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The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Archives for October 2010

Halloween 2010

October 31, 2010 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Every time I hear this music I am taken back to my childhood. It is 1978 and I am a precocious nine year-old boy. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I look forward to celebrating it every year. I have a neighbor who lives across the street. His name is Sam and we walk to and from school together.

Some days I go over to his house and we play together until dinner time. Sam has an older brother named Harry who knows much more than we do. In the years that come he and some of his friends will be the guys who educate me about girls. They have magazines that they’ll show us. Magazines with lots of pictures of naked women, but that is a post for a different day.

For now I am focused on the memories of the 9 year-old boy who watched horror movies at Sam’s house. Good old Sam who loved the horror movies and had a room full of models that he would build. Plastic replicas of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, Frankenstein and more decorate the walls. When his mom is home we often work together to assemble the latest model. Sometimes Harry suggests that we try sniffing the glue that we use to build the models, but I don’t know why. It smells funny but I am afraid it will hurt me so I don’t do it.

Most of the time Sam’s mom isn’t around so we watch television. We look for the horror movies because those are Sam’s favorites. I like some of them, but not all. I can’t tell him that the reason that I don’t like some of them is because they scare me. If it wasn’t for Harry I might mention that they bother me, but I don’t dare when he is around. He loves to torment us and I refuse to let him call me a baby. Sometimes he hits us but I never cry because I won’t let him know that it hurts.

Time passes and the nine year-old boy I was has a birthday or maybe two. It is hard to remember exact details, but I know that one day I am at Sam’s and they have a machine that  you can use to watch movies. One day we watch Halloween. I know the music from the commercials, but it isn’t until I see that movie that I realize that it is kind of scary.

For a long time after that I find myself worrying about whether someone is hiding in the bushes or in the closet in my room. It doesn’t take much for my active imagination to start thinking about possibilities.  Many years later a 21 year-old man who hates the dark will punch another guy in the mouth. It happens very quickly. The 21 year-old is walking in the dark and all of a sudden he is surprised when someone jumps out at him.

He doesn’t feel badly for hitting this other man, even though he knows him. It was an accident, a mistake and something that probably shouldn’t have happened. But in many ways it did because a kid who was scared silly by a movie felt powerless to defend himself. So as he grew older he forced himself to learn self defense as he couldn’t take the idea of not knowing how.

Twenty years later the man who hit the other man in the mouth is a father. He’ll take his kids trick or treating because they love going and he takes pleasure watching their joy. But at the same time he’ll be scanning the surrounding areas for danger because it is Halloween and part of a father’s job is to make like the Secret Service.

It will probably be fine and his concerns will be for naught, but he can’t help himself because somewhere inside him that nine year-old still lives.

Related Links

Halloween 2007
My Halloween Costume
Look At My Halloween Costume
It is Almost Erev Halloween- A Few Thoughts
R2D2’S X-RATED STAR WARS COSTUME
Ghostbusters

Filed Under: Halloween

Things that Frighten Me

October 30, 2010 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

In Honor of Halloween here is the list of things that frighten me. Some of these may have changed or require updating but I am going to save that for later.

This a list of things that have frightened me in my life. Some are still relevant and some are not. But I thought that it might be interesting to just throw them all out there to see what they look like during daylight hours. P.S. I have explanations for all of these, but I may not include them on the list. Why? I just don’t feel like it. 🙂
  1. The Dark
  2. The Amityville Horror scared me.
  3. Oscar the Grouch
  4. Bigfoot- The one from the Bionic Man television Show. He gave Steve Austin plenty of trouble.
  5. The Creature in the Legend of Boggy Creek
  6. A couple of dogs that chased me on my paper route.
  7. The homeless guy from the park.
  8. V.L.- He and I got into a fight in high school. I pretty much kicked his ass up and down the corridor, but I do remember shaking with adrenalin afterwards. For about two weeks I was concerned that I was going to have to face him and his older brother again.
  9. Having my heart broken again
  10. Breaking someone’s heart
  11. Not being able to provide for my family
  12. Letting my children down
  13. Not making it to the bathroom in time.
  14. Finding out that I have a child that I didn’t know about.- Ladies this is never a problem for you, but we men wonder about this sometimes.
  15. Being mugged at an ATM- When I was in college a guy was murdered at the ATM I used that day. It was several hours after I had used it, but….
  16. Something happening to my children.
  17. Getting stuck at a job I hate
  18. Never living out my dreams.
  19. Being paralyzed
  20. Losing a parent/close friend or family member- Actually I have lost several friends and family members, but it is still a fear.
  21. Losing my perspective on life and why most of these things are nonsense.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Saturday Morning Music Mash

October 30, 2010 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

  
Download now or listen on posterous

01_The_Batman_Theme.m4a (5506 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

07_The_Man’s_Too_Strong.m4a (8823 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

08_Just_Like_Heaven.m4a (7100 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

16_American_Pie.m4a (16551 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

16_Shout_It_Out_Loud_(New_Video_Vers.m4a (7158 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

2-08_The_End.m4a (24510 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

07_I’m_Shipping_Up_to_Boston.m4a (5448 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

02_Country_Comfort.m4a (10128 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

11_Tusk.m4a (7112 KB)

  
Download now or listen on posterous

01_Imagine.m4a (6261 KB)

Posted via email from thejackb’s posterous

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Posts That Precipitate Participation

October 29, 2010 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

A brief round up of recent writings

  • I Am Not Jewish, Ok Maybe I am But…
  • 5 Secrets of Great Bloggers
  • The Talking Penis- A New Bathroom Adventure
  • The Fear of Failure
  • Goodbye Grandma
  • A Letter To A Girl Who Was
  • Hey Shmata Queeen

Filed Under: Uncategorized

I Am Not Jewish, Ok Maybe I am But…

October 29, 2010 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

via youtube.com

Posted via email from thejackb’s posterous

Filed Under: Uncategorized

5 Secrets of Great Bloggers

October 29, 2010 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Here are 5 Secrets that Great Bloggers use every day. They’re important enough that you could build a single post around each one individually.

  1. Write a picture with your words. Build sights, sounds and imagery that capture your reader’s attention.
  2. Build a relationship with your readers. Provide content that they can relate and connect to.
  3. Be reliable. You don’t have to hit a home run with every post but you need show up consistently.
  4. Be authentic, be open and be real. Show your readers that a real person is behind your content.
  5. Respond to comments on your blog and visit your readers. In other words, engage and interact with them.

Filed Under: Blogging

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