Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Especially to all the lazy/not so social people who aren't out doing anything fun and costume/candy related. Over here we've been having a Buffy marathon and tomorrow it's all about the discount candy. It's been awesome/ok.

Sanity

Still really, really excited for the Rally to Restore Sanity. (Just a few more hours).

But, until then, here's a little reminder that as bad and nasty as things are now, they're not nearly as crazy, horrible and entertaining as they once were.

Fried (somewhat literally)

No blog post today because I am straight up loony toons right now. As in, I apparently forget things that happened just minutes ago. Ex. Zach came back inside - I looked at him and asked where did you go? He looked at me like I was crazy and said that he just took the trash out, like I had asked him to. No idea what he's talking about. I'm going to consider this a good night if at some point I can walk around, without falling over! Ah epilespsy, nothing like internal lighting frying my brain for a good time.

So yah, I'm going to rest up, because I'm rallying at the Mall tomorrow!  Very exciting.

True Ghost Stories

I may be a wuss about scary movies, but I'm a sucker for real life ghost stories. As in, I know that rationally there are probably perfectly logical explanations for flickering lights, odd noises, moving objects, etc. But, somehow the idea of honest to goodness ghosts or energies or whatever just somehow makes sense to me.  I don't know, but you know how sometimes you go to a historical site, or even just someplace that seems ordinary, and from the moment you walk in, it just feels a certain way for no good reason? You feel more comfortable and familiar than you have any right to be, or you just want out as soon as possible even though nothing is wrong. It's probably nothing, or just a subconscious something or other. Still, some places just seem to have a certain energy that sticks around them, and the idea that big events or big people leave something there doesn't seem to outlandish. Or maybe (probably) this is just another of my bits of crazy.

Either way, especially around Halloween, I like to curl up and read random collections of supposedly real encounters with unexplained things. Just for a little bit it's nice to not be skeptical and just believe in what if for a while.
 
Of course, I've never actually experienced anything  much, which is probably for the best. I do occasionally chat with and say thank you to Dennis, our elevator ghost that I 20% believe in (that elevator spontaneously opens up for me way too often, especially if I'm carrying something heavy, or have had a bad day). I'll probably keep up friendly conversation at any sign of possible other occupants of places I may live, because hey worst case scenario I'm just talking to myself, best case I'm being a good roommate. (Assuming they're decent people of course. I'm not living with anyone malicious, I don't care how dead they are).

This is about the closest I come to actually having anything extraworldly touch my life. 

I grew up in a house that was built in the early 1900's. We really don't know how old it was, but apparently it was built with square nails, so we presume it was pretty dang old. As a kid whose knowledge of history almsot exclusively consisted of Pioneers, because that what a combination of growing up both as a Mormon and in Oregon does to a kid, I just assumed that my house was lived in by pioneers. It was a cool, if kind of run-down house. It also had a gigantic basement. To get into it, you crawled into this little half door at the base of the stairs between the porch and the kitchen. Down you went into a maze of boxes and half walls, the light coming from a few exposed bulbs that were always swinging and what little came in from the constantly smudged and bubble windows. In the very back of the basement, behind the water heater and right next to the exposed heating pipes that always groaned a little was a little room that could shut off from everything. There was no way in heaven or earth I was ever going to set foot in there.

I especially wasn't going to go in after my Dad told me what had happened to the little girl whose family first built the house. Back then this was just a house on the outskirts of town. The family was full of kids, and always busy. So when it was time for them to make their big trip into Portland, everyone was excited, everything was frantic. And everyone missed the little girl, trying to find her doll. After looking everywhere else, she was looked in that back basement room. Which is where she was when the family left, never missing her amidst all the hussle and bussle. And where she stayed, locked up tight, no one around. Where she started to cry when the rain came, leaking in through the window, but trapped inside with her behind the heavy door that she could not move no matter how she tried. That's where they found her when they came back, and that's where her spirit stays to this day, still crying for someone to find her every time it rains.

Of course, none of that was true. Not even remotely. But after my Dad told me that story, every time it rained there wasn't a chance on earth that I was going to set foot anywhere near that room. Even now if I were to go back, there's no way I would set foot in that back basement room. Especially if it was raining.

Kapoww

Law school hammered me upside the head all day today. Wow. At this point I half expect a knock on the door, "hello, who is it?", oh, it's law school, followed me home to punch me in the face.

In other words, I take back everything I said yesterday about liking the drama of law. 

Voyurism

• I just found out that as a law student I have access to all sorts of crazy databases with very personal information. Of course, they're so poorly designed that all I can figure out how to do is look at property sales and assessments. Which got boring pretty fast. But still. 
• If I ever learn a skill that could be used for devious purposes, I always try to think of ridiculous hypothetical situations where I could use that as part of my master plan.
• I especially do that when I've been watching Gossip Girl. 
• I have kind of a voyeristic personality. Not gossipy, I don't care about sharing info, I just love to know all the juicy details. Hence why I read blogs.
• I'm slightly concerned that my interest in Family law may be more motivated by that than by a better desire to be good and helpful to people. Already my favorite law school readings are the cases where the facts are just soap opera insane. I wonder if I could use that as the tag line for my future firm. MylastName esq. - for all your soap opera crazy legal needs.
• Using these bullet points is so lazy. I could easily take all that and turn it into a nice, flowing coherent post. I just don't feel like it tonight.

Scary Movies

I cannot handle scary movies. At all. I saw one of the Halloween sequels once, and I still taking a running leap into bed to avoid being grabbed by the evil person underneath. Nevermind that with all the boxes under our bed, no one could possibly be hidding. If I bend down to wash my face, I have to open my eyes very slowly when I stand up again, so that I won't be surprised by someone appearing in the mirror behind me. Don't even get me started about TV static - and I kept my eyes shut for the last 20 minutes of that movie. In short, I have a very overactive imagination, and a loose grip on reality when it comes to fictionally induced fear.

So, being the smart woman I like to think I am, I no longer watch horror movies. But, being the sometimes stupid woman I actually am, sometimes I read the plot summaries for current movies on Wikipedia, especially if I've seen one too many ads and I'm just curious about what happens. How bad can a few paragraphs of bad bones text, no scary music, no sudden jumps, none of all that extra stuff, just the basic ins and outs of plot be?

Um, pretty bad. If I fall asleep in class tommorow, I'm blaming you Paranormal Activity franchise. To everyone who manages to actually watch full horror movies and go about their lives normally - I don't understand you.