a description of the amazing and exciting adventures i have here in baltimore--- and other lies.

 
the last few days have been a fun halloween season.
saturday, the 26th octobre, hamden had its annual costume contest. most of the participants were children, under the age of twelve. there were a few adults, and some people tried to encourage me to parade with the 13+ crowd, but i declined. it was a great parade, with prizes in individual categories for: best, funniest, and most creative. some of the most creative ones were hamden in-jokes, but, no matter! this parade/contest is of, by and for the toothless people.
and, i was able to catalogue yet another moment of Pure Anger From Children.
i don't often encounter kids in my walkaday life, and when i do it is by and large pleasant ( at least, recently. my own childhood and having to take care of other peoples' children a while back are the opposite side of the coin). this last summer kayla hired me as a substitute teacher, to fill in for a guy who had been in a car accident. it was the last weeks of "smart kids camp", as i like to call it, and the guys were getting pretty restless. all good kids, no doubt, but i had forgotten how silly eleven year old girls can be. i mention this, because this was the beginning of my catalog. while i was tutoring the 10-11 year olds, i had them play a word game. well, it was beginning to get out of control, and i said to one of them," now, come on! settle down. you're getting wild, like the animals you are studying." well, i meant this as a joke, but one of them, cathy,
became irate, and, with the indignation only a 10 or 11 year old girl can have, looked at me, and said: I AM NOT AN ANIMAL! i know, for a fact, that she has never seen the elephant man, but john merrick ain't got nothin' on her!
so begins my list. but, i can add to it, because of this years hamden halloween happening. it seems one family is very creative, and also has a lock on the "most creative" prize given. and, to be fair, the costume was pretty good. however, this did not stop a random hamden girl, probably 10 or 11, from getting mad, probably because she felt cheated of a prize rightfully hers: I CAN'T BELIEVE HE WON AGAIN! HE WINS EVERY YEAR! spoken with so much rage, that i was glad i wasn't at the prom and she wasn't carrie!

on tuesday night, the man-who-wised-up-and-left-the-grasp-of-the-most-evil-person-in-the-planet, michael, had a pumkin carving party. i thought there would be others in costume. i was so wrong. however, i did have a good time carving a rather stark, masculine pumkin with viki's friend, bill. this made great contrast to the other pumkin, a rather fetching specimen. almost coquetish, if you can say that about a gourd.

wednesday was a breakaway from all hallow's eve, and erin and i went to muvico egyptian theatre. as is our wont, we bought tickets for sweet home alabama, then proceeded to sneak into red dragon, punch drunk love, and time changer. erin is worried that we will get caught one day. i live for the thrill.

and thursday was the night! had a good meal at cc's, contemplated how long it would take for cops to tire of the "hey you guys have cool cop costumes on" joke, went to see bowling for columbine, almost got into a fight getting a cab, going to fells point, freezing our nipples off, and getting home around 1am. all in all, a good time was had by all. i took alot of pictures, and should have them developed by the end of the week, if you want to see. now, i can begin to think about next year!
posted by gregorio at 8:07 PM