Now that I've got that stupid Astro midterm out of the way, I can happily look back at this past weekend and say it was lots of fun.

Friday, Halloween, started with a field trip to San Francisco for my SF Architecture class. The weather had suddenly shifted from record-breaking heat earlier in the week, to a blustery, cold, and rainy weather (woohoo!). It set just the right mood for a walking tour of the city's waterfront. We walked from the Ferry Building, down the Embacadero, and all the way up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. Quite the walk, but well worth it. After that I took BART to Caltrain and headed to Mountain View to finish up the preparation for the haunted house.

What would Halloween be without the Perry family Haunted House? I couldn't let a seven year tradition disappear, if even just for one year. While my dad, mom, brother, and his friends were at the SFHS Homecoming game.....myself (tour guide), Mikey (the king of buttnuggets), Sabrina (creepy girl in the wall), Kat (coffin/foot grabber), BJ (coffin/foot grabber), Erik (leaf-blower/guy that makes little girls cry), and Joella (candy giver outer) successfully scared about 150-200 people! It was great. To everyone who reads this and was there to help out; I thank you, dozens of kids thank you, Mountain View thanks you.

It's hard to describe Old Mountain View on Halloween night. I feel like it's what Halloween should be like. The neighborhood embraces the holiday. It's not just for kids, but for families and adults as well. People congregate at the haunted houses like my family's that pop up throughout town. Neighbors actually talk to each other, catch up...act neighborly. Kids roam the streets, treating the neighborhood like its a gigantic playground. It feels like a Norman-Rockwell painting come to life, except quite a bit more multi-cultural.

I decided to go back to Berkeley on Halloween night. Couldn't miss another of my house's own parties. Joella decided she wanted to see Berkeley and came up too. The party was a lot of fun.
The highlight came towards the end, when the remaining guests spent a few hours in the dark telling true ghost stories. And for the first time in a while, I wasn't the only one telling them, which made it more fun (and frightening) for me. We also looked at the 'evil' Ouiji board I took down from my grandparents' attic, too creeped out to risk playing it.

Next weekend, I turn 21. My family is taking me up to Reno to celebrate. The following weekend, my grandma and I will share a birthday party with the extended family. Then the next weekend it's the Big Game at Stanford. The following weekend will be Thanksgiving.

Which pretty much means from now until the end of the month I'll be in Mountain View every weekend doing something fun. Which sounds great...only until I remember that within the same span of time I need to finish THREE term papers. Gag. Wish me luck.