Ghoul Friday

Quick, amusing story.

Yesterday I went to pick up a parcel at the post office. I'd missed the delivery and now had to bring my ticket to pick it up. The name on the ticket they left was G. Friday.

I paused, and scribbled something down on a piece of paper, laughing at myself for doing so, and slipped the paper in my pocket.

The lineup at the post-office was huge, and it seemed a comedy of errors was taking place before me. Ludicrous conflicts combined with a pleasant but not-so-bright postal employee makes for frustrations. I petted the paper in my pocket, thinking to myself again that it was silly and I wouldn't need it.

I get to the front of the line, take out my driver's license, and the woman retrieves my package. She looks to my license, to the package, and back to me. "How do you know...Ghoul Friday?"

I blink. Really? Really? You were expecting someone to produce I.D. with Ghoul Friday on it to pick this package up? I.D. which, of course, I don't have.

Now I have one of two options: I can try to explain to this person that she is my artist/pen name, and suffer the ridiculousness I'd witnessed in front of me that was suffered by earlier patrons, and hold up the line more, or...or I could pull out the piece of paper that's in my pocket.

I pulled out the piece of paper and put it on the counter.

It read "I give (insert my real name here) permission to pick up my parcel. G. Friday".

I hear myself say "We're business partners."

I watch the woman enter it into the computer and file away the paper.

So, according to the Canadian Postal Service, Ghoul Friday might be a Canadian citizen. And I'm allowed to pick up her mail.

Want to know the story behind this picture? Then you'll have to head over to ShellHawk's Nest. She was kind enough to ask me to write a guest post about a Halloween memory, and my favourite memory is captured in that one image.

I normally don't post images of myself, but I thought I would make an exception for Shell. Plus, the glory of the caterpillar costume should not be hidden any longer.

Be sure to nose around her site for a while. She's gathered an interesting collection of guest posts, and I've enjoyed reading everyone's stories so far. It's perfect for getting you into the Halloween mood.

This Sunday from 11 to 7 is the 3rd celebration of The Bazaar of the Bizarre - a bona-fide Halloween marketplace! Kid friendly and with some prizes to win as well.

Where: 6 Noble Street (Queen st. West of Dufferin) Toronto, Ontario

Cost: FREE

It is a marketplace filled with amazing vendors: artists, designers, craft-folk, publishers and other independent makers of all things exotic, whimsical and macabre are assembled to attack your senses.

And of course, I'll have a table as well. I only have one more show after this one in October, so now is the time to come on out!

Need more incentive? Ok. The first person to come to my table and tell me they are dressing up as Super Grover for Halloween will get a small secret treat. Could be a cookie. Could be a sticker. Could be something from my table made of clay *wink wink, nudge nudge, head bob*. Could be a swizzle stick from Vegas. Who knows! Just walk up and tell me you're dressing up as Super Grover for Halloween. That's how easy it is.

As I said, It's been 3 years since I first published a blog post on this site. Since then, the online world for a Halloween lover has evolved into an entirely different creature. And at least my blog, if not my entire site, has changed along with it. I wonder how many of you can relate.

Computer years are like dog years. One year equals the equivalent of 7 human years.

The story actually starts closer to 4 years ago, since I spent months getting the site ready before it launched. I met a boy who built websites. Real websites. And he said he'd build one for me and teach me how to use it (remember, things like Google's version of Blogger were still in Beta in 2006. They had just figured out how to let people post photos on their blogs, but it still wasn't user-friendly for newbies and non-tech folk like it is now. Unless you were into computers, you likely didn't even know about it).

I'd recently discovered various Haunter forums on the web (who were still in many ways fledglings at the time too). I was hungry for more Halloween resources. And I was still frustrated.

I am over the moon about a recent purchase. I commissioned Emily of Skull and Crossbuns to make me a Ghoul Friday stamp. And here it is!

Emily hand carves each and every stamp she sells (at an extremely reasonable price). It's a thing of beauty. She has loads of stamps for sale that I covet (including some lovely pumpkins, skulls and owls). If you like stamps with original designs, or need a custom one made, Emily is your gal.

I spent yesterday evening stamping over 50 bags with my logo and they look as though I had them professionally printed. I am so pleased I'm beside myself with giddiness.