The overcast, early December day had lapsed into an opaque blue sky arching over a frigid winter night in rural southwestern Pennsylvania. The lights shining out the window of the warm apartment in Indiana PA sliced through the tranquil darkness, penetrated the night. Inside the apartment, I reclined on a plush, brick-red chair while drinking tiny cup after tiny cup of Arabic coffee and conversing with a friend, and a friend of a friend I’d just met. The conversation, initially engaging to me, started to lapse in and out of English,veering off into a tongue that I could not understand, much less speak myself. As I listened to the melodic cadence of words, beautifully spoken but beyond my grasp, I instinctively did what any good,self-centered American would do; I reached for my phone, and started doing “taktaga,” which is an Arabic phrase (and some of the little Arabic I know) for the act of busying oneself on one’s smartphone. I planned on ejecting myself from the conversation for only a short moment or two, but as this story will demonstrate, the best laid plans are often not those that come to fruition.
Continue reading “F.N.V. 4: Disappointment on a Winter’s Eve: My Spotify Letdown”memories
F.N.V. 3: Songs of my Early Thirties: Part Two
Having not blogged in a long time, a week ago I put up a post about my top five most listened to songs of 2017, according to Spotify. And I’ll be honest: I really enjoyed writing the post. I will always love horror, but sometimes it’s an exciting sort of relief to blog about music, and the moments that add meaning to certain songs. I enjoyed writing the piece so much, in fact, that I decided to do another installment. Instead of writing about the top five most listened to songs of 2017, I’ll write about the next set of songs – my sixth through my tenth most listened to songs of that year. Music is one vehicle through which I create memoir, and I’m just self-centered enough to fathom that there are a few people who might care what songs I was listening to last year. More horror posts hang on the horizon; they will be posted eventually. But right now, I want to talk a little more about music. So, here they are, my sixth through tenth most listened to songs of 2017, and the memories that accompany those songs.
Continue reading “F.N.V. 3: Songs of my Early Thirties: Part Two”Friday Night Videos: Current Favorites — Songs of my Early Thirties, Part One.
This summer I posted a list of thirteen songs that make me think of my early twenties. But time passes, and while I’m not exactly nearing the end of my thirties, I think it’s safe to say that I’m nearing the end of my early thirties. I thought, because I’ve been struggling with writing lately, that l would throw up another Friday Night Video post, this time about music I listen to right now – music of my early thirties, to parallel the post about music from my early twenties.
F.N.V. Reminiscences: Music of My Early 20’s
On my blog, Just Dread-Full, I’m adamantly open and enthusiastic about my love for all things (or most things) horror. Indeed, this passion is foregrounded so much that it often eclipses my other loves in life – a reason why I started another blog a few years ago, one I didn’t have time to follow through with and for which I ultimately stopped writing. One of those passions that I don’t frequently share on the horror-centered Just Dread-full is my love for music – and my interest in what I would consider a wide variety of music.
Continue reading “F.N.V. Reminiscences: Music of My Early 20’s”
What Scares Us: Bryan L.’s First Fright
As part of a fantastic Christmas gift, Michael tracked down some contributors to my “My First Fright Series,” a series on my blog which I happen to love and which hasn’t gotten any contributors for awhile. In this series, which I started by writing about two of my earliest childhood fears, I ask other people to write about their earliest memories of feeling afraid. The results tend to be an interesting, surprising, eclectic group of terrors. So, before delving into my first Christmas Gift “My First Fright,” I’d like to extend a tremendous thank-you to my boyfriend, Michael, at My Comic Relief and today’s contributor, Bryan, of Hyperspace PodBlast, for a fantastic re-telling of a Star Wars related first fright. Continue reading “What Scares Us: Bryan L.’s First Fright”
Rob (of My Side of the Laundry Room)’s First Fright – The Eyes.
Recently I was asked to contribute to the wonderfully brilliant series “What Scares Us? – First Frights” by the equally wonderfully brilliant Kalie Zamierowski at Just Dread-full. I’ve been a fan of hers and of her boyfriend Michael (over at My Comic Relief) for a while now so when the opportunity arose to work with either one of them, I couldn’t say “YES” quick enough. Continue reading “Rob (of My Side of the Laundry Room)’s First Fright – The Eyes.”
What Scares Us? My First (or Second) Fright: The Horrifying Large Marge
A month or so ago on Just Dread-full, I wrote about my unfortunate collision with the famed chipmunk song as a child, which I categorized as my first fright. I then invited Michael, author of My Comic Relief and frequent contributor to my site (and, okay, my boyfriend) to write about his first fright, which happens to be the Ghostsbusters II movie. While I ultimately hope to have other contributors augmenting this series with their first frights (ahem, ahem, if you’re reading this, I hope you know who you are), in the interim, I thought I’d continue the theme by writing about another one of my earliest memories of fear, though technically it’s my second fright (but let’s not get caught up on technicalities). I was absolutely petrified by Large Marge’s dreadful tale and awkward transformation into an animated character in Pee Wee Herman’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.
Continue reading “What Scares Us? My First (or Second) Fright: The Horrifying Large Marge”
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