I didnt really get any good shots of the crowds last night, but read on and youll understand why Im a little gun shy about the Halloween holiday.

See, when I was growing up in Colorado, there used to exist this thing there called The Mall Crawl, where hundreds of thousands of costumed and generally intoxicated individuals would pack into the closed road way of the Pearl Street Mall and wonder around.

On Halloween of 1988, my friends and I made our ways there to partake in the revelry. Well, at some point in the night, Id gotten ahold of a bit more hootch than I should have and in the midst of the teeming masses, my friends dumped me against a wall and told me that if the cops come to tell them I was waiting for my girlfriend. The next thing I know, Im stood up with cuffs on, getting put into the back of a police van. Obviously at this stage I realize that Its probably too late for me to use the 'Im waiting for my girlfriend' line so I just take my lumps. In the back of the van with me is an increasingly agitated black woman with grass in her hair screaming at me how if I look at her again, shes going to kick my white ass and so on. I remember thinking to myself that if shes keeps this up, I may be vomiting on her soon.
Eventually we arrive at the Boulder County detox center, where Im unloaded, processed, and put to bed in a room full of other folks in the same predicament as me.
My bed had Charlie Brown sheets on it.

The following day I was released and was given a ride back to my friends by a man in a yellow Volkswagen bug whod said despite the fact that in the 60s he spent his entire collage career at Berkeley, he couldnt remember any of it.

Arriving home that evening and falling into an easy chair, just happy to have the whole ordeal behind me, (still without my parents knowledge), I clicked on the news only to hear the talking head on the television screen say 'heres highlights from last nights Mall Crawl'- and there I am, being cuffed, stuffed, processed, and so on.

Last night was the first Halloween Ive spent since in the company of strangers, and I gotta say, I faired relatively well, despite the fact I was only a mere observer of the festivities.
I hope everyone had a safe and sane evening and all.

Ill tell you this much- Im feeling a whole lot better then I was 19 years ago.

And finally, Im gonna throw this shot in just cause its kinda sweet.