The Hunt For Red Octo-"Beer"

Aah October!!! The only month of the year were you can catch an MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA game all in one day (okay, it maybe pre-season NBA but still you get to see Derrick Rose finally play). This is the month of Halloween where people get creative and actually gets the opportunity to be who they are (at least dress like it) without looking like an idiot and not getting arrested for it (well, you can still look like an idiot but nobody really cares). And every now and then you would already hear a Christmas tune on the radio from jocks who are trying to escape playing overly-requested songs.

There is too much going on in October. For most companies, this is the month to push last quarter sales in and get their products shipped before the Holidays. Openings for temp jobs rise significantly high at this time because of the need to fill out the “scarers” for Halloween theme parks as well as the staff for Best Buy’s Black Friday extravaganza. Recruitment for Santa’s little elves and reindeers also commence this month and except for the OCDs who plan the year before, it is also the month when your Mom starts designating what food your relatives need to bring for Thanksgiving. But the most important thing for this month (at least to me and to all the boozers around the world) is the celebration of Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest is the world’s largest fair held annually in Bavaria, Germany. What makes this 16-day festival attractive to the likes of me is the idea of consuming large quantities of beer for more than 2 weeks.  I have not been to Munich nor am I German either, although rumor has it that we have German roots because our last name Robel was allegedly derived from Wrobleski.  It probably would’ve explained my natural desire for alcohol except that I am inclined to believe that I got it from my mother side (what with all the boozer cousins I have from that end) and not the supposedly German side of the family. Okay, it’s probably bogus altogether but I love my beer nevertheless. Now growing up Filipino, I am actually clueless of what Oktoberfest was until I saw a banner outside a bar that says it and heard a drunk dude saying “Its Oktoberfest man! Time to get wasted!” It actually summed up pretty much what I needed to know about such event in such short context.

October usually jumpstarts what would become the rest of my year. And in the good ole days (man am I getting old or what?), it would be the baddest, craziest, most unpredictable and highly intoxicating 90-day period for me. Nowadays, you can call Monday Night Football with an ice cold Bud Light Crown as an awesome night. The hunt for parties to crash or bars to conquer has tamed, way tamed. But whether your watching the Dodgers make their run towards the World Series, or witnessing restive Freddy Krueger-masked freaks (or worst smelling drunk Santa roaming around already), October signals the start of a lot of festivities. People are hustling and slacking is at its lowest during this time of the year. And though I know my first post for the month is already a little into the 2^nd week (slacking haha), it wouldn’t surprise me if everybody else have started making their Holiday list or somewhat business-wrapping up the year productively and strong. Time to smell the drop of temperature in the air and would someone please wake up Green Day already??