2014 HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN OF ENJOYABLES

It's been seven years since my last Halloween countdown. But in this, the fourteenth year of the two thousandth millennium (right?), I shall make my return to this most honorable ritual!

Why now?

For one, we're still amid the Secret Fun Blog mini-renaissance.

Also, because spookiness has been percolating in my mind all year. It started late winter when a friend and I reminisced about our youthful reading habits during a long drive home. This prompted me to re-buy Stephen King's Night Shift, which lead to Skeleton Crew, then Nightmares and Dreamscapes and so on.

Then, during the summer a local thrift store stocked someone's old collection of horror on VHS, which is a rare genre in my neck of the woods. Having already been primed by the web, the documentaries, the books, the collectors that populate my Twitter feed, and a teen age jammed with video store memories, I started making these movies a part of my summer nights.

On top of that we've had one of the most autumnal summers that I can remember. It was like being teased by October every few weeks, and now that it's here I am more than ready to revel in it.

Most importantly, I've got a kid who is eight years old, squarely positioned in the "Zone of Childhood Halloween Magic™."

Back in the Bush-era I counted down with a random assortment of retro-spooky stuff. The year before that I conducted a more focused "Skeleton Countdown" in which each synthetic human structure was more glorious than the last.

This time the theme is "Halloween Enjoyables 2014" meaning every entry will relate to a Halloween activity that I experience this year, covering traditions, purchases, entertainment, outings and anything done to enhance the season. Some will be mundane, while others will be even more mundane. The point is to document and share my month in a way that's relate-able and imitate-able, for the most part.

One self-imposed rule is: no reviews. There will be a good bit of media on the list: movies, records, video games and such, but I want to resist the temptation to make any sort of formal, balanced, or even thoughtful recommendations. Instead I plan to just show photos and write about stuff. Maybe it'll be a highlight, or a memory, or an experience. I want to have fun and I don't want the countdown to detract from real life. With that in mind, I may not even post every day, or spell check for tht mattter!

I'm also joining the ranks of the official CountdownToHalloween.com to make things even more synergistic. So be sure to tap into that network for maximum time-killing pleasure.

So please join me in a month of low-key, true-to-life entries that will spook your brain out the back of your skull!