This is Halloween

Our new apartment is haunted. Not even gonna front. We've got spirits wandering around like they own the damn place. The back door randomly swings open if it's not locked, we hear all sorts of creaks and groans in the middle of the night and my dog is constantly looking around and growling at seemingly nothing. Delma says it's seemingly nothing. I says it's seemingly ghosts.

Hopefully it's ghosts and not some three-horned demon that's trying to impregnate Delma. I mean, if Delma got knocked up by a demon, I'd raise the demon baby as my own because I'm just that kind of guy. But I would not be happy when that demon baby tried to kill me in the future. No sir, no way, no how.

We're stoked for Halloween. We're gonna decorate our haunted apartment and put up all sorts of spooky decorations and make all sorts of creepy foods. Last year we had Halloweenies and finger foods and a pumpkin made out of carrots. Check it:

This year we're going even crazier. But I'm not going to tell you what we're doing or that'll ruin the surprise. You'll just have to come our haunted apartment for our scary party while wearing a zany costume and drink our alcoholic beverages.

Speaking of which, Delma and I are going as Marceline the Vampire Queen and Finn (from "Adventure Time"). I'm super stoked for this year because ever since we've met, we've just gone as some variation of a zombie. First year it was zombie athlete and zombie cheerleader, second year it was zombie versions of ourselves, third year it was regular zombies and last year it was scarecrow and crow. Not zombies, but close enough, right?

Oh oh oh, speaking of zombies, we live right next to a section of Uptown that belongs to a gang! Seriously. The little triangle formed by Buena, Broadway and Clarendon is SGD turf. That stands for Spanish Gang Disciples for those of you not in the know.

It's actually a little scary because there have been two or three shootings around this area since we moved in about a month ago. But at the same time, I feel like we're ok because according to their website, the Spanish Gang Disciples are just trying to "unite all of the Latino folks." And I'm a Latino folk. So I've got that going for me.

Aside from the ghosts and disciples though, the new apartment is pretty kick ass. We have a dishwasher, a garbage disposal and our own washer and dryer! We're also super close to a few awesome coffee shops. I wonder if that was a priority for the SGDs when they were trying to pick out their territory?

I'm in one of those coffee shops right now, but I don't see anyone wearing black or baby blue (the official colors of the Spanish Gang Disciples). There's an Asian lady with two kids though. So maybe there's some kind of infiltration going on? I dunno. Seems sketchy to me.

Delma and I have been talking about our future. What we're going to do once I finish school, where we're going to go, how many demon babies we're going to pop out. You know. Stuff like that. It all depends on where I can actually get a job so, with the exception of this one-hour blogging break, I've been busting my ass so far this quarter. I want to have a bad ass portfolio so I can get an awesome job with a kick-ass agency.

I think I have a couple campaigns that are book worthy. I definitely have a few ideas that, if I can comp them up, could go in my portfolio. That's the tough part though. Ideas are kinda easy. It's bringing them to life that's hard.

Delma wants to go back to Houston. I want to stay in Chicago. I mean, both of our families are in Houston so I'd like to go back eventually. I'd rather raise my demon babies in the city I grew up in, but I feel like I have unfinished business here. Mostly relating to improv. I haven't done any of the things I set out to do when I moved here. Out of the dozens of troupes and shows I've auditioned for, I have made it into one.

And, honestly, I'm fine with that. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not what the Chicago improv scene is looking for. And vice versa. This competition, this "show-show-show" mentality. It's not me. I just want to do improv because it's fun, y'all. Let's have a real good time. Like Pitbull.

But I still want to take classes. There's still a lot about improv I want to learn before I go back to Houston. And the ad agencies here are way, way, waaaaay better than in Houston. I'm thinking that if I can put in the work here for a few years, I can get a job pretty much anywhere else. Right? Also, I still want to try to finish a whole deep-dish pizza by myself before I leave.

If we end up going to Houston though, I'm going to come back to haunt this apartment when I die. Because, you know, unfinished business and whatnot.

Maybe that's what's haunting our apartment? The ghosts of improvisors who moved away from the city before getting onto a Harold team.

Spooooooooky.