Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Who Should I Call?

The family dog, Loki, has been acting strangely lately. He's barking at things that aren't there, looking at a certain spot in the dining room, seemingly following orders from some unseen force, only to get up, growl, back away, then bolt out of the room. There are times during the day that he won't enter the space at all. There are other times when he will bark at the living room wall, whine, then run away. I don't know what his deal is.
I figured I would put a digital recorder in the living room tonight, and see if there are any strange sounds there when we aren't awake. Maybe he really is seeing something. I will keep you updated.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Ghosts, Ghosts Everywhere

I don't know what made me think of it, but I went to see the movie The Haunting in Connecticut a few weeks ago. There was a poem that was in the movie that is an old children's rhyme. It sounded frightening in the movie, because they only used part of it. The whole poem is actually quite funny, though. The part that they used in the movie is this:

One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came and killed those two dead boys.

Sounds rather sinister, right? I came home and, because I am nosy and like to know the origin of things I see or hear, I looked up the children's rhyme. I laughed my ass off when I read it. It goes along these lines:

One fine day, in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back, they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other

One was blind, and the other couldn't see
So they chose a dummy for a referee
A bind man went so see fair play
A dumb man went to shout "Hooray!"

A paralyzed donkey passing by
Kicked the blind man in the eye
Knocked him through a nine inch wall
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all

A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came to arrest those two dead boys
And if you don't believe this story's true,
Ask the blind man, he saw it too!

I think what I like about the original poem is the way its so cleverly designed... it makes no sense. I am always amazed at how horror writers and film makers can find something relatively ordinary, like this poem, and make it scary enough to suit their needs. The use of it in the film worked very well in the story. If you haven't had a chance to see it, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good jump film. The bonus? It's supposedly based off a true story. Judge it for yourself, but regardless, it makes a great film. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

AA Ain't for Sissies: Redux

So, this was a post I originally did on the old blog, so I am transferring it.

Do you ever wonder what drives people to pick up their bad habits? Some people are constantly nervous and need a downer to help them get through the day, so they smoke. Some need to blow off steam, and they drink. Some pick up hobbies, some gamble, some end up in worse things, like drugs or abusive relationships. I call these things habits based solely on the fact that no matter what kind of damage the habit causes, these people tend to go right back to doing it when things have calmed down.
Case in Point: My coworker and sometimes friend, Elena.
Elena is sweet, bright, and the life of our business. When she is on, she is very good. When she is off, however, her life takes another turn. She is an excessive drinker, party animal, and has been caught in various bad situations, including, but not limited to, waking up next to men she doesn't even know, sleeping with men she would have never taken a glance at otherwise, getting a brand at a local seedy bar, The Meet Rack, so she could get the 50 cents off of her drinks for life, and even waking up, sans shoes and underwear, covered in mosquitoes on her ex boyfriend's lawn. You would think that something that bad, not knowing how she got there, or where she lost the various items she was no longer wearing, would have scared the living shit out of her. Nope. The following two weeks or so lead to better behavior. It was straight downhill from there.
As a Psych major, I have tried to come up with reasons for Elena's erratic behavior. I have met her family, and although her mother seems to be trying to act younger than her years, her family is very close, and open. This could be outward appearances; I make no claims to being an expert on her interactions with her family by any means. From the outsider's point of view, though, these things should have been dealt with already. They haven't been, and they are getting worse.
Elena called me at work yesterday, because she wanted to take today off. A friend of hers (the girl that had consequently left her by herself after the branding at Meet Rack) had been murdered. I informed her first, that I was sorry to hear that something like that had occurred, and secondly that her day was filling up fast, and it might be better if she came into work to get her mind off of what had happened. The next thing I said wasn't meant to come out vocally, but it didn't occur to me not to say it until it was too late.
"You're going to be next if you don't slow down and start being careful."
I know everyone was thinking it, but nobody has actually put it into such blunt terms to her before. I know my timing was poor; her friend had just passed away, and I was being sort of cruel. I really didn't mean to say it out loud. I know she's going to be angry with me when I see her. However... if I made her think about her choices, if I held up that mirror in front of her and she's actually taking a look at the direction her life is going... if the thought even crosses her mind for a second that maybe I did it because I care about her, then I will have regretted nothing. I don't want to attend her funeral, and maybe now, she will keep that in mind.

I Moved...

So, I moved my blog, because I wanted it under my usual email address so I don't have to switch back and forth when I am in the middle of something. Maybe now, I will actually start using my blog again. Hurray for usefulness!