diff --git a/content/blog/wk14day4.md b/content/blog/wk14day4.md index 4e98d92..9c0f796 100644 --- a/content/blog/wk14day4.md +++ b/content/blog/wk14day4.md @@ -1,7 +1,103 @@ --- -title: "Week 14, Thursday:" +title: "Week 14, Thursday: Hallowe'en" date: 2024-10-31T21:55:00+02:00 -draft: true --- -{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/todo.png" alt="Credit: " >}} +{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/nicky-havey.png" alt="Credit: Nicky Havey, YouTube" >}} + +Today is Hallowe'en! When we moved to Brüttisellen in 2006, it was _not_ a thing. Over the +years, a few of us would decorate our houses, but most of the kids were not really with the program: +no trick or treating, no dressing up in scary costumes, nothing. But when we bought our place in +2015, we we decided to really decorate in the week of Hallowe'en. These days, kids will come round, +sometimes in small groups, sometimes in very large ones, parents and all. Many of them still don't +really know what they are doing: ring doorbell --> get candy. The German way to say _trick or treat_ +by the way is _süsses oder saures_ (English: sweet or sour) which I find hilarious because if +you say "well I choose sour!", the kid will look at you as if you're crazy: "Sir, this is where you +hand over the candy?!". + +> You have much to learn, Switzerland, but I love you! + +We have lots of candy in our baggies, we have Elza (our door-ghoul), spiders and lots of spider +webs, and some UV lights to give them a spooky glow-in-the-dark feeling. I will be dressing up in a +black hoodie with a _zipperface_, which takes a while to prepare for, but really hits the spot with +freaking out the children. + +In the morning, the doorbell rings at 09:00 and oh look, a package! It's a rather huge package, the +size of a small refridgerator... in it are two 32" curved screen displays, which I bought for the +low low price of CHF 120,- apiece! It's amazing how affordable this stuff is! I unpack them, which +takes actually quite a long time, and take care of the cardboard and styrofoam carnage that ensues. +After my hard work, two screens are available for the flight sim. + +OK, this thing will need to move, because hanging off a screen on the left and right hand side of +the main screen will make the simulator a lot wider. Luckily, I have a spot, sort of, in the server +room. There's an unused desk there which I move out of the way. I then move the simulator into the +room and Marina helps me measure how high the left/right screen need to be. It turns out, 96cm is +the sweet spot. + +I have a few hours left before I need to change my appearance, so after a quick lunch I go to the +Ikea, as they happen to have a 60cm x 96cm x 30cm cabinet called _Spiksmed_. Did you know that +almost all the IKEA product names are fake Swedish words? My IKEA in Dietlikon has exactly two of +these _Spiksmed_ units, so I grab them! The trip takes me only twenty minutes, because I don't have +to go through the whole maze of the store, rather I can just purchase these items and move to the +_Warenausgabe_ (English: Goods Distribution), and these little ones are quickly in hand. + +At home, the cabinets are pretty quickly assembled, and while I don't have time to play with the +simulator, I do manage to connect it all and project a left- and righthand door + window on these +two screens. It looks ... absolutely stunning. Very, very immersive! + +Marina interrupts my fun in the basement and suggests that I shave before dressing up, because the +zipper-face uses latex to glue onto the skin, and I don't want to feel the burn of a brazilian +face-wax later when removing it. So I shower and shave and put some skin lotion on my face. The plan +is: + +* 15:00-15:45 Marina gives Pim a Zipper Face +* 15:45-16:15 Pim goes to get Quinn. Marina converts into Sally (from the Nightmare before Christmas) +* 16:15-17:00 Pim and Quinn return. +* 17:00-18:00 Marina turns Quinn into Tate Langdon (from American Horror Story) +* 17:30-18:00 Pim makes dinner +* 18:00-18:15 Dinner had +* 18:15-22:30 Freak out the neighborhood kids. + +For dinner I make baked beans, potatoes and a chicken schnitzel, it's a simple meal but we don't +have much time to eat. Most of the younger kids will want to be in bed at 19:00 or so, as it's a +school night (remember those? School nights, heh). I apply some extra bloody gore after dinner, and +drink water through a straw. Marina puts on her Sally-wig and grabs Zero, the floating ghost-dog. + +It's fair to say we freak the kids out. It's funny to me because I've seen grownups, teens and +toddlers all keep their distance and kind of refuse to approach the door. They don't know what's +going to happen. One set of teenage girls stood a good three meters (ten feet) from the door, and +when Marina said they had to come get their candy, one of them said - I kid you not - "Oh, no I'm +good over here, you can throw us the bag of candy, kthx". But we made them approach, anyway :) + +Marina and I take an evening stroll through the neighborhood. There's about ten houses or so that +really put themselves out there; and about twenty houses that are approachable (although, honestly: +if you want to participate in trick or treating, you really should decorate your house!). It's +pretty clear to find our house, and many kids do. Some even twice. Or three times. + +Quinn and I also take a walk and I often ask him: "Hey Quinn, can I eat that kid over there?", and +Quinn plays his part too, walking with a cane but then lunging at kids screaming at them. So many +heart attacks were had. I love it. + +At about 22:00 we call it a night. A cute thing about Switzerland is the so called _Nachtruhe_ +(English: night rest), which is a federal law to avoid street noises after 22:00. So we turn off the +lights and UV, and finish watching the _Adam's Family_ movie that Marina put on while Quinn and I +were out taking a walk and scaring the neighborhood kids. + +We had so much fun today - I'm glad. + +## Pictures of the Day + +{{< gallery-category >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2257.JPG" caption="All the baggies of candy for tonight's trick-or-treating. We expect many kids." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2258.JPG" caption="The Digitec package is big enough to hold a fridge. In it: two 32 inch monitors for my flight simulator." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2262.JPG" caption="I've set up these monitors as left- and right facing doors + wings in the cockpit. I line up the horizon so that it's a smooth transition from left to center to right." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2265.JPG" caption="Marina is starting to apply the zipper to my face. The latex stinks (really bad, of ammonia, and it burns the skin We suffer for our art)." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2285.JPG" caption="Zero is ready to float around with Marina, who is going as Sally." >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2286.JPG" caption="My Zipper-face and Quinn's Tate" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2287.JPG" caption="Marina's Sally and my Zipper-face" >}} + {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-31/IMG_2292.JPG" caption="Our front porch has spider webs and lots of creepy crawlies. The webs are illumated with UV light which makes them glow in the dark" >}} +{{< /gallery-category >}} + +{{< gallery-modal >}} +{{< gallery-script >}} + diff --git a/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2258.JPG b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2258.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a04485 --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2258.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:203735c2f9961f560a40010fc0330c68f52c3a6bfdc4ac2efb253356a7c0bdbf +size 1150515 diff --git a/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2285.JPG b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2285.JPG new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9ef2b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2285.JPG @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1 +oid sha256:0ae4c94e0fd5d6027b885474b2d19d0664c59b2dd63bb30e251fe269f7c5bc43 +size 1099628 diff --git a/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2292.JPG b/static/img/fullsize/2024-10-31/IMG_2292.JPG new file mode 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