Redneck Halloween Party

I should have posted yesterday, but I never got around to it and didn't get home from the party until after midnight. Oh well, my blog buddy is on another continent. So ha!

The host had an excellent redneck vampire costume including a mullet wig, a large belt buckle, long fangs, and a long cape his mother made him from red plaid flannel. And a Lone Star tallboy (beer). Nothing could beat that costume! There was also a recovering redneck (no discernible costume) and everything in between.

The hostess was a redneck zombie. I was a redneck witch, with a black long-sleeved t-shirt, black skirt, black (non-witch) hat, red flannel plaid vest, two braids, and blue socks with black cats on them. Others wore the closest thing they could find to redneckwear or Halloweenwear.

We also played the haunted house game, Betrayal at House on the Hill. The traitor put ticking time bombs on all of us. The most knowledgeable guy had trouble getting through the junk yard, so he didn't quite diffuse the bomb of the strongest guy (me) in time for me to get to the traitor. All of us good guys exploded.

We also played Set. This is a card game that requires deductive reasoning, but no spelling skills. The two Di's always kick everyone else's butt, but this time they played a hard version (Super Set) while W. and I played by the regular rules, and W. and I actually got some sets. I even got a SuperSet once. I am the type of person I'd expect to do well at this game, given the experience I've had with my own brain, but no. Not until yesterday was there any hint that I could play this game.

We also watched a roomba vacuuming the carpet by remote control. It's kind of wonderfully small and cute. Also you don't have to control it, you can just program it and it spirals out throughout the room.

We also watched a movie so horrible that the DVD player finally had to step in and explain to use that we really didn't want to be watching that movie after all. It did this by appearing to lock up and then restarting near the beginning.

We also had some good party foods and some other foods. No one at all had the liverwurst, yet more than one person had the big fluffy pink things with, um, cake and goo in the middle. There were good cheeses and nuts and chocolate things. Mmmmm.

Sorry you missed it, blog buddy!

Researching Proposition Six: A New Central Library

Background: I hate voting because I have trouble learning enough information.

Here's what will appear on our city ballot for Proposition Six:

The issuance of $90,000,000 in tax supported General Obligation Bonds and Notes for constructing and equipping a new Central Library facility and acquiring land and interests in land and property necessary to do so; and the levy of a tax sufficient to pay for the bonds and notes.

When I first heard about this proposition to replace our current central library with a new one, I didn't like the sound of it. If the old library's too small, they should add on to it, not build a new one and quit using the old one. $90 million is a lot of money, and it seems like a waste. Also, I don't think it's too small; it still seems very spacious to me.

Then I got the idea to ask an actual librarian about this. Someone with insider information. Would they think it's great or would they think it was a waste?

Before I got to a librarian, I learned that the new facility would have a lot more parking and would be further from the bus routes. It would have more space for community programs and meetings and it would have an auditorium. So then I thought, this is just stupid. If you want space and parking, you should build that into the branch libraries. The central library is for people who use buses and for holding the most books, so it would be the place for researchers. Expensive downtown space for large-space uses is inefficient.

So then I went to my local library and I caught three librarians all standing together behind the counter with no patrons, so I asked them. Right away one of them made a funny face and started walking away. I knew he had an opinion.

But one of the other librarians explained that they weren't allowed to discuss their opinions or to tell me how to vote. She did show me a flier and how to find the library system's website explaining what all the proposition would do. I said, "Yeah, that's what the bigwigs think, but I want to know what the regular librarians think." The woman told me that this bigwig wasn't so bad. She had come by to visit and seemed very down to earth.

Of course the flier and website were extremely pro. My best guess is that the librarians are for this proposition. At the very least they are fantasizing that if they were at the central library, they would love to have this new library.

I learned from the League of Women Voters that the old library would be used to give more space to the Austin History Center. (At least it won't be demolished, which I find destructive for some reason.)

I learned from the City of Austin Bond Election brochure (which I've seen at community centers and libraries) that the new location for the library would be where the current Green Water Treatment plant is, right across the street from the hike and bike trail. (Although this location is not guaranteed.) I love that building because I love the retro writing on it. Since they insist on redeveloping that area anyway, I would like to have something cool like a big central library be there.

From the library's web site I learned there will be a cafe and a bookstore, which makes me think the library will get some revenue out of it, which I like. And which reminds me of the Denver library. So then I started thinking that as a car-owning person, maybe I'll be selfish and vote for the is totally cool sounding library. And those people who have to ride a bus and then walk several blocks with their walkers or their white canes, well, screw them!

Of course it will be at least six years before it opens and then I won't be able to quickly hike there and grab something during my lunch hour.

I don't know. Any opinions?