Pumpkin Party People I look at the white box on my computer screen like an empty canvas. Waiting to be filled with text of limited color splendor. The cursor blinks in it's robotic repetition...questioning. What are you trying to paint today it asks. And asks. Paint or smear?

It was a pretty fun Sunday night. Marked in interest by featuring a pumpkin carving party that was far from conventional. As in there were a lot of married couples and I was sober. The party was wholesome...people gathering together to enjoy a smorgasbord of good eats, provided in their entirety by one Jamie Sjodin. Not only does she bake up the perfect storm, the kinda storm that would torment storms on Jupiter, she also has blown my traveling resume out of the water (I have a few years to match her). However, good eats were not the focus, as we are finding ourselves in the month of October, the draw of the intimate dozen was to carve pumpkins. The intimate dozen by the way are all friends of my new roommate, Alex. He has been kind enough to introduce me to his circle, as well as invite me to their social gatherings to which I am most thankful. In a word, he has been instrumental.

As always, I am a huge lover of activities that take the partaker back to their youth. As long as those activities are legal, and not involving any kind of proximity to MJ's neverland ranch. But I mean fort building, ninja turtle watching, chubby bunny playing, alcohol pounding and pumpkin carving are all activities that make those list. And it was a blast! Carving pumpkins is so much fun because you get a chance to let your creative juices flow. Creating something artistic and pleasing to oneself is such a wonderful feeling...regardless if it is pleasing to others. An idea strikes you, and seeing it come to fruition is a satisfaction that I want to feel more.

What pumpkin design does one employ when meeting a brand new group of people? Nothing other than an inverted pentagram so as not to confuse those who may think I'm somewhat Jewish. It's Halloween, and I wanted to get into the spooky spirit. So I carved, quite masterfully, one of the symbols adopted by a religion of darkness. When I unveiled it, there came a few wows and nice jobs, and then nobody talked to me for the rest of the night. Just kidding. Alex carved Barack Obama's profile into his pumpkin, creating the most impressive and patriotic pumpkin offering. Unfortunately Barack the pumpkin has already melted and molded. All in all, it was a Sunday of wholesome fun, and I was glad to have the time to bond with these great San Diegans who stay classy. I hope that all of you have also enjoyed taking sharp objects to plump orange vegetation; it's such a great custom. Kinda like voting.  ¶ 11:20 PM