This is Halloween...this is how we celebrate

So today is one of the best days of the year...HALLOWEEN! I am decked out in my black leather skirt, with black tee whwich reads 'hugs & kisses' but has skulls and crossbones. My knee socks are black with silver sparkly cross bones up the shins. My jacket has two halloween pins on it, and I am keeping my undies a secret. :-) :-)

Above are the Frankenstein cookies I made and went hog-wild decorating on Sunday. Each one looks different, and I have to say I out did myself. I also made gingerbread leaf cookies...but my picture never came through. If it does later, I'll add it here.

Tonight for dinner we shall have Sppok-tacular Shepard's Pie, where the mashed potatoes are shaped as ghosts. And We'll watch all the classic horror flicks possible. TCM was having a Vincent Price marathon today.

But today is a little disappointing too. Because I have yet to hear Thriller or The Monster Mash played on the radio stations. So it isn't officially halloween for me.

To get in the spirit of things....

Halloween is almost upon us, stores are hawking candies, and tv giving us loads of great spooky stuff to watch. Pretty soon we're going to be inindated with the winter holiday sales and pressure, and I'm not looking forward to that just yet. It's all about HALLOWEEN (ok and Thanksgiving) for me guys! Anyway, in yesterday's blog I mentioned the movie An American Haunting, and a book I'm currently reading which was about the Bell family.
So here is a link to a real cool site I found which tells about haunted places in the state of New York. Below I am sharing with you, points of hauntings on Long Island. Which is where I live. I was pleased to see that the site did not mention Amityville. Because the Amityville Horror is just way too over-popularized. My mother had taken me to the 'house' when I was just a wee one...to see if she saw anything, but alas no spookies for us. Not that day anyway.

http://theshadowlands.net/places/newyork.htm

Central Islip - Central Islip Psychiatric Center- Weird noises coming from the Main hospital where patients were kept. Visions of men working at the abandoned Power plant then just vanishing into thin air. In the engineering building sounds of people screaming and moaning, blood/ IV bags laying around..a big room. A woman folding laundry at a lonely laundry table in the Laundry building then sees people and vanishes.

Fire Island - Fire Island Lighthouse - The caretaker of this lighthouse hanged himself long before it was rebuilt. Doors shut, which require two people to close due to weight and doors open, which require three individuals. People have even reported strange laughing and knocking when no one is there. The top windows are also known to rise by themselves, which normally require a tool to reach. People experience chills throughout the lighthouse and human skulls seem to turn up on the beach with various other bones.

Hauppauge - Begjaine House - The Begjaines (long dead) Have haunted this old house for over 215 years. It all started in 1778 when Mr. Begjaine was killed at fort Ticonderoga. Mrs. Begjaine moved her three kids to a mansion in Hauppauge. Shortly after the move a man with an English accent came to the front door saying he wanted to sell some hats. When Mrs. Begjaine let him in he pulled out a gun and killed the whole family. To this day the cops are still investigating the crime. Neighbors complain of strange noises and gunshots coming from the old abandoned house at night. Most of the cops go in but few have lived to come out. Hauppauge - Hauppauge Middle School - The old Hauppage is one of the most weirdest schools on Long Island. There is said to be a ghost for revenge in room A-22. There is a ghost that picks up pens & then throws them at people. Hauppauge - Hauppauge High School - When You Go To The Down Stairs Bathroom You hear freaky music and then when You come out you will see a still unidentified man in a long black cloak.

Huntington - Mount Misery/West Hills Park - This is where Sweet Hollow Road leads to (well, include some back roads. The place is now a state park, but in the 1840's there was a hospital there that burnt down. 15 years later it was rebuilt, and from then on moaning and cries for help were reported by the staff. Five months later another fire burnt the place down. Today burning specters can be seen.

Huntington - Sweet Hollow Road - Years ago two boys were hit by a car on this road and killed and were not aware of the car coming because the driver did not beep the horn. Now when driving down this road, if you do not beep your horn before passing under the overpass, the boys jumps in front of your car. As well as, a police officer who stops at cars parked on Sweet Hollow Rd. The officer seems normal until he turns around and has blood on his shoulders and the back of his head missing. Supposedly he is an officer who was killed on duty in the area.

Huntington - Sweet Hollow Road - The Lady In White - is of also known as "Mary". Mary was dating a jealous boyfriend. The boyfriend believed she was cheating on him. While driving down Sweet Hollow Rd. she was pushed out of a car. Her injured body laid in the street and was hit by another car. She continues to walk the road looking for her killer and often jumps out in front of passing cars. Another story claims she was a witch who was hung here during the late 1600's. There are many twists on the story of who she was. The Witch story seems to be the most common, yet it is also the most unlikely. Another common story is that she was killed when she was hit by a car back in the 1920's while walking home. Her grave is supposedly in the cemetery on Sweet Hollow Rd.

King's Park - Kings Park Psychiatric center - Voices of patients who were tortured and died here years ago still today roam the hallways, screaming and crying. Many people who have visited the haunting hospital have seen manyunexplained images.

Long Island - Bohemia - Haunted by a young female named Maria who was strangled to death in the back bedroom when the inn was a speakeasy over 60 years ago. Bare footprints appear on the carpeting even in wintertime, shadowy figures in the kitchen, and unidentified bones appear in the basement. The inn has been investigated many times by mediums and psychics and is currently under investigation by Candice Isralow of Mt. Sinai. Current owner has been there for over 20 years.

Long Island - Central Islip - Central Islip Psychiatric Center - This place is very creepy and the main building is not only haunted but you can feel a taint of evil from the main building when walking the grounds near the main building that will put the hairs up on the back of your neck.

Long Island - Centereach High School Track - Back in 1997, there was an off-duty FDNY firefighter running track on a highschool track near his house. There were some kids who had a gun and they wanted to see what it felt like to shoot someone, so they waited in the woods until the fireman came around the northeast corner of the track, then they shot him. Both boys were arrested and convicted for killing the firefighter. Not long after, people reported seeing a glowing figure running along the track. Others have seen the body of a man laying on the track then dissappearing, all in the same spot he was shot, the northeast corner of lane 5. Most people won't go over to the northeast bleachers because they have the feeling of being watched. When visiting football teams come to visit, they and their fans refuse to sit in the visitors bleachers, as those lie on the northeastern part of the field. That part has now become mostly abandoned.

Long Island - Lake Ronkonkoma - Lake Ronkonkoma has a haunted past. One legend is about a Setauket Sachem Indian who was not permitted to marry his love from another tribe. He paddled his canoe out to the middle of the lake and committed suicide via a knife to his heart. His body was recovered in another lake in Connecticut. Another is of a young beautiful Indian Princess who was not permitted to marry her pale face lover and she canoed out on the lake and was found dead by him. He in turn got into the canoe and was swept away, never to be seen again. Apparently, there has been a reported drowning each and every year due to a curse placed upon the lake. The myth is that the lake is bottomless. It rises and lowers mysteriously and is rumored to have a secret underwater Connection that stems for miles. Some of the drowning victims as well as the princess are said to still haunt the lake and It's surrounding area.

Long Island - Stony Brook - Mary's Grave - She murdered her two children and her husband. Her gravesite is a center for strange happenings. Her marker has her birth date but no death date. - December 2003 Update: There is a different variation on that story that seems to be the most heard of around there. Supposedly Mary was the daughter of a rich land owner that owned that area and formed the town there. He was a loner and built his house way out from the town. He also had a son. She had no friends and her father built her a stone club house on the property for her to play. She liked animals and wuld play with them in her stone clubhouse. Supposedly she was possessed by a spirit and started mutilating the animals on a stone table in her clubhouse. Later on she killed her father and her brother with an axe. After the some time the townspeople went to see what had happened the the land owner and found her sleeping in her fathers bed with him covered in blood. They hung her on a tree on the property. The tree is there on the side of the road. It always looks dead all year long. The burn marks from her rope are on the tree branch. Up the hill is the house. You can see a figure sitting in the window looking down on the road. Now that part of the house is supposed to be blocked off. Her stone clubhouse is on the road just a bit further up. The way it went was back in the 60's and 70's you were the big tough guy if you went up to Mary's grave and urinated on it. They say whoever did would get into a car accident on the way back swerving to avoid hitting a girl in a white dress. The gravesite has been lost or nobody really remembers where it is, but all the other things are there.

Mount Sinai - Satan's Trails - On North Country Rd. (Route 25A) - you will see a white Congressional Church on the North side of the road. To the right of the church is a cemetery and to the left is a parking lot with a dirt road going into the woods. Down this dirt road are three houses in the middle of nowhere. The third and largest is an abandoned boarding house. Home to three separate ghosts. Two of which are an old men and a little girl. The third is an angry spirit named "Wacker". This ghost in his mortal life committed suicide in a bedroom at the end of one of the hallways on the second floor.

New Hyde Park - Iceland ice skating rink - doors sometimes opening or closing by themselves, reported sighting of a man in a baseball cap in the scoreboard operations room, hockey pucks mysteriously appear in the center of the ice surface late at night.

New York City - Greenwich Village - One If By Land, Two If By Sea Restaurant - Once a carriage house owned and operated by Aaron Burr, the place is apparently running with ghosts. Not the least of which is supposedly Burr's own beloved daughter Theodosia Burr Alston, who vanished off the coast of North Carolina while on her way to visit her father in New York. Apparitions of Theodosia and various other spirits have actually been seen and several women sitting at the bar have had their earrings popped off by an enamored Theodosi.

Shirley - South Haven Park - A room in the local park police station is believed to be a haunted by an unknown ghost. Strange occurrences and weird noises have emitted from this room and for this reason it is unused and kept closed. Smithtown - field at the end of bow - it has been said that a small boy playing hockey on the frozen pond fell through the ice and was never seen again. many people say they have seen a lone hockey player shooting pucks whenever the pond freezes over but when they call out to him he suddenly melts into the ice.

Books are our friends!

So it seems that books are the topic of conversation as of late. I have stacks of books in my spare room that I have to read. I palmed off ‘The Devil In The White City’ to a friend’s boyfriend because (a) I thought he’d enjoy it, (b) I just could not get in to it at all. This is the first time in my life that I have quit a book, and now feel like a failure. Anyway, once again this meme is thanks to my pal Claire, http://somethingsarcastic.blogspot.com/

1) One book that changed your life: Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas http://www.amazon.com/Bono-In-Conversation-Michka-Assayas/dp/1573223093 I wouldn’t say that it has drastically changed my life. I just found it very interesting…and it has opened me up a lot more to the needs of those less fortunate than me. Also To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. That is my all time favorite book, and has stayed with me since I have read it.

2) One book that you’d read more than once: Honest Illusions and Public Secrets, both by Nora Roberts. You HAVE to read her stuff…she’s just amazing! http://www.noraroberts.com/

3) One book you’d want on a deserted island: I am sure there is something that I’d love to read, or should be reading to save my sorry ass if I had been stranded on a desert island. But for the life of me, I can’t think of anything. I guess some kind of survival book would be most helpful, huh?

4) One book that made you laugh: The Undead series by Mary Janice Davidson. http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net/Betsy.htm There is banter between Sinclair and the main character Betsy, that you can’t help but crack a grin, let alone laugh out loud. Thanks to my pal Michelle for getting me hooked on this series.

5) One book that made you cry: I Love You, Ronnie-The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan by Nancy Reagan. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375416880 (Like his politics or not, for one man to love one woman this much gives me hope. I can only wish to find someone who cherishes me as Ronald did Nancy.)

6) One book you wish you’d written: The Harry Potter series. Look at the dough they’ve raked in, and they are entertaining.

7) One book you wish had never been written: THE DANTE CLUB, by Matthew Pearl. http://www.matthewpearl.com/dante/dante.html In theory, it sounds fascinating…I was so excited to read this book. And then I read it, and struggled through it. To me, the interest peaked and valleyed. When the author was ‘on a role’, it was a page turner and when it lagged it was tedious reading. But I wanted to know how it ended…and will never read another of this man’s books again.

8) One book you’re currently reading: The Bell Witch: An American Haunting, by Brent Monahan (Editor), http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Witch-American-Haunting/dp/0312262922 The movie An American Haunting is based on this book, and tales of something that had happened to the Bell family. I’ve just started reading the book, but I think this is one subject I would like to follow up on. This book is already creeping me out a bit.

9) One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Picture of Dorian Gray, and also The Chronicles of Narnia.

10) Tag five people: I dunno who to tag. Claire’s tagged me. Perhaps I shall tag Piccu and his crew. :-)

TCM...and ZOMBIES

I may have mentioned it once or twice. But I am not a zombie fan. Zombies = Orelinde not sleeping for a week. Now, I'm not talking silly zombie stuff. like Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. I'm talking: Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, The Walking Dead....even Land Of The Dead was pushing it. Zombies freak me out...their need to feast on living flesh...their craving human brains. I can maybe watch 20 minutes (if that), and then it's switch the channel time. Anyway, On TCM this Friday, it seems to be Zombie night. I've only glanced at the shows for Friday and Saturday which I am posting below. And I will admit, I will try and watch some of the OLD, zombie flicks. The ones that don't seem to be too scary. Below, I am bolding the shows I plan to watch this weekend. ENJOY!!!


October 27 Friday
7:00 PM White Zombie (1932)
A zombie master menaces newlyweds on a Haitian plantation. Cast: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, John Harron. Dir: Victor Halperin. BW-69 mins, TV-PG

8:15 PM I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
A nurse in the Caribbean resorts to voodoo to cure her patient, even though she's in love with the woman's husband. Cast: Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-69 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

9:30 PM Walking Dead, The (1936)
A framed man comes back from the dead to seek revenge. Cast: Boris Karloff, Edmund Gwenn, Marguerite Churchill. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-66 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:45 PM Creature With the Atom Brain (1955)
A gangster enlists a mad Nazi scientist to create an army of atomic zombies. Cast: Richard Denning, Angela Stevens, S. John Launer. Dir: Edward L. Cahn. BW-69 mins

12:00 AM Mysterious Doctor, The (1943)
Nazi agents use a headless ghost as a front. Cast: John Loder, Eleanor Parker, Bruce Lester. Dir: Ben Stoloff. BW-57 mins, TV-PG

1:00 AM Night of the Living Dead (1968)
A space probe unleashes microbes that turn the dead into flesh-eating zombies. Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman. Dir: George A. Romero. BW-96 mins, TV-MA

2:45 AM Crazies, The (1973)
An experimental virus turns the inhabitants of a small-town into killers. Cast: Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones. Dir: George A. Romero. C-103 mins, TV-MA

4:30 AM MGM Parade Show #21 (1955)
Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper perform in a clip from "The Champ"; Russ Tamblyn introduces a clip from "The Last Hunt." Hosted by George Murphy. BW-25 mins, TV-G

October 28 Saturday
7:30 AM Quatermass Xperiment, The (1956)
A space fungus transforms an astronaut into a deadly monster. Cast: Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Richard Wordsworth. Dir: Val Guest. BW-78 mins, TV-PG

11:00 AM Suspicion (1941)
A wealthy wallflower suspects her penniless playboy husband of murder. Cast: Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, Nigel Bruce. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-99 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

1:00 PM Haunting, The (1963)
A team of psychic investigators moves into a haunted house that destroys all who live there. Cast: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

3:00 PM Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951)
An alien demands that Earth's leaders choose between peace and destruction. Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-92 mins, TV-PG, CC

5:00 PM King Kong (1933)
A film crew discovers the "eighth wonder of the world," a giant prehistoric ape, and brings him back to New York, where he wreaks havoc. Cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong. Dir: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack. BW-100 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

Turner Classic Movie Channel

October....the month of my favorite holiday: Halloween. Ghosts, vampires, cult classics and stuff that goes bump in the night. I am unsure if my cable company always had TCM, or if they just gave it ot us...but last Friday I stumbled across the channel, with one of my all time favorite classic scary movies: 'The Uninvited'. Also Rob Zombie hosts an early morning double feature show which is just way cool.
Anyway, I am including today's run down of TCM shows, for those interested. I know my DVR box will be very busy tonight taping stuff for me. Woo-hoo!

October 20th, Friday
10:00 AM Big Store, The (1941)
A daffy songwriter inherits a fortune but has to fight off gangsters to get it. Cast: Bert Lahr, Buddy Ebsen, June Havoc. Dir: A. Edward Sutherland. BW-71 mins, TV-G

11:30 AM At The Circus (1939)
A detective and his zany pals take over a failing department store. Cast: The Marx Bros., Tony Martin, Margaret Dumont. Dir: Charles Reisner. BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC

1:00 PM Night at the Opera, A (1935)
The Marx Bros. team up to keep a circus from going bankrupt. Cast: The Marx Bros., Margaret Dumont, Eve Arden. Dir: Edward Buzzell. BW-87 mins, TV-G, CC

3:00 PM Day At The Races, A (1937)
Three zanies turn an operatic performance into chaos in their efforts to promote their protege's romance with the leading lady. Cast: The Marx Brothers, Allan Jones, Kitty Carlisle. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-96 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS

5:00 PM Life Of The Party, The (1937)
A group of zanies tries to save a pretty girl's sanitarium. Cast: The Marx Bros., Allan Jones, Maureen O'Sullivan. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-111 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS

6:30 PM Horn Blows At Midnight, The (1945)
A young girl tries to escape the suitors her mother has picked for her. Cast: Joe Penner, Harriet Hilliard, Gene Raymond. Dir: William A. Seiter. BW-77 mins, TV-G

8:00 PM Mark Of The Vampire (1935)
An angel is sent to destroy the earth with a trumpet blast. Cast: Jack Benny, Alexis Smith, Dolores Moran. Dir: Raoul Walsh. BW-78 mins, TV-G, CC

9:15 PM Return of the Vampire, The (1944)
Vampires seem to be connected to an unsolved murder. Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi. Dir: Tod Browning. BW-60 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:30 PM Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey (1932)
A vampire terrorizes a British family during World War II. Cast: Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch. Dir: Lew Landers. BW-69 mins, TV-PG

Classic tale of a young traveler finding himself in a sinister castle. Cast: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel. Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer. BW-75 mins, TV-PG

12:00 AM House Of Dark Shadows (1970)
A vampire seeks a cure so he can wed the reincarnation of his lost love. Cast: Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Joan Bennett. Dir: Dan Curtis. C-97 mins, TV-14

2:00 AM Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
Three go-go dancers resort to murder in search of a family's hidden treasure. Cast: Tura Satana, Haji, Lori Williams. Dir: Russ Meyer. BW-83 mins, TV-14

3:30 AM Mudhoney (1965)
A drifter with a past falls for an abused small-town wife. Cast: Hal Hopper, Antoinette Christiani, John Furlong. Dir: Russ Meyer. BW-92 mins, TV-MA

5:15 AM Festival of Shorts #22 (1999)
TCM features two Dogville Comedy shorts from 1931: So Quiet on the Canine Front and Trader Hound. BW-33 mins, TV-G, CC

The purchasing of a puppy:

So a miracle has happened. My mother has decided to go along with mine and Ida’s dream of adding to the house and getting another pet. For some time Ida has hinted about wanting a puppy, but any time I got a bit excited about it she would change her mind and say she didn’t have the patience to train a puppy. But being home all day and hearing about home invasions and about sexual deviants being released into society she and I get a bit more nervous. Once upon a time, we never had to keep our screen door locked if the inside door was locked. NOT NO MORE.
When we last brought up getting a dog, mom had nixed the idea. However she too is hearing more and more about the problems of break-ins and attacks, she is getting nervous. So when she returned from her last vacation, and Ida and I presented the idea of getting a dog, she actually hopped on board. And not that she just ‘yessed’ us, she is actually all for getting a dog.
What kind of dog will be joining the troop? Will we get a male or a female? Where and when will we be getting it? All my life I have wanted a Boxer, mom and Ida had grown up with Boxer’s and they are my favorite breed. However Labradoodle’s, a new designer dog is the hoopla of the times, being hypo-allergenic and not shedding. Whenever I bring up getting a: Pug, Rottwilier, American Malamute get the big ‘n-o’ for one reason or another. Which brings us back to either a Boxer or a Labradoodle. Which is fine by me, because I do like both of these dogs.
Naming of the unobtained pet is another issue. For some reason, I have always been in the habit of naming the pet before actually getting the pet. Don’t ask me why…it’s just how I am. The last dog I had was named after Jon Bon Jovi’s dog, and both Pooka and Cro`i have Celtic names, because of my love for the Irish. So what to name the new dog? Here is a list of names I have come up with. Ida is on board with some of these, mom not so much.
· Isis Egyptian Meaning: Supreme Goddess
· Sitara Sanskrit Meaning: Morning Star
· Derry Celtic Meaning: Great lover, an ancient hero
· Orion a constellation often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation, perhaps the best-known and most conspicuous in the sky. Its brilliant stars are found on the celestial equator and are visible throughout the world, making this constellation universally recognized. In the northern hemisphere, Orion is visible from late fall through early spring.
· Morpheus Greek Menaing God of Dreams
· Merlin
· Trinity Latin "Trinity" comes from "Trinitas", a abstract noun that most literally means "three-ness" (or "the property of occurring three at once"). Or, simply put, "three are one".
· Logan Scottish Meaning: Little Hollow
· Ashbel Male Biblical An old fire.
· BAILINTIN: valiant
· EAMON, EAMONN: guardian
· AINGEAL: angel
· DIVA, DEVA, DEVONA, DIVONE, DEHEUNE: divine one
· ETAIN: a fairy
· Eros Eros, the primal god of Love; using arrows of gold and lead, he would wound the hearts of mortals and Immortals alike.(Eros, Cupid)
· Conry – king of wolves/hounds
· Lorcan – fierce
· Nolan Famous, a champion. Origin: Irish Gaelic
· Farrell The valorous one.
· Tor The God of thunder in Norse mythology. Celtic: A rock.
Then comes the topic of buying a puppy or rescuing a puppy. Now like I said, Ida and mum grew up having Boxers, pure-breed Boxers. However they always acquired them, and the family had never paid for a pet. I have never paid for any of my pets, except for the donation fees to the shelter or pound that I’ve gotten mine from. But this time is different. This time I want a pure breed. And it pisses mom off because she doesn’t feel like we should be buying a pet. Then again she isn’t dipping in to her pocket for the animal either.
Trying to find my perfect pooch has been an experience. I have gone to pet shops, and fell in love with a Boxer pup. Until I was told she cost $2,500. I contacted breeders and told they will see for $2,000. I found some Boxers through a search for like $750.-995.00 but then you have to pay for shipping which still brings the dog to over $1000.00 I tried searching shelters and rescue groups. I have filled out adoption papers for Boxer rescue groups which ask questions such as: What will you do with the pet? (Uh wear it as a hat?) Where will the dog sleep and for how many hours will you leave it unattended. Some of the questions ARE understandable…but some of them were just obnoxious. ‘Do you understand that although the dog will be yours, we can remove it from your custody any time we feel fit?” Uh, if the dog is mine, how can you jack it from me? It feels like adopting a child is easier than getting a dog.
So operation puppy is in effect. Granted we’ve decided to wait until after the holidays…but I just felt the need to share with you all that I’m getting a pup!

Halloween Meme thingy

I saw this on my friend Claire's blog, "Your biting sarcasm wounds me, Madam..." and thought it was a cool source of learning about her. So I've bit off her idea, and am putting it on my blog, with my information. Hope you all enjoy!

1. whats the scariest movie you've ever seen?
‘The Exorcist’. I don’t care how long ago it was made, or what people say. I was unable to sleep for a month after seeing that movie. THE ORIGINAL…with pea soup spewing and all. To this day, I can’t re-watch it from the beginning and if it is already in progress, need to jump the channel fast. Also ‘It’ scared the crap out of me. To this day, if I look down a storm drain, I expect to see the clown staring up at me.

2. what was your favorite halloween costume as a child?
I have two actually. One was my Wonder Woman costume, which is the first I remember wearing. It was really a bathing suit, but I had red rain boots. I may have been 3 years old, or 4…but I was the shiznit! Then when I was 5, Aunt Ida made me the coolest pirate costume. Plaid pants which she sewed on the sewing machine, along with vest, and the coolest….COOLEST cardboard cutlass with the blade enrobed in tin foil. Well, by the time I got home from my kindergarden session, my poor cutlass was wilted from my pirating adventures, but it was the BEST of all my costumes.

3. if you had an unlimited budget, what would your Fantasy Costume be for this halloween?Arwen, with authentic costume, circlet and sword.

4. when was the last time you went trick or treating?
Two years ago...took my cousin’s daughter just so I could relive the magic.

5. whats your favorite halloween candy?
I can’t eat peanut butter anymore…but there’s nothing like a peanut butter cup! Also Mounds or Twix work just as well!

6. recount a scary nightmare you had:
I was at my cousin’s house, and we were hanging out in her bedroom. Well to shorten this whole dream, because it was seemed to be an all-night nightmare, I was trying to banish the devil from her room. And the devil wanted my soul….and I was telling him he’d never have it. As I was praying and trying to cast the demon out, he actually grabbed my wrist…and in my dream it felt like I was really being grabbed.

7. what is your supernatural fear?Zombies. No doubt! Night of the Living Dead type, eat your brains and chew on your flesh zombies. Of course it can possibly happen, like due to nuclear explosions or something…and I am terrified of it coming true. That and aliens.

8. what is your creepy crawlie fear?
I hate spiders.Evil...pure evil.

9. tell us about a time you saw a ghost, or heard something go bump in the night.
It wasn’t a scary experience at all. You see my grandma passed away way before I was born…and my grandpa passed when I was 18 months old. So I never got a chance to know my grandfolks. However I was young, would have to say about 7 years old when I woke up very gently, and standing on the side on my bed was both my grandma & grandpa staring down at me and smiling. They were solid, yet I could see through them, and there was a sense of peace and comfort. (I knew it was them, because I’ve seen them in pictures.) When I reached out my hand to hold their hands, they disappeared slowly, as if they were never there….almost as if they faded out. I immediately got up, went to the bathroom and got a drink of water. So I know it wasn’t that I just dreamt the whole thing.

10. would you ever stay in a real haunted house overnight?
I don’t know. On one hand it would be cool to see if I experienced anything. On the other hand I may be scared out of my whit’s. However when I go up to Salem, MA…I do stay at The Salem Inn, and that does have a haunted room. Although I haven’t stayed in that particular room yet.

11. are you a traditionalist (just a face) or do you get really creative with your pumpkins?
I am an equal opportunist when it comes to pumpkin carving I guess. I have tried the elaborate carving, from the kits. I have done free style, with my own hand as well. I also like pumpkins in whole as well.

12. how much do you decorate your home for halloween?
As much as possible. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday.

13. what do you want on your tombstone?
I want to be cremated. No being worm food or turned in to a zombie for me!

Happy Friday the 13th, yet again!

So we have come to yet another Friday the 13th…and it is funny how it affects some people. I will purposely wear black on the day, just to generate the discussion of superstitions or the question of if I am afraid of bad luck by wearing the macabre color on this date. Here are some fun facts to fill your day:

· What is there to be afraid of? Paraskevidekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th, perhaps? If you were to consult a complete list of phobias, apparently everything. There are nearly as many phobias as there are nouns; just attach a Greek prefix to -phobia and you’re off to the fear factory.
· The most common phobias are zoophobias, which are anxieties about animals. Bats, rats, dogs and cats all make the list. The general fear of insects is very common, as is fear of mice. The two animals most likely to give the willies, though, are spiders and snakes. Seven percent of the population has a zoophobia, and women are three times more likely to be afflicted.
· The five most common phobias are:1. Fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)2. Fear of giving a speech (glossophobia)3. Fear of heights (acrophobia)4. Fear of rodents (musophobia)5. Fear of flying (aviophobia)

Following closely are phobias about confined spaces, thunder, nighttime and dogs.

· There is an exceedingly long list of “specific phobias,” covering everything from body hair to buttered biscuits. Many of them sound pretty funny so long as you’re not the one with the anxiety attack. Sure, it’s amusing to think someone can be afraid of colors (chromophobia), but how do these people buy fruit?

Papaphobia—fear of the pope.
Scorodophobia—fear of garlic.
Pteronophobia—fear of being tickled with feathers.
Ranidaphobia—fear of frogs.
Philematophobia—fear of kissing.
Aulophobia—fear of flutes.
Ostraconophobia—fear of shellfish.
Graphophobia—fear of handwriting.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia—fear of long words (seriously).
Blennophobia—fear of slime.
Gerontophobia—fear of old people.
Peladophobia—fear of bald people.
Geropeladophobia—fear of old, bald people.
Phobophobia—fear of developing a fear.

There is also didaskaleinophobia, the fear of going to school—though you’d have to go if you want to pronounce it. Barophobia is the fear of gravity, which can be very inconvenient if you live on a planet.

·There is no shortage of movies made for the sole purpose of scaring the pants off of viewers (gymnophobia: fear of being caught naked), but no doubt a few flicks have actually instilled phobias. Jaws and Airport ’77 come readily to mind.

On occasion, feature films have pointed the camera eye at the phobias of lead characters.
Copycat: Sigourney Weaver plays a criminal psychologist who has a crippling fear of open spaces and is confined to her apartment, where she is terrorized by a serial killer.
Vertigo: A fear of heights preys on Jimmy Stewart after he sees a friend fall to his death. Hitchcock has a sadistically good time setting the climax in an old tower.
High Anxiety: Mel Brooks parodies Hitchcock in this “psycho-comedy,” set at the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous.
Arachnophobia: A small California town gets the creepy-crawlies when killer spiders make themselves at home.
Phobia: Patients of a psychiatrist are knocked off according to their phobias. This 1980 horror show begs the question, what do you call a fear of bad movies?

·Those of us who do suffer from such maladies can usually be left to bite our nails in private. Celebrities, of whom we must know everything, are not as lucky. In some cases, the phobia seems squarely at odds with a famous person’s identity:

Alfred Hitchcock psyched out the world with a knife-wielding, oedipal cross-dresser, but he was afraid of eggs.
Author Anne Rice has created generations of blood-sucking vampires who feast in the night, but she’s afraid of the dark.
Lyle Lovett is the living image of a songwriting Texas cowboy, but he’s afraid of cows. It’s not a stretch—he was trampled by a bull in 2002.

Donald Trump is celebrated as a world-class deal maker, but he has a fear of shaking hands.

Another thought provoking Thursday at the office:

So, as we know…one of my co-workers (who seemed to be the most professional and ‘sane’ out of all of us) just up and walked out a few weeks back. To this day, no one knows why and she won’t talk to any of us who call to check in on her. It’s all very odd, and a lot of speculations and questions have been passed back and forth those of us who had thought we were her friends. On another note…as of yesterday one of my co-workers who I have often mentioned in the Blog, who drove me insane has been transferred to work in ‘Big Bad’s’ office, sitting in the cube next to Claire.

I feel bad for Claire, because now she’ll have to listen to the singing, and toe-tapping…the endless personal phone calls on desk and cell phone. The giggling, and stupid questions….the huffing-and-puffing. But Claire has way more patience when it comes to the thorn-in-my-side who now has to share that office. And Claire is more easy-going and diplomatic. Regardless I must do the *Snoopy dance of joy* over the fact that Thorn-in-my-side, bane to my existence is relocated. One down and one more to go.

Anyway as I move on to the oddities that have transpired this morning when I came in to the office. In my cube was a piece of luggage with i.d. tags on it. Was I going somewhere without being given notice? Was my boss shipping me out? NOPE! Turns out a sales trainee had lost his luggage, and one of the night staff put it in my cube for safe keeping. And damn…I thought I was going to Ventura, CA as to the town where the luggage resides.

On my way back from delivering the misplaced luggage to the Sales Training dept. I decided to hit the ladies room. Now, I do understand why it was…but I still find it odd. Every toilet in the six stalls had its seats flipped up. (Ok, I understand it was for cleaning purposes.) But it was just funny, because for a second I panicked and couldn’t help but wonder if I had wandered in to the men’s room.