True Story

Ok, so this just happened today. True story.

I'm sitting in my boss's office with her and we're working on stuff at her computer. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, her computer says (yes, it actually SAYS): "...daphne..." in this little, computer voice.

We both stopped, looked at each other, and then I'm like, "I'm skeered!" We couldn't figure out where it came from or why her computer would say that. Reasonable explanation is somehow it picked up my name from the document we were working on, and used voice-reading technology, but she says it's NEVER done that before.

I was laughing, but I was also so freaked out that I almost started crying. It's my worst nightmare! Inanimate objects coming to life! Saying my name! Aaaahhhh!

We kept working but I was keeping a close eye on her computer. I swear if it said one more word, I was going to go all Office Space on it.

Some Bookish Thoughts; And, We Have a Ghost!

So here's my dilemma. It's RIP time and I want to jump right in. But silly me requested some amazing books from the library which I have in my hot little hands, including The Godfather, which I really want to read. Do I start them and race through, and start RIP a little late? Or do I make a note of them and get them after RIP is done? ... so difficult to decide...

I finished "Feel The Fear... And Do It Anyway!" (which I did NOT search out, I have to say -- it sort of jumped out at me from our shelves and I was desperate for something to read). It was good, and I kinda liked it, but I don't know if it's the sort of book you review. Does one review self-help books? I don't know. Maybe I should just feel the unsureness... and do it anyway? (couldn't resist that one)

However, in other news, we have a ghost! Apparently. So, in a desperate attempt to get Terri some sleep, we got blackout curtains (Tupplur -- they are FANTASTIC). So our bedroom has been DARK. Like, seriously very very dark. Can't-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face dark. Which is good. At least, it's that dark until your eyes adjust, and then it's merely very (very) dark, but you can still see some vague outlines by the windows.

So last night Terri wakes up (obviously they didn't work all THAT well) and looks over at the windows. She sees "me" (as in me, Daphne) standing by the window with my arm over my head. She wonders what I am doing, and looks at me for a long time, trying to figure out why I'm standing there. Finally, she says, in a very curious voice, "...Sweetie?" This is when I wake up -- in bed next to her!! -- and say, "Yes? What's up?" And she jumps about a mile out of bed and says, "I just saw a figure by the window!! I thought it was you!" She was so surprised that I was actually in bed. By that time the figure is gone.

Strangely, neither of us are freaked out by this (except in theory) -- we're both just kind of like, "cool! a ghost!" So we shall see if the ghost comes back. Still, kind of awesome. I wonder what it's doing here?

(I have to say that if *I* see the ghost, I will probably completely freak out)

And finally, tonight I went to the Berkeley Farmer's Market, which is a thing of beauty this time of year. Amazing tomatoes and peaches everywhere... fresh honey, cheese, figs, etc. I got a basket of perfume-y black mission figs and ate half the container on the way home. Yum. Seriously. I wish I'd had my camera, the produce was incredible. I also got some vegetarian Mexican food for dinner (we are experiencing extreme blankness on dinner ideas -- it's late summer, pre-fall, and I'm out of inspiration). Which is okay, but not as amazing as I'd hoped. Still, it's better than quinoa or garbanzo beans AGAIN.

Happy Halloween!

Some last Alameda Halloween photos...

We're going out for a walk tonight in this neighborhood to see all the kids trick-or-treating. Hopefully we'll be going with some friends, but either way, it's fun to see all the little ones, especially since the houses are done up so wonderfully. I'll try to get some more pictures but it's so dark (and rainy) that I may not be able to.

I like how the entire house in the photo below is done up as a Jack-o-Lantern. Can you see? The eyes in the top windows, the nose, the mouth in the bottom...

I have always loved the ritual of going out on a Halloween night walk. Even when I was in high school and way too cool for trick-or-treating, I would put on some ghoulie makeup (not that far of a stretch as I was in my 'goth' period then) and go out for a walk and imagine the ghosties swirling around me.

In my 20s I usually went to San Francisco to a party each year, but I secretly would have been happier just wandering around Alameda, watching the kids, listening to the spooky music that the classical station plays each Halloween, answering the door for trick-or-treaters.

And now, in my 30s, I get to do just that. Plus, the streets of Alameda are sort of one giant Halloween party tonight, so it's like getting everything all at once: party, kids, trick-or-treating, spooky music, answering the door... etc.

Last night I carved pumpkins and we watched The Omen. I didn't think it was very scary. In fact, I thought it was very NOT scary and was quite disappointed that I had wasted all that time during which I could have been finishing The Terror.

My costume was a hit today. Although, people either thought I was Sarah Palin (which got really annoying) OR they told me I should dress more like this every day. Maybe it's time to bring out the vintage jewels again. I used to wear them a lot more. Although frankly I think people just liked the beehive hairdo.

I always get sad at the end of Halloween. September and October are my favorite months, and I find the early onslaught of Christmas stuff incredibly depressing. I think I'll have to make a super-excellent winter TBR list to perk me up.

Counting Down

Geez, and I couldn't even get my act together to carve ONE pumpkin last night. Tonight, I promise. We have The Omen on TiVo. And The Witches. Sounds like a good night to me.

I found myself getting a little bit of that butterfly-stomach feeling today when thinking about the election. It's on my mind a lot. I've been afraid to hope, but as the days are ticking by and I'm reading the news reports, that little flame of hope for something better in our political system is starting to fire up! I don't think one man (or woman) is the answer to all our problems, but damn. It would be so freaking exciting for Obama to win. For so many reasons.

I got Halloween candy (for the kids, of course). Somehow both packages got opened. I don't know how. Smarties and Kisses were just dying to get out of the bag, I guess. I don't know what we'll tell the trick-or-treaters. "Sorry, you'll have to split one tube of Smarties between all of you."

I don't know if I'll finish The Terror by tomorrow night... I'm so close!! But my evenings keep being sucked up with other things, and I'm not letting myself stay up very late because I'm trying to recover from this stupid flu thing (cough, cough). I'm going to try, though. It's getting down to the bitter end. It's completely fascinating. And horrifying. It's probably the most horrifying book I've read in a long time. I can't wait to review it.

Haunted Alameda

Some more pics of the best-dressed house in Alameda. I love that you can't even see the actual house because of all the amazing, beautiful, hand-painted decorations.

I don't know who creates all the decorations, but I think it's someone who lives there because they have decorations for all holidays (Easter, 4th of July, Christmas, etc.) all in this same lovely style. I love it.

Tonight is the Ghost Hunters show featuring the USS Hornet, docked at Alameda Point just a few blocks from our house. I'm very excited as this ship has personal meaning for me, my grandfather served on this ship. Should be a fun show -- ghosts plus cool old aircraft carrier ship. It's on the SciFi channel at 9, and I think they repeat it at 11. I've heard for years that it's very haunted; I can't wait to see what the guys find when they investigate it! They are having a big costume party/haunted-ship sleepover on Halloween; what fun! I would have volunteered to be a 'local' if I'd known the show was coming to Alameda...

Tonight is our 'date night', where we cuddle up in the living room and watch favorite shows while eating yummy dinner (tonight it's leftover butternut squash soup). I will be carving our pumpkins, too. I usually feel some obligation to get all creative, but generally I find carving pumpkins sort of difficult so I'm just going to do Mr. Traditional Jack O'Lantern. I always think using a pattern is cheating somehow, but I'm not a very good carver, so my pumpkins always look a little boring. Oh well.

I'm sure someone else in Alameda will make up for my lack of pumpkin flair.

**
A few random declarations that for some reason I feel like sharing:

1. I will be participating in NaBloPoMo. Because I need more things to do.

2. Every year, I vow to make the holidays simpler. Holiday decor is showing up in the stores already. Therefore, as a reminder to myself, once again I am stating my holiday intentions: "I will do nothing, make nothing, buy nothing, and participate in nothing except what makes me happy."

3. The all-scary all-the-time readfest is almost over. I kind of like reading by theme. I think now I'll move into the cozy-classics mode. Some oldies, some new books -- but the focus will be on cozy, homey, snuggly winter goodness. Enough with the spooky. For now.
4. And finally, I hereby state my intention to find a volunteer position (working under an Occupational Therapist) by the end of the year.

There. Enough housekeeping. Back to Halloweek Week!

The Haunted Library

Something strange happened this weekend. Our entryway/library was suddenly beset by mice.

And then the bats arrived. In droves.


I'm not quite sure how it happened, but our library seems to be haunted.

I'm hoping that at some point a ghost and perhaps a graveyard along the wall appears, but these things take time.

At least the bats are pretty quiet. No squeaking. Same with the mice.

***
Ok, so seriously. This has been a pretty good weekend. Saturday was spent running errands and then cutting mice out of black construction paper. (thanks to Martha for the idea). I also made some white ones, painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, for the baseboards along the wall. Those didn't photograph very well, but they're adorable for the five minutes they stay lit after I turn out the light. I have plans for the rest of the stairway but I have to plan it out a little better. Stay tuned. It's fun to just concentrate on this one room. I hadn't realized how well it would take decorations, so now I'm thinking of all kinds of possibilities...

Today one of Terri's sisters came over to celebrate Terri's birthday a bit early. She brought over amazing baked blueberry french toast, a gift for Terri and their old Playstation 2. I haven't played video games since.... um, maybe middle school? Which is 20+ years ago? Aside from a few car races or pinball games at the fair, that is. Anyway, I was totally sucked in within minutes. So. Much. Fun. One of the games has a bunch of old ones, like PacMan. I'm partial to Ms. PacMan, myself.

Anyway, after wrenching myself away from chasing those little ghosts and eating pac-bites or whatever they're called, I went to the library to stock up on October reads. I was very successful.

I located the Young Adult section of the library and hit the jackpot. I've got: I Know What You Did Last Summer; Bury Me Deep; a big volume of Lovecraft; Summer of Fear; The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt; The Blue Girl; and The Lost Mind. I haven't read the Bellairs one in a really long time but I remember it's one of the better ones. I've never read Christopher Pike but it looks like good creepy teen pulp. Charles de Lint is always excellent so that will be fun.

I haven't ever read (or seen) I Know What You Did Last Summer but I always like Lois Duncan. They didn't have my old favorite, Down A Dark Hall, so I took what they had. I thought that I hadn't read Summer of Fear, but then I looked more closely at the cover. A little bell went off in my head, and I re-read the jacket... I definitely read this waaaaaaaaaay back in middle school or something like that. I remember it was very creepy. The cover is certainly creepy. It spooked me back then, and I'm still creeped out by it. Let's take a closer look:

I mean, seriously! That is a disturbing cover. Once I had it home, I had to turn the book over so the cover was face-down. I didn't want to see the cover any more. Ew.

Anyway. For some reason it is taking me forever to read Ghost Story. It's not exactly a fast-paced book... it's much longer than I realized, too. I'm enjoying it, but it's over half-finished and just now starting to get creepy. Sort slow to start. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow and then I can get started on this stack of quick creepy reads. Depending on how quickly I get through them I might have to head over to Oakland or Berkeley to see their libraries as well. I love the Alameda library but it's a little small.

Yeah. That book is staying face-down. **shiver**

What The Cards Say

I like playing with tarot cards. I don't do it very often, so I'm not very good at it. But I'd like to be really good at it. Kind of like I'd like to be really good at dowsing. Um, self? That requires practice. Right.

Anyway. I was thinking about the Johari window the other day and remembered there's a tarot spread for that. So I thought I would see what the cards said about me right now.

Position 1: What everyone knows: King of Cups
I see this as the face I usually present to the world. Calm, competent, relatively good judgment, patient, intuitive... seems pretty accurate, pretty positive.

Position 2: What others see, that you don't: The Moon
Hmm. Fear and bewilderment. Living in a fantasy world. This doesn't seem quite right, but then again, this is what others are supposed to see in me that I don't. So who am I to judge? I don't understand this card as of yet. Unless it's meaning something like: I'm trying not to let everyone see how unsure I am in the world sometimes, but they see right through me.

Position 3: What you see about yourself, that others don't: 9 of Swords
This one feels awfully close to the bone. I don't suppose I show all the worry and anguish that I carry all the time. I try to let it go, I try not to encourage it, but it's there. Hopefully this card will change sometime in the near future (see post below).

Position 4: What nobody sees, but is true about you: 9 of Pentacles
I like this one. The book I have says that this card in this position means that there is a 'lucky fairy' waiting inside of me, just waiting for me to notice her for her to show the way. I feel like I started to find her a little when I listened to the psychic and searched for a different path to nursing and fell upon Occupational Therapy instead; instantly my entire outlook on school and future career changed. So maybe I'm listening to this wise little guide a little more.

*** ***

I could lay cards all night. I might. Here's a perfect evening all laid out in front of me:

* Playing with Tarot while
* Watching new Ghost Hunters and
* Eating our favorite quinoa and avocado dinner, followed by
* Finishing my current geeky book.

I feel totally self-indulgent reading all these silly spooky thrillers in a row. Screw it. Escapism doesn't get much better than these. Although I have to hurry up and finish the series because I have a huge list of other books to read that I want to get through before the end of October.

Oh yes. And I have to study. Right.

Oh. And I have to unpack. From last week. That's what weekends are for, right?

Life's Little Disappointments

(this is not an image I made, I can't find the credit, but it's not me!)

There are the big disappointments in life, and then there are the little ones. When someone's eaten the last piece of cake. When the perfect pants are available in the size above and below your size, but not your actual size. When that new lipstick turns out to be exactly the wrong shade. And, when your favorite show spins off and takes a great idea and turns it into something embarrassing.

If you've read my blog for long, you'll know that I love the show Ghost Hunters. I won't even try to defend myself; I just love it. I think the guys are funny, I like the quirky homeowners, and I love seeing the 'evidence' they come up with. The show is well-edited and holds my interest even when there isn't much activity happening in a place.

So, when I heard that they would be having a summer spin-off called Ghost Hunters International (visiting the 'most haunted' sites in the world), I was excited. Especially since they would be starting in Europe, with some of the famous haunted castles. I had seen one or two episodes of the original Ghost Hunters where they had some very strange things happen to them in Ireland, so I was really into the idea of this new show.

Except, it's a total bust. They took all the most annoying people from the old show (Donna excluded, I like Donna) and stuck them in these amazing places, where they find... nada. Zilch. Not a headless king nor a clanking suit of armor to be found. The leader guy, who is new, is a total dork. He's so wooden and stiff, I just want cover my eyes whenever he comes on screen. Everyone else is completely idiotic as well. They go to these amazing places (Chillingham Castle, for example) and just bumble their way through it, coming up with completely lame evidence, or nothing at all. It feels so terribly scripted and such a waste of an amazingly cool opportunity. The show is poorly edited; I'm bored within the first 10 minutes.

What a bummer. Ghost Hunters, come back! I know you're on summer holidays but I miss you.

Speaking of ghosts, we have one. Here is my "evidence":

1. Broken clock
2. Ultraclogged sink
3. Broken fridge
4. Broken shoe
5. Broken flower pot (this morning)
6. Monster groaning in the new fridge
7. I've been waking up at 3 am

Well, maybe not the clogged sink. But even though we have a lovely new fridge, it came with a monster that groans horribly every half hour or so. And this morning I stepped out onto my porch to find one of my herb pots smashed on the doorstep (I won't go into the hows and whys, but it would be very difficult for this particular pot to end up on my doorstep).

Ghostie, please stop breaking my stuff. Really. Monster, have whatever you want to eat in the fridge, just shut that hungry tummy up.

Time to get out my dowsing rods and start practicing, I guess!