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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 2, 2018 10:41:24 GMT -6
Phalon: Sometimes a US program’s company will block outside countries from being able to view their videos. This is because they air their show there at a different time, and they don’t want them to be spoiled. So not sure if Moonglum will be able to watch that. Unless a fan posted it. If someone copies the video and posts it it will be viewable.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 3, 2018 5:55:28 GMT -6
I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. The video was posted on YouTube this week by Comedy Central - the episode was from this past season of Drunk History, which aired this spring.
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Post by stepper on Nov 3, 2018 15:52:25 GMT -6
Halloween Day: I was called the day prior by the diabetes clinic. I'm a part of a study and they wanted a fasting blood draw, so I went in early on the 31st. This seemed to me to be a natural - Halloween - Dracula or some sort of vampire would be talking funny and swinging around needles. Right? Unfortunately, I was to be disappointed. The clinic commander wasn't in a good mood when they asked him and he said everyone in the clinic had to be strictly professional. Poo! That's no fun at all. Steppet had another follow up doctor appointment - in the afternoon. I knew we were pushing our luck with the scheduling but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, and Steppet likes to console herself with a large Schlotzsky's sandwich afterwards. Things kicked off with another new initial interview person who asked the same darned questions that they've asked every single time we go - including the 'why do you have this appointment" question - and again the answer is "you had us schedule it the last time we were here". Eventually the PCM came in and after an initial couple of questions that centered on Steppet not being perfectly quaffed (which I found insulting to be honest) - and how this is somehow my fault (which I also found insulting) - she says "I'll need you to get out the wrap." What? The wrap - you brought it last time. Yes - because the home care people asked us to show you what they're using since you have to approve it for the insurance. Well, last time I didn't have time to look at Steppet's legs and feet but this time I do so we're going to strip all the wrapping off so I can see for myself. This is news to us - you didn’t say anything like that last time and we're not in the habit of carrying all that stuff with us. On top of which, they just wrapped her last evening. It's been less than 24 hours. I still want to see for myself. But you don't stock Unna Boots here in the Medical Home - not since you moved a few months ago. I still want to see for myself. I'll have the nurse cut everything off of her, and you'll have to re-wrap her yourself when you get her home. Halloween - lots of kids coming - it'll end up happening late in the evening. (I'm hoping she'll delay this until the next unnecessary follow up visit.) After some eyeball daggers for suggesting that I'd not give absolute and immediate priority to my spouse, they said fine - just be sure to wrap her again this evening because I don't want her to go too long without the wrappings. (My thought was - then do it next time and warn us!) However, failing to warn us about any of this didn't even occur to them. And so they cut off all the wrappings, spent all of 10 seconds looking at both legs and feet - then they put a temporary wrap on her and had me drive home. Did I mention that I have observed but never actually done this? So I went through the re-wrap process - and managed to keep my thoughts to myself - but I would have been a great Egyptian when it came to mummy making - just saying. It really was a pretty good job if I say so myself. Unlike our resident Halloween queen celebrant, I had planned on a modest set up right before the kids would be coming out. By this point in time all I was going to be able to do was set up one set of lights, grab a chair, and dole out candy. Even that was delayed as I had to get into the candy bag and pull out all the milk chocolate bars - Steppet had claimed those earlier. So, there I was, separating candy bars, and I heard a noise on the roof. "Steppet, do you hear something?" 'Yes, now that you mention it.' "Does that sound like rain to you? It'd have to be coming down fairly hard to hear it on the roof like that." And that statement was followed by a resounding BOOM!! And another one. They call them 'gully washers' when it rains that hard and it was a pretty good one. We've been here more than 30 years and this was the first rain out. I have candy for 350-400 kids - and being diabetic it can be no more than eye candy. The rain did eventually end, and a couple desperate children went down the street - I chased them down and told them they'd won the lottery - they got enough candy to cause several cavities. The bulk of it went to work in a big bowl for people to snack on. I suspect come Thanksgiving some of will still be around - there really was a lot of it.
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Post by stepper on Nov 3, 2018 16:15:22 GMT -6
Trunk-or-Treat is becoming popular, although going door to door is still the main thing here. Trunk or Treat happens in church or youth group gathering locations where the parents join up in a parking lot and pop the trunk which is where the candy hoard resides, and the kids all go vehicle to vehicle. It's gaining in popularity because of news stories about bad things happening - real or imagined - concerning candy infused with drugs, or people with a record of child molestation setting up for trick or treat at their homes. Personally, I prefer having the kids come around. It just seems much more fun this way, but of course I'd want them all to be safe.
I've heard of a movement to have Halloween changed to be the last Saturday of October instead of always on the 31st. I understand that a study says it's safer for the kids when it happens on a Saturday. I wonder if they've considered dios de los Muertos. It's a Mexican holiday running from 31 October through the 2nd of November. It focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, and is supposed to help support their spiritual journey. In 2008 it was added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
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Post by stepper on Nov 3, 2018 16:26:38 GMT -6
There's no magic in a lit parking lot full of cars." I hadn't seen this when I did my earlier post, but you're right.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 4, 2018 10:19:12 GMT -6
I did that too - I demanded that they come to the porch actually, in my best stern Mom voice, even though they claimed they had just five minutes until they were required to be home, at the close of trick-or-treating hours. "This will literally take less than 30 seconds. You're the only ones in sight, I've got a ton of candy left, and you're taking it." "Seriously, Mom?", was LX's response, next to me, "You're scaring them."
It was a group of four teenage boys who had been by the house earlier - though they didn't stop, because at the same time there was a group of four teenage girls approaching the walkway from the opposite direction - they exchanged typical teenage girl/boy banter, and I'm guessing the boys didn't want to appear childish enough to be out trick-or-treating; they nonchalantly walked on as the girls came up to the house. (The girls, btw, won our vote for the best costumes of the night, although we didn't realize what they were dressed up as until they walked away. See if you can guess: One was dressed in a yellow shirt, blue shorts, and white socks. Another had on a longish pink and black horizontal striped shirt. The third wore yellow-gold leggings and a red shirt. The last one had on a blueish-grey dress. No tell-tale make-up, accessories, or any other costume embellishments...except for one. It was only when the last girl turned to walk down the front walk that we saw she had a tail with a pink bow. They were Christopher Robin, Piglet, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Eeyore!)
Anyway, I made it worth the boys' trip up to the house, grabbing as big of handfuls as I could hold, and filling up their bags. And still the cauldron was full of candy...
The bulk of ours went with LX - she was headed back to Detroit the following day to spend the remainder of the week with the Boyfriend. I made up three candy filled-to-the-brim brown paper lunch bags: one for the Boyfriend, one for the Boyfriend's boss who paid for a hotel room for LX, the cats, and the Boyfriend for a week (which was very sweet of him!), and the Boyfriend's regular hotel roommate.
And still there was candy left - enough for another filled-to-the-brim lunch bag. I got rid of it last night, when BP stopped in after work, with her friends - they were spending the night at one of their houses, and I sent them on their way with the last of the candy. Whew! It's all out of the house now!
We watched two movies after trick-or-treating was done; the first was "American Psycho", which I've never seen before, and our last 31 Days of Halloween movie for the season, purposely saved for last because it rolled over into the first of November, was "Coco". I love this movie, and I've seen it multiple times. It's a Pixar film about a young Mexican boy who gets stuck in the Land of the Dead during Dio de los Muertos. It's not only a heartwarming story about family, but it explains a lot of the cultural aspects of the holiday. Great movie, highly recommended.
Stepper, I don't understand what's going on with your wife (except the frustration you experienced at the doctor's office), but I wish her well.
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Post by stepper on Nov 4, 2018 18:50:05 GMT -6
I suspect I might have scared the kids, but the adult mom with them recognized me from previous years so she made it okay. Getting chased by an adult on Halloween might not be at the top of their list of fun things to experience. I'll have to look it up. Thanks. Thanks. I know I haven't been all that forthcoming about her situation, but I don't want to say something that she'd find embarrassing - the forum is a little too public for her. Leftover Candy: another reason to appreciate kids. Lets hope their youthful metabolism can cope with the sugar - I'd have to go on a serious diet for a long time.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 15, 2018 23:49:20 GMT -6
It's not Halloween anymore...I'm in this thread for the "Other Hauntings".
Hubs and I are staying tonight in an old "English Tudor Mansion" Bed and Breakfast. The inn is reported to be haunted.
I'll let you know how it turns out.....
Maybe. If I'm able.
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Post by stepper on Dec 16, 2018 18:20:18 GMT -6
That noise you heard coming from the walls was the creepy *ss doll wanting to visit -it misses you and is hoping for a Christmas invite.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 16, 2018 21:12:26 GMT -6
Better hope it's not the ghost that creeps in and has sex with the occupant/s of the room.
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Post by stepper on Dec 17, 2018 20:10:07 GMT -6
Better hope it's not the ghost that creeps in and has sex with the occupant/s of the room.
That reminds me of Dan Aykroyd in Ghost Busters
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Post by Phalon on Apr 17, 2021 4:42:36 GMT -6
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Post by stepper on Apr 17, 2021 15:55:14 GMT -6
What? It didn't include any stories about mom's who, for their own entertainment, secretly sent a creepy-@ss doll to her daughter at college? I heard it scared the daughter so badly that she threw the evil doll across her dorm room! And mom's regret? That the room mate wasn't able to record the action! Of course, yes, it would have been a big hit on youtube and could have netted everyone lots of moola, and I probably would watch it once a month just for fun, but still...
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Post by Phalon on Apr 18, 2021 8:17:10 GMT -6
OMG, Step! BOLL! I completely forgot about that...probably because there have sooo many such things I've done over the years just for my own entertainment (the haunted insane asylum story comes to mind, because it wasn't too long ago that I learned the girls actually believed it).
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Post by stepper on Apr 25, 2021 5:39:53 GMT -6
Creepy-@ss doll is my favorite story of yours - followed by your inordinate amount of time in cemeteries. I'm sure that if Rod Serling had read about your adventure he would have incorporated it in one of his Twilight Zone shows! Shoot - he could have made an entire half hour show out of that one.
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Post by Phalon on May 2, 2021 7:57:57 GMT -6
Again, you've reminded me of something I'd forgotten. This winter, while spending an inordinate amount of time in the cemetery, I took pictures of a couple of headstones I thought were particularly interesting. One was a black stone with an etched clown on it, and the other was quite a bit older - from the late 1800s - and had a hand with the index finger pointing down, which I thought was unusual (and after drilling, I found it symbolizes an untimely death or a person who was "taken" before their time).
Anyway...I looked up these two headstones on the Grave Finders website, and found there were a bunch of requests - people that were looking for photos of their ancestors graves. I entertained the idea of doing some cemetery photography to post on the Grave Finders site - maybe fulfill some of the requests, if I could find the graves.
I didn't though, because it was winter. I dunno, it just seemed like someone looking for a photo of the grave of an ancestor, would rather see it surrounded by lush greenery than in the dead of winter, when the cemetery seems more dreary. Now that it's spring and everything is green...and you've reminded me of it, maybe I'll get back out there with my camera.
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Post by Phalon on May 5, 2021 4:23:39 GMT -6
Oops, I meant "Find a Grave" not "Grave Finders".
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Post by Phalon on Oct 24, 2021 6:43:03 GMT -6
When we rented that creepy cottage in the creepy woods last month, LX introduced us to a podcast she'd been listening to as part of her pre-Halloween festivities (we all start Halloween early in this family). Sitting around the campfire, we listened to a couple of episodes of "Lore": www.lorepodcast.com/With the tagline "Sometimes truth is more frightening than fiction", this long-running award-winning podcast explores the darker side of history; new episodes are released about every two weeks. I've been listening to episodes in random order this past month (LX and the Boyfriend started at the beginning; the podcast began in 2015) and I've been enjoying it a lot. If you like history, enjoy creepy, and have a spare 20-30 minutes, give a listen: The episodes: www.lorepodcast.com/episodes
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Post by Phalon on Oct 30, 2021 8:00:25 GMT -6
Seriously?! WTF, was I thinking?!!!
I've got way too much candy.
A couple of weeks ago, our town's newspaper printed all the Halloween activities for this weekend. There were gobs of those church "Trunk-or-Treat" things scheduled for October 30th, as well as the downtown merchants passing out candy for trick-or-treaters, again on the 30th.
I thought "great!!!" All that stuff will be the day before Halloween, and on Halloween night, I'll have gobs of trick-or-treaters coming to the house.
I bought candy accordingly.
Then my boss asks me if I want to switch my Sunday off work to Saturday, so I'll be home for Halloween. What do you mean, I ask. I already have Halloween off work - Halloween is on Sunday, my regularly schedule day off.
Oh, no, no, no. Apparently, Halloween can no longer fall on a Sunday.
And with all the trunk-or-treat things happening, and our house being too far from downtown proper where the merchants are giving out candy, I doubt we'll have many trick-or-treaters.
I just took stock.
I. Have. Way. Way. Too much candy.
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