The Endless

Saturday, we woke up and went to the Homecoming parade. Alaya got all the candy. She was a happy girl. The parade itself was actually good; they had some clever floats for our viewing pleasure. The announcer, not so much. I think they need to slim down the announcements. My lord, the poor guy was about two blocks behind before someone finally told him to zip it.. Honestly, the parade could have been over for ten minutes before he even caught up..

After the parade, I rushed off to my next event: the No Kings protest.

It was an incredibly uplifting experience. I hadn’t really planned on attending this time around, but my mother called to say she and a friend had made a last-minute decision to go. I’m so glad I decided to join them.

I felt my spirit lifted. It was a gathering of people united by their frustration with the current administration—namely, our Dear Leader, Trump. The age range and racial makeup of the crowd were all over the place. Not the radicals or far-left types Fox News likes to portray—just regular people from different walks of life.

As I’ve said before, I’m not a Democrat—I’m an Independent. I’ve never voted straight party. Some folks in the crowd were even Republicans who’ve simply had enough of the “orange man.” These were people who want justice for everyone, not just a select few.

The crowd was even larger and more organized than last time. The police had taped everything off and had a noticeably stronger presence. They were also pulling over the obnoxious, instigating assholes speeding by in loud trucks. Every time one got pulled over, the crowd erupted in cheers. That felt like justice served—with a side of sweet, sweet karma.

You can disagree and support the Dear Leader—but don’t be an asshole about it.

The signs were even more creative and inspiring this time. I also loved how more people dressed up. We had inflatable costumes, and even a woman who made her own frog outfit. Apparently, the Portland frog protester sparked a wave of frog inflatables across the country—who knew?

There was a loose, joyful feel to the crowd. Just people united for a good cause, having a good time. Such a good vibe in the air and among the people.

I was happy to run into a couple of old friends at the protest—again. It’s funny that I hadn’t seen them in years, but here we were, crossing paths at both No Kings protests. For a man who’s all about dividing people, I guess in his own twisted way, Trump is bringing us together.

After the protest and back at home, I really just wanted a damn burger. I called in to a local joint, City Limits, who was serving $10 burgers on Saturday, and Yvette and I split a tasty meal. We really didn’t need it, considering that the tailgating we were about to attend usually fills sour bellies.

The RamJam was a blast, but once again, it was too damn hot—like a slow roast you didn’t sign up for. I ate way too much—ribs, sausage, tacos, cheesy potatoes, fried chicken, Frito pie, and a lot of beer. After that burger, I really didn’t need any of it, but here I was: a walking, bloated mess.

We ran into my friend Art again, and naturally, Yvette and I had to take shots. Obligated. At least this time, Yvette was going down with me—heroic, really. They were all very impressed with her ability to kill a Jell-O shot. The rest of the day, I burped up the rump shots.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we stuck it out until basically the end.

That evening, we ran a few errands and just chilled. It was a quiet night with the baby gone, Lola out of town, and Teegan out helping his brother.

I turned on a horror comedy, Freaky. It was a blast! It’s about a body switch—a teenage girl swaps bodies with a serial killer, and vice versa. She has 24 hours to make it right or she’s fucked, forever stuck in the killer’s body. Vince Vaughn plays the killer’s body, and his turn as a teenage girl is actually unexpectedly hilarious. I didn’t realize I needed Vince Vaughn playing a high school teen in my life.

My lord, some of the kills in this movie are just truly epic. The shop teacher was sawed in half in a spectacle of blood and guts that would make even the goriest horror fans cringe and cheer. One poor fool has a wine bottle shoved down his throat. Great fun. Satirical horror at its fucking best.

Sunday was a beautiful morning. It was brisk. I watered the plants and enjoyed my coffee. Teegan was already up, playing his new game. I could hear the yells coming from inside, which basically means he was either winning or losing spectacularly—I was laughing either way. I’m definitely going to miss his gaming antics when he heads off to college.

Yvette’s parents made red beef enchiladas, hard shell tacos, rice, and beans—a true treat for a Sunday lunch. We ate and watched football. Roger and I talked about work and the endless weirdness that is campus life.. I left stuffed and with a couple of new Halloween decorations that Emma gave me on my way out.

It was a good day. Yvette and I went to the store, I meal-prepped for breakfast (which I suspect Teegan ate overnight), did some house chores, and went to my mom’s. We mostly just relaxed, which might be code for “napped.” Everyone was back at the house for dinner, and that was the weekend in a nutshell.

Monday, dear Monday. The most dreaded day of the week. I was stuck with office duty—again—which probably makes me sound like a broken record when I say how much I truly fucking hate it. I feel like a caged bird (pretty sure that’s been said before too). Sitting around with nothing to do drives my ADHD brain absolutely insane. Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have a regular office job. I should remember that every time I start looking around campus for something else.

I did manage to escape for a bit to attend the Staff Senate meeting. You know, after getting that charming little email about my poor attendance record. Fuck it—I wasn’t doing anything else for a change, so I figured why not show up and make my presence known. Appease the “executive board”, so to say.

The meeting looked way more official than any of the ones I’ve attended in the past. Each senator had a little table tent with their name on it. I walked in and had a full “WTF is this?” moment. For a second, I thought we had assigned seats or something, until one of the ladies handed me my tent. Honestly, I don’t see the point. Just feels like an unnecessary waste of someone’s time.

Was anything informative discussed at the meeting?
Haha, not really.

I did learn a little about the new department, Career & Professional Success. What I really wanted to know was what happened to all the people from Career Development—the department this new one apparently replaced. They’re just… gone. Vanished. Like they got Thanos-snapped out of employment. Did they all just retire in unison? Really strange. I expected at least one person to stick around for the handoff. Apparently not.

The rest of the meeting was just committee reports, which felt like a whole lot of nothing. Someone mentioned possibly getting us T-shirts. Again, kind of an unnecessary waste of time and energy. Do we really need shirts to signify we’re senate members? No. Attendance came up too, so I’m guessing I wasn’t the only one who got that email.

Anyway, I agreed to the terms, so I guess I’m strapped in for the ride. But based on experience, I’m not expecting any major accomplishments to come out of this.

The rest of the week wasn’t particularly exciting.

At work, I just tried my best to look busy—sorry, stay busy—around the office. My big escape from the monotony came in the form of trash cans. Yep, you read that right: trash cans.

Apparently, the housing department decided to splurge on some fancy new shiny bins and didn’t want the old ones anymore, so off they went to salvage. The funny thing is, the old cans were still perfectly fine! A gross waste of money—classic university move.

I let a few other departments know about the unwanted cans, and two of them immediately jumped at the offer to replace their battered old Rubbermaid Brutes. One department came to grab theirs, but I became the unofficial trash can delivery service for the other, hauling cans across campus.

After several trips over a few days, I’d successfully distributed the “new-to-them” cans around campus. It felt good to save a couple of departments some cash—and hey, it even made two buildings look a little less trashy.

Friday rolled around and started out rather normal — that is, until I realized that a nick on my thumb had bled all over the shirt I was planning to work in. I had to change, and I wondered to myself if that wasn’t going to sum up the rest of my day.
Well, it summed up the moring.

The office was already crazy when I walked in the door. Everyone and their fucking dog needed something from us. We later found out it was because their boss was onto them for not completing jobs, so they needed us to help with the logistics. It was loud, and some of the weirdest of the weird were lingering around like fucking vultures circling a rotting corpse.

This was a bummer for our office, and I brought it up to my boss. Just because the techs aren’t getting their jobs done in a timely manner doesn’t equate to an emergency for me. This shit shouldn’t trickle down on us. It was slow most of the week, and then Friday was insanely busy. Actually, the last few Fridays have been hectic as all kinds of hell.

I also had to deal with some exceptionally moody fuckers. One guy came into the office and loitered for almost an entire hour waiting for one of my coworkers to return so they could run an errand together. He got pissy because he had to wait, and then when my team member arrived, the weird fucker wouldn’t even talk to him — so my coworker went about his business. Only then did this fucker go, “Is he leaving again?”
Yes, you idiot. Why didn’t you stop him if you’ve been waiting on him for almost an hour?

I just knew he’d go tell his boss the reason he couldn’t get his job done was because my office wouldn’t accommodate his needs. That’s just the way this asshole is.

I also get a little anxious on days when I have a long road trip ahead of me — and Friday was that day.

It was gloomy and wet, which would’ve been perfect on an average day. But this wasn’t an average day. We had to hit the road to DFW. What’s usually an almost five-hour drive could only be made worse by the weather conditions. Plus, who wants to leave town with severe weather in the forecast? You could come back to a mess.

I was ready for the road — just not looking forward to it.

The drive was a chore with all the showers. People driving like maniacs in piss-poor visibility really takes it out of me. Hell, the interstate itself takes a lot out of me.

After checking into the hotel, it was a quick trip to the most chaotic Old Navy I’ve ever seen. Talk about a goddamn mess—I have no idea what the hell happened there. Looked like a tornado had gone through the store. Looked like Lola’s room.

Next was an outing on the town for some local Cuban food at a place called Lola’s. Yep, same name. I guess they’d eaten there back when it was just a little old food truck. Now it’s a full sit-down dining experience. I do love me some Cuban food.

Leaving was interesting—one hell of a storm. I’d forgotten just how ominous those tornado sirens sound. Visibility was shit, and we had to “turn around, don’t drown.” It was dark, flooded, and crazy. GPS rerouted us through what must’ve been a shady neighborhood—thankfully, we couldn’t really see it. It was a scary adrenaline rush for us all.

Back at the hotel, Yvette and I hit the bar for a drink. We needed it. Happy fucking Friday!!!

Horror Season 2025

The Gate!!

As a child, The Gate was my jam. A horror film geared toward children, 1987’s The Gate doesn’t rely heavily on blood and gore, but its story of backyard demons and literal hell on earth was terrifying to me back then. Still is today.

All the leads were child actors, so I could relate to their performances—their onscreen fears. Monsters attacking while Mom and Dad are away? Classic ’80s kid-centric horror.

It all starts when a storm brings down a tree, uncovering a cavernous pit that turns out to be the gateway to hell. Around this time, the parents head out of town, leaving their 15-year-old daughter in charge of the house, the family dog, and her 12-year-old brother.

At that age, your parents are your protectors. So when bad things begin to happen and the kids are left to face it alone, it hit especially hard. I could project myself into their scenario—it frightened the hell out of me imagining something similar happening while my own parents were gone.

In my books, The Gate belongs right up there in the kid-peril pantheon with The Goonies and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids—except this one’s a full-on horror movie. The kids triumph in the end with little or no help from the adults. I’ve always loved that kind of story. It made them feel more real, more relatable.

So what about the creatures? Well, there are imp-like demons no taller than a doll—and they look terrifying. There’s a zombie that can attack and abduct people through walls. A giant serpent-demon emerges from the floor. Kids and teens get possessed. There’s even a weird dream sequence where the parents come back… but they’re evil. And don’t get me started on the family dog’s death—it made me want to cry.

This movie had all the spooky elements needed to scare a kid.

But what truly haunted me was when the lead character develops an all-seeing eyeball in the palm of his hand. That eye creeped me out more than anything else. He eventually takes care of it with a shard of glass, but that image stuck with me for years. I was terrified that something like that might happen to me. The idea of an always-watching demon eye, and the only way to stop it was stabbing yourself? Yikes.

I still think the movie holds up today. Nostalgic. The practical effects are spot-on. I love the creature and sound design. Nightmarish in the best way. The atmosphere is just great. The child actors are convincing. When they scream in terror it’s as if they were truly terrified. The Gate scared the ever-living shit out of me as a kid—and honestly, that’s the highest praise I can give it.

So if you’ve never seen The Gate, you owe it to your inner child to watch it.