quicko: it's that time again ...

... Halloween!!  It's nearly upon us!  Australians are still rather bamboozled by the whole concept (you mean you don't have to be a mummy or witch or vampire?), but tonight the concern I'd particularly like to address is that, when they do decide to go in for a Halloween costume, they go in whole hog with the idea of rushing to the nearest costume shop and buying a costume.  This floors me.  Halloween costumes are meant to be made, not bought.  They're meant to be constructed, not put on the card.  You're allowed, of course, to buy parts, but the whole thing is a rather preposterous idea.  This year it turns out I'm actually spending way more than my typical Halloween budget, but this is a fluke, not the rule.  The fluke has occurred for two reasons:  first, the costume is getting more and more elaborate and requiring more and more accouterments, and, two, Australian "dollar stores" do not stock items one dollars; hence, the many various pieces I've bought at "Hot Dollar" range from $3 ($3! as a minimum!) to $15, which, really, I don't know how many more times I can say it, is preposterous -- preposterous!! -- for a "dollar store."  It's absolutely the same junk you get in America -- the stuff everyone uses to create Halloween costumes -- at, what's the opposite of a fraction? of the price.  Still works out cheaper than renting (renting! of all things!) a costume, though.  More of a trick than a treat, eh?