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Tag Archive: Halloween

I’m going as myself

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Sun. October 31, 2010

You, I’ve never really been one to participate in this whole Halloween thing. This is totally a day where I will intentionally be all “humbug” and just want to have everyone disappear. I’ve been like this since I was young. If I really think about it, I can only think of three times when I donned a costume. More often than not I was at home, probably at home helping my parents dish out candy to everyone else. Yeah, I was that guy. Dressing up was just never really was important. It wasn’t a religious thing or anything. I just…don’t think my parents say it as something worthwhile. So they never bothered trying to take me out around the neighbourhood to participate in the festivities. I did go out one time with a buddy, so I got my fill. From that experience, I decided that it was just more trouble than it was worth. Hell, if I desperately want candy, I’ll just go buy it. Pfft. Fast forward to today where dressing up is just not something I do.

Killjoy.

I’m not opposed to dressing up. Actually, the idea of costumes intrigues me. At this point though, who would I dress up for? Colleagues? Pfft, again! Friends? Not likely. There’s just no reason. What can I say? Do I feel like I’m missing out. For the most part, no. There’s still a voice though in the back of my head that is telling me that I’m missing out on a lot of the social credits that can be gained. It’s complicated!

*grumble*

Is it November, yet?

Tags: Halloween, self-analysis

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Weaving the pieces of the story

Categories:

randomness

Fri. October 31, 2008

Just something random this morning. When I walked into office this morning, the receptionist had a tarot spread laid out. She’s dressed up as a fortune teller and had the cards out to add to the effect. She was away from her desk, so I took the opportunity to peer at what she had laid out. My mind immediately weaved together a story from the archetypal pictures.

So, this is how the spread looked. At the centre was The Tower reversed, crossed by Death. Would indicate that at the spread is talking about some sort of sudden physical and transformational change. The basis card was the 9 of Swords picturing someone awake at night, crying in bed. The near past card was the Queen of Wands reversed. The Queen of Wands usually portrays someone as a beacon of health. With it reversed, it’s kind of indicating that it’s failing. The near future card was the Wheel of Fortune reversed indicating that something will happen a bit fast, but perhaps out of control. The possible outcome was the 7 of Wands indicating a struggle. The hopes card was the 10 of Pentacles reversed. That 10 usually indicates a good comfortable rich life. With it reversed my mind went to inheritances. The outcome card was the King of Pentacles reversed. Reminds me of someone that would normally be benevolent, but the joy would no longer be there.

This is how the story went in my mind.

There was a woman who recently fell out of good health and was hit by the news that she was suffering from a cancer of some sort. It was devastating news for the whole family to be sure. She vowed to fight against it as best she could, but in the near future the cancer would progress really quickly. She will pass away, leaving a hefty inheritance, but that’s cold comfort to her husband. It will affect him deeply, changing his personality, if only briefly due to grief.

So, when the receptionist came back, I asked her about the cards and she said that she intentionally pulled out some of the more vivid cards from the deck. The imagery in the Rider Waite deck is strong. I kind of enjoy being able to weave together stories from the pictures. All in all, it’s a good way to exercise the mind to see connections and weave together something that’s totally coherent. I can totally see why some people use the cards for meditation purposes.

Tags: Halloween, tarot

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The Halloween killjoy

Categories:

the job

Thu. October 30, 2008

My team at work has been keen on the idea of attempting to dress up en masse for Halloween. There’s a prize for the group that highest percentage of people dressed up. The prize: a free team lunch. As such, brainstorming over a common costuming theme has been the topic of discussion at the end of our daily scrums. The ideas evolved over time. I think the first idea was to dress up like different characters in the Village People. It seemed simple enough, but it took a while for them to realize how gay that would have been. And no, I don’t mean “gay” in the derogatory sense, but totally in the homosexual sense. I think the idea shifted to a James Bond theme. Over the past few days there was a rethink and they settled on a “douchebags” theme. Yup. No shit.

To be honest, it sounds like it would be something interesting to watch. God knows though that I don’t want anything to do with actual participation. I am not of the Halloween spirit; I don’t think I ever really got into it. I did go trick-or-treating once when I was younger, but once was enough: frankly, I found it over-rated. Dressing up in my work environment? That just doesn’t work in my mind. I think I have too mch dignity for that.

Umm…this coming from someone who sang Bohemian-bloody-Rhapsody via karaoke in front of everyone. Aaaanyway.

I think more than anything I just come off as being a killjoy. During today’s scrum my PM said with disdain “you know [Jay] isn’t going to dress up at all tomorrow.” I wasn’t amused, but yeah, I just nodded in agreement. Hey, if somehow the group wins the team lunch and I’m not welcome, so be it. I’m not going to get worked up over a free lunch. Actually…I probably would get worked up. I’d probably become even more grumpy than usual and start spitting at everything in disgust.

As a side note, holy crap I’ve been in one hell of a funk as of late. At the end of the day, I end up leaving work feeling like I’m horribly overworked and no one seems to give two shits about it. I’ve not been happy. It’ll pass. Tomorrow, I’m going to try a different approach to work. I’m going to take frequent breaks and be away from my desk for long periods. Hell, there are others on this one task–I’m sure the other people can handle a bit more.

I just want to get tomorrow over with. Boo!

Tags: colleagues, Halloween

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Surplus of chocolate

Categories:

family,
foodstuffs

Fri. November 2, 2007

Usually, my family is pretty good at estimating just how much candy is needed for Halloween. There is a huge amount of kids in the area, so the door was pretty busy. This year though, I think my parents over-estimated what they needed. As a result, there’s a rather large surplus of chocolate in the house. I’m really on the fence about that fact.

I don’t usually buy chocolate–mostly because I have a history of breaking out after certain amount of it. Dark chocolate isn’t so bad, what’s left over in the house certainly isn’t dark. So, we now have a canister of these mini-chocolate bars in the house. It keeps beckoning me like a siren song luring sailors to certain doom. I’ve been grabbing one now and then–I can’t help it. So far, I haven’t had any bad reactions, but I’m still a bit concerned. It’s like, because it’s “forbidden” on my own accord, it’s only making eating them seem a whole lot more pleasurable. Crazy stuff. I know we’re not going to throw that canister out, so really, it’s got to run out somehow, you know? The really bad, but practical thing to say would be: “someone has got to eat them!” Oh, torn torn torn.

Damn you, Halloween chocolate!

Tags: chocolate, Halloween

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