Halloween, part 1

Halloween is happening; things are getting busy. Expect less-than-frequent blog updates, though I intend to take some pictures to record the entire insane process.

Tonight we made the attic run, and pulled down the 30-odd boxes of lights, streamers, props, masks, beads, shredded cheesecloth, and body parts. The joyful business of unpacking the boxes is about half-way through. We have a lot of stuff.

I ordered some additional supplies today, and tomorrow is the annual trip to the hardware store for materials.

By “additional supplies,” I mean 4th quality anatomical models — skulls and bones and such. And some really cool glass model eyeballs. Heh.

I’m still pondering the project list for this year. As always, I have a million things I want to do and not enough time or money to do it all. Currently under consideration are:

  • fog chiller: I hate the way the warm glycol fog rises and blows into people’s faces, up and away. Apparently, this can be corrected with a chiller. There are tons of terribly complex designs, involving fans and air pumps and dry ice and tesla coils. I was a bit discouraged, but then I saw one for a gravity chiller; a simple construction using a trashcan, a length of aluminum dryer hose, some sealant, and some ice. I’m thinking about giving it a try. And if it works, I’m SO buying another, better fog machine. Cause that’s fucking wicked.
  • a cemetary fence: saw a PVC and wood strip faux-wrought-iron gate pattern. It’s fairly simple, but will really add to the New Orleans feel. Plus, I’m kind of sick of the puny, plastic, 8-inch-high version I currently have.
  • various prop body forms: I think I’m going to try and move up to chickenwire framing this year. Haven’t decided totally on the expanding foam, but I’m really aching to give it a shot on at least one. Need to remember to get a crapload of saran wrap and some rebar. There’s at least three forms I need to build out this year.
  • graves and mausoleums: as always, I want to add to the graveyard.

Heh. Not all gonna happen. What I wouldn’t give for a year-round garage and work-room.

Now, quickly, the friday five from this week… and last.

  1. What kind of computer do you have? (Mac, iBook, Dell, etc.)

    At home: a dual-boot Linux/Win XP box, 2 Dell laptops, most of a crappy x86 that was my brother’s, and a crapload of assorted parts.

    At work: a Mac G4 and my beloved Linux workstation.

  2. How old is it? Are you happy with it?

    My main machine is only a couple of years old, and has had various upgrades. It works, and runs most of what I want it to. Windows is sometimes crappy, but that’s Windows for you regardless. Of the two laptops, one is a work loaner, and I love it. The other has a busted battery bay and doesn’t work unless it’s plugged in. Not the most useful.

    My work machines rock, though the Mac is getting on in years. It has a huge moniter.

  3. How many computers are in your household? (at home if you are away at school)

    5, I think. Plus the aforementioned assorted parts.

  4. What are your favorite games/timewasters on your computer?

    The Sims2, Bejeweled, any of the minesweeper or solitaire variations. Also, blogging. And the website that displays the last 40 images from LJ. It’s like a black hole of interwebs time-suck.

  5. If money were no object, what kind of computer would you like to have?

    If money were no object, why would I limit myself to one? I’d own gorgeous, huge, flat-panel moniters. I’d have a top-of-the-line commercial Mac with every piece of video and design software I could get my hands on. I’d have a Linux box that screamed, and a Windows partition with a C: the size of Kansas. And a massive, custom-built lab room to put them all in. Aaahhhh.

Last week’s five:

  1. Do you have a dream you will always strive to achieve until your dying day?

    Well, there’s always a dream or two flitting about, of course. But dreams change, desires change. People change. The future is never what you expect it to be, and whatever present you find yourself in changes the path in front of you.

  2. Do you believe in fate or free will, or something else?

    Free will. If there is fate, then someone controls it, and I just don’t believe there is someone out there pulling billions and billions of puppet-strings, just for the hell of it.

    For me it boils down to the question of a higher power, and one’s perception of the purpose and intent of that higher power. If there is a god (and that’s a pretty big “if”), then I don’t see his or her intent in the world as one of direction. Creation, yes, and perhaps an occasional dalliance (miracles, or wrath-of-god plagues-and-locusts type stuff), but nothing resembling fateful intervention.

  3. Marilyn Monroe. Conspiracy or tragic accident?

    I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure.

  4. Favourite childhood sweets/candy?

    Caramel and lemon drops. Though probably not together.

  5. Favourite cocktail (alcoholic or virgin) and it’s ingredients?

    My friend J’s crazy bourbon lemonade stuff. From what I could gather, it’s basically sugar syrup, bourbon, and fresh lemon juice. In about equal parts. That stuff will FUCK YOU UP. But it’s so yummy that you just keep drinking.

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