Age is Just a Number

Ghoulish Thoughts on Halloween

 


I don’t like Halloween much.   No, it’s not about some pious religious bent (should it be??).   The attitude came to fruition this morning when in the “now or never” mode, obligating me to stop at the store to buy candy.   On my way to work, having already run one errand, it was apparent that if I didn’t get it now, I’d be waiting in line this afternoon for a dreadfully long time to buy it, or I’d be making 8 stops tomorrow to get what’s left.   I am already grumpy that I have to fit buying candy for complete strangers into my schedule and budget.

I was trying to think, really, what the foundational attitude is, rather than this reactionary daybeforeHalloween attitude.   It might have something to do with not liking the idea of training your kids to dress up and beg for candy from people they don’t know.   And shall we enter the back alley where teens think dressing up as a sexy kitten on Halloween will get them more candy?   I think not….

What it seems to come down to has to do with, yet again, being a part of a split family.   For some reason, someone decided that Halloween was another one of those ghastly split holidays – an “overnight” to be legally accounted for and rotated between years at mom’s or dad’s.   I have been conditioned to dread holidays and that’s a sour piece of candy to swallow.   Waiting for or planning a holiday around the “10 o’clock a.m.” pick up or drop off is horrid.  Often The Mother would try (will still try?) to extend her time by requesting an extra hour, or yet another, so that by the time the kids arrive to our house they're filled up on their Thanksgiving or Christmas meal and my hard work and sweat in the kitchen is for naught when setting out the turkey dinner to groans and grumbles – all while we delayed waiting for them to be “done” at their mother’s house hours past our pick up time.   And, frequently when there is a birthday party or other such event on “our” day The Mother does not prepare the child for an event on “our time” - so imagine picking up the child, learning they have a birthday party, rushing to Target to get and wrap a gift and haul them off to said party – what a nightmarish way to spend time with your kid.   As for Halloween, how creepy is that to not see the kid for over a week, and then have to prepare an outfit for them to trick-or-treat in so that when they get to your house they can have the whole childhood experience of begging for candy in a grim costume?

So, last year we forewent the Halloween Trade-Off Holiday - I hope we’ve buried that ritual.   This is not our year for Thanksgiving, but Christmas is coming.   When’s the last time your kid said “Thanks, but no thanks” to a Christmas gift?   Yep, we’ve been there:  a ski trip with the family.   Rumor had it that new car shopping with The Mother was a better deal.   

So I got 3 bags of candy, waited in line for 5 minutes, and I’ll let John answer the doorbell.   I’ll keep the werewolves on leashes in the background.

Pep Rallys and Pom Poms

High School was just painful.   There's just no other description for it.   I was painfully lacking in self esteem and self worth, painfully aware of not being good enough, painfully intimidated by people, events and contests ... particularly the contests involving people in that age-old arena:  Popularity.   I was a B+ student without doing homework , minded my own business, tried not to screw up and tried not to make anybody mad and hoped everyone would like me.   I probably subconsciously didn't get A's so's not to draw attention to myself.

I had one thing going for me;  I was "good in Art".   That didn't help my self esteem problem, or give me courage when I had to walk past "The Wall".   The Wall was a retaining wall strategically placed at the front of the school next to the parking lot, so if you didn't make a really obvious dash to go around, you had to walk past The Wall.   This is where all the popular kids gathered for the daily a.m. social party.   For the rest of us it was a gauntlet; a march through high school hell where every fear rose painfully to the surface - are my clothes right?  Are my pimples showing?  Is my hair okay?  Have my glasses magically changed into cool spectacles?   Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip - get up the steps without tripping and just get to your locker.   It didn't help when my dad bought me my first car:  a White 1966 Valiant  Station Wagon with push button transmission and slant six engine for $300.   I had to arrive in this thing, in front of the wall.  In searching for a picture, I was certain it had more fins at the time.  I was surely Not Cool.

Some painful reminiscings might include when the football coach, who was very expressive with his hands, knocked me square between the eyes with his class ring leaving me with something that looked like a giant pimple upon entering the gym for a pep rally, or when, amazingly, a popular guy noticed me and took me out on a date and I got a cold - picture kleenex and blowing my nose, talking weird and looking horrible.  He didn't pursue another date...thankfully.   Or how about when I was changing in the girl's locker room and another popular guy was shoved down the stairs to catch me in my skivvies.  I never, ever tripped arriving to, passing by or going up the stairs by The Wall - there is some mercy.

Which brings me to what I originally planned to write about.   Have Blogs become another form of The Wall - a popularity contest?   While out and about this a.m. catching up on other blogs and reading comments I stumbled across the equivalent of a giant pimple.  This comment read something like ... I've read other XYZ blogs, but yours is the best.   Ouch.   I didn't realize there was a bottom or top of the heap; a contest.   Naturally, as noted by the content of this post, I found myself thrust back into H.S. Land and wondered if I am not as popular - or popular at all - or maybe not as clever, or not as good as other blogs - Gosh, is that why I don't get dozens of complimentary and gratifying comments for each post I do?  Maybe everyone is sitting on The Wall chortling quietly or laughing out loud to my Blog?   It's - almost - painful all over again.  If I get a cold write a boring Post, will I be rejected and not asked out set aside and deleted forever?

You don't have to comment, really - not for my self esteem - just count your lucky class rings you didn't drive a 1966 Valiant Station Wagon to high school  in 1978 in a dusty cowtown in Arizona.

TV in Saipan

Sometimes things are a bit different on The Island...

This is one of those Big Screen TV's where a Gecko found it's way Inside for a little screen time.

Boredom Solution

 
Sitting at your desk?   Bored?   That's why you've wandered off to read mediocre blogs?

Go here and try this:  move your mouse up and down, or back and forth.   That ought eat up a few more minutes before the 5 o' clock bell ...

Today's Chuckle

 

My Gut Tells Me

Start buying your dark chocolate off the shelves now!   The farmers in Ivory Coast have gone on strike!  No Cocoa exports!   Prices have already gone up 1.3% in New York. 
It’s a calamity!   A tragedy!


Speaking of Health Food....

NPR carried a commentary about Orthorexia.   Ohmygosh, do I have this disease?   I think not, or else I’d be spending a lot more time and money in Wild Oats and Whole Foods.  It’s a funny thing about Health Food Stores.   While you can shop to your heart’s content for anything natural, organic, whole and unprocessed, you can get tricked into paying premium prices for a bag of chips.   There are just about as many selections of chips down that chip aisle at Wild Oats as there are at Safeway.  Cold Pressed oils or not, I don’t think chips are very good for you.  Now, don’t misjudge me – I love chips, especially those handy one serving 32 oz. size bags – particularly the big orange triangles that start with a D.   You can even get a gallon of organic chocolate milk sweetened with cane sugar!   Oh goody, I can feel good about drinking right out of the bottle!  And how about the "natural" Ramen type noodles – check out the sodium content…not much different than the 8 for a Buck specials at King Soopers.   Cereals?   Just as much sugar...Frozen Food Section?   Stock up on Natural frozen dinners for a Natural home cooked taste.  And don’t forget those chocolate bars - at least 1.3% higher priced now.  Oh, oh and here's a good jokes-on-you....Natural Spring Water - from where - The Clampett's?

So, Health Food or not?   This is where I recycle my two part fundamental MO:   If God makes it and supplies it, that’s GOOD, and the more man messes with it, then it's gonna be BAD (like, say, Spam...or Bologna).   Part two:   I shop the outer ring.   A nutritionist taught me that when I was 18.

So I chuckle when I watch people duplicate their traditional supermarket shopping list at a Health Food Store thinking they are doing something different, special and trendy:   Natural Cookies, Organic Ice Cream, Unrefined Chips, and a bottle of Jed's Water and Vitamins for good measure.  I get a bigger kick out the "Deli" section where you can pay about $64 a pound for premade tofu casserole,  hot and ready to take home.   Don't forget the "fresh" Chocolate Torte.   How is that Health Food?   Who's kiddin' who?



An Apple A Day..... Say, didn't God make The Apple?

Four Years Ago Today...

Dad moved on.   While awake sometime in the wee hours this morning I was remembering him during my last visit.   In his stroke induced state of mind he vascillated from being a vulnerable boy to a tormented man who saw too much in WWII - both with fear on his face.   Dad did not appear to have Peace in his heart.   That makes me sad.

As a child he was whisked away by authorities and plunked into an orphanage.   Later, he was 'obtained' by a foster family who needed a hand on their farm.   He eventually ran away, hopped trains, found work, rode a Harley, then enlisted in the Army.   During the European campaign he was injured and sent home to maybe live or maybe die.  However, he married my mom to whom he was previously engaged, and he weighed all of  100 lbs.   So he lived his life, raised us kids, did his best and shared and passed on his talents - half the traits, characteristics, mannerisms and dyfunctions that I have!

My sister has been going through the "war letters" that he and my mom wrote, as well as his diary.   It's interesting that he saw Mt. Vesuvius erupt in Italy, but couldn't tell my mom these things.   Recently my sister also found him in the census records while he was on the farm.   He is recorded initially as an "Orphan", which is crossed out and it's hard to tell what is written over it.

Family stuff - it's painful and it's interesting.   We're all afflicted.

'Tis the Season

Some folks get into this stuff.   Some "items" were moving, but I couldn't identify them.   All that's missing is the Ghost Globe.   And she was still working on it ....

House Band-Aid

Yep,  Duct Tape and Plastic. 

Home Improvement

Yesterday was a fine day.   I got to use not one (table saw), not two (sliding, compound miter saw...R R  Rrrr), but three (jigsaw) power tools, an extension cord, tape measure and a ladder! I even got to touch the drill.   Pencils don't count.

It appears that the fabulous paint job on the house is even worse than our imagination and previous inspection.   Now, we've discovered that not only is the paint on the trim at the bottom of second story windows completely absent, but it has Rotted...behind and underneath the trim.   This poses a whole new threat.   First, a whole different tune of repairs, but, second, what's supporting the window? - we're talking a 4 by 7 foot window here.

Powertool lady to the rescue.    John chipped out the rotted stuff (not too hard to do at this point) and I made a custom piece to fit into and underneath the window to sort of replace the now rotted and chipped out wood.   However, it got dark, we didn't finish getting trim back on and painted, and sealed, and snow's a coming.   I am picturing duct tape and plastic in a tent-like fashion for our neighbors to point at...

But, Hey it was fun....  R   R  Rrrrrr.....