W ell, year ago today I was lying in a hospital bed and seriously wondering if I was going to make it through the night. It was a day after Hallowe'en and - even then - the irony wasn't lost on me.

Perhaps on purpose I was back at the FAB Cafe's Hallowe'en party again yesterday. I was meeting Mark, Sabrina, Adi and Tamsin for a few drinks and several hours before heading there I still hadn't decided what (if anything) I was going to get dressed up as/in. Last year I smothered my face in cheap and heavy skull make-up and though there's probably no viable connection to what happened later, I decided that I wasn't going to go quite as mad with it all this year. I had a cheap mask, just in case, but in the end decided to apply a little visceration latex and fake blood to give myself a small but convincing scar.

I got to the Cafe for 8:00 as arranged, only to find the opening was running late and then was sent to the back of the queue by the bouncer on the door because I was queueing on the 'wrong side of the door' (bizarrely there were two queues by that point, so... go figure). Mark, Sabrina, Tamsin and Adi were delayed, so it was considerably after 9:00 when they got there, however I had fun watching the various Lara Crofts, vampires and things that defy description . But it was a good evening with Mark and putting together our theories on the upcoming Who specials (we think we have it all solved, including KEY plot aspects that go ping when there's stuff... :)

Took it easy today and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when 5:00 passed and I'm into another, hopefully normally healthy, year without any 'splodeyness!

42 days until Iowa. The meaning of life, indeed.