Samhain Thoughts from the White Board - Oct 31

I was going to call it just plain old "Halloween" Thoughts from the White Board, but decided to go with something different.  I Googled "names for Halloween" and Samhain was among the list.  Don't ask me what the significance of it is.  I dunno.

Our front porch jack-o-lanterns.  From left to right there is mine, which reads "Wong Lives!", my daughter's in the middle - which has a bunny, a heart, and a flower, plus some ink drawing on it to (in daylight you can see them), and the happy and bright-faced traditional jack-o-lantern on the right is my wife's.  We're all very talented around here.

On the subject of this blog, there is good news and not so good news.  The good news is that I have two more reviews just waiting in the wings to be published over the next couple of days.  I'd taken notes on the one (for Vladimir Nabakov's book Lolita) as I was reading it, and then the review just sort of fell together.  The other is a pretty short review of the movie Moneyball (with Brad Pitt, from last year), which I watched for some extra credit for my Economics 1010 class.  And I have several other things I'm working on too, but just aren't quite ready yet.  So there is more fresh content coming up.

The bad news?  The tax money we had been living off of has all but run out, and we're back to be super-poor again.  So the Internet will probably be getting shut off soon, unless my wife gets another job or a boat-load of clients for her spa work at Ogden Organix Salon.  This time looks even scarier than they did over the past summer, when things got tight around here.

And on top of that, a loved one is experiencing some health problems.  Nothing we can do about it but pray for that person's well-being and hope it isn't quite as bad as it sounds.  Things in the land of Wong are not great, though we are thankful for the blessings we do have, and pray for better days to come.

On the bright side, it was a pretty good Halloween.  Wife and I took my daughter trick-or-treating.  My kid was quite cute dressed as Harry Potter.  She changed her mind about being Hermine (I didn't bother to look up the correct spelling, sorry) Granger and wore some cheap glasses and told people she was Harry.  Whatever makes her happy, I say.  Guess she isn't so girly that she won't pretend to be a boy when it suits her.

My wife dressed as a gypsy, and I put on my Grim Reaper cloak and carried my antique scythe.  A few of the neighbors gave that scythe an askance look or two.  I like being scary, what can I say?  It was quite fun.  Though later on, after I got tired of carrying around the "gardening implement," one guy said I was a monk.  That was funny.

And my wife looked super cute as a gypsy.  She's a good sport, that wife of mine.

Well, this post has turned into a family newsletter of sorts, so I'll knock off and get to the Thoughts.  Halloween 2012 is almost over.  It was a good day for us, and I hope yours was both spooky and safe.  Now we get almost two months of Christmas advertisements.  Saw one on the TV this evening already.  Oh boy...

Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn't even the star of his own Halloween special. - Chris Rock

We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight. - H. P. Lovecraft

Like at Halloween: I knew I'd arrived when I saw people dressing up on Halloween as my character. - Jane Badler

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. - Edgar Allan Poe

The parting comment:

Source: LolSnaps.com

Just a bit of Halloween education and stuff.  Really, I've been holding on to this picture for months just waiting for this opportunity to use it.  You know when would have been really fun to have done so?  Columbus Day.  Or maybe New Years Eve.  Yeah, I roll like that.

Another two-for on parting comments!

Source: LolSnaps.com

Now that is a dedicated Harry Potter fan.  We took our dog Sadie with us Trick or Treating, but she spent the whole time just panting at her leash and being a cute little hairball.  Nothing like "Fluffy" here.  Good stuff.