try getting lost today

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More Halloween Please

I've always thought it strange that society has become so obsessed with defining favorites. It seems that if you can't ramble off some memorized favorite things then people decide you must not know yourself very well, or that you're "boring", but I think that's ridiculous.

There are lots of things I like, but I could never pick one favorite of anything, not because I'm boring or indecisive or unsure of myself but because I think it's really limiting to be tied down to one favorite color, one season, one book, one movie, one artist, one band, and one favorite thing to do on a Saturday. Don't you? I think that if I really thought about it, I could find something I like and don't like in everything, or things that I like equally, I could ramble off 5 favorite artists but I could never pick just one, they're all so different.

Well, that being said, if someone was to ask me what my favorite holiday was, I'd tell them I don't have a favorite anything, (which is always met with a quizzical look) and then I'd say that there are a few I like a lot, Halloween being one of them. Today just happens to be Halloween, a holiday that has always been one of my favorites. Here's why:

• Conviviality. Halloween is one of the only holidays where everyone gets together and does something, the 4th of July is another but it's not nearly as much fun because nobody ever looks too ridiculous and I'm not so interested in fireworks or national pride. Aside from that, it seems like every other holiday everyone is always cooped up inside with their families, what I'm sure is a torturous task for most people.
• Parties. Everyone either has a party or knows someone who's having party, or knows of a bar that's hosting a party, in this way, everyone has something fun to do where they'll be surrounded by people who don't look like themselves.
• Personal escapism. Halloween allows people to get in touch with their creative side, and to become someone else for a day, this is a really nice thought and I think everyone needs an escape from themselves every so often.
• Decorations. I love everything Halloween themed, everything, carved pumpkins, black cats, witches, I love love love love it and I love seeing it everywhere, decorated on lawns and in windows, in every drug and convenience store, it's wonderful. When I was little I couldn't wait for October because it meant I could go in our cabinet filled with seasonal decorations and pull out all the Halloween ones, I'd help arrange black paper kittens poking their heads out of jack-o'-lanterns, giant paper candy corn, and the silhouette of a witch flying on her broom, then spend the rest of the month admiring my work.
• Candy corn. nuff said.
• History. Go research the history of Halloween, it's fascinating.
• Memories. I can't think of a bad Halloween ever, in fact, some of my favorite memories (I say memories because I don't have a favorite memory) all happened on Halloween.
• Halloween is magic. It's true.

write write write, then write some more

Maybe I need two blogs.

Yes, maybe I do.