i've been having some food for thought moments over the past few days (i can hear you saying it now, here we go again), thinking about the differences between when i was a young buckaroo and celebrating halloween, and now some years later as a father experiencing it with my boys. since i have not celebrated halloween for over quite a few years (previously working nights) the spirit of halloween which once ran through me like the colorado river has since almost dried up much like most the rivers in az. so with a little scrooge in me, i am going to try my best to give some of my thoughts on the differences i see from now to back in the day. the main reason i am kinda down on halloween is the lack of creativity that i see expressed by this current generation. when i was a kid (i do a pic somewhere to prove it), i think i was around 9 or 10 i took and spiked my hair up with gel, wore ripped jeans with a ripped up bye bye birdie t shirt, tied some bandanna's around knee, and put pink hair dye spray on my hair, and i was a punk for halloween. now this costume i put together myself (the only thing i was unable to was purchase the hair spray so my mom did), and that was what i was then. now of days it's all goofy looking masks & costumes that look even cheaper than when i was a kid. people these days believe you have to purchase a costume from a retailer, so they can feel good about not having as many people fired and on food stamps. people used to use their imaginations & creativity to come up with some great costumes. here's another cheesy costume i did for halloween quite a while back (prior to being married to amy, just courting her), and i was joey lawrence (i was the blossom joey, not the i just got out of chemo joey) for halloween. the thought process at the time was amy would be six (blossoms best friend from the show, and amy is a spitting image of her), and i would be joey. so i cut off some sleeves on a flannel, put on some pants with holes all through the knees and elsewhere, put on some old combat boots, and did up my hair up (what hair i had), and spent the evening say "whoa". amy went as six, and all she did was purchase a hat, some flower pants, & a top all that six would have worn and we where the perfect couple at the party. see a little imagination, and a few"whoa's", and you can get costumes on the cheap. i know its hard these days to think of great ideas for costumes with life coming at you a mile minute (i have adhd, so things are going by me even faster), but to me people used to be more excited for halloween. i can remember when i was growing up there being at least one haunted house on each block, if not more, and kids used to be able to roam the streets with their parents, and go door to door (assuming the porch lite was on with no sign that read "will shoot solicitors on site, no questions asked"), and fill up the largest pillow case they had with candy. just like archie said "those where the days". i know there are still some people out there who hold on to that spirit of halloween all year round (we call them pagans), but it seems they are a dying breed (not the pagans). i am venting cause this will be the first time in a number of years that i will be able to get out there and roam the streets (if i can get amy's permission to do so) with my kids, and i would like them to have at least a glimpse of what halloween used to be for me. i want my boys to get the pillow case full of candy (so i can take the good ones from them afterwards, and leave them with candy corn, and the crappy peanut butter wraps that come in only orange and black wrappers- jk), and know what a real haunted house's are (no its not a house that young teens are pressured into going in & are then shown little plays that tells them not to engage in immoral activities, and then out of peer pressure write on a note that they have accepted jesus and all is now well (not to knock it for those of you who like it)), but the real way halloween was supposed to be celebrated and the real haunted house that made you pee your pants cause something freaked you out so badly. now i am going to leave this message with you (my 5 readers), and this is directed at the young (to slightly older) ladies, wearing next to nothing or "ho" outfits for halloween, they don't constitute a costume. i won't complain if you do, but i've seen this in full effect over the past few years since used work nights and i work right next to asu. when i would be getting off of work, the party's on mill ave right next to my work where already in full swing and i could see them for miles. even though it may seem like a good idea to wear the mini skirt w/stockings and call it a witches costume its really not a witches costume (unfortunately due to the blog being rated p.g. i cannot fully disclose a more appropriate word for those costumes. although who am i to dictate for anyone of my readers (all 5 of you) what to wear for halloween. till next time, "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat, if you don't i don't care, i'll pull down your underwear"!
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