This year felt like the longest Halloween season I have ever experienced. I have been seeing people in costumes since last weekend. Halloween being on Sunday, scary things were out in full force from Friday on. For whatever reason, I decided to organize a pumpkin carving event/costume contest at work.
Honestly, I’ve been kind of digging it. I’m not usually a Halloween girl. I know there are a lot of people who say it’s their favourite holiday, but I’ve never been one of them. More of a Christmas person, really. I never want to spend money on costumes, so mine tend to be a bit lame, and I’m usually left feeling pretty self-conscious about their lameness. Coupled with that is my dread of fire crackers, which people seem to let off everywhere, even though I’m sure there are laws against that.
But I had a lot of fun carving a pumpkin this year. (That one at the top, that’s mine.) And because I was planning the work event, I felt like I should dress up, so I did and that was ok too. Sort of. I went to work as a boxer (low effort costume consisting of gym clothes, a hoodie, wrist wraps, boxing gloves, a serious bruise on my left cheekbone and blood dripping out of my nose.) But I guess it looked less like a boxer costume and more like an actual boxer. (Apparently boxer costumes are supposed to involve satin.) That was for the people who managed to notice my gloves. Everyone else just thought I had been punched. Hard. I guess I went a little too realistic on the bruise. Apparently Halloween gore is only ok if it’s so over the top you know it’s fake.
Friday night is dance class night, so after work we went there and about half the people there were dressed up. The teachers were dressed as a priest and a nun, but the nun’s head thing had wires that made it stick out, so every time she got twirled, she was smacking him in the face. Slapstick comedy at it’s finest. When we left, Granville Street, of course, was teeming with girls in underwear and various animal ears. Very original. The guys were a lot scarier but also a lot warmer.
The fun continued! (This was the weekend I was going to spend studying. Ha!) Last night we met up with some friends and went to Commercial Drive to check out the Secret Souls Walk, which was a toned-down version of the Parade of Lost Souls from previous years. We actually missed the walk, but there was enough stuff still left up (White sheets! Pumpkins! Garages full of dead guys and saws!) and freaky-looking people around to make it worthwhile, even if we were walking in the rain. Luckily, I was wearing a rain hat in my half-assed costume take 2, starring me as a cowgirl or something. Basically it was denim, a foil star and a big hat.
Interested in getting out of the rain, but not going home quite yet, we followed a neon sign into a bowling alley. It was packed and everyone was dressed up. There were two tiers of the bowling alley. The upstairs was filled with people who had obviously thought ahead and booked. They had music up there and it was dark with black lights. Having not booked, we got to be in the fluorescent-lit, music-free downstairs area. It was still fun though. Surprisingly enough, I lost both games. My adversaries were all quite competent, unfortunately. There was a team playing next to us who I might have been better able to compete with. Their average frame score was 2. It’s possible that they were extremely drunk, but I’ve never been above exploiting any handicap I can find if it means I might actually win something.
I think what I enjoyed about it all was seeing the amount of effort some people put in. Some people really LOVE Halloween. It’s pretty neat to go out and see them. I know it’s supposed to be a holiday for little kids, but I actually didn’t see any, which probably just says things about the circles I travel in, but is also kind of neat. Because it means people (other than kids) are out there taking the opportunity to have fun and be weird, which is fantastic, really. I think normal might be a bit overrated.
My One Precious Life 