Thing of the Day: Halloween

Halloween is number two or three on my list of top five fave holidays (1. New Years Eve, 2/3. Halloween/4th of July, 4. Chrismakkuh, 5. Thanksgiving) and now that I have gotten back from fall break I have finally gotten sufficiently excited enough to begin adequately preparing. My apartment has been decked out in pumpkins and other seasonal fruits/vegetables (among my very few faults, being unable to destinguish between what is technically a fruit and what is considered a vegetable is moderately high on the list) for the majority of October, but seeing that we have a mere week left until the holiday, I have broken out the pumpkin cups and spider accessories. Sorry roomies. The other, considerably more important thing that I have broken out is my costume. I clearly can't reveal what I am being until the day (or in college, days) of Halloween, but it involves fake money, green fishnets, and a very LBD.

It's funny to me that all the holidays we used to get terribly excited for as children for very wholesome reasons (candy on Halloween, staying up all night on New Year's Eve, turkey on Thanksgiving, fireworks on the 4th of July, presents and cake on birthdays) are, for young adults, simply reasons/excuses to get excessively drunk. I come to this conclusion because every single person who I suggested come trick or treating with has responded either with a flat out "no," or an "only if we pregame." I am one of the founding members of pregaming's fan club, but for once, cannot see the purpose. What about putting on costumes and getting candy from strangers requires one to be intoxicated? Another thing that alcoholic friends refused to join me for this week was pumpkin carving at my sorority house. This time, pregaming wasn't suggested--probably because nobody should be wielding a knife and that close to accessible food in any state of inebriation--and I was flat-out greeted with "you're a loser." (In a twist of great hypocrisy, we will be hosting a Halloween/22nd roomie birthday party on Friday, complete with orange beer, spiked cider, and a plethora of unhealthy candies and revealing costumes).

In several other pieces of completely unrelated news:

1)Fall break was great and debaucherous. Charleston is a ridiculously cute city and I want to go back.

2)Does anyone know where I can get a Google Wave invite? I know its ridiculously geeky but I want this technology so badly. The 2 adorable Danish brothers who created it (Lars and Jens Rasmussen-duh. In my 4 months in Denmark, I learned that Danish people only eat three foods: fish, bread, and cheese, and that they only have three names: Lars, Jens, and Hans) just did a CNN interview about it and I want it on my desktop now.

3)Glee is officially my favorite show on television. After last Wednesday's mashup of "The Thong Song" and "I Could Have Danced All Night," I am officially denouncing both Gossip Girl (by the way, for those who watch Gossip Girl, check out this phenomenal GG Recap blog by the people at NY Magazine (Hire Me!). I am considering imposing this point system onto my own life. Thoughts?) and Greek in leiu of a wiser, funnier, better sounding teen dramedy. And, oh, Mr. Schuuuu.

Trick o treat lovers and friends.

Thing of the Day: Road Trips

First things first--I was so right about balloon boy! Duh, world. Publicity stunt central. Children are amongst my least favorite things in the world but even I can admit that they are not that foolish. Shame on the blog-reader who BBMed me "you are a heartlesss biatch" in reference to my correct thoery. I am not heartless--I'm logical.

Second things--they're releasing a Barnes & Noble version of the Kindle called the Nook. For those of you who are not aware, I find Kindles despicable and utterly useless tools and judge all those who use them. Which is why I clearly have several thoughts about this manner, namely:

1)Why oh why are people releasing Kindle competitors? Are Kindles so popular that B&N feels the need to further infiltrate the market with a Kindle alternative? I would like to conduct a survey that will help me determine what percentage of Vanderbilt students own Kindles, so please, if you are a Kindler, let me know via comment, gchat, or smoke signal.

2)Despite my disdain of e-books in general, the Nook is definitely a much better name than the Kindle. At least Nook makes one think of curling up in a corner with a dog-eared paperback and a cup of tea. So while I'm sure Nooks aren't cozy at all and rather hard pieces of metal, the terminology at least makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. What does kindle even mean?

3)My dislike for the Kindle/Nook can only be rivaled by my admiration and dare I say love for the new MacBooks, also released today. Could these be any crisper? Absolutely not. Unfortunately, I am still twiddling away on my Dell Inspiron with webcam physically attached to the outside and lack of crisp resolution, iChat, and fun photo programs. In addition to my PC weighing somewhere between 8 and 10 pounds (who am I kidding? I don't know what 8 to 10 pounds weighs like...but I know the damn thing leaves aggressive red welts when I carry it on my shoulder) I'm becoming resentful that I can't use widgets, take photobooth pics, and drag and drop documents directly on the screen. Momma Bogo. Chrismakkuh. ASAP. Perhaps a Thanksgiving gift? It needs to happen.

And now onto the real reason for this post--fall break! In T minus 2 hours I am free free free from the land of internships and analysis papers and off to Charleston, SC, for a four day beach adventure. I am driving with 3 friends and couldn't be more excited because I love road trips. Other than the undeniable things that funny things always happen on road trips (the time we were driving to Nashville and went an hour and a half out of our way to check out a venue on the Diners Drive-ins and Dives list, the time we were driving to New Orleans a creepy man followed us for no less than 5 miles pretending to pleasure himself at our vehicle--although I might have been the only one that found that funny) they are an excuse to do two of my favorite things: 1)eat fattening foods with great frequency and 2)behave like a small child (liscence plate games, stories, singalongs, etc) and we will be doing much of both on the nine hour journey. We're making a quick overnight stop in Asheville, NC, which in addition to being the cutest town ever (their tourism site offers activities such as fall crafts, fall harvest adventures, and scenic fall foliage motorcycle rides) apparently has the most head shops per square foot in the South (goodies) and a large variety of outdoor eateries. Fellow food enthusiast road trips have already selected the venue at which we will be eating our North Carolinian breakfast before we head down to Folly Beach for a weekend of debaucherous beachy entertainment.

....T minus 1.5.