Yes, it's not technically halloween.
Oct. 30th, 2009 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elenearielBut today is the day people at my work are dressing up.
Here's a secret: Except for the half-price candy the day after and the excuse to dress up, I couldn't care less about Halloween. But if there's an excuse to wear a costume, count me in!
1. Aren't I a fabulous 1980s woman? And don't my shoulder pads look like I could just about fly away?
2. Getting this hair was SO MUCH FUN.
3. So was the makeup, actually.
4. In fact, the last picture reminds me of Faith Hill's early publicity stills, right down to the fake smile.
Conclusion: 1984 was a good year to be born in. But I am THIS GRATEFUL not to have become a teenager or adult in the 80s.
Here's a secret: Except for the half-price candy the day after and the excuse to dress up, I couldn't care less about Halloween. But if there's an excuse to wear a costume, count me in!
1. Aren't I a fabulous 1980s woman? And don't my shoulder pads look like I could just about fly away?
2. Getting this hair was SO MUCH FUN.
3. So was the makeup, actually.
4. In fact, the last picture reminds me of Faith Hill's early publicity stills, right down to the fake smile.
Conclusion: 1984 was a good year to be born in. But I am THIS GRATEFUL not to have become a teenager or adult in the 80s.
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Date: 2009-10-30 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 02:37 pm (UTC)I however do not celebrate halloween at all. And that's not because I don't like costumes and candy. I just have religious objections to the entire thing and refuse to play along just to fit in. Yes, my porch light will be off throughout this weekend just like most nights.
(all opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal's owner or other participants)
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Date: 2009-10-30 03:10 pm (UTC)For about ten years my mode has been to wrap up sidewalk chalk and little fun trinkets and such in pastel-colored cellophane and ribbons. One year I managed to find some sort of little angel-like ornaments to give out to the little girls. (Though ordinarily I'm not into elevating angels, it seemed in the general context of Halloween, it was appropriate to point out that side of the spiritual realm.) Once I even couldn't resist tagging the pastel packets with a Bible verse, but I was never satisfied with my choice of verse and its effectiveness in the context it was given. (It came off like judgemental Bible-thumping, I imagine.) In all, my door-giveaway mode is an imperfect and incomplete statement, but until the Lord gives me something better, I just do the best I can figure. (Actually, the Lord has blessed me with few comers to my door, which makes everything much easier.)
In the rest of my life, I do you like you do and refuse to play along; that seems like the most appropriate strategy. I'd love to shout out to everyone how wrong and scary it is to treat evil as a funny playtoy, but I don't think that that would be effective either; most people would just think I was a weird fanatic. If I get to say anything it is to (a) gently remind people planning events that not everyone celebrates the day of toying with evil, and (b) to hope it makes someone think about it when I refuse to call it by the name they give.
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Date: 2009-10-30 02:53 pm (UTC)We don't celebrate Halloween at all in Denmark (didn't use to... however, supermarkets are trying to bring it in to sell more merchandise... just like Valentine's Day), and only children dress up for Fastelavn (big party to 'pig out' before Lent starts), so I haven't gotten to dress up in years. I miss it.
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Date: 2009-10-30 02:59 pm (UTC)These pictures crack me up though. We did 80s day at school once just for the kicks of it and I wish I'd done more than I did, because, well, insanity is the spice of life.
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Date: 2009-10-30 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 04:02 pm (UTC)Not that you don't look awesome but if you went out dressed like that any other days of the year, I'd have to kinda question your sanity. If I'd come to work wearing Penny loafers (no socks!), high-water chinos, Lacoste polo shirt (with the alligator, yay!) the collar turned up and a pair of Ray Ban's, they'd definitely think I was nuts!!
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Date: 2009-10-30 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 03:38 pm (UTC)I think if you look around, you can see that most of us survived quite well. Actually, this superficial stuff you see--and the trends that sadly encouraged conformity rather than individuality--did have the effect of simplifying life. Everyone dressed the same way, everyone mostly listened to the same hit music lists on broadcast radio. It wasn't a particularly stimulating time, but it wasn't particularly overwhelming, either--except for those getting caught up in these little details of themselves (and thus anerexia, or the general angst portrayed in "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," etc.)
Though I regret the lack of diversity in our resources (and fashion expression) at the time, at the same time, this prevented us from being pressured to (or equipped to) experiment with the gammit of dark alternative lifestyles promoted to young people today as appropriate of exploration. We weren't encouraged to surgically alter our bodies to follow our sexual whims and fantasies, nor even to pierce our bodies for sensual pleasure. Though of course alternative sexual culture, occultism, and other dark avenues existed, they were a lot harder to run into and to access.
I really love today's choices for opening up and enriching the diversity of life, but they can be more overwhelming and are certainly more dangerous for the inexperienced teenager to navigate. I wouldn't want to go back to the 80's, either, but it was a simpler time.
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Date: 2009-10-30 08:12 pm (UTC)As always, you make excellent and thoughtful points. Thank you. :)
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Date: 2009-10-30 10:24 pm (UTC)I agree that the fashion of the day was either boring or awkward. I never understood the heavy eye shadow myself, and remember trying to explain in vain to a hair stylist why I wasn't interested in spending even just 10 minutes with the curling iron/blow dryer to feather my hair every day. This may be my excuse for caring so little for what is or isn't in fashion; I learned early that fashion expectation weren't worthy of my concern.
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Date: 2009-10-30 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 06:56 pm (UTC)I was born in 84' too.
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Date: 2009-10-30 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 10:11 pm (UTC)And I agree that I am SO GLAD to not have become a teenager or adult during that era. LOL
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Date: 2009-10-30 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 11:14 pm (UTC)(As a child--I was born at the end of '80--I was given eye shadow that color and used to wear it for dress up and make believe. And then I turned 11 and began to wear it for reals. I shudder at the memory, but am glad it was short lived).
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Date: 2009-10-31 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-31 01:17 am (UTC)Did you have to hand-curl your hair, or can you make it do that naturally?
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Date: 2009-10-31 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-31 05:05 am (UTC)