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Continue ShoppingHALLOWEEN THOUGHTS...
HALLOWEEN THOUGHTS…
Halloween.
I’m feeling nostalgic tonight; unusual for me that, but I’m feeling nostalgic.
Nostalgic.
I don’t do nostalgia well, or often. I like the present, I live in the present; I make the most of the present. I barrel through the things life throws at me trying to make the best of all while not dwelling on past successes, or the failures, inherent in any life’s existence. There are pleasures, crises, all kinds of moments in life, and they pass; they pass. They all become memories and as memories they serve a purpose, but longing for them?
Me?
Nah.
"Nostalgia."
Nah!
“The good old days”.
NAH!
Not me; I don’t feel that way, not usually anyway, but tonight I’m feeling nostalgic. I just heard the "MONSTER MASH" on the radio and...
... and it’s a full moon this evening, and Halloween.
Nostalgic.
In addition it’s also the day (night), the clocks go back one hour and revert to Standard Time from Daylight Savings Time. I hate that part.
Turning the clocks back and losing a waking hour of daylight is an anathema to me. It means that more waking time is spent in darkness, and less awake time is spent in the light of day. I really HATE that part. I hate every day of Standard Time fall through winter until we go back to Daylight Savings Time just before spring begins:
“SPRING Forward, FALL Back”…
Me…
I hate fall in general, but that’s another story, a long one, and one for another time, so later for that, much later; so “forward”, let’s “Spring Forward”.
OK then…
… back to my sense of nostalgia, Halloween, the full moon, and turning the clocks back. I know the full moon and the extra hour are a good thing for the Halloween holiday denizens, those Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Goblins, spirits of all sorts, those creatures that haunt the night and party hearty...
... on this eve. I know all of that, and that’s why I’m nostalgic as I used to join them for that party. When Halloween fell on the “FALL Back” Saturday day years ago there was an extra hour to party before the festivities ended. So we did, we partied for that extra hour always; what fun. Full moon’s were an added boon to the party then, a nice perk, a theatrical benefit, fitting, evocative even, but not required. We partied that extra hour full moon or not.
Or not…
PARTY!
Party.
OK…
Years ago I resided on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, four blocks north of the Museum of Natural History, just down the street from the Beresford (pictured below in the upper left).
That was where the:
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade...
... started every year, and every Thanksgiving Eve there was a festive walkabout the neighborhood amongst the unmanned (dead), floats, and the half blown up (dead, or perhaps half-alive), balloons.
. 
It was an after Halloween “still” parade where you walked the route (moonlit or not), filled with superheroes, fantasy figures, monsters, and fantasy characters.
All the floats, and balloons, ere benign in aspect this night as there was no attempt at malice, or evil anywhere (it was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after all).
I looked forward to that benign, still, parade every year. For the 18 years that I lived in that Upper West Side apartment I didn’t miss that post Halloween pre year-end event once. Nor did I miss the roughly 30 days prior:
NEW YORK CITY HALLOWEEN PARADE.
Only there, for that Halloween parade, I went downtown, far downtown, to Greenwich Village where I bellied up to the police barricades lining lower Sixth Avenue in Manhattan to gawk...
... and watch the floats, Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Goblins, spirits of all sorts, and Drag Queens (Mardi Gras in fall), go by.
I didn’t miss one of either parade evenings in 18 years.
Neither.
EVER.
But there was a huge difference to the Halloween experience as after the NYC Halloween parade ended, the participants went out to the downtown bars and nightclubs to carry on.
I went with them. On Halloween I always went out to party; usually until four or five in the morning, and on a “FALL Back” Saturday night, until six a.m.
That didn’t happen on Thanksgiving Eve, as I had to pack it in somewhat early that night as the Thanksgiving Day parade ...
... (to be watched start to finish), started at 9 a.m., and people were usually coming for dinner that afternoon at 2 p.m. ...
... and I had to be up to prepare, and early. So no “party” for me Thanksgiving Eve. There was never a party Thanksgiving eve.
No party then.
But PARTY or no party both nights, Halloween and Thanksgiving eve, were special to me, and very.
Always…
And very.
Very.
I’ll probably be in bed by 12 a.m., or maybe 1 a.m., but I’ll be in bed early on Halloween night.
NO PARTY!
It's Halloween, there is no party, and in 30 some odd days there will be no empty, "dead" floats or "half alive" balloons, to peruse in a "still" parade. And the next day will be Thanksgiving. It’s Halloween and I’m staying home tonight.
Sad.
Alone.
What have I become?
So nostalgia.
Nostalgic.
Sucks!
Sucks.
Sucks.