Idiosycratic Life

Happy Halloween! I hope the Great Pumpkin was good to all of you. :)

When I was very little, younger than 5 because we still lived at the house on State Street, my mom and dad took Manda and me to Roots a fwe days before Halloween. We got some gourds (the kind that look like very small pumpkins), and when we got home, we "planted" them in our garden. (My dad had this awesome vegetable garden- he grew all kinds of stuff, and he also had four or five fruit trees and a grapevine. Knowing what I know now, as I am just now learning how to take care of houseplants, I'm amazed at the amount of effort that took) a few hours later, the "Great Pumpkin" had come and turned our little pumpkins into big, jack-o-lantern sized pumpkins which we then carved. We got to go out in our pjs with flashlights to see if he had come yet, which of course he had. This sounds lame now, but I was far more excited about that I ever was about the Easter Bunny.

I covered a Halloween party tonight for the Hiami Merald, although I am a little bummed that I didn't get to answer the door and wear my cool leather mask. As you know, my only friends in my apartment complex are 10, 11 and 12ish, so I was really looking forward to it. Not enough to turn down a shift, but still....

The party was held at the YMCA. It was fun, although I have to say it's strange to be somewhere where it's so freakin' hot for Halloween. I can not believe it's November. I never realized how much the changing of the seasons affects my sense of time until I moved to Miami. If you were to wake me up in the middle of the night or catch me off guard, I would probably say it's still the end of July if you asked me what month it is.

While I was at this party, I photographed a group of boys playing together. There were about 10 Spidermans all playing tag with a few ninjas, 2 Supermans and a Batman. At one point, a couple of Spidermans (approximately age 7) had a little spat with Batman. (Batman seemed to have a little bit of an attitude problem, frankly.) So I had to call Stephen and ask if, in comic book history, Batman has ever gotten into an argument with Spiderman. He, of course, knew exactly when and in what graphic novel and who drew it, and he told me that they finally made up when they had to join together to defeat the Joker for the good of humanity. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) one of the ninjas skinned a knee, and everyone turned their attention away from Batman, who I really think just missed his afterschool Ritalin.

By the way, if you are ever faced with ten 7-year-old Spidermans, and one of them pretends to shoot a web at you- DO NOT; I repeat, DO. NOT. fling yourself against the fence behind you and pretend to be stuck. They will think this is hilarious, yes, but then they will all shoot webs at you and be very cross when you eventually have to "unwind" yourself and go back to work.

It was pretty cute, though, when they pulled off their masks after they all got overheated from running around. Of the five (unmasked) 7-year-old Spidermans, every single one of them appeared to be of a different ethnicity. Hee! Spiderman, a superhero for all cultures.

Oh, and if the fact that the closest thing I got to wearing a costume involved tying my orange bandanna over the Horrible Haircut wasn't enough to make me feel old, the fact that I got called "Senora" twice- TWICE!- tonight really hit that point home. (Culturally, one stays "Senorita" for about 5 or more years after one could expect to be called "Miss.") And I thought being called "Ma'am" was bad....