Halloween Stories

Its that time of the year again, October brings an end to summer and welcomes in the fall harvest season. It also means that Halloween is just around the corner. Decorating the house, costumes, trick or treating and festivals are all part of enjoying this holiday.

Another is gathering together around a fire or candlelight and telling scary stories. The supernatural has always sparked the imagination of storytellers for centuries. Some based on local legend, old folklore, and  even nightmares.

The theme of  death, evil and the occult are what some of the most recognizable horror stories are based from. Characters like Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolf man and The Mummy have been replaced with more familiar characters who, like most big celebs, need only one name. Jason, Freddy, Michael.

Recently the vampire genre has undergone a complete makeover with the introduction of the Twilight Series. The Cullen clan, who not only can go out in daylight ,but even work and blend in with regular humans are simply portrayed as a little peculiar, goth types. The werewolf is also reinvented with the indian legend of the skinwalkers, shape shifters that take the form of a giant wolf instead of simply a large hairy man.

One of the all time favorites is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow depicting  a small town, a school teacher Ichabod Crane, the love interest of his, Katrina Van Tassel, and the two protagonists, Brom Bones, and the headless horseman.

Zombies have recently been given new life (no pun intended) with the creation of the AMC series The Walking Dead. The story chronicles a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse trying to search out a safe place to restart civilization while fighting their way through the country now covered by the undead. The human relationships are what makes this a winner with the zombie battles an added bonus instead of just constant gruesomeness and carnage as with other previous zombie movies.

In general the horror movie has became somewhat stale with the onslaught of Saw movies that were timed to release on Halloween or the remakes of some of the classic movies like Nightmare on Elm St, or Friday the 13th and Halloween. While some redefined the character and told the story from a different point of view, they tend to take away from the original frights that we all enjoyed.

Whatever your personal preference is, or even if your not a scary story or movie person, this time of year makes for great imagination and  fun for the kid in all of us to enjoy a little rush of adrenaline and chill down our spine. Keeps the blood flowing.....

Photos: updated photos from Harlingen Cemetery.

Finally managed to get some photos scanned into the computer this week so hope you enjoy them. The design of the markers were unique to each culture and at one time specific to certain areas of the cemetary. Anglos on in one part, Hispanics and African Americans in another.

       

2 Broke 2 Smoke: The Fastest Quit Smoking Method in Today's Economy

After smoking for nearly half my life and waking up with a tightness in my chest, shortness of breath and a general odor that engulfed my clothes and self, I decided it was time to quit. That was the first time. I managed to quit for a few days, amid the stresses of my job as a customer service rep, the regular routines of daily life and pressures I endured, but then the weekend came.


 As I decided that I would go out and have a couple of drinks to unwind, a cigarette seemed like something that would go along with a cold beer. I broke down and bought a pack at $3.99 from the local convenience store. (Yes $3.99 is prob cheapest you'll find them down here) and proceeded to light one. 


After a few min another one, then over the course of a couple of hours I had, without realizing it smoked half a pack! Ten cigarettes in less than three hours! I couldn't believe it. That's when it hit me that I really needed to quit or suffer serious health issues. Already diagnosed with diabetes I should have given it up long ago.


To add to the issue I had recently had an issue at my job regarding my smoking. As I was sitting next to this one coworker, who happened to be pregnant at the time, she turned and nearly gagged as I came from my break having just smoked one. Numerous people smoke but for some reason it was more prominent on me. 


A few weeks later as this same employee was sitting in a training session, it being her last night as she was leaving for another job, I extended my hand to wish her a good luck and glad to have worked with her that she gave me a look of utter disgust and instead of a hand, she slowely extende me her elbow and stated "I don't touch people tha smoke." I withdrew my hand and waved as I exited the room, somewhat offended by the notion. 

Soon after I had someone comment about the smell of smoke in the area. I never realized it before as the sense of smell and taste are greatly diminished over time by the inhalation of smoke. After quitting for a week I could start to regain my sense of smell and truthfully I almost felt sick as I started to smell the outside worked and my workplace for the first time in years. The world outside smells of decay, death and  the general nauseating smell of humanity. 


Since that time I realized how much I was spending on cigarettes each pay period and figured I would save tons if I would just quit buying them. As fate would have it I had to catch up on bills and rent which wiped out my paycheck and forced me to give up the thing I had relied on for years. 


After a few days the unnerving of withdrawal symptoms started and for a few days I was irritable and temperamental to say the least, but after a few days, then a week and having one cigarette a day, if offered to me, I slowly ignored the cravings. While stopping completely is not something I have achieved as yet, my purchasing of them has. Due to the fact that I could no longer finance the habit I had for years.


While this is prob not the best way to go about quitting,(I have unfortunately started gaining weight again)It will save you money, add some time to your life, and eventually given enough time your lungs can even reverse the effects of smoking a certain percentage. While nothing will bring back the years, or money invested in the habit, quitting however you have to is the best thing for not only your health , but the health of those around you. As well as helping you get noticed more for the real you than for the smell you bring into a room. 

Well, at least one good thing came from the bad economy. Now if we can only get Mr. Obama to give up the habit as well.....Ah that's asking to much I suppose, seeing as how he did manage to nail Osama Bin Laden, I guess we could overlook this one...least till election time.