Almost Halloween

I know I haven't written in a while, Allot to say. The yard is coming along great! Very Spooky! I've got the Electric chair up and running "sparky" looks great. The Crypt looks spooky with its red lights and cobwebs. There are grave stones everywhere and a coffin, not to mention the ghosts in the tree and in the cage. The stupid fence keeps falling, But Hey, it makes it look cool. I'm working on some gear for tomorrow night. Stay tuned.. :O)

~Shadow Maker~

Oh yeah, When I figure out how to add the video I'll show you the yard! :)

Tired

Today I worked on the yard (again) for Halloween. All this setting up for 1 night of awesome terror! I have the itch but I can't seem to scratch it, maybe I just need the 31st to hurry up and get here. With each passing day I become more and more excited about Halloween. I won't be scaring any little kids (ages 3-10) but the rest are fair game! I'm so tired right now I can't even spell. I think I'll turn in and finish and post pictures tomorrow.

Until next time remember

"You can give a kid candy and it will last them a day. Scare them once and it will last a lifetime!"

~Shadow Maker~

Halloween

Today is October 1st, 30 days until my favorite holiday. "Your favorite holiday?" Some might ask. Yes, I like Halloween better than Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, or any other holiday.

I love the Macabre and all the ghoulish things this holiday brings. I've read allot of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and of the supposed witches Sarah Good and Rebeca Nurse and their memorials dedicated to these women accused of being witches.

Living in Salem Ma. was an experience all in itself. The people, the culture, the history was none like any other. I could give you links to different sites and tell you stories of different events, but to actually see things first hand is the only way to really understand it.

I lived in Massachusetts my whole life until the military found it necessary to move me to Virgina. The History of Boston and of Salem is unmistakable. The cobble stone streets the quaint little shops and eateries, to the pastries you can buy at 3am. But I digress, Halloween becomes a rite of passage for some, a spiritual time, a cleansing of burdens long past. For me, I love to scare teenagers! (As he chuckles to himself.)

I could get into a whole post about the hanging of the witches and their trials, but that would be a totally different post. I'm writing about my favorite holiday.

I guess it became my favorite holiday when I was about 11. I remember that because I was walking with my friends (I think I was dressed as a cop) and we were walking around the grave yard to go to some houses. I said, "Lets cross through the grave yard" and my friends said "Are you crazy? It's Halloween, all the ghosts will come out and get you!" With that I had to climb the fence and run into the night. Of course my friends (I'll change their names so nobody will get offended) Rick, Bruce, Ron and Dave where standing outside of the fence. (I was the one with the flash light) Ron decided that he'd jump the fence and come find me. Rick, Bruce and Dave all sat, scared outside the fence. About 5 min later Ron found me sitting on top of a crypt. He said "Dude, what are you doing?" my reply was just this "Waiting for ghosts, I mean my grandfather, and grandmother, uncle and cousin are all buried here, you'd think at least one of them would want to talk to us on this hallowed night, Right?" He was speechless. I being "11 teen" and Ron actually being a teen said "Lets get out of here before something happens". I jumped down from the crypt and was walking off when all of a sudden we heard a sound. It came from within the crypt. I shown the light at it and as the light fell on the crypt the flashlight went dead. (It had brand new batteries) We decided to run, not walk out of the grave yard. I think we hopped that 7' fence without using our hands. Rick, Bruce and Dave were scared out of their wits as to why we were running. Ron told them we'd heard a noise come from inside the crypt.

As we were sitting outside the fence of the graveyard 3 teens came running up to us from inside the graveyard and said "Man, You guys were so scared! You should have gone in that crypt, we'd have scared the crap out of you." With that I vowed right then and there that I'd get all teenagers back. (This doesn't explain the batteries dying! That will be another post.)


It had been my life's work to put the fear back into Halloween. Not so much commercialized but to have fun with it. I'll hang a noose in my yard with a ghost in it and I'll have a people in stocks or in a rack, or some other torture devise. I'll have gravestones with actual names on it such as Rebeca Nurse, or Sarah Good. I want people to remember the witch trials of Salem Mass. not forget about the history.

I'm thinking about asking the city for Halloween if I'll be able to reconstruct an actual hanging (not with live people of course) but to show the significance of it all. To place a person on a tower and put a rope around their neck and hang them until there's no life left in them. Wow! Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. I think they should bring that back as one of the death penalties instead of this injection. But again I digress.

I love watching all these horror movies and on Oct 24Th Saw V will be released. I have to say, that this has been my favorite series in a long time. The Violence and thought that went into it? Wow, it's kinda scary that people can think of stuff like this. What's even more scary, there are people that will actually do this! Look at Hostel this movie creeps me out, thinking this could actually happen. Ahhhhh.....

Halloween, one of my all time favorite movies. I absolutely love the remake by Rob Zombie. OUTSTANDING If you get a chance watch the original (Halloween) then watch Rob Zombie's remake. WOW, Rob is awesome. I wish we could make more scary movies.

I think I've kinda got off topic here but I'll just end this post with-

"You can give a kid candy and it will last him the day. Scare him once and it will last a lifetime!"

~Shadow Maker~

A good Cup of Coffee

Life is like a box of chocolates right?

I think it's like a good cup of coffee. You get up in the morning and you grind your beans, the smell hits your in your nostrils as you fill the coffee maker with water. You put the ground beans in a filter and insert it in the coffee maker, then, turn it on. In just a couple of minutes you you'll be wafting the aroma of a heavenly beverage that is truly the nectar of the gods, known to us mortals as COFFEE!

The first sip of coffee makes you feel ALIVE and regenerated. It gives you the burst of energy that you need and makes you feel energetic. Allot of people like using different flavored cream in their coffee, I've done this in the past, but why mask the absolute awesomeness of the true flavor of COFFEE .

I want to try and grow my own beans and see how that goes?

Does anyone remember the Maxwell house Commercial with Juan on his mule saying "It's Good to the last Drop?" Am I dating myself?



We'll I like coffee a little better then Maxwell house, but I'll take what I can get. Actually, Coffee sounds good right about now!

Lots of people will pay good money for Coffee, Like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc. I'd rather grind my own but when I can't.. They are there aren't they! But, but we'll discuss that in another blog!

The Nectar of the Gods!

UMMMMMMM!

~Shadow Maker~

The Haunted Lamp

I was a kid when we had this lamp in my house. At first I thought that it was just something wrong with the wiring. Then as I got older I had it checked out, there was nothing wrong with it. The wiring was fine, the little key that turns on the light is fine. All aspects of this light are fine and in working order.

Now for the Haunting part of the light.

As I said, I was about 7 when we got this light and it was hanging in our kitchen. Every night about 6 or 7pm the light would shut off by itself. Nobody would be in the room and it would just shut off. As I grew the light started to turn off more frequently, So much so, that you couldn't do homework in the kitchen with that light on, (It was just a little light, not the main light nevertheless) you'd use it for extra light or ambiance. I was about 14 when it really effected me the most. I was sitting in the kitchen and the light not only shut off, but turned on 3 times in a row in a matter of 4 minutes time. Needless to say I was out of the kitchen. About 3 years later, I had come to visit my parents and the lamp turned on and off again, this time 7 or 8 times in several minutes. I asked my parents if this had kept accruing, to my surprise they said it happened very often.

I went into the military and my parents moved from that house in Massachusetts to a house in Las Vegas then to a house in New Mexico where my father passed away. My mom then came to live with us in Virgina and so did the lamp. Now it's been many years and thousands of miles since we used the lamp. So I plugged it in and guess what? It was on for approx. 30 min and off it went. But wait, it came on again, stayed on for a good 10 min then shut off. I think this thing may be haunted. At least it seems it to me.

What are you thoughts?

~Shadow Maker~

To sell or not to sell, that is the question

I've been down this road several times in life. Each time it's the same thing, you come the the fork and you either have to choose to got left or right. If you go to the left you sell things that took you forever to buy so you can pay bills. If you go to the right, you loose your house; car; worldly possessions etc. Either way you lose.

This is the 3rd time in my life I've had to make this decision and let me tell you it never gets any easier. I figure if you stay straight on the fork you'll eventually make it out on the other side of what is troubling you and you'll still have what valued in the first place. If you try to replace things you've sold, it cost you more in the long run. If it cost you $100 dollars 3 years ago, it may cost $200 now. So you sell it for $75 dollars for a loss of $25 dollars and then you try to by it back costing you and extra $100 dollars over what you original paid for it plus the $25 dollars you lost.

So I ask you, is it worth it to sell or not to sell? If its something you never use and don't need, then Yes of course its worth selling. If its something you are going to want to buy back, then find other ways of getting the money. Make a pie, Give a guitar lesson, Sell Blood.. but if it's going to cost you in the long run, you have to ask yourself... "Self is this worth it?" and be honest!

Just my thoughts on helping yourself through a tough but emotional ride.

Until next time, Think before you sell!

~Shadow Maker~

Life according to Sponge Bob

Wouldn't life be better if we lived like Sponge bob? Think about it for a minute, You could live in a pineapple, you'd never have to pay taxes, you're neighbors would be a starfish and a squid and you'd be able to go jelly fishing anytime you wanted. (Not sure about the jelly fishing part?)

Instead, we have Life in the real world. Bills, decline of the metropolis population and the possible and most likely inevitable recession that will arise from corporate yahoos and this bail out program. Who do they think is gonna pay this? That's right, you and me, the middle man. See if We lived in bikini bottom we'd be able to pay with Crabby Patties and not worry about this failing economy.

Again I say, Life according to Sponge Bob is what we all desire to live like, careless and free. I'm not saying we should be like Patrick and all be stupid starfish (not saying anything about starfish, wouldn't want to get sued or anything) (He laughs to himself- I'm gonna get sued from a cartoon) but you never know who might read this and say " I take offense to that, I'm like "Patrick" or "Sponge Bob" or whatever. I'm sure that living in a world, in a pineapple underwater has it's disadvantages also. Like, how do you get clean air or electricity? What about the sewage treatment program? Do they have one? How do they make a crabby patty anyway?

I look at Mr. Crab's as the Government. They are all out to make a buck and don't care about the little man, i.e. Spongebob, Patrick, Sandy, etc.. So, the Krusty Krab is the biggest business in bikini bottom, but yet it's failing because Mr. Crabs has made poor choices in who he'll let borrow money, now all of bikini bottom and the rest of the sea is feeling the pressure (no pun intended). They reach to king trident, who in turn is the federal government, and says we need to bail out the rich so that the rest of the sea (a.k.a. the world) will buy from the krusty krab (a.k.a our stock market), King Trident steps in and proposes a plan that will cost $700 billion Crabby patties ($700 Billion dollars) * are you seeing the irony here?*.

The citizens of Bikini bottom revolt and demand the the govt. figure out a way to help them and not just help the top 3%. Give the little guys like Spongebob $225,000 and let them stimulate the economy. They could help fix this problem, Everyone with Fins and Gils over the age of 18 would be eligible for this and you'd be able to pay your mortgage on your pineapple, save money for college and stimulate foreign trade. This doesn't look good for the big guys, since they wouldn't be able to take a cut. How would that help? If every Creature in the see (All Americans) were set back to 0 and put back on the same playing field. Basically securing all our debts. The banks would be getting their money, the Lenders would be happy and would be able to make available more loans and big companies wouldn't suffer. (oops, I've kinda forgot about being in bikini bottom for a second) Then King Trident would be able to work on foreign trade, energy plans and stimulate economic growth. But wait, what about inflation? Spongebob, scratches his head for a minute and thinks about it. A gallon of milk lets say, If everyone had $225,000 dollars to do as they saw fit what would happen? Several factors would play into this situation.

1. A gallon of milk would go from $3.50 to something like $15.00. So on and so forth. Right?

2. People wouldn't use this money for what it was intended? (You're absolutely right, But, are those big companies any different?)

3. What happens in 5 years with this plan? If you stabilize the economy and you're not dependant on foreign fossil fuel you can work on developing new jobs in bikini bottom. (The U.S.)and stimulate are economy

4. Pay your bills and save money! Put your money into and institution that is safe and that will grow and it will make you more money. Thus, helping the bank and the foreign investors.

5. Less legal tax breaks for the riches. No Loop holes. Bikini bottom needs a break we need to work from the bottom up not the other way around.

I think I'll go watch spongebob and not worry about our economy. Oooh look Crabby Patties!

Until next time Kiddies,

~Shadow Maker~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRIaNlGGvxc

The Band

So today's economy is crap. We all know this, but since we all know (in the civilian sector) you can lose your job at any time.

Our band was doing well, we had just won best cover band of the year for 2008 and getting gigs regularly. Then the economy hit us like a brick. Our bass player and drummer both lost their jobs on the same day. OUCH- the only thing you can do at that point is say; "You have to think of you family first" and the band will be here when you're able to come back. We decided to go on hiatus until they could find jobs.

Several weeks went by and they were both looking for jobs that now don't seem to exist. "We'll there's always McDonald's" but when your paycheck is 4 times that of what you make at a McDonald's and you have 3 little children and a mortgage and car payments and credit cards, etc.. Depression will set in, and you're thinking your all alone and you'll never find a job. Sometimes you need to lower your expectations until you find the one job that you're waiting for. In the mean time, take what you can get, feed your family and worry about the career job after. (Now that I've gone of on my tangent) I'll get back to the band...

We decided that we would be on hiatus and since music is such a big part of our lives, we'd do Acoustic shows. You'd be surprised at how many songs there are that you can put in your set when your not stuck in one type of genre or type of style. Never mind the setup time it takes for an acoustic act verses a full rock band. (Why didn't we do this earlier?)

Again, for now we (Social Chaos) the band are on hiatus and our alter ego emo-ish everything sounding acoustic band (yet to be named, I'm think Chaotic something to tie into the whole Social Chaos thing).

I'm concerned about our friends and what this economy will hold for them. As for the band, we'll be here waiting.

Until next time.

Shadow Maker