Haven't updated in some time -- shame on me. But not a lot has been going on, to be honest! I'm at work right now and, having just eaten the remains of my super-burrito from Pancho's (YUM!), am considering running over to Woolworth's for some ice cream.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and this whole week has been dedicated to figuring out my costume. Anyone who knows me knows how epically indecisive I can be if I set my mind to it, and so I've hopped between costumes once a day since Saturday -- Joan Holloway, Cady Heron, Red Riding Hood, 50s housewife, and now (and this time it's for sure!), Nancy Drew circa 1964. I'm so excited! Ross has kindly taken me out to search costume shops, etc.., and I finally found a cute little magnifying glass for R5 (or 0.50 USD). Take that, and add in my cute yellow dress, flippy hair, maybe some mary-jane heels, a notepad, and a "torch" (aka: a flashlight), and you have a pretty snazzy girl detective. And it should be comfortable too -- not too warm or cold for a summertime Halloween. Hurrah!

So this last weekend passed by so quickly! And the weekdays are zipping by, too. We went diving at Duikar Island (also called Seal Island, although it's not the REAL Seal Island in False Bay where the seals frequently get eaten by great whites) on Sunday. I think we all knew as soon as we dropped anchor that the dive, supposedly my fourth and final lesson, wouldn't go well. The water was pretty choppy, and everyone was getting a bit motion-sick, but Sean speculated the current wouldn't be as bad once we got under the waves. To be fair, if it was just an adventure dive, and not a dive to practice skills like mask flooding or fin pivots, it would have been fine -- we could have just gone with the flow and marveled at the seals streaming around us, mimicking our behavior by blowing bubbles and wriggling around. But ultimately, we ended up aborting the dive, as it was impossible to get anything done when you were being dragged several meters back and forth. So tomorrow will probably be my third attempt at my fourth dive, and with hope, I'll get it done and get certified.

I'm a bit of a disaster lately though, to be honest. I don't know if it's mosquitoes or bed bugs, but I am getting chewed up nightly by some sort of beasts, and it's driving me mad. This, in addition to the nasty heat rash that I picked up from sitting in the sun all Sunday wearing a wetsuit -- I broke out in itchy welts all over my arms, chest, and neck, and they won't calm down, despite the anti-histamine the pharmacist put me on. Really attractive, I assure you.

Let's see, what else? Totally forgot about the UCA Gallery opening last night that I had my heart set on going to... Whoops. And they're beginning a night market at the Obs Community Centre that will run from 4-8 pm every Thursday, so I think I'll head to that after work...

Speaking of work, it's still, still slow, and everyone is getting incredibly antsy. I guess it's almost unheard of for them to not get a job by now, and nothing's looking particularly promising. Everyone is beside themselves about the fact that we lost a shoe-in job for Pepsi Max. Today's budget of the day is for an upscale ice cream bar. Could be fun, but I'm trying not to get too excited. My coworkers obviously feel terrible about the fact that there hasn't been anything to do; they offered to try to set up a job shadow for me with the production company that ultimately got the Pepsi job, but I'm not sure -- I like where I work, and I want to see it through. However, I'm halfway through my time here in Cape Town, and I feel useless. So we'll see, I suppose.

On a brief political note, I can't believe the American election will be over in less than a week! I'm absolutely floored. Even if work has me down, I have to be honest: I'm actually, for once, feeling pretty good about the elections. God, the world needs some change -- and frankly, I'm pretty sure the rest of the world would immediately warm to us a bit more if that change was Obama. I may get the day off on November 5th just so I can stay up late / get up early and watch the results (with a mimosa). I just can't believe it will all be decided so soon!

(P.S. Ugh. I wrote a giant entry, and the Internet ate it. So most of this is a rather curt, lazy rewrite -- my apologies.)