We didn't celebrate Halloween in my house growing up.
We celebrated All-Saints Day.
On Halloween night we would go down in our basement with another family or two that didn't celebrate Halloween. We would learn about the pagan druids carving out turnips and putting a candle inside - which is how we got Jack-o-Lanterns. They would swing the turnip around while wearing disfiguring costumes to ward off evil spirits - which is why we dress up. Instead of going trick-or-treating my mom would buy each of us our favorite bag of candy.
It wasn't until freshman year of college that I ever had the opportunity to dress up for a "Halloween party". It was awkward. I didn't enjoy it. After years of waiting to go to a Halloween party and dress up - I was substantially disappointed. I suppose I expected it to be something special, something more, something better than just your typical costume party, but it wasn't. It was just a bunch of people in stupid looking clothes talking about the same stupid things and doing the same routine things.
It isn't that I am bitter against Halloween. I've gone to other Halloween events since then, but they all were fairly similar experiences. I'm not trying to be a downer, but I just find little inspiration from this holiday and find it hard to understand why it is anyone's favorite.
Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sign of the Times
It is here.
It has officially come.
It is fall because I had to wear gloves and a scarf when I rode my bike to school today.
Hello sweaters and bowls of delicious warm soup! Hmmmm I love autumn.
It has officially come.
It is fall because I had to wear gloves and a scarf when I rode my bike to school today.
Hello sweaters and bowls of delicious warm soup! Hmmmm I love autumn.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Never Never Land
I've been feeling particularly grown-up-ish lately.
Between disputing utilities bills with the utility company, comparing graduate schools, and job searching I have very much felt like a big bad adult. I haven't minded it much, but it is an odd feeling. There is something to be said for being a "grown-up" person, but there is a bittersweetness to leaving your childhood for good.
Perhaps the fact that I went back home for fall break this weekend that I have the sensation of limbo. While I pay for everything on my own, when I go home I still feel very much a child. In many ways I suppose I would equate my experience with a child playing dress-up in her mother's clothes. It doesn't fit quite yet, but it will someday.
Welcome to "adult adolescence".
Between disputing utilities bills with the utility company, comparing graduate schools, and job searching I have very much felt like a big bad adult. I haven't minded it much, but it is an odd feeling. There is something to be said for being a "grown-up" person, but there is a bittersweetness to leaving your childhood for good.
Perhaps the fact that I went back home for fall break this weekend that I have the sensation of limbo. While I pay for everything on my own, when I go home I still feel very much a child. In many ways I suppose I would equate my experience with a child playing dress-up in her mother's clothes. It doesn't fit quite yet, but it will someday.
Welcome to "adult adolescence".
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Details in the Fabric
I'm not going to lie - it has been a strange week.
When I say strange I don't mean it in a bad way. I mean it much more in a kind of when you look back at it, there were/are a lot of thing that don't happen routinely that happened. I put in my two weeks notice at the tea room and also started training at Back Yard Burger. Those are two things that don't normally happen in my week, but more substantially I have been dealing with the strange concept of aging and dying a lot more than normal it seems.
I reconnected with a friend from swing dancing back in high school on facebook the other day only to find that she has been fighting blood/bone marrow cancer for the past year and has been hospital bound for a good chunk of the past year. She is my age. Two of my best friends from childhood got engaged. They are younger than I. That man of mine's grandmother was put in intensive care today for dehydration and fever. My only remaining grandparent had surgery this week and is recovering.
These are not things that happen in a routine. These things are abnormalities, glitches in the matrix, yet they happen so frequently that perhaps my routine is the glitch. Maybe the things I am viewing as extraordinary are really the things that are quite ordinary indeed. Or perhaps I need to rethink even my routine as extraordinary and special since, honestly, it all could be over so quickly.
It is just that sometimes, I really hope that the grandparents that never got to see me grow up to who I am now would be proud of me. I also really hope that they would like that man of mine. Is that silly of me?
update: Matt's grandma passed away this morning (Sunday) around 11:45. Prayers would be appreciated.
When I say strange I don't mean it in a bad way. I mean it much more in a kind of when you look back at it, there were/are a lot of thing that don't happen routinely that happened. I put in my two weeks notice at the tea room and also started training at Back Yard Burger. Those are two things that don't normally happen in my week, but more substantially I have been dealing with the strange concept of aging and dying a lot more than normal it seems.
I reconnected with a friend from swing dancing back in high school on facebook the other day only to find that she has been fighting blood/bone marrow cancer for the past year and has been hospital bound for a good chunk of the past year. She is my age. Two of my best friends from childhood got engaged. They are younger than I. That man of mine's grandmother was put in intensive care today for dehydration and fever. My only remaining grandparent had surgery this week and is recovering.
These are not things that happen in a routine. These things are abnormalities, glitches in the matrix, yet they happen so frequently that perhaps my routine is the glitch. Maybe the things I am viewing as extraordinary are really the things that are quite ordinary indeed. Or perhaps I need to rethink even my routine as extraordinary and special since, honestly, it all could be over so quickly.
It is just that sometimes, I really hope that the grandparents that never got to see me grow up to who I am now would be proud of me. I also really hope that they would like that man of mine. Is that silly of me?
update: Matt's grandma passed away this morning (Sunday) around 11:45. Prayers would be appreciated.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
I don't feel like typing 5000 words.
So in the past week or so since I plopped down and enjoyed a good blogg-ing - there have been some changes of note in my small apartment-dwelling-life.
But firstly, much delayed hair pictures:
This is my hair right after I cut the fake part of my braids off so that it was only my natural length.
This is me in full lion-style! RAWR! Five hours of un-braiding while watching an unprecedented amount of Smallville. Now it is hard to not look good when your hair is so big!
Now this is me now. So boring with normal hair. Well. Normal texture anyway. The red is not so much the real.
Now since I have updated the world on the ever changing coif of me I thought that I would make a sort of "baby" announcement. As of Saturday I became the proud mommy of a little baby hamster. Her name is Hercules and she is adorable!
There are going to be several adventure and stories about this lovely creature I am sure. Oh I am sure. However, now I am fairly certain that it is time for Hercules and I to have cuddle-and-have-ball-rolling-around-the-apartment time. Oh it our favorite time of day!
But firstly, much delayed hair pictures:
This is my hair right after I cut the fake part of my braids off so that it was only my natural length.
This is me in full lion-style! RAWR! Five hours of un-braiding while watching an unprecedented amount of Smallville. Now it is hard to not look good when your hair is so big!
Now this is me now. So boring with normal hair. Well. Normal texture anyway. The red is not so much the real.Now since I have updated the world on the ever changing coif of me I thought that I would make a sort of "baby" announcement. As of Saturday I became the proud mommy of a little baby hamster. Her name is Hercules and she is adorable!
There are going to be several adventure and stories about this lovely creature I am sure. Oh I am sure. However, now I am fairly certain that it is time for Hercules and I to have cuddle-and-have-ball-rolling-around-the-apartment time. Oh it our favorite time of day!
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