The farthest back I can remember in terms of costumes would be when I was Peter Pan... for the first time (I did it twice. I liked the tights.) My siblings and I grew up in a family that paid a lot of special attention to Halloween, and with a mother that was always willing to sew our costumes together for us. Come to think of it, I don't believe I have ever had a store-bought costume (in terms of "here is the costume, all in this bag.") There may have been some hunting at Goodwill involved, but it was always a mash up of products to achieve the final look. I even remember dressing up as Ron Goldman when I was 11, and if you don't see the problem with that, then you don't know who he was.
The first time I wore drag was in 8th grade, with my lovely best friend Katie Reynolds. I was a dead prom queen from the 80's, with lot's of blood and bullet holes. Got a lot of references to Carrie that night, which was fine by me. I figured if I wanted to get away with drag at age 13, I needed it to be gory. The next few years were nothing incredible though, and not until Halloween of 2005 did I do drag again and that was the first "big" year. Chicago with my bestie Kyle Conn, and I did Paris Hilton. Covered myself in bronzer, shaved my body, had a BAD wig, and tried to rock it. Didn't work; ended up passing out in Kyle's bedroom after topping off a sixer of... wine coolers. Shut up.
So let's just flash forward with a quick blurb about this years costume, and then I'll get to the weekend. Back in April I decided I was going to be Babydoll from Suckerpunch. I knew it was a risk to be the main character from a movie that was such a failure and that no one saw, but I figured I'd be the only one (and I was) and that I would get points for another homemade costume. Bought the fabric (over $100,) bought the wig ($35,) bought the shoes ($30,) bought the sword ($15,) and then got to work with my mom. And giving credit where credit is due, she did a hell of a job on the jacket and constructing the skirt (though I did all of the pleating myself.) So there, costume done. Cost too much, but oh well; sue me.
I was able to enjoy a 3-day weekend this year, which was pretty fantastic. What's funny is that right now, I honestly cannot remember what I did on Friday. Like, at all. That doesn't matter because it wasn't a big day, but I did go to sleep feeling like the next day was Christmas. I woke up on Saturday and doddled around the house for a bit, harassing my parents and then getting to work on carving pumpkins. Mom and I carved 9 all together, 5 for her and 4 for me, though one of mine was not grown at home and took FOREVER to cut through the rind. After that, I had to retire to my bathroom to begin the arduous process of shaving my chest, stomach and legs. Oy.
So an hour and lots of lotion later, I took it easy for a bit before the 3-hour ordeal of getting my makeup on commenced. It started with covering my thighs with concealer and toning them, and then my stomach with concealer and toning it, and then by chest and toning it. Finally I could start my face. I enjoy looking back on pictures from past Halloween's and seeing how far I have come in terms of my makeup application. As Paris Hilton I looked like Courtney Love. This year... I feel I finally struck the right note, confirmed by my mother saying as I came downstairs "Oh God, you really look like a girl." Had a little trouble with the eyelashes that didn't want to stay glued to my fucking eyelids, but then I got my hair up, wig on, and was out the door to head to my bestie (yes another) Mark Plowman's house for dressing up and a prebar.
After a quick stop at Matt's house to setup for the party I was co-hosting with him, I shot over to Mark's and threw my costume on. To be honest, everything came together in a way that I never imagined. It was better than I anticipated and as soon as I got the wig on, I knew I would look exactly how I wanted. Which was pretty great, due to the more-than-normal amount of skin I was showing and the very nature of the character. So we had a couple drinks and headed over to Matt's house.
The party was fun, though admittedly we only stayed for a little while. My prebar drinks hit me pretty hard and my eyelash was falling off so I needed to fix it before too many people saw me looking like I had down syndrome. My friend Cale, henceforth referred to as Superman (his costume, duh,) wanted to introduce me to his friend the Green Lantern, but we left before he arrived. Here's where my night started getting better, which you may find odd; read on.
After crawling around on the floor of Matt's porch to turn off my fog machines, ass in the air and sword catching the spider webs, we left the party. Mark, his boyfriend Markus, our friend Leslie and I trotted down the front steps and across the street. Me, in my drunken stupor, decided to drop my voice a few octaves and belt out the main chorus to "Lady in Red." As I sang "REEEEEDDDDD!" I did a high kick, felt my shoe slide out from beneath me, and then sort of careened backwards and sideways down into the gutter. Mark turns to me, laughing and screaming "BUNS! ARE YOU OKAY!?!?" I am laughing so hard at this point that I can't breath, so I start nodding while peeling myself off the ground. I think I was muttering "shit, I have leaves in my hair," but that part is kind of blurry. I almost wiped out again next to the car but thankfully avoided that. I will say I am glad I fell on my ass at that point, rather than in front of the bar where more than just my friends would see me, ankles to Jesus.
So back to Mark's house we went, I fixed myself up, we took a few pictures, and then headed out to the bar. This was when I realized my camera's flash was not working, so I was fairly devastated to know that there would not be a full photo album of the evening. Maybe it is better that way, because part of the adventure this Halloween entailed still feels like a dream to me... in a good way. We get to the bar, order up, and after about half an hour I run into Superman. He says his friend the Green Lantern is there and that I need to go and meet him right then. I rolled my eyes to Mark and whoever else was around, knowing full-well how this was going to go. "Fuck my life, I am dressed up as a (with heels) 6'6" school girl with a sword strapped across my back. Great time to meet a guy, shaved as bare as the day I was born."
So Superman waves him down, Green Lantern turns toward us, and my stomach drops. This is the guy he wanted me to meet for so long? This... well he embodied a superhero, to say the least. He comes over, says hi, and I think I just started talking a mile a minute because that's what I do when I'm nervous and slightly intoxicated. I'm feeling around with my hand behind my back, realizing as I grab my scabbard that the sword is missing. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I confirm it; someone stole my sword that I had customized. Again, my stomach drops, and Green Lantern seems to notice the sadness. I mention the sword, we talk a few minutes longer, and then one or both of us gets dragged away.
No more than twenty minutes later, the Green Lantern manifests before me... and in his hands is my sword. I won't go into the details of every thought that ran through my mind, but I will say that they were nothing less than fantastic. They were... I'm sure you can fill them in, actually. He was officially my hero for the night.
The night wears on; I don't get to take or be in any pictures, I run into Kyle Conn and adore his Peg Bundy costume, and then it is time for the costume contest. Sadly I didn't get nominated, but that's okay because you can't win all of the time. Green Lantern, however, wins second place. Which I feel is a better prize because it is a bar tab and not the keg party; coincidentally, it is the same position I won two years ago as the gals from Hocus Pocus with Kyle and the dreaded ex. But I digress.
The night is almost spent, it's about 1:50, when Superman shows up again and says "Hey, Green Lantern is on the dance floor. Come with me." With a nervous glance to my friends who are quite literally screaming "GO!" I turned and followed, skirt swaying with my ass. I approach, find myself at a loss for words only to have Superman exclaim "I found Babydoll! I love awkward situations!" and then turn away from us. So we danced a bit, we talked a bit, and my curiosity finally got the best of me and I vowed I would add him on Facebook. I had to add that because the time had come to leave... much as I didn't want to.
So we left, the night eventually ended, and Sunday was a blur of pizza, movies, and work meetings. But I did get to talk to the Green Lantern more... by a fair amount. Today was a very low key Halloween, but it was a great one. It got me to see that everything that had a beginning certainly has an end, that time does heal all wounds, and that the dark part inside of me, void of life for so long, finally had a spark set off. What is it that he says? I never saw the movie. Oh, that's right. "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight; Green Lantern's light."
Light it up.
El fin.
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