Beyond the Darkness 9
While life and personal problems have been hell lately, a little bit of sun came through the clouds this week and afforded me some actual time to feel normal again.
My in-laws normally watch my son while my wife and I are at work, but this past week and a half they were out of state and unable to babysit. Katie had to call in about every favor she could to find people to watch him. While nearly every day was covered, she couldn’t find anyone for Wednesday and ended up taking off work to stay with him. She texted me at work on Monday and suggested I also take a personal day for Wednesday and the three of us use the 65 degree sunshine to our advantage. I couldn’t schedule that day off quick enough.
The three of us got up early and headed down to Baltimore to the National Aquarium. I myself haven’t been since before I moved out to Pennsylvania, so I barely remember the experience. Our son hasn’t been at all. I think as a parent, my absolute favorite part is watching him discover the world around him. But that’s only when you’re carrying him. Now that he can walk, he only wants to be on the ground, moving as quickly as possible in every direction. He doesn’t often wear shoes, normally only socks, so when he has shoes on, they tend to trip him up and cause him to walk like a newborn deer or giraffe. But he doesn’t care. He gets right back up and keeps going.
Honestly, he didn’t really care about the aquarium. He only wanted to race around the inside and touch every surface, but that’s okay. He’s growing and learning, and eventually he’ll start to notice the animals and the sea life will want to come down just for that, and that’s fine now that we have annual passes.
When that excursion was over, we came back home and he took his daily nap. After he got up, we went to the park and he ran around the blacktop for an hour, touching everything, crawling over everything, laughing at everything.
He’ll never remember any of Wednesday. But Katie and I certainly will. It’s memories like Wednesday that I can treasure forever.
My Tales from the Crypt full series re-watch continues…
Dead Wait (S3, E6)
A con man looking to steal a precious jewel from a wealthy plantation owner gets more than he bargained for when he meets the women of the house. This actually wasn’t a bad episode. It wasn’t great either, but not bad. It felt like a classic tale and would have easily fit in season 2, but I think it suffered from too much going on. To me, felt like they tried to squash an hour’s worth of storytelling into twenty-five minutes. This one definitely would have been better if it had more room to breathe. I think the highlight of this one is its cast, starring James Remar, Whoopi Goldberg, and John Rhys-Davies. Also, directed by the great Tobe Hooper. Side note: This show sure loved its Caribbean island plantations as settings. I can swear this was, like, the third or fourth time they’ve gone back to that well.
The Reluctant Vampire (S3, E7)
A good natured vampire takes a more novel approach to satisfying his blood lust with his chosen undercover employment. Welp, I think I found it: The worst TFTC episode so far. My god, what a cornball story. Look, I love vampires. They’re my absolute favorite classic horror monster, but not even Malcolm McDowell, Michael Berryman, or George Wendt could save this one. And I get it, the first two seasons were full of cheesy episodes (Korman’s Kalamity anyone?) but this wasn’t even fun or cheeky. I found myself rolling my eyes more than I was watching the screen.
Easel Kill Ya (S3, E8)
Painter Jack Craig gains himself a wealthy patron when he sells a morbid painting. He soon finds that in order to please his patron, he must continue to paint pictures of death - and this leads him down a murderous path. I really enjoyed this one. I found Tim Roth, who I normally don’t care for (even as a die-hard Tarantino fan), to be very effective and creepy and well-cast in the role. This one felt like it would have been perfect for season one, giving off vibes of The Man Who Was Death. Solid pacing and acting all around.
Writing Updates…
As I write this, the toddler is at the in-laws and Katie is getting some much-needed house cleaning done, and I have been gifted a few hours of quiet writing time. I have some random YouTube ASMR in my ears and I plan to get some words down in my novelette project with author Wile E. Young.
I’ve also been asked to contribute a short story to an anthology for later this year. I mostly have my idea ready. Going to let it simmer for a bit before I get to work on it. I’ve found after nearly fifteen years of doing this, my first initial idea for any story is never the best. I prefer to sit on it for a while and let it ferment and get better.
Currently reading: Christmas at Wheeldale Inn by Gemma Amor
Currently watching: The Last of Us (again, it’s worth repeating that episode 5 was so damn good), The Blob (1988) (I hadn’t seen this one since I was a kid and decided to buy it. It’s okay. I think while the acting and the story was painfully dated and silly, the blob creature and gore effects were really awesome.), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania (after a mostly bad Phase 4, this was a great way to kick off Phase 5. The movie definitely has its issues, but they weren’t terribly distracting or offputting.)
Currently listening to: Still jamming out to “Forgone” by In Flames
And that’s it. Thanks again, everyone. See you next week!