to say, I offer you this:

As you remember, yesterday I said it was unlikely I would hit the nanowrimo 50,000 word goal. This remains the case.

Yet, as if response, today I received nano’s weekly pep-talk email. This latest iteration was penned by Neil Gaiman. There are notably few people out there of whom I would describe myself as a “fan”, and spooky Neil hovers near the top of that list.

Oh Neil. Why couldn’t you just let me be? Let me accept and even enjoy missing the goal? Why must you infuse me with pep?

Well, I suppose I better post before Garv’s mom rebukes me.

Unless I have some elves-and-shoemaker-style experience, it doesn’t look like I’m going to reach 50,000 words this November. Trouble is, I actually like the story too much to just punch through it.

I’m trying something new this time. I don’t have any clear ideas about exactly where the narrative is headed. Last time, I had the plot all outlined like a good do-bee, and ended up with pale characters hung from a thin string of events. I’m spending much more time on character stuff this time around, so here’s hoping.

I assume I’m not the only one who finds this disturbing.

Question is, why stop there? Why not a carbonite coffin? Have your ashes dispersed over the sands by a Maker?

Everything is funnier with seventies-style music.

There’s a single synapse in my head which insists there’s some pac-man glitch that allows for the kind of switcheroo the protagonist in this video pulls in the alley. That synapse, I fear, is wrong.

“So, what was your day at work like, Alex?”

I’ll tell you. It was a lot like Andy Kaufman singing the Mighty Mouse theme.

Man attacked on Bidwell Parkway

Apparently 7:40 PM on a Sunday is no time to be walking through one of Buffalo’s best-lit, most well-appointed and most frequently traveled areas. Good to know.

So, Greg gets robbed. Jess sees skeevy dude of the day. There’s some hoodie-sweatshirted sexual offender running around Chapin. My brother gets robbed. Greg finds one of his windows has been tampered with. Dave gets robbed.

I’ve been banging the “live in the city, it’s awesome” drum for a long time. Now my neighborhood has apparently become a hot-bed of violent crime and burglary. I must confess to feeling more than a little frustrated. Much of the reason I have spent so much of my life behind a desk is to be able to afford a place in a safe neighborhood. This time seems to have been wasted.

New Radiohead album. inrainbows.com. Pay whatever you want and download. Sounds like Yo La Tengo. Also sounds like awesome.