Part II
(Part I here)
So. So, so, so. If it's October, it's Halloween month. Not the month with Halloween at the end... it's just Halloween month. At least it is for this guy. You've read about my costumes (here) so you know I never tread lightly when it comes time to get serious about this shit. At all.
Now this post is going to be a smidgen out of order because I am going to lump everything together when it comes to the costume, and that means four separate nights of dressing up that were divided by actual Halloween. So let's start with that. Get ready for a lot of pictures.
I invited mom over for Halloween day, seeing as she lives out in the boonies now and doesn't get Trick or Treaters and no one can appreciate her pumpkins. I had taken four days off from work to celebrate accordingly and planned a little afternoon of it.
First let me start off by saying I was dumb and waited until the last minute to buy pumpkins this year. Not the EXACT last minute, because it was the day before, but the fact remains. Three grocery stores and two plant nurseries had literally nothing left when it came to pumpkins or gourds. Nada. And I know they weren't all sold, they were probably donated, but how annoying! I had to resort to Wal-Mart, barf, and even then I only got the three midgets you see below in the center.
But I digress.
We carved pumpkins, I made a big crockpot of chili (Parker tradition, everyone), and then we sat down and watched "Fright Night." The remake, not the older version. And I'd just like to say I have no qualms with the remake as so many people do, because I only saw the original once and thought it was so-so. It was a fun afternoon with mom, spent talking about Halloween's past and all that. Couple scares, lots of laughs, and what more could you ask for? When she left, I dawdled a bit before getting ready for the evening.
The third "event" of October commenced.
1.) Manly with a beard, no prep work done.
2.) Half-tie the hair back and slather on that shaving cream. Get it, get it!
3.) What a baby face; this is why I don't shave with a razor. Ever.
4.) All showered and lotioned up!
5.) Applied foundation to the forehead and frame of my face, which I then removed from the frame of my face because I wound up screwing it up. This is a process, people. Set the foundation with powder.
6.) Draw the brows on with liquid liner. That little arch gives a whole lot of expression when I move my forehead.
7.) The prettiest face you'll ever see. I smudged out all of the eyeshadow (there are four colors there: black, gun metal, silver, and sparkly onyx) to be able to have a much finer line when it was done but mostly so that I wasn't coming up short when I did clean it up.
8.) After taking a makeup remover wipe I had a perfect line coming off each eye.
9.) Eyes done, foundation totally applied.
10.) Lips done! First outlined with black liquid liner, then lipstick applied, then the liner is gone over again and smudged down to make a better shading effect. I had to blow out my top lip because if I didn't, it would look like there was hardly a lip there.
11.) Hey, the night is wrapped. After a makeup remover wipe had attacked my mouth and eye, I look like leatherface. I get a good chuckle at the difference in skin color. Fun fact: the last night of doing makeup, I kept messing it up and had to essentially "spackle" my face with foundation. I looked like Goldie Hawn in "Death Becomes Her."
12.) All cleaned off and ready for a shower. Looking like I got rode hard and put away wet.
The finished product? Well look below! More time and effort was spent on the jacket than anything else. I bought it for $14, and added about $80 worth of patches, chains and buttons. But it upped the ante of the costume and I couldn't be happier. The corset was not really a corset, but an old vest I had from Express. I cut it up to get the right shapes and then mom attached a new fabric to the whole thing. I then pounded grommets in to lace it up, and the real Dr. Frank'n'furter looks mighty pissed at my success.
The first night of going out was with Miss T (dressed as Marie Antoinette) and we went to "Wicked Fun" at the Grand Meridian in Appleton. We'd gone to this event the year before and hadn't had much success in enjoying ourselves or winning the costume contest (that was a mess, don't even get me started). So we just threw caution to the wind and went as big and bold as we could. And y'know what? We had a blast that night. And on top of it all, we won. Miss T secured third place and I brought it in at 2nd, which was fine by me. The prize (below) was valued at $850 and came full of gift cards for random establishments/things as well as tickets to the Weidner Center for a magic show at the end of November.
I'd rather take 2nd place than nothing at all, and beggars can't be choosers so I took the tin and ran.
I didn't really run.
I don't know if you noticed those heels or not, but the platform was an inch and a half tall. And the heel five inches. Do the math ::cough cough six foot nine inches cough cough::
Then we had the second event, the next night, at a bar called Sluggers on the north side of town. Our friend Joni's boyfriend's band was playing and the costume contest was that night, so we put it all on again and turned it out as well as we could. By this point we were realizing how much attention our outfits were getting. The first night alone we posed in more pictures than we had through three events combined the year before.
Unfortunately this night Miss T did not place in the contest. 16 people entered it and everyone got to march around in front of the crowd, and then based on their screams the list was narrowed to 8 people. She did not make it into the 8, and without being biased AT ALL, I have to say it was bullshit. One of the costumes was a girl in a red hoodie as Elliot, carrying a basket with an E.T. doll in it. And don't get me wrong, that's a great costume (and one I provided to Jillybean for a party I threw back in 2009) but it is not one full of effort. And Miss T's was full of effort.
So I made it into the top 8, and then I made it into the top 3. And then I strutted my stuff one final time and secured 2nd place for a 2nd night in a row, drawing in $100 cash for myself. Miss T was a great sport because in the end, we are cheerleaders for each other. And the exact same thing happened last year, at the same bar. She placed and I didn't.
Then we move on to the main event.
@markstyleme and Mr. K finally joined the festivities as Magenta and Riff Raff, completing the trio from Rocky Horror. All we needed was a Columbia! I think my favorite part of this costume was how many people reared their heads around when they saw it. I'm a big guy on any given day, at 6'4" with wide shoulders and just a broad frame in general. So when you put me in heels, a garter belt and a corset, it turns heads.
Men congratulated me on being "fuckin' awesome!" Women screamed about how great my calves looked. And the pictures. Pictures, pictures, pictures. They didn't stop! I'm sure it was intimidating enough to walk up to a complete stranger to ask for a picture (let alone one that looked as I did), but to do it when I was in a group of friends was commendable. I did everything I could to be gracious and willing, because there is nothing worse than a sour puss in costume.
And really, I did this for the attention. No one would dress up the way we did and be thinking "Gosh, I hope no one looks at me tonight." I WANTED people to look! I even called them out when they were looking! "Hey, take a picture! Don't be shy honey, come-and-gimme-a-hug." Wearing that much makeup and a costume like that made me transform into the character and that is such a great feeling. No one would recognize me from my day job, no one would be able to pick me out of a crowd, and that is incredibly freeing. So I got to ham it up for a few nights and just be ridiculous.
Then you've got 'ol nipple biter @caitcd, with Riff Raff creeping in the background. Of the 60+ pictures I posed in for complete strangers, I didn't find out until later that he photobombed nearly every single one, standing in the crook of my arm with his face leering through it. And that is fucking awesome. I have to give MAJOR props to Mr. K for never dropping character.
A photographer from the Post Crescent was also there and our picture made it onto the website for the newspaper. Which is pretty grand as well.
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This was the "official" picture we had taken of us by the people at the event. This was at Waverly Beach in support of the Children's Hospital, and I later found out the event (which typically pulls in about $60,000 a year) beat their record and pulled in over $100,000 which is pretty fantastic. There was a costume contest that Miss T entered as a solo and the three boys entered as a group, and unfortunately we did not even place. BUT it was an honor just to be nominated, because you couldn't walk up to a booth and say "Hey, I want to be in the contest." There were judges walking around that had to personally give you a necklace to nominate you.
After the contest was over, we parted ways. The boys went home and Miss T and I went to a bar called Images where @kconn works. We got there around 11:20 and didn't realize there was a contest at that bar as well. So at midnight, when the winners were announced, imagine our immense surprise when Miss T took 2nd place and I took 1st place.
I screamed very loudly.
We come to the final night of festivities. @markstyleme and Mr. K threw a shindig at their new house and I was more than willing to play with them. Miss T unfortunately did not join me as she was feeling under the weather, but I was comfortable enough on my own at that point that I knew I wouldn't have a problem strutting around without her to protect me from bullies.
Of which there had been none, but you know what I'm saying. Easy target.
We had to sign balloons at the house, either as our character or as ourselves, so I chose my character and got artsy with the underline. If you see a big dick, that's your own fault. I claim no responsibility.
Scout showed up as Derek Zoolander and was my arm candy for the evening. We went downtown for karaoke (no one else was ready to leave the party when we left, aaaaaand then no one else ever came) just the two of us and had a blast. There's something to be said about a person that makes it easy for you to be so silly and dumb around them, whether you want to or not, and for me that's Scout.
There was supposed to be a costume contest at the bar I frequent for karaoke, but sadly they had done it the night before. Mother fuck. That was okay though because there were still a bunch of people dressed up and we had fun talking with them and taking pictures throughout the evening. I must say, I made a whole gaggle of new friends in this outfit. Even if I didn't get their names. Or the names of the straight men, who were very hunky, that couldn't stop touching me.
What an effect I have on people!
Around 12:30, the time came for me to perform. It was the whole reason I chose this costume, after all. A year ago on Halloween I sang karaoke in public for the first time, and the song I was comfortable singing was "Sweet Transvestite" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was like a drug to me, and I sang it throughout the entire year. I knew it was all building to this point, and though the very beginning was cut off, that's ok. I keep watching it and laughing. I didn't realize I looked so good in that corset!
When the song was over it was time to head back to @markstyleme's and call it quits for the Halloween season of 2014. When we walked out of the bar (of which I had parked directly in front of by sheer luck) it was to find four or five squad cars, a fire truck, and crime scene tape. Because there had been multiple stabbings at the Mexican club right next door. Suddenly my parking spot wasn't so great.
So with my chin held high, this 6'9" tranny walked into the damn street infront of cops, onlookers, media and club go-ers, got into the damn car, and managed to wiggle out of the parking spot in platforms and a wig.
Watch out, world, I'm coming for ya!
Watch out, world, I'm coming for ya!
Back at the house, the corset came off. The wig, the heels, the nylons, all packed away to be kept in a safe place for an undetermined amount of time. There's always a sense of finality to whatever character I'm playing when I take the costume off for the last time, and then I know it's done. @markstyleme was lying on the floor, so I lay down with him and we were chuckling and taking pictures. And then Scout and Mr. K lay down as well and we were all laughing and taking pictures non-stop.
Looking at the photo above I can't help but get a certain twinge of nostalgia for how things were at one point in time. How things could have been... in my mind how they should have been. Not everything works out the way we want and that's alright. It can suck, but it's alright.
So what else happened in October? I only listened to Christmas music twice. Okay, three times. Went through enough makeup to fancy-up a small army, visited my first cheese store, and endulged in a few Dark 'n Stormy's. I finished the hard copy edit of Episode II, made a few decisions about the end of the Onyxus Chronicles series, bought my first iPhone, and started my holiday shopping. If that's not ahead of the game then I just don't know what is.
I think when all is said and done, it's like the quote at the beginning of this set of blogs said: "Sometimes the healing is in the aching." We need to feel things, things like these three events, to remind us that we're alive. Whether it's a sentimental wedding, the loss that comes from a best friend moving away, or the overwhelming joy of bringing a character to life so well... we need it.
I need it.
I need it.
And if the healing is truly in the aching, I'm healing up quite nicely. Maybe the silver lining of that is that I'll be able to stand even more sturdy on my own two feet, heels or not, and greet the future without needing to lean on so many people. It's a good thing to look forward to.
Ciao gang (c:
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