The Boogieman is Real, I Saw Him Outside

Even though I don't post selfies of me in costumes at home in my apartment, I love Halloween about as much as anyone. It's my favourite holiday by a wide margin and even though it's corny, I will cop to getting warm feelings once the decorations come out and you start seeing people in costumes. Similarly to how I went through all the times I went to Warped Tour, I figured I would do a quick shot of all of my Halloween:

First Halloween out with my class. We all met in Andrew's basement and there were girls there too, which was exciting, but I was obviously so nervous about that. I had my worst costume ever, which was "Scream the Thug" wearing a ghostface mask with a toque over it.

Smoked a joint in the ravine while all of us were dressed up as Magnum PI. We didn't have a plan and mostly just roamed around the neighborhoud, eventually starting to stop on the way to get candy because we were high. An old lady got mad at us and told us that we were too old to trick or treat and didn't even have costumes. We told her we were Magnum P.I., but she just said that we had vandalized her lawn. (We didn't)

Dressed up as the MC Bat Commander, with a homemade mask and belt over my dad's windsurfing wetsuit. Went to hang out with Erik in East York. Some guy talked shit to us and said he was from the Dawes Road Crips before eventually jacking our candy. 

Blacktop Manhattan played a Halloween show and I dressed up as a hair metal guy. For some reason, I wore a sweat band under my wig and lost it that night.

In first year university, I re-did my hair metal costume with Brian joining me in it. Because I was now free to drink as much as I wanted and had unlimited booze available to me, I carried around a bottle of Jack Daniels all night and drank it straight. I got way too drunk, was hungover for three days, and had trouble swallowing food. Shortly after this night, I converted to skinny jeans full-time.

I made a Skeletor costume out of a hoodie I bought at Value Village and did my own makeup. It looked super shitty, but I liked it. Smoked a joint in a very fancy SUV.

Started to think of my costumes early in the year. Pat, Brian, and I went as B4-4 at Logan Street. Everyone still asks me to send this photo to them.

Started to watch old WWF Coliseum Home Video tapes and went as the early 90s WWF as a group. I was Macho, with Hulk, the Ultimate Warrior, Roddy Piper, and Bret Hart. Brian and I won a game of beer pong on the last shot and Brian ripped his shirt open as he sank the winning shot. I threw a necklace in celebration and it hit a girl in the face.

Went as Finn the Human while in the deepest part of my Adventure Time obsession, which I've already talked about here. Pat as Darth Vader in a fedora is the best costume that ever has or will exist. The two of us were the only high ones at the party and that was very funny to us.

Thought of going as Riff-Raff on the day of a Halloween cover show. Drew the cornrows onto a bald cap and did the tattoos with a sharpie. The Decay as the Misfits, Congratulations as Taking Back Sunday, Teen Violence as the Ramones, and Mighty Atom as the Stooges. Rebecca went as Lil' Debbie in our only ever couples costume. 

Couldn't think of a costume all day. Vanja taught his class as a monk, and Coni hers as Andy Warhol. I held up a piece of paper that said I was "too po-mo for a costume" which is actually maybe my worst costume. Almost went to Abstract that night and was scrambling at the last second. JK suggested I wear a Jays jersey over a Raps jersey over a Leafs jersey and go as the Toronto kid. I ended up wearing a satin jacket that said "Alberta" over a lifeguard pinnie as "Chad the Lifeguard from Alberta", which was good for the last second, I think.

We hosted a party at our apartment and I dressed up as Pierre, while he dressed up as me. It was cute, though there was probably a better way to do the face makeup.

First Halloween in Montreal and I decided to just make a basic skeleton costume my go-to moving forward. Went to a concert at a goth bar and it was fun. A guy drank a bottle of beer through a straw, under an open umbrella indoors. 

All Hallow's Eve

Today is a pretty weird day.

WHY COULD THAT BE TIM? HOW CAN YOU MAKE THAT STATEMENT AND THEN LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT? JEEZE BRUH!

Well, it's feels weird because today is the first Halloween I've spent at home since 12th grade. And while it might seem like I'm making a way bigger deal of this than I need to, as soon as my Mom put up the decorations and brought the mini bags of chips to the door I was on whatever the nostalgia-oriented version of the Autobahn is called and transported to my childhood.

I imagine that it's equally weird for my parents because while the last 6 years of my existence feel like a lifetime and I feel like I've changed lots and lots since then, I'm sure it went by very fast for them. I find that the older you get, the faster that time passes. Like remember when you were a kid and it seemed like  forever in between Christmases? And now it's like "Oh shit, it's Christmas already." Anyways, what I'm trying to get at is that those 6 (and if we really want to get into it, like 8 or 9) years went by like *Tim snaps his fingers* that to them. So it's got be weird that their son went from dressing up like Batman 4 years in a row and being amped to go out and get candy to sitting in the basement on his laptop and thinking that it sucks he can't go out and get free candy.

I don't know if it's just me becoming jaded as I get older or the usual "Back in my day..." shtick, but is it just me or has Halloween gotten substantially shittier in the last few years?

I mean when I was younger there'd be a gang of about 10 or so of us 12 year-olds covering out entire neighborhood trying to get as much candy as possible and looking for that elusive house giving out cans of pop so we could wash down what we were snacking on while walking. We'd all gather at one person's house early and we'd be out for hours. Now it seems like parents are so concerned about what their kids are getting and so on that everyone is sheltered from everything I understood Halloween to about when I was younger.

I guess I can't fault parents for protecting their children because obviously that is extremely important, but  Halloween is a pretty crucial stepping stone in a child's social life as well as developing their independence (or at least I see it that way). Because when you're young and going out trick-or-treating for the first time, it's really the first time you're exposed to that many people being out and around. It might have just been me being a little boy and overwhelmed, but my early memories of going out on Halloween with my Dad and sister made the street seem like a giant crowded marketplace of costumes where everyone was having an amazing time. I loved it.

And then you get older and start to trick-or-treat with your friends and all of a sudden it's "Holy shit! (I started swearing early) Our parents are letting us go out by ourselves! And we're getting candy!" And then you go back home and watch Halloween cartoon specials and actually have more candy than you can eat and it's just like "Fuck those jabronis in Stand By Me, they don't have shit on my friends and I!"

Then before you know it you're in 8th grade and everyone in your class is going out together and you just think "HOLY FUCK! GIRLS." and you have a reason to hang out with them and if you were smoother and not starting to get acne you would make a move.

Of course that segways right into high school when you realize that drinking and weed is cool, but drinking and smoking weed is even cooler when you can go out and candy for free and hang around your neighborhood and again, girls.

So if you can't tell by now, I fucking love Halloween and while I'm sure that kids today are probably having an equally rad time, albeit in some different way, I wouldn't want them to miss the amazingness that was Halloween when I was growing.

I sure am a nostalgic son of a bitch, aren't I?