Quote of the Day:
“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.”
- -Linus Van Pelt in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Birthdays This Week, Oct. 26 - Nov. 1:

^{Klaus Kinski, Oct. 26, 1903 - Nov. 23, 1991
Actor: Werner Herzog's Nosferatu as Count Orlock
Don Seigel, Oct. 26, 1912 - Apr. 20, 1991
Director: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Robert Picardo, Oct. 27, 1953
Actor: The Howling as Eddie Quist
Bernie Wrightson, Oct. 27, 1948
Artist: Swamp Thing, and Marvel's Frankenstein
Ruth Gordon, Oct. 30, 1896 - Aug. 28 1985
Actor: Rosemary's Baby as Minnie Castavet
Henry Hull, Oct. 30, 1890 - Mar. 3, 1977
Actor: Werewolf of London as Dr. Glendon
Peter Jackson, Oct. 31, 1961
Director: Dead-Alive, Bad Taste, The Lord of the Rings, King Kong
Michael Landon, Oct. 31, 1936
Actor: I Was A Teenage Werewolf (and Little House on the Prairie, and Highway to Heaven and Bonanza!)
Betsy Palmer, Nov. 1, 1926
Actor: Friday the 13th as Pamela Voorhees
Edward Van Sloan, Nov. 1, 1881
Actor: Frankenstein as Dr. Waldman, Dracula as Van Helsing, and The Mummy as Dr. Muller}


Today's Journal:

Hey guys! Just a couple days left till Halloween and I'm stoked! Before Halloween comes every year though, we have a pretty big event to celebrate in my house. Yesterday, Oct. 28, was the nine year anniversary of my and my wife's wedding. Funds are a bit tight this year so we didn't do anything special that required the spending of any money, but I did come home from work early and make dinner. We both feel like the best anniversary gifts are still being married to each other, being in love, and having our wonderful son to remind us of how important our marriage is. She's truly wonderful and I can't imagine being married to anyone else.

In a conversation with my friend with the Accidental Geisha blog, she told me that one of the actors in the play she's stage managing is John Kassir who was the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's Tales from the Crypt. She's worked with him before and they are friendly. Being the geek that I am, I asked her if she could get his autograph for me. Of course if I was asking for it myself, I'd probably bug him to do the laugh, and he'd probably refuse and I'd not get the autograph. All in all, it's better that she's doing the asking!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about happiness lately. The past couple years of my life have been pretty rough. I'm still in a tough spot financially, but things are better than they were last year. I have always battled depression. I guess it's a chemical imbalance that I've had since childhood. Anyway, while joking with my wife a few nights ago, I went on a tangent about how I hate being unhappy. I listed several other things I hate, but the unhappiness was the crux of the rant. It made me realize in a "duh" moment, that I do hate being unhappy. Unhappiness and depression are more than anything states of mind. Granted, they are states of mind brought on by chemicals in the brain, but states of mind they are nonetheless. I know a person can't snap their fingers and just "be happy" as Bobby McFerrin advised, but we don't have to live covered up with sadness and melancholy. Even if our situation is hard, if we are dealing with turmoil or tragedy, almost all of us can find something in our lives to be happy about. Not everything is perfect. It never will be. Even the rich and famous deal with crap and disappointment. I'm not saying we should forget what makes us sad, but rather accept it and acknowledge it without letting it control how you feel or who you are. Find those things that you can be happy about, don't compare your life to anyone else's, and enjoy those things that give you pleasure and make you smile on the inside. I'm not trying to be a Pollyanna so I hope I don't sound like one. But remember, we are all granted only a short time on Earth. We can spend it being miserable or we can get busy living and enjoying it. Once you're dead it's over. Do you want to have lived a life of self-imposed misery or do you want to look back on your stay in the physical plane as a good time? Me, I choose the latter. Let's hope we can all make it happen.

Have a good Halloween, and those of you with little goblins be careful trick or treating!

Till next time,
Stay Sick!

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