Halloween is both mine and my husband’s favorite holiday so naturally we got married on Halloween.

It makes sense because one of the most – if not THE most – romantic couple in all of television history is Gomez and Morticia Addams.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Exactly seven days from this moment, Chris and I will be in the car on our way west for two weeks of visiting family and (hopefully) having a lot of fun. It takes two days to get there – assuming the weather cooperates – but we’ve always liked road trips and on the way to our destination is a stretch that I’ve never traveled.

My dad and his wife live in a small town just outside of Branson, Missouri. I grew up in Aurora, Missouri which is only an hour and a half away from Branson so I spent a lot of time in that area of Missouri when I was a kid. It’s changed drastically since the late 70’s, early 80’s, but there’s still a lot there that has been there since before I was born.

One of those things is Silver Dollar City located on top of Marvel Caverns and the only theme park (to my knowledge) whose theme is an historical one – the late 1800’s. You may have heard the town mentioned on old episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. Here’s a little history of the real town and the theme park.

I have no idea how many times I went there as a kid but I’m pretty sure we went at least one time every summer and usually more often than that. It’s gotten larger since then, but doing some searching on the ‘net and checking out the official website, I see that it has not strayed from it’s theme and most of my favorite attractions and shops are still there.

One of those attractions is The Flooded Mine.

It’s a floating ride that takes you through – you guessed it – a flooded mine. It’s flooded because it also happens to be a prison and some of those crafty criminals did some extracurricular blasting, causing it to flood. When I was a kid, this was purely a float-through ride with no interaction. Much like Pirates of the Caribbean, all you did was enjoy the relaxing ride and watch all the goofy animatronic scenes around you. In recent years, they’ve added shotguns so you can help the Warden keep the criminals under control.

Being a purist, I don’t really like that but I’m just glad the ride is still there. One of my clearest and fondest memories of the ride is the music that’s played while you’re going through the ride. I can only hope that has not been changed. The last time I was there – over 10 years ago – it had not, meaning it had been the same for at least 20 years. That makes me hopeful that it’s still the same.

In the past decade or so, SDC has added some new, modern roller coasters such as Wildfire and Power Keg. However, the only roller coaster I’m going to make a point of riding is Fire in the Hole.

This is an indoor, dark ride in which you ride a train through a burning town. The post-civil war vigilante group, the Bald Knobbers (a real group that later turned into violent extremists), set fire to the town causing all sorts of mayhem.

Most coaster enthusiasts would probably label this ride very tame or even a kiddie ride, but even though my grandmother could ride it with no problems (despite the three dips and sprinkle of water at the end) it’s a lot of fun. Being a dark ride adds a thrill to it and for me, pure nostalgia will be enough.

SDC has two walk-through features, Grandfather’s Mansion, which is basically a fun house, and Huck Finn’s Hideaway.

At the end of one of these, and I can’t remember which, is one of my fondest memories of SDC – what I used to call the star room. All it is is a room with mirrored floors and lights on the ceiling and walls, but it always made me feel like I was floating in space.

In general, SDC is my favorite theme park because of childhood memories and the general atmosphere. Even when the park is busy, it has a laid back feel to it. Immersing yourself in the past – even if not wholly accurate – is a great way to forget the troubles of modern living. And since we’ll probably be going the day after the Election, it’ll be a great getaway.

I’m looking forward to a new section, added since my last visit – The Grand Expedition.

The Grand Exposition is supposed to be a replica of the World’s Fairs of days past. I’ve always found World’s Fairs fascinating so it’ll be pretty nifty walking through this place.

Of course, the whole place will look different to me because the park will be throwing it’s Christmas celebration. Personally, I think that’s a few weeks too early, but I don’t run the park. Even though the place will be covered in Christmas lights, I’m sure I’ll still feel all those familiar feelings, smell those distinct odors (and most of those were good, lol) and wholly enjoy myself at my favorite amusement park.

I especially look forward to stepping into the old Candle Shop and smelling my favorite smell in the world – one wholly unique to that one shop. If it’s gone, well, I guess I’ll cry.

I consider myself a big entertainment buff and have been since I was thirteen. I try to keep myself informed about what’s going on in the biz, read my entertainment sites, read the magazines, listen to the news. I’ve been this way since I was thirteen. In fact, I can even give you an exact date if you need it (August 30, 1985).

Before I saw Back to the Future on that fateful August night, I had my favorite actors – Shaun Cassidy was the first actor I can remember singling out and then Tom Hanks when he was on Bosom Buddies – but my ‘fanship’ of those two was nothing compared to what happened when I finally noticed Michael J. Fox.

If you don’t believe me, check this out. Yeah. That’s my website. I’m not ashamed of it – a little defensive, maybe – but never ashamed.

After becoming the uber-geek-fan of MJF back in 1985, I started reading every teen magazine my parents would let me buy, attempting to keep abreast of all things Michael J. Fox. As a result, I started following other ‘non-threatning boys’ careers such as Ralph Macchio, Ricky Schroeder and Kirk Cameron. I read most of those magazines from cover to cover and eventually started reading more grown-up, more reputable publications as well. I just wanted to know what was going on and after a few years, it wasn’t just those cute boys I was interested in.

However, my obsession with all-things-MJF did not stop just because my interests were expanding. Because of my teenage angst obsession, I started trying things those fan magazines said he liked. I even tried Linguini in Clam sauce, for cripes sake – and that was some of the nastiest stuff I ever tasted. Ugh!

He was often quoted as saying he was a big James Cagney fan. I had never even heard of James Cagney so I had no idea what he was all about. And so, one Friday night in Southeast Texas, the local t.v. station had a James Cagney film on their schedule – Something to Sing About. Fortunately, I wasn’t one of those kids that wouldn’t watch anything in black and white – I watched Mr. Ed every night on Nick-at-Nite – and I watched it. And loved it.

It snowballed after that and now I’m a huge fan of classic films of all genres – musicals, comedies, dramas, film noir, gangsters – you name it. If I happen across anything in black and white on television, I’ll stop to see what it is or who’s in it. I won’t always do that for color films.

I never really met many others who were into films, music, books and television the way I was. I feel extremely lucky that I met a man who is just as interested as I am. I’m doubly fortunate in that we have a lot of the same likes, but we also have many different likes. Before I met my husband, I had never heard of Bruce Campbell and I wouldn’t have been able to name Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee if you showed me their pictures. Now, I can’t imagine my entertainment world without them. And while I’ll never really feel the need to ever see The Girl Hunters ever again, I am honestly glad that I at least saw it once.

It’s not the most important area of my life and I know that it’s not as important as trying to keep out economy out of another great depression but I’m glad that I have plenty of places to go whenever things get tough. I can watch a movie, read a book, listen to some music and even though the problems may not go away, I almost always feel better able to face that problem. Even though entertainment doesn’t rank up there with world peace, it’s still pretty consequential.

So, my thanks go out to Mr. Fox. He changed my life in many ways and for most of those changes, I’m still grateful.

Every once in a while I’ll enter a contest if it’s easy or if the requirements are interesting. A while back Pink Raygun had a contest to guess the top 8 movies in their March Madness movie tournament. I guessed four and I won. Woo hoo!

My husband is a writer, and a pretty good one. (Don’t listen to what he says about himself – he’s one of those ‘his own worst critic’ types.)

Last week his first comic to be released this year came out: Kolchak – Night Stalker of the Living Dead – and it’s gotten a nice review over HERE. He’s a big fan of the character and although I’ve only seen a few episodes of the original series it’s clear that he really gets Carl Kolchak.

Later this year (June) a three-issue mini-series of his comic Femme Noir is coming out, and it’s already getting good press. He’s been working on Femme Noir for years – it was a webcomic on his first web site back in 1999 and now it’s made the jump to print with all new stories. If you like old films of the noir and/or horror persuasion or like old pulp novels, this one would be right up your alley.

And later this year or early next year another three-issue mini-series will be released of another title, Perils on Planet X. It’s science fiction/fantasy along the lines of ‘John Carter of Mars,’ ‘Flash Gordon‘ and ‘Buck Rogers (the comic and old serials, not the 70’s tv show.)

As you can tell his writing subjects are as eclectic as his tastes and in my opinion he does a wonderful job on all of them.

Over here, you can see a list of other comics he’s done in the past. (This listing is not complete yet).

Had a strange dream last night. I dreamt I was watching a series of animated shorts with The Dude – you know, ‘not Mr. Lebowski.’ And then, for no apparent reason, we were ballroom dancing outside in a suburban lawn – in the middle of the night, and he was wearing his sunglasses.

He did not, however, have a beverage.

I’ve been tagged by DKM. I don’t normally do Memes, but this one’s a bit different so I thought I’d participate.

The rules are:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.

I just got the new Stephen King Book Duma Key which is sitting here next to my desk, so here it goes:

“The sea oats belong, but the rest of that shit has no business growing witout irrigation. Somebody better investigate, that’s what I think.”

“My daughter and I went exploring one day.”

It’s nice having a three day weekend…except when you feel like crap.

An ongoing condition that my doctor tend to blow off as something I just have to deal with has been a real problem for me the past few weeks. This morning I woke up in considerable pain and it never really went away until 1:00 this afternoon. I’ve been taking pain medicine all morning, which makes me drowsy.

So, now I’m tired, still in pain (although considerably less), hungry and I have no energy to do anything. The house is a bit messy and I wanted to make a nice chicken dinner today but I don’t know if I’ll be able to do anything.

Didn’t help much with all the damn squeaking this morning. We have a bit of a rodent problem and although Zoe is trying her best to catch them, they were squeaking at her this morning and she couldn’t get to them.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better and I’ll be able to get something done. Of course, the next day I have to go back to work but at least I have an extra day to try to get ready for it.

Oh, and more ice on the way. I am so ready for Spring.

It’s the Year of the Rat again. I’m a rat in Chinese astrology – born in 1972. I don’t know how I feel about it, really.

The last year of the rat was 1996. That was the year that my life changed drastically.

The year started with the murder of my second step-cousin. She had been one of the few people that I honestly liked in my step-father’s family and the world lost a wonderful person when she was killed. I fell into a deep depression that caused me to earn my first ‘F’ and flunk an entire course in college.

However, I got that F because instead of going to class I turned to my friends, who I loved dearly. They took my mind off of it all and I felt happy when I was with them. The only things I cared about were my friends and band.

That summer, after finishing college (almost) I lost my job and had to move back in with my parents which was two hours away. It was the last time I had a group of friends that I ‘hung out’ with on a regular basis. I almost immediately started losing those friends. Looking back, I’m not really sure how many of those people really were my friends. The depression could often be manic and my moods were extremely unpredictable. I wasn’t all that fun to be around and I think some of them might have been humoring me. I don’t really blame them for not wanting to be around me much. I just would have appreciated honestly over patronization.

(patronization…is that a word?)

So, it was a bad time for me between June and July. I had been living on my own or with a roommate all through college and moving back in with my mother and step-father…yeesh.

But, that was also the year that I started working at the Humane Society and I met my best girl-friend Sorina. If I hadn’t had to make that move I would have never met her and that is something I just can not even bear to think about.

I loved that job. It has been the only job that I felt was perfect. My co-workers were great people who cared about what they were doing. Our boss was firm, fair and knew how to have fun. She was able to be our friend and our boss at the same time and she got great work out of her employees.  I enjoyed the actual work and would sometimes come by on my days off just to see people. And if they needed help, I had no problem doing so, even if I wouldn’t get paid for it.

It all crashed and burned about a year later. The Board of Directors ruined it all. God, those women were such over-zealous, micro-managing, over-sensitive, meddling bitches. (Not all of them – but enough to cause problems.) If I got one thing from my mother it’s my ability to hold a grudge and I still haven’t forgiven them for what they did. I swore never to work for any organization that was run by a Board of Directors that consisted of people who never put in one, full honest day’s work at the place they were directing.

So, I still don’t know if the last year of the Rat was good or not. It seems that it balanced out but the extremes in the ups and downs nearly killed me. I don’t know if I can take another year like that.

Today is the birthday of a friend of mine. At one point in my life, for many years, he was my best friend. I heard from him 3 years ago when he e-mailed me to tell me that his mother had died. I haven’t heard from him since.

I do hope that he’s all right and in the off chance that he should come across this I would like to wish him a happy birthday. So…happy birthday, Robert. I miss you.