The 31st Hallowe'en is here again. Well, was here seeing as it's all over now. I did the Mr. Dim thing again and gave out goodies to the kids, of which about sixty-seven showed up. I managed to scare a few which is both gratifying and sort of sad at the same time. I mean, the kids that get scared are usually under four years of age. It's probably good that I only had the mannequin-in-gorilla-suit and pumpkins set up and not the fucked up flashing trailer for The Exorcist looping on a TV while The Shining soundtrack blared in the background. That's what I was thinking of doing but figured scaring children is better than scarring children. After the kids dwindled off, I went over to Tammy's with Nathan to hang out and watch old horror movies. Mike, Kira, George, James and Jill were all over there too, most dressed for the occasion. It was a pretty good way to spend the evening, sitting back and relaxing with a bunch of people while The Wolfman played in the background. The 17th Last time I shot some scenes with Neil it involved me choking myself with my tie which ended up ruining the knot. This is a problem since I asked my dad to tie it for me, oh, maybe a year or more ago and just never took it out since I don't know how to tie a tie. Well, since the knot was all messed up I had to take it out and figure out how to tie a tie. I'm a twenty-eight-year-old male and it's sort of weird that I've never tied a Windsor or, hell, even a Half-Windsor. Then again, I only started driving a year ago so… In any case, with the aid of this classic "How to get yourself in a knot" tie-tying pamphlet I took my my parents' place, I executed the Four-in-a-hand knot with a fair degree of success. The Windsor looks complicated, though, but maybe I'll give it a shot since it has a classier name. The Half-Windsor sounds like a signature wrestling move. The 16th I've been watching a fair amount of movies and TV lately it would seem. I saw The Departed last week and it was excellent. Nicholson was especially great and it was another Scorsese classic. On the other end of the film spectrum, I went to see Trailer Park Boys: The Movie the other night and it was hilarious. They did a great great job making it a stand-alone story and I think Lahey probably had one of the funniest drinking scenes I have ever witnessed. On the small screen, I've been watching too many shows like CSI, Law & Order, and Battlestar Galactica in addititon to Lost and general channel surfing. I need to get away from the TV (except that Lost and B.G. are required) but not before I rent season two of Wonder Showzen. I saw an episode a while back at Tyler's and was blown away by how absolutely ridiculous, offensive and fucked it was. So I rented season one to see all of its insane glory and wasn't disappointed. If you haven't seen this show, it's one of the only good things to come out of MTV and is basically a children's show for adults. It has a lot of Sesame Street and other puppet-centric, educational shows influence along with a bunch of morbid, sadistic, mean-spirited, twisted humour with most of the material delivered by actual children just to make things even more demented. Rent it. Watch it. The 9th The last few days have been really nice so yesterday I borrowed Laine's camera and drove around listening to The Clash looking for things to take photos of. I ended up at Slemon Park to snap pics of the old hangars because they look really cool and weathered. Security drove up though and told me I was in a restricted area but the guy was cool and let me take photos anyway. There were lots of old buildings and signs everywhere, plus three de-commissioned airplanes just waiting to be photographed. After that I went to this yard owned by the city that's full of old junk, piles of dirt, utility poles and oil tanks. I snapped some neat stuff in there but I was losing light so I came home and saved the rest of my film for today. I went to my grandparents' place for Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon and brought the camera with me. I wanted to get some shots of the family, the house, the garden and all of the other classic stuff I've seen up there since I was a kid. On the way home, I was sitting in the back of Jason's car monkeying around with the camera trying to remember how to rewind the film when I pulled out something I shouldn't have and the back opened up a little bit. Needless to say, I was extremely pissed at myself for being so stupid and figured the film was ruined. I dropped it off to be processed just in case but didn't expect to get a set of prints. To my utterly joyous surprise, the woman working told me that my prints came out fine, that none of the film was exposed when the camera opened. She completely made my day, and I had a "$2.00 off film processing" coupon to boot! Here's a sampling of some of the Photos That Should Not Be: The 7th I don't usually drink much pop but I've come to enjoy and now declare that the creamy, deliciousness from Stewart's is without a doubt the best. I think the first time I ever tried it was when I was in Victoria a few years ago but originally bought it for the cool, retro bottle design. I even brought some of the empties back with me because I tend to do that sort of thing. Since that vacation I don't think I have come across it anywhere else and only recently had it again when Ian and Holly brought some for me from Nova Scotia. It's so bloody good. I can't even pick a favourite because every kind I've had I like probably far too much. Tonight I was given a pleasant surprise during a chocolate run to Needs. There, flirtatiously awaiting me in the very back cooler, were four enticing flavours of Stewart's Fountain Classic in all their juicy, colourful bottled glory. Fearing this would be the last I would see of these marvelous beverages for sale anywhere in this province, I grabbed one of each flavour like some desperate sugar-pervert. The chilled quartet of Key Lime, Ginger Beer, Orange n' Cream, and Cream Soda gently clinked together in the bag as I left the store, my tongue waiting in eager anticipation for their flavourful romancing. Cream Soda was the first to disappear but the others will soon follow. The only problem is that to feed my addiction I will need to keep buying Stewart's on a regular basis as long as it's available. Furthermore, as if to torture me, there are flavours missing from the cooler shelf, namely: Root Beer, Cherries n' Cream, Grape Soda, Birch Beer, Peach Soda, and Black Cherry. Some of those I haven't even tried yet and it's now my mission to sample a bottle of each flavour before I die. A lofty and important goal, I know. Wish me luck, and have insulin ready for me upon my return! The 6th I found a grey hair on my chin today so hopefully this heralds the beginning of something I've wanted since I was in junior high: pure white hair. I don't know why but I've always liked the idea of going grey at a young age and hope to someday (before I'm middle-aged) have completely white hair. Although, maybe I won't be so keen on it once it actually happens. There's no way in hell I'm going to get that beard dye though because I'd feel like a total imposter. Just for kicks, I could always grow my beard out long and shaggy, dye it jet black but keep the white, buzzed stumble on my head. That would definitely look weird. The 3rd Last night, one of the dreams I had involved me being some type of king who was supposed to lead an army into a battle. The thing is my army was just a bunch of guys hanging out in the front yard at my grandparents' house in Ellerslie. At one point, I decided it was time that I get suited up in my full plate armour so I was calling out for my page to help me suit up for the impending battle. A battle with whom? I don't know. Perhaps some rednecks from Tignish or O'Leary. In any case, my page was nowhere to be found and I was wondering what I should wear under my armour: just my pyjamas, nothing, or something altogether different? As I headed into the house to look for my armour there were two happenin' (albeit Valley Girl-ish) ladies in bikinis hanging out on the doorstep. They were also twins; one in blue, the other in pink. I asked them their names which were something like Samind and Burr. I made a mental note that their names rhymed with "Raymond Burr" and told them that once we returned from our victory in battle I would look for them so they could join us in our celebration. I don't remember much after that. I think the dream then involved me racing through the house frantically looking for my armour without any luck and screaming for my absent page to help me find it.