Set backs

Covid finally took me down. This past week was all rest and recovery. I finished the Dahmer drama on Netflix. I wouldn’t recommend it because I really feel that it has f-ed me up in the head by watching it. It left me with an unsettling feeling that is hard to shake.

I am happy that October is here. It is my favorite month of the year. I don’t know if I’ll get much spooky season done around town but I intend to watch some scary movies.

When I was a kid, a friend had the Disney Haunted House vinyl record. We used to listen to it and laugh or feel frightened. One of the tracks (Chinese Water Torture) is so racist, I don’t know how it got on the record. But as a kid, I am sure I laughed at it. Today I would just groan. But many of the tracks take me right back to Halloween in the 70s. Some people even played the soundtrack on Halloween night. I would walk up to get candy and the sounds of Screams And Groans; Thunder Lightning And Rain; Cat Fight and Dogs could be playing over very large Hi-Fi speakers.

I remember when October arrived, Woolworths in my local mall would have stacks of boxes—A Ben Cooper Halloween. The boxes contained licensed and non-licensed costumes, each with a plastic mask held on with a flimsy rubber band and a vinyl one-piece suit that had some image on it. Some were pretty cool, like Darth Vader and others, like Tattoo from Fantasy Island still makes me wonder who that was for.

Yes the costumes were garbage, made to last one night. But I love the nostalgia. It hasn’t been the same for a very long time. I try to make the magic happen for my kids but Halloween Parties just don’t excite me like they used to. Trick or treating in my town is very nice. I enjoy it with my kids. But I feel like my life has been forever chasing that feeling of the Octobers of my youth. Playful and spooky. Until next week, stay spooky.