It was more than a week since Halloween, and my jack-o-lantern had not rotted away as had the poor, neglected carved pumpkins of years gone by. Indeed, no. This year I cryogenically froze my pumpkin using a sophisticated process that can only be described as "putting it in my freezer."

For every night of the last week I had taken it out of the freezer and lit a candle inside the frozen shell. At first, the results were incredible. Its cheerful face continued to bathe the living room with a festive autumnal glow long after the last trick or treater had ravaged the bowl of snickers.

During these first few nights I felt as though I had conquered the very laws of nature. I knew how Dr. Frankenstein must have felt as he reanimated the monster. Fortunately there was very little chance that the frozen pumpkin would go on a rampage and kill my wife.

It's been four days since we last posted something here on WORD. (Well, I'm counting today as a day to enforce the exaggeration.) In the great and massive world of blogging (the "Blogosphere", if you will), four days can be a lifetime. I just wanted to say that WORD is not being neglected. We have lots of original ideas for posts and tons of great student writing! But we also have our magazines to attend to.

So, if you are a frequent visitor to our humble bloggy, please take note: we're still here, we're just swamped.

While you're waiting, you should go here to read this.

Essay by Tasha Fisher, Grade 11

I can remember as a child tossing and turning in bed for hours and hours praying to God I would fall asleep. "Please God, let me fall asleep, I have a big day at school tomorrow, and I need some sleep. I promise I'll be a good girl for mommy." Every minute I would check the clock and hope I would fall asleep that minute. Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into morning, and then it was time to get up.

In my family falling asleep was not an issue. My dad could fall asleep instantly; in a movie, in church, in a graduation ceremony, you name it, he's snored up a storm there. My mom well she's just exhausted by the end of the day. Once her head hits that off white temperpedic pillow she's asleep. Then my sister, she doesn't have any problem sleeping either. In fact in pre-school she would fall asleep on that uncomfortable hard as rock no support, pokey "carpet" during story time. Me, on the other hand, sleep has and will be a problem I battle my entire life.