Ain’t no Sunshine when she’s gone

First things first…

GREAT SONS OF NEPTUNE, TODAY IS HALLOWEEN!
I HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!

FRIGHTFUL ENTERTAINMENT

So, its October, this is usually the month where I naturally binge on horror movies. I like it. But I’m not sure why I like it. The “it” I’m talking about is being scared.

As far as I can remember I have enjoyed scary things…yet I’d also get nightmares from scary things, I’ll lose sleep over scary things. I remember the first time  I watched “Ringu” – you may know it from its American remake, “The Ring.” I watched it at my ex-boyfriend’s house, pooped my pants, and returned home to my room…where I used to have a television…  Let’s just say, I didn’t sleep the whole night and all I could do is keep looking at the screen, hoping that if something did come out that I’d be able to run my pansy little ass out my bedroom door.

Scary things also made me avoid places all together, like that time when I thought there was a monster in my bathroom…I never used the damn place. I was much younger when that happened, probably in first grade. The house we lived in at the time had a long walkway. To the left of the walk way was my parent’s room and their bathroom. To the right of the hallway was my room, my brother’s room and at the very end a dark bathroom. One day I walked in, sat down, started doing my business, when all of a sudden I felt something crawl across my toes. When I turned on the lights, there were bugs everywhere! I reached for the shower curtain and inadvertently made it open, only to be greeted with the sight of several spiders and spider webs. OH GOD. I turned around quickly in a panic and flushed the toilet so that I could make my escape. But what followed, when my fingers pressed down against that shiny plastic lever, was the most demonic sound I had ever heard in my life. I ran all the way down to my parents bedroom and squashed myself between my mom and dad. That was the last time I’d use that particular bathroom again.

When I was still in elementary school, I read books by Shel Silverstein, which sometimes had rather scary stories. Then in middle school I was obsessed with the Goosebumps book series. I read some Steven King thanks to my school’s library. I’d also go on to watch the shows Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps when it was made into a television series.  I’d lose sleep over what these media images and words would leave in my head.

I just kept indulging in more and more scary stories, movies and television!

You could say that after a while I started to become desensitized.

I remember I watched Poltergeist…and it did nothing for me. I also watched The exorcist, and I wasn’t the least bit afraid – great theme music though! Dun da dun da da da dinnng da dum! I think it was during my viewing of the original Halloween film that I realized that these movies weren’t doing it for me anymore. I had to admit to myself that I wanted to be scared. I enjoyed it, but why? Why do I like that? I had no idea. I remember talking to my dad about my dilemma, he told me that he remembered one particular film to have frightened him when he saw it, and one day we ended up watching it; it was Carrie. Something about this movie was different, maybe it was the fact that she was so tortured that it seemed far scarier than any undead murderer. The ending of Carrie left me sleepless that night, so much so that I think I abstained from any horror films for a long time.

This abstinence was of course broken, because I watch them to this day. Though I don’t generally watch horror films by myself now, unless its 8am and the sun is blazing.  I’m still not sure why I like to be scared.

To rap this up, I’d like to share with you guys a couple of films that are more recent that I have seen rather recently that I’d like to recommend to you if you’re also into scary films. The first is V/H/S which I believe is still available on Netflix. Its a compilation of scary shorts, each with a different story line, which are tied together by a more general story line.

The second is V/H/S 2, which is the sequel. V/H/S 2 is not available on Netflix, but I’d still recommend it. A lot of crazy shit happens in that film as well, with the same format – scary short films all tied into one general story line.

Have fun!

The bloody Flu

So yesterday I got my flu shot! For free! Thanks to an on-campus health promotion event, sponsored by numerous university departments.

My hair frizzes as my immune system decides to get off its ass and start making antibodies! Yay!

In celebration, I played “Flu Shot” by Awkwafina when I got home:

I thought I’d take a few seconds now to see how many people have gotten the flu shot for this upcoming season. Don’t raise your hands all at once. I’m well aware that people are beyond thrilled to have needles puncture their skin, it’s like everyone’s favorite thing. It’s right up there with getting punched in the face and someone stepping on your shoe while you’re walking.

Which reminds me, I used to be deathly afraid of needles when I was younger. I’ll go ahead and include blood as well. I’m not sure where I developed this fear, because I never saw any major trauma happen in my life or to those around me. I mean, besides a really bad knee injury, I was never really around exposed bleeding. I can only assume that my fear – and let’s be real here, it was more of a phobia – for needles and blood came from movies, television or horror books. I went through a period of time when I would read nothing but horror books. It started innocently enough with the Goosebumps series, but then I got curious in the library about the other titles in the horror genre. I discovered Steven King, and that was a huge mistake with regards to my sleeping habits. Television was no better, seeing the news and the terrible atrocities occurring world wide would leave images of injured victims burned in my mind. But nothing beats movies. I never quite understood why my parents were so quick to shield us from the sexual scenes in movies we would watch together as a family, but there was no problem with me watching a man’s head get ripped off or explode. Gore was something that was common place in movies, so it was hard for me to watch without squealing and squirming at the sight of the fake corn syrup blood.

This duel dagger wielding douche bag injection needle is how I used to picture what happens when I got a shot – my innards would spurt out.

My phobia for blood and needles actually ended up dictating my career choices. Regardless of how much I wanted to be in healthcare, specifically to help people, I ended up choosing a major that stayed away from sharp objects and serous bodily fluids. It wasn’t until my senior year of my first bachelor’s degree that I would discover that needles and blood didn’t actually have the panic-attack effect on me like I thought they did. I signed up for an elective credit course called Introduction to Pre-professional studies, and through that course I was able to shadow several healthcare professionals. Several of whom were surgeons.

I remember very vividly the surgical technician asking me if I had ever seen a surgery before, to which I responded no. She took a few steps closer and looked me in the eye to let me know that if I were to feel nauseous or lightheaded that I should step out of the room. My God, I can faint witnessing this? What am I about to see??? So as much anxiety as I had for the moments leading up to the first cut of flesh, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it did not make me want to pass out. I had never seen so much blood in my life. But I was still standing on two feet, eagerly listening to the surgeon as he explained everything he was doing. Could it be that I didn’t mind the blood at all?

I realize that reading this may make me sound like some sociopath killer, OMG BLOOD IS SO COOL – that’s not what I’m saying here. I’m saying that I lived my entire life fearing something that I never really understood, and when I encountered it in a learning environment, I was intrigued and not at all afraid.

I could crush it with my powerful giant foot – but I choose to be merciful and allow the needle to prod me in the tradition of its people. That’s what nice guys do. So olive branch the shit out of the next injection you get, it keeps the peace.

Needles are no different. Have you ever measured a needle? Seriously, like they’re not that big. Less than two inches. Honestly…how are we afraid of that? Getting an injection is no worse than getting a paper-cut. Actually, paper-cuts suck more because they leave you with that stinging feeling. You know the one, like, fresh acid. The needle is in and out in a matter of seconds. Sometimes your arm, or whatever body part you had injected, may begin to feel sore…but I mean, at that point its not really the needle’s fault is it.

I’m not sure where I was going with this post. So I’ll end it.