Happy Halloween 2011! (Created at Picnik.com)
What a weekend. NO INTERNET! It’s like somebody borrowed my arms for the weekend or something. I kind of sat in my chair for a few hours wondering what to do at first. Of course, then I realized OMG I needed to finish all my prep work for NaNoWriMo, which starts TOMORROW. Got a good bit of the outline done (whatever I end up with at the end of NaNo is going to need SERIOUS work if it’s going to be any kind of readable item. This is my first shot at a horror/murder mystery sort of thing, and I have NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING. There are giant holes in the plot that are going to take some serious work to fill.) For some reason I still haven’t finished my main character’s profile — which is really okay, because he’s developed in a lot of ways that I hadn’t expected just through the writing of the outline, so I’ll mostly just wing it.
So that was the POSITIVE of the WEEKEND OF NO INTERNET. The negative(s): 1.) I had to cancel a job due on Saturday because I couldn’t get the research done or submit the piece when it was finished. Bye bye, $20. Thanks, Charter Internet. I wonder if I can demand that back along with the one day lost service (which, btw, was completely nonsensical, as we DID NOT HAVE EVEN ONE FLURRY OF SNOW, NOR DID THE CABLE TV GO OUT.) and 2.) I didn’t get to do my whole annual scary-thon. I had a whole list of movies I hadn’t seen before, and I didn’t get to see a single one. I watched Rocky Horror, of course, because Halloween just doesn’t exist for me if I don’t do the Time Warp. I watched Night of the Living Dead, which… I don’t know, I think it’s been left behind too far by modern zombies to be really scary anymore. (My mother has had nightmares about it since she saw the original first run. If you really want to freak her out, just hide somewhere and whisper, “They’re coming to get you Baaaaabara.” Heh.) I have a fairly extensive collection of horror on DVD, but I’ve seen most of them so many times already, I’m BORED with them. Point being? NO ONLINE MOVIES.
Honestly? I’m kind of more annoyed about the latter than the former. I LOVE MY HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES. It’s my favorite frickin holiday, and having the festivities upset is like Xmas being being cancelled! The internet came back up late last night, so I got to watch the original Halloween, at least. It’s funny, as I was watching it (besides admiring that rockin late 70’s style — those platforms and bell bottoms, baby!), I was sadly thinking that it really hasn’t held up well over time. I mean, I seem to remember a LOT more people dying, and being scared half out of my mind the first time I saw it as a kid. But then, when I shut down my computer and started closing up the house for the night… I WAS CREEPED OUT OF MY TREE. SRSLY. We have this giant picture window in the kitchen with no curtains, just plants for privacy, and I had to like, RUN by it so I wouldn’t look out and see Michael Myers staring in at me. Closed shower curtain in the bathroom? THROWN OPEN. Which is TOTALLY against the Horror Movie Rules, but I couldn’t stand the idea that MICHAEL MYERS MIGHT BE HIDING IN MY SHOWER (totally getting my horror movies mixed up there). Got ready for bed FAST. Ran through bedroom, locked windows, slapped the shades shut, jumped into bed and under the covers. Of course, I then continued reading the horror novel I’ve been reading, but still. Reading isn’t as scary as movies for me for some reason. (Wow, that’s some ugly grammar.)
I think there are two ways a good horror movie can scare Teh Pee out of you. One is during the movie, when you’re gripping your chair so hard you crack the wood, or possibly your significant other. There’s all that jumping and screaming, etc, which doesn’t happen a lot with horror anymore. Then there’s the movie that stays with you after it’s over. The ones that make you stay out of the water, the basement, the attic, that make you scared to even look out the frickin windows, or go to camp, or go out at night at all, for that matter. I confess, for example, that The Ring did both for me. Same with the Blair Witch project (although the latter unfortunately has no real replay value — the gimmick only really works once.) But I’ll tell you what, after seeing the BWP in the theater, when I had to go down into my friend’s whitewashed basement to get soda or something, I was SERIOUSLY freaked.
Today I’m torn. I’ve not scheduled anything so I can watch Halloween programming, but I don’t know if I want to watch what’s happening on network TV, or if I want to try to get some of my scare-fest in. Not that I’m really restricted to today, of course. There’s nothing to say I can’t watch the rest of the week, but schedule-wise is going to be really hard — I have a newspaper piece due Thursday and need to finish up a few more interviews for it this week, I have Dr. appointments up the ying-yang and have to get bloodwork done for them (which means sitting at the blood draw for hours), and I have a meeting on Thursday about a possible tutoring job. Basically, incredibly busy week, no time for fun movies. BUMMED HEATHER.
OMG ALSO NANOWRIMO! 1667 words a day, baby. I have to make sure my Xanax prescription is filled while I’m out tomorrow so I don’t have a total breakdown this month, I swear. And what’s funny (not ha-ha funny) is that since I started focusing on the newspaper work and Yeepet.com, I haven’t been taking many of the regular contract pieces I was doing. I’m not sure how that’s going to effect my income this month, but I’m hoping the 3-4 pieces I’ll have in the paper next month will make up for it. The gifty holidays are coming, you know, and I have every intention of buying a Kindle Fire after the first of the year.
Wow, I’ve been so babbly today! I missed you guys! But now I must be off to finish the novel prep and debate the viewing schedule. I hope everybody has an awesome Halloween, and that my Pagan Friends have the most blessed New Year!
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Bloodthirsty Muses 