TOPPS Trading Cards including the brilliant Mars Attacks, as well as Batman, Frankenstein, and Ugly Stickers from 1965. From The Norman Saunders Site. “…a reference guide that documents the entire published works of Norman Saunders.”

You Got Me Into This. From The West: Old Paintings created to be the Covers of Pulp Fiction Magazines. “…The pulp paintings of the 1930s-40s astound the senses with visions of gun smoke, brawny cowboys and beautiful heroines – frozen in moments of maximum impact, guns exploding or a terrified damsel on horseback.”

wondering where my little brother is. hm.

Had a lovely time last night with my sweetie. I really like the fact that she’s got the interest in such a diverse array of things, and the curiosity to broaden her knowledge on them. She keeps me laughing on so many levels, and has me rapt intellectually, emotionally, and physically. I’m truly blessed to have her in my life.

Interesting point noticed by her last night… all the spam comes a’rollin in at about 2am. I wonder if those were all launched from a common area? Or maybe the spamming software they have defaults to that hour.

I was up until well past the wee hours this morning…when I did kick off to sleep, I think my brother was *still* awake and kicking around. I guess night-owls run in the stock… I remember Dad was one, too… always going fishing or whatnot well before the break of the sun. I wonder if it’s a hunter throwback sort of thing. The best times that come to mind are fishing on the pier, and looking at the water at night, and talking about whatever came to mind. It’s strange… I have a mild craving for fried catfish, now. I’d settle for big ol’ potato planks. The food of choice out there was peanut butter crackers, and a stop at Sambo’s (are they all Denny’s now?)

I’ve not seen too many jack-o-lanterns this year… the theme in this neighborhood seems to be the more ‘harvest’ style… whole pumpkins with haystacks and scarecrows. I’d say that I’ve seen maybe six jacks around, and all of them are pretty average.

That’s a lot of bunnies. a very cool picture, from this collection.

I’m supposed to go with the brother to the boat show today… maybe it’ll happen, maybe not. It sounded like he’s up and at ’em next door, but he’s got some folks over. I’ll call him at about one, and see what’s up.

Today’s been a sleepy, relaxing day. I’ve spent much of the day in a calm place, and taking it easy… as has my gluttonous protégé, Mr. Newtie McTreatEater. We’ve been flung all over the house in assorted comfortable poses, and just sort of lollygagging about, reading, napping, burning incense, wrestling with each other in a slackerly fashion and watching the occasional Spongebob cartoon…I’m having trouble figuring out the recorder fingering for the Spongebob theme… I may have to look up the sheet music for it, rather than playing it by ear. A complete slackerboy Saturday… I’ve needed something like this for a little while now. I’m bemused by the idea of the undersea creatures having a snowball fight.

Just popped into my head – I’d like some taco bell right now, and the phrase “wreak terrible vengeance” is a good one, as well as the variant “a terrible justice has been done”

I dig these groovy CD-R’s… they look like 45s!

full-newtie in repose

note to self… put the Newtie-treats back in the cupboard after giving him his goodies.

This morning, I heard him playing with the little container for them, but I thought he was just rolling the tube along the floor… nope. he was smacking it around to get the tasty goodness inside. while laying in bed I heard a pop-rustle of a half-full bucket of treats opening up. I got to them, but not until after the little orange thug had scarfed down as many as he could wrap his mouth around…. I guess *somebody* had a trick or treat snack bonanza a day late.

Naughty little monkey.

I’m home from my day out. Had a nice time with Danny. He came over at about 9:30…we spent the morning shooting the breeze, playing a couple of games of mage knight over honey nut cheerios. At about 2-ish we had pizza and then headed out to pick up my check, deposited it, and then mallwalked for a couple of hours. We finished our day over beers at Spritzel’s. I had a root beer and he had a blonde from the tap. There were a lot of the “beautiful people” out and about on Las Olas and in the mall…also an unusual amount of German speakers. I guess South Florida is on the safe-list for them again. The Food Court at the Galleria is about kaput…. Only thing left is the Sbarros… no Nathan’s, no Chinese, no deli! What happened? Do I have the death-touch for nearby malls? Thank Goodness there’s still a place to get beer and kraut!

We didn’t bother going to the starlight and movie, but I think Danny is feeling a lot less burned-out, at least for the time being. We talked about what we’d like to see in the future, and I think that my desire is pretty realistic… I’d like a nice home with my sweetheart sometime… with a goodly-sized library.

I just tried to call my mom, and wish her a happy day, but nobody was there to answer the phone. I’ll try again in about an hour… maybe she went out to party already. Meantime, I’m going to hop in the ol’ shower, then kick back and read for a while.

I have some candy corn, almond joy bites and mounds bites left if anyone wants some candy! Actually, I may save the candy corn for my sweetie, but if anyone wants coconutty yumyums, just swing on by… I’ll hook you up.

First of November!

Fresh month… payday, day off.

Dan’ll be here in about 15-45 minutes. I think the day will go like –

1. Breakfast of Banana Yoo Hoo and cereal here
2. Mage Knight for an hour or two
3. Bookstore for a bit
4. Pick up and then deposit my paycheck (it’ll take two pay periods for my direct deposit to go to the new account)
5. Lunch at the starlight diner
6. Movie – that sandler thingie, probably
7. *Not sure what else*

I don’t think we’ll play zombies, but who knows?

ahh… no. staying in. I ventured out maybe a 1/4 mile, and the traffic was Crazy! rush hour on Halloween? what was I thinking? I’ll get pictures of folks some other time, maybe later.

bike trip on Halloween to the mushroom house.

pictures to follow.

safety tips and tricks for Halloween:

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster, NEVER check to see if it’s really dead.
2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.
3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out.
4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, you should be very concerned. This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else’s voice.
5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off and go alone.
6. As a general rule, don’t solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.
7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.
8. If you’re searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it’s just the cat, GET THE HECK OUT!
9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out.
10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.
11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there’s probably a good reason for it. Don’t stop and look around.
12. Don’t fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you’re sure you know what you’re doing.
13. If you’re running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at east twice, more if you are female. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it’s still moving fast enough to catch up with you.
14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, run for your life!
15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog, anywhere in Texas where chainsaws are sold, the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.
16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, do not go to he nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange you ran out of gas because you thought you had most of a tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.
17. Beware of strangers bearing tools. For example: chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawnmowers, butane torches, soldering irons, band saws, or any devices made from deceased companions.
18. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This also applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices.
19. Dress appropriately. When investigating a noise downstairs in an old house, women should not wear a flimsy negligee. And carry a flashlight, not a candle.
20. Do not mention the names of demons around open flames, as these can flare suddenly. Be especially careful of fireplaces in this regard.
21. Do not go looking for witches in the Maryland countryside.

Back from the bank, and many tellers got candy corn…. saw my brother doing deliveries this morning, and he hooked me up with a few yummy cookies and sody-pop. Morning Sugar-Rush!

The gift shop had their cow dudded out as a witch. I was surprised that the proprietor himself wasn’t dressed up. He seems like a nice guy. The stuff inside is nifty, too.

I made it back at just about noon… I’m wondering when or if the little knock-knocks will begin tonight.

blue sky with cranes

baby clowns playing with multicolored skeletons

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Enjoy lots of candy, ghosts and goblins!

To celebrate, a picture I just took of Newt.
Why I’m happy to have a keyboard drawer…