Sweetpea’s Garden

It wouldn’t seem like Wednesday without it, so here are the random tunes for today — and what a melancholy list it is, overall. There are also a couple of extra tracks today, rather than the usual 10, because I was trying to get “Thriller” to come up. I put it on especially for today, since it is the closest I have to a Halloween song. (Where is “The Monster Mash” when you need it?)

Anyway… Feel free to post lists of your own in the comments, as always.

1. The Girl With the Weight of the World in her Hands, Indigo Girls
2. Movin’ On, The Greencards
3. The Rest of the Night, Warren Zevon
4. With a Little Help from My Friends, Joe Cocker
5. (Where Do I Begin) Love Story, Shirley Bassey
6. In My Life, The Beatles
7. Stoned, Old 97’s
8. Neighborhood #2 (Laika), The Arcade Fire
9. Nightswimming, R.E.M.
10. Just Friends, Amy Winehouse
11. She Don’t Want Nobody Near, Counting Crows
12. Land of Hope and Dreams, Bruce Springsteen

I saw a few blog posts this morning about favorite Halloween candy, which got me thinking about what I liked best when I was a kid. To be honest, there was little I didn’t enjoy — Easter, with its nasty malted-milk eggs and dreaded black-licorice jelly beans, was a more likely candidate for confectionery disappointment. Halloween, with its potential for variety limited only by the creativity of the neighbors, offered a seemingly-endless array of tasty options.

That said, there are a couple of favorites that stick out in my mind. I think this might be because they seem Halloween-specific to me, whereas other candies were just miniaturized for the holiday. As far as I know, though, Zagnut bars, Dubble Bubble gum, and Dum Dum lollipops are sweets one only finds in the bottom of a plastic pumpkin-head bucket. In fact, I don’t know if Zagnut bars even still exist, or ever came in full-size bars, since I only ever got them trick-or-treating. (They’re sort of a strange combination of the crunchy part of a Butterfinger with toasted coconut, which sounds kind of gross, actually. I loved them, though.) I do know that Dum Dums and Dubble Bubble have made it to modern Halloweens, because my former officemate would bring her kids’ leftover candy in, and both of those items were always among the offerings.

All this thinking and writing about candy is making me hungry. I guess I had better go heat up my lunch, or else I’ll start digging into the M&Ms on my desk. Share your Halloween favorites in the comments, if you’re so inclined.

Updated: to fix the spelling of Dubble Bubble gum, which is how I just found out it is spelled. I had gone with the more logical “Double Bubble.”

Oh, and while I am updating, here’s a link to a fun candy quiz.

Last night, on a lark, I signed up for an online dating site that some of my friends are using. I did it mostly because this particular site requires a personality test, which I always find fascinating — regardless of how accurate the results are. I haven’t paid any money yet, and won’t, unless someone particularly interesting appears in my matches. But given that my current dating methodology (just go about my life and wait for a guy to fall from the sky and land in my lap) isn’t especially successful, I’m willing to be proven wrong about online dating.

Much to my chagrin, it turns out that after the test a personal essay — complete with headline — is required. I need to describe myself and the man I’d like to meet. Gag. These vague descriptive essays are such a snore, as they generally end up as a laundry list of traits, and do little to convey any sense of personality. I’ve tried to avoid this, and submit my proposed offering below, with the request that you try to read it as if you don’t know me. And once you’ve done so, tell me: Would you date me?

Continue reading ‘Essay Question’