halloween

this has always seemed to be one of the "second-rate" holidays of the year. more than anything, halloween has always seemed to be a necessary marker on the road to the "true" holiday season of thanksgiving, christmas, and new year's. however, in recent years it seems that halloween has been attempting to make a move to into the celebratory limelight, a move which certainly makes econmic sense.

halloween, like most other holidays, has become a cash cow for the american economy, and with proper marketing, it posesses the potential to rival christmas for profit margins. think about it: billions of consumer goods are manufactured for one day's worth of usage. a list: 1. decor. the season to have them up is a couple of weeks at most. yet, some people put up as many pieces of decor for this one holiday as they do for the entire month of december. and much of the decorations are cheaply made and designed to only last one year: fake spider webs, window clings, pumpkins, etc.

2. costumes. millions of people dress in stupid costumes on this day. many people may wear the same christmas sweater year in and year out, but find it customary - even necessary - to have different costumes each year. likewise, parents everywhere are buying cheap plastic outfits of current cartoon superheros that will be lucky to last through tonight, much less an entire year. and even if they do, they will not fit the child any more, or they will not want the same costume. the costume craze benefits other sectors of the retail industry as well, for certainly the existance of the "party store" centers on the halloween holiday. masks, capes, rented wigs, fake blood, excessively expensive (yet cheap) makeup, etc. - all for this one day.

3. candy. trillions of pieces of sugary goodness being devoured just moments after aquisition - what could exemplify the american society more than our drive to consume candy? the goal of the holiday for most children is to take in as much of the product as they can, so that they can consume more of it than their peers. in doing so, they are not only falling prey to american consumerism, but also to the american tradition of growing a huge ass.

4. alcohol. probably not as big of a deal as some of the summer holidays, but if you're like me, it's going to take some decent amount of booze to get me feeling comfortble in whatever ridiculous costume i've created during the afternoon.


photos from this forum on fark.com.

i'll post when i'm good and ready, dammit.

one of the poverty-stricken mentally ill individuals that i work with scrounged up enough money to order (via catalog) a leather jacket for another, even more poverty-stricken mentally ill individual, just because she felt bad for him having to wear jean jackets in the winter. she had me give it to him because she wanted to remain anonymous. i am continually amazed at the selfless attitudes of some people, particularly when seen in such stark contrast to the egocentric greed of those around them. i increasing hope that certain poor individuals will indeed inherit the earth.

cognitive behavior

found a great website today: thinkexist.com. reportedly they have over 190,000 searchable quotes from over 17,000 authors. naturally, you have to pay to get some of them, but the freebies are worthy entertainment as well. found some nice onces about christianity (taylor, if you're reading this, you should definitely check it out.)

i continue to struggle with my career options. still thinking about firefighter, though my fat, lazy ass disagrees. i think i'll go have some ice cream and play San Andreas while I contemplate my future...

garage

saw cross canadian ragweed last night at the wormy dog, and got a copy of their new cd to boot. good show, even if none of my friends went.

/loser


also, the job hunt is still on. recent events have again fueled my fire of wanting to leave hope, and so i've been talking with new york life, of all people. and if that doesn't work out, maybe i'll be a firefighter.