Pardon the BloggEruption

Happy Friggin' Halloween

I've never really been a fan of this so-called "holiday," but I'm certainly not one of the religious anti-Halloween crowd. (For more fun, scroll down and check out the kind of "treats" they give kids! Fun for the whole God-fearing family! Check the box at the end and ensure eternal salvation!)

Yes, I know, I'm touching on two of the three deadly subjects today, but again, it's my blog. Political stuff is always fair game here. Religion, well, that might come up occasionally. With much mocking of people like that. Actually, notice how much those pamphlets resemble Democratic literature and propaganda on Social Security, Medicare, school lunches, education, and the all-important free prescription drugs for people who've lived X number of years. Damn, I resent that notion.

At any rate, after I turned, oh, 10 or so, the whole idea seemed a little silly, dressing up and going door to door asking for candy. I never really wanted for candy, and most of the time when I went trick-or-treating I got a bunch of crap like bubble gum or Hershey's dark chocolate. Dad would steal all the Butterfingers and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. What was left generally amounted to about $3.00 worth of stuff I could have bought at the drugstore, and I think I figured this out pretty quickly. The reward wasn't worth the investment. Couple that with an aversion to makeup (I already had to wear the crap for choir and musicals, and that's not fun when you're 10) and a lack of interest in "scary stuff," and Halloween never really caught my interest.

Our home was, back then, in something of an undeveloped area, with very few other children around. It's different now, with several young families near us, so it will be interesting to see how the number of folks who come to our door this year compares with my memory from 1996, my last Halloween here. More than 10 groups would be a marked improvement.

The last time I "dressed up" for Halloween was in 1993. Sorry to say, I had to. It was a grade in my theater arts class. So I dressed up as a geek. (Yeah, yeah, "big stretch," I know. Stop laughing, Amie. You, too, Carey.) Needless to say, I did not go trick-or-treating that year. I did have two pretty good costumes in the past, though. When we were living in our first house, Mom sewed a shark costume for me. This was one hell of a get-up, let me tell you. She was promptly rewarded for her efforts by watching me get ill that night and only make it to the house across the street. I was required to wear it the next year, too. I won a prize for my 6th grade costume (last time I went t-o-t'ing) when I dressed up as a bum. This somehow included my Dad purchasing an actual cigar, clipping it, burning it a bit, and shoving it in my mouth as I made my way out the door. First time I ever "smoked." Definitely the last. I don't know how you smokers do it with cigars, let alone cigarettes ... man, that was vile.

So anyway, that's my general thought on this day. My 15-year old sister continues to dress up and go t-o-t'ing with her friends, much to my dismay. My younger brother gave it up soon after I did, and I think he's going to a party tomorrow with our German exchange student. Halloween's not a big thing in Germany, apparently. Charly only knew of "the thing with the pumpkin." I should have tried to talk up the Great Pumpkin, but I doubt it would have lasted long. Ahh, well ...