Halloween Pre-Party

Spookies!

I am so sorry for having abandoned you! I hope we can still be friends. I have so much to tell you.

The reasons for my three months to the day absence from this blog are many, but I will spare you the more boring details. The more exciting ones, however....

I am thrilled to tell you all that I have moved again! No, I am no longer living in southern Ohio, thank goodness. Though I am still going to school, I have opted to take the remainder of my classes online to avoid.... well, to avoid southern Ohio. I declare myself forevermore a city dweller.

Anyway, getting back to the good news, I have moved! And I am gainfully employed! I am quite excited about my new living situation, even if it did not turn out as I had originally hoped. My intentions were to move in with my Beau, but extenuating circumstances prevented that, and I have instead found myself an apartment with my very old friend, Ben. Originally, I was very concerned about moving in with Ben, as we are quite the odd couple. He is very organized, I have yet to unpack my boxes. He wakes up just as I am about to go to bed. I love me some veggies, he believes that lettuce is an invention of the devil. You get the picture. Somehow, a month in, we have survived with minimal bickering. Which is fantastic.

I have also gotten a job at (are you ready) the Halloween store (oh, shock!) up the street, which is proving to be a lot more fun than I had anticipated. On top of that job, just this past afternoon, I also became hired at the craft store, which I am certain will quickly become a device to further excuse my crippling addiction to fabric. We all need our vices, true?

As far as news on the Gothic front, it's almost Halloween! I am attempting to decorate the apartment with loads of spooky stuff, and agonizing over whether or not throwing a Halloween party in our new place is a good idea. I vote no and roommate votes yes, but we both have quite different ideas of what a party is. We'll see what happens. Also, since my roommate and I are both HUGE Halloween fanatics, we are planning a state-wide tour of some famous and not-so-famous haunts. Our first attempt fell flat on it's face, but we plan to continue our hunt for the best haunt in Ohio tomorrow night with Columbus's very own Scare-a-Torium at the corner of 161 and Karl Road. I have not heard much about it, but I do hope that it lives up to all the hype they've been putting out.

Our ratings scale will go as follows, with a score from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best:

~Price (parking/admission)
~Wait time
~Ambiance (outside/inside haunt)
~Special effects, Props
~Quality of characters
~Scariness
~Overall

On our list to be reviewed are The Scare-a-Torium, the Haunted Hoochie at Dead Acres, TerrorFest, Ohio State Reformatory, and the Haunted Cave at Lewisburg (Also, POSSIBLY the Dent School House and Ghostly Manor). Each has either won awards for spookiness, or label themselves as "Ohio's _____ Haunt". I am extremely excited to share the results with you all, not only for your reference, but for my own enjoyment as well! I look quite forward to it, Spookies.

Love,
Miss Manic!

Settling In

Well, Dear Readers (I certainly hope I have at least one by now! ^_^;), I'm beginning to settle into my countryside dwelling with some people who have turned out to be very agreeable and lovely. We are quite a diverse and stubborn set of five, but we are learning quite a lot from one another already, which I hope will continue. I'm thinking of it as an experiment in cultural diversity at the moment. Can the Big City Girl relax in her new surroundings and acquire a taste for well water?

In words we shared over dinner last night, we will definitely have some acclimating to do with each other. The men of the house are all outdoorsmen. They plan on being rangers and wildlife management people when they're done with school here. The ladies of the house are both city people, born and raised. Well, I suppose we have some horse sense, but that's about the extent.

They have a hard time understanding the idea of why somebody would want to be a vegetarian, and I have a hard time understanding why they enjoy sitting in the hot sun dressed in canvas suits waiting to shoot something. I also hate country music (sorry to all you country fans out there, but corporate country just seems to me like it has an undertones of intolerance and exploitation; feel free to debate me on that one) and they can't stand my pissed-off-crazy-person industrial music. Go figure. But as much as I don't understand their ways, they are just as confused about my lifestyle, and I accept that, even if I don't like it.

So, children, the lesson of this particular episode is ACCEPTANCE. You're weird. Remember that. When you are caught in a situation where you are a fish out of water, other people will have a hard time understanding you and your ways. That does NOT, however, mean that you need to change. Fully embrace your oddness. Your self-confidence will radiate beautifully, and if you accept others for their uniqueness, even if they're very different from you, they will give you the respect that you deserve.* And by all means, seek out others like yourself. They may seem non-existant on the surface, but dearies, if you become just social enough (I'm not saying you should go and rush a fraternity by any means, just leave the house every once in a while), you'll find the dark and spooky hiding amongst you.

Love,
Miss Manic

*Disclaimer: Acceptance by others is directly related to your kindness towards them. Play nice. Also, if the above information proves false for you, feel free to tell the other party to kindly fuck off.