Santa Cruz Halloween Report 07

Not much to say this year, unfortunately. I'm sorry to say that I almost didn't go out. I didn't even carve a pumpkin. As a bit of a last-minute plan, I went trick-or-treating at the mall. A lot of places were already out of candy by the time I got there, but I managed to get quite a few goodies. A couple places were giving out stickers and coupons. One of these years, I'm going to look into buying little toys to give away. I know there are catalogs like Oriental Trading where you can buy little trinkets by the gross, so it could be a viable alternative to giving away candy, but you'd have to order well in advance.

Anyway, while I was hoping to take pictures of cool costumes downtown with my cellphone like I did at Comic Con, that didn't happen since I didn't go there. I did take some pictures at the mall, though. Some were good, but most were clearly store-bought. Most of the adults didn't wear costumes, or at least not complete ones, but one guy was dressed like a colonial. It looked good, but I didn't take a picture of it since I figured you could probably rent a costume like that. It doesn't matter what you wear as long as you enjoy wearing it, but if you didn't make it yourself or have it custom-made it doesn't count as a "good costume" in my book.

Me? I kinda half-assed it myself. I wore the Kankuro costume I wore to comic con, but I didn't feel like wearing the make-up so went as a T-Shirt Kankuro, which is what Kankuro would be if he were a T-shirt ninja. To make a T-shirt ninja, just wear a black (or white, for snow-ninjas) T-shirt over your head like a hood so your eyes are visible through the neck and tie the sleeves behind your head. Viola! T-shirt ninja! It took some adjustments to keep my glasses from getting fogged up, though. A couple people recognized me as a Sand Ninja, though. The first was what I assumed was the manager at Lens Crafters. After his employee asked what I was supposed to be, he started laughing and saying, "He's a Sand Ninja! From Naruto. He's a Sand Ninja." Weird thing is, this guy was, like, middle aged and Latin. I'm guessing he caught an episode with his kids. I don't blame him for not knowing the character's name. I had to look it up on-line myself. The other person was a guy who I took a picture of. I showed him the picture, and he said, "Thank you, Sand Shinobi," and I bowed to him.

Since I only took four pictures, I will show them to you in order from crappiest to best.

1. The first one defies single-term description. Also, I took it sideways and uploaded it direct from my phone, so you may have to tilt your head. I took this at the bus stop outside the mall. If you can't tell, he's got on a jester cap, a Spider-Man shirt, Pikachu pants, a Peace-Sign medallion, and, uh... Gorilla boots or something. I can't tell from the picture, and I can't remember. This is number one because I'm sure it's intentionally crappy.
2. Monkey on a leash. Undoubtedly store bought, since this was one of three in the vicinity when I took it. Number two because it's so cute. Wish it came out better, though.
3. Rubik's Cube. Number three because it's clearly home-made, but I'm pretty sure you can find instructions on-line or in a magazine. It's a simple design, but I can't prove they didn't think of it themselves.
4. Tamagotchis. Tama. Freakin'. Gotchis. Somebody loves cosplay. And Tamagotchis. Probably the kids, since their parents weren't wearing costumes, but I wouldn't rule out Münchhausen-cosplay syndrome by proxy. Those are some sweet costumes.
   

So, that's my Halloween. Not the best, but those Tamagotchis certainly made up for it. So, how was your Halloween?





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