Ever carve a pumkin?

[enlisted person]

I am 44 and just yesterday did the carving of a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. I never got to do that before. I tried to draw an evil face on the pumpkin with a dry erase marker and kept correcting it to where I liked it then used a very small knife. Anyways here is a picture of it in the dark with a candle in it.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I have done it several times as a child, but not for the past few years. I actually really enjoy the scooping out the insides - it feels so mushy and smells really good.

Nice pumpkin!

 

[Jono]

Done it a couple of times. Don't really get much enjoyment out of it though.

 

[Tomato]

I did one a couple years ago. I made a cylon lantern. I didn't realize as a kid that you could buy special pumkin carving knives which would've made things a lot easier.

 

[Goji]

Before college, I did it yearly with my dad. But after I went away to school there really wasn't time. But I'll be home on Halloween this year, so we will probably do it again. For maybe the last time.

I also did one all on my own, once. During high school, everyone in my class was partnered with a first or second grader for a program called "little buddies". We did several activities together throughout the year, and pumpkin carving was one of them. But my partner, a very shy second grade girl, didn't want any part of touching the insides of a pumpkin, so I basically did everything while she sat there watching with various odd looks on her face.

 

[StarryEyed]

I haven't done it myself but I've been a judge in an underwater pumpkin carving contest. This is done by scuba divers and it's a challenge because pumpkins are very buoyant. It's necessary to weight them down.

Some chick who was a sculptor kind of ruined the contest I helped judge. All these people did conventional carve-outs while she carved-out elaborate 3-D pictures all around the pumpkin. It was like Barbra Streisand competing in a Karaoke contest. Nobody else had a prayer.

 

[tharpdevenport]

When I was little, but sadly not since. When I have my own place, you can bet sure as hell I will. And I'll post pictures here to show off my mediocre carvings.

 

[Joshua Howard]

...after I went away to school there really wasn't time.

Yes there was. There is no way you were so busy that you couldn't take 30 minutes out of an October to stick a knife into a pumpkin. The real answer is that your warped priorities let the tradition slip.

I've never carved a pumpkin, nor do I plan to this year. If I did, I would have to eat what is inside a pumpkin, something which I do not particularly relish.

One of you folks who IS in the pumpkin-carving business will have to do one on my behalf.

 

[Trekker4747]

Plenty of times. And Jason Fox of "Foxtrot" gave me a brilliant idea to try last Sunday.

 

[Goji]

...after I went away to school there really wasn't time.

Yes there was. There is no way you were so busy that you couldn't take 30 minutes out of an October to stick a knife into a pumpkin. The real answer is that your warped priorities let the tradition slip.

Warped priorities? Really? Well, fortunately for my grades, my parents agreed with me that during my college career, my academics took priority over slicing up squashes. Thus I remained actually in class on Halloween (not a federally recognized holiday) and the days that followed it, instead of skipping a good deal of school time to travel all the way home and back for the purposes of keeping the apparently all-important tradition of pumpkin carving a top priority.

 

[Joshua Howard]

Warped priorities? Really? Well, fortunately for my grades, my parents agreed with me that during my college career, my academics took priority over slicing up squashes. Thus I remained actually in class on Halloween (not a federally recognized holiday) and the days that followed it, instead of skipping a good deal of school time to travel home and back for the purposes of keeping the apparently all-important tradition of pumpkin carving a top priority.

Are you implying that in the days preceeding Halloween you actually LIVED in your classroom? Now, that is what I call devotion. Furthermore, since when does pumpkin-carving use up "a good deal of school time"?

Here's what you do: Go to the supermarket (Wal-Mart, Safeway, whoever) grab a pumpkin and buy it. Right there you've used 5 minutes to get to the nearest store that has pumpkins, and another 5 minutes to buy it (You could also save 4.5 minutes by stealing it.) Once you've got it outside, pull out your knife and cut, at minimum, three holes in the pumpkin (If it's a dull knife, another 5 minutes.) It takes a final 5 Minutes to get back to class. See? You just got the job done in 20 mins. (Leave it in the grass outside your classroom and the crows will eat out the insides for you.)

In any case, you're on TrekBBS right now, so... if you take this business seriously, I hope for your sake that right now there's a pumpkin in your lap which you're carving inbetween posts.

I just have to give you a hard time about this...

 

[Goji]

Yeah, there's also the part about pumpkin carving being a forbidden activity in the dorms I lived in (yes, really, they didn't want to deal with the mess, the knives and the fire from the candles). That's why I factored in the time it would take for me to get home, where I could actually get away with pumpkin carving, and the time it would take me to get back (which could not happen on the same day, and would thus almost certainly necessitate taking at least one day off from classes). Trust me, pumpkins were just not worth it.

 

[Joshua Howard]

Yeah, there's also the part about pumpkin carving being a forbidden activity in the dorms I lived in (yes, really, they didn't want to deal with the mess, the knives and the fire from the candles). That's why I factored in the time it would take for me to get home, where I could actually get away with pumpkin carving, and the time it would take me to get back (which could not happen on the same day, and would thus almost certainly necessitate taking at least one day off from classes). Trust me, pumpkins were just not worth it.

Ok, you're off the hook; but I believe that there is a 20th century Earth expression which you should consider offering to your dorm management team next time you see them: "Up Yours."

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I did it last year and I am doing it again tomorrow. Given the paucity of my artistic talent I am largely a three triangle and a crescent man.

 

[auntiehill]

I used to do it every year as a kid---it was great fun, even if my pumpkins turned out rather sad and lopsided, rather than scary.

As an adult, we hardly ever do it. It's so damn hot here that the pumpkins rot at warp speed outside. I just got a plastic one with a little light bulb inside and was done with it. Had that thing for years now.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I love carving pumpkins. Been doing it ever since I was little.

You did a nice job on your first Jack-O'-Lantern there, EP.

Plenty of times. And Jason Fox of "Foxtrot" gave me a brilliant idea to try last Sunday.

What was it?

 

[Trekker4747]

I love carving pumpkins. Been doing it ever since I was little.

You did a nice job on your first Jack-O'-Lantern there, EP.

Plenty of times. And Jason Fox of "Foxtrot" gave me a brilliant idea to try last Sunday.

What was it?

He carved a different face on foursides of the pumpkin -each face representing the mouth opening wider and wider- and placed it on a record-player, a strobe-light was set nearby timed to flash at a rate to make the face appear to open on its own! (Of course, this was all described in dialogue and picture.)

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Ooh, that is a cool idea.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I've done it the past five years or so, because my wife likes to have one!

 

[ITL]