Sunday, October 31, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 638


It’s Halloween, my favorite day of the year.  Because it falls on a Sunday, there’s something less special about it (at least around here*), though many in the family are getting together for Sunday dinner, where my brother-in-law is barbecuing ribs.

My niece and her boyfriend arrived in costume, but no one else thought to.  I’ve always been a little delighted about the idea of amusing couples’ costumes, and they chose to go as Jesus (him) and the Devil (her).  I worried, somewhat, that my mom would be offended by this, but the only person who complained was my sister, who doesn’t like the guy who took her daughter away from her.


Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 3249

I had considered going on another hike (the same one I did last Monday), but I didn’t make it.  There were activities with people around, and at one point, my sister’s family all got in their costumes again to take pictures, and then most of them went out trick or treating, even though that had happened the night before.

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 3646

Last month, I recorded an episode about the death of my uncle, and I edited it on Thursday, but felt like I needed to put something in there, besides just my thoughts about the man and a bit about his funeral.  So I got it into my head to write a short little fiction piece to go at the end of the episode.  

I sat down to write it, basically a follow-up to the story I wrote for (and about) my uncle, “Who Can It Be Now?”  But it too got away from me.  I got a thousand words into it, but it was only about a third of the way done.  But ah well, I don’t imagine people will complain, even if it ends up being three thousand words long.

I need to get to it, as I’m planning to hit the cabin one last time this week, and it would be nice to have stuff to edit (assuming the sound works on the machine, that is).

Words Today: 471
Words In Octubre: 21,798

Saturday, October 30, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 637


The kids went fishing (yet again--they went last night too) this morning, so there was silence in the house, and I considered recording, but there was actual work to be done, so I focused on that.  Then I threw a pizza in the oven, and while it cooked, I went out and raked leaves in the lawn, and then I ate the pizza, and as soon as that was done, I set up my microphone and started recording.

I got ten minutes in when my neighbor started up his leaf-blower.  The windows were closed, but it was intensely loud, so I did a bit of paperwork while I waited for him to finish.  The moment he was done, I fired up the recorder again, and got another three or four minutes in before the sound of a lawn mower next door started up, not as loud as the leaf-blower, but lower pitched and more rumbly.  It's been twenty minutes now, and there's no signs of stopping.*

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 3138

I did go back to the recording a while after that, and before I had even sat down in my chair, my nephews got home from their fishing trip and were screaming and turning the television up loud, which I will admit made me push my microphone over.  It hit the wall, knocked a stack of Star Wars figures down, and then I stomped once on the microphone stand.  It's been a few hours since I did that, and I'm not proud of myself, but I feel I need to admit to the act, before any of you consider voting for me for mayor.

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 3546

It’s the Saturday before Halloween, and I hit the library as soon as I could, but since it closed early, I got very few words in.  Still working on my carnival story, but I have to admit that I don’t know where it’s going, and that is usually a bad thing.

Words Today: 471
Words In Octubre: 21,798

*Technically, it did stop, and I thought, "Alright, finally, let's see where I was in the recordi--"  And then, he started mowing in the front yard too.  Well played, adversary to accomplishment, well played.

The Podcast That Dares 29: Casting the Runes

In this episode, I am presenting to you the 1911 story "Casting the Runes" by M.R. James.

Hey, can you pass me the runes, please?

Download this suckah by Right-Clicking HERE.

Support me on Patreon, suckah, by going HERE.

Logo by Gino "Rusting the Cans" Moretto.


 

Friday, October 29, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 636

Early in the morning (my nephew leaves for school at 7:30), my oldest nephew came in and asked me to help him come up with a costume to wear to school for Halloween.  I guess it hadn't occurred to him until the almost-literal last minute.  He went as "Blue Shirt Guy" from FREE GUY.

A few minutes after that, my sister asked for my help making her up as Sally from A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (in fairness, this she had asked me to do the night before).  She had a costume and a wig, which was cool, and all I had to do was put white make-up on her face, and then draw on scars and red lips.

But the make-up pencil she bought wouldn't work on the white facepaint, so I got out the paints I'd been using to paint models and action figures, and drew on the scars that way (with a paintbrush).  I thought it looked pretty darn good.  She also didn't have any red lipstick, so I used the red paint I'd gotten to pain Iron Man armor with, and did her lips with that.  I worried that it might burn her skin or something, but she claimed it was fine, and I thought it looked pretty good (and I could do much more detailed work with a paintbrush than a finger or cotton swab.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 3038

I was surprised when my brother-in-law announced that he was taking the boys fishing again, but I was free to take the four year old to a Trunk Or Treat at a nearby parking lot.  Do they have Trunk Or Treats where you live?  Are they capitalized?

I’d never taken anyone on a trunk or treat before (should that be capitalized?), but it was like going trick or treating, but on Easy mode.  There were a couple of dozen families there, with their many, many kids . . . and I was the only person not in costume.  That’s no exaggeration: even babies and dogs were dressed up for this thing.  Somebody told me the reason for that is that only people who wanted to be there were there, the people who really love Halloween.  

They had various activities set up in the parking lot, including the usual beanbag throws and ping pong ball toss games.  And they also had a game where they tied a string around donuts and had people compete to eat the donut first, which I volunteered my nephew for and recorded a moment of him struggling with.  I guess I should’ve done it myself, considering my love for donuts, but I didn’t see any other adults participating (and I already felt a bit weird for being the only childless, unmarried adult walking around, who hadn’t even bothered to put on a costume).

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In Octobre: 3446

Well, I haven't written a word today.  Somehow it's 2:19am.  Dammit.

I sat there, fighting sleep, writing a few words, then losing my focus, and finally, at 3:26, I called it a night, barely having managed three hundred words.  But hey, the best victories are the ones that be hardest fought.  You know who said that?

Rish Outfield, at 3:27am.

Words Today: 345
Words In Octubre: 21,327

Thursday, October 28, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 635

Another day is upon us.  I woke up early, and recorded a podcast as the day lightened, and felt alright about it.  We'll see in January when I put these up, if anybody cares.*

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 2927

This has been, probably, my best week of the year for writing.  It's also the week of Halloween, so that's pretty great.  I finished writing "There'll Be Scary Ghost Stories," then sat down and wrote a story I had tentatively titled "Walk of Death" over two days, and here I am, having started a new one, which I thought I'd called "The Dark Gift," but now I'm not so sure.

This is what came up when I looked up "dark gift."  Pretty cool, Mr. Name.

I started with the title, and tried to figure out what that could mean.  Then I just started a story, set in the Pickle Days carnival of some stories from yesteryear.  If I can figure out where it's going, I could finish it today.  Unless, that is, where it's going is a much bigger story.

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In Octobre: 3335

A moment ago, my cellphone buzzed.  I looked over, and somehow, I had gotten a text from my niece, despite there not being any service up here.  This happened once or twice last summer, and I could never quite explain it.  It's even stranger today, when I know I'm the only person up here.  I didn't hear another soul or vehicle the whole time I've been here, and I checked the road this morning, and there are no other tire tracks except mine.

Did I mention that yesterday, that I had the only tracks in the snowy road, which told me I was the only person up here?

I recorded a story for an episode (and another that I probably won't use), took a fun nap where I covered myself completely in blankets yet still managed to breathe somehow, and wow, now it's nearly time to start packing up again.

Words Today: 423
Words In Octubre: 20,982

*And really, what if they don't?  What if it's only me?  Kinda scary, that thought.  But hey, if it's only one person who cares, that's something.  A person is something.  You are something.  Come to think of it, so am I.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 634

Feeling sorry for myself today.  Not sure if I'm going to the cabin or not.  Let me decide right now and get back to you.

Alright, I've decided.  I can't go until later this afternoon, but I'll get my work done now, and call that something positive.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 2816

I came to the cabin again, kind of last minute.  My brother-in-law's birthday is today, so his grown son came down and he took the day off from work, and said he was going to go fishing (which invariably involves taking my dad's truck), so I figured, "Well, I'll just have to skip the cabin this week.  Maybe next week I'll go and that'll be it for the season."  But to my surprise, he took some fishing poles out of the truck and put them in his car so he could go fishing that way, leaving me free to drive up into the mountains again.

Happy birthday to me too.

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 3224

I got up here, thinking I might have made it fine in my car, but once I got to the lake, there was fresh snow everywhere, and a long stretch of road with no tire tracks in it, meaning nobody else was up here except me.  I got the truck stuck again, but just momentarily, and got here to the cabin, where there was no one around, and I could sing as loud as I wanted.  It is cold today--in the thirties both inside and outside the cabin.  But I started the fire, and it's now gotten up to forty-one degrees in here . . . which is still miserable cold, but hey, another few degrees and I won't be able to see my breath anymore.

I must just be the world's worst fire-builder, because it took HOURS for the cabin to be even moderately warm enough to function in.  And it's possible that it's that there's all these huge windows along the walls, especially where the table is and I'm working, and the cold gets in that way, but I put on an extra layer of clothes, and at one point did that thing where I put a sock on the stove, then put it on my foot, while the other sock was on the stove, but that stopped when one of the socks suddenly shriveled and burned the moment it was on the stove (unless I blacked out or something, and it was on there for a full minute instead of two or three seconds).

I started and restarted the computer over and over again, angry and frustrated, just wanting the sound to work, and stupidly figuring it would just come back on its own (I went through a tech support chat last week, and downloaded a new audio driver, but reinstalling that does absolutely no good, and I can't say why the sound sometimes comes back after a reboot and sometimes doesn't), but I've got to say that the relief I feel when the sound finally does come back (this was after, no exaggeration, ten or eleven restarts) is tantamount to losing your kid in a store or a convention (which happens plenty to me, this week included).

I hate the cold.  I burned almost every single log I'd stacked three weeks ago, and then some, having brought a couple up from outside, but not wanting to use them because they were snow-covered.

For my night's entertainment, I watched UNKNOWN, the Liam Neeson movie from 2011, which I had seen when it came out, but couldn't really remember for some reason (in a mystery movie like that, it's kind of a blessing not to remember it, so you can puzzle it out again--same thing happened with KNIVES OUT, where I had forgotten enough details to rewatch it just this year), but enjoyed a second time.

Words Today: 1802
Words In Octubre: 20,559


Big's Story "Still They Ride" on Delusions of Grandeur


Last year (or maybe it was the year before), Marshal Latham had a contest over on his Journey Into... podcast where he assigned Journey song titles, and volunteers were supposed to write short stories based on those song titles.  Well, you've already heard mine ("Troubled Child"), but everybody's pal Big Anklevich also contributed one.  

His was called "Still They Ride," and since it had a Star Wars theme, we decided to put it on the "Delusions of Grandeur" podcast.  It features Speeder Bikes, and has a fun, full-cast production.  Afterward, Big joins Marshal and me to talk about the story and the various Stormtroopers throughout the Trilogy (and beyond).  Check it out HERE!

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 633

I came back to the library today, hoping to finish the story I started yesterday.  Unfortunately, I am misspelling every fifth or sixth word I type, and that either means I have forgotten to type, or there’s something wrong with this keyboard (it took three tries to get this sentence typed).

My cousin and I are going to see DUNE tonight (or, I should say, DUNE PART I, since Legendary Pictures announced a DUNE PART II today), and my friend Jeff has already called from Germany to ask me about it.  “Dune” is his STAR WARS, and it was he who made me sit down, years ago, and watch the David Lynch version, pausing it to explain every five minutes or so, and dragging out that viewing experience to just under four hours.  He saw the movie more than a month ago, and I guess it’s now my turn.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 2705

To my surprise, it was hard for me to walk down stairs today and yesterday (and tomorrow too).  Has it been so long that I hiked a mountain that it takes me by surprise, or takes me a while to recover?  Part of me wants to do it again, and soon, because it's so close, so pretty to look at, and costs practically nothing.  I'd ask my nephew if he wants to go with me next time, but I know he'll say no.

My cousin and I went and saw DUNE tonight.  I had made it a point to (finally) read the book this year, and spoke at length with my buddy Jeff, who saw it back in September in Germany.



DUNE was pretty spectacular, especially the first half (what’s strange is that, in the days before seeing it, I kept hearing that the movie was pretty boring/lame until all the action starts, and it turned out that I liked the world-building and character development stuff the most).  And I really enjoyed being able to talk to my cousin (who has read the book several times) and my pal Jeff (who loves the book the way everybody loves chalupas) about things that I liked in the movie, and things I missed from the novel.

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 3124

I intended to finish the story, and finish it I did.  I was surprised it took so many words, but ah well.  As usual, I don't know if it's a good story or a bad one, but I'm pleased to have written it, and it's not like anything else I've written (that I can think of, anyway).  A colony on an alien world has a gathering every year where the horrible, disease-carrying old man from the end of town has to walk around the square, enduring their hatred, because if he doesn't, they'll all die of a disease that aliens brought with them, many years before.

Huh, when I put it that way, it does sound pretty good.  But I have a suspicion it's not.

I guess I did write a story like this once, when I lived in Los Angeles.  In it, I'm at work, and the Devil comes to me and says that if he can take the souls of my coworkers, then he'll give me all sorts of riches and boons.  I turn him down, since I know they have families and inner lives, and the day continues, and as I go to lunch, my coworkers mutter to themselves about what a piece of shit I am.

I have a gift, I know.

Words Today: 2203
Words In Octubre: 18,757

Monday, October 25, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 632

Last night, I COULD have recorded a couple more chapters of "Hatchling," which would've meant at least three hundred words of writing.  But I watched TV instead.  I had DVRed (I nearly typed "taped") "Saturday Night Live" over the weekend, and watched it, despite only thinking two sketches were funny.

Today is Monday, and usually I am inundated with work . . . but not today.  That's good for my laziness, but not good for my pocketbook.  Instead, I was thinking of doing my hike this afternoon, the one I've put off for two months now.  I downloaded a long podcast that I could listen to while hiking, and it's a cool day but not a cold one, so I should be fine to climb a mountain.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 2605

I did my hike, even though the sky was grey and it was threatening to rain.  It was actually much easier this time than the last couple of times, because the sun wasn’t shining and it wasn’t at all hot today (it got up to the high sixties, before the storm clouds rolled in).  Even so, when I finally got back to my car, I was sweaty and smelled like I had hiked five miles instead of, I can’t remember, four?

While I was hiking, I saw a couple of astoundingly attractive people, and marveled as they went by, thinking, however briefly, that I was doing the same activity as they were, and that all men are brothers.

It started to rain as I drove back home, and I decided to duck into the library first, so I could get some writing in.  Instead, I jotted down an idea I had for a story (while walking), about a cursed old man who has to do a sort of walk of shame once a year in the village in which he lives.  The townsfolk spit and throw rocks at him, and the children quake with fear seeing him walk by, but the old man isn’t evil, he’s just me.

Unfortunately, that sort of thing doesn’t count as writing words, so insert farting noise here.

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 3024

Ultimately, I did start the story, and got nearly a thousand words in, which is great.  I don’t know that the story is, but I know Marshal will appreciate it.

Words Today: 1011
Words In Octubre: 16,554

Sunday, October 24, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 631

I woke up insanely early once again this morning, before there was any light in the sky.  And once again, I just ignored it, walking over to restart the computer again (to get sound), then went back to bed.

I finished my Dead & Breakfast Christmas story last night* but guess what, it's sort of unfinished today.  It looks like I did save the document at 1:59am, so it could've been a hell of a lot worse (I imagine it was only two or three paragraphs I'll have to redo).  That's something I could do today before my regular alarm goes off, or I could grab an unfinished document (like the Will Choner one from, when was it, last year?) and work on that.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 2505

Yesterday was dark and cloudy (I was honestly surprised there was any juice in the solar batteries, but they must have charged days ago), but today is sunny and the sky is blue.  Even though the sun is still low in the sky, the temperature is warming up, and the snow on the roof  is melting fast enough it looks like it's raining through the east side windows.


Push-ups Today: 200
Push-ups In Octobre: 2924

I sat down and recorded a Robert Bloch story, and nearly finished editing another Outcast show (a now-outdated one from back in June).

I made lunch, and listened to Campfire Radio Theater, a Horror audio drama with the absolutely best sound quality and voicework.  Every year or two, they ask me to do a voice on their show, and I'm always jealous of the shows I don't get to work on.  I get the impression (and I could be up in the night, as they used to say in my hometown) that the show isn't all that popular, but man, it should be.


While listening to the latest episode ("The Ghost of Lorie Keegan"), I was reminded of when I was in Fifth Grade, and how they had built a new elementary school in my town, but it was right next to the old school, which had not yet been torn down.  It was a big, ugly building built around the Depression (man, it might even have been before the Depression), where I had gone to Kindergarten through Fourth Grade, and they had built a fence around it, but it was still a rite of passage to sneak inside and run around, laughing and screaming and daring one another to go into the bathrooms or the gym or--gasp!--the girls locker room upstairs.  I vaguely recall getting caught in there one time and having to go to the principal's office, but I also remember escaping unpunished on one or two other occasions.


The old school was a dark, empty, haunted-feeling place, and I've never written about it.  So I wondered what kind of story could be told about that, about being ten years old and "bravely" sneaking inside the off-limits building.  I would think it would be a horror story, naturally, but something about there being a tragic accident in the abandoned school that haunts the main character into his/her adulthood?  Or of a kid getting dared to go in there encountering something that lives in the school--and what happens to that presence when the school is bulldozed to the ground?

I started to read my book when the sound went out on my computer again (I restarted it, and there was nothing.  I restarted it three times more, and there was still no sound), but then fell asleep, and I slept too long, and felt all groggy and worthless after that.  Plus, dark clouds had rolled in, and it seemed much later than it was.  Finally, upset at my computer (I couldn't get any more editing done, or even listen to another podcast), I packed up my things and got in the truck.

I couldn't figure out how to get the truck out of 4 Wheel Drive, despite there being a knob to do it on the dashboard.  The truck did not want to go places in that setting, so I hiked up to where I could send my sister a text to ask my brother-in-law how to get it to go back into 2 Wheel Drive.  Again, feel free to mock me if you already knew the answer to this, but he said I had to shift into Reverse, go backwards, and then flip the switch to 2 Wheel Drive again.

Yes, it makes total sense, right?  


I made it home alright.

Oh, and one more thing, Gunther from "Friends" died today.  I'm not sure if that's significant, but hey, I loved that show, so I ought to say something.  So long, Gunther (I hope there was an episode I missed where he got it on with Rachel . . . but I didn't miss many).


Words Today: 865
Words In Octubre: 15,543

*When I say "finished," I typed "the end" at the point where the story concludes, but it's in really rough, absolutely unpublishable shape (I basically wrote it in fits and starts in various locations, and it will need a substantial rewrite just to get something coherent out of it (plus, I need to get the characters' names straight, instead of just ___ and "the janitor" and "the handyman").

Saturday, October 23, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 630

When I came into the cabin last week, stressed from driving in the snow and not being able to get up (either side of) the driveway, I looked around for my laptop, and realized I didn't have it.  I swore pretty darn professionally, and thought about what kinds of things I could do to pass the time without my laptop.  I could read, I could sleep, I could record podcasts (unless, of course, the memory was full, in which case, I wouldn't be able to delete anything off of it), but the activities I usually depended on my laptop for (audio editing, writing, watching movies, reading articles I'd saved from the internet) were right out.*


Maybe I could grab a notebook and write that way (I'd have to, if I wanted to not break my daily writing streak), but that had always been a pain, and it has been over a year since I wrote anything in there.

But then I remembered putting something behind the seat in the truck, and I went back out there and found the laptop there, as well as a loaf of week-old bread.

Well, today, the drive was in the rain, but it was warmer out, and it wasn't until I got to the top of the canyon that I saw snow everywhere.  Instead of snow-covered, the dirt road that leads to the lake was mud-covered, and I had zero problem driving through . . . until I got to the little road that leads to the cabin, and at that point, I think my little Toyota would've gotten stuck.  But I was driving the truck once again (my nephews wanted to go fishing this morning, so I told them to go, and I'd leave as soon as they'd brought the truck back, but they left the darn thing smelling like dead fish), and made it to the driveway, where it promptly got stuck in pretty much exactly the same spot the truck stalled out the first time last week, except I just left it there, choosing not to get it deep embedded like last Saturday.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 2394

But here I am, sitting around in the cold (I built a fire, but it promptly went out), too stupid to put a coat on, but typing away.


I tried to drive up to the dam again, as I have every trip this year . . . except for last week, when I got the truck stuck in the driveway.

Well, today was a little worse.

I backed down the driveway (all ten feet or so) and then started up the road, which was half snow and half mud, and when I got to the turn at the end of the road, it became just snow (I guess it's too shady to melt or something) and went uphill.  And wouldn't you know it, the truck wouldn't make it up the hill, and I figured I'd have to back down and find a place to turn around.  But I couldn't see the road behind me . . . and I backed right off the road and onto the soft shoulder.  And there, the truck got stuck.

I couldn't go forward, I couldn't go back, I tried giving it all the gas I could, but stopped when I could smell smoke.  I got out of the truck, and the tires had just been spinning in muddy divots, and there was lots of smoke coming off the tires.

I thought maybe someone would come along and help push the truck out of the hole, but I haven't seen anybody else since I got up here (guess they're a lot smarter than me).  Well, I didn't waste any time, I walked back to the cabin (actually breaking into a run when I got to the driveway) and grabbed the shovel I'd used to dig myself out last week.  Then I walked back to the truck, which I'd left running, half-in half-out of the road.

I dug a trench in front of the tires, tossing heavy chunks of half-frozen mud behind me (getting my pantlegs good and dirty in the process), and then tried the truck again.  I got it moving forward a bit, and tried to back it onto the road, but it got stuck again--it's a mystery how I ended up so far off the road, except that the truck must've slipped considerably in the mud when I was sliding.

I got out again and this time dug both in front and behind the tires, and tossed the shovel in the back.  I got into the truck again . . . and saw, for the first time, the switch to change to 4 Wheel Drive.  A little voice inside my head asked if my mother had any children that lived, and I flipped the switch.  The truck moved forward easily, getting out of the mud and back onto the road, then up the hill where I had done nothing but slide earlier.  

I was rather disgusted with myself, but hey, what else is new?  At least I didn't have to worry about getting stuck again today, tomorrow, or in the future.  Just don't tell anyone about my stupidity, alright?

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 2724

To end out the night, I watched a 1974 movie, THE FRONT PAGE, with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which I had picked up because it was a remake of Howard Hawks' HIS GIRL FRIDAY, which I quite enjoyed (the original starred Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant, and while most of the film was beat-for-beat the same, the main character's gender had been switched).  It was modernized (ie, there was more profanity than an HBO stand-up special populated entirely by sailors), but set in 1929.


Late, late at night, I was watching a second movie, when a warning came on the screen that the battery was low.  I ignored it for thirty seconds or so, too lazy to move, then grabbed the laptop and took it over to the table to plug it in (better safe than sorry, you know?).

And while I was reaching on the floor for the plug, the laptop shut down.  I counted to about four before I got it plugged in again, but it was too late.  The system wouldn't just start up again, but insisted on restarting, and sure enough, the stuff I had been working on (including this blog), was gone.  If I had only gotten up to plug it in ten (or even five) seconds earlier, it would've all been safe.  Or, seeing it another way, if the laptop had only warned me when the battery was at ten percent (or even five), I would've gotten it electricity in time.  Great.

Words Today: 1333
Words In Octubre: 14,678

*Two years ago, I didn't come up to the cabin for three weeks because I didn't have a laptop (and it occurred to me later I could've checked one out from the library, if I was only using it to write)--not just one missed opportunity, but three!

Friday, October 22, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 629

I got some work done today, but what's it all for, Basil?

There are good days and there are bad days.  And maybe, Billy, Jupiter gives us bad days so that we can appreciate the good days.  

Sometimes I want to blog less than I want hemorrhoids.  But the great thing about America is, you can have both!

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 2283

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In Octobre: 2624

I went to the library for the first (and only) time this week.  I got the sound working on my laptop again, and was afraid to jinx it, so I left the laptop at home and drove over and used one of their computers.  I like that.

What I don't like is that I spent nearly an hour reading Wikipedia articles about Henry Fonda and L. Ron Hubbard.  And I can't even claim it was research for a story (or even a line of dialogue).  It was just morbid curiosity on my part.

But I did get some writing done, so I'll take the win.  Or was it a tie?

Words Today: 977
Words In Octubre: 13,345

Thursday, October 21, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 628

I'm blogging instead of doing anything remotely productive right now.

I don't know how this happened, exactly (I think I was looking for an old blog post with a picture of Spider-man in it, but I've forgotten, since it happened ten minutes ago), but I came across this post from last year, when I sat down and wrote a story called "Message To My Girl."  I remembered that, as well as what the story was about, and wondered if I counted it in my list of stories written in 2020 (I had).

I was curious how long the story was, to see if I could run it on the show . . . and I couldn't find it.  

It was another one of those pieces that just slipped through the cracks somehow.

Well, I spent a few minutes checking my emails, and I did find it (in an email sent to myself on August 7th), posted into the body of an unread email.  Makes me wonder how many more like that are out there.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 2183

Both of my nephews who are in school failed to go to school today (one has a headache and one has been throwing up), and yet I feel I have been less productive than they have today (they're both watching TV).

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 2513

Well, whether you consider this productive or not, I did track down the story, transfer it to my Dropbox, and recorded it in audio.  At the very least, it's another story to put in one of those collections that will never come out.  At the most, I guess I have an episode for next February.

Words Today: 332
Words In Octubre: 12,368

Rish Outcast 208: Lara and Me


So, here's another episode out of order, but ah well.  In this one, I talk a bit about the whole "Lara and the Witch" series, and the recently-completed novel "When You Need It Most."

Also, Fake Sean knew you were trouble when you walked in.  He's wise that way.

Download the darn episode by Right-Clicking HERE.

Support me on Patreon right . . . about . . . HERE.

Logo by Gino "The Brand New Zealander" Moretto.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 627

Today is Wednesday, when I would normally go to the cabin, and I did consider it, but my mom asked if I would be available tonight to take my nephew to his basketball practice, and I told her I would.  It rained heavily on Monday and lightly on Tuesday, and that probably means another half foot of snow (or more) at the cabin, and since I almost didn't make it on Saturday, I decided to bow out today.  I will try to get some writing done today, even though I was focused on audio editing mostly.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 2083

I recorded a Conan the Barbarian story last week at the cabin, and it took a lot out of me (it was a super long story; the recording was about eighty minutes), but it reminded me that, about ten years ago, I recorded a Conan story called "The Phoenix on the Sword" for my solo podcast, and then lost the recording, and sat down to record it again.  I had edited some of it (as far as I could remember), but never did anything with it, and a decade passed.

So yesterday, I looked, and sure enough, I still had that work-in-progress (it said I had last worked on it in March of 2013).  So, I transferred that file to my laptop, so I could finish it at the cabin today, and put it out as an episode, before I even start editing the long one.

Push-ups Today: 125
Push-ups In Octobre: 2413

I finished editing the story while I waited for my nephew to practice basketball, and I recorded an episode to go with it.  It was interesting to hear how I did story readings a decade ago, compared to the one I did last week (or maybe it was three weeks ago, crazy how fast the time goes), and hopefully, people enjoy these old stories.  If I had any ambition at all, I'd stick a bunch of my recent readings up on YouTube, but hey, there's only so much fuel in the ambition tank.

Before going to bed, I plugged in my mic and re-recorded a bit on "Underdecorated" that I realized I had gotten wrong while editing at the cabin (using the last name Keith instead of Smith and such), and then I decided to forge ahead and record a chapter of "Hatchling."  Just like the last time (guess it was only Monday), I was astounded (or whatever the most negative synonym for "astounded") by how poor the writing was, how uninspired, how not good I found it.

This was something I worked hard on last year, putting at least a month into of writing every single day.  I often feel bad when I put out a podcast or a cover that's half-assed, but I wouldn't think of the stories themselves as being like that.

Jason Sanford recently sat down with Big and me and talked about writing his first novel.  He said that after the first draft, he put it away for six months, because he knew it had problems that would need to be fixed, and when he picked it up again, had to do a significant rewrite.  I feel like that might be the case with this one, except I wonder if Sanford ever considered just trashing the whole thing and hanging his head in shame.

Not that I'm going to do that--like I said on Monday, "Hatchling" was the best work I could do, something I was passionate about, and maybe it's just my own neurosis telling me it's so terrible.*

Words Today: 411
Words In Octubre: 12,036

*Besides, Chapter 3 is where they find the egg, and the story should kick into second gear then (third or fourth gear coming when it finally hatches, depending on whether the romance is third gear or not).  I hope there's a moment in the next chapter or two where I go, "Oh, okay.  Now it's started getting good.  Thank, Bossk!"

Marshal and I Review BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS

Over on the Outfield Excursions show (part of the Journey Into... channel), Marshal Latham and I talk about BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, a Roger Corman-produced Sci-Fi adventure starring Johnboy Walton and John Saxon, from 1980.  Is it a rip-off of STAR WARS or a rip-off of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN?  Can it be both?

Check it out HERE!


Tuesday, October 19, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 626

So, today was the last day I had to hang out with Jeff before he left for Germany once again.  This was the longest he's ever stayed on one of his visits (he was paying for it out of his own pocket, he told me, so he was going to milk it as much as possible*), but even so, the whole visit seemed like a blur to him, and was over all too quickly.  He doesn't know when he'll be coming back, but he showed me the notebook he carries around with him (it has lists of books to pick up when he finds them, among other things, maybe even story ideas, I dunno), where he had drawn a calendar of the time he has left in Germany before he'll be able to retire.  He's been crossing out the days, even though it's going to be 2024 at the soonest before he's done.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 1972

I did what I could to spend as much time as I could with him, but I do have some responsibilities and obligations.  Stuff like exercising every single day is actually pretty easy, since it takes, what, five minutes to do a few sit-ups and push-ups.  But writing is harder, and finally, I had to tell him this would be our last episode of "Supernatural" (I think we watched five), so I could get home and perch in front of my laptop for a few minutes.

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In Octobre: 2288

Words Today: 772
Words In Octubre: 11,625

*And even then, his employer kept calling him at five or six in the morning with problems for him to fix, since he's really the only one qualified to fix them at his job.

Monday, October 18, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 625

There was a Marvel Legends Spider-man figure from a few years ago (commonly referred to as "Pizza Spidey") that has become insanely valuable over the last five years.  I only had one left, a loose one I had used for various poses and pictures.  Well, I put it on the windowsill the other day, then forgot about it, but noticed it today:


It had fallen over and somehow had its head smashed in the closed window, preventing the window from fully closing, almost like it had been done on purpose.  Something tells me it's not worth a fortune anymore.

Sit-ups Today: 66
Sit-ups In October: 1861

For some reason, Jeff bought a horror trivia card game while he was here, and delighted in quizzing his daughter and son and daughter-in-law with the questions.  Three or four times when I came over, he grabbed the cards and did it, and I found the questions to be almost insultingly easy (“The town of Amity Island was terrorized by a killer shark in what 1975 blockbuster?”  “Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for the portrayal of which character in The Silence of the Lambs?”  “What was the name of the cursed book in the Evil Dead series of films?”  "Name three people less attractive than Rish Outfield.  I'll wait."

I guess we have a similar background in horror, because I took a turn and asked the questions, and he could answer them all, except for the ones about 21st Century Horror films.  The only one that we both missed was, “Who was considered the very first Scream Queen?”  Jeff said Janet Leigh and I said Faye Wray, and the answer on the card was Jamie Lee Curtis.  Hmmm.

Push-ups Today: 66
Push-ups In Octobre: 2177

Darn, I just didn't get much done today, as far as my goals go.  But I'm about to sit down and record the first chapter (or two) of "Hatchling," which was one of my goals for October (and September too, but don't remind me of my failings).

Alright, I did it--got the first two chapters recorded.  And you'll not be surprised to discover I thought that they sucked.  But ah well, it really was the best I was capable of, so I'll make no apologies for it.

Words Today: 194
Words In Octubre: 10,853

Sunday, October 17, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 624

So, the day began as it usually does here at the cabin: I woke up early (in today's case, before the sun was even on the horizon).  When I get up that early, I have a few options as to what I can do.  Often, I will blog or edit audio, and sometimes (rarely) I will write a few words.  But most of the time, I will go back to sleep (either after having done something productive, or before).  Today was the latter.

You see, I've been having problems with my laptop's audio device.  A few months back, I turned it on, and there was no sound.  The computer claimed there was no audio driver installed.  I worried about that, but you know what the first rule of computer systems is, and I restarted my laptop.  Doing the restart reset my audio driver, and I didn't worry about it.  Until it happened again.

Lately, every other time I start my computer, it has no sound.  The headphone jacks don't work either, otherwise that would be a temporary solution.  But I save my work, restart the system, and sometimes the sound comes back, and sometimes it doesn't.  This week, more times than not, it hasn't come back.  Three, four times I have to restart the system, and then the sound magically appears.  But not today.  I'd say we're on our tenth restart (yesterday, it probably took six or seven), and no sound at all.

It's not the end of the world, except for more than half of what I do up here at the cabin involves sound.  Even transferring files off my recorder and deciding what can be deleted requires listening to them, since the files are always named ZOOM0057 or such.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 1795

I figured I would go in the other room and record a story--my last story of the season, I suppose--and I can certainly read, blog, and write fiction without an audio driver, but it is a problem.  When I get back to civilization (assuming I can get the truck out of the hole I've dug for myself), I'll ask Jeff if he can fix the laptop, or make suggestions.  One thing's for sure, though, when I take it over for him to look at, the sound will work just fine.

Push-ups Today: 200
Push-ups In Octobre: 2111

Last night, the moon was really bright, and its light reflected off the snow on the ground, making it much lighter outside of the cabin than inside (once I turned the lights off).  I didn't think to take a picture, but it was cool to look out of and be able to see every tree and hill and boogeyman.  It was kind of like when they'll shoot day-for-night in movies, but when they don't do it well and you think, "That can't be right."


Marshal Latham has been doing little personal podcasts for his Patreon supporters this month, as part of his goal to exercise and write every single day (keeping himself accountable by reporting on his progress), and it really makes me want to do the same thing.  Yes, it would be more work, but boy, I really do enjoy podcasting, and I think I might--

Okay, I sat down (okay, the first two I did standing) and recorded three short podcasts that I think I'll share in the new year.  My idea is to make the first episode available here, and have all the others be on my Patreon feed (but open for everybody), and see how many I could do in a row, if I started today.  Marshal calls his episodes "Walk of Life," because he records them on his exercise walks, and plays the Dire Straits song at the beginning and end of each.  Maybe I could call mine "Spock of Life" and have Leonard Nimoy quotes at the beginning and en--

Nah.  I'll keep thinking.

Soon, it was time to go outside, and see what could be done about the truck.  I had worried about it quite a bit, to the point where I recorded a podcast episode about it.

But I needn't have.  I dug a little trench with a shovel, and backed the truck out that trench, and everything was easy-peasy nipple-squeezy.  Don't know what I'll do with that podcast episode.

I had been thinking of a story Big wrote last year, and how a possible sequel could go, so I called him up as soon as there was a cell signal, and pitched it to him (reminding him that one of my goals for 2021 was to collaborate on a story with him), but once it was out of my mouth, it seemed way less cool an idea than it had in my head.  And that seems to be the case with a lot of ideas.  A truly talented writer, I suppose, could take the concept that's in their mind and translate it perfectly on the page, maybe even making it better.

But long story short, it doesn't seem like he'll want to collaborate on that idea.  Which isn't the end of the world; I just hope he starts writing again, with or without me.

Words Today: 914
Words In Octubre: 10,659

Saturday, October 16, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 623

It has been unseasonably cold this week, and with all the rain in town, there was no doubt that it would have snowed way up the canyon where the cabin is.  But I really, really wanted to go to the cabin.  So I got up as early as I could manage, packed up my things, and loaded them into my dad's truck, knowing there was little chance my car would've made it up here.

The drive was uneventful, but once I got to the turn off to the lake, there was indeed snow and unpaved road, and that combination proved to be almost deadly.  I had a super hard time getting the truck up the hill toward the cabin, having to go almost all the way up in first gear, sliding in frozen snow, and barely making it to where the ground leveled off.  No way would my car have managed that.

It took way, way longer than it usually does to get up, past the lake, through the gate, and down the snowy mud road to our property.  And when I got to the driveway, I simply could not get the truck up the path to the cabin.  I made it about ten feet up one way, with the truck sliding down every time I took my foot off the brake, then got the idea to reverse all the way to the other side of the driveway, which is less steep.  On that side, I made it about fifteen feet before the truck started to slide and the tires scream.  So I just put the emergency brake on, turned off the engine, and left the truck there (at least it wasn't blocking the road, like it was on the other side), hiking up the hill with my stuff (it took three trips).

The snow wasn't even a foot deep on the ground, but it was enough to make me stop trying to get up the hill, and I was surprised that it wasn't all that cold, not with the sun shining brightly.

Inside the cabin, however, it was pretty darn cold.

To my surprise, it was more than ten degrees warmer outside, on the deck, than it was inside the cabin.  After I finally got a fire burning well and good, it was probably five degrees difference, still warmer outside.  And then the fire went out.  Once I got it started again, the tables had turned (as had the shadows) and it was now warmer in here than outside.  And soon it will be dark, then we'll find out how dedicated I am to all this.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 1695

For hours, the sound of big chunks (or sheets) of frozen snow breaking off and sliding down the roof could be heard, some small and annoying, some huge and sounding as though a giant were raining down stones upon this place.

Once the fire was burning and I could no longer see my breath in the cabin, I started editing audio again.  I should be finished with "Underdecorated" by this time tomorrow . . . except that the other night, when I was super-sleepy, I forgot that the family used to be known as the Keiths and had been switched to the Smiths (I wish I had switched it back, since I think of Morrissey and Johnny Mar whenever I hear "The Smiths"), and had said "Mrs. Keith" a time or two, and will have to re-record that bit.

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In Octobre: 1911

It has been my tradition, at least for this year, to head on over to the dam and check my messages, maybe watch a YouTube video, and run the length of the dam and back, and today, I was just going to leave the truck where it was, and not bother with it.  But it's a tradition, and I figured my mom would worry if I didn't tell her I had made it alright, so I put my shoes back on, and went down the driveway, which was now a little more melted, and seemed more climbable.

For some reason, I decided to test that theory, rather than just reverse down the way.  And yes, I was able to get another ten feet or so before getting stuck, then I reversed, got a bit of momentum, and got fourteen feet this time.  I repeated it, getting a tiny bit higher each time, until I very nearly reached the top of the driveway.  But I couldn't seem to get going any higher.

I tried again, and felt the back tires chew through the snow and into the gravel below.  Now I was getting somewhere, I thought . . . except I wasn't.  I gave it a ton more gas, and saw rocks being thrown up behind me, but I wasn't moving.  I shifted into Reverse, and tried to back down again, and I didn't move at all.  That seemed strange.

When I got out to check, I discovered this:

The back tire had somehow dug itself a foot-deep hole, and I was absolutely, thoroughly stuck in it.  The sun was almost down, and all I could think of to do was grab a shovel, dig a little bit around the hole, and leave it for tomorrow.  My mom would have to worry, I suppose.

If tomorrow is as sunny a day as today was, half of the snow should be melted, and with a little effort, I should be able to dig myself out of the hole I made, and get on home.  It's possible, though, that I am totally screwed, and will have to experiment (filling the hole in with gravel, maybe digging a trench or something, I don't know) to get out of the hole.  I don't envy me if none of those options work.

Words Today: 283
Words In Octubre: 9745


Friday, October 15, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 622

Hate to admit this, but I was sick during the night.  While I was doing my best to get it all in the toilet bowl, I asked myself, "Is this from riding spinny rides at an amusement park, more than twelve hours ago?"  I couldn't say.  But as soon as I'd thrown up, I felt better, and went back to sleep.

I did some audio editing last night, but started to fall asleep, so I got up and went in to do sit-ups and push-ups.  But when I opened the file to resume editing this afternoon, I can't make heads or tails of what I did last night.  It would seem that I started editing the Undecorated 7 file, and at some point mistakenly switched to Undecorated 8, but pasted it into the 7 master file.  My only option today was to listen from the beginning, and the second it went bad, to paste in the unedited file.  Plenty of wastes of time to go around, believe me. 

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 1595

So, one of my goals for October was to get more sit-ups and push-ups in than I had in September.  Today marks the middle of the month, and I'm at 1495 and 1689, respectively.  In September, I managed 3185 sit-ups and 3633 push-ups, so by my math, I'm at 47% and 46% of my goal.  Not great, but not terrible (and definitely not an impossible task).

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In Octobre: 1800

Jeff's favorite horror movie is HALLOWEEN, and he was all but insistent we go see the new one on its opening night (otherwise, I would've gone to the cabin after work today).  I felt strangely ambivalent about it, despite enjoying parts of the last one (which I refused to see because they called it "Halloween" instead of "Halloween Returns" or "Halloween 2018" or "Halloween: 40 Years Later"*), but hoo boy, I was sure glad I went, because it was insanely violent, with a bigger body count than any film in the franchise, except for the wonderful SEASON OF THE WITCH.

HALLOWEEN KILLS got terrible reviews, but I really had a good time.  For a Slasher film, it had (almost) everything you could've asked for.  It wasn't a great flick, but it was a great flick for me, for my friend, who I've seen literally scores of slasher movies with over the years.

As far as words go, I really have no way of knowing how many words I have for today.  I opened up three windows with WordCounter in them, and pasted each day's work (today's, tomorrows, and Sunday's), but my computer restarted, and only the second one was retained when I tried to restore my tabs.  This was one of those days when I got very little written, because I left it to right before I fell asleep (and this was after going to the movies, coming home, and exercising), and on my desktop computer, I've got two tabs open for recordings, one saying 194 words and one with 248.  I'm 90% sure I only got 194 on Monday (when I started on a new audiobook), so . . .

Words Today: 248
Words In Octubre: 9462

*Look, I've got very few moral qualms.  I found a five dollar bill on the ground at a gas station in Vegas, and gave it to my nephew instead of shouting, "Did anybody lose some money?!?" or trying to track down its owner.  I went to Walmart and bought three things, rice, donuts, and an action figure, and when I looked at the receipt, I was not charged for the rice, and I did not go back to the store to demand they ring me up for it.  But one of the things I absolutely will not do is go to a movie that is not a remake, yet is titled with the same exact title as an earlier installment in the franchise.  
I wouldn't do it when the THING prequel came out (called "The Thing"), I wouldn't do it when , I didn't have anybody to see the new CANDYMAN with (but I found out it was a remake after the fact anyway), and I regretted seeing THE SUICIDE SQUAD, when I should have stuck to my guns.  I'm sure I would've enjoyed seeing HALLOWEEN 2018 (although seeing it alone isn't so great), but I drew a line in the sand.  I'll have another chance to stand by my principles in January, as I just don't think I can bring myself to see SCREAM 5, because those unethical bastards are calling it "Scream."

Thursday, October 14, 2021

October Sweeps - Day 621

Boy, winter came soon this year.  It only got to the mid-forties today, weather-wise.  But there was rain and lots of dark clouds, and plenty of chills.

I mention that because, years ago, my buddy Jeff and I (along with his younger son and my niece) went to the amusement park up north right before Halloween, and went on rides, then on to the various haunted houses the park had assembled (there were probably three or four).  Jeff speaks of that often, and since moving to Germany, hadn't been able to do that, but since he was here in October this year, we made it a point to at least try to get up there one day.

And today was the only day it would work out for his whole family (he's got three kids, now all grown, and a new daughter-in-law).  Unfortunately, it has been cold and wet all week long, but we were determined to make a go of it, and I was happy he wanted me to come along, so I bundled myself up, and met him at his little condo (he bought it in 2017, I believe, and two of his kids still live there), so we could drive up together.

Jeff makes a lot of money, more than anyone I know, but still, this was quite an expenditure, and he mentioned early on that he was buying.  A more moral person than me would have balked at that (since I'm not part of his family), but when I saw that tickets to get into the park were $75, my qualms melted away and I kept my mouth shut.

I've gone to this amusement park (about ninety minutes from my childhood home) for, I dunno, forty years or so, first going with my grandma and aunt, and while I love Disneyland more (I lived in La Mirada, California until I was three or so), it has always been a place of joy for me.

It was a cold day, especially for October, and the first two roller coasters I rode had tears running down my cheeks from the icy wind the motion caused.  It could have been worse, though--it had rained the day before, and being wet would've been absolutely miserable.  As it stood, I was able to walk around, stand in lines, and ride the rides without complaint . . . cold-wise, anyway.


Jeff is a pretty big dude, and there are a couple of rides he just doesn't fit on (there was also one with a weight requirement, which I had never noticed before, but he sat that one out).  He is game, though, to ride anything, and his favorite ones are the rides that shoot you straight up in the air and then drop you.  I have a real problem with those, and the last time the two of us went out together, I did force myself to ride it, and did not enjoy myself.


This time, though, my age was starting to show.  My favorite ride as a child was the one shaped like a pendulum, that goes back and forth, producing an unusual tinging sensation in the lower stomach area.  I used to be able to go on it a dozen times.  But this trip, about halfway through, it stopped feeling good, and I started feeling sick instead.  

We got off, I sat down for a moment, and all the kids ran off to ride a spinny ride with big swings.  Jeff couldn't go on it, so he kept me company, and I looked over at the kids getting on the swings, and suddenly didn't want to miss out.  I'll be okay, I thought.

Big mistake.

I ran over and got on the swings just before it started up, and had about eight seconds of enjoyment before the motion around me did horrible things to my body.  I had to spend the entire ride with my eyes tightly closed, willing myself not to throw up, and cursing myself for not sitting it out.

After that, I was pretty much screwed for the foreseeable future.  I sat down, but it didn't help.  I considered retching, but remembered how much Jeff had spent on lunch for everybody.  I walked with the group to the next ride and sat on a bench while they went on it.  The ride after that was another spinny one, so I decided to let them go on that one too without me.  It was another Jeff didn't fit on, so he hung out with me, and I was feeling better, so I said we could go on the little baby coaster next to us, that children go on.  He asked how nauseous I was, and I said, "Well, I was at 90% before, and now I'm down to fifteen or so."

We got on the baby coaster, and dammit, it took me back up to sixty or seventy again.

I decided I'd have to sit around now, not go on anything, until I felt completely back to normal, and that would take time.  Jeff's oldest offered me a motion sickness pill, so I went back to the parking lot to get one from the car, and that killed another half hour, during which, instead of going on another ride, the group waited for me.  Not sure why they did that.

They then went on the ride that shoots you into the air, while I and Jeff's daughter-in-law waited down below.  Eventually, I did start feeling better, but boy, what a drag--I never got back to 0% queasy, and I skipped half a dozen rides I would've enjoyed riding.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In October: 1495

I tried--I really tried--to get some words written tonight, but I fell asleep, over and over again.  I'd shake my head, curse myself, and type a word, and before the second word was even written, my eyes were closing again.  I feel really disgusted about it, but hey, I promise to do better tomorrow.

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In October: 1689

Jeff REALLY loves the haunted houses, way more even than the roller coasters and rides, and we waited until the sun went down to start going to them.  There were five in all (plus two for little kids, with no scares, which we ignored, but it might have been interesting to walk through one), and I was a little bit bummed to not be scared in any way, or at any moment inside them.  Part of it was that I was with a big group, every one of us but one adults, but even when I got separated from them, and this girl dressed as a vampire took me alone into a fake elevator that shook and the floor display changed, there was never that thrill of believing it was all real.

Also, we were warned at the beginning of each haunted house that none of the performers were allowed to touch us, and that we weren't to touch them either, and you know, that definitely lessens the scariness of the whole thing (Jeff's kid said there are haunted houses out there where you can sign a waiver and then the actors are allowed to touch you [which may include gropings and light beatings], but there was no such option here).  My guess is that too many performers have gotten punched or fondled over the years, and us living in a global pandemic, has made this year way more strict than it was in my day.

But the biggest factor, I'm sorry to say, is that pretty much every one of these actors was a teenager or barely out of high school.  And it's hard to be intimidated by a Grim Reaper whose got braces on.

Me:

On the drive home, I discovered that Box Office Mojo still has the various Genres lists we used to enjoy perusing, and I quizzed Jeff on stuff like the top ten movies in the Slasher, or Werewolf, or Prequel categories.  It's the sort of fanboy intellectual pastime a couple of guys who don't get wasted or do drugs do to entertain themselves, and his son, who was also in the car with us, was probably in a personal hell.  But ah well.

Finally, I sat down to record the end of "Underdecorated," and the first thing I said was, "Wow, I am so tired, I'll be lucky to get a hundred words written."  Within five minutes, I was slurring my speech and doing that thing where there are long pauses in between sentences.  But you know, it was the effort that counted.

Words Today: 107 (yeah, that's bad.  But it's not zero.  Not quite)
Words In October: 9214