Happy Halloween!

October 31st has totally snuck up on me this year! I've had my whole month goofy, really. I can't get down what day it is, and I keep thinking it's a week later than it actually is. I don't know how I got so confused.

It may have been because last weekend was the weekend I actually did anything Halloween related. I took a trip down to Austin with my friend, Megan, and we screamed our heads off at Austin's House of Torment. It was awesome.

I will now tell you about it.

First of all, the drive was excellent. It was mostly cloudy most of the way, which is my favorite weather to drive in. The traffic wasn't heavy. And the speed limit was 70. It actually didn't take us that long to get there. Very nice!

We'd bought our tickets on-line, which turned out to be a very good thing as the line to purchase tickets was super long.

The first thing we saw when we arrived was the hearse. Observe.

Glad I didn't arrive in this.

We were also pretty impressed by the massive, creepy pumpkin-headed thing standing watch over the entrance. I took a picture of it when it was still light outside—the better to see it with.

My, what big teeth you have...

Even waiting in line to enter was fun. They had ghosties and ghoulies roaming around the lines, scaring people. You weren't even safe if you decided to make use of one of the several porta-potties they had. The monsters would go bang on the doors, or wait for you to emerge and then proceed to scare any remaining crap out of you whilst chasing you back to the line.

It was awesome.

We are waiting in line. We are ready to be scared.

They let us in in groups of about ten, and there were two different attractions we walked through. They had monsters coming at us from everywhere. They'd spring out of the walls, swoop down from overhead, or run past you only to turn back around and follow you until you were out of their room. It scared the crap out of me.

I think the creepiest, most effective part was when they would sneak up behind you—me, specifically, because this happened to me SEVERAL times—and you wouldn't notice until you felt breathing on your neck. Holy crap. Scared me every time.

They had a great mix of live actors and animatronics. And noises. I screamed a lot. I probably made a fool out of myself. I walked through the second attraction with my hands poised by my face, ready to cower, or maybe punch, at a moments notice. (I never punched. I only screamed and cowered. But my self defense teacher would have been proud that I was in fighting stance the entire time.)

Also, I would just like to say that whoever was in charge of doing make up and costuming did a stellar job. Even before the sun went down, the actors looked amazing. They didn't just look like people dressed up to be scary. They looked like straight up, disturbed, scary as heck monsters.

Megan and I particularly enjoyed BoBo the clown. We got a picture with him.

BoBo 'n me.

All in all, it was so much fun. Getting scared is pretty rad, especially when you know you're not in any real imminent peril. And my throat was only a little sore the next day...you know, from screaming like a little girl. I would definitely recommend this haunted house to anyone who loves haunted houses. I, for one, would love to go back again next year!

After we got done there, we hit up Starbucks—because really, when don't I?—and decided to head back to College Station to catch a late showing of Paranormal Activity 2.

Yikes.

Megan and I had seen the first one in theaters together last year and both left seriously disturbed. I didn't sleep well that night, I'm just sayin'.

I refuse to give out any spoilers because I hate when things are spoiled for me, but I thought PA2 was a lot of fun, with a substantial number of scare-you-out-of-your-seat moments.

And it was an excellent way to wrap up our Halloween night. Granted it was a week early, but... That was Halloween for me. This weekend I'm not really doing anything Halloween related.

Instead I am going to a NaNoWriMo Kick-Off Party tonight! I will be having pancakes and gearing up for the first night of writing furiously. I already have my first chapter planned out in my head and am simply dying to get started. Midnight cannot come fast enough.

I hope everyone has a fun, safe, and frightfully excellent Halloween! Any of you guys have big plans? Haunted houses? Trick-or-Treating? Are any of you getting excited for NaNoWriMo?