Happy Halloween!

Halloween hasn't been much of a big deal for me since middle school, back when I was more prone to begging door-to-door for candy, ambushing hapless fellow trick-or-treaters with Super Soakers, and other such juvenile pasttimes.  But tonight I proved I could still get in the spirit of things, albeit after a run, nap, and an early snack. 

My friend wanted to carve pumpkins; I wasn't exactly in the mood, but after a little prodding decided to go along.  While he set about carving a particularly nasty looking jack-o-lantern (at right), I puzzled over designs for mine.  Nothing particularly appealing came to mind and my eyes kept wandering over to the football game on the 46'' (small, I know, but I can't convince my parents otherwise) flatscreen in the living room.  Cal Berkeley was playing Arizona State, and it would come down to a nail-biting 23-21 Cal victory. 

As I watched, I realized the flowing "Cal" script would be perfect for a pumpkin, if only I could carve it.  Then, as the game progressed and the Bears looked about to lose 21-20, I thought carving "Cal" might not be such a great idea.  Finally, Giorgio Tavecchio chipped in an easy (relative term here, since he missed an earlier one) field goal to cinch the final, but for a while it was a near thing.  Tempe was going wild. 

I was watching the whole time, afraid I'd have to scrap my idea and carve yet another cliched menacing jack-o-lantern.  But the instant Cal declined both ASU penalties as time ran out, I leapt into action, furiously sketching an approximate outline before laboriously carving my creation. 

The result wasn't exactly aesthetically pleasing in daylight, but once the sun set and after we lit some candles inside the thing positively glowed.  Facebook responded positively (mostly) to uploaded photos of it (several diehard Stanford friends were unsurprisingly rather disparaging), so I feel those were two hours well-spent. 

Happy Halloween! 

 - ManEatingBadger -