This really is the best time of year for grown-ups. We get to dress crazy and act crazy and nobody can say anything because it’s Halloween. This is our chance to be whoever we want and roam the streets laughing and bonding with like-minded strangers that may have the same costume theme “Hey! Another group of Super Mario Brothers, right on! Let’s take a picture.”

I can’t think of too many other instances where the load is lifted and strangers actually talk to each other beyond their own circles in the nightlife. I guess you could say a costume is the miracle worker in this sort of situation. That’s why I usually like to dress like things that will allow me to meet more people. As a devil, I’m automatically friends with not only all the other devils but the angels, too. Double yeah. It also works for ninjas, zombies, Waldos and anyone famous that has a counterpart. Tons of new friends, if only just for one night, and a hard drive exceeding its size limit full of awesome photos. How amazing that it’s falling on a weekend, too. I’m scared. There’s so much to do it’s almost overwhelming.

While I appreciate the effort to nudge people to a certain costume theme, Apartm3nt and Gift Foundation, you’re making it difficult to party-hop this Friday. I mean really. How does one go from an elegant Vanity Affair to the Nightmare Before Christmas? I’ll just have to figure it out. Saturday is even scarier, with another huge giant block party downtown as well as one at Restaurant Row and like four of the island’s most hyped promoters going off at Hyatt Waikiki. Think of something awesome to wear, bring a bunch of friends to cheer for you and you’ll get a thousand bucks cash to play with if you win the costume contest. Worth cop dodging if you ask me.

As exciting as this weekend is, it’s definitely been a tough week. Halloween is making me think about the time I was a judge for the costume contest at The Wave with Hank MacCaslin back in like 2004. We were being silly and perverted, giving extra points for people who let us grope them. A lot of people in Honolulu are hurting from Hank’s unexpected passing last week. As a club or bar owner, if Hank walked in to your place, you were stoked. He was never without a trail of lovely sidekicks and never left without doing tons of damage at the bar. He was the kind of friend you counted on to tell you the truth, even if you don’t want to hear it, but make you laugh at the same time. The man lived like there was nothing else in the world going on besides right then and there. Wherever he was, that was the best night ever. Accompanying him on more than my share of outings, hearing him describe every person that comes up to have a drink with him as one of his best buddies, it’s understandable that there was a deafening silence at events this past weekend. The only thing to do now it seems is to move forward. Halloween will always be bittersweet for me now, but it’s also going to be the best night ever. For you, Hank.