all hallows eve

lileks is not yet in the spirit:

The long orange smear of Halloween, spread over the entirety of October, diminishes the pleasures of giving in to the Halloween behind the Halloween. By which I mean:

The “holiday” concerns two things, besides candy. One: gruesome imagery understood to be jokey and powerless, and a peculiar negatively-defined affirmation of life, inasmuch as you’re not dead, and even the dead isn’t dead. Two: dressing up to be something you’re not, but professes to others an alternative facet to your personality that reflects your actual self. That’s the surface. It’s all a lark, a game, an aria in a graveyard. I don’t have any Other Self I’d like to be – although, now that I think of it, I have my father’s old blue suit . . . add a mask, a red tie, and I’m The Spirit. But who would know I was The Spirit? Oh, you’re that guy in the bad movie. Why? Argh. So I usually wear a mask I get at Walgreens and that’s it. Maybe I should just go as a killjob. I am KILLJOY! SLAYER OF PARTY CONVENTIONS!

trick or treating is not a big deal in our neighborhood, but each year i have a costume idea that i know i'd never actually use. it would consist of:

• plaid polyester shorts
• a sweaty hanes tanktop
• a thin ancient brown leather belt
• a grease-darkened northrup-king gimme hat
• at least five days of beard stubble
• old smushed flip-flip sandals
• nylon navy socks
• a tv remote in one hand and a stack of overdue bills in the other

then i'd stand on the lawn and yell "ooooooohh scaaaaaarrrrrry, i'm yoooooou in forty yearrrrrss!!!!"

:D