Halloween

It's October. The time for jack-o-lanterns, candy and scary movies.
I'm a wuss when it comes to scary movies....as we learned from my last post. I employ all the pitiful ways to watch them: The Long Blink, the Finger Fan, The Eye Squint etc.
Yet, in the spirit of Halloween, I decided to give scary movies another try. I don't know why, exactly.
I do this every year and every year I lie to myself.
"It won't be that scary."
"It will be fun!"
False.
I should have known that this year would be no different.
I revisited Halloween a few days ago. It was on T.V. and I figured it was a great time to face my fears.
I watched it.
With all the lights on.
And only through my peripherals.
I just didn't have the fortitude to keep my eyes looking directly at the screen. It took me a while to really get in to the movie. I kept switching the channel when the scary music started playing. I watched a good chunk of the original and was proud of myself. It turned out that there was a marathon of all the Halloween movies so I figured.....why not watch more? My heart rate is already elevated....all this adrenaline might help me lose a few pounds. So I continued to watch, and the fear eventually subsided enough to where I could actually look at the screen.
Turns out, the movies aren't that bad.
You know what, though?
I'm still scared of the dark.
And curtain-less windows.
In fact, I closed all my curtains when I went to bed and considered barricading my closet shut with my bookcase.
But that would've been too much work....and I was already safely under my covers. I wasn't going to risk the chance of something under my bed grabbing me when I got up.

Besides...I had my nightlight.....

Story Time

When I was in fourth or fifth grade, I was invited to a sleepover at Angelina's house. Angelina and I weren't friends. At least, we never played together at recess, and she never invited me over to her house to do anything. I don't even remember getting an invitation.
I think I was a pity invite.
Because I wasn't really friends with Angelina, I didn't want to spend the entire night there. My mom said she'd come and pick me up around 11:00 or so. The plan was to play games and have dinner then watch a couple movies until everyone fell asleep. There were two movies that Angelina's mom rented for us. One was Twister, and the other was Halloween.
You know...Michael Myers Halloween.
Everyone wanted to watch Halloween first, to get the scary movie out of the way so they could all fall peacefully asleep to Twister, which was less scary.
Great idea.
We started the movie, turned out the lights and the fun began. My friend Danielle (who was actually my friend) and I seemed to be the only ones affected by this movie. We were screaming at all the scary parts, which were basically the entire 104 minutes, covering each others eyes and burying our faces in the backs of whoever was sitting next to us.
I think Danielle started crying at one point.
Or maybe that was me.
Everyone else appeared to be okay with what they were watching. One girl was laughing like it was the greatest comedy of all time. Halfway through, I guess some of the girls were getting annoyed with me and Danielle screaming and told us that if we were scared we should go into the other room. We did....but playing Barbie with Angelina's baby sister seemed stupid so we made our way back to the living room.
I was sitting right by the sliding glass door, which didn't have curtains, and Angelina's Doberman kept running up and scaring the pee right out of me. I had never been so scared in my entire life.
(Except for that time I went to a haunted maze my friend's gymnastics class put on. Some guy in a Jason mask popped out at me and I hit him with my pumpkin bucket I was using to collect my candy. I lost all my candy.)
Once the movie was over, I released my death grip on Danielle's arm and she wiped her remaining tears on my sleeve. Everyone was like,
"Oh, that was awesome!"
"Did you see Danielle crying?"
"Chelsea, did you wet your pants?"
We all pulled ourselves together and put Twister on to calm our nerves.
About five minutes into the movie, my mom showed up. I cried the whole way home.
I stayed up the rest of the night watching Scooby-Doo with my mom.
And that's how I became afraid of the dark. And curtain-less windows at night.

The End

A Book Review

In Which I Assess a Written Work Glued or Sewn Together Along One Side and Bound in a Cover

"You can read? I had no idea! Good for you!!"
Thanks.
After watching a movie, ask me what I thought and I'll tell you, "I liked it". That's pretty much it. I like being entertained while double fisting handfuls of popcorn into my mouth.
When it comes to books, I'm a little more opinionated...probably because it takes more than 90 minutes to get through a novel.
So. Plus side of not having anything to do: I can read whenever, and however long I want! I finished
the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon a few weeks ago.
I honestly loved this book.
Set against the backdrop of WWII, the two heroes, Kavalier and Clay are so entangled in their own victories and catastrophes that they barely recognize that they are the ones pioneering a new art form, creating characters in their own comic books that rival that of Superman.
I feel like there was a bit of a lull towards the last quarter of the book. I found myself resisting the urge to skip over a few parts, wanting to find out what happens in the end. I skimmed through about 30 or 40 pages because I didn't see how relevant it was to the rest of the novel, and the excitement kind of wore off.
Other than that, it has definitely become one of my favorite books...beautiful, fascinating, graceful, elegant prose and definitely an entertaining plot.

Except for the 30 or 40 pages.
I'd probably put it in the list of books I'd read again someday.

Now, I'm halfway through the Moviegoer by Walker Percy. Definitely liking it so far.(Hmm, maybe I should review a book I dont like...)
I've been kind of bored through a few parts...but there are also a few passages that are beautiful and I want to read them over and over.

I see a lot of similarities to the Stranger by Albert Camus (I think I've read that book about five times. Top 10 favorites).
We'll see how I feel after I finish it.

Ticket For One Please

I love movies. There's only a small handful of movies I don't like.
What are they? I can't remember.
I'm a BIG fan of Netflix, Hulu and popping a DVD in on Friday night (or in my case, whenever the heck I feel like it), however, there's just something about watching a movie in a theater.
I love the anticipation, when the lights dim and surround sound comes on, feeling the energy in a room of people who are all watching the same thing, laughing along with perfect strangers. Sometimes crying. And the beauty of that is when you start crying, its dark and no one can see your ugly-drool-cry.
It's exciting.
And popcorn at the theater is way better than microwave (although I prefer air-popped, in case you were wondering).

So I love movies. And I love going to the movies. Even when I go alone.
Once I get past the fact that I waited in line alone, bought my ticket from an Angsty Teen, walked past the popcorn counter because I can't afford a movie AND popcorn, and sat in a room where it felt like everyone was staring at me because I was alone....I had a great time.
I caught up on my Draw Something Free on my phone while I waited in line. Awesome.
I realized no one was looking at me because I was alone.
No one cares.
I sat where I wanted and I totally brought gummy worms and my own Dr. Pepper so I didn't starve during the 90 minute film.
I enjoyed the movie and the best part, was there was no one to ask me questions about the plot that hadn't even been unveiled yet.
And no one saw me spill my soda down my shirt.
The Angsty Teen glared at me on my way out, but I used to have 40 different teens glare at me every hour...having only one was a nice change.

I still enjoy going to see movies with friends, especially when they are the ones buying the popcorn.
Just kidding. I don't use my friends for food.
But seriously....I like free popcorn. 
Nevertheless, I have no problem going by myself. I'm a pretty good date.
Maybe next time I'll buy me dinner beforehand.