Halloween

It's Halloween! Ooooooh. There's not much in the way of Halloween festivity here, and I miss the states. It's sort of a half-hearted holiday, relegated to the level of Columbus Day or Martin Luther King's Birthday. Some people dress up, but mostly no. We went to a little party in the bar where we live and probably only half the people had costumes on (they were elaborate though - all or nothing). For those of you confused, I'm supposed to be Shaun of the Dead. Grace is clearly a witch.

In the past few weeks we've settled into a routine. I'm working 8:15 to 5:00, so I have to get up early. It's a half hour walk to work, which I like. Despite being in London, there's been no rain so far.

Someone said once that you should never be in a job where you can't explain what you do in one sentence. Here's my sentence: "I write about the economics of Africa."

Grace, on the other hand is working more, not less than before. She regularly stays late at the library now, especially in the past week or so because she's got papers due. The good news is that she likes what she's studying.

We don't have much (any) in the way of extra money to spend. The one indulgence we have is we've signed up for unlimited online movie rentals from Amazon.com - you can do that in the UK. It's like Netflix in the states. Grace is into Gray's Anatomy - well sort of. She has a love-hate relationship with the show I think. Or at least, Like-Hate. I, on the other hand, have been getting scary movies, for Halloween.

Grace cracked the display of her cool Slivr phone. She taped the glass in with clear tape, so now her phone reminds me of a nice car with a massively cracked windshield.

The good news, recently, is that I found out I get 2 weeks of vacation for the first 6 months of my job and then I get another 2.5 for the second six months! That means we really can take some trips, because I get a pay raise around then as well. Ha!

There was an NFL game in London last weekend. Giants vs. the Dolphins. Some people from my office went and they said the best part of the game was the final punt. A whistle went off and the ref threw a flag and walked out onto the middle of the field. Everyone was confused - where was the foul? The play hadn't even finished setting up.

Then the ref, in one swift motion, pulled all his clothes off. He was wearing a one piece rip away suit and the "ref" was actually a brilliant streaker. He was wearing a red, white and blue sock over his third leg, so maybe he wasn't really a streaker, technically. Anyway, he disrupted play.

The game's atmosphere was apparently amazing. The roaring was like a superbowl game, supposedly. Still, I'm skeptical it will work as more than a once a year novelty act.

I was talking to some guys at work about American sports. I'm the only American in the office, though there are some Canadians. Anyway, one guy had this funny analysis of why America loves football. He said it was the sport most like war. He had several reasons:
1) There's an aerial and land game/battle
2) The whole point of the game is to break the opponents line and pour through.
3) You make a battle/game plan before you act...
4) Often with maps
5) Different people play different roles similar to different war vehicles - tanks, humvees, armored cars, missle launchers
6) You wear helmets and armour

And, really, it is a lot like war compared to European games like Cricket, Rugby, Soccer and so on. It's also a lot more like war than Basketball or Baseball.

If that implies Americans love war, sorry. I don't think it necessarily does though.

Happy Halloween!