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So last night was San Francisco's official holiday, Halloween.

I went costume shopping earlier in the day with two friends from the east coast, and they were both talking about how funny it is that it's such a big deal over here. Like, it's not just for kids, Everyone, all ages, gets dressed up and goes out on the town, parties, trick-or-treats, whatever. People get really into their costumes, whole scenes are created out of Halloween events, etc. Probably 7 out of 10 bay areans would say that Halloween was their favorite holiday. To which Noah said, "The fact that Halloween is more popular here than Christmas would prove to the fundamentalists that all San Franciscans are devil-worshippers." Hey, no problem, man, give me a pitchfork, I'm going to town.

We ended up going to the Castro (speaking of halloween events becoming scenes...). The deal with the Castro, if there are those of you who haven't heard of it: The Castro is the infamous semi-unofficial (a huge rainbow flag waves in the breeze at the head of Castro St.) gay district of San Francisco, and every Halloween they close off the streets and have a HUGINORMOUS block party. I mean, thousands and thousands of people go every year. There are multiple stages, costumed people hanging off balconies, publicity stunts (there was one guy carrying a long mirror with white powder and fake dollar bills all over it saying "Support the CIA? Buy crack!"), drag queen cheerleader squads, you name it. You will find outlandish costumes, clever costumes, and couches in the street. I wish I had some pictures, but I bet you there are already plenty on the net by now.

Me, Alex, Noah, and Lauren met up with this girl that Alex has been seeing, T, and her big group of friends at her house. We took Muni there, and walking the two blocks to the entrance of the Castro took an hour. It wasn't that it was that crowded; there were a lot of people, but it was mobile. I mean, we weren't in it yet. It was that there were twenty of us, and they were insistent on All of us staying together At All Times. So when somebody had to pee, we had to wait. And when somebody wandered off (inevitable), we had to wait. We'd walk for five minutes and wait for ten minutes. It was just too many people to try and keep us all together in a crowd. Alex was rolling and cuddling with T, so he didn't care, but for Lauren, Noah, and I, it just got boring and annoying to have to stop and wait so much. And we didn't not get along with the others, we just didn't hit it off. So finally we got to the entrance, and it was already late (like, I had to go to class this morning, Noah was getting tired), and we just kinda decided to go back. The three of us split off from the huge group and made it back to Muni in fifteen minutes. And as we were going down the stairs to the platform, our train left. So we waited twenty minutes for the next train, by which time Alex, T & co. caught up and we went back together. We ended up getting back to T's place, and my car, at about 2.

Now don't get me wrong--we actually managed to have a good time. There were just a slew of small annoyances.

I've been to the Castro before, three years ago, and it was a great time. Me and my friend Paul got separated from the rest of our friends and ended up hanging out and wandering around, and eventually we got separated from each other and I ended up chatting with some street musicians near the tail of the action. It was a great time. And the key is that it's okay to get separated, as long as you know how to meet up again and you have a good time.
But the Castro is a lot of fun, and Noah doesn't actually live here, so this may be his only Castro. And I just wish he'd had the chance to get in the thick of things and lose himself in the crowd, because it is such a great crowd. Oh well, not everything is for everyone.

I had the most fun on the walk back. Not really because we were headed home, but we never really had to break our stride, and it was easy and natural how the three of us stuck together. It became a really nice walk amongst cool costumes and random happenings. It's funny, when you're walking amongst tons of people in costume, you begin see as though everyone's in costume, even the people who aren't. Like, 'oh, he's a rap metal groupie for halloween.' There was a cop telling someone to keep it in line, and Lauren turned to me and joked, "Dude, that guy is taking his costume way too seriously." And there are some super-realistic masks out there that really disturb you, and they get you to doubting the reality of anybody's face. Being in a huge crowd of people during halloween is an awesome way to shift your mind. I really wished I could have stayed longer.

And realized this thing about holidays; they're really quite mind-expanding. Every holiday does something different to you, but if you really get into the spirit of it, they remind you of important aspects of life. I mean, you really do get into a different state of mind. I've done my share of drugs in the past, and I can tell you that Halloween this year did as much for me as any dosage of mushrooms. I walked away from it feeling great.

1:49 p.m. 2003-11-01�

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