Scary Times Call for Halloween

For years I have had to defend my love for halloween, even so far as to sit with a shotgun in a pumpkin patch fund raiser to keep the baptist from smashing all the pumpkins. But now more than ever we NEED Halloween. It is no longer a holiday, it is needed as a social imperative.

Halloween as we know it started with the Gaelic holiday Samhain. Samhain was the final harvest of the year and seen as the Celtic new year. It was a time to prepare for winter, which to an Earth religion would be seen as death. So Samhain was seen as the time between life and death. The dead would return, sometime to cause problems. It was for this reason the the Celts held bonfires, wore costumes, and masks to scare off/trick the evil spirits.

As Christianity spread it mixed with pagan holidays. The feast of All Saint's Day was moved to November 1st, so the night before became All Hallow's Eve. All Hallow's Eve was seen as a time to remember and reflect on those that had pasted away the previous year. It was/is a holy holiday, with the best example being the Mexican Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos.

It wasn't till the 20th century that this holiday mixed with popular culture. It is here that Halloween was "demonized" so to speak. While costumes and celebration are both part of the tradition, it wasn't till the 20th century that commercialization mixed the devil, witches, zombies, vampires, mummies, and other evil imagery into the holiday.

But what is more important to me is the personal significance.

As a child, Halloween is a time of imagination. It is a time get to add a costume to what you are already doing in your head. Plus there is the massive sugar rush! Its all harmless fun as long as a parent is involved to help control it.

As a teen, Halloween is a time to explore and be a little mischievous. You get to explore more about who you are or who you could be with very little social repercussions. It says more about you as a person about what you do on Halloween, than about the day itself.

For Adults, Halloween is a little of both of the previous. Adults get to act more like kids, with the imagination of children, the mischievousness of teens and the wisdom of adults. And that is the point of this. For one day, we get to let go of ourselves, our problems, and just get to be someone else. And in these troubling times of economic upheaval, political uncertainty, and general lameness, isn't it better to, even for just one day, forget it all and have a little fun, like kids.

Happy Halloween Everybody!

What the Hell am I Doing w/ this Blog, and general updates

It dawned on me a few weeks back that I have not updated my blog in months. So I am just wasting space on the internet. I hate waste.

The problem is I didn't have anything to say. What would I talk about? Work? Hell no! I hated my job. Love Life? The simple answer to this is what love life. TV? Movies? Art? Music? Comic books? The Weather? Politics? Celebutante?

Its true I could, would and probably should blog about all those thing; except celebutantes, dumb bitches; I really have not had much to say. And for that I am sorry. My life has just been to boring to write about anything.

I have had a few ideas about what to do with my blog. All of which I probably at some point in the future will do. The first idea was to make the blog totally fictitious. I am okay with this up to a point, but some people come here to see how I am doing. So just a tour thru my unreality probable doesn't work for them. The Second idea was to turn it into picture blog. I had planned (and still do) to get a digital camera, and do a series of mostly humours picture stories. The one most everyone knows about is "Yoda's day out". I still plan on doing that, just need time. The third idea, was to turn this into a music blog. I like this idea, ALOT! So much so I had my first series of articles are already ready. Its going to be called "Covered Up". You will have to come back to read/listen to it. I am currently just looking for the right place to host my files for it.

Of course there where some events that I could have blogged about at the time, but didn't. Well I can blog about that now.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike: I think I have blogged enough about Hurricanes, plus Ike didn't really effect me, except at the gas pump. Gustav had a little more impact. Gustav arrived on labor day, so most place where closed. Was my job? Hell No! Not only was there a Hurricane and Labor day, but we lost power, and we still couldn't close and go home. I hated that job. Other than alot of extra traffic, not alot happened here in central Mississippi.

St. Patricks Day Weekend: Anyone who knows me knows I love St. Pat's day in Jackson. Its the third largest celebration in the country of the holiday. Why did I not blog about it, post picture, etc, etc? Was it because i forgot to take the weekend off? No, I was sent out of town, by work, just for the weekend. I hated that job!

My vacation: Didn't do anything. Gas cost to much to go anywhere. So I just hung out in Jackson.

Presidential Debate: Well, I don't like talking about politics much. I just think ,like religion, it should be private. But I will give my thoughts on the debate. I know I will probably be killed for it, but I thought McCain won. The topic was foreign affairs, which is McCain's area of speciality. Now that said, I think Obama did great. He was calm, cool, even funny in places. He didn't let McCain get way with anything, even to the point that McCain lost his cool more than once. So when I say McCain won, it is like winning a boxing match by decision. You may have won, but only on a technicality.

VP Debate: Anyone who watched this and thought Palin would fall on her face, like a funny SNL skit, really doesn't understand American politics. She has been practicing everyday since the convention for that night. She come off as likeable and homie, which is what she is there for. Still Biden's experience trumped her every time. The many point of a VP debate is to support your Presidential candidate and tear the other person's candidate down. Biden did this more skillfully, because he, like McCain, is a Washington insider.

The economic crisis: You know what, we will get threw it. It may take a few years, but we will surivive. And hopefully with a valiable economic lesson, DON'T SPEND WHAT YOU DON'T HAVE! As for the Bail out, we just need to watch closely where the money goes.

hhhhmmmmm.....anything else

Love life: I seem to have discovered that I am from the "when it rains it pours" school of dating. I can never just find one woman to date, no I usually find three with in the space of a week. Even when I do the right thing, it blews up in my face. So...here is to large explosions!

TV: I don't think I watch enough to care about it. Its true my TV my be on, but I am rarely watching it.

Movies: I have not been to the movies sense my second viewing of Dark Knight. BTW, how awesome was that? Anyway, there are always movies I want to see, Choke, Nick & Norah, Eagle Eye, How to lose friends.... Plus few still coming out like, Body of Lies, RocknRolla, and Quantum of Solace.

Comics:THE GOON

Work: hhhmmmm....how do I put this.....I'm unemployeed....yeah I think that works. Eagle eyed reader will notice I have always talked about my job in the past tense. I know I am not the greatest proof reader, but those are not spelling or grammer errors. I am in fact unemployeed. That story goes like this, in June my area director called me asking to have lunch, and basically told me to start looking for a new job. And that it would be good to have one before October. So quietly, I have been looking for a new job. In September, I thought I found one. It was all agreed that I would start October 1st. So I place my two weeks notice, worked it with almost no problem. My last day at McAlister's was Sept. 28th. I was going to take two day off before starting at Basil's in Belhaven. Now understand, I feel that all my time working in a restaurant had lead me to this place. All my cooking, serving, and managing, made this the perfect type of place for me, I was looking forward to starting work and getting the place under sometype of control. Then on tuesday night, the bomb got dropped on me. They couldn't afford to hire me. I know times are tight, but they couldn't have told me that two week ago! Plus they are going to need help in the near future, alot of help. I don't see how they can't afford to bring me on. But that is all for another time, right now I just need to find a job.

So that is pretty much where I am at right now.

Oh! and I'm a registered voter now, too!