thirty-first.

I've never been big on Halloween. My family tends to minimalize every holiday but Thanksgiving, which is when we compensate for all those other holidays in the year where we didn't even notice their passing.

I went trick-or-treating once. I was eight, I think, and I don't even remember what I dressed up as. The only reason we went was because I begged. I apparently wasn't even all that impressed with it, since we didn't go ever again. My parents were not anti-Halloween or anything, they just didn't give it much notice. If there was a Halloween party or "harvest festival" at the church, then we would go and bob for apples and enjoy a hayride followed by s'mores, but that was pretty much it.

My friends now are always a little horrified by my Halloween history, since they have this array of fond memories for every holiday. Ashley and Nick brought home a pumpkin and a pumpkin carving kit one day. It was maybe the second pumpkin-carving I'd ever assisted. And then I dried the seeds for roasting, since I'm generally not trusted with the oven.

On the day itself, Ashley and I went to thrift stores looking for costumes. Had we been more invested in the project, we probably would have gone sooner. My costume cost me 60 cents. I bought a tie and a personalized coffee mug that said "Glenn". I wore a button down shirt and my new tie, carried my mug around, and when people asked what I was supposed to be, I acted like they were idiots, held up the mug, and said, "Um, I'm Glenn."

A lot of them didn't get it.

I ended up heading down the street to a party with the roommates. Amazing how many people were there, and yet I still only knew the ones who lived with me. (Okay, so I knew a few of them because they are Krystal's friends, but it was a very small percentage.) There were just too many people, and they were all just too drunk, so I left a little after 1 am, thinking about the hour and a half of my life that I would never get back.

So that was my Halloween. Frankly, I'm still not that impressed with it.