Fri-Yay #15

I'm honestly so excited about Halloween. It's my favorite holiday! I don't think our neighborhood will be participating in Trick-or-Treat (which I understand but I'm sad about) and I'm not even sure I'm going to decorate but I love that Hocus Pocus comes on TV all the time. It's the BEST Halloween movie ever. 

​

Amok! Amok! Amok!

Reading:

I'm going through all these articles I've saved. To "read later" that is. Except if I don't carve out some time to read them, it will never happen! So I've been trying to read through some. 

I read this one from the New Yorker this week. It's about the death of a Sherlock Holmes expert. There were questions by some of his friends, family, and acquittances about whether or not he had been murdered (in a strange locked room mystery) or if he had committed suicide. It was around the time that the last of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's children passed away (and with her, several of her father's papers ended up at Christie's for sale). The article is titled "Mysterious Circumstances: The Strange Death of a Sherlock Holmes Fanatic." I was unaware that Arthur Conan Doyle had children or have followed them at all. Sometimes canonical authors seem to exist as the only object in a void. I had the same feeling when I learned about Charles Dickins (who at age 45, left his wife and took up with an 18 year old actress. He had three hundred children with his wife, or ten. One of those numbers. Dickens' mistress was a year older than his daughter. Dude was nasty. The Invisible Woman is about their relationship. I'm judgy). 

I've continued on with the Royal Spyness mysteries. I find them to be really fun. I'm trying to break it up and read some books in between but I'm still reading one book a day more or less. Sometimes I average six books a week while other times it's eight. 

Another article I read is from the Atlantic. I have a subscription to the magazine and I really enjoy it. Their Covid-19 articles are all free for anyone to read. This one is about the spiral of Covid-19 in America. I picked it to read simply because the GOP apparently is plague central and the way they're handling the virus is contributing to the spread in America. Basically, they're inept. I suppose some will see that as a partisan statement but I'm over this immature "sides" for politics. This isn't football and because of people like Mitch McConnell and Newt Gingrich, we're in this stalemate of non-progress and NOW we have a international pandemic with over 200,000 people dead in America. The Atlantic article is more professional in how precautions should be handled. Mostly, I'm tired because my neighbor (a Trump supporter) had a massive fight with his brother or something last night and screamed a bunch in his backyard...where my window faces. I had to listen for two or three hours before I moved into the den and slept on the couch. He's always angry and screaming at something. He's honestly a walking heart attack waiting to happen...but at least it will finally be quiet when he goes. 

​I guess I should take a nap instead of complaining. Stupid neighbor. He likes me thankfully, but he's the dude that has issues with everyone else in the neighborhood (and they with him). He's not a great dude overall. 

Listening:

I'm still listening to Casefile episodes. I just finished the Moors Murders (awful people) and EAR/ONS (terrifying). I'm starting the episodes on Jim Jones and the People's Temple/Jonestown. I've seen quite a few documentaries on this group and it's all so sad. The interviews with the survivors and the police in Guyana are just heartbreaking because of all the loss of life. I would not recommend listening to the tapes. Some people seek that out and I can't understand that. If you don't know what I mean, there are audio tapes of the death of the people at Jonestown. There's no need to listen to it. I've heard snippets and I've seen videos/pictures of the aftermath. It's awful and sad. 

When I took psychology in college...back in the dark ages...we had a short circuit on abnormal psych and we could discuss serial killers, cults or stuff like Stockholm effects. We wanted to discuss cults so we did. We really focused on the group that killed themselves when the comet came by. That was so sad too but we were trying to understand. 

My cousin, who believes every stupid conspiracy theory known to man (but has yet to read an actual history book to know that this "new, top secret think the government doesn't want you to know!" is fully outlined in chapter eight of any high school history textbook) believes some of the dumbest shit about Jonestown. The last one I rolled my eyes at is that everyone was killed by the police in Guyana who didn't want black people down there. There is no use trying to explain that Guyana was not some random white people only outpost. 

In short, my cousin is a moron. He's dumb. Super dumb. Like...I often wonder how he survives day to day because I don't think he has the mental capacity to function. I don't talk to him anymore, mostly because he's still mad that I told him I'd gladly join the Illuminati because they probably had a great egg salad at functions. He told me I needed to stay away from them (do they even exist outside of the conspiracy framework? Ha!) Apparently my flippant reply means I'm "a bitch."

​Yup!

I listen to Conan's podcast to cleanse my soul from the darkness in between episodes of Casefile. So that's nice. 

Watching:

I'm on a rewatch of Monk, a rewatch of Midsummer Murders and I finally sat down and watched all but last Sunday's episode of the Real Housewives' of Potomac.

​Look, I stopped watching RH of Orange County after Tamra showed up and naked wasted happened. That did me in. I like some redeemable aspect to the people I'm watching and OC has continuous amounts of shitty people. I might not watch Beverly Hills anymore because the only people I like are Garcelle and Sutton (can I just fast-forward through the other people? I'll give the new gal a chance). I didn't start Atlanta back up because I'm so behind I'd have to go back to season five but I might trade it out and watch it instead of NY/BH. I'm going to give the new ladies (or lady?) a shot on New York but I don't really feel interested in any of the other women there. I don't know. Potomac has been delightful as the cast is quirky, fun, smart, beautiful, and interesting. I wasn't looking forward to the fight. I don't actually like physical fights (even on New Jersey, sorry Teresa) and prefer the battle of snarky words. 

Honestly, I want a gogglebox of Real Housewives. That would be amazing. 

Buying:

Well, I bit the bullet and bought some multi-chrome eyeshadows from Chaos makeup. It's an indie brand. I don't know that much about indie brands so I thought I'd dip my toe into the little indie pond. I picked chaos because it's the one Lisa Eldridge used. 

I'm excited to give them a go. I have the prep stuff for the pigment already so I'm not too worried about that. I picked a color very similar to the one she's wearing so hopefully I receive the same type of look when I give it a whirl. 

I also bought a wax seal handle, wax seal stamp, and wax from etsy. I love stationary and I adore extra stuff like this. I hope I don't burn the house down but I'm excited to add this to my letter writing.