From My Tomb to Yours...

 Have a wonderfully Dark and Spooky Halloween!!!






(Well, I HAD to get a skull in this somewhere, you know...) 

Halloween Video: "Danse Macabre"

So, are you all ready?  Got your costume in the closet and candy by the front door??  Have you found a really sincere pumpkin patch in which to wait for the Great Pumpkin???  If not, you'd better hurry, Halloween is almost here!!

And here's a little extra something fun for The Big Day!  I got an e-mail from a gentleman with a blog called Addovolt Productions, and he asked me if I would be interested in featuring a short indie comedy he made and put up on YouTube.  After watching it, I'm VERY willing to do so!  It's called "Danse Macabre", and it's extremely funny!  To quote Mr. Quint himself: "It's just a really weird, indie dark comedy that I did centered around Dracula, his brides, and a gang of Vatican agents on a fateful Halloween night.  It's a fun, cartoonish little project and is, strangely, one of the few films around that features the vampires speaking in actual Transylvanian dialect (with English subtitles)."

So, for some campy Halloween fun, just click on this link (don't worry, it's not a trick)!   Danse Macabre

Fun Spooky Cartoon: "Pink Panic"

I found this today while trolling around YouTube for Halloween songs and other stuff.  I haven't watched old Pink Panther cartoons in a long time, but this reminded me why I love them!  And I didn't remember that there was a haunted house... err, hotel... episode.  Too funny!

Here's the Pink Panther in "Pink Panic".  Enjoy!!

Coming Out of the Socially Inadequate Closet

One of the problems I've always had is not feeling socially adequate.  Oh, I learned to fake it pretty good, but I have serious anxiety issues whenever agreeing to attend any kind of social function, even where I know (and like) more than one person there.  The most recent of these events was last night, when I attended a friend's birthday celebration with my husband, at her house.  After RSVPing "Yes" last month, I began agonizing about it a week ago, trying to decide if I could get away with telling her I was feeling sick, or something unexpected came up, or my nine cats all died at once... you get the idea.   I felt totally stupid and ridiculous, but I could NOT get around the terror.  Finally, I looked up her invitation on FB, where I was able to see who she had invited, who had accepted, and who might come but wasn't sure.  I found that I knew several people who were coming, and it was a smaller group than I had expected.  I was able to calm myself down to the point where I could relax and look forward to it.  But yesterday... again... the anxiety began screaming through my head.  I told Martin that we would go at least as far as Party City, where I had to return something, and then we would decide if we went from there to the party or home. 

We ended up deciding to go celebrate my friend's birthday with her, even if it was only for a half-hour.  As soon as we parked and turned off the engine, I was FINE.  We ended up staying for a little over an hour, and I did enjoy myself.  It did help that most of her friends that I meet are pretty nice and laid back, and since we are both organizers in our meetup group, we know quite a few of the same people.  My other friends also showed up, and it was great seeing them again.

WHY does this happen??  Why do some people have no problem at all being sociable with strangers at any type of event, while others would rather be run over and stomped on by a herd of stampeding wildebeest than go to a party for someone they know?  And just as important, HOW can we overcome this seemingly ridiculous problem?  I say 'seemingly' because there is absolutely nothing ridiculous or funny about it when you are feeling that way; it's demeaning and demoralizing, but never amusing.

(I'm an anthropologist, so you'd think I would know these things, but nooooo...)

So, how do YOU deal with this problem?  And if you're one of those people who has no trouble socializing... Share your secrets!!  Why are YOU so lucky?????     ;-)

October: "I'm SO Goth..."

I found this pic on LittleCorpGothGirl's blog post, and I just could NOT resist using it here!!!




Happy October to all of us who are still "babybats" at heart...

Goth Gardening's Halloween Contest Post!!!

If you check out GothGardening's 9/30 post here, you will see she is having a Halloween contest!  Sounds like fun, so this post is my entry.  :-)

I don't usually use shovels, not even for gardening; they're usually too big and unwieldy for me to handle.  I like to use a trowel whenever possible.  However, shovels can be very handy for many things:




They work as makeshift grave "stones" when you have a sudden need for them.  (This frequently happens to goths, dontcha know...)


 

And they also make excellent boundary markers.  Of course, then you can't use them for anything else, but still, it's impressive looking, and keeps people from falling in the wrong grave.  (If that's not YOUR name on the gravestone, don't fall in!)

However, I think my favorite use for shovels would be...:

 (www.flamingotoes.com)

Sending pictures like this to an ex, either your own or someone else's!!  Why not share the love, mwaaa-hahahahaha!!!

So, did I win?????    ;-)