Happy Halloween!

Had an early Halloween party, since some of us would be leaving for Montreal soon for the Chest conference.
This was something we started in medical school. Mainly because we never celebrated this in Malaysia, and you could never find beautiful, big pumpkins there. So this became a tradition for my friends and I. Halloween get-together every year, with a pumpkin carving session.

It was a great night. About 24 people, mostly from home, Singapore, others from Germany, US and Thailand. It was nice to get everyone together again. Though we're so far from home, it's nice to have an extended family here. I'm thankful for the friends I've made here, though some will leave for good in the next year.

After the parties, we usually keep the pumpkins outside for a week or so, and I light up the tealight candles at night. The problem is, those things are damn kid-magnets. We learnt this the hard way last year, when my housemate and I were postcall and tired, just chilling and watching TV, when kids came a-knocking.

"Trick or treat!"

We had conveniently forgotten it was October 31st. TS had ONE Snickers bar and I had some Miller Lite in the fridge. And for the moment, he comtemplated giving 3 kids ONE miserable bar to share. Me, I wondered if they'd appreciate beer.

But no. We sent them away (in retrospect, I know now it's acceptable to give money in place of candy). And watched TV the rest of the night with the lights off and windows shut. And so, this year I havea stash of diabetes-inducing sweets; job security for an endocrinologist, muahahaha.

Halloween 2003

Halloween 2004