Thanks for the answers everyone and thanks for the warm welcome back! That brought a big grin to my face.
I have to say, the DS fandom has always impressed me as being the most friendly and non-elitist out of all the fandoms I have encountered. Rock on everybody!
As for the Halloween parties, I'm working in the office at a huge Civil War era Fort,
Fort Knox, on the coast of Maine, about 40 minutes away from Bar Harbor. My boss has expressed interest in having the Halloween party there. (It is a damn spooky place let me tell you, and haunted. I've had some bizarre things happen while working there and took part in a ghost hunt there one night this past summer).
The area is filled with a ton of captain's houses turned into Bed and Breakfasts (including one in Belfast that looks EXACTLY like the Old House, I kid you not).
Would anyone be interested in coming to Maine to holda party here? I think it would be a blast.