Pumpkinfest 2018

Happy Halloween my friends,

I thought I'd spend this Halloween talking about a PumpkinFest I attended recently in Franklin NC. This year marked the 22nd year of this festival. Fangirl and I have been going for a few years. It's amazing to see how it's grown from the first one we attended. 

So first things first our Costumes:

Fangirl: She really wasn't sure what she was once she put together her costume.

That dragon scale potion bottle belt pouch can you believe she designed and made that herself.

Myself: Mermaid Out of Water

My sign says "If found return to ocean immediately." It's attached to a bubble wand I blew during my costume contest presentation. Fangirl made my starfish hair clip and did my scale makeup.

 Our day began kinda rainy, but I guess for a mermaid that was no big deal.

 A special guest star this day was my sister who was Steampunk. That's how she answered people generic Steampunk.

She made and altered everything for her costume. I think that's an octopus in her hat globe.

There was amazing music and even a bike show, that was my sister's favorite part of the festival. There was also some amazing costumes:

 This lovely cosplayer and her pooch was actually not with the other two. Love when these unplanned meetings happen.

 I entered the costume contest, sadly I didn't place, but I was in the line with some cool people that helped pass the time, few of them were bloggers and con goers. As I was in the contest line the sun came out. Rough when your in long lines.

But can't deny it's a good view. And if you can't tell by the sign we had Gyros for lunch, and lemonade.

The only down side is the lack of color we've had so far this year, but Fall is trying to gain a foot hold.

 I picked up this pencil at a Recycling booth it's made completely of recycled tires, they even had a white one made of newspaper.

It was fun getting to hang around with my sister and see some of my favorite spots on Franklin's Main Street. It really has lovely things to see.

This was the first year I noticed this little cabin after the tents cleared out from here. It's called Uncle Bob's Cabin, I sadly couldn't find the story behind this cute little cabin.

To finish off the festival day we descended upon a local Chinese restaurant, before heading home into the cooling night, where we were greeted with a lot of winds blowing leafs along our path.

Well friends I hope your Halloween is frightful (in a good way) and fun. I'll be back soon, maybe tomorrow,  to show you some of the Halloween fun we've had today. God bless you guys!

The Ninja Writer's Library- Halloween 2018 Edition

Happy Monday my friends,

Here lately I have read a bunch of books, many perfect for the Halloween season. So let's dive back into the pages.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving - I have enjoyed and been terrified by many versions of this story on the screen: the Fox TV Series with Tom Mison, that one of my friends happily called Ichy. The movie with Johnny Depp as Crane, even the Bing Crosby Disney version- yes this version even creeped me out especially when the next morning after you've watched it your having to walk to the bus stop before the sun rises and part of your road was shrouded by trees. But I have never actually sat down and read the original story. As I read it I found many parts of the book, especially the line describing Crane to be familiar, mostly cause they were used in the Disney version's narration. I was surprised by it's brevity. When I usually see physical copies of they seem huge, but it's like only 20 something pages, at least the digital version I read. It is great to have read the original and it opens your eyes to things surrounding the late night chase, and the aftermath. It's a quick read, and I totally suggest you read it to know the original tale.

*Update*
Bryt of InLiterature.net has been doing a lot of posts about Sleepy Hollow she's prepared meals found within the story.

Witch City Mystery Series by Carol J. Perry-  I think discovered this series through GoodReads suggestions. I have read the first three books Caught Dead Handed, Tails, You Lose, and Look Both Ways. The books main character is Lee Barrett a 30 something widow who has found her way back home to Salem, Massachusetts where she gets herself tangled up in a lot of mysteries in town, and learns special things about herself. I was fascinated by witches and stories involving them when I was growing up. So I really was intrigued by this series. I like the mysteries, witches, and the bit of surreal found in the books. Two of my favorite characters in this series is Lee's semi retired Librarian who keeps an in home library organized by the Dewey Decimal system, and O' Ryan the cat, who was orphaned when his witch owner was killed. He was very human like qualities. If you want a quick Halloween read start with Caught Dead Handed: A. Because it's the first book of the series
2. It takes place during the Halloween season.
I really recommend this series for your fun, light, mystery reading needs.

I hope that gives you a couple of ideas for some Halloween reading in these last few days up till Halloween my friends. What out for the spooks and zombies and have a good week! God bless you my friends!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Of Spooky Late Night Searches

Happy Saturday Friends,

I hope you all are having a good Halloween season, I have been munching on Oreo's Halloween cookies, and eyeing the caramel apples. Last Saturday I attended a Pumpkin Festival, I'll post about that day as soon as I get my sister's pics. But today I wanna share a little creepy research fun I ended up having earlier this month.

It all started one late October night when I checked the peeps I follow on YouTube and this video from LarenZSide popped up where she's looking at spooky things sent to her by her users. Some of them to sound and look creepy I will say, but the one that intrigued me was a pic of a Subway sign that said you couldn't use Ouija boards of do seances there.

Well I wanted to show Fangirl this, but I didn't want her to see all the video so I searched the web to see if I could find the pic, well I not only manage to find the pic on the Food For Thought post, but they tell the story behind the sign. Apparently it's an old building that may already be haunted and they don't wanna open a can of supernatural worms... Smart thinking. I use to own one of the Parker Brothers® ones that a neighbor girl gave me cause I thought it was awesome, but then heard way to many stories, so I gave it to Fangirl who's gonna make art out of it, or use it for decoration. I'm weird I think their beautiful and cool looking, but I'm not gonna use one and risk calling up something I can't get rid of.

Watching that video taking the info from that and doing that late night search it put me in the mind of Fiona Phillips from So Weird. Particularly the Vampire episode from season two when she pulls an all night research session on the title creature. Do any of you guys remember that old Disney Channel show, it was awesome, they really need to release it on DVD or something.

*insert cheesy vampire accent* Vell my friends. I hope you all have a good veekend full of spooky fun. Stay safe and God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Talk Like a Pirate Day Ideas

Ahoy my mateys,

Today be that most piratey of holidays: International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD), let us take a moment to tip our hats to it's founders the Pirate Guys. I figured I'd take the time to give you a few ideas on how to celebrate.

First head to the day's official site, here you'll find how to talk like a pirate and party ideas, and other great info associated with the day.

Videos:

I have a few videos I watch that I enjoy watching:

1. The first is the video of the Capricon 2008 live performance of Tom Smith's Talk Like a Pirate Day Song. It features The Pirate Guys themselves.

2. I love watching the entire web series of The Bus Pirates. There's a few racy bits, but it's hilarious.

3. Lastly is Improv Everywhere's Pirates of Central Park, it's a bit the partnered with Disney Parks.

Music:

Well best just show you my TLAPD Spotify playlist. It contains my seafaring songs for the day.

You can also check out the Pirate Songs page of the official site, for more tunes.

Reading:

I like to crack open open John Matthew's Pirates Most Wanted Book. It features a lot of info about real life pirates.

Also check out a comic I did a while back for the day: Talk Like A Pirate Day 2013.

Hope you have a good ITLAPD, way the seas be fare, and yer treasure plenty. God bless you all!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

My Strange Finds Summer Edition

Good Evening My Friends,

I hope those of you in Florence's path are ok. Tonight I'll be showing off some of My Strange Finds from the last maybe few months.

 My first strange find is this watch I found hanging in a tree outside Walmart back sometime in the Summer. It was something that was puzzling and probably made me smile:

Time flying... er hanging.

I spent a lot of time outside this Summer and apparently nature loved it:

Nature's Heart

I was out doing laundry the other night and I noticed the "P" and "S" stickers of the push sign were gone, leaving behind a message that many probably feel when it's laundry day:

This is how I feel about my day sometimes...

Wednesday Fangirl and I were at the Outlet Mall in Asheville where I first noticed this fire and water fountain:

I looked at Fangirl and was like "If you had a long enough stick with a marshmallow on it... Yeah this isn't a strange find I guess, but it is cool.

I ended up coming across a few strange finds Wednesday as well:

1. ZomBee Bloody Bites: I saw these creepy cute things at the Dollar Tree in the same Outlet Mall. Each candy comes with glow in the dark fangs and watermelon flavored blood. I know it's probably gross and messy, but I thought it was awesome!

2. Bullfog SNOT: We stopped by this store we hadn't seen before called Hobbytown, and I saw this bottle of green stuff I think if used on model's tires.

3. Another Bullsh*t Night in Suck City: A Memoir- I saw this book by Nick Flynn on a bookshelf at a Goodwill. At first I'm like that's some name for your memoir, then I'm like wait no I've probably had days like that.

I hope you guys have a good weekend, those in Florence's path stay safe, and may God bless you all!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

The Ninja Writer's Library- A Crap Load of Books

Happy Almost Friday my friends,

I'm trying to get back in the swing of blogging again, the outdoors and my mind has been calling. I also realized my book write ups have been piling up which is why this Ninja Writer's Library is gonna be long. So grab some tea and sit back and enjoy the booky ramble.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
This one is probably my second favorite of all Austen's work I've read thus far, which is 3 books. You know if I lived in this world I wouldn't be hurting in finding a husband, every busybody would be doing it for me. With in these pages I found a character that was the equivalent to nails on a chalkboard John Dashwood, the sisters' half brother. I cringed reading his parts. Everything was about money with him, uh he drove me bonkers. I will say before I read this book I did read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters. Now that I've read the original I can tell the different styles of writing from what's mostly a Jane written part and a Winters heavily written one.

Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan
In Mr Penumbra's we delve into a world of coding, books, and an old mystery. It was an good read, I can't give the best review due to the pure fact I was physically sick, and having a depression spell, so some topics in the book, like the one character's obsession with the briefness of life gave me a weird feeling, but it was interesting enough to keep me going.

Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
If you love the anime of the same name, then you should enjoy these books. The first book kinda follows the anime, but we get more info about the characters than we get from the movie, such as learning Howl's country of origin, and a few things about Sophie that we didn't know either. The second book in the series focus's on a carpet seller in what would be an Arabian land type setting, but I assure you it is the same realm. There is a third book called House of Many Ways that sadly the library does not have, so I can't read yet. *pouts* But yes this is one of those times I suggest reading the book even if you've already seen the movie, it'll provide add ons to the story, and of course continue the series if you want new untold adventures from this fun world.

The M Train by Patti Smith
I discovered this book through the Daedalus Books catalogue. I was very intrigued by it. Well I learned my library had it so I of course checked it out. This is a great read into a unique mind. It's like some Alice in Wonderland trip. Smith defiantly has a poetic air about her. She talks about the dreams she has, actually opens the book I think with a dream, about coffee, crime dramas, whatever comes to her pertaining to the events going on in her life at the time. Y'all she even talks briefly Doctor Who. The over all feel I got from it was poetic and gritty if that makes sense? I defiantly wanna add this to my physical library.

The Aunt Dimity series- by Nancy Atherton
I've seen books for this series in various book catalogues. My library has many of them, I've managed to read the first 6 books in the series. This series is very enjoyable, one problem with my speed reading skills, that are only worse when it's a good read, I breeze through them too quick. It has romance, but nothing smutty, mystery, a bit of paranormal, and a lovely main setting in the Cotswolds. So far the first book in the series Aunt Dimity's Death is my favorite we are introduced to Lori Shepherd, Aunt Dimity, Reginald the pink bunny, the Willis family, and all the other characters that you'll be revisiting frequently as you journey forth with the books. You'll find yummy sounding treats in the books, a recipe is usually added in the back, but you can get it from them from the website too. It's just a cute series, if you like some quick mystery reading try it out.

Rules of Magic and Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
I love the Practical Magic movie, so I was excited to read the book and prequel. Now I had read Practical Magic back in high school, the Captain let me borrow it, but I don't recall anything except the death beetle being mentioned. Which is odd given I usually recall books I've read, if not I remember once I get started reading it, but for this it was like reading it for the first time.

With Practical Magic I will say I did like that we got to see the powers Sally's daughters have, and good things coming Gillian's way. With Rules of Magic I liked learning of the sisters past and about their brother, Sally and Gillian's grandfather. I liked Franny was a bit of a scientist and as a child decided to do experiments on her baby sibling, I mean yeah it was mean, but just humorous in her mind this was a serious study.

My cons with both books is the depressing vibe I got from them. See I'm the type of reader that takes on the emotions or feelings from what I read and already having anxiety and depression makes these rough to read, I mean don't get me wrong intriguing reads and I wanted to keep doing so, but unlike the movie which yes had a lot of sadness and darkness, but had humor to lighten it, I didn't get that in the books.

Ok my dears I hope you have a good rest of the week. Read a good book and may God always bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

AARC 2018

 

Happy Friday My Friends,

Ok this post is coming out later than I planned for the pure reason I accidentally left my camera in Fangirl's car and didn't see her again for a week or so. But I am now ready to tell ya about the Asheville Anime Regional Convention (AARC). This year it was up to a two day con, Fangirl and I only attended Saturday July the 28th. We headed out early to get good parking and make our reservation. Fun Fact the building this con is held in was where I attended my first concert and met my first celebrity, Bryan White.

We took a spin around Artist Alley. I purchased my con pin for this year, I went with a Tardis, I know I'm predictable. We also ran into an author friend of ours, Amanda Churi, that we met three years ago at our final GeekOut! Last year at ARRC I purchased book one of her Trilogy The Twisted Trilogy : A Lapse in Time. This year I bought book two: The Dark Materials. She was happy to learn I had actually read the first one. Her fiance Kevin was there again this year, dressed as the character I'm pretty sure he inspired.

We headed to the Dealer's floor where we did a quick preliminary walk through before heading to make our reservation.

Here's where the nerds are at

Fangirl had discovered there was going to be a Marshmallow Rainbows Maid Cafe at the con this year and really wanted to have our lunch there. Once the schedule came out she made our reservations. As we stood waiting for the Cafe to open we watched a maid yelling at the con floor below trying to get more customers, Fangirl warned her to be careful or they'd all see up her dress, the maid looked at her and said she was a burlesque dancer so it wasn't nothing knew. I'm sure in my head at that point I was like Jim Carrey going "Alrighty then."

Bubbles mark the entrance to the maids lair

The maids soon let us into the cafe, where a DJ was busting out possibly J-Pop tunes.  We were joined by a dude named TJ, who we'd befriended as we waited in line, and learned was a vet, thanks for your service.

Fangirl and our Lunch Mate TJ

At each space we found with the menu gifts of paper flowers with chocolate in them, and a vial of bubbles.

The Master's Banquet and a couple gifts

Yes at bubbles we all became kids again. We were also given a sticker with a drawing of our maid, and a bracelet. I was given a blue and green bead one cause it matched my pineapple shirt. We ordered the Master's Banquet from the menu which was the whole meal they offered Sandwich, Chips, and a dessert. We also purchased the Special Gift, which was a picture with your waitress. Our section was taken care of by Maid Sniikersnee, the pink maid who is the Yandere type according to her pic on Facebook. She was fraking awesome, actually they all were. On the tiny pic they give you when you took a pic with your table's maid she wrote her name and drew some hearts in what else pink.

After the meal they broke out board games where our Table played Candyland the My Little Pony edition. Sniikersnee was Twilight Sparkle, I was Fluttershy, Fangirl was Rainbow Dash, our Vet friend choose Pinkie Pie, whose piece had gone on a trip so Sniikersnee substituted with one of her pins, a cleaver with cake on it. I never made it to the end... I'd get close then the cards would be against me. *pouts* To finish our hour the DJ spun a tune as the maids lip synched and performed a dance.

We then took a longer stroll around the Dealer's floor where of course we noticed the larger selection of Anime inspired cars this year:

There we some amazing costumes:

Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun and a genderbent Harley Quinn (Thanks Fangirl)

I think both of these are from Kiki's Delivery Service, I know the Kiki is. (Photo courtesy of Fangirl)

This is the most funny costume I saw, I can't help when I see this to recall that Classic Foamy the Squirrel episode Rules For the Masses (warning not suitable for younger/sensitive audiences) where Foamy suggests you be sure to shower while at the con.


We settled in at the stage for the Cosplay Lip Synch Battle. There was some amazing peeps I have to admit. The one I really remember was a Poison Ivy Neegan, basically cause of the costume with it's green lights. There was even a Dipper from Gravity Falls competing which I thought was cool seeing a  costume from the show.

Chilling in the crowd during the Lip Synch Battle

The battle is under way

We stopped at a couple of the featured guests' booths, the one I was most  thrilled to meet was Johnny Young Bosch, who currently does a lot of voice acting, but when I was growing up I knew him as Adam the Black Power Ranger. I'm happy to add his sig to my collection John Hancocks.

Fangirl's Cabbit hanging out at Artist's Alley still donning Fangirl's Jane Hat and now her Maid's gift bracelet.

We went back for another round at Artist Alley and visited with Amanda one last time, before bidding the con adieu. We were pooped. I think we may have had enough energy and money to partake of the Chinese food.

This Geek was pooped after this con, and dang look at that crazy hair!

If you want to see others' experience at AARC I suggest Brotalku's post, I think they show some of the Lip Synch Battle in it and you get a brief glimpse of Fangirl in the crowd, look for the purple. Also check out League of Extraordinary Appalachians' post, I think they have a couple for this con, they cover the costume contest a couple of them were in.

After the con I was inspired to write a poem about my experience at AARC that I hope to add to a poetry collection I'm working on that focuses mainly on Geeks and Dreamers. This is just the I think  2nd draft I look for it to be edited further at some point:

When the Anime Buffs Gather

A stroll through artist alley
Fills the eye with pretty trinkets
A meeting with that indie author
Named for a passed family dog
Another book sold
Another book read
Another step for a dream come true

With a military vet
You pass through a doorway
Into a cheery world of color and techno music
Ruled by rainbow hued maids
Where gifts of bubbles makes kids out of adults
And a game takes you back to that one 7th grade social studies class

With a meal and a dance
 The rainbow ladies send you back into the crowd
Populated with souls wielding giant hammers and huge furry heads
A nerd Mom nurses her babe
Already bringing it up in the geeky ways
Smart Momma
On stage characters are locked in a lip synch battle
Poison Neegan illuminates green and wields a mean bat
While a Haunted Hill Nurse Harlequin does a split

A hero of your past emerges
Taking a moment to sign your meager offering
Thank you for your time
Thank you for your work

Surrounded by downtown traffic
A couple begins their lives together
As the people pour out of an ornate church
Into the rays of the afternoon sun
Geez how many people can be in one bridal party?

I hope your Weekend is awesome and if you want to see epicness totally check out The Hillywood Show's® Supernatural Parody 2. As always may God bless you guys!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer