On Monday, I went to a four-ward Halloween party. I wore the old Fred Flintstone costume we have, but I also took my brother's old stuffed woolly mammoth, and that seemed to be what people liked most. At this party, I bobbed for apples for the very first time. At first, I thought of the germ factor--but then I remembered my swimming class last fall, and I figured bobbing for apples is more sanitary than swimming, so I went ahead with it. They were keeping track of how fast people did it, and when I grabbed my apple, I was the fastest one up to that point, but others later blew me out of the water (no pun intended). I think the bobbing tradition is dying, but I'm glad to see it still exists.
On Tuesday, I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, which has been a Halloween/Christmas staple since I was six years old. I have literally seen it at least fifty times, and yet I always notice new things. Here are some things that were new to me this time around:
- Lock has a devil tail that actually moves around, as though it's part of him and not a costume.
- I've always noticed Mrs. Claus moving around with a pie in the kitchen, but this time I realized she was packing Santa's lunchbox.
- A rat-like monster lives in a little dwelling near the automatic gate in Halloween Town.
- Oogie Boogie's lair is surrounded by basalt columns, and there are skeletons up high near his ceiling.
- There is a dragon or dinosaur skeleton on a wall outside of Jack's house.
On Thursday, when I was done with work, my car wouldn't start. It would turn the lights and things on, but it wouldn't turn over. Once in April it did that, but a few minutes later it worked, so I waited a few minutes and started it again. But it still didn't work. So I called my parents, and they came and jumped it, but it still didn't work. So we had to leave my car in the parking lot.
The next day, Halloween, I drove my mom's car to work, and my mom drove my dad's car, and my dad drove the car that belongs to us but used to belong to my sister. My mom was going to take care of getting my car towed on her way back from work. So I met her in the parking lot. She decided she would try to get the car started--and it worked! Not wanting to turn it off again, in case it didn't work again, she drove my car home, leaving my dad's in the parking lot. Confused yet?
I wore a Halloween tie and orange belt and skull socks to work. While I was working in Adobe InDesign, I was listening to an audiobook of Dracula. (When I started it a few weeks ago, I was hoping I would be able to finish it in the Halloween season, but nope.) As I came out of work and it was cloudy but warm, and I had just heard the Dracula story, it really felt like Halloween. I drove home in my mom's car, and when I got home, I decided I wanted to go running, since it would be my last chance for an evening run, with Daylight Savings Time ending. I think it was the first time I've ever gone running on Halloween. I put on my jack-o-lantern running shirt, and went on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, with the evening clouds and wind blowing. I had the trail all to myself, except for one cyclist coming the opposite direction. I literally had to put my arms out because it was so Halloweenishly glorious, and I loved standing in the wind and looking out over the Salt Lake Valley in Halloween twilight.
I drove home from the trailhead while singing along with the theme from Mad Monster Party?, with house windows reflecting a salmon-colored sunset and trick-or-treaters all over the place. It was a weirdly splendid experience. I was a little surprised with how light it was when the trick-or-treaters started. I imagined myself as an old geezer, saying, "In my day, we always waited until it was dark to go trick-or-treating." In my day, DST ended a week earlier. (If Utah gets rid of DST, then we will once again have dark trick-or-treating. Except that one option I hear is to put us on permanent DST, which would be idiotic. For one thing, it would always be dark when kids are going to school. For another, that would put us on permanent DST, Arizona on permanent Standard Time, and all the surrounding states changing every November and March. I would love to get rid of the time change, but only if we do the same thing Arizona is doing.)
The disappointing part of Halloween was having to run around doing tasks. First, I was sent to go buy candy, since we didn't have much. I had seen one group of trick-or-treaters just around the corner that would have decimated our supply. But it turns out I didn't need to buy candy, because we only had one group of four trick-or-treaters the entire night. Fortunately, I bought candy that can be used for Thanksgiving. After buying candy, my dad and I had to go get his car from my parking lot.
That evening, we went and visited my grandparents and then got pumpkin shakes.
Today, as I look out at the overcast sky, with the trees partly bare with orange and red leaves, I'm so glad it's my favorite month. At work this week, the Intranet website for employees did a little introductory bio about me. It included that I listen to Thanksgiving music, and some of the comments were intrigued by Thanksgiving music. My Thanksgiving playlist is currently up to 73 songs, and they make me feel so wonderful.
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