How I spent my summer.

Where to start...

Whelp, came down with the fucking gout of all things, and that sucked away most of my summer.

June and July, was mostly recovering from that.

Either writhing in bed with mind-blowing agony that felt like my foot was trying to transform into tree roots, slowly, and crunch-ily like "American werewolf in London", OR, hobbling about the house like a penguin.

Not fun.

Sooo, while I was laid up with that, I worked on Harry, and churned out Issue #2, #3, and #4.

So, at least that got done, anyway.

It put the kybosh on my fucking camera trips, so, didn't get to do those, at least not with nice summer-y weather.

Like doing those for summer.

But, couldn't even get a shoe on my shitty gout foot, much less drive, so, pppt.

Wish I could've cut the damned thing off.

Bastid.

Ohhh, and it got better slooooowly, so damned slowly.

That last little tiny ache in the joint of the big toe juuust finally left..last week!

So, anyway, once I was finally good to drive again, which was about August...shit, there was nowhere really left to go that I haven't been already.

Wasn't worth taking the camera.

After wrestling with gout, I just felt like sticking to familiar comfortable places, wasn't in the mood for goddamned Portland.

I gotta bite the bullet, and tackle it though, don't I?

Well, the one good trip I did make, and I shoulda brought the camera, but didn't feel like it, was back to the Mall, via Best Buy.

Wanted to get the cheap DVDs of the Nightmare On Elm Street series.

(2 2-sided DVDs a pack, 2 packs, 20 bucks all together, nice)

Needed 'em to go with "Never Sleep Again".

Man, if you dig the Freddies, you will love that documentary, it's got literally everything.

I have more fond memories of watching that series in the late-80's early-90's then my actual high school experience, so seeing all those people again felt like my high school reunion.

Yeah, that sounds geeky as fuck, but I don't care, it was that cool a documentary.

So, yeah, that gave me a buzz, and I figured "shit, not only do I need all those movies upgraded to DVD, to see them again in good quality, but I need them fucking NOW! Fuck Amazon, I ain't waiting!".

So, into the car I hopped, and away I went.

Actually, tried Wal-Mart first, because, even though I despise them, they have everything, and their DVDs are especially cheap.

No dice, the Freddies were the one thing they didn't have.

Sonzabitches.

Well, good, I wouldn't like the idea of having to thank them, anyway.

I loathe that there's no local mom n' pop shops for videos anymore, Wal-Mart fucking killed everybody.

So, anyway, found my movies at Best Buy, and got in and out of there as quick as I could.

Clerk tried to strike up a conversation about the Freddy remake, I wasn't having any of it.

Needless to say, having the Nightmare series along with "Never Sleep Again", is pure fucking bliss.

But...I needed to keep the buzz going, I needed more, so, it was time to collect more Robert Englund flicks.

So, nabbed "2001 Maniacs", "Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon", and "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer", offa Amazon.

Of course, the arrival of Jack Brooks is where you came in for my little 9/11 story.

In order of goodness, they go Behind The Mask, 2001 Maniacs, Jack Brooks.

Behind The Mask is brilliant, if you love the horror genre, you'll totally dig it, I think it's the next step in postmodern horror-comedy after "Scream".

And the other two are just fun. :)

So, that's the Robert Englunds,...but..y'know, I left out "Zombie Strippers", cuz it looked so schlocky...but fuck it, it's got Robert Englund.

Yeah, I'm getting it...who am I kidding?

Anyhoo, postscript to the acquisition of the Freddies, I know I'll never watch old tapes again once I get the DVD upgrade, and I need every inch of file cabinet space I can muster, and you can't get shit for tapes on Ebay, you're practically paying people to take them off your hands once you ship the things.

So, with an ache in my heart, I took the Nightmare series, Creepshow, and Fright Night out to the curb for the garbage man.

*Sigh*

So many memories.

I mean, I still have the flicks, and in better shape than they ever were...but, I quested for those damned tapes.

Riskier quests than the stupid trip up to Best Buy, lemme tell ya.

Lotta work back in them days.

Like I bemoaned in the Westbrook one, that age of video is long gone.

Tch.

But, I guess it's the flicks that really matter, isn't it?

Anyway, got the Freddies, got more Robert Englund, still needed to keep the buzz going, so, I expanded it out to DVD upgrading all my 80's flicks.

The most beloved ones, anyway.

That quest is still ongoing, but it's closing in towards the end.

But, that's been jazzing me, I really do fucking love movies.

Been great re-connecting with that.

Oh, and to feed my Robert Englund/Nightmare jones, I recently got "Hollywood Monster", the Robert Englund autobiography.

Plowed through the whole thing saturday night.

Excellent. :)

Hmm, what else went on this summer?

Not much else...

Didn't get out much, so, been trying to cram it all into August and September.

Don't think I made it, the cold weather is already creeping up.

Kerosine stove has been firing itself up at nights.

Summer's done, methinks.

Well, did my little entry on the wood road.

It was still nice out then.

Got out to my favorite Dairy Queen a couple times.

(See the Westbrook one again).

Got myself some Lindor truffles.

My 35th birthday happened, it was kinda "meh", but at this age, I guess they're gonna be that way from now on....

Saw "the human centipede".

Did my walk on 9/11, it was beautiful out then.

Still gotta tackle Portland.

Like to get that done before snow starts.

Man, time's flying.

So, yeah, that was summer.

Tch, wanted to do so much more....

Well, that's life....