Oct. 29 - I'm getting caught up on life now that this sinus infection is finally beginning to ebb. That means there's not much time for splinterny content, which is probably just as well: here, once again, is the annual tribute to Halloween.
I'll be over on the Moronic Underground over the weekend... hope to see you there!
Ancient Romans celebrated a holiday called Feralia on February 21. At first it was a simple day off to recover from the holiday of February 20 (Bougainvalia), and to take care of last minute shopping before the holiday of February 22 (Onsalia).
"Black Tuesday" was seventy-five years ago this weekend (October 29, 1929). It was on that date that the New York Stock Exchange begin the meltdown that ushered in the Great Depression.
Twenty-five years ago (October 29, 1979), my parents had a party that took the 50th anniversary of the crash as its theme. My first real girlfriend came to help out. We were both fourteen. I wasn't really too crazy about her, but she'd stuck her tongue in my mouth one night and I'd thought that was pretty cool. (Yeah, late bloomer, I know.) There were other girls I liked a little better, but none of them had jammed their tongues down my throat, so I kind of put up with this girl for want of anyone better to kiss.
On this night, however, she won me over completely by eliciting ravenous looks from some of my parents' male friends. They winked at me and patted my back and told me what a beauty she was. This cast her in a new light. I fell madly in love with her, was suddenly paralyzed with awe in her presence, and she therefore dumped me a week later.
Moral: never have a party to celebrate a national misfortune.
October 30 birthdays: Winona Ryder (1971), Kate Jackson (1948), Richard Dreyfuss (1947), Bill Mauldin (1921), Joseph Goebbels (1897), and Fanny Brice (1891).
The 31st is Reformation Day in Slovenia.