My friend/date/activity partner, "T" and I have decided to take on as many Halloween activities as we can find and afford. As much as I love Halloween, I haven't really done anything fun in relation to it in years. I gobble lots of candy though :)

We went to Fright World tonight, located on Union. It was an after thought to go, seeing as our original plans to go on a ghost walk out in Springville turned out to be a dud. This would have been called, "terror in the trees", I think. It sounded super cool, and I was looking forward to it. It was a nice long drive out anyways, complete with pretty decent conversation.

So we still want to check that place out, but it appears to either be closed or not exist this year. We had seen info on it online, but the website dates quite possibly may have been from last year. We couldn't find anything along the route, even after stopping at a little convenient store, where the cashier said that many people had been in inquiring of the location of the place. So, yeh, hopefully this place still exists and we can head out another time. I enjoyed the evening ride, so it wasn't for naught.

Fright World wasn't as amazing at House of Horrors, but it still had its worthy components. There is so much to see and do for Halloween, that we are breaking it down to one or two things a week. Its my favorite time of year, so its nice that the activities have begun.

Is apple season over or still in progress? I want to pick apples.


I found this a short while ago..






oh, (e:janelle)....

My mind has drawn a blank. I don't use Google all that often (still hanging onto Yahoo), but I remember that the Google banner changes on occasion to depict a holiday or something significant. I don't recall how to check out what it is. Something drastically simple, I'm sure. So what brings me to post today is that I noticed that the Google banner has a pinata today.

what is it for? does anyone know? I feel like I should..?

Google adds flare to their banner for various holidays. Some have left me stumped upon initial glance leading me to figure it out one way or another. With a little bit of poking around, I determined, or at least, figured that it might be that it is the Jewish holiday, Sukkot? I was thrown off by the pinata, as that doesn't seem to have anything to do with it, but some sites have "sukkot pinatas" (help me on this)- some of literature I have read doesn't explicitly mention a pinata, it appears that people use it as part of the celebration, according to one site I found. Again, why? and..well, why not? pinatas are fun! So I gather that Sukkot begins this evening and proceeds for the next seven days? Or did it start late last night?
and again, does the banner have anything to do with it?
If not, then this post will be a provide a little education on it that you may not have otherwise known about.
(WIKIPEDIA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot)



From the University of Kansas: Valuing our Differences, Celebrating Diversity website:     

[box]Sukkot, also known as Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles, begins at sunset the day before the 15th day of Tishri in the Hebrew calendar and lasts for seven days. Only the first two days are celebrated as full holidays. The word Sukkot means 'booth' and recalls the time that Israelites wandered in the desert during their journey to the promised land and lived in the sukkots.

Sukkot is the third Pilgrimage festival mentioned in the Old Testament and is a holiday of joy and happiness. It is observed by the building of a temporary dwelling (Vayikra 23: 42-43: "In booths you are to dwell for seven days ...so that your generations will know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I took them from the land of Egypt....") and by the gathering of four plants (Vayikra 23:40: "And you shall take for yourself on the first day the fruit of a goodly tree, branches of palm trees, the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before Hashem...for seven days."). On the seventh day, the four plants are paraded around the synagogue in a celebration called Hoshana Rabba, or Great Hosanna.

Sukkot also signifies a thanksgiving for the harvest. In keeping with this, the temporary dwellings are decorated with fruits of the land.[/box]

So now I know just a tiny bit more than I did upon waking.

but I still want to know what the banner is about!

damn tequila.

I vaguely recall some ass shaking.

...more when I get some quality sleep.

Last night my friend/date and I went to The Maize on Niagara Falls Blvd. It was dark, hot and fun. In previous times, I had only gone as part of a "field trip" with the consumers I worked with, therefore not having the opportunity to enjoy the Maize for myself (many behavioral challenges). Also, I never went at night; the ideal time to go get lost in a maze among the cornstalks. The light of the almost full moon added to the effect.

Its open until 9pm S-Th, until 11pm Fri and Sat. Cost is $7 Bring a flashlight and a couple of hours to spare. We arrived around 7:45 and finished around 9:30.



On Sunday, we had gone out to the House of Horrors and Haunted Catacombs located on George Urban Blvd (near Dick Rd). We pretty much had the place to ourselves. I loved it!!

[box]General Admission $20
Includes Admission To All Monstrous Attractions:The House Of Horrors, Haunted Catacombs, and The all New Psycho Therapy and City Of the Dead In 3-D.

$3 Off Coupons Available at: Burger King, FYE, Mighty Taco, Best Buy, Blockbuster Video, Delta Sonic, Subway, Dunn Tire, Cold Stone Creamery, Verizon Wireless, Fantastic Sam's, and Tanning Bed Locations[/box]

This was insanely cool and not for the faint of heart. I mean you, (e:mike)! It will make you cry, lol. (e:ladycroft)- you would LOVE it. Why did we never venture out and explore all the halloween activities before? ok, it really does all add up. This one is $20 but TOTALLY worth it. I would do it all over again. Get your $3 discount at the above locations or print one out on the website.

Anyway, very sensory oriented- not for the claustrophobic! Some stinky stuff, some very unexpected things to have to do, fun actors, great props, awesome atmosphere. Honestly it was a turn on.

I can't get into it, because you just have to go an experience it and not know what to expect before hand. The hours run late-- seem to close the earliest at 10pm.. and some nights 1am. FUN!!

There are a lot more things going on-- I want to hit up as many as possible. It may seem a bit early, but some things I want to experience without a mass of people around me; which is sure to occur the closer to Halloween it gets.

On to the b-day photo dump. A LOT of pics ahead. Bonfire was fun- good food, drink and friends. Didnt keep track fully, but--I was very tickled to see (e:libertad), (e:mike), (e:paul), (e:terry), (e:jim), (e:james), (e:metalpeter), (e:zobar), (e:dragonlady7), (e:pyrcedgrrl), (e:vincent) also all my buds, Lynn, Damian, Shawn, AJ, Solomon, Shawn(girl), Rainy, Katie, Steve, (e:soma) was missed! Lishy, Barry, Rhonny, and others will get a kick in the ass!). I snagged a bunch of (e:metalpeter,41296) to add to my picture folder, so I hope not to accidentally add any of his here. Also a few pcitures from a b-day night out at Diablo are included.














































































































JIGGLY FACE montage:
this was really entertaining- it was hard for me to keep from laughing, as you will see..

• was up very early this morning after going to bed just a few hours before, to get out and get things for the bonfire party on Saturday. I think all the food stuff has been figured out.

• (e:pyrcedgrrl) presented me with b-day gifts today. I LOVE them. A super awesome comfy pretty mottled pink sweater and a vibrating cow print roll pillow. I need to take a pic.

• thank you for all of the birthday wishes!

• Tomorrow (friday) I will spend time getting the yard prepared. My bonfire pit has a tree or something growing out of the middle of it. Apparently I haven't hosted a bonfire in awhile.

• TATS was crazy this evening. It pulled in one heck of a crowd, perhaps the busiest I have seen it in awhile. People were crazy for Dropkick Murphys.

• this is more than I care to get into at the moment, but the evening gave me a headache and a few "red flags". I hate miscommunication, but what can you do other than try to sort it out as easily and respectfully as possible? Crapola. Also too much contact with cigarette smoke at the square contributed to it too. yuck.

• if you are into Lolcats AND into Postsecret, there is now Lolsecretz. Its creative..

"The meeting of two of the internet's most famous memes- PostSecret and LOLcats."

• I'm sad when I miss the Colbert Report. I just realized I completely missed tonights episode. Stephen would have helped make me laugh and snicker my headache away.

• sigh*