Some Spooky Thoughts Pre-Halloween

It's my "day off" today, and the first load of laundry is already washing in the laundry room. No PT today, and it's my day off from the gym too, so I'm getting the opportunity to catch up on work and other tasks. I'm tired of cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, and I want to give my finger a few more days to heal, so I'm going to bring some of my card components home from the shop and work on them here instead. I usually get an hour or so in the early mornings at the shop, but I should be able to get at least two hours into them today if I bring some materials and equipment home. 

What a marvelous Halloween display, from Cincinnati, Ohio. I love the
skeletal horse and the coach driver's hat really makes the display sing. 

It looks like it's going to be a cold Halloween this year - the past two days have started out in the 20's and only warmed up into the 30's. As the song says, "Baby, It's Cold Outside". On cold Halloweens we usually have minimal visitation from either small cherubs or college students, and I'm hoping tomorrow will carry out that tradition. I'd rather have a relaxing evening than get up and down constantly to answer the door and give out candy. Of course, DH purchased candy, but he specifically got ones that we enjoy eating because he knows most of it will be ours over the next few months. 

"Doctor Sleep" stars Ewan McGregor as a grown up Danny, still
fighting his telepathic monsters and his own genetic heritage of
alcoholism given by his murderous father. Watch the trailer. It
actually looks like it might have potential, although beating the
original will be hard to do. 

Among the things in my email in-box this morning was a teaser for the upcoming thriller, "Doctor Sleep" which opens nationwide on November 8th. The film is the continuation of one of my favorite scary films of all time - "The Shining". In this new movie, Danny, the small young boy from the original movie, is now grown up and dealing with his demons, both past and present, seen and unseen. Want to see the trailer? Here's a You Tube link for you to check out. I know I'll be too frightened to see this in the theater, but I might consider seeing it at home at some point. I've seen "The Shining" numerous times and it STILL frightens me, to this day. 

"The Shining" was one horror movie that still gets
me every time I see it. There are still parts I haven't
seen clearly because my eyes are closed. Yes, I'm
a fright wuss. 

Of course, "The Shining" was filmed at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. I remember the hotel fondly from my youth when we would go up to that area to visit my Tante Gerty and my cousin Miki. The hotel dominated the valley, and it's still a beautiful and amazing place to visit. I was up there about fifteen or twenty years ago for a conference, but was day-tripping and didn't stay overnight. Probably just as well. I might be in love with the building, but I'm easily frightened. 

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, is magnificent and old. It
opened in 1909 and many have claimed various rooms and venues
within its walls as haunted. Numerous ghost hunters have stayed there, trying
to confirm or debunk the rumors. So far there is still no conclusive
proof of haunted hotel halls and rooms. 

So that's the plan for today. Work on holiday cards and give my finger a few more days to heal before diving back into major cleaning. I hope all of you have a wonderful day that is filled with sunshine and lollipops, not ghosts and haunted hotels. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Dragon Flies

I worked hard at my O-fic, "Dragon Seeks a Wife", yesterday, finally finishing up the text shortly before Aearwen phoned me for our weekly chat. We had a totally delightful hour catching up with writing, music and families, finally signing off with a promise to talk again next week. I'm already looking forward to it. After starting the next load of laundry in the dryer, making the bed and checking the mail I began editing the fic. I wanted to send it off last night, but still had three pages to edit when my eyes went bonkers at 9:00 pm. So when I awoke at 3:15 am this morning I went right to my computer and started the final edit. I was able to send the completed story to the publisher at 4:20 am this morning. Now I just hope that they enjoy the story enough to include it in the book. If they don't, I'll check out a couple of other places to submit it, but I also will have time to ask a couple of friends for beta help which would be wonderful. So if it doesn't get accepted, it's both good news and bad news at the same time. Rather like life in micro - LOL.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR SURVIVOR....Then a quick discussion of Ghost Hunters

Zane was voted off as the first in the new season.

Last night was the first episode of Survivor Philippines. By the time I had been watching it for an hour I was already bored. I decided to switch over to watch Ghost Hunters instead, flipping back and forth during commercials. So I was able to watch Zane get voted off before returning to Jason, Adam and the Ghost Hunter crew. My DH said that Zane was really stupid, telling people that he didn't want to put out the effort for some really stupid reason. He was a character and it might have been fun to see him play, but ... really? I mean ... REALLY?

Survivor Returnees L-R Michael Skupin, Johathan Penner and Russel Swan

It was a joy to see Russel Swan (2009 - Samoa) and Michael Skupin (2001 - Australia) return, although I am totally lukewarm about Jonathan Penner (Fan vs Favorites). Jonathan always struck me as annoying and I suspect he still is. But Russel and Michael were both fun to watch in their individual seasons and I think they will pull me in to watch the show as long as it is only 60 minutes long. Then I will happily switch over to Ghost Hunters.

Ghost Hunter Adam Berry

Ghost Hunters was investigating a New Orleans bar and hotel that had been experienced an arson fire in 1973, killing 32 men. It was a gay bar and safe house and allowed Adam Berry to come out of the TV closet on camera in an easy and natural way. He's never hidden his sexual preference in interviews, but it hadn't been explored or utilized on the show before this episode, to my knowledge. He's a nice guy and a good investigator and displayed some real sensitivity to the spirits of these dead men. Now to decide on my next writing project.....