I’m not a big fan of Halloween for many reasons. Masks scare me if I don’t know who is behind them, and sometimes even when I know who is behind the mask. I also don’t appreciate people coming to my house and demanding things.  As a former teacher, Halloween and the day after were some of the hardest days to teach. The kids were high on Halloween with excitement and high on sugar the day after Halloween. Finally, the first several years of my kids’ lives I felt compelled to find them perfect costumes. I don’t sew, but one year made a cat in the hat costume for my daughter – I even made the hat out of fabric I painted, sewed and hardened with fabric stiffener. That was the same year I made a Peter Pan costume for my son. Unbelievable now, I know!

There are a few Halloween traditions I do like, however. I like leftover candy. And I like the Hiptop Halloween Hunt.

I bought a Sidekick when they first came out around 2002 and have had one ever since. A few years ago an energetic young man put together a Halloween photo scavenger hunt. This young man may have actually invented mobile photo blogging – or at least was in on it at the very beginning when he began Hiptop Nation.  I participated in the second and third hunts that Mike organized. I forgot about it last year, but Mike emailed me before the hunt this year and suggested I join his team. I’d briefly thought about joining this year, but would have probably forgotten about it had I not heard from Mike. Even if I’d remembered, I might have chosen not to participate, but since the creator of the experience (who stepped down last year to be a participant instead of the organizer) invited me to be on his team, I couldn’t resist.

So I cleared my schedule somewhat for October 31 and when the list came online, started snapping photos. I’m not a real outgoing person, but since I dragged my daughter along to the mall to get some shots, she forced me to be more aggressive than I normally would. (The cherry picker shot was her idea and she bullied me until I went along with it.)

The two shots I am proudest of are the Apple store employees. We were lucky that one of the employees was talking to someone who happened to have his Sidekick LX out. I asked if he would mind letting the Apple Store employee hold it so I could get a photo. The list rules said that I needed to be in the shot too, so I thought I would get no points for this. Luckily the judges took pity on me and gave me full credit for both shots.

I’m not sure I’ll participate next year. I’m getting a little old for this. In fact, I’m willing to bet I was the oldest person doing the hunt. Maybe that’s why the judges cut me some slack.