Last night was another Survivor episode. They changed the rules by having the two tribes come together on one beach without actually merging. Both sides assumed that it was a merge. It was interesting to see how the survivors handled what they thought was a merge. Some tried to ingratiate themselves with the members of the other tribe while others held back. The episode started with each member of a tribe selecting one of five colors of body paint. They then used the paint to decorate their bodies. Sort of a Halloween theme. The tribe members from each tribe with the same paint color were paired off to get acquainted. Some played it close to the vest, while others just spilled their guts about their team mates. The immunity challenge had the two tribes competing against each other instead of individually. Each survivor was handcuffed and fitted with leg braces. Each tribe was put in a bamboo cell. The idea was to some how get the 15 keys that were outside the cell to unlock the cuffs and braces, and then dig out of the cell. I missed how this applied to Thailand, but there's probably some connection. It makes me wonder when the first jail or prison was built. It's kind of a peculiar solution for punishment when you think about it. Whatever happened to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Probably too uncivilized.
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In the end, Shi Ann was voted off the island. She was the one who had been the most friendly with the opposing tribe when they thought there had been a merge. This was viewed as a betrayal by her team mates and she was gone.
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I felt a little bit sorry for Shi Ann. She reminded me of a woman that I knew at work about 10 years ago. Shi Ann felt alienated from her tribe, partly because of cultural differences in the way she was raised. For instance, she had different eating habits than her team mates. She ate parts of a chicken that no one else would touch. It's a little sad that someone can be a citizen of this country and yet never truly feel like they belong. My co-worker was also Asian-American like Shi Ann. She was born in the USA. I remember one time we went on a team outing to a Chinese restaurant. Everyone else on the team, who was white, was given a fork. They gave her chopsticks even though she's an American. It was a little thing, but it probably made her feel like an outsider to the team and to America. I asked for chopsticks.

It's Halloween! One of my favorite holidays because it is striclty for fun. If you're trick or treating this year, be careful. During lunch, I saw a witch driving a car and I don't think she was in costume.
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A few more lame jokes:
What did one ghost say to his ghost friend?
Do you believe in people?
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Why did the vampire have his girlfriend take a blood test?
To find out if she was his type.
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Why was the headless horseman thrown out of the bar?
He kept missing the urinal.
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I'll be seeing you. I am going as the Invisible Man this year. Say Hi when you don't see me.

What do you get when you goose a ghost?
A handful of sheet.
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What do you get when you divide the circumference of a Jack O'Lantern by its diameter?
Pumpkin pi.
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Are you a right-brained person or a left-brained person?
You are! Who stole your other half!
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From these meager attempts, I guess you can tell that I don't know any good Halloween jokes. Actually, I do, but they're not fit for human ears.

I found it! It's from the Merchant of Venice. It looks like I remembered it fairly closely. I'll have to read the entire play sometime. It looks interesting.
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Music JESSICA I am never merry when I hear sweet music.
LORENZO The reason is, your spirits are attentive:
For do but note a wild and wanton herd,
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud,
Which is the hot condition of their blood;
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,
Or any air of music touch their ears,
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze
By the sweet power of music: therefore the poet
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods;
Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage,
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.

"For do but note a wild and wanton herd,
or race of youthful and unhandled colts,
fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud,
which is the hot condition of their blood.
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,
or any air of music touch their ears,
you shall perceive them make a mutual stand,
their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze,
by the sweet power of music."
*** William Shakespeare ***
I wish could remember what play this is from. I don't think it was from one of his more well-known plays, but I could be wrong. Anyway, it stands by itself as one of his best pieces. I'll have to get a list of his works. I'm sure that I'll remember when I see the title, although I'm not sure that I read the entire play. I don't remember the context, so I may have just seen the above passage somewhere. It would be interesting to find out which character was speaking.