Here I was all set to bitch about the nor'easter that dumped 10 inches of snow on my head. I had to tunnel out of my house (the snow drifts were up to my waist) so I could dig my car out. I was ready to complain about the windchill factor and the 21 degrees F that left me shivery and cold while digging out.

Then I read about the death toll of 22,000 in Southeast Asia. On second thought, I'll cheerfully keep my nor'easter and send mental sympathy to everyone with friends and family in the region along with sincere hopes that you and yours are safe.

Today I muck out the apartment since it's suffering from house-a-tosis (sort of like halitosis, only for buildings). All my previous apartments had drafty windows, so I'm not used to house-a-tosis until the end of January or so. I'm doing a little airing out in a couple of rooms coupled with some awesome incense. Hopefully I'll finally get to my backlog of email tonight.

I also started tackling Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England Vampires, which is a study of folkloric belief in vampires in Southern New England at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. I had originally bought it to research for the (now abandoned I think) Where Fools Go series, but now I'm in the mood for a little folklore and folklife reading. Quelle Surprise! Like the Salem Witch Trials, there appears to be a class, religion, and ethnic component to this. I'm just at the beginning of the book, so this is only based on the first two chapters. So far it's a cracking good read if you're into folkloric belief. Bell, the author, started with an interview with a surviving relative of Mercy Brown's, the last person in the U.S. to be disintered on suspicion she was a vampire. The "evidence" recovered from the corpse prompted the locals to remove her heart and liver and burn them on a rock. This happened in 1892.

Wheeeeeee! People who think New England is boring hasn't been reading our history. (See: Bambino, Curse of the)

On with the show.

Part 14 is here.

( Part 15 )

DOWNLOAD (good for seven days): Walk on the Ocean (Live) by John Mayer
(Yes, I know the original was by Toad the Wet Sprocket, which I also love. But I like this one a little better.)