2000-10-31 - 23:59

Little dead are out in droves

Cool, cool, cool Hallowe'en! I think that I stopped going out for Hallowe'en after I was 12; and this is the most that I've gotten into the holiday since then. I definitely had a blast.

All of my good Hallowe'en pictures are on my Jambalaya site (just follow the link to your left and work your way through). You really should check out the pics; because they complement this journal entry.

For starters, Maneesh and I got totally done up as Misfits before work. Around 7:00 AM (an early start for me, but much later than's Maneesh's usual mornings), we went at it. Tons of black hair spray, some gel, and gobs of white and black face makeup certainly did the trick. I was very happy with how well my devilock turned out.

Of course, I was the only person I knew at work who was at all done up for Hallowe'en. In fact, I only saw a few people all day with any costumes (and I work at a location with about 5000 employees).

I definitely got some great reactions; and all were positive. Mandeep had the biggest laugh of all . . . although he made sure to walk five steps apart from me when we went to the cafeteria at lunch. One of my favourite reactions was from Tim: "Before I came in today, I was wondering if anyone would dress up; but then I thought of you. I figured if anyone would, you'd be the guy."

That rocks, especially because I suspect that, over the years, most people who didn't know me very well saw me as quiet and boring and no-one very likely to do anything freaky (apart from having the long hair). Now it's expected of me . . . I like that. I really think that I'm having more fun as the years go by.

After a day of funny looks and reactions (I tell ya, the girls loved it), I made my way home. Scott and I made a quick run to the store for Hallowe'en treats (yeah, we waited for those last-minute deals); and it was just in time. After we got back, I gabbed to the neighbours for all of two minutes before the kids started arriving.

From then on, it was busy! Growing up in Lewis Lake, we'd see maybe 10 kids on Hallowe'en. Tonight, I think that we had 150. Pretty wild. I definitely had fun working the door, especially with my Misfits get-up. I find that fact funny, too; because I think that I've been often thought of as the more cold-hearted type, yet I'm the guy getting in watergun fights with the local kids and handing out the treats.

After Maneesh's recent declaration of love for Spiderman, Scott suggested that anyone in a Spiderman suit should get extra candy. He added his own choice that anyone still wearing a Ninja Turtles outfit would be rewarded; and I decided that anyone who either recognized the Misfits or any of my background music would get a bonus.

Sure enough, I was surprised when one girl said, "You like the Misfits, so you're cool." I called her back, so I could give her bonus loot. Very impressive.

Our second bonus time came late in the night. After a certain point, the kids suddenly stopped coming. Maneesh and I sat around for a while and Scott showed up. Finally I said that if anybody else came to the door, we should give them everything that we had left. Within 20 seconds of me saying that, the last pack of five kids arrived, so we told them to clean us out. They were psyched about that one!

I also used Hallowe'en as a tool for social observation. I gave out one bag of chips for every trick-or-treater and held out two bowls of candy and told them to pick something. The quiet, meek kids took one treat. The polite yet more aggressive kids either looked like they wanted more or asked for more; and I always told them to go ahead. The greedy kids just grabbed a handful.

So, the greedy people ended up with the most, those with a little drive did okay, and the meek ended up with the least. I'm going to have to think about the implications of that one . . . The only catch is that the one time that I really got swarmed at the bowls, I didn't give out any chips; so I guess that the greedy don't always win.

Through the night of talking with Scott and Maneesh (Aaron and Adeline seemed uninterested in the whole Hallowe'en gig tonight), I came up with some good plans for future Hallowe'ens.

My first idea related to our bonus system. I thought that if anyone met our criteria, we should just end it. When the first guy walks up in a Spiderman outfit, I dump both bowls in his sack, blow out the candle on the jack-o-lantern, close the door, and leave him and his friends wondering what the hell happened.

Then I figured that, while that's a good bit; it kills Hallowe'en for a year. So, my refinement is something that I may apply next year. I buy everything as normal; but I add an extra grab bag of treats and set it aside. (The 5 dollar bag got you a bowlful tonight.) Then, I'll just pick one kid out of a pack, say "You're the one" and empty the bonus bag in his sack. That's a perfect plan, as long as I don't pick the smallest kid, who would simply get beaten up by his friends as soon as I turned away.

I also thought that it'd be funny to do the opposite and pick one kid out of a pack and skip giving him candy for no reason and with no explanation, just to see the reaction. However, I'm not actually mean enough to try that one. (I'm just mean enough to find the idea funny.)

All in all, it was definitely a fun day; both at work and at home. I went to a hockey game on Hallowe'en night in '98 and last year, we weren't in a Hallowe'en-type area in Halifax. So, since I've been out on my own; this is the first year that I was on the giving end of Hallowe'en.

And it was pretty fun :)

(Oh, if you still haven't looked at the pictures yet, hammer down.

J.