"WALA namang bagyo, Sabado naman, Halloween pa, eh, nasan ang mga tao?" Where were they indeed. Is it me or did the ghouls and witches played a trick on me shielding my vision from those costumed humans prancing around the city having fun?

It was a so unusual Halloween weekend for me. Everything is getting to be more and more minimal as the years go by. Should I blame the economy? Just like the malls and other retail businesses, their sales graph seems to be on the downward slope per year and the line "business was better last year" is a candidate to the book of adages. Or is it bad taste to go fun and frolic when the rest of our nation has been stricken with one calamity after another and all the costume-to-be garments have landed on the donation pile of whatever praiseworthy agency tasked to distribute them.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

I may not be surprised if the latter is your reason. It is amazing how many of these clothes that can pass off as costumes have been donated to charity- sequined dresses, headdresses, stilettos, etc. Perhaps these ended up in a pile categorized as "unwearables."

They should have saved it up for last weekend's event and hit two birds with a stone- no cost gears- covers down slide economy reasons and the guilt feeling that you can go frivolous at a time of disaster.

Creativity rules.

Or does it? Davao must have tremendous lack of that gift if I base it on last weekend's parties, and I am talking about the adults here, not the kids. But the few ones I have come across with can certainly make up for Davao City's lost cause to brighten up the night scape. Don't despair for there are still a few loyal few who did- much, much less than years ago. And to these creatures of the night, I say thank you.

But somewhere around the city, I heard of some establishments having their own costume events. I failed to make it to these gigs where I am sure there are brothers and sisters of the cause who took time, energy and used their creative juices and went out into the night in their alter egos.

Somehow they must have stuck to where they started their evening, were there enough treats for them on that spot? That can never be. If the children can get their goodies in countless stops, why can't the adults have the same?

Gone were the days when the party people would prance around on the streets and hop from one joint to another, show off their costumes, making heads turn, putting smiles on everyone's faces and treating everyone they meet to a fabulous time without any tricks up their sleeves. This should come back.

"Sa Sabado may Himala" was my Facebook shout out for the week which got a few people interested if not intrigued. Queries of what miracle will transpire on the "festival of the dead" came up but they had to step out into the Hallow's Eve night to find out.

But the himala never came for the very reason that the lack, or should I say absence, of costumed beings were absent from the streets and the clubs that I opted to drop in. Thus, the miracle giver persona was undressed and packed to live another day, a year to be exact.

The regular Joe gear might have been the scariest I have donned on all Halloween night in this lifetime- sneakers, shorts with stain and a white shirt on a Saturday night no less. Heck, it's a night for come-as-whatever, that counts for a good excuse.

If not for the company of friends, I would have called it a night. It was a good night for me but it fell on regular-weekend-night-out fun type and not of the once-a-year event enjoyment- the ghouls and goblins certainly played their tricks on Davao.

Overall, if I rate the last weekend's turnout, it's a ho-hum Halloween. Boo-hoo, where were you?

(Comments? Suggestions? email me at jinggoysalvador@gmail,com. I promise not to promise to reply right away.)