Halloweeeeeee!

Hey everyone,

I had a great Halloween weekend. Steve has started accompanying me to ROCK, the kids organization I volunteer with, and so this Saturday morning was their costume celebration. I put on some tiger pants I hadn't worn in 5 years (ow, were they tight!), ears, a tail, and some tigery eye make up, and Steve dressed as a 'giants fan.' So many cute costumes -- little American Idols, Devils, Samurais, one Human Torch, some Scream masks that "dripped blood" -- Halloween is really all about kids age 6-12, so it was fun to get to be with them. Steve, by the way, is a hit with the 5th grade boys. They want to sumo wrestle him, sword fight him, beat him in basketball...it's really cute. I, on the other hand, seem to be a hit with the 4th grade girls (which was probably my happiest year at Rumsey...interesting) -- especially the ones who find themselves on the margins. It's still hard to get up early on Saturday morning, but even more fulfilling to be making lots of connections with these kids. This weekend is the last one of the season, to resume in January.

Saturday night was our friends 3rd annual halloween party, as well as Steve's best friend's 30th birthday (he got the "best depressing statement of the night award" by saying, Welcome to your Fourth Decade!). My friends had cooked up a fairie theme, Leslie was an Autumn fairie, Laura was a Winter fairie, Sarah (their new house mate and a friend of mine from Wes) was Spring, and another friend, Becca, was Summer. To fit myself into this theme with some degree of autonomy, I went as a Night fairie, or Night personified, and Steve, game as he always is, went as...you guessed it...Day. When we thought of it, it clicked like a pair of red sequin heels: night and day. I rocked a black bob wig, a black vintage eightie's dress with lots of tulle in the skirt, black wings, dark make up, false eyelashes with shimmery beads on the end, and stars and moons where ever I could draw or stick them (though they didn't stay stuck long). Steve found a flamey colored tunic, a sun mask, some flamey wings, and some orangey gold tights. He vaguely looked like a Mexican Wrestler, which led us to call him El Sol all night. He was a hit where ever we went, not just for sheer bravery points. Also, we got to use our latest word of the day -- together we formed a Nycthemeron, which is a 24 hour period. (~_-)

Email me if you must see pictures. (^_^)

And today -- the actual day of Halloween -- I re-donned the wig, threw on some dark make up and some red lips and a black dress and some black boots -- kinda going as a 1920's vamp...only to find that NO ONE IN MY OFFICE DRESSED UP.

Um...can we say, "salient"?

But if I've learned anything, it's that I can "do" goth or "go" black if I "wanted" to. Lots o' compliments, double takes, and extra visits to my desk.

It's been nice to transform 3 times in a row. I hope you all got equal opportunities for rebirths, be it cosmetic or metaphysical...Happy Dark and Scary Day!

Also -- thanks to 2Dad for the card and to Mom and Steve for the care package. Always a pleasure to receive honest-to-goodness mail. Kisses!