Halloween Spooktac-u-lar

Well, our 3rd annual Halloween Spooktacular party happened last night. This year was every bit as good, if not slightly better that last year. I chose to go as the Geico Caveman, as seen above. The only drawback to this costume was that eating became difficult because I kept getting hair in my mouth. Rice krispy treats were especially troublesome, as marshmallow bits stayed in my beard for the better part of the evening. I didn't even try to eat any s'mores until I took everything off. All in all, a great party, great friends, and a great memory. Check out Grant's site for more pics. Also, he's holding a contest where you can vote for the best costume, so go vote for me!

QUICK UPDATE: THE GHOST HUNT BELOW NEVER HAPPENED. WHOEVER OWNED THE GROUNDS THE HOSPITAL WAS ON WOULD NOT LET PEOPLE SPEND THE NIGHT DUE TO LIABILITY ISSUES. SO I CHUGGED A VENTI SIZED STARBUCKS COFFEE AT 10:30 P.M. ON THURSDAY NIGHT FOR NOTHING.

Goin' on a ghost hunt!

That's right, a life-long dream is finally coming true. While reviewing my last haunted house (NLRs Haunted Hospital), I was informed by the operators that a real-life ghost has allegedly been spotted on the 3rd floor. A group of paranormal experts will be spending tonight on the 3rd floor hoping to make contact. The guy in charge of the Haunted Hospital invited me to come spend the night with them. I'm kinda sick and tired today, but I know I'll regret not going. So, I'll be spending the night with a poltergeist. Odds are that this is all urban legend and no ghost exists. But what if its real? Not that I believe in ghosts, but its halloween...anything could happen.

If any of you want to buy me a can of Red Bull, I'd be most appreciative. Its gonna be a long night.

Boo!

I love Halloween! Maybe its the weather, maybe its my love of a good scare, or maybe I just like any excuse to eat candy. Either way, this is my second favorite time of year (Christmas being number 1).

This year, I'm writing reviews of Little Rock-area haunted houses for the Arkansas Times. You can read my reviews at www.arktimes.com/blogs/rockcandy. I went to the famous downtown Haunted Cathedral on Thursday night, and to The Chamber of Horrors last night. My review of the cathedral went on the web Friday, I'm assuming the latter will be up on Monday. I've decided my next two will be North Little Rock's Haunted Hospital and Benton's Torture Chamber. I'm not sure if any of these will be published in the Arkansas Times, but it least it made the blog. Plus, the Times is paying for all of my admission fees, so that's nice. Anyway, if you get a chance, check out my reviews and let me know what you think if you visit any of the houses I write about.

...one has this gift, another has that.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Grant recently got married. His marriage pretty much made me the last single guy of the close friends I regularly hang out with. Now hear me out: I am happily single. I am single by choice. By this, I mean not married. This just happens to be where I am in life right now, and I am satisfied with that for the moment (although, having a girlfriend would be nice). I recently read in 1 Corinthians 7 that singleness and marriage are both gifts. Paul goes so far as to say that being single is better than being married because the need to commit so much of oneself to another person does not exist in singleness.

I live by myself, so I get to make all the decisions for what goes on in my home. If I want to watch UFC, nobody can tell me otherwise. If I want to get up early to write down thoughts or work on a paper, no one can tell me to be quiet. If I want to buy a plasma TV, no one can tell me to not get one too big (except the price tag--geez!). I make a very good bachelor. While all of these are fairly normal luxuries of being single, I do question how much more of myself I could give to the Lord. If singleness is a gift, I have 2 choices: to take advantage of it, or to squander it.

If I use this time in my life to encourage other singles by example to find their worth in Christ instead of a significant other, then I am using this gift for good. If I use the freedom of my current status to invest time in my community of friends and believers, then I am using this gift for good. If I use this time to freely give of my money (as I currently don't have to ask anyone's permission as to how I should spend each paycheck) to my church or to needs of others that come about, I am using this gift for good. If I use this time to be more concerned with being the right person as opposed to finding the right person, I am using this gift for good.

Its easy to get down about not being able to relate to all my married friends. To go from having everything in common to having very different lives is a hard pill to swallow. Nonetheless, I realize that I've been given a gift. And this gift is one I do not want to waste.

Godfather Daniel?

I can't believe it happened. My buddy, Mike, is now a father. I am now a godfather (with no responsibility, just title). Of course, I remember William Wallace (Braveheart) saying, "Men don't follow titles. They follow courage." Well men may not, but goddaughters do! She was 7 pounds and some ounces, can't really remember. But I do remember she is 19 inches long, so I'm not a completely irresponsible godparent.

I won't get to meet her until next month because Mike and his wife life in Dallas. But

Joel

and I will be traveling to see them soon. Looking forward to it.

UAMS Orthopaedic Forum

Yesterday I was at UAMS from about 7 a.m. until 3. Pretty easy day. My company (Westside Open MRI) had a booth there, so the marketers were on site to network. In the above picture, you see me and Patrick, one of the other 2 marketers for us. This is the one day a year we have to wear suits to work. Not a bad deal.

Grant gets married today. I'm about to go meet him and the rest of the groomsmen for our last SAT. SAT. while Grant is unmarried. R.I.P, old friend.