Hail Halloween!
I get lots of ideas. While they may not always be more suited to writing, they are destined to be earmarked for action. Action is truly the spice of our life and, while it may not always seem feasable, it suits us far better than any writing ever could.
Halloween has been a time-honored tradition for revelry for me. Each passing year, I've expressed myself out loud with all other kids. Going door-to-door was not the point of the tradition but it helped. Each year, I seemed stuck on this tradition. Each year, my expression became louder, more pronounced and far more prolonged.
Every year after I became "too old" for the door-to-door routine, my friends and I would take a month's worth of allowances and money unspent from odd jobs and, if any of them were like me, they actually had a job, and we'd raid anyplace that had our Halloween favorites.
Halloween is the season for horror, suspense and terror. We'd watch cheesy slasher films, Freddy, Jason, Dracula movies of any and all varieties before any of us were old enough to really appreciate what kind of art form they were, marking eras in Hollywood as the times passed. We'd watch suspense thrillers with the monsters portrayed as human but certainly not. We'd become vegetarian after repeated viewings of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. This came, of course, after we would terrorize our repsective neighborhoods.
The local police could never catch us. By the time they were out of their comfy units we had split up into different directions and, if one of us was pursued, we were freaky enough to blend into some of the crowds of people that decided to freak out in costuming for one night. We would rendezvous at designated locations to have a smoke, maybe a drink or two that we managed to sneak. Plenty in the way of junkfood, music and movies all designed to rot our brains awaited us. Back then, we didn't appreciate Romero's work on the zombie films. Zombies were boring, Jason Voorhees was a beast and Freddy Kreuger had personality. We were forever debating who would win in a match between the two. None of us ever dreamed they'd make a movie about it.
We had fun and a few near-misses but we managed to come out of the shit smelling like roses...or Marlboros. Yes, these were the times when the only thing that was complicated was getting a pack or two before the festivities began.
Later on, after my friends had moved out of town and I'd acquired more that I didn't necessarily see as "friends" but more as acquaintances. Halloween festivities still concerned horror movies and consuming junk in vast quantities but also just losing our minds. We found ourselves resorting to extreme behavior. By then, I was conducting ceremonies and rituals in darkened rooms alone in the term pagans call "skyclad"...it's the only way to fly. I'd found, through meditation, that I could achieve any altered state that drugs could do but I could still keep my senses about me. I found, during these strange times, my entire life had taken a turn for the weird. Going into detail of these great and terribly strange times could take up volumes and time you don't have to spend. I will say that those strange times continue...even to this very day.
The attendance at the parties dwindled, though. Some never grew out of their addictions and that left me with choices I found myself having to make. I simply chose not to watch anyone else destroy themselves.
It didn't take long before I figured out that no one would be coming to the annual Halloween bash. For three years, All Hallows Eve seems sort of different. I haven't done my ceremonies, no door-to-door, not even costuming since 2004 when I made myself up for the last time.
2005 had come with a new idea. I had the clothing for it and the right props. I was going to go door-to-door again and not for candy. No, I was going to be The Satanic Bible Salesman. I would go door-to-door in my spoofing of tradition and say, "Have you fooouuuunnnnd our Lord And Master, Satan?" The idea was cancelled by two things. First, a nasty case of an upper respiratory infection. The joke wouldn't work unless I could speak or walk without hacking up a lung and the second thing, it was a popular consensus among my friends that I'd probably end up dodging the blasts of shotguns even in residential districts. Ok, definitely not one of my best ideas. Might work in a bigger city but not here. What I have to wonder is why the oddly-timed upper respiratory? Did I piss a larger force off?
2006 came with the inmate costume. No case of upper respiratory this time. I decided that it would look a tad too real and rather than spend time in jail until they determined whether or not I was actually just a costumed man walking about, I decided to pack it away. It might be of some use later on. In time, anything I get finds a use...even if it is one time, it still finds a use. Still, walking around, looking like a normie while the rest looked at me incensed that I didn't join them proved to be an altogether new and unique experience. I watched the kids in costume running back and forth, listening to some of the songs I used to listen to with my friends way back when. I even walked through my old neighborhood and took in the sights and sounds that were familiar to me. I can't count the many Jack Sparrow costumes I'd seen.
So here's to The Tradition of All Hallow's Eve. Another has passed and we wait for the next.
I guess you could say that it never got weird enough for me
Halloween has been a time-honored tradition for revelry for me. Each passing year, I've expressed myself out loud with all other kids. Going door-to-door was not the point of the tradition but it helped. Each year, I seemed stuck on this tradition. Each year, my expression became louder, more pronounced and far more prolonged.
Every year after I became "too old" for the door-to-door routine, my friends and I would take a month's worth of allowances and money unspent from odd jobs and, if any of them were like me, they actually had a job, and we'd raid anyplace that had our Halloween favorites.
Halloween is the season for horror, suspense and terror. We'd watch cheesy slasher films, Freddy, Jason, Dracula movies of any and all varieties before any of us were old enough to really appreciate what kind of art form they were, marking eras in Hollywood as the times passed. We'd watch suspense thrillers with the monsters portrayed as human but certainly not. We'd become vegetarian after repeated viewings of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. This came, of course, after we would terrorize our repsective neighborhoods.
The local police could never catch us. By the time they were out of their comfy units we had split up into different directions and, if one of us was pursued, we were freaky enough to blend into some of the crowds of people that decided to freak out in costuming for one night. We would rendezvous at designated locations to have a smoke, maybe a drink or two that we managed to sneak. Plenty in the way of junkfood, music and movies all designed to rot our brains awaited us. Back then, we didn't appreciate Romero's work on the zombie films. Zombies were boring, Jason Voorhees was a beast and Freddy Kreuger had personality. We were forever debating who would win in a match between the two. None of us ever dreamed they'd make a movie about it.
We had fun and a few near-misses but we managed to come out of the shit smelling like roses...or Marlboros. Yes, these were the times when the only thing that was complicated was getting a pack or two before the festivities began.
Later on, after my friends had moved out of town and I'd acquired more that I didn't necessarily see as "friends" but more as acquaintances. Halloween festivities still concerned horror movies and consuming junk in vast quantities but also just losing our minds. We found ourselves resorting to extreme behavior. By then, I was conducting ceremonies and rituals in darkened rooms alone in the term pagans call "skyclad"...it's the only way to fly. I'd found, through meditation, that I could achieve any altered state that drugs could do but I could still keep my senses about me. I found, during these strange times, my entire life had taken a turn for the weird. Going into detail of these great and terribly strange times could take up volumes and time you don't have to spend. I will say that those strange times continue...even to this very day.
The attendance at the parties dwindled, though. Some never grew out of their addictions and that left me with choices I found myself having to make. I simply chose not to watch anyone else destroy themselves.
It didn't take long before I figured out that no one would be coming to the annual Halloween bash. For three years, All Hallows Eve seems sort of different. I haven't done my ceremonies, no door-to-door, not even costuming since 2004 when I made myself up for the last time.
2005 had come with a new idea. I had the clothing for it and the right props. I was going to go door-to-door again and not for candy. No, I was going to be The Satanic Bible Salesman. I would go door-to-door in my spoofing of tradition and say, "Have you fooouuuunnnnd our Lord And Master, Satan?" The idea was cancelled by two things. First, a nasty case of an upper respiratory infection. The joke wouldn't work unless I could speak or walk without hacking up a lung and the second thing, it was a popular consensus among my friends that I'd probably end up dodging the blasts of shotguns even in residential districts. Ok, definitely not one of my best ideas. Might work in a bigger city but not here. What I have to wonder is why the oddly-timed upper respiratory? Did I piss a larger force off?
2006 came with the inmate costume. No case of upper respiratory this time. I decided that it would look a tad too real and rather than spend time in jail until they determined whether or not I was actually just a costumed man walking about, I decided to pack it away. It might be of some use later on. In time, anything I get finds a use...even if it is one time, it still finds a use. Still, walking around, looking like a normie while the rest looked at me incensed that I didn't join them proved to be an altogether new and unique experience. I watched the kids in costume running back and forth, listening to some of the songs I used to listen to with my friends way back when. I even walked through my old neighborhood and took in the sights and sounds that were familiar to me. I can't count the many Jack Sparrow costumes I'd seen.
So here's to The Tradition of All Hallow's Eve. Another has passed and we wait for the next.
I guess you could say that it never got weird enough for me
posted by Lord Genocyde at 7:02 PM
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