first one of the night

last year's count: 120
this year's count, so far 1

I think we're getting a slightly earlier start this year.

a brief lull

32 so far, and the street has taken on the air of a block party. The neighborhood has begun to buzz... and so have I. I suppose it doesn't help that I've been dipping into the candy.

one hundred

Number 100, at 7:00, was a face-painted skeleton.

costume trends

123 kids so far, with half an hour to go before things usually die down to just the surly teenagers with no costumes. I was expecting the profusion of firefighters, but I confess the number of soldiers took me somewhat by surprise.

it's a wrap

after 140 kids, I'm tired of waiting downstairs for more. It's been 10 minutes since the last one anyway. You wants more candy, you'll just have to wait for me to come down to give it to you.

well, that was surreal

I went over to check out the neighbor's place -- the one that's always decorated to the hilt. There was a TV crew there, conducting an interview... in Catalan.