Halloween Bookcrossing

Along with my pun’kins, a large spider web and some lighted bones, I left out some trick-or-treat books for the kids tonight. These books are all registered with Bookcrossing, so it will be fun to see if anyone journals the books in the coming weeks.

The books were actually a big hit with the kids. Most of the kids stopped to look at the books before ringing the doorbell (though the first two kids that came around didn’t know that I had candy as well…oops). The books were gone with the fourth or fifth group of kids to come around. Andrew and I are going to remember this for next year — there is a used bookstore nearby that has a bunch of the Goosebumps books for just 50 cents each, so we’ll probably stock up next year and leave a bigger selection).

These are the books I released (with their Bookcrossing journal link):

• Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg
• Deep Trouble (Goosebumps #19) by R. L. Stine
• The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (Goosebumps #20) by R. L. Stine
• The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1) by Lemony Snicket
• The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 2) by Lemony Snicket

Here they are all laid out:

Halloween!

I always have carved pumpkins for Halloween. I don’t remember when I started, but I remember each year, we would go out an pick out a pumpkin for each of us kids. Then, when my brothers were too old/and or had moved out of the house, Dad and I would go and pick out a couple for me to do. When I moved out on my own, I continued the tradition, only missing the year that I was trapped…er, living in the dorm (but I did decorate the door for Halloween — it was a way cool sarcophagus made from tag board that actually opened to reveal a mummy inside).

Andrew and I went out a couple weeks ago to Cox Farms, just up the road, and picked out two pun’kins for me to carve. Here’s the results of my handiwork (thanks in part to Pumpkin Masters):

(They’re fuzzy because I took them without a flash, and my hand jiggled a bit when I took them.)

I dressed up in costume, as a vampiress:

But, I put the costume on before dinner, complete with fake nails, so I had a bit of trouble eating the wonderful pizza Andrew made.

I estimated that we had just about 70 kids this year, which is about the same as last year. The cutest costume was a little kid, about 4, who was in a full-body lion costume. There were a couple Hulks, many witches, a couple fairy princesses, a football player (I think he was just wearing his uniform from school, though), a ninja, a clown, and so many more that I just can’t remember.

A very fun night!

Writing Class – Class #2

I had signed up for a short stories class through Fairfax community education because I wanted to get back into creative writing. It’s been many, many years since I’ve come up with an original piece of fiction, and I miss that part of myself.

Tonight I made it to the second class, and the first thing we did was a warm-up writing assignment. I wrote and wrote and wrote. It seemed so easy to just start writing again. And yet it still seemed foreign.

The class is quite big. There are fourteen people including the instructor. This means that each week we can’t workshop everyone’s work. In fact, we can only get through about four people’s work each week. That’s too bad, but the interaction in class during the work shop seemed quite lively. I look forward to work shopping my work, hopefully next week.

Lesson 10/29/03

Fred and I returned to the duet we tried last Saturday, and I felt much more comfortable with it, so we’ve crossed it off my list. We then tried a couple others by site reading. Hee hee hee. Hee hee hee. Hee hee hee. Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Fred picked one of the “syncopation” pieces, which required me to play on the up beat while Fred played on the down beats. I’m not all that great with syncopation, but managed to muddle through (though the second time through, I had the rhythm down pretty well, but played almost all of the wrong notes).

Oh, and when we started playing the first duet, he stopped and told me to stop riding the horse. “Huh?” I eloquently replied. Then he explained that I was bouncing my whole body along with the notes that I was articulating. Not as bad as some kids he teaches, but enough that it was going to mess me up. (I believe I snorted when he explained what I was doing. So much for my facade of quiet sophistication.)

Fred picked out a few more duets for me to work on for next week. Though I also need to keep working on a few pieces in B-flat major — I hate that key.

Aurora

According to SpaceWeather.com, the sun has just experiences the most powerful flare in years, tossing a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth. This might cause bright auroras October 29th or 30th. The director of the UMD observatory has set up a page to monitor the activity: UM Observatory: Aurora over College Park. If the meter gets into the yellow or if the activity on the map grows and covers the upper states, we might just be able to see the aurora here.

I’ve only see the aurora once. Once it came down as far as the Twin Cities — it was white, rather than colorful, but still magical. My brother had gotten home late, and woke me up to see it. At first I was mad that he’d interrupted a good night’s sleep, but I found myself going back outside after he’d gone to bed. I don’t know how to describe how it made me feel — it was like being in a dream world, or a world where magic is real.

Extreme Pumpkins

Andrew sent me this link to ExtremePumpkins.com

At what point did the carving of pumpkins turn into a “cute” event? When did boys stop carving pumpkins and moms start? Where did we lose touch with one of the years coolest events?

Today we will seize back this ritual. Today is the day we throw away those safe, cute carving tools.

My favorites:

• The Flame Job
• The Radioactive Pumpkin (Though I’d be afraid of what exactly is in those glo-sticks!)
• Carrie — With Pumping Blood

The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortuate Events, Book the First)

by Lemony Snicket

While playing at the beach one gray day, the Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, get the bad news that their house has burned down and their parents died. This is not a good beginning for a story. Unfortunately things don’t get much better as the book continues. You see, the Baudelaire’s were very rich, so the orphans will inherit quite a fortune when they come of age. The first relative they are placed with, Count Olaf, has only this fortune in mind when he agrees to take the children in.

While the book does not start out or end happily, I found that I was drawn to the Baudelaire children, and I want to hope that eventually something good will happen for them. I look forward to see what happens in the next book.

I’ll admit that I got tired of the endless explanations of some of the words, but I can understand that most of the readers of these books are much, much younger than me, and probably need the extra help. I learned to just skim over those parts by the end of the book.

Lesson 10/25/03

We worked on a couple duets today. The first was a minuet (I forget who it was by) that I started on Thursday. We made it through, but it was fairly slow. I’m going to continue working on it for Wednesday.

The other minuet I worked on turned out fairly badly. Part of the problem is that my high D and C# are both very out of tune, even with the new mouthpiece. If I could remember to open the high D only a crack, it comes out more in tune, but I’m not yet skilled enough to remember that. I think I’ll move on to a different piece tomorrow.

On my way out of the store, I picked up a new book of movie themes (with an accompaniment CD). One of the pieces is from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is probably the whole reason I got the book.

The Core

2/5 stars

Like Volcano, there’s not much to say about this one. The core of the Earth has stopped spinning, due to a weapon developed by the US (in retaliation to a perceived weapon developed by other countries). The science is dodgy, but then one does not watch these movies for the science (though it’s really hard for me to turn off my inner-scientist).

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth

by E. L. Konigsburg

I read this book as a kid, and was reminded of it when I looked through CasualReader’s book relay page. I was too slow to pick up the copy that was offered there, but several weeks later, Andrew spied a copy at a garage sale.

Elizabeth and her parents moved to a new apartment building in a new town over the summer. When school starts, Elizabeth has no friends and no one to walk with to school. Then, while walking back to school after lunch on Halloween in her hand-me-down pilgrim costume, Elizabeth sees a girl up in a tree. This girl is also wearing a pilgrim costume, but hers looks older and more authentic that Elizabeth’s. Her name is Jennifer, and Jennifer is a witch. During the next several months, Jennifer takes Elizabeth on as an apprentice witch, as they collect the ingredients they need for a flying ointment.

I loved this book as a kid. Reading it again brought back some nostalgia for those days. This is a good book about friendships, and also very fun to read right near Halloween.