I was on a boat in the ocean exactly once in life. We were far enough out that we could not see land. I was told it was a rather calm sea that day. I still puked over the side. I caught an amber-jack, that apparently was not good eating because of a potential parasite? I am deathly allergic to shellfish, and I am not a fan of the beach. I have probably only had rum a handful of times and it was always mixed with Coke or Dr. Pepper. Still though, who doesn’t love the romance & adventure of pirate imagery, and pirate songs?
This collection of thoughts, reflection, & feelings is delivered not unlike catching a glimpse of a ghost ship in the mist on the barely discernable horizon. Sometimes it’s just hinted at on the whispers of the wind or waves of the open sea. Then, all of a sudden you’re in the crow’s nest surveying the chaos of the poop deck in a storm or in the captain’s quarters as he sips rum and recounts tales of anarchy, punk rock, rebellion, & love by candlelight. Maybe it’s the brig? Or a deserted island. It’s left to the reader to fill in the gaps as they dream of their own adventures, shenanigans, & longing. Who can’t relate to a journey, physical or metaphorical? What is the line really? Get lost in this book, & create your own treasure map to get out or to get further lost. 🏴☠️
Curses, Cutlasses, and Cauldrons by Joel Fatal, Local Troublemaker
After you read Joel’s book, you’ll probably want to listen to my “Let’s Get Scurvy 🏴☠️🦜“ playlist, and maybe even try my treasure map maze (from my book, You Can See Yourself Out). Tell me what you like from the playlist & make suggestions for more songs in the comments!
I felt like drawing another Halloween sort of maze. I will probably do some more. I wanted to give this a bit of color too. As always, I’d love it if you solved the maze on paper or on a screen, posted it so social media, & tagged me.
Have fun with this. Print it for your Halloween parties, to pass out with candy, or just for fun. Free to use, just don’t steal & sell it.
I really used to be super creeped out by spiders. Perhaps I should make a series of different kinds of spider mazes. The fly is kind of a blob here. I may do a cleaner version at some point. Still working out if I want the next book to have a theme or just be chaos (again).
You can get the black & white version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, mugs, & wall art at TeePublic & Redbubble.
You can also get the orange version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, hoodies, & aprons at TeePublic & Redbubble.
The wood came from a recently town-down old swing set. I didn’t like the two pallets I had on hand for this. I had an old rattle can of black paint that I used to just barely darken it up & kind of make it look more aged.
I got the one skull & forearms/hands from Giant Eagle. I got the other skull, hands, chains, lights, & netting for the back at Dollar Tree. All-in, I think I have around $20 to $25 in this? I swapped the hands for the skulls because the sizes made more sense to me.
After letting the pallet dry, I stapled the lights into the bottom, then I stapled a weird grey ratty cloth under that. Then, I just picked a spot, positioned the skulls, arms/hands, & chains, then plugged it in. OH yeah, I put a weird motion-sensor screamy thing in the one corner too, because it was super-annoying everywhere else.
Do you like to put a DIY spin on Halloween or other holiday decorations? Show me what ya got!
If you read this, you know I mostly use Amazon Music, but I do copy stuff to Spotify. I should copy these ones over. I refuse to pay to synch them with Tune My Music though, so I try to wait until I’m close to done to copy it. I may have copied some of these a long time ago.
What are your go-to Halloween songs? What am I missing from these lists?
I know. I just made a shameless plug. After that though, I uploaded some new older Halloween mazes to both my TeePublic and RedBubble stores, along with some other stuff. Get yours now in time for Halloween!
Halloween Mazes by AiXelsyD13
I have some free Halloween mazes here from 2019 and 2022. I need to draw some more new ones. If you poke around my shops, you’ll find some other new stuff you may enjoy, too. There’s some more new stuff that I snuck in. Why not get a Sheetz Run sticker or a Wendy’s Maze apron reminding you to melt the cheese?
Every once in a while, I just throw this into the æther just to see if it gets any response. One time, I got to pop up on stage and sing “I Turned Into a Martian” while Jerry Only played bass, sang, & Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein played guitar, & Goat (a.k.a. Eric Acre, a.k.a. “Chupacabra”) played drums. I’d love to find a video of it if it’s out there.
We take for granted that everything is recorded these days, but back then it wasn’t. Misfits bootleg videos were a hot trade commodity at one point online. I’m pretty sure this show was recorded, because Crowbar had closed-circuit TV’s that were displaying the show as it happened. It may have been deleted or not recorded, it may have hit a personal private collection. Someone else may have been in-house recording. Not sure if Doug Evil was there?
Thanks to Misfits Central & Concert Archives, I now have a specific date: Sunday, November 5, 2000. It was at the now-defunct Crowbar in State College, PA.
An-Die & I road-tripped to State College several times with several different groups to see the Misfits in several iterations in addition to seeing them a bunch in Pittsburgh… so my memories may be conflated. I know Russ from TVCasualty.com was there!
I’m pretty sure Murphy’s Law & Impotent Sea Snakes also played. I only remember this because Goat was pulling double duty, and our friend Laurel was apparently hit in the face with an… adult toy… during the ISS set.
I remember An-Die telling me that I had stage presence, and obviously Jerry Only has a huge stage presence, and it did not jive. Ha ha. I’m sure I looked weird, but holy shit it was fun. (I always feel weird signing without a guitar in my hands anyway.)
Another fun fact, this was after I had broken my nose, and i was wearing a bandage covering most of my face. I know I have photos of that somewhere but I cannot find any.
The Misfits – 11/05/2000 lineup @ Crowbar in State College PA | Jerry Only, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Eric Goat/Chupacabra Acre, & some random a-hole.
Oh yeah, I broke my nose stage diving at American Music Café. Who’s set was it? I think it was Third Place, Tybalt, or maybe even Ten Pounds Lighter/Secrets Lie Within. I just remember someone fake kicking me that ended up not being a fake kick, a weird celery crunching noise, and my nose being mostly under one eye. I ought to try to chronicle old show stories some day.
I was the Fiend Club “Chapter Head” for a minute in the late 90’s early 00’s, so I got to see the band when they were in & around town. I think Jerry & Rocky sort-of kind-of knew who I was, but I always tried to not be a pain in the ass & ask for stuff or to get on the Turbo Die or anything. It was a fun time in life.
If you have the video, or have info that could help me track it down, I’d really appreciate it! Feel free to help by sharing this in fan forums & what-not online. We Are 138!
Family photo in front of the LEGO statue of Liberty.
This year, we let the kids pick the vacations. Luckily a new job afforded me more time, and we took a year off from being camp counselors/directors. I had offered the beach. I hate the beach, but we have never gone as a family. They brainstormed & settled on Legoland in New York, a trip to visit good friends that live in NJ who took us to New York City, and an upcoming trip to Washington DC.
My wife did the booking/research and set us up for 3 nights in the hotel and 2 days in the park. We both looked at two Facebook groups prior to going to help glean some knowledge:
Somehow, I was dirty banned from the first group with no warning or explanation. 😂 The second group is totally cool. I would suggest joining both. The only thing I can think that got me banned was the toilet thing (keep reading), or that I said to take cash even though they all said not to. (More on that in a bit too.)
I’ll put a list of my tips at the end.
Full disclosure: I like LEGO as much as if not more than the kids. We all do. Even my wife has gotten into building some really cool sets.
The photo packaghe was worth it.My magnet may get glued together…
The hotel was super cool. We stayed in a Kingdom themed room. It had a separate nook with bunk bends and a TV for the kids, and a King-sized bed & TV for the adults. It came with a bin full of mostly Duplo & some LEGO to play with. It also had a treasure-hunt the first day to get (3) LEGO poly bag sets. We got them the 2nd night too, but not the 3rd. 🤷
This guy guards the treasure.Found it!
I think we watched ALL of the LEGO movies in the room. That was neat.
The lobby has a giant castle that looks like LEGO, a treasure-trove of Duplo & Lego blocks, a climbing wall that isn’t a climbing wall, an area with large LEGO bricks made out of some material that feels like Crocs. There are so many photo opportunities throughout the hotel and park, it’s crazy.
I want one in the back yard.Where can I buy these Croc-LEGO hybrids?
“We’re loners Dottie, rebels!”
Yeah. 4,672 kids climbed on this wall. Employees would all politely tell them to get off, and the parent / grandparent / aunt / uncle /random stranger would undoubtedly always exclaim “But, it looks like a climbing wall!” There is a sign to the left that says not to climb… but really, it LOOKS like a climbing wall. I suggest the shore it up so it’s safe to climb, or put stuff on the shelves so they don’t look like seats. Or maybe get a bigger more centralized “No Climbing” sign.
The restaurants in the park & at the hotel were interesting. They were crazy expensive, which we had gleaned from the groups, and kind of just expected anyway. The food was eh. I did not like their “fry sauce” on the burger. Breakfast was free with the stay and was a nice tray with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, French toast sticks, sausage, tator tots or home fries, fresh fruit, and the option of coffee, juice, milk, or water to drink. Pop or iced tea was an up charge.
🐉
The rides and attractions are definitely geared to pre-teen kids, but were fun for the whole family. The Dragon was my son’s first roller coaster ride. The indoor rides were fun, and of course they drop you in the gift shops. We kept telling my son that the same stuff would be in the big store. We were wrong. Some stuff was different. No build a minifigure in the big store.
We did not do the water park… It’s convoluted as you have to reserve time in 20 minute increments and it seems like a wild pain in the keister. We thought about doing the pool at the hotel after the park, but we decided to chill the first day and it was raining the second day. The pirate themed rides were perfect for us.
I almost bought the park-exclusive Legoland New York set, and would have for $75, but I didn’t feel like it was worth the $100 asking price. Maybe next time? We did get the photo package for one day, and they kids’ LEGOLAND drivers license photos. I did buy two little New York City themed sets.
OH NO!
The thing that made me laugh the most was our toilet project.
My son was having fun playing with the blocks and all the other kids in the hotel lobby. He became somewhat of a warmonger or arms dealer. Kids were coming up to him like he was Peter Dinklage in that Thor Movie where he forged Stormbreaker, or Tony Stark supplying all sides with arms. He was making Duplo and LEGO swords, guns, and who knows what else for any kid that would ask. He was having an absolute blast. I built Godzilla and a city to smash to pass some time. I also built a Duplo rubber duck and we attached to it a Ninjago figure’s head.
Then my daughter and I got silly. She built a pile of poop out of brown LEGO bricks. I told her to get me a bunch of white Duplo blocks, and made a toilet. At first, we just sat her stuffed LEGO guy in a chicken costume minifig on it. Then, we put it on the tray beside a salad that a LEGO waitress minifig sculpture was carrying. It was hilarious to see kids & adults discover it.
I’m easily amused. I don’t know what her deal is.
All-in-all, we had a great time. I think you will too if you’re into LEGO and your kids are the right age. Check out the last of my pics if you didn’t already see them on Instagram, or skip down to my helpful tips!
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES.Imagine the car is Legoland, and I am my bank account.I didn’t do it.Even LEGO skulls are cool. ☠️#TeamDaveThey sang to us.We rode the real one later that week!Impressive, but the real thing was WILD.The kids loved this guy.This isn’;’t nearly all of them.New York Postcard 40519 | OtherNew York City 21028 | Architecture
My LEGOLAND New York tips:
I would suggest getting the app. It was helpful with menus, maps, reservations, etc.
You scan a barcode for the menus as the hotel restaurants.
You can use the app to order at some food establishments in the park.
You need reservations for the $20 cafeteria burger meals at the Bricks Family restaurant.
Don’t climb the wall that looks like a climbing wall, or do it quick before they yell at you.
Get the burger with the fry sauce on the side.
The BBQ place was good!
The crappy unwanted minifigures your kid brings to trade are the same ones that every other kid brings to trade, and what the employees have on their carts or badges to offer for trade.
BRING CASH.💵 Even though the Legoland NY FB tips & tricks group that unceremoniously booted me implores you to leave all cash at home… You want to tip, right? If you want to leave a tip for breakfast where you don’t get any add-ons, for the room service, or the hotel cleaning staff, you need cash.
There is not even an ATM on site, I asked the front desk.
Don’t try to use cash anywhere else there, which is actually fantastic.
We had the kids save up their own money for vacation, then put it on VISA gift cards before we went. They purchased what they wanted at their own discretion. We bought them one clothing or stuffed animal item each.
Kids’ meals come with a juice pouch in the cute little lunch bag… but it doesn’t advertise that anywhere… so, we bought 2 extra drinks for $10 the first lunch. 🤦♂️
Pack a bag with water, snacks, or even lunch.
The build-you-own minifigure part selection was grim in the hotel store.
Halloween has the coolest music. I have made some playlists on various platforms over the years, Amazon & Spotify being the most recent. I thought I’d not only put them all in once place, but also share. I’m always adding to them and changing. I’m listening to the 1st list now.
The maze bug bit me lately. Thought I’d share here. These are scans from my phone, so not the highest quality maybe? At any rate.. post ’em if you solve ’em!
World (and Lunar) Domination 