All Hallow's Eve...

Tomorrow is Halloween, a holiday that has always been a favorite of mine, but that I haven't done much for in years. This is mostly because I don't have kids to make costumes for or to take trick-or-treating. In addition, I can't go trick-or-treating as an adult (court order) because no one will give me any candy! So my favorite holiday has been a bit of an impass lately. I'm trying to find a way to get involved again.

Harvest moon...

My parents are coming down this weekend for the first time since we moved down here (actually my mom and sister and family did come down one other time). To my parents, Memphis will seem like outer space. But they really do need to get out more. It's fall, and different birds are showing up to my feeder, including lots more mourning doves (which I like to call Mexican Pidgeons). Exit the migratory hummingbirds, enter the Juncos and Chickadees.
And yes, it's harvest time. Lots of pumpkins and cider and haunted houses, the latter of which I enjoyed last night.

Anyways, back to my parents, who will be staying with us. To stay at my place means you accept the following:
• We have yappy dogs that are high-strung
• I have hundreds of miniatures (monsters, wierdos, zombies, skeletons, etc) that will stare at you at night from their shelves on the wall.
• The coffee maker is working almost around the clock every day.
• The dogs have their own couch (keeps them off of the main couch).
• The neighbors are odd.
• There is always plenty of beer and wine.

I'll post pics of the parents when they get here. They'll be the older folks on this very blog, with the deer-in-the-headlights look.

Podcasting...

I've been listening to Andi Sexgang's reading of the Bram Stoker masterpiece. Speaking of audio, here's me:

www.pulpgamer.com/2007/10/18/inside-track-033-bobby-stickel-of-sabertooth-games/

The Devil runs a piano bar in L.A. ...

Relax, have a cigar, make yourself at home. Hell is full of high court
Judges, failed saints. We've got Cardinals, Archbishops, Barristers,
Certified accountants, music critics, theyre all here.
You're never alone, not here you're not. Ok, breaks over...

Hello, Goodbye...

A bittersweet weekend has prompted this post. Last Friday, our friends J and M gave birth to their first-born. Mother and Pea-pod are doing fine.

Sadly, K's grandfather passed away in Ohio last week. Our condolences to K and S and their families. In addition, Jenn and I lost a dear friend yesterday: Marilyn Lubin lost a long-suffering battle with cancer. I'm of the belief that she's much better off now, no longer fighting a losing battle. I could open up this post to all the reasons that the world is unfair, and that this is proof of either:

a) No god, therefore this is just the nature of life as we know it.
b) God does exist, but he is obviously not interfering in anything he's created, and is only an observer, taking no real responsibility for his 'creation.'

Either answer suits me, but I really don't want the post to disintegrate to this.
It is best to celebrate the good memories that were left behind by those we lost, and to celebrate the new memories we are about to create with the lives we've gained.

"Where is the fisherman, where is the boat,
Where is the keeper in his carrion coat?
Eclipse on the moon when the dark bird flies
Where is the child with his father's eyes?"

Today at work...

The short story "The Mask" is introduced by an excerpt from Act I, Scene 2d:

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed, it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

Even the Dead have nightmares...

• Happy birthday to Sarah
• Our condolences to Keith
• Both moms are coming soon...
• Autumn is here and my fantasy football team lost to Jenn's this week.