Some Pre-Halloween Parade Thoughts

For those of you who have at least bothered to listen, and I would hasten to estimate that this is probably the 14th or 17th time I've had to say this, your humble Dragonmaster shall once again be doing the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade alone --- again. To recap: my one-time burly boss and co-star, Thor the Barbarian will spend Halloween Night with his beloved Muninn in their Hawley, PA home, this being their wedding anniversary (and young Tigerboy will indulge in a last bit of pre-teen trick-or-treating); the undisputed Queen of all things Halloween, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, hath chosen Philadelphia to spend her night out to howl, appropriately in the former site of a Federal penitentiary, as part of celebrations marking the Edgar Allen Poe Bicentennial; and on the other side of the planet, in Helsinki's venerable Club Tavastia, my Official Rock Band, Lordi, will get their own pumpkin power on, if thou wouldst, by showing off their brand new costumes and celebrating the release of their new album, Deadache, and its first single, Bite It Like a Bulldog! (Oh yeah, did I mention that their movie, Dark Floors: The Lordi Motion Picture, is now out on DVD and Blu-ray in the States as well?)

As for me, Halloween will certainly present some incredible challenges, especially with Washington Square Park still in the throes of a massive renovation. What becomes of the Children's Halloween Parade, led as always by the oddly-dressed menagerie of the NYU Bagpipe Band? They're bound to need to find a way to deal with that, by Merlin's beard! And what's worse is, I have to find a way to keep me Wizardly threads in full splendor throughout the day. That, plus I need to deal with me e-mails as best I can ... without any silly people wondering why I'm wearing my robes!

As ever, my seven Wizardly bosses, the Grand High Istari, warned me how dangerous this dum-dum would be from the moment I took the oath to uphold the principles inherent in the responsibilities that go with being Dragonmaster. How I managed to get dropped off in this dump known as New York City is beyond me; but, given that I long ago promised my fellow New Yorkers that I would remain in their face for the forseeable future, oh, 'tis a harsh existence, but I manage to put up with it.

So, what all this means is that I'm gonna have to make some major decisions and split-second choices which, as always, will find new and incredible ways to piss me off. What, then, do I do about it all? Well, Master Blackwolf, methinks you'll have to make like Indiana Jones and start making things up as ye go along; for, as we all know --- and I wish Don La Fontaine were still around to narrate the damn trailer for my movie --- if you think it's hard out here for a pimp, try being a Wizard! (Heh-heh!)

Master Blackwolf