Halloweens, past and present

For as far back as I have digital photos...

2002 (Paris)
Abbey and I "invested" in one pumpkin, and used every last bit of it. We also attended a Catholic anti-halloween "Holy Wins" party. (It sounds the same in French.) Things I learned: Never ever let someone lead you in "rock-a-quatre-temps", and no one notices if you dress in all-black if you live in Paris.

2003 (Pomona)
Wendy and I dressed up and went to Trader Joe's for party supplies; we had a halloween party that evening with John, Abbey, and Abbey's french boyfriend, Alain. I don't remember what Ab and Alain dressed up as, but I was a Thing That Goes Bump In The Night (think old scottish prayer), as was John, and Wendy was a cat. I later admired John's pumkin carving from that night, which got grouchier with age.

2004 (Sweden)
My friends Anna and Timon joined John and me for a halloween party at my apartment. We took a trip on the bus to ICA to get pumpkins, all dressed up, and then came back and celebrated with cider and pumpkin pie and general merriment. I was a 3D model (think Silo), as was John, Anna was a leprechaun, and Timon was a pirate.

2006 (Everett) - Part 1
My dad and his girlfriend JJ came up to the house in Everett for some pumpkin carving. We had a fall-themed dinner with baked potatoes, asparagus with a mushroom sauce, butternut squash, and apple cider. It was the first time JJ had ever carved a pumpkin, and she said it felt like coming full-circle--she moved to the States right around Halloween and thinks of jack-o-lantern as more American than the 4th of July.

2006 (Everett) - Part 2
Jenni came over and we dressed up to hand out candy. Unfortunately, we were caught up in watching Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events", so we missed the doorbell when trick-or-treaters came. I saw some leaving, though. Jenni was a ninja and had super ninja skills. I was a VFD linguist and studied French from a picture book. (This is the "modern" version of my costume.) We also met up with Tom and John to celebrate, and they were very excited to see Jenni's Animal Crossing town on her pink DS via the ichat video connection.

This presentation has been sponsored by Coke.