This one is for Megan, Hope and my other cat-loving friends and family.

The cat, The Chicken, is cute. Okay, I said it, and I don’t feel any less of a man than I already did. I watered the plants when I got home tonight. Chicken-head is a FIEND for water, so he took an interest in the puddles that developed around one.

Click here to see the video.

I’ve been looking a lot at stories, movies and artwork from the “horror” genre lately. Answering the question, “what scares me? why do I like to be scared?” Sometimes it really is fun to be scared.

Last night Jen and I met some friends at the Jazz N’ Ribs Fest, downtown C-bus. When we arrived, we found an ocean of humanity. We were swept along currents of men and women and children and babies in strollers. The air seemed to be light with people generally having a good time, eating good food (and paying insane prices.)

We sampled ribs and got messy-faced. It was getting late when we decided to stand in line for peach cobbler a la mode at the most congested booth at the festival. Jen and I were shoulder-to-shoulder with lots of people, and a constant stream passed in front of and behind us. We were both starting to get a bit claustrophobic.

Then suddenly the crowd began to pulse from the center of the street. There were screams. We were pushed forward into others, and others fell into us. We saw a group of teenagers run through the emptied street, but they seemed to be just as confused as everyone else. After a few minutes, people began moving about again, and I was back in line for our cobbler. Jen got out of line and waited near the sidewalk behind the cobbler stand.

Shortly after, the mob scattered again, only this time a woman was screaming something about a gun. There was the same movement, shouts, screams. What followed was a blurry, panic-driven mass exodus from the festival. Spot lights darted about, shining from the building tops above the festival, and they were shining directly on our location. Our group quickly found each other, and we sailed away in the current to my car. It took some time before everyone was at ease.

I don’t really know what happened. Don’t know if there was a gun, if anyone was hurt. Doesn’t matter, the fear was real and enough to kill the Jazz N Rib Fest for me. This really makes me mad - I remember thinking how safe the festival felt last year. Now it’s marred by violence and the tyranny of the stupid.

Boo.