The last sentence of this post will shock and amaze you!

I saw a billboard for a movie the other day. It was one of those really scary, twisted movies and the tagline on the billboard was something along the lines of "the last 15 minutes will mess you up for life". I mean, really? People want to pay money to be messed up for life? I have to admit that I am kind of curious but the odds of me going to that movie are approximately zero. I'm a person who likes to be comfortable, both physically and mentally. I don't like rides that make me feel like I'm going to die. I don't like spicy food that brings tears to my eyes. And I don't like movies that mess me up for life. Or even make me jump a little. So anyway, I thought I would give this post an intriguing title to see if it hooks you!

The real subject of this post is security and paranoia. I must admit that I have a particularly lax view when it comes to security. When we left Whitecourt and rented out our house we had to search for keys to give the renters because we never locked our door, even when we were out of town. Now that we are in L.A. we have stepped up our security a bit but definitely not to the level of everyone else. The area where we live is a pretty safe, suburban-type area but it is adjacent to Inglewood. If you were ever a Tupac Shakur fan (or have ever gone to a bar with me when the song "California Love" came on) the line "Inglewood always up to no good" will be in your head now. So the area we're in is pretty good but the next 'hood over is kinda sketchy. Break-ins have been known to happen around here so we do lock our doors most of the time.

We have a neighbour that I sometimes give a ride to. A few times I have forgotten to lock the door when we left the house and she thinks that I am completely mental. The truth of the matter is that we don't actually have anything worth stealing. Seriously. The laptop I am writing on right now is probably the most valuable thing we have and it's usually out of the house with David (which, incidentally is why I don't blog more often). Our TV is legitimately heavier than it is worth. A robber would probably leave it behind for fear of putting out his back. I suppose they may want my ipod, particularly if they're a big Glee fan. When I told our neighbour that we don't have anything worth stealing she told me that they would steal our couch to which I replied that I guess we would have to get another one for 100 bucks on Craigslist.

I have made a concerted effort to simply my life over the past few years. I have significantly reduced the amount of stuff that we have and more importantly the amount of new stuff that we acquire. This has given us more financial security and allowed us to live the life that we want to. An unexpected perk has been that I don't fall prey to what I believe is complete and utter paranoia that someone is out to steal my stuff. I think most people spend far too much time and energy protecting their stuff. In general, I think that people feel that the world is unsafe and people are out to get them. I think that television is single-handedly responsible for this. When you're constantly being bombarded by news of break-ins, robberies, and abductions you think that they are a common occurrence.

OK, I've gotten a bit side-tracked. I should just write an entire post about TV and get it off my chest! What I really want to talk about is Halloween. There has been a significant decline in the number of kids trick-or-treating all over North America and I think it's tragic! I think it's a direct result of the aforementioned paranoia and a decline in the feeling of community in our neighbourhoods.

I have to admit that we were tragically a part of the problem this year. Our next door neighbour has been raving to Asha for weeks about the "harvest festival" that they have on Halloween at her church. So no matter how much we tried to convince Asha to go trick-or-treating she would hear none of it. I REFUSED to be one of those grumpy houses with the lights turned out so we left our porch light on with a bowl of candy on the step. I put a sign on it that read: "Please take 2 candies each". David gave it a 6.25% chance that there would be any candy left when we returned.

We had heard that most of the kids who live in our area went to the west side of Westchester which is fancier to go trick-or-treating. Most of the trick-or-treaters around here would be kids whose parents drove them in from Inglewood. What were the odds that that bowl wouldn't be emptied by some teenager 10 minutes after we left? Was that bowl and its accompanying sign a giant billboard advertising that we weren't home and would-be thieves were free to steal our Craigslist futon and my Glee-filled ipod? Mostly I left that bowl of candy out because I didn't want to be a house that didn't give out candy on Halloween. But I think I also left that bowl of candy as a bit of a test of humanity. I would rather be someone who was foolish and had faith in people but was burned in the end than a person who turned off their porch lights in fear.

Well here it comes, the sentence that will inspire shock and awe. Were we robbed? Had our house been toiletpapered and our jack-o-lanterns smashed? Had our candy bowl been ravaged by a greedy teenager?

When we got back to our house about 20 candies remained.