Boo!

I did finally finish revising The Chapter From Hell. And now I'm having to rethink the next chapter. ARRGGGGHHHH. Ahem.

At least I have my baking done for my Halloween party goodies, and I have a couple of things to finish for my costume. It's nice going to a party full of fellow geeks, so I can do something not entirely mainstream and everyone will still get it. It's also nice to do what's generally a pretty low-key "hanging out" party because I'm not that big on Halloween.

Which shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given that I'm a huge weenie who doesn't enjoy being scared. I don't even go to haunted houses. Why bother with the effort of a haunted house when I can get the same effect from being in a quiet room and having the phone ring? My parents' toaster does a nice, loud "Ding!" and that can practically launch me into orbit with a piercing shriek. Someone in a zombie costume jumping out at me would be overkill.

I did go to a haunted house once when I was a kid. My mom took me and some friends to the Jaycees' haunted house in downtown Lawton, OK, when I was in fourth grade. I know it was daylight, so I'm pretty sure it was a watered-down kiddy version, but I still recall it being pretty scary. At least, it was scary enough to send my friend into a massive asthma attack. She had really serious asthma, to the point of being hospitalized pretty often, and I don't know if it was the shock or the dust, but she started wheezing badly. My mom began running interference, calling ahead to warn people not to jump out at us because we had a child with an asthma attack and we just needed to get out of there.

All the costumed characters then became very concerned and very helpful, but they were still pretty hideous, so they were still rather scary while being helpful. That became a problem in the next room we got to, which was done up as the Phantom of the Opera's lair -- and it was the scary Lon Chaney version of the Phantom, long before the more romantic musical theater version. The Phantom was very well made up, one of the scarier costumes I've ever seen. And the Phantom totally forgot that he was the Phantom and went into crisis response mode when he saw a kid in respiratory distress and rushed over to help.

Needless to say, having a hideous Phantom rushing toward her did not help my friend, as my mom had to point out when she had to fend off the Phantom. Soon, they got a non-costumed person to us and got us out one of the emergency exits. Then my mom took us for ice cream. I thought it was pretty cool that my mom fought off the Phantom of the Opera. I've only been to one haunted house since then, eleven years ago on a date. I've pretty much decided that they fall into the category of Not For Me. I love fall, but Halloween isn't really my holiday.