Greetings from Irvine, California, USA!
Photo taken on Thursday, October 30, 2008.
“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” If you’re unfamiliar with this quote, I’d understand. If you’re unfamiliar with the cast of Snoopy, Woodstock, et. al. in Charles Schulz’s classic comic strip “Peanuts”, I’d assume that you live in isolation. My weekly photo shows the Great Park Balloon, its round and orange surface ideal for a jack-o-lantern face. Peeking over the hills that surround its flight pad, the balloon instantly reminded me of Peanuts’ Great Pumpkin, a Santa Claus-like character, who Linus Van Pelt would wax poetic about every Halloween.
My photo was taken on the eve of Halloween AKA All Hallows Eve, which precedes All Saints Day, which in turn precedes All Souls Day. The three occasions have religious origins but for most people, it’s all about becoming someone else for a day. For kids, it’s about the candy too. I had a couple of parties on Halloween but no new costume. Instead I went with an old favorite, Clark Kent, Superman’s secret identity. Essentially I wore a suit with the tie and dress shirt undone to reveal the blue Superman “S” shirt underneath. I also had a “press pass” for his job as a reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper.
My first stop was Park Newport Apartments, which has hosted a costumed party for the past several years. One friend was hosting a pre-party but I never made it to her place, as parking was impossible. Even worse, clearly present were police to issue parking tickets and tow trucks to haul cars away if necessary. I was already tight on time and decided to go directly to my other stop of the night.
The second party was at a rented house where 4 or 5 guys lived. One of them had the interesting idea of each roommate dressing as Tom Cruise’s character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from different scenes of his favorite movie Top Gun but they did not all participate. The evening’s highlight was when the neighbors came home. A woman popped her head over the backyard fence to check out the party. A short conversation later, the festivities moved next door. Needless to say, I had fun.
The following night I went to a Red Egg & Cabbage banquet, a traditional dinner celebration in China to welcome newborn children. A cousin’s wife is Chinese and gave birth in late July to triplets (!!!) – one daughter and two sons. She claims no fertility drug use though eagerly wanted a child born on 08/08/08 as number “8” is lucky in China. If pregnant with one baby, she would have hit the date. But multiples almost never go the full nine months and she came a few weeks early. As to when I will have kids as well as get married, I quote an exasperated Charlie Brown in answering with “Good grief!”
Angelo
Photo taken on Thursday, October 30, 2008.
“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” If you’re unfamiliar with this quote, I’d understand. If you’re unfamiliar with the cast of Snoopy, Woodstock, et. al. in Charles Schulz’s classic comic strip “Peanuts”, I’d assume that you live in isolation. My weekly photo shows the Great Park Balloon, its round and orange surface ideal for a jack-o-lantern face. Peeking over the hills that surround its flight pad, the balloon instantly reminded me of Peanuts’ Great Pumpkin, a Santa Claus-like character, who Linus Van Pelt would wax poetic about every Halloween.
My photo was taken on the eve of Halloween AKA All Hallows Eve, which precedes All Saints Day, which in turn precedes All Souls Day. The three occasions have religious origins but for most people, it’s all about becoming someone else for a day. For kids, it’s about the candy too. I had a couple of parties on Halloween but no new costume. Instead I went with an old favorite, Clark Kent, Superman’s secret identity. Essentially I wore a suit with the tie and dress shirt undone to reveal the blue Superman “S” shirt underneath. I also had a “press pass” for his job as a reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper.
My first stop was Park Newport Apartments, which has hosted a costumed party for the past several years. One friend was hosting a pre-party but I never made it to her place, as parking was impossible. Even worse, clearly present were police to issue parking tickets and tow trucks to haul cars away if necessary. I was already tight on time and decided to go directly to my other stop of the night.
The second party was at a rented house where 4 or 5 guys lived. One of them had the interesting idea of each roommate dressing as Tom Cruise’s character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from different scenes of his favorite movie Top Gun but they did not all participate. The evening’s highlight was when the neighbors came home. A woman popped her head over the backyard fence to check out the party. A short conversation later, the festivities moved next door. Needless to say, I had fun.
The following night I went to a Red Egg & Cabbage banquet, a traditional dinner celebration in China to welcome newborn children. A cousin’s wife is Chinese and gave birth in late July to triplets (!!!) – one daughter and two sons. She claims no fertility drug use though eagerly wanted a child born on 08/08/08 as number “8” is lucky in China. If pregnant with one baby, she would have hit the date. But multiples almost never go the full nine months and she came a few weeks early. As to when I will have kids as well as get married, I quote an exasperated Charlie Brown in answering with “Good grief!”
Angelo
