The Witching Hour

"From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!" --Scottish saying

Let's kick off our spooky celebration with Merriam-Webster's word of the day:

wraith (noun) 1 a : the exact likeness of a living person seen usually just before death as an apparition b : ghost, specter
2 : an insubstantial form or semblance : shadow
3 : a barely visible gaseous or vaporous column

And did you know: If you see your own double, you're in trouble, at least if you believe old superstitions. The belief that a ghostly twin's appearance portends death is one common to many cultures. In German folklore, such apparitions were called "doppelgängers" (literally, "double goers"); in Scottish lore, they were "wraiths." The exact origin of the word "wraith" is misty, however. Etymologists can only trace it back to its first known use in an English text, which was a 1513 classical translation by Scotsman Gawin Douglas (he used it to name apparitions of both the dead and the living). In current English, "wraith" has taken on additional, less spooky, meanings as well; it now often suggests a shadowy—but not necessarily scary—lack of substance.

A Witch's Brew
(a few more definitions)
witch hazel (noun) 1 : any of a genus of shrubs or small trees with slender-petaled yellow flowers borne in late fall or early spring; especially : one of eastern North America that blooms in the fall 2 : an alcoholic solution of a distillate of the bark of a witch hazel used as a soothing and mildly astringent lotion.
witch (noun) 1 : one that is credited with usually malignant supernatural powers; especially a woman practicing usually black witchcraft often with the aid of a devil or familiar.
familiar (noun) 3 : a spirit often embodied in an animal and held to attend and serve or guard a person.
warlock (noun) 1 : a man practicing the black arts.

"A Thorn or a Burr
She takes for a Spurre:
With a lash of a Bramble she rides now,
Through Brakes and through Bryars,
O're Ditches, and Mires,
She followes the Spirit that guides now."
--Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

One of the few plays I've read, The Crucible, is also a really good movie with Daniel Day-Lewis. It's a goody! (That was a bit of a pun for those who know the story.) Check out this site for information abou the Salem witch trials, provided by the good people of Salem themselves.

Shakespeare Must've Thrown a Great Halloween Party

"'Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world." (Hamlet, III, 2)

"Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble."
(Macbeth, IV, 1)

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes." (Macbeth, IV, 1)

"At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all, That in crossways and floods have burial, Already to their wormy beds are gone."
(A Midsummer Night's Dream, III, 2)

"And thus I clothe my naked villany With odd old ends stol’n forth of Holy Writ, And seem a saint when most I play the devil."(Richard III, I, 3)

And Now for a Brief History Lesson
Sponsored by Wikipedia:
Samhain (pronounced "sow-in") is the winter season of the ancient Celts. According to the Celtic calendar, the year was divided into four quarters: Samhain (winter), Imbolc (spring), Beltane (summer), and Lughnasadh (autumn). The Celtic year began in November with Samhain.

The name Halloween derives from the older form Hallowe'en, a contraction of "All Hallow's Eve," so called as it is the day before the Cathloic All Saints holy day, which used to be called "All Hallows." The Christians subverted the recognition of Samhain to honor the saints, as All Saint's Day on November 1st and named October 31stas All Hallow's Eve.

Trick-or-Treating originated in the British Isles. In Scotland and the North of England, it is called "guising." It was once believed that on Hallowe'en, the spiritual world was at its strongest point of the year. It was commonly believed that supernatural beings, usually malevolent, walked free on Earth for this night. People would wear masks when they went outside, in an attempt to disguise themselves as spirits so they could travel unharmed.

Some Spooky Links
Everything you always wanted to know about Pumpkins from the History Channel's History of Halloween.

A history of Halloween and other fun stuff from our friends at Ben & Jerry's.

A tribute to Edgar Allan Poe from the folks at Victorian Halloween.

What Is UNICEF Anyway?
UNICEF stands for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. From their website: "After World War II, European children face famine and disease. UNICEF [was] created in December 1946 by the United Nations to provide food, clothing, and health care to them." Today UNICEF promotes girls' education, work to get all children immunized, and fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Since 1950 American children have particpated in the Trick or Treat for UNICEF program to collect donation while collecting cavities. But in an interesting twist of events, religious and conservative groups (includeing the Vatican) have taken to withholding their donations to UNICEF because the organization supports birth control and abortion.

Screen Screams
Be sure to check out these thrilling tales of witches, ghosts, and other supernatural phenomena:

*Something Wicked This Way Comes
*Witches
*Watcher in the Woods
*Legend of Sleepy Hollow
*Darby O'Gill and the Little People
*The Witches of Eastwick
*Hocus Pocus
*The Craft
*The Others
*Ghostbusters

And last, but not least, The History of Candy Corn... my favorite Halloween candy!

Happy Halloween!

Rarely had the words poured from my penny pencil with such feverish fluidity

I am notorious for my lack of follow through. I make “promises” (to myself mostly) or plans, or announce to people I am going to complete x by y. And then have to endure the “I knew it” looks and comments from these people when y comes and goes and x hasn’t happened. It’s not a good thing. And yet, here I am announcing yet another grand scheme. I have recently learned about National Novel Writing Month, and of course am thinking, oh yes, I can do that; I can write 50,000 words in 30 days....

No offense, but I do subscribe to the belief that writers can’t usually explain how to write and those who can explain how to write usually can’t write. But the golden rule of writing is write, write, write. The only way to be a writer is to actually write. I understand that Procrastination is my worst enemy. And although for most people having a deadline, even a self-imposed one, is enough of a kick in the pants, I doubt it will work for me.

I am an old-school kind of girl. I like to write longhand. I love the blank piece of notebook paper and the freshly sharpened pencil and the infinite creative possibilities that are capable of pouring forth (but sadly, usually never do). Fingers crossed everyone!

Evenings are nice

(OK, you can all relax now. I have decided what to wear for Halloween.)


Last night, I had another one of those relaxing, pleasant evenings. The roomate(s) and I had a delicious dinner of pasta and white wine and then we retired to the couch for a competitive game of Scrabble (which is built into the new coffee table), while listening to the new Ray Charles CD - the movie soundtrack.

And Friday night was another fun outing in the city. We went to explore the evening life of the Marina. (I love driving trough the Broadway tunnel!) There were lots of posh shops of course, and I was beside myself with glee to discover the Paper Source store! We popped in for a quick look just before they closed. We had dinner sitting at the counter at Johnny Rocket's. Andrew refused to use the ketchup becuase the waitress had made a smiley face with it in the tray. After dinner we took a quick lap through Pottery Barn and peered through the windows of one of those old 1950's style middle schools on our slow stroll back to the car. 'Twas lovely.

On Saturday, I lingered at the apartment as long as I dared, not wanting to face the fact that my vacation in the city was over. I watched Identity, which was pretty good with all the plot twists, and I made three trips to pack all my stuff in the car. And finally I left. Later that night I watched Mean Girls over at my parents house. It was funnier than your usual teen movie, but not as original as I expected it to be.

My Horn, Tooted

Just have to share something that makes me happy about myself. An excerpt from an e-mail I received today ("So and So" is a psuedonym):

Runamok,
You are amazing. Thank God they hired you.
Sincerely,
So and So

Wednesday evening

Elizabeth came over for dinner, and we went to a good little Mediterranean place in North Beach. After she left, I settled in on the couch for a 2-hour episode of Inside the Actors Studio with Mike Meyers. Can I just say, I love him for his devotion to Canada, and his love of his wife and of his father. Of course, I already knew most of the stuff that he revealed. I was a little annoyed that host James Lipton kept insisting that he answer questions in character (Linda Richman, Wayne Campbell, the sprockets dude). But he was hilarious.


I am getting all too comfortable in my new morning routine of rolling out of bed at 6:45 and not leaving the house till almost an hour later. It is going to be very hard going back to the old way.

Pink Ribbon

I am belated in my acknowledgment, but October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Visit the breast cancer site to help donate one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.


Whaddya Talk?
I saw The Music Man on Friday - it's pretty good. Definitely no Sound of Music, but I liked most of the songs, especially the ones involving the babershop quartet. And I liked how the first song kept time with the moving train. I also already knew a lot of the songs. Three things to note: 1) Every spring my grade school put on some kind of musical/theatrical revue, and one spring we did a medley from musicals, including "Seventy-Six Trombones." 2) Is it odd that I knew one of the songs ("Wells Fargo Wagon") from the movie Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (and only after seeing The Music Man did I understand why Lisa Kudrow was singing with a lisp. Darn that Ronny Howard was cute!) and 3) For the longest time, I was under the impression that "trouble with a captial T, which rhymes with P, which stands for pool," which my dad was fond of quoting, was from The Hustler. Hey, it's about pool isn't it?

The Meadows

Yay - My sister just called me from Edinburgh! And more specifically from a red phone booth across the street from her hostel in Edinburgh.

I had been looking up things to do/see in Newcastle (for when I visit, of course), but it's not a problem to switch gears and focus on all things Scottish. I had nice flashback to our all-too-short visit 5 years ago, during which my sister and I got lost, and forgot to exchange our money before the banks closed, so ended up eating cookies for dinner in a park called.... The Meadows.

"It's a well known fact city Jim, that there is a secret society of the 5 wealthiest people in the world known as the Pentaveret, who run everything in the world including the newspapers, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado known as.... The Meadows."

Nice Work, Pal!

Ah, the magical wonderment that is Disneyland. There is nothing like it. I don't think I can put my thoughts together in any kind of smooth prose. Instead this will have to be written yearbook style...

"Co-Captain Steve" riding on the top of the storyland boat next to the driver. Be sure to duck before going through Monstro's mouth! "We are accepting of all here in Disneyland..." Good eyes spotting the old time aviator dudes - hey, nice work pal!! What about us with the perfect timing - avoiding the long lines, catching a lot of the electrical parade, the fireworks, the tail end of merlin show, and the garbage can drummers. Walking right onto Pirates and the teacups and several others. Several new things for me this time around: Pinnochio, Indiana Jones, the sun wheel, the bug's life show, snow white show, the old-time carousel, riding the double decker bus. Oohh, and the delicous bread bowls in Monterey. I am most like Belle, and Andrew is most like Captain Hook, but that is only because he would rather eat nice people for lunch than have a nice lunch with people. Doing the dialogue for the Beauty and the Beast scene and then trying to keep up while singing the un-birthday song! Screaming to make the kids cry in the haunted mansion elevator and the first time to succeed in making a kid leave. "How do they do that, how do they do that?!" The great Halloweentown decorations and of course the song got stuck in everyone's heads! Three times on the cars and Mickey helped Marissa out of hers on the second time around. Steve's over the shoulder photos - wonder if any will turn out? More bad jokes on the river cruise. The damn kid in front of me on the canoe couldn't handle his paddle. Andrew was the Disneyland Nazi. Saturday breakfast at Mimi's, despite plenty of alcohol the night before. Andrew beating everyone to the escalator to quickly bring the car around. What was with the creepy guy who got on and off the tram, not once but twice! A twangy good time with Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, and the guy who looked like Lazlo from Real Genius. Sarah's bad luck with the crying/squirming kids and the oblivious parents. What's that you say - They don't have any characters any more? Well how about Tom and Huck, everyone from Alice in Wonderland, chip and dale, Belle, Mulan... we lost count. The new version of Abe Lincoln, with the headsets and the dude "whispering" in our ears. "Mark it down - 11:50 Sunday night and I turn my ankle!" Everyone wearing a Robin Hood hat - it's not Robin Hood, dammit, it's Peter Pan! Grumpy's Tavern - no happy hour. Hot dogs for breakfast in Hollywoodland... "if one more person scrapes their chair, I swear I will--" I think Sarah still hasn't seen Tomorrowland in the daylight. Damn all these strollers! Be sure you younger aviators put the seatbelt through the strap. Nice work, pal!


Ah, the magical wonderment of a 4-day weekend. But then the stark reality sets in: It's October 12th and I still have no idea what I am going to be for Halloween!

This Is Going to Be a Long One

She's Leaving on a Jet Plane
My sister leaves for England today. She won't be back for six whole months. I am going to miss her, but she totally rocks for taking this risk.

Everybody Must Get Blogged
Hey, Zach Braff has a blog. I haven't seen Garden State yet, but I do want to. And I have liked him from Scrubs. But I like him even more now that I see some of his favorite movies are Empire of the Sun, You Can Count on Me, and Lovely and Amazing.

Yesterday morning
was a bit hectic. I snoozed three times and then had to rush out the door and over to the bus stop. And I was just a few steps away from the corner when I realized I'd forgotten my ticket book. (And there was no way I was going to spend cash when I'd already paid for the tickets.) So I raced back home to get the book, and then raced to beat the bus to one of its later stops. Luckily, I made it just in time. I get to work and the elevators aren’t working, so I walked up to the fifth floor... to discover all four chairs sitting on top of the desks – the carpets had been cleaned over the weekend. So I had to lift them down. All this manual labor before 8 am!

Over the Weekend
On Saturday we went out to lunch and a bit of a walk around town. That evening consisted of several rousing games of Sorry, Clue, and Scrabble, before going back downtown for some pints. On Sunday, we were up and out the door by 10:30. We had breakfast breakfast at the diner across from the bowling alley, then it was a spontaneous trip to the corn maze, where I triumphantly finished in record (I think) time. And after a couple hours of watching baseball, that evening my mother, sister, and I went to a bridal shower that was only slightly awkward.

Misc
Last night I watched “Desperate Housewives.” I hate that title, but I thought the show was actually pretty good – black comedy style. Not sure how long they can keep the series running but it should be entertaining for the time being.

I have to expressed my amazement at the bountiful use of the word “culled” in such a small period of time. But guess what? Here are a couple of interesting tidbits that I culled from various sources over the weekend:
*Isle of Mull, Inner Hebrides, Scotland is the next big vacation hot spot
*Some women think it is fun to embarrass their friends with revealing lingerie

And a Question
Why am I so dumb? Why can’t I take care of my body? Why do I keep eating the processed junk food even when I feel sick?

Interim

Once again, I have accrued many half finished entries that I need to go back and finish and post.

We caught the second half of the debate last night. Let me just say ask again, why would anyone vote for Bush? I am the first to admit that I don’t know anything about anything that is going on in the world, but regardless of whether both men were blowing smoke, at least Kerry did in it an elegant, confident, and eloquent way – no ums, uhs, or stutters…. Bush fumbled around trying to form complete sentences, and came across as a bumbling fool. How nice it would be if the next generation could grow up actually respecting their president.