Lots of people reflect on their favorite days of the year fondly. And to me, Halloween is no different. It represents the last chance of sanity before the nightmares that happen for the rest of the year. I associate Thanksgiving with isolation and starvation. To me, Christmas represents despair. And worst of all is Valentine's Day, which I associate with death.

But Halloween is here and on this joyous occasion, I can partake in my favorite thing of all: being someone I am not for a day of the year is enticing. I am always eager to make use of different costumes to assume someone I am not. This year is special. Normally I go as some last minute costume of which I am not too fond of. However, this year was different.

I discovered while looking at villains to go as for Halloween, that I had all the components for Giovanni from Pokemon. A sewn-on "R" later and I had a complete costume that looked really good. Another part of Halloween that I love is behaving like the character I am wearing the costume of. This year, I am acting like the Pokemon Boss of crime. He created Mewtwo and that gives him the right to a huge ego - a personality trait I embody even when not in costume.

Halloween also represents a day where I can talk about my hobbies freely. As a Dark Fantasy Writer, it is not often that I can casually mention the topics I write about. Some of them are not appropriate even on Halloween of course, but others are fair game. Magic, intrigue, and character building are all fair conversation topics on a day where everyone is in costume.

In addition, talking about mythological creatures such as Vampires, Succubi, Werewolves, Liches, and other frightening creatures of myth is OK. Indeed, one of my favorite past times at costume parties, in general, is to try and guess costumes of the others around me. Even when I guess wrong, I get to learn something new. I have discovered shows worth watching and books to read simply because a costume intrigued me enough to learn more about it.

Halloween is my favorite day of the year and I cannot state it more if I tried. It is the final bastion of hope for me before the pain and misery that Thanksgiving brings starting in November. Halloween also is the final vanguard against Christmas as its insanity-inducing music. It's only another 365 days 'til the next Halloween and I am already planning my next costume for the occasion.