It’s been a long time since I’ve been a kid, but we never went out for trick-or-treating until it was dark. That was the fun of Halloween – being out on your own (in a group usually) without a lot of adults hanging around. It was great. Not quite Tootie in Meet me in St. Louis, but a bit anarchic and very freeing. Going out when it’s still light would be… ordinary.
Immediately after school we would go over to a friends house who lived nearby. We would go through his neighborhood. A lot more one income families then so a lot of candy was available. Back home for dinner then hit the houses in my neighborhood after dark. It’s all about maximizing the amount of candy.
I used to work with a guy who was a C-level executive with our ad agency; he lived in a very well-to-do Chicago suburb (a number of his neighbors were well-paid professional athletes).
The expected norm in his neighborhood on Halloween was to give out full-sized candy bars to trick-or-treaters, and to expect a throng, as people did, indeed, take carloads of kids up to that neighborhood, for that very reason. He said that, for Halloween, they’d buy about 500 candy bars, and they’d never have any left by the end of the evening.
Question about @Fear_Itself’s latest poll: is an “unused cell phone” one that I’m not currently using one that has never been used (i.e. unused = not used but new)? And (assuming the former) do broken cell phones count?
Unused means no longer used. New in the box would qualify, I suppose. Broken cell phones, new or used, count for this poll, so long as they are not currently being used.
I have a bit of an astigmatism (if that is the right term for each eye being better at focusing either close or far away). No matter how much I squint or cross or defocus my eyes, never have had any luck seeing the durned things.
I only drink some beer, but that just means i didn’t usually drink beer. I don’t care about it enough, or know enough about it, to think of myself as a beer snob. But I’m a pastry snob. Your chocolate chip cookies are made with Crisco instead of butter? You know what, it’s not really worth eating them. I rarely eat corporate cake. Maybe a bite to be polite, then I’ll discretely toss the rest. Pie? I love a good fruit pie. But so much fruit pie is mostly goo, without a lot of fruit. And it’s often too sweet. It should taste like fruit, damnit.
I’m a little snobby on most foods, but honestly not snobby enough to vote “yes” on any of them other than Mexican. Because I spent 12 years (6-18) in Las Cruces NM and have very strong opinions on various local variants on the theme, as well as appropriate heat, flavor and freshness of chiles as a result.
And even then, I’ll tell someone to eat what they like, even if I won’t be caught dead in a Taco Bell or the equivalent. But I’ll be internally judge-y enough to out myself here and in the poll.
I waffled (heh) on bread and bagels, and eventually voted for bagels as well. I won’t eat the lowest common denominator for sandwich bread, but I will do okay with some of the higher quality store brands and national brands. But with bagels… yeah, they’re too expensive (and carby!) for me to buy anymore unless they’re at LEAST at Einstein bagels level. Which isn’t super high, granted, but I came down on myself as a snob for the poll at least.
It’s almost as bad as not being acknowedged as the day after DC’s birthday.
Regarding food snobs.
Whisky. Not Whiskey.
For the others? I’ll eat and drink everything, for example, from Cheez Whiz to Pitchfork cheddar. Of course, if you ask me which is the better cheese, the Pitchfork will win by far.
And bagels which have the same consistency as Wonder Bread are just bagel-shaped bread. Not bagels.