Stacy Horn

I’ve been going out of my mind! Every night a mosquito or two will feed on me throughout the night. As the bite starts to itch I wake up, so I end up waking up over and over and over. I haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep in months. I used to get the occasional mosquito but now it’s completely out of hand. In the beginning, whenever two bites were even remotely near each other I’d panic and think bedbugs! But even when I didn’t catch a mosquito in the act there was always one nearby on the wall.

Although I have screens in all my open windows I’ve got very old windows with huge gaps everywhere. There are plenty of places for mosquitos to come in. I didn’t want to cover my windows in plastic because even in the dead of winter I like to open the windows.

Thank you Garber Hardware and Aemon, my fantastic next door neighbor who works there for suggesting I try using Frost King air conditioner weather seal, 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4 ” x 42″. You can cut it to any size, and, unlike some of the others things I tried that didn’t work, you can take them in and out easily when necessary. It was so easy to fit it into big and small gaps. I went around to every window and carefully filled in every opening. (That reads like a commercial! I’m just trying to pass on a tip.)

I also planned to buy some sort of bug spray to catch any stray mosquito that might already be on the inside, but when I read the directions and cautions on each can they read like certain death for me and the cats. So I went to bed with a bottle of Windex within reach. I figured that can’t be good for them, that it might kill them slowly.

Last night only one mosquito showed up, I got him with the Windex, and he never showed up again. I slept well. The end. Thank God.

Setting up lights on Broadway for a movie shoot.

I’ve got a cat named after this bar. It’s the bar of my youth and I remember it fondly. The table in the back right corner was my favorite, it was probably everyone’s favorite of course. I wonder what the story is behind that Blue Devils jersey? I googled it for a bit but didn’t find an explanation. My guess is he simply drank there a lot, or a sadder possibility, he drank there a lot and died and the jersey is there as a memorial.

I heard a bunch of people screaming outside my window last night, but I often hear that. It’s usually a bunch of kids partying or having a drunken argument. I live across the street from a parking garage and people tend to fight at the end of the night when they’re picking up their cars. Except the screams felt more … urgent. I don’t know the backstory, I didn’t look right away, but when I did this guy was laying on the street, not dead, not bleeding, and the police were there questioning everyone around them.

The FDNY came and put him on a stretcher, but no one seemed in any hurry about it. I don’t know what to make of it. I don’t know if this guy is a victim or if he was the source of the trouble.

Finney was crying, so you’ll also hear me periodically telling him it’s okay.

My phone broke. My scanner broke. My camera broke. My doctor dropped my insurance plan (except she might get back on). My teeth are hurting under my new bridge so something it going on (hopefully it won’t involve root canal).

But the results from my CT scan came back and they found absolutely no sign of lung cancer, so YAY. Take that, bad week!! Woohoo!

Also, my camera seems to be unbroken. I just took this shot of Finney and it seems to be working again. Crossing my fingers. Scroll down to see the shot which made me believe my camera was broken.

See? It seems like a possible issue with the shutter? I took this because it was the first Halloween decoration in my neighborhood (non-commercial, that is).

WGBH in Boston is going to premiere a new choral show called Sing That Thing!, “a juried singing competition that will showcase the best amateur choirs in Boston and beyond. Church choirs, high school groups, glee clubs, community choruses, college ensembles — you name it — will be invited into our studios to perform.”

It looks like they’ve changed their plans. It was originally going to premiere in December, but they’ve pushed it back to 2015. Also, there was a link to help fund the series, but I can’t find it now. In any case, it’s a great idea, American Idol/The Voice for group singing! I really hope it happens!

[Video removed because the link no longer works.]