Some Houses, You Just Want To Avoid

Ghost Creature in the Moonlight

Mostly the product of a phone call with a vendor today.

Jawless Drooler

Gearing up for the Halloween stretch now. This was the first thing that popped into my head on the sticky note pad.

[the piX in the background was an eBay HR thing (people interexchange? (not as lame as RASCI the Process Weasel stuffed animals they handed out) a few years back. they gave us giant sticky note pads with piX on it that I am still working through.]

HallowTeen

Witness the neighborhood teen in his Halloween costume. A year ago, when he was 12, he had a proper costume on -- SpiderMan or similar. This year, a year older, a year cooler, out with his 13-year-old buddy, he was our first trick-or-treater.

His friend at least put on a white t-shirt and greased his hair back and called himself a 'greaser'. This guy had his middle school gym tshirt, a pair of jeans, a pillow case, and an air of entitlement.

My wife and I have long been upholders of the certain Halloween rules:

1. All trick-or-treaters must say "Trick or treat" and/or "Happy Halloween." "Hello" and "how are you" are nice but are not acceptable replacements for the real deal.

2. A trick-or-treater must demonstrate, if not creativity, the willingness to go beyond a goofy hat, or in this guy's case, the extremely ordinary. [Note: While in mid sentence here a group of 12 and 13 year olds arrived. 2 were held aside for claiming to be 'pimps' because one had a hat on with a feather. The 2nd one didn't even have a hat on. A young lady was held aside because she was claiming to be 'goth'. I asked her if she was 'goth' every day and she claimed she wasn't (though her friends disagreed).]

3. If a "Thank you" is not provided, they are provided a reminder.

A trick-or-treater failing Rule 2 may opt to do a trick in order to gain their treat. Tricks are evaluated, especially in the case of teens, on the ability for a teen to embarrass themselves in front of their peers. In the case of the 13-year-old, his 'greaser' friend showed me that he could move his eyebrows up and down independently. PASSED. The plain-guy borrowed his friend's bike, did some wheelies and proceeded to fall off the bike, twisting his friend's handlebars in the process. PASSED. [The pimp boys and the goth girl noted above performed cartwheels on the dewy grass.]

Memo to myself: distribute a 'rules of Halloween' throughout the neighborhood the weekend before Halloween next year (and probably get the house egged next Mischief Night as a result).

mcglinch-o-lanterns

We cut it close this year but spent our Mischief Night carving up the pumpkins. Usually we're done a week or two ahead of time but busy social, sports, and academic calendars kept us tied up down to the wire. I came out of jack-o-lantern retirement after several years and went right in for the kill -- foregoing the normal family procedure of drawing up a design on paper and then tediously transferring it by pushpin onto the pumpkin surface. This is usually followed by frustration of trying to figure out what needs to be cut and not cut.

[Side benefit of all the cutting, scooping, digging was that no one complained tonight about being cold and looks like I will finally reach my goal of not turning the heat on til after Halloween for the first time in about ten years.

Here's the finally family results via slideshow. Kick back, crack open a fine fall microbrew (I went with Victor Storm King Stout) and grab some toasted pumpkin seeds.

Dracula Outside the Mausoleum

Tiny sticky-note style Dracula outside the mausoleum after a night out on the town.

Witchie Poo

Saw in my site stats that someone had searched unsuccessfully for a witch. So here is a witch with apple a'la Snow White. Drew it in a darkened living room while watching some tube -- wishing I had gone darker around the gums and tongue -- it looked dark in the dark room. So turn off the lights.

Pumpkin Head

Pumpkin Head, originally uploaded by mcglinch.

Drew this at the last job but don't think I ever posted it and since it's costume month there you go.

Halloween Costume Safety

Make sure your costume is worn correctly: you may not be satisfied with the results of your trick-or-treating.

Trick or Treat?

The weather has finally turned October here in the Northeast. That's the best time to draw up costumes for Halloween. Is this wee fellow horrified or elated by what's in his sack?