Boo!

It's nearly 40 minutes past when I wanted to go to bed, and here I sit trying to add all the customizations back into this blog. I think I got it where I want it for now.

So anyway, I'm out here in the living room and Chris is watching "Ghost Hunters" on the Sci-Fi channel. First of all, let me say that he and I share alot of things in common....except the paranormal stuff. Have you ever seen this show? It's alot of night-vision and hidden camera work to spot a spirit or shadow or unexplained movement in homes or tourist sites where "hauntings" are suspected. It's creepy stuff. I've gasped on plenty of occassions. Tonight I'm distracted because of all my blog work, but it reminded me of another creepy event last night.

We watched 1408, a movie based on a Stephen King novel about a hotel room that no one survives for more than an hour. Sure enough, King delivered. I sat very close to Chris on the couch and covered my eyes in the really scary parts. At one point I think I even dozed off, but that's because it takes a shift in the wind for me to fall asleep...hahaha.

Anyway, the weather is getting colder, Halloween approaches, and the television is littered with these scare-fests. Hopefully the rest of you have someone to snuggle up to so you aren't afraid! Chris always says he wants to go on one of those haunted tours in the area, and I say no because I don't want any of the spirits to follow him/us home. It's no secret I've abandonded my belief system and religious upbringing to become an atheist, but it sure is hard to shake these paranormal events.

I always tell him that if I knock off first, I'm going to come back to haunt and scare the hell out of him. Call it payback for watching The Ring, The Grudge and whatever other scary movies we've watched together.

Well it's time for bed. I'm going to take Pooka in with me to keep the creepies out!

Chicken Feet

Mmmm...Chicken Feet. Yep, look closely my friends, those are real chicken feet. I recently went on a business trip to New York City. Part of my time there was spent visiting our Asian Market branches in and around Chinatown. Telling my contact there that I'm from the hills of Pennsylvania, I asked to be treated to all the fun things there are to experience in Chinatown, including traditional cuisine. I was treated to "dim sum."

Loosely translated, that means light dishes which are steamed or served on a small plate alongside Chinese tea. Chinese tea can be red, white or green. The tea I had was so deliciously fresh I didn't even need sugar...which was a nice surprise. As for the food, it was equally delicious. I was asked to brave the chicken feet, but told them I'd stick to the chicken wings in Buffalo!

Overall my visit was fun and memorable, both personally and professionally. It was so awesome to embed myself in Chinese culture for a day. New York City is another world to me considering where I grew up. And despite the short tempers and blaring horns, you can feel the way the city just draws you in. I was so welcomed particularly by my friends in Chinatown, I'd go back there in a heartbeat. It felt like such a close-knit family, despite my lack of understanding for the Chinese language. Ever the learner, I'm determined to teach myself to speak Chinese. There are hundreds of dialects, with the two most common being Mandarin and Cantonese - Mandarin in the North and Cantonse in the South, specifically around Hong Kong. If I don't have time to learn that, you can bet I'll be asking for Chinese history books for Christmas. Ghengis Khan here I come!

New Beginning

So I did the Myspace thing...and I will probably continue there, but this seemed like another cool outlet for me. I just think this has a little more "adult" feel to it. If only I can figure out the colors and formatting jazz. I hate HTML...ick. Well, I'm doing this as I watch Transformers - great special effects so far.

Chris and I went to Olcott today. It was in the 70s in and around the Buffalo area so it seemed like a nice day for a ride. We headed North to find a pumpkin stand and see where the car would take us. We should have grabbed the camera.... We first stopped in Lockport at the weirdest and creepiest pumpkin stand in Niagara County. We pulled in and noticed the storefront door was open, but the neon "open" sign wasn't on. About 5 minutes later a teenage kid walked out and began his sales pitch with, "Most of these are overpriced, so just let me know before you choose and I'll tell you the real price." Ummm, OK. So we picked two enormous pumpkins with the intention of creating another pumpkin masterpiece (see my Myspace for the Sabres 06 Pumpkin), and also so Chris could make a pile of pumpkin seeds for us to munch on. After we loaded the pumpkins in the car, we walked inside to pay. Inside the store seemed like an A-1 rental, except nothing was arranged....it was just astrewn all over the inside of the store. Weird.

We left and headed further north. Somehow Chris remembered how to get to Olcott on many different roads than when we went there about a month ago for him to play at the Niagara Celtic Festival. We arrived in Olcott and walked down to the beach. The sky was clear, the water was pristine and there were very few people around. Overall it was a very relaxing 30-40 minutes that we spent walking around. I'm clumsy, but I braved the pier anyway so I could walk with my babe. Awwww.

I wish every day was that relaxing. I stare at the clock and it says 10:15...in an hour or so I'll be in bed, counting the minutes until I have to go to work tomorrow. But I'll save the explanation of that cast of characters for another time! Peace out friends.