Boo!

Growing up, September 30 was an incredibly exciting day, because that was the deadline my mother set for my sister and I to decide what we wanted to be for Halloween.

Ohboyohboyohboy! We could change our minds all through September as much as we wanted, but by that final day, decisions had to be made.

Because then the costumes had to be made. Mom was and is an amazing seamstress, and we abused this unmercifully without meaning to.

Sure, we hit the staples like fairies, princesses, and fairy princesses. Those were easy. But we also wanted to be Greek goddesses, cardboard lyre courtesy of Dad. Pre-Disney mermaids. And what nutcase little girl of eight wants to be a can-can dancer for Halloween? Erm.

One standout year I was a tiny Wonder Woman, my outfit a rockin' bathing suit that got used the following summer. Holy cats. That is a lotta love, Mom.

I still enjoy dressing up for Halloween, but haven't had a whole lot of opportunity recently.

Well, not in person, anyway. Tonight, I was dressed as a Paragon in the land of Elona. Translated from the geek, The Boyfriend and I celebrated Halloween virtually. Guild Wars, like most MMOs, had a Halloween event complete with sound effects and decorations both scary, such as images of skulls and apocalyptic steeds in a fevered sky, and silly, like a big ol' TP'd tree.

The highlight was a visit from the pumpkin-headed Mad King, who had the crowd doing tricks -- playing rock-paper-scissors, laughing at bad jokes -- in exchange for goofy spells and effects. If you didn't comply, you were slain (to rez a moment later). Trick or treat!

Last weekend we checked out City of Heroes/Villains' Halloween event. Like last year, players could "knock" on doors all around town and you'd either get a powerup treat of some kind, or a trick. Meaning, various undead beasties like vampires and zombies would spill out and try to kill you. The devs also handed out free costume tokens, so you could take your hero to the tailor for a new festive look. I tried out a pirate (of course) and a slutty devil girl, and The Boyfriend made a very respectable Star Trek Vulcan before settling on firebolt-wielding Amish Guy.

In other words, my only partying this All Hallow's Eve was in a computer game.

Oh yeah.

Because that's how I roll.

Happy Halloween, everybody!