the castle park was jam packed as i came around the corner from giant city road to no name road and out to a friend's house for a kid's party that promoted superheroes, like batman and iron man. this particular park is full of statues of wizards, ogres, unicorns and dragons, and has become so popular with so many people that not only its own parking lot, and its own road, were full, but also no name road itself which became a one-lane road for the day or at least for much of it. somebody said that having a house whose address is the last left on no name road is quite interesting, it's like describing your house as the one on elm street that has the really dark windows. i said the reason we are talking superheros and spooks is because it's election time and all these media caricatures are foisting themselves on our consciousness, like ghosts in our peripheral vision, with images in our junk mail and all over television though i don't watch television unless they foist it upon me, which happens occasionally.

illinois has a level of corruption that is akin to having a herd of cows outside your bedroom window, only there's no benefit comparable to hamburgers that could accrue from this particular acrid herd. one of the junk mails promised "bow-tie honesty" but i didn't even read it, why would i think that some guy's honest, because his lieutenant governor choice is the daughter of someone who supposedly was? of course i'm voting for this guy anyway, because he's a democrat, and only democrats can beat republicans, and the republicans are really sleazy, even in illinois where at one time a few of them had integrity. the republicans in illinois are like clarence thomas, making ultra-conservative decisions for no good reason, blatantly helping their friends, when meanwhile his wife accepts million-dollar "anonymous" donations for her conservative think-tank (read, cash-cow) and we're not supposed to smell anything here? maybe you were counting on us being downwind?

but back to the spooks and the wizards: halloween is coming, and coming fast, and it's a big deal, if you have kids, and live in a small town, halloween is everything, if not more. in this town halloween had a reputation as a drunken riot time until they closed the bars on that weekend and now the students come out early (namely tonight) in order to get their yayas out before the impending closed-bar dampening-of-the-spirits; meanwhile the decorating fanatics get so wrapped up in it that whole stores are given over to decorating alone, while yards, windows and offices spill over with pumpkin, ghost and witch images in honor of a season that is supposedly for children. and all the hoo-ha merely masks the fact that this holiday clearly sweeps the deck for the holiday of all holidays, the saints-day sadie-hawkins-day day-of-the-dead bonfire-day guy-fawkes-day election-day week, an entire week of solemn and holy holidays (some of which, of course, may not be in the same week at all, some years).....november, the bright leaf-colors fade into brown, the leaves finish dropping, the clear air settles into cool, quiet tones and people become even more absent-minded, being obsessed with cooking and buying stuff and all.

but now, still a few days yet this side of the holidays, i'm pulled to sleep; i'm exhaused, all this soccer and running around; the leaves are at their peak up no name road; other places, trees flash me as i go by, and i get sick of hearing the same music over and over again, and wonder once again, either i keep writing this day-to-day kind of stuff, voluminous as it is, put it elsewhere or wherever, or write the darn novel, which is supposed to start when, right around that holiday. that would be monday, maybe...next monday?