by Eric Martin
My friends, here's some Halloween costumin' you can believe in:
That's me on the left half-heartedly dancing ala The Dude (click should you wish to enlarge though I don't recommend it).
I'd say that falls somewhere on the continuum between Jeffrey Lebowski and Jesus, which is kind of how I like to see myself. And no, that's not some kind of Eastern thing.
Despite my clear abidedness, my brother's Barry Gibb might steal the show.
And now that I've provided something to haunt you all weekend, and whenever you read a post written by yours truly, allow me to say:
Happy Halloween Obsidian Wingnuts!
(PS: candy corn is the candy of satan)
(PPS: eat your heart out John Cole)
What is the proper response to teenagers who show up at my door asking for candy in their "I'm a lazy teenager" costume?
Posted by: Ugh | October 31, 2008 at 04:04 PM
What is the proper response to teenagers who show up at my door asking for candy in their "I'm a lazy teenager" costume?
Chick tracts.
i haven't done the dress-up in a while. but here's an oldie.
Posted by: cleek | October 31, 2008 at 04:11 PM
This is the most appropriate Chick tract for this weekend.
Posted by: Gary Farber | October 31, 2008 at 04:43 PM
Uh, cleek, I can see your nipple...
Posted by: Eric Martin | October 31, 2008 at 04:57 PM
Gary- That is the absolute best Chick tract I've ever seen. You may not have saved my immortal soul, but I do have faith that I can be devoured relatively quickly and somewhat less painfully.
I've got no pictures of my Halloween costumes. I can, however, tell you that one year I made the absolute best Vincent from Final Fantasy 7. (Yuffie is way better, but I didn't/don't have the look of a teenage girl.) Being, ahem, tall, dark, and handsome, I pulled it off perfectly.
But you'll just have to take my word for it.
Posted by: MeDrewNotYou | October 31, 2008 at 05:02 PM
Given the open thread...can someone please point me to a cogent explanation of the appeal of Sarah Palin? It doesn't have to conclude the people who are so enthusiastic for her have good, well thought out reasons for said enthusiasm, just explain it to me.
Because, the only thing I can think of, is that she's the inevitable result of Nixon's politics of resentment, a big "fcuk you!" to anyone who ever wanted to do more than hang out at a Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers (even though she has in fact done more than that).
Posted by: Ugh | October 31, 2008 at 05:03 PM
I'm going to a party tonight and not dressing up. I am fully willing to pay whatever forfeit the hosts decree.
Not dressing up pleases me more today than dressing up does. Therefor, no costume.
Posted by: Sean | October 31, 2008 at 05:13 PM
can someone please point me to a cogent explanation of the appeal of Sarah Palin?
No. People who like Sarah Palin don't do cogent.
On a Halloween note, I think we've spotted the Great Pumpkin.
Posted by: Incertus | October 31, 2008 at 05:18 PM
For my Halloween costume tonight, I'm going to put up my brown hair (I have bangs), wear a red jacket, rimless glasses, and black skirt and boots, say "you betcha", "doggone it" and "darn right", and wink a lot at the trick-or-treaters. In the background, I'll have an alarming sketch of Putin rearing his head over Alaska. I thought of having a dead stuffed animal moose with fake blood, but that might upset the little kids.
And the teenagers? I'm kind to them, because I remember how difficult those years were. Anyway, they serve a useful purpose in my life- where I live, the little kids trick-or-treat from 6-8 pm, the teenagers from 8-10. I make sure the teenagers get ALL the leftover candy, so there's none left to tempt me on November 1.
Posted by: Anne E | October 31, 2008 at 05:32 PM
Uh, cleek, I can see your nipple...
actually, that's my vestigial sense of shame
Posted by: cleek | October 31, 2008 at 05:45 PM
A Geto boys reference. I think I'll need to throw that in my playlist for tonight's party.
I'm going as Billy Mitchell, FWIW:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb106/celticqueenmegumi/billy_tool.jpg
US flag tie: check
lovingly feathered mullet wig: check
fake beard: check
black jeans: check
Posted by: Joel | October 31, 2008 at 05:52 PM
No, no, no. General officer.
Short fair hair.
Clean shaven.
Military uniform.
Tons of military bling
Posted by: Free Lunch | October 31, 2008 at 06:21 PM
Hey, looks like you're handing out Bud Light. I'll be ToT at your place for sure.
Posted by: LKSB | October 31, 2008 at 08:03 PM
There's a healthy mix of alcoholic beverages. The beer list is no exception. Everything from PBR in a can to Stella and Peroni.
Posted by: Eric Martin | October 31, 2008 at 08:15 PM
PBR in a can would be awesome.
(I've read far too much about the Vietnam War. And besides, haven't you seen Apocalypse Now? Of course you have.)
(Yes, yes, Pabst; how bleh.)
Posted by: Gary Farber | October 31, 2008 at 08:35 PM
We donb't get trick or treaters. No street lights, no curbs, most of the houses are only occupied in the summer...so paul and I are planning pizza and some episodes of The Wire.
This is a bit of a downer but here goes: my little foster dog Emily didn't make it. SHe passed away on the eighteenth.
On a happier note: my guy Eric Massa is all set to kick Randy "Shotgun" Kuhl out of Congress. I wish Gary Trauner would win in Wyoming but he pro ably won't. However, Charlie Brown looks good in California. (I have money on in all of these guys--for me election day will be like a day at the races! And yeah I have money on Obama too. In fact I'll poick up some cigars at the store tomorrow in anticipation.
Posted by: wonkie | October 31, 2008 at 08:57 PM
"This is a bit of a downer but here goes: my little foster dog Emily didn't make it. SHe passed away on the eighteenth."
So sorry to hear. Hugs.
"In fact I'll poick up some cigars at the store tomorrow in anticipation."
Request you somewhere post a picture of you smoking your cigar!
What season are you up to in The Wire? Isn't it good?
Posted by: Gary Farber | October 31, 2008 at 09:26 PM
wonkie, my condolences.
And I think you better have a lot of cigars to pass around. After all, you'll have the money to spend. And don't count Trauner out yet. He almost pulled a come-from-behind two years ago, and he is even closer at this point this time.
Posted by: john miller | October 31, 2008 at 09:30 PM
Gary, Pabst is very popular in the 21-30 demographic.
I know some of the heirs of the Pabst and Hamm's fortunes, though, and I doubt they'll be pulling the lever for Obama on Tuesday.
Posted by: mjm | October 31, 2008 at 10:07 PM
WE're on the second to last season of the Wire. I find it compulsively watrchable. I'm going to miss some of the characters when it is done. I like easedropping in on the life of Omar, for example.
I wish I could post a picture. I'd post on of Emily if I could but the copy paste function between my Wprd program and this comment spot isn't compatible. I've tried over and over.
I'm sorry about little Em too but at least she was warm and loved for her last weeks.
I will keep my fingers crossed for gary Trauner. I was reallu inpsired by his first campaign, his brave Quixotic mission to visit every small town in Wyoming and win by meeting as many voters as possilbe. If he had gotten some financial support from the Deomcrats maybe he could have won gthe first time around.
Posted by: wonkie | October 31, 2008 at 10:08 PM
Wonkie- Sorry about Emily, but as you said, she was pretty happy at the end.
Posted by: MeDrewNotYou | October 31, 2008 at 10:43 PM
I'm incredibly depressed (what else is new?), myself. My girlfriend seems to be breaking up with me. Being with a depressed person is draining. Understandable. I'm not the fun guy I once seemed to be. I am, but she doesn't see it any more. Her loss.
My heart is breaking. She'll see that statement as drama and wearying. Her loss.
On the plus side, although my orthopedic clinic exam is scheduled for Monday, I'll be cancelling, since said girlfriend (ex?) can't drive me, but anyway, my foot seems to be healing and most likely not broken, so it's most likely just a very bad sprain. I'll probably kick off the cast early next week.
Meanwhile, life sucks, my therapist emphasizes how qualified I am for disability, how major my depression is, how much he thinks I'm disabled and screwed up and unable to work, and fuck, life sucks. I'm still three hairs away from suicidal thoughts.
I'm very glad Obama may win, but, fnck, I hate this fncking mental illness.
I just want to find someone who will love me as much as I love them. I got an awful lot to throw in there.
Meanwhile, I'm not sure what the point is. People do fine without me. Better, even. And starting over yet again: fnck. I'll just repeat it all again. What's the point?
And I shouldn't post this.
Hurts.
It's easy to seem witty on the internet, but apparently whenever anyone gets close enough to me, they end up running away.
Their loss, but fnck, fnck, fnck, and fnck.
I'm fncking great, problems included, and if someone doesn't see it, it's their fncking blindness and loss.
Happy Halloween.
Posted by: Gary Farber | October 31, 2008 at 10:44 PM
God Gary.
I wish I had a magic wand for you.
I was married to over twenty years to a man who was mentally ill (depression and OC.) I tried to be loyal to him. After a while I had to save myself.
Why am I telling you this? It probably doesn't help to give the point of view of someone who bailed. I guess I just want to asy that i do understand how debilitating, how exhausting mental illness is to the person who has it.
And I do believe that you are worthy of love and have a deep well of love to give to someone. That's obvious from the things you write.
I wish I had a magic wand.
There are people who care about you and worry about you and appreciate you.
Posted by: wonkie | October 31, 2008 at 11:00 PM
I'm sorry to hear that, Gary. I don't have any advice to give--not having suffered from depression, I don't know what you're going through, but you have my sympathies.
Breaking up I have gone through--it sucks. Maybe it won't happen. In my case we got back together, many years later.
Posted by: Donald Johnson | October 31, 2008 at 11:02 PM
"And I do believe that you are worthy of love and have a deep well of love to give to someone."
I really do so much on the latter. It's clearly not always enough.
Posted by: Gary Farber | October 31, 2008 at 11:04 PM
Well I'm heading down stairs to eat pizza and watch the Wire so good noight all and especially Gary.
Posted by: wonkie | October 31, 2008 at 11:18 PM
"I don't have any advice to give--not having suffered from depression, I don't know what you're going through,"
Thanks muchly, and to wonkie. I'm resisting the urge to go into any detail about the relationship breakdown, which would inevitably turn into a list of grievances, which is the opposite of what I want. Small pointer about experience of major depression with Styron, much though everyone is different.
Depression is, in fact, unbelievably boring, banal, agonizing, tiresome beyond belief, and just boring beyond belief. It's just stupid brain chemicals making you feel despairing and in pain, day after day, week after week, month after month, decade after decade, until you just want to effing kill yourself to make it stop, because it's all so goddamned repetitively endless, pointless, painful, and boring.
It's the same freaking complaint, week after week. Year after year. Morning, noon, evening, midnight, 3 a.m, and hey, it's morning again. No wonder anyone around you gets tired of it. I'm so tired of it that I can barely stand it.
(And yes, I'm taking various drugs in recent months, to little noticeable effect.)
You fucking want to kill yourself just because it's been decades, and it doesn't stop.
That you apparently wind up driving everyone away from you except people safely distant isn't a fun part, either.
Neither endless anhedonia.
I really do tend to rise up to comment here because otherwise I'd just kill myself. Talking helps. Otherwise I just tend to lie around and stare into space. Even reading, or watching movies/dvds/tv by myself just tends to make me go to sleep/depression/stare into space after about ten minutes.
Arguing or pointing something out is at least doing something. And it's not demanding, which also makes me stressed out of my mind, and panicky (panic disorder/anxiety is my other Thing -- as in, anything I should do that's required, or even useful, mostly).
So when I can, I get up and argue here, or try to point something out,because it keeps me alive. It's almost the only thing that does.
Fucked up, but true.
I was really ecstatically happy with the whole whole "being in love and reciprocated" thing again, for the first time in decades, but I should have known that wouldn't last.
I always did dread it. Which she'd say made it happen. And so it goes.
Depression is a poison that makes you hate yourself, want to give up on yourself and everything, that makes you see ending it all as a blessed relief, that makes you cry endlessly, that makes you hate yourself even more for feeling it, for engaging in it, for not being able to resist it, for not being able to somehow shrug it off. It makes you feel like a complete failure because it makes you fail so much.
It's really less fun than rumor has it out to be.
Posted by: Gary Farber | October 31, 2008 at 11:39 PM
Gary and wonkie: I'm so sorry. In Gary's case, especially given your foot: the one thing that normally works for me is, um, exercise...
Posted by: hilzoy | November 01, 2008 at 12:57 AM
It's just stupid brain chemicals making you feel despairing and in pain, day after day, week after week, month after month, decade after decade, until you just want to effing kill yourself to make it stop, because it's all so goddamned repetitively endless, pointless, painful, and boring.
That sounds about right.
Talking helps.
Talk away, my friend. I'm speaking for myself, but I'm sure I speak for others here when I say I'm sorry you're going through this, and I'm glad if anything I say or do is helpful at all.
I second hilzoy's comment about exercise, although your foot might get in the way in the short term.
wonkie, I'm really sorry to hear about Emily. But at least you know you made her life better.
On a lighter note:
Enough of this election nonsense. This, my friends, is how we should be deciding who holds national office!
Thanks -
Posted by: russell | November 01, 2008 at 07:36 AM
WHERE'S THE MONEY LEBOWSKI?
Posted by: The Kenosha Kid | November 01, 2008 at 12:41 PM
Wonkie - Sorry about Emily. Royal suckage.
Gary - Hang tough dude. I really do understand both the physical and circumstantial issues. Loneliness and breakups always make it harder.
Russell-Enough of this election nonsense. This, my friends, is how we should be deciding who holds national office!--Now how can I choose if I don't know if Biden can "Bust-a-Move". I mean com'on. He may have to take over one day.
Posted by: LKSB | November 01, 2008 at 03:10 PM
Gary, so sorry you are feeling so low. I to suffer from depression, but am much more fortunate in that drugs seem to work (most of the ) for me and I have my husband(he to suffers). I hope things improve for you, all round. Your(US) health care and disability systems suck so very much., Don't really encourage recovery do they?
Posted by: Debbie(aussie) | November 01, 2008 at 04:33 PM
Eric,
Haha, good costume. Nice to see some people still have an appreciation for the classics. What condition my condition was in...
Posted by: LT Nixon | November 01, 2008 at 06:06 PM
Dan Froomkin has a great article on the special little nightmares Bush and Cheney are trying to rush through at the 12th hour while everyone else is paying attention to the election.
Posted by: Andrew | November 02, 2008 at 12:20 PM
I went to a party as Zombie Lies, which is to say that I looked like this (which is from the next day), except that I had index cards all over my shirt reading "Obama is a Muslim", "Saddam had WMDs", "Tax cuts increase revenue", and so on. Sadly, I think only a minority of people got it, even after explanation. Not enough blog readers.
Posted by: KCinDC | November 02, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Funny KC, I looked like that the next day too!
Posted by: Eric Martin | November 03, 2008 at 10:19 AM