Happy Halloween!

I've been looking forward to today for a few weeks. I have the day off from work! Spending some time with my family this morning and then we're all going out to our friends house for a Halloween party this afternoon. I hope you all have a great time today whatever you're doing.

I have been recording a ton of scary films on our DVD Recorder so there is no shortage of horror flicks to choose from. Here are just a few ideas:

• Creep
• Descent
• Saw and Saw II
• 28 Days Later
• Blade Trinity
• Halloween
• The Fog
• Freddy v Jason
• Ju-On (original Japanese The Grudge)
• Blair Witch Project (but avoid the 2nd film)
• Reanimator
• Resident Evil (and Resident Evil Apocalypse)
• Scanners
• Evil Dead
• Hellraiser
• Constantine
• The Fly

Wet and cold

It's been a very wet and dim day today. It rained heavily whilst I was picking my kids up from school. Yuck, I hate getting into a car all wet: I hate it when the windows steam up - does anyone else have the same trouble that I do with de-misting windows? I never know how to adjust my temperature and fan speeds - is it better to blow cold or blow hot? The aircon sorts it out pretty quick but it can get too cold in winter to have that on. One of life's little conundrums...

Aside from the weather, several things at home have taken up my thoughts and some of my time. A shed clear out at the weekend required a couple of trips to the dump. I hate going to the dump. I hate filling up my boot with stuff, especially when spiders can run off and hide in my car. I'm not a huge fan of creepy crawlies, as you can tell. The washing machine has been spraying water on the floor behind the box it sits in. So our kitchen floor is very damp underneath the lino and we can't use the washing machine until the new tube is fitted - another little job for me.

I've been playing a lot of music on my iPod. Getting into tracks in my collection that I haven't heard for a long while. It's funny how your memory of certain tracks places them above others until you go back and listen again. My tastes have certainly changed quite a bit over the course of fifteen years. What's more noticeable for me now I have iTunes is how much easier it is to listen to a wider selection of songs by not having to select a CD each time, now I can just rely on iTunes to select tracks for me. I love the serendipity of hearing a John Lee Hooker track just before an In Flames track. I love loads of styles in music so I could never restrict myself socially to one interest group. Although I do like the baggy trousers and dark colours of the metal followers but those styles wouldn't suit me.

What's Happening?

I'm not a frequent watcher of the news, I confess. I don't watch it enough. I like to catch up in general but I don't really pay much attention to the details. Certain subjects turn me off - finance, business, politics and economy being the main offenders. As you can imagine I've been turned off a lot lately, the US and UK economies seem to be on the brink of collapse. It is very worrying for poor dumb folk like me who haven't got a clue when it comes to finance. I just struggle by and try to make the most of what I have without taking risks - what I really mean is that in the day-to-day I don't understand what risks actually exist: in short, I take a lot of that stuff for granted.

Better for me to stick my head up my arse and keep listening to the music I love. I'm experiencing a new level of musical happiness with iTunes and my iPod. It must be one of the finest inventions of the 20th century. I've set up a complicated arrangement of smart playlists which have had the desired effect: basically, I wanted to experience my music collection as though I were listening to it for the first time. The way iTunes has put the songs next to each other in ways I would never have thought of is just stunning. The way I have configured it as well means I have my favourite songs cropping up when I least expect them, which makes them all the more enjoyable - just like when you're driving and a favourite comes on the radio that you can sing along to.

Hope everyone is well. The autumn weather is cold and wet and we are considering putting the fake fir throw on the bed to keep us warm and snug.