Happy Halloween!

I really like the creativity we get to see and take part in every Halloween. Getting all dressed up in fun homemade clothes is totally what it's all about. Since our kids have been getting involved, we've had Houston be Darth Vader, Spiderman, and now a fireman. Katrina is just getting into the costumes, so she wanted to be Tinkerbell. Whom she adorably calls Twinkerbell. Awwww, Twinkerbell!

This year i made a costume for myself! Yeah! I took my helmet, taped four antennae to it, pointed mostly backwards, on as close to equidistant upon a diameter of the spheroid perpendicular to "forward" as i would be walking. Then i covered the helmet with tin foil. Any guesses as to what i was? Anyone? YES!!! I was Sputnik!!! With Zane being a Saturn V rocket, we were like space race twins. Sputnik started the space race, and Saturn V kind of ended it in a typically American way, by utterly destroying any chance anyone else would have of building anything bigger or more powerful. It remains a record holder in all the macho chest thumping categories, like, you know, length, payload... thrust. How American.

Anyway, i was eager to wear my costume to see who recognized it. Eric, my brother-in-law, instantly knew what i was. Ashley got it. Karen got it just from my description, although she'd heard me mention the idea before, she says. But NOBODY ELSE got it! Even with big hints. I told a group of kids "I'm Sputnik!!!" and they walked by hurriedly, avoiding eye contact. I told the kids at The Really Scary House Which Gives Out Full Sized Candy Bars (doesn't every neighborhood have one?) to guess what i was. "Alien!" they gushed, "Robot!" so i was like... no. "Space ship!" they enthused. Close. "Probe?" they queried. I said "Sputnik!" and they looked nonplussed. "The first artificial satellite? Soviet Russia? Grapefruit sized? Mid fifties?" Nope. Never heard of it. One lady nearly destroyed all hopes i have in humanity by being about fifty, and saying "Sputnik? Who's that?" and then when i told her, she said "Well, I'm kind of old for that..." Um, lady, you were around for the whole space race thing, i'm pretty sure.

Anyway, one guy said "Oh yeah, it's Sputnik's fifty year anniversary!" and i was like "Totally." And Karen's dad is quite the knowledgeable guy, and helped out other guessers: "Think 1957." Smarty pants.

Trick or treating was marred by rain, and the fact that Zane combined being heavy with flinging himself backwards and sideways every couple seconds trying to reach his candy. My biceps still hurt. But it was still super fun. And as i get older, i don't get as excited about sweets. The first to go was ice cream. I could probably never eat ice cream again and be totally fine. I never EVER drink sugar filled pop anymore. Now it's candy. I can tolerate a couple "fun sized" bars, but they i feel simply done. Weird.

We're planning next year's costumes already. Karen had the idea of making an alligator looking like it's eating Katrina -- maybe her feet could be the alligator's front legs, and the rest of the animal could trail behind. Maybe with prosthetic Katrina-like legs poking out of the mouth too? Whatever happens, i'm sure it will be awesome.

Katrina did help out that idea by saying that next year she wanted to be a crocodile. Or a tree.
-- karen - 31 October '07 - 22:03

Quote:
“...took my helmet, taped four antennae to it, pointed mostly backwards, on as close to equidistant upon a diameter of the spheroid…”

OK — that is the point where I figured that you were going as Sputnik 1. (and your picture had not yet begun to download.)
My so smart. =)

However, now that I have seen the photo, I think I would have guessed alien or robot.

And I believe Sputnik wasn’t grapefruit sized, but almost 2 feet in diameter.

http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/displ..

But you still get the award for 2nd best costume this year, behind Zane. =)
-- bread - 01 November '07 - 11:36

Yeah, the helmet is obviously not round enough to trigger the sphere response in people. So i understand. But i’m totally impressed that you got “Sputnik 1” from my clumsy description. Of course… you are an engineer…
-- juanito (Email) (URL) - 01 November '07 - 23:14

My first that when I saw the pic was that you were dressing up as Daft Punk.
-- Dave Blakeslee - 02 November '07 - 06:16

Maybe your body threw people off… if only you could have made your body invisible!

If anyone I know can figure out how to do that, I’m sure it would be you.
-- Steve - 03 November '07 - 04:01

Well, Dave, Daft Punk did do around the world, around the world RIMSHOT!!!
-- juanito - 04 November '07 - 00:20

You have to answer this silly question because it keeps spammers off my site:
What are the last three letters of Juanito's name?
What's the last three letters of Juanito's name?  

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