The Friday Five on a Monday

[nanila]

1. Do you celebrate or observe Halloween? How?

Carving pumpkins. Roasting pumpkin seeds. Helping the kids pick out costumes and taking them trick-or-treating.

2. What is your favorite Halloween candy?

I love mini Butterfingers, but of course you don’t get those in the UK, so I’ll settle for mini packets of Haribo.

3. Do you get trick-or-treaters on Halloween?

We live in the sticks, so no. We take the children into the nearby town to go trick-or-treating with friends.

4. Do you enjoy dressing up in costumes?

I used to. I’m too tired to do so around Halloween these days as it falls in the middle of the university teaching term. But I used to go mad for it.

5. What is your favorite Halloween memory?

I don’t have a favourite memory, but I do have a favourite costume, which was the time I dressed up as the Annihilation Operator or Â, a superhero of my own invention. I had a spandex outfit, an awesome pair of Transmuter boots, a homemade logo, and a ray gun. What else do you need to go out killing particles?



(My description from 2003, OH LOR how this is 21 years ago?!) I am the Annihilation Operator! The dreaded A-hat! I have the power to destroy electrons on sight. My mortal enemy is my transpose, the Creation Operator. Without him, though, I cannot build a Hamiltonian or see my true love, the Kroneker delta, the only one who doesn't go to zero at the sight of me.

Comments

[crystalpyramid]

I love that Halloween costume! I really need to up my dorky physics Halloween costume game. This year we had students who dressed up as the cross product, the dot product, and a vector hat, but the teachers didn't even try that game.

[nanila]

Thank you! Oh, those sound like fantastic costumes. Now that those inflatable dinosaur / shark /unicorn costumes are readily available and affordable, it must be relatively easy to modify them into dorkier shapes. :D

[spiffikins]

I am le disappoint as I cannot see the costume picture!

Also - now I kind of want to send everyone I know in the UK a bag of mini butterfingers - how do you NOT have access to the Very Best Chocolate Bar?

[nanila]

Sorry, the picture was originally posted on LJ and still hosted there. I didn't realise that linking it from DW would mean it wouldn't show up. I've uploaded it to Flickr and linked it, so hopefully you can see it now.

I love the crumbly texture of the toffee in a Butterfinger, and I love that it is untainted by the presence of anything else. There isn't an equivalent here that I've found.

[spiffikins]

OMG those boots! They are fabulous and I am *impressed* that you can walk in them!

[ragnarok_08]

Neat costume!

Here are my answers:

1) I do celebrate Halloween, it's my favorite holiday!
2) Twix Bars, Kit Kats, and Twizzlers
3) Not in my neighborhood, but I did see them downtown.
4) I do like dressing up in costumes
5) The many Halloween parties I've attended, and seeing the different house decorations while trick or treating.

[nanila]

Halloween parties are so much fun. I miss them. One day when the kids don'e want to go trick-or-treating any more!

[cmcmck]

Your image is locked, unfortunately.

[nanila]

Ah, I think it's because the image was hosted on LJ where it was originally posted. I've moved it to Flickr so hopefully you can see it now.

[purplecthulhu]

How many quantum mechanics in jokes can you fit into a single Halloween costume? I think you win the prize!

[nanila]

Haha, thanks. It makes me a bit sad that it's now been so long since I practised using any of those concepts I'd have to re-learn all of them.