Category: Horror

A Day in the Life #17694: B’s Back in Town, Mail Call, Spices, Halloween, Exercise

On 2025-11-07

In Belgium, Brussels, Daily Life, Exercise, Food, Horror, Music

In my last post (The Pillow Washing Incident), I mentioned a bit of a catch up. This post represents that, mostly. I’m sure I’m leaving things out but to kind of enshrine a log for myself.

B back in Town

Barbara’s school had their annual “adventure camp” conclude today. It was a week-long trip somewhere in Belgium [I, oddly, do not know specifics, though I am sure I have been told] where the school as pretty much a whole — minus the early year students and some others that have opted out for various reasons — goes and does a lot of camp-type stuff. Swimming. Playing. Music. Talent shows. Eating in camp cafeterias. That kind of thing.

I’ve never exactly been to that kind of camp. I have done some volunteer work where we go out into the woods and clean up a bit or fix old playgrounds. Kind of similar, just a bit more hammer-and-nail and less friends-playing-games. And I’ve gone camping plenty of times. Lots of hiking and such.

I’m glad she got to experience it. She said it was mostly ok. Food was her biggest complaint.

Oddly enough, she seems to have more energy than I do now that it is concluded.

Kaz and I had a week to ourselves but we got the edge of a cold and for other reasons mostly just hung out and took care of a few things around the house and rested up. The parent paradox. Kids are gone for a week and you just choose sleep. Well, sleep and watching The Substance (my second time, Kaz’s first).

Take this as advice: it is a terrible date night movie.

It also ranks up there with Under the Skin as far as movies go where you get to see someone who is undeniably attractive in the nude and the overall vibe just outright punishes you for it.

Mail Call

On the left is the UK Blu-Ray of Southbound. On the right is Florence and the Machine’s new album, Everybody Scream, the “Chamber Music Edition.” Not pictured, because I picked it up digitally, is Robert Rich and Markus Reuter’s Incubation.

I have watched Southbound once, years ago. Likely near the time of release. Back then, I liked it better than the V/H/S movies. Ironically, I ended up rewatching V/H/S a good bit more. I have been doing a rewatch of that series and kind of felt like Southbound should join. I’ll likely write up my thoughts at some point on Doug Talks Weird.

As for Everybody Scream, I’ve been a fan of Florence and the Machine for a good while and am excited for this one. I have heard a couple of the singles and they fit well into my expectations. A good witchy album. We’ll see how the “Chamber Editions” of the songs go. It was supposed to hit on Halloween but there was a delay so I got it a week late. That’s ok.

Halloween

Speaking of… Halloween is not quite a big deal here in Belgium. There are lots of parties and lots of decorations. Schools have costume wearing events. I’ve heard there are even haunted corn-mazes and such. Here on our sleepy street, we were pretty much the only one to do anything.

That’s “Sam,” my very quickly done pumpkin using Sharpie. I decorated him on Halloween evening and put him out in a chair with a little hat because it was quite chilly. The hat got deeply rained on so I tossed it into textile recycling but still have the pumpkin. Not sure what we’ll do with him. Maybe consign him into the garden and let nature take its course.

Barbara (and Kaz) went to a classmate’s house and did some minor trick-or-treating. It seems like a few neighborhoods organize stuff.

She was Rumi from K-Pop Demon Hunters. She is of the age for that movie to hit big and wide. Got her the soundtrack and everything.

Spices (and Beans) from Foods of Asia

One of the things Kaz and I did while B was out of town was hit up Foods of Asia in Brussels/Evere and dropped around 100€ on spices. I am not talking any crap at all about Belgium, which actually has an ok assortment of spices in most shops, but there were a few that I really missed getting in proper bulk. I don’t like the tiny little jars of spices when I want to cook.

We got cloves, coriander, cumin powder, whole cumin, nutmeg, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, asafoetida, and some other similar things. Also some ramen and a mid-sized bag of jasmine rice.

Oh, and butterbeans, which I grew up knowing as limas. It was a pretty big staple for our family growing up (only bested by black-eyed peas in the legume category). We had a bean we called butterbean which was probably just baby-limas picked fresh. I don’t know.

The only bean that I have not been able to find, precisely, is pinto beans exactly like what we had in the Southern US. There are pinto beans here, but maybe just a bit more mature? I’m not sure. They taste a bit different and are a bit harder. It’s not too bad, though. Just a minor shift in cooking.

Alright, that’s probably enough note-taking. It’s sunny here in Grimbergen. I’m about to get out and go blink at this so-called “day star”.

OH, before I go, here’s my bike ride stats. Pushing to over an hour. Roughly of an average of mid-20s km/h. Intensity up to around the half-way mark on the bike (equivalent of mild uphills). The middle of the ride was more intense than the end but there’s no way to take a picture of the whole route so I just have the snap of me doing the wind down to finish out to the 17mi mark:

Social Anxiety Haunted House Ideas: My Contribution

By Doug Bolden

On 2025-10-03

In Creativity, Horror

Jason K. Pargin — the author behind such Doug-favorite novels as John Dies at the End and, more recently, I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom — posted a Youtube Short yesterday about social-awkwardness-slash-anxiety in the context of haunted houses. He references a post on X [a…tweet? xeet? I should look up the hip new nomenclature] about setting up a room which looks like a break room and someone half out of costume says, “You can’t be back here!” Then he comes up with his own. People in the comments are adding their own.

https://youtube.com/shorts/lxeWmY3tk3k

And, of course, being a person interested in horror and all its related vibes, I thought about my own take. The one that came to mind is maybe a little bit less “social anxiety” and a little more “existential confusion brought about by liminal space” but still.

Doug’s Idea: Trapped in a Loop (Thought Experiment)

This will require either twins or at least two people who look enough alike [possibly by use of costume] to work. In fact, more than one set of doppelgangers would only enhance. It also require people going through roughly one (or one-group) at a time. And a LOT of space and effort. It’s more a thought experiment than something I would personally want to build.

The Rough Steps to the Haunted Loop

Step One: The victim enters into a lobby to start the experience. Someone [Twin A] is in a defined space that matches general expectations for a lobby. There are distinct elements in place, possibly including other people who are “enjoying the experience.” This space should only be entered through an outside or otherwise disassociated region.

Step Two: The victim goes through the exhibit [Path A]. While mostly a normal haunted house, certain elements should be emphasized to trigger a sense of disorientation. More empty space than expected. Points of quiet. Hallways that tilt slightly so it is hard to track exactly where you are in the total experience. Nothing so obvious as to spoil “the joke”. They can hear other people in the distance, but if some of the screams seem a bit distorted or anxious, it is a haunted house after all.

Step Three (optional): At some point the victim comes across a person who seems to be another person just “enjoying” the experience. There clothes are torn a bit. Their face a bit scruffed. Maybe they are a prop. Maybe not. Hard to tell in the light. The person is saying something about being here for hours, there’s no way out, where’s the exit? People dressed as workers approach and very nicely and kindly come up to help the person and then knock on a section on the wall which turns out to be hidden door. They go through it and the door closes, fading back into the background.

Step Four: A few rooms later, maybe the next room, a clear “EXIT” sign is seen. Behind, laughter and playful screams from other guests who are never spotted, no matter how long the victim waits. Finally, the victim goes through the EXIT. If they choose to not go through the exit and backtrack, the voices in front of them fade out and are again behind them.

Step Five: To find the first room’s perfect duplicate down to TWIN B. Every detail should be the same, including other people who were waiting. The second TWIN is directing them towards the door to go on through. “Hurry up!”

Step Six: The entire experience plays out in the exact same way. There is only one difference. The stressed person will be met again only this time their clothing is less torn and while they are clearly a bit confused about where they are, this seems to be them from an hour or two ago.

Step Seven: If you have a really big space and triplets, have another round.