Halloween is one of my all-time favorite holidays and for me, Halloween is the whole month of October.
That comes in handy because Halloween is on a Tuesday this month, and that’s my busiest day of the week. All of the Lode Editors do layout on Tuesdays, so I usually don’t leave campus until around seven. Furthermore, my wife takes a closing shift at her work so that she’s not home alone all evening. Indeed, this is the first Halloween in living memory that I don’t plan on dressing up (though if I exchange my necktie for a cravat, ditch my spectacles and straighten my hair I have an instant Professor Snape).
While it may seem that my 22nd Halloween has been stolen from me by responsibility, the most that we can do is improvise. For example, my wife works at a restaurant and bar, so I have introduced a new drink: The Brain Hemorrhage, made with Bailey’s, Peach Schnapps and Grenadine. If you have as much experience with alcohol as I do, you know that Schnapps curdles the cream instantly. Give this a stir and add the grenadine and you’ve got a shot of bloodied brains that will start your holiday buzz in true horrorshow style.
My wife and I still plan on processing pumpkins this year. That means making a jack o’lantern, roasting and salting the seeds, wringing out the stringy insides for pumpkin juice and using the meat of the pumpkin for pies and breads. While not festive or tasty, the outer skin of the pumpkin fertilizes the plants. The jack o’lantern will likely go to my parents’ house, as we do not want to leave one out when we will not be giving out candy. We are also unlikely to receive much candy but I haven’t got much of a sweet-tooth anyway.
Halloween is also the only month when I get to watch creepy movies. Any time that I want to watch “The Exorcist” or “Constantine” my wife suggests that we save them for “Spooky-Month,” making the whole of October a great time for cinema.
There is no doubt that this Halloween will be unlike any that I have yet experienced, I’m sure that with a few changes to routine it will be just as pleasurable. Indeed the best way to enjoy life is not to continually seek out the most enjoyable experience, but to seek the ways to enjoy most the experience that you are having.
