Happy Halloween

Most of you are, at this point, making plans or getting ready to follow through on made plans for the wonderful holiday of Halloween. I, at this current moment, am doing neither of those things as I've spent the past 18 hours of recovering from an evening of poor choices. That's about all I'll say about that. Being stuck inside does have a few upsides, such as : Being forced to look at your dirty laundry for so long that you actually get some of it washed. Another good one is memorizing the sparse contents of your fridge to such an extent you become aware of how truly little there is to eat. Or my personal favourite, sitting on the floor of the shower and realizing that there isn't anything to grab onto when your feet go out from under you as you're trying to stand up. I'll have to remember that one for next time. Since I no longer have a functioning camera or phone, I'm going to have to dip into the rich history of photos that illustrates all the wonderful things this holiday has to offer, including these two pictures Mom graciously provided of our cat, dressed up as a 'sourpuss' and 'tabby cat'. I won't argue with it. 

Since I'm trying to eat healthier and take in more reasonable portions, I'm not having any candy tonight. I've even been so lucky that the traditional tide of cupcakes, chocolates and other treats has been relatively low this year (I guess our school's emphasis on healthy eating for the kiddos is working). My costume this year took the form of wearing my other glasses to school for the first time (my kids hadn't seen these ones yet), shaving, and calling myself 'Mr. Brant', feigning as Mr. Stuart's twin who was only teaching in Macau as a supply teacher for the day. The experience was complete with asking the kids for help with directions around the school, what the procedures were, and purposely messing up their names to everyone's enjoyment. It might not have been much, but it was fun. And what's life if it's not fun to have fun anymore?

I see a lot of you folks dressing up and doing Halloween to the fullest, and I think that's really cool of you. Well done. I wish I had access to more thrift stores and venues that celebrate Halloween (there isn't much here unless you want to hit up the club), although the past has not proven me to be a big dresser-upper. Take last year for example. This was my attempt at Bill Nye (the science guy). You can see that the only reason people would have a marginally close idea as to who I was is the name tag I had to sport. Still, it was nice to do the Halloween thing. Fun Fact: I got a parking ticket from McMaster University while I was purchasing the lab coat for my costume. It resulted in the most expensive Halloween to date.  

To you folks back home doing the Halloween thing, I hope you're well and having a relatively good time. I found this treasure in the archives of facebook from a good two years ago, I don't even remember what I was (wow Stuart...), only that we started the night with SmashBros & MarioKart, all streetcar'd to an awesome bar and had an awesome time in downtown Toronto. A proper hang. I suppose that's what I miss most about the past, but that becomes harder now that we've reached our mid-twenties and adult goals have taken control of our decision making processes. While I could still try to dress up as a race car driver complete with a cardboard car strapped on my shoulders with bungee cords, asking for candy and zooming around the neighborhood, I might get some funny looks and risk being spotted by my students (Macau is a small place). Maybe I do need some chocolate...

So whether you are in Toronto, elsewhere in Canada or in another country entirely; from my home to yours, I'd like to wish you a very Happy Halloween.