¶ This is perhaps quite a bit off-topic with regards to MMO Gaming and computers in general, but it isn’t the first time I’ve gone off topic (and wait ’til you see my next post after this one!). But at the same time it sort of is on topic in the sense that, as a roleplayer, I’ve tried to keep the Chronicles posts as IC as possible. This post is about Halloween and costumes.
¶ Of course, All Hallows’ Eve isn’t about costumes and candy; it’s roots are very serious and spiritual in nature and while the self-described pagans among us may hold a great deal of faith in the power and significance of those old customs, even they can enjoy and have immense fun with the pure joy of being someone or even something else one night out of the year.
¶ All kids love Halloween and I was no different. The candy, the costumes, walking around our neighborhood and riding out to other areas to share in the fun of the night with friends and parents - what’s not to love, right? When I was a child, I absolutely loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So much so that for Christmas one year, my Aunt Tina spent over $100 on a series of four premium quality, full color and full length first edition print graphic novels by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. My mother bought me all the toys, and if there were any she didn’t buy me herself, I bought them with the allowance I earned through completing my chores - it’s a wonder that I was such a chubby kid when I was in grade school, because I didn’t have a dime left to spend on candy!
¶ When the first TMNT movie was released in 1990, I was ten years old. 
That Halloween, I needed to have a Ninja Turtles costume but all that were in the stores at all the malls seemed to be cheap foam and plastic costumes that wouldn’t know what ‘convincing’ was if it karate chopped them across the neck! That just wouldn’t do. I didn’t mean to be petulant, but looking back now I suppose I was. Fortunately, my mother was a sweet woman and was willing to move mountains to see her little boy happy. She had read in the newspaper about a Halloween Superstore 2 hours outside of Philadelphia, where we lived. They said that if it was related to Halloween you could find it there, so there we went.
¶ Try as I may, I couldn’t find a picture of that particular costume from 1990, but I assure that when I say the only difference between my costume and the costumes worn by the martial artists in the movies was that my costume didn’t have an animatronic head. The arms, chest and shell were all constructed of light weight molded rubber and high density foam and it covered the full body. It even came with turtle feet to put over your shoes, and the mask was great! Not some flimsy plastic thing held to your head with a rubber band! And since the costume was modeled after the turtles from the movie rather than the cartoon, there was no letter badge on the chest. Instead, the four costumes were identified by the color of the ninja mask on the head (red, orange, blue or purple) and by the plastic weapons that were included with the costumes (katana, nunchuku, bo or sais). Nobody, and I mean nobody, had a better costume than me that year, nor the year after (TMNT II came out in 1991 and I re-used the same costume).
¶ Now, though, with the prevalence of the internet, it isn’t as hard to find a ‘real’ costume. Whereas my mother had to drive for two hours outside of a major city that should’ve had what we were looking for
already, today mothers can just visit virtual Halloween Costume Stores to find premium costumes for their children and even themselves. This particular website, HalloweenAdventure.com has an incredible selection and I’m looking forward to having fun with my Batman costume at this year’s Halloween party! When I ordered it, I was impressed with the detail and quality of the molded rubber mask and with how closely the designers paid attention to detail in recreating the look achieved in The Dark Knight.
¶ Is it expensive? Yes. Are there less expensive alternatives available? Yes. But for a kid at heart (me) whose favorite holiday is Halloween, it’s worth every penny! And it doesn’t hurt that a costume like this can be worn two or three Halloweens in a row and never lose its appeal - especially if they keep releasing Batman films!
¶ Another bonus to purchasing costumes from a virtual store like HalloweenAdventure.com, especially at the last minute like this, are the shipping options and the fact that unlike a traditional walk-in shop which is likely to be sold out of all the best costumes and props, virtual stores are almost never out-of-stock and since they often ship directly from a factory outlet, the walk-ins simply can’t compete with the selection a virtual shop offers. HalloweenAdventure.com itself features literally thousands of childrens’ Superhero Costumes (as well as other categories) with prices as low as $16.99 and provides multiple shipping options such as overnight delivery.
¶ They even offer volume discounts for multi-child families who might be purchasing more than $500 worth of costumes and accessories for their kids (and themselves!); with as tight as money is for everyone these days, a discount like that is a big help and good luck finding it in a walk-in shop at your average strip mall! But perhaps the best advantage of virtual costume stores like HalloweenAdventure.com is the round-the-clock service provided by automated secure transactions and your choice of email or telephone customer service.
¶ Whatever you’re doing for your kids (and yourself!) this Halloween, take advantage of every affordable opportunity to make it the most fun you have from now ’til Christmas but as always, stay safe!
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Posted by: Havohej : Category: 
This Saturday, they’ll be offering several deals in addition to the general sale prices already in effect this week, including (but not limited to):
Modern LASIK, known as the iLASIK™ procedure, used two lasers instead of the single laser used in early incarnations. In the first stage of the procedure, “wave-front” technology (which was the subject of a 
