Month-In-Review: October

These days, my only outward nod to Halloween is in color-centric clothing.  For example, today I wore an orange sweater with black slacks to work.  I really wish there had been a pair of pumpkin or black cat earrings in the jewelry chest I’d “inherited” from my mother, but no such luck.  I haven’t put together an actual costume in ages, and I haven’t handed out candy since I crossed the threshold into adulthood.  I do spend hours enjoying those dime a dozen countdowns of great horror movie moments and cheesy slasher flicks that are only worth my time when they’re so bad they’re good.  (Last year, I watched a Halloween episode of Quantum Leap from the series I had on DVD.  It wasn’t scary, by any means, but provided a nice accent to the holiday.)  

Whether grabbing a ballerina costume off the racks or helping my mom sew a witch hat and cape, Halloween definitely had more of a build up as a kid.  I remember celebrating the holiday in elementary school with a costume parade around the playground.  It didn’t feel like a school day, then.  We weren’t students; we were ghosts, princesses, Freddy Kruegers, Michael Jacksons, pumpkins, cats, and scarecrows.  Our teachers transformed into something a little cooler with just a dab or two of white face paint and blue and red for veins and blood.  We left at the end of the day not with homework, but with candy.  

Candy is always the ultimate goal.  Children don’t care about the history of Samhain or All Soul’s Day.  The sugar coma is all that mattered.  And for parents worried about their babies suffering from something worse, like poison or razor blade, they console themselves with snagging the choice treats in the name of safety.  

My dentist and my waistline insist that candy must no longer wield such influence over my 32 year-old self.  I suppose the butter-drenched popcorn on my lap while I watch a bloody good time of a horror movie will have to be the appropriate alternative.  

As for the rest of October:

• Five job applications.
• Weight gained in a sure sign of winter's approach.  I must pack on the pounds to stay warmer.  Yeah, that's it.
• My Henry (kitty cat) was diagnosed with FIV, but it's super manageable and he's been aces since the vet.  I'll make sure he stays that way.

 "The veil is getting thin my friends,

And strange things will pass through." 

Kind of gives you chills, doesn't it?