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one of those days, another 18 hour work schedule. i woke up at 9am this morning and have been working ever since. it didn't help that the weather outside was gorgeous, 70 degrees. i can always tell when i've worked too much (besides my brain turning into mush): there's one particularly large blood vessel in my eye that always pops when i go overtime. i did take a quick break in the afternoon, rode down to the neighborhood target to stock up on candy, shoulder to shoulder with other folks getting some last minute treats for the kids. i was surprised to see that a lot of the stock was already replaced by christmas chocolates, and the stuff that was left wasn't even on sale.

in the evening i had my first trick-or-treater, a polite little girl dressed like a zombie/vampire hybrid, whom after i gave her some candy, held up a little box and asked if i wanted to donate to UNICEF. i looked at her mother standing on the sidewalk. "no," i said. in all only 5 kids came around: 2 more girls dressed like punk rockers (although one of them said she was also a dog, which i just smiled and didn't ask anymore questions), and 2 middle school boys - oscar the grouch and a boy wearing a fez carrying a plastic axe who said he was an "identity crisis."

later, when i brought jawei out to see all the excitement, i discovered where all the kids were going: a few of the neighborhood side streets were converted into massive haunted communities. being that we're in cambridge, things had a political slant to them naturally; i'm sure the kids didn't care, they just wanted candy, but parents could appreciate the biting satire. there were references to gore/bush, supreme court nominees, as well as the war in iraq. the costumes spanned the whole spectrum of designs, from retro-hand-me-downs (teenage mutant ninja turtles? that's so 90's), to more recent favorites like characters from the incredibles. and what would halloween be like without girls in slutwear? i saw some bad santas, it's nice to see the tradition starting early. afterwards we went to star market to get a bit of groceries (all the halloween food were already on the liquidation table when you first walk in) before returning home.

i probably won't be sleeping until 4am or so. it's going to be a long night unfortunately.