The End of the Halloween Season

Today is Halloween.

I am mostly over it. I should be having the time of my life, but I am not.

A while back, when our Star Wars RPG group fell apart, two of us replaced that slot in our weekly schedule with watching horror movies--the worse, the better. Just like I used to do with the Captain and the Amazing Brando, if you recall those names. And I had been indulging in the same habits, after turning the art studio / work shed into a man cave.

So, I have had more than my share of horror movies, and I carved several Jack-o'-lanterns. And a group of four of us went to House of Torment, the famous haunted attraction that I'd somehow never been able to go to since I moved here. Finally, we went. And it was... I guess the best word to describe it is "delightful." Our group loves horror, so while others were screaming and huddling together, we were strolling through with big grins on our faces, looking around and admiring the details, saying things like, "Nice!"

Another thing I started to do is get back into drawing. I swiped one of my wife's sketchbooks that I can devote to attempted art. Horror art. I have a folder full of images culled from Google and Pinterest to inspire me. And an iTunes playlist of Midnight Syndicate and Nox Arcana to ensure that the mood inspires me as well. In high school, I was really into art, and I was all right at drawing. But I can clearly see now that I haven't developed the skill since then. At all. My muscles won't obey my imagination's commands, and everything comes out wrong. Needs more practice...

Other than that, this Halloween has amounted to little else for me. I didn't do any other activities. I especially lament missing the corn maze and festival. This is the first year I have not worked nights. You'd think being awake during daylight hours on the weekends would open doors for me, but I usually work every day of the week now anyway; I have to claim partial days off for myself. I have to seize those moments, but they aren't long enough to let me drive to Bastrop.

When my friends and I were at House of Torment, we also talked about going downtown on Halloween, but one guy's work schedule changed, which screwed me in particular, because he was going to be my sober driver, and I was going to crash on his couch. That put me at Plan B, which still could have been good, but then I was booked for the morning after Halloween, which puts me now at Plan C.

Plan C: Go down town just to make an appearance, but leave no later than 11pm, which is when 6th Street really start to hop. Oh, well. I got to do Halloween properly last year.

Hmph. Once every two years is not enough to satisfy me, considering that I think about this all year long.

But, despite my disappointment, I still feel it in the air today. It's Halloween, and there's an energy about it. Knowing that the rest of society is getting ready to have a lot of fun. I'm still participating, even though I have work to do.

Meanwhile, this week saw the end of an era. My first piano student, who also loves Halloween, is moving to Seattle. We had our final lesson this week. What a milestone. In a way, because of our mutual, perennial love of Halloween, the timing of her leaving is symbolic of lowering the curtain on the Halloween season.

Also, losing a student means I take a financial hit, and have to cinch the belt a little tighter for a while. Just in time for Christmas. Great.

But today, while my heart isn't quite in it, at least it will feel more like Halloween. What I mean is, this month has been record-breakingly hot. Bastardly hot. You can't fight the elements. You can try to live in denial, but when your house's central AC is broken, as is the AC in your car, you can't get into the Halloween spirit when it's 93 degrees outside. Earlier this month, when I was driving to my friend's house for horror movies, stuck in the infamous I-35 rush hour with no AC, I drove by a bank and it said 105 degrees. Most of you can't even imagine what that's like. The only relief is the breeze with your windows down, but traffic isn't moving because it's fucking I-35, and every day there's at least one wreck that brings the whole poorly-planned city of Austin to a stop.

That was when I pretty much gave up trying.

But now, the temperature is 72 in my part of town, and it's supposed to only get cooler. A merciful respite, even if it's only for today. That means, for Halloween night, for a few blissful hours, I can pretend I don't live in this Godforsaken, scorched wasteland that is Texas.

And then I have to work. And next year, I'll have an infant cramping my style. I'll have to figure something out...

I hope that everyone has a chilly, long-sleeved, cozy, spooky,
Happy Halloween!