Halloween!

Back in NZ, I was pretty annoyed with kids coming around trick-or-treating on Halloween nights, just because it was so American culture, and I always thought "ohhh you do that here too??". Another problem was the inconsistency of trick-or-treaters each year. I remember one year when few groups of kids came around demanding sweets and I didn't have any. I felt sorry, and somehow really old (by not getting into that festive spirit). So the year after that, I remembered this incident and bought quite a few packets of sweets and was ready to spread the joy of free sweets & candies and add to the growing epidemic of child obesity. And guess what happened. NO ONE CAME TRICK-OR-TREATING THAT YEAR!! So in the end I ended up eating everything myself - not a really bad karma, but eating too much chocolate usually brings about that "omg look at my thighs" worry..
Now that I'm really in the US, I am kinda looking forward to what it is really like here. People are certainly more enthusiastic about decorating their houses here, few houses on the way to Siebel Center from my apartment have funny Halloween theme-ed deco on the porch and front garden. Siebel Center for one has variety of of pumpkin lanterns (Ironman-o-lantern and Linux-o-lantern) carved and displayed here and there, and many of the professors have "Boo~~" with a ghost picture stuck on their office doors.
I heard a lot about parties and crazy costumes students wear here (not just for the party, but for the day!), so I might have my camera ready for that tomorrow. Although, there is a looming scare of someone leaving a threatening note in the uni toilet saying that he is going to shoot someone on Green street on Halloween night. I think I'll avoid going there tomorrow, just to err on the safe side. Oh wow.. my first gun-related scare in the US... but the fact is, there is a pawn shop less than 100m from CS building where it advertises "GUNS" on the sign. I'm pretty sure I can just walk in and buy one without too much hassle. not that I ever want to.
Oh well, fun is fun, but I better get back to studying for yet another exam next week ;)