Am currently in retail heaven, as the stores are full of Halloween delights. I have successfully restocked our treat bags and give-a-ways to friends, and have made a pledge that any new decorations need to be made. I’m already plotting to try my hand at making fancy chocolates this year, along with other concoctions that I probably shouldn’t. This is also a good time of year to get some fascinating tablecloths, of the cloth-and-vinyl variety, and I now have spider webs, sugar skulls, and obnoxious grinning pumpkins in my possession. Oh, but this is my favorite magical time of year. Fireball cinnamon whiskey and hot apple cider, chipotle-and-cinnamon roasted pumpkin seeds, old-fashioned ghost stories… I’m in heaven.(1) Should you not understand my sheer joy for this time of year, look no further than a piece I wrote last year titled Dear Humans.

This year, half of Halloween has been consumed not by Christmas, but by another retail occasion: the debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As an adult(2), I remember having that excited feeling when the original movies were re-released in the theatres, and again when Star Wars: A New Hope debuted. Of course, my happiness has never been more abundant than when I got to shoot Gungans in the face as a droid in Battlefront 2… Anyway, I digress. There is nothing more exciting than that first moment when the opening credits roll, and I can’t wait to hear how the kids in my life enjoy this new movie premiere. I haven’t made plans yet to see the film, partially because I am crowd-adverse, which means I’ll likely go to the Sundance theatre that I love dearly. I can deal (and have) with the throng if I have to, but it is infinitely easier to be up on stage or hiding in the back than being swallowed up by massive amounts of people.(3)

On that note: I have much to do this week, but I’m planning on popping back in from time-to-time. Today, I leave you with Captain Whinypants in his new Halloween costume. You can see how excited he is. Clearly.

I’m not sure if I like this one better or not. The loose straps reminded me of a helmet. Or a murderous disguise. See also: my revenge for that 4:00 a.m. wake up call the other day.

That’s all for today. May you survive the prickly caltrops Monday is no doubt throwing at you, and live to see another day.

(1) Halloween often gets the short shrift in terms of holidays, for Christmas cannot come soon enough for many. I feel a strong aversion, however, to Christmas trees in July. Clearly, we need more monthly holidays like they had in medieval times. Which, admittedly, were subsumed into religious activities from their pagan origins, but the roots remain.

(2) Adult. Bah! Brain does not track age as well as the body does. Some days I’m eight years old wandering through a forest, bewildered by the height of the trees. Other days I’m ninety-five thousand years of age, wondering why the hell back pain wasn’t put into the manual.

(3) A visual from What Dreams May Come (1998).

Mood: Truth in the smallest things.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Balanced with water! I think…
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: A walk. In the park, even!
In My Ears: A Beethoven trio with a name so long, Tolkien would be proud.
Game Last Played: Sonic: All Stars Racing Transformed
Book Last Read: Research for work.
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Fringe
Latest Artistic Project: Skull. It’s a cross-stitch thing.
Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Gods, Memes, and Monsters
Latest Game Release: Dread Names, Red List for Vampire: the Masquerade and Ghosts in the Black for the Firefly RPG.
Current State of Projects: Read my latest project update and My Departure from the Conan RPG.