It's Halloween!

I'll preface this by making an assertion which I have no intention of supporting in anything resembling a comprehensive fashion as I would be expected to in any FLA assignment. Halloween is definitely the best holiday ever. Just a few hours ago I walked into downtown to witness the annual "thriller parade." Essentially, a horde of choreographed people in zombie costumes parade down main street dancing to thriller. It just doesn't get any better than fake blood and guts grooving to classic pop music. Not that the Halloween spirit is a purely off-campus sort of a thing. Students were allowed and advocated to wear costumes to class on Friday; and while not overwhelmingly taken advantage of, I do appreciate the levity of the idea, as well as of those who participated. Also, some of the costumes I've seen around this weekend have been truly well done, like a Beethoven costume I saw someone dressed up in on their way to a sorority "Boo Ball."

More than just ghouls and goblins, I've certainly had an interesting weekend. Friday I had my second Calculus exam, which went went well, and after that, I was relieved to look forward to a great prospective weekend. I only have a final copy for a paper (already mostly finished) due Monday, and I told myself how much I would enjoy the experience of what I was about to embark on. Some readers may be familiar with the political satirists Stephen Colbert and John Stewart. The more stalwart fans among you may recall that these two hosted a "rally to restore sanity," and a, "march to keep fear alive" this Saturday, in Washington D.C. As insane as it sounds, I was planning on being in attendance.

Two fraternity pledge brother and I loaded up the car to head out Friday after our last classes. Everything was going great, we felt good and enthused, until about thirty minutes north of Charleston West Virginia. Here I would like to pause and do something I generally try to avoid: give advice. Never, ever, ever, stop paying attention on West Virginia roads, even interstates, not that the interstates really feel as such. Sparing any of the details, the car (I was not driving) wrecked and was inoperable as far as a continued drive to DC. Thankfully, no one was injured in the accident, but still, sometimes things just don't pan out like planned.

The important part of this, I suppose, is to note that if I had to be in a car accident, I don't think I could pick two better companions. We ended up spending the night in West Virginia and returning to Transy the next day; and I wouldn't ask to be stuck in the middle of nowhere in West Virginia with anyone else. Which is cool, cool to note how big of a deal friends are, and how amazing and supportive peers really can be, especially in this stage of initial independence in life. Also, at least I got to come back to Lexington to see the Thriller Parade, very important that.

To end on a lighter note, my fraternity pledge class recently went through the process by which we receive "big brothers." Basically mentors, big brothers act to teach and support pledges and later members by showing them what it means to succeed in the fraternity, socially, academically, etc. Also, beyond the functional aspect, they are generally people with whom one has a special connection, and are overwhelmingly, by some strange phenomenon, amazing people. I am proud of and happy with my big brother; and am even more excited to continue to get to know him as well as all of the other fraternity brothers.

So, to summarize, Halloween is awesome, don't wreck in West Virginia, if you DO wreck in West Virginia, try to take something meaningful out of it, and big brothers are cool. If you can pull a cohesive theme and message out of all of that, then you are a more effective analyst than I am, congratulations. But these are some of the things affecting me now in this Halloween season; and whether the good or the bad, I'm loving it.