Halloween was last Wednesday. I didn't dress up...but there were many people who did.

In the US, Halloween is a BIG thing. shops have decorations for Halloween and costume and thrift shops really thrive during this period. people take days, weeks and sometimes even months to design and do up their costumes.

In Chapel Hill, the town closes off the largest street downtown and it turns into a giant Halloween party. about 75,000 people, including students, residents, out-of-staters and people from all over North Carolina, turn up. i was told that after 11pm the place becomes crazy and that i shouldn't expect to leave with every single person in the group i come with cos the place is so crowded. so me being me, i vowed to leave franklin street before 11pm.

while walking to franklin street, we could already see drunk people staggering around and paramedics attending to a guy who had already passed out. even before stepping onto the street, the strong smell of alcohol hits me. fortunately, it was about 9.45pm so the place wasn't so crowded yet.

most people were dressed up. cope lined the street. beside many groups of them were bins of confiscated alcohol, plastic knives, a random triton and any other potentially harmful objects (real or fake).

at franklin street, i was given a taste of the best of human creativity and lack thereof. imaginations really soared here. i saw a group of tetris bricks and tons of spongebob squarepants and harry potters. there were also of course some really distasteful getups like a pregnant britney spears, etc. (I shall not elaborate).

you might ask, what did i do at franklin. i asked the same question to friends before i went. the answer. just walked back and forth. really. thats what they do. walk back and forth to show off their costume or comment on others. if you want your costume commented on, 2 extremes, either make your props so huge people cannot walk past without seeing them, or wear as little as possible so that people cannot walk past without seeing them or it or whatever.

it was a new experience. not something i would want to experience again unless i have nothing to do that night. but it was an experience. not sure what to make of it though other than the fact that this festival seems so hollow and meaningless to me.