Halloween Season

I. "Things just being there."

The temps have fallen into the 40s at night, and the heat in my building isn't on yet. Chilled, I went to bed at 7:30 p.m. in the dark to read--fell asleep--woke up a few hours later and read some more...

I'm reading Martin Dessler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (1996), by Steven Millhauser. It's another Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. I'm gathering them at work for a future display, and I'm going to read some I haven't.
But I've read a lot of them--probably everyone who reads novels has--whereas I've not even heard of many of the finalists--that'd be an interesting batch to explore. (I see There, There by Tommy Orange was a 2019 finalist--and it's one of the best books I've read in years.)

So far, Martin Dessler is about the growth of New York City--I can see it as a series of intricate, highly detailed drawings, fun to pore over.
Martin sees connections & possibilities in things that other people don't:

"I walked down by the river," [Martin] said, "and I tried to imagine what this city will look like in twenty years. I like to do that, and I'm good at it.
But today something happened: I couldn't do it. Everything stayed just the way it was.
I thought: this is how it is for most people.
Things just being there."

Things just being there. What a great summation of how most people see. Me too!
I was pretty darn old when I'd realize that light poles don't appear naturally like trees--and that city trees don't appear on their own either--someone plans or plants them.
I was much younger than that when I realized that people have distinct personalities and are shaped by events... That always interested me.

II. Halloween Season

I love this time of year. Deep sleeping time!

My new neighborhood does it up for Halloween--this will be my second at Apartment 320. I'd loved Halloween when I was a kid (the girlettes do too), and I'm joining in the neighborhood spirit this year.
I got bat lights from work last week. I didn't realize their full effect until I went outside at night:

I've invited coworkers to dress up for previous Halloweens at the thrift store--only one year, 2018, did many people join in < scroll down for pics].
Some of my coworkers think Halloween is genuinely demonic--these are the same people who refuse vaccines; others are heavy, old dogs who won't jump in the air anymore.

We have a different crew this year--only three people remain from my first days (gosh): Big Boss, Manageress, and Mr Furniture.
I wonder if more people would join in.
Eh, I doubt it. Different people, same personalities.

Workplaces always have this cast of characters, don't they?
The straggler, the hard-worker, the one who bakes, the complainer, the jokester,... etc.

I'm the Circulator (among other things). In every workplace, I've always wandered around talking to all the other children.
I see that clearly as I interact with volunteer Dalton--I introduce her to everyone, show her where the Narcan is and how to make coffee, tell her store history.

I don't sense that she cares about any of that, or anything, really, except establishing order out of chaos. We're prime property!
She's a rare type--the Mary Poppins who blows in, tidies up, and moves on. Rare, but I've seen them before. They're a bracing blast of fresh air, but do these types have a lasting effect?
Maybe in one or two details, but the person who sets the tone is the person who stays.

I can't get far enough back from myself to see objectively what tone I set. Certainly I'm always making/trying out improvements--putting down rugs, putting up pictures, changing things around, so there's that.
I bring lunches, get people to sign cards for birthdays, order more Narcan––so I'm a bit of a den mother;
but I'm somewhat prickly and opinionated, and people give me space.

(Also there are such different cultures at work––from Mississippi to Eritrea–I think each operates in a little air pocket, so it's not a terribly cohesive workplace.)

Speaking of moving things around at work--a little girl set up this tea party on the floor of TOYS, even with mats for the guests to sit on!
I loved it so much, I left it there all day.