i remember hallowee-ee-ee-een, hallowee-ee-een, hallowee-ee-en, halloween.

halloween had a serious lull during the mid teens, didn't it? before that time, it was awesome...free candy, dressing like a ninja, authenticity of gore in the costume always was cool and not geeky. then you hit the mid teens. anyone who still went trick or treating then was a jackass. yeah, you heard me. 14-18 year olds would go door to door, and say they were "dressed as my brother" or "a secret agent...they look like everyone else". that's just pathetic. as Lrrr of the planet Omicron Persei 8 would say, "Get a job!"

then came booze in conjunction with halloween. suddenly, it was fun and meaningful again. no matter how stupid a costume is, it becomes funny by the end of the night. and, as an added bonus, the more offensive or ridiculous your costume is, the more it is appreciated. now, it takes effort to pull off a good one. you can't go as "a pirate" or "freddy kreuger" (you all knew that kid)...now you have to be "steve irwin", "terry schaivo", or "guy fucking a bear". you could also simply dress like an asshole and be a "child molester" (thanks Mart) or "Dustin Diamond". the required complexity of the costumes juxtaposed with the inherent immaturity of the social connotations surrounding said costumes shows that as our intelligence increases, so does our childishness. which is strangely comforting. (this coming from a man/boy who still enjoys shotgunning cans of PBR on a porch at 8:30am).

for these reasons, i still look forward to halloween. not only is it a time to dress like an idiot and get wasted, it is a time to be around a bunch of your friends who are doing the same...which makes it pleasantly different from the other times that i dress like an idiot and get wasted.

i'm outskies.

(by the way, if you get the misfits reference in the title, you rule...kudos)

round two.

school is more fun than work. ok...school is more fun than my current work. let me try this again...school is more flexible and i can get more hanging out, drinking, and sleeping done than my current work. yep. that's the right one.

as many of you know, i've worked at this job for almost 7 years now, on and off. it's at a structural engineering firm, and i have one of the best bosses in the entire world. i can basically set my own hours, handle my own tasks, and have my run of just about all of the office. when my boss is in, we spend most of the time shooting Seinfeld quotes back and forth and laughing our asses off. in these respects, it's close to a dream job. yet, it has some serious downfalls, including a traffic-y 1 to 1.5 hour ride to and from work, there's often not enough work to be done (leading to boredom), and it's clearly not the most interesting work.

i will be sad to leave it for the first set of reasons, but i need to start brewing.

ahh, brewing...right now, i have all of the parts needed to finish building my chest freezer-turned-kegerator/"fermentation chamber"/"coolness machine" en route to my house. i haven't been more excited about something in a while. i'm probably going to name it "Excalibur". first up...latte stout...after that, a mildly spiced amber and a butternut squash ale for T-giving. i haven't brewed since mid-July, so i'm fuckin' excited.

and now, an itemized list summarizing the experience of Bomz' Halloween party last weekend:

• gallons of skippys (a surprisingly tasty mixture of cheap beer, cheaper vodka, and countrytime lemonade mix), kegs, shots, 60 minute IPA beer pong


• bizarre door prizes (i won some sort of doll and one of the spirally ribbed condoms)


• Wheelz dressed as a cell phone, yelling about speed dialing while he danced and saying that Amy was gonna have "phone sex" later

fun times were had. too much booze was consumed. i couldn't feel anything on sunday.

coming up this weekend is another halloween extravaganza in Media. it is at a friend's girlfriend's house, which means by Media rules, we're never gonna be allowed to go back there after this Saturday night. i'm pumped.

while i'd like to take this blog to somewhere other than drinking, it's momentum would die at this point (if it has any left at all), so i'll stay on that topic...

i'm finally going to iowa to hang out with my brother and see my newborn nephew, Dash Parker Weiss Shortway. seeing my nephew is really great, but so is being able to finally back up every drinking story my brother has told to his friends about me with a live demonstration. should be legendary.

on a final note for this installment, i will be, once again, hosting another house party... it is NOT going to be as grand as the last time (i only have 12 hours to clean it this time, not a week like last time), but it should be damn fun. Shortways know how to throw parties. not sure why, but we do. it will be a two-nighter this time, Dec. 1st and 2nd, and all are welcome. flip cup, stupid tunes, and copious amounts of booze will be provided free of charge. i'd like to keep it to a 1Gpp limit (Garv-per-person), so please respect that. Canadian friends are also very welcome to come down...and encouraged.

RSVP, motherfuckers.