For the first 8-10 cars that arrive, there will be parking available in my driveway, Koji's driveway, and on the street.  Rather than blocking the entire neighborhood with cars on the street shoulders, we have gotten permission to use the parking lot behind my house.  The entrance for that lot is one turn east of the turn into Whitaker Valley (where I live).  You can park there and then walk around to the front of my house or to the back door, whichever you wish.  Here is a map:

If you have questions, call me at 812-987-3563 or Stef at 317-496-7984.

1. Everyone must be costumed.  No costume = no admittance.
2. Costumes cannot be made of food.
3. Costumes cannot drip fluid of any kind.
4. If you spill something, tell me or Stef right away.  We wont be mad, but we will want to clean it up ASAP.
5. Please don't trash the house, in any way, since we are trying to sell it.
6. Nate VanSell is not allowed to sing Karaoke.

I am in the process of sending out Evites today.  From what I can tell, the "view map" part of the evite doesn't work very well, so if you need directions, see below.  Please RSVP when you know whether or not you can come.  Drop me a line if you want to be a party coordinator of any kind (i.e help me out) or if you have an suggestions, requests, or comments.  If you haven't recieved an Evite, and you want to come or you think I may have left you off the list, let me know!

Directions from the North:

Get on I-65S, and take the first exit south of I-465 (Exit 103, Southport).  Turn left off of the exit and continue to the first stoplight, which is Emmerson Ave.  Turn right onto Emmerson and continue to the light at Stop 11 Rd., about 1 mile.  Turn right on Stop 11, go about 1/4 mile, then turn left into Whitaker Valley.  Make an immediate left, then another left, then I am the 3rd house on the left.

Directions from the South:

Get on I-65N and exit at County Line Rd. (Exit 101).  Turn left off of the exit and continute to the light at Emmerson Ave.  Turn right onto Emmerson and continue to the light at Stop 11 Rd., about 1 mile.  Turn left onto Stop 11, go about 1/4 mile, then turn left into Whitaker Valley.  Make an immediate left, then another left, then I am the 3rd house on the left.

Parking:

Havent really figured this one out yet.  My subdivision is next to an Elementary school and behind an office complex, so I think people should be able to park in those spots and walk to my house.  There will be limited parking along the street for early birds.  More on this later - check back for updates!

Okay, I have decided that HalloBean will indeed be held in Indianapolis.  If, by chance, I am able to sell my house before then, the closing date will be scheduled for atleast 1 week past October 31.

Which brings me to my next thought: Holy Shit, Halloween is only a month away.  Stef and I spend part opf the day yesterday getting decoration and whatnot out of storage and sorting through it all.  I finished up one of my new animatronic props and tested it on Moose the dog.  She was scared.

Last week, we put some thought into the flow of the party.  HalloBean 1.0 and 2.0 involved party games, which I think was  good thing.  During 3.0, the games got skipped because I was too intoxicated to coordinate.  I am happy to say that Halloween party games will be back for HalloBean 4.0 and JCTMH will be returning as bead coordinator.  Game winners get beads and other prizes.  At the end of the night, the person with the most beads gets a grand prize (along with the winners of best/worst costumes).  So if you come to HalloBean, be prepared to play, cause if you poop on my party, I'll kick you squa in the nuts.

Now that I am moving away from Indianapolis, I am unsure as to where I will be come October 31st.  Will I still own my house?  Will I be in Indy or New Albany?  I am determined to have HalloBean 4.0 come Hell or high water, I just need to figure out exactly how I am going to do it.  As far as I can tell, I have 2 options:

1 - Don't sell my house until November.

2 - Sell the house ASAP, have HalloBean elsewhere in Indy.

Option 1 is definately what I would rather do, HalloBean-wise, but looking at the big picture, I can see that selling my house should take priority over the party.  So assuming that I sell the house before HalloBean, what are my options in Indianapolis?  I was thinking about trying to rent out a Moose Lodge or Elks Lodge reception hall or something to that effect.  Does this sound like a good, feasable idea?  Comments, please!

So, yesterday I ordered 3 motors to be used for new HalloBean props this year.  They are replacement windshield wiper motors for Saturn L-series cars.  They have pretty high torque (due to a worm gear) and multiple speed settings.  I should be able to get between 40 and 120 RPM by varying the speed settings and voltage applied.  I haven't decided exactly what I will be using them for, but the following projects are on the maybe list:

• Axworthy Ghost
• Another Flying Crank Ghost (have to gear the RPMs down)
• Flailing arms/legs
• Bobbing bats (up and down)

I've also decided to make two more static figure PVC frames.  The new ones wont be holding weapons like the 3 I already have, they'll be "Death Monks".

I am tryign to come up with some ideas for fountians, as well.  Perhaps red water flowing over a skull into a basin, with a pump at the bottom to recirculate it back to the top.  I am looking to incorporate bubbles (via fish tank air pump) into the mix, as well as fog (I have a little ultrasonic fogger).  Haven't pieced these ideas together into a solid project yet, but I should be able to get something out of them.  Ideas?

Halloween night has won the vote for when to host HalloBean 4.0 by an overwhelming margin.  Official invites will go out sometime in September, but if you are reading this, you are invited!  Check back here for further developments.

What the heck is HalloBean?

HalloBean is what I call my Halloween party.  Here a breif history:

The first HalloBean was hosted back in 2000 in Aurora, IL (Chicago suburb).  Julie and I lived up there at the time and didn't really know many people, so we used the party as an excuse to get people to come see us.  The party went great, though it was a little crowded.  Here are some pictures.

The second HalloBean was held right here in Indianapolis in 2001.  It was in my old apartment at FountiaHead, which was plenty big.  It went equally as well, and we had more attendeed due to the fact that we knew many more people in Indianapolis than we did in Chicago.  Here are some pictures.

HalloBean 3.0 was last year at the same place.  My girlfriend Stef helped out a lot with the food, drinks, decorations, and everything else.  Because of this, 3.0 was a huge success.  It was a great time, so great in fact, that the police showed up (though it turned out to just be a rent-a-cop).  Here are some pictures.

HalloBean 4.0 is in the planning stages.  I haven't started creating any new props just yet, but will before too long.  I spend about 4 months out of the year thinking about this party... coming up with ideas for props, drinks, food, games, etc.  It is my passion.

This year, I moved into a new house.  It is much larger than any apartment I have ever lived in, so I have a lot of room to fill out - which mean a lot of work in the next few months.  Check this website for updates if you are interested in that kind of thing.  Also, if you have any HalloBean paryt suggestions, email them to me!