Skip to main content

A Halloween retrospective, or bad costume choices through the years

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday. Some of my friends go absolutely bonkers over it, and begin planning costumes in early summer. I'm not one of them, and chuckle when I think of some of the costumes I've donned in my life.

As a kid I usually went the pirate, hobo, and gypsy route. Later on, though, well, things started to get a little sillier.

There was the year I went as a Hershey's kiss. Seriously. Complete with chocolate 'perfume'. Now that was something...brown Danksin leotard from head to toe, kiss foil 'body' with a big hoop at the bottom so it really looked like a kiss shape, white tab sticking out the top. It was hilarious. Hard to go to the bathroom, but somehow I managed..and I giggled when everyone started craving chocolate if they stood by me for more than a minute. That chocolate extract I used as perfume brought out the chocolate hound in the best of 'em.

Dolly Parton was next. Blonde wig,  gold lame sleeveless vest and flared hip huggers over gold heels. All way too tight, lips seriously glossy, fake eyelashes ridiculously full and dark. I even adopted a Tennessee twang (or so I thought) to complete the effect. Hah.

Then came Morticia. 'nuff said.

At some point I became a geek, and actually agreed to be a character from Pong. Again, 'nuff said. We thought we were pretty funny, though, the Pong team. That's all I'm sayin'.

For some reason, perhaps in reaction to the Pong experience, the following year was a vavoomy year. I found a gorgeous mermaid costume that fit like, well, skin. It was shimmery and fun and light and...as it turned out, very see through. I would have died if I'd known that as I was standing in front of a window during a big office gathering that afternoon that nothing was left to anyone's imagination.

Crap. Fortunately, I didn't find this out for several years, when a former colleague of mine and I were laughing over antics we'd witnessed at that company and it came up. Really?! I still blushed, but I don't think a post-event blush really counts for much in the big scheme.

My kids, they've done a great job as ninjas, various cartoon characters, popular literature figures (Harry Potter is this year's theme, actually), Star Wars characters, Risky Business theme, etc. And they're always good.

They'll look back, though, one day, and have themselves a retrospective moment, I'm guessing. You just can't play that many characters without a backstory to tell at some point, right?

This year we're low-keying the whole event, and going to a party with friends. Nobody is dressing up, unless you count donning bathing suits to sit in the hot tub.

Happy Halloween!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dang it's hot

It has decided to be summer now, after weeks of fluctuating between cool and cooler.... The A/C is on high. I am trying to study, but really don't want to ...due to a general weightiness that has settled over me, no doubt the heat is just slowing me down for the moment. So, instead of pressing through and forcing myself to do something I don't really have the energy to do right now I am honoring my state of mind and just relaxing a little.... I have begun serious study for my BioMed exam, and reviewing the material is making me realize that I have in fact learned a great deal during my journey through this program, but more importantly is I have begun to look at things, all things, differently.  I am not sure when it began, the shift to this new view, but it has taken hold and infuses my being with an appreciation for the beauty and complexity of life, of the human body, of the human condition, of the universe in general. I have learned facts and data, I have examined ca...

On Mondays. And lots of rules.

Mondays can be a challenge. There's the whole shock to the system of waking up and realizing it's not the weekend anymore, which kind of blows. And then the jolt out of the lazy flow of the weekend into the time-focused 'gotta be at the office by x time, gotta get ready for the company meeting, gotta check emails/deadlines to ensure nothing is on fire' stuff. And then the reality of settling into the week...and knowing that this one will be a full one. They all seem to be. This week for me: Work. Lots of good stuff going on, but 'lots' being the watchword. School. 2nd trimester starts. Tomorrow a.m. So tomorrow for me is school, 9-12; work 1230-430; clinic 5-9. Long day, Tuesday. For this I've washed and pressed my lab coat, cleaned out my tote (it is truly amazing what collects during a trimester in terms of used kleenexes, abandoned index cards, folded notes that were important at some point but now are just extra weight, stale snacks, etc.), and ...

May I please be excused?

When G.G. was sorting through the mail the other night he stopped, then started to chuckle. And then he handed me an envelope in which a Jury Summons was contained. He chuckled because he has been called twice, and I have never been called. And for some reason he thought that wasn't right, or fair, or something. Well, I got mine. But it turns out I need to ask them a favor. To postpone my civic duty until after the holidays. Because before the holidays I am responsible for planning and overseeing and/or executing all year end marketing and PR for our little company, as well as publishing our final edition of an e-pub that now distributes to over 300K people each edition, so it needs to look good. And not have spelling errors and stuff. And then when that e-pub flies? I'll be flying, literally, to Providence, then to Europe and the Middle East. There's a lot to get done before I go, and I'm desperately hoping that our jury management system accepts my reque...