Dead On

This year I broke my tradition of always being dead on Halloween.

See, I just think that Halloween costumes are better if you get to be dead. Dead makeup is fun. Blue lips, greenish hallowed eyes, pale skin = a good time. Plus, I mean, it just makes sense being dead.

I haven't always been dead for Halloween, but in recent years I decided I always would be. I started taking Halloween dressing up seriously my freshman year of college when I went to a party as a spider. I had the works: eight black legs, a black body, a black wig and purple lips. Sure, spiders don't necessarily have purple lips or black hair but it worked. The next year I believe I was the green Power Puff girl. The next year I began my 'dead' tradition when I was a dead bride. The next year I was a dead Little Bo Peep. My first Halloween in Scotland I was the dead Wicked Witch of the East (isn't she the one who got killed by the house falling on her?). The next year I was a dead substitute teacher (Cause of Death: Pencil through the head).

This year, I was going to be a mummy. Haha, get it? Mummy? Mummies are by nature dead, so it all worked out. I did dead makeup, dead hair (in this case, teased and crazy) and Egyptian eyes. I wrapped myself up in an entire single bed sheet cut into strips.

It looked pretty good. For about five minutes.

Then the bandages started falling off. And unwrapping. And hanging. And looking generally very stupid. This is me right before I'd had enough.


(Also important to mention - each year the object of my life has been to not get caught in a single picture not in character. This was my proposed Mummy persona. There has always been a persona.)

The party was supposed to start in about half an hour. There was no way the remaining bandages would last that long. So I decided at the last minute to change costumes. But what could I be at the last minute? What costumes did I have hanging about that would match my dead Egyptian makeup?

Well, as it turns out, I happen to have a very Cleopatra-looking dress that I've never managed to find an occasion for. I had the Cleopatra eyes, I had the dress, I had some gold shoes, and I had a gold scarf that could somehow make a costume. I briefly considered a dead Cleopatra, complete with snake hanging off me, but I had no snake. And also no other choice.

So I was Cleopatra this year. Who is dead now so maybe in a way I was still kinda dead. I exchanged blue pale lips for red ones and voila.

We had a party, in case you didn't catch that, and it turned out to be fun. I haven't had a proper party in my house even once since I moved here so I was nervous. I had tons of food (would it be too much?) and invited tons of people (would anyone come?) and was dressed like Cleopatra (would anyone else dress up?) - and it all turned out good in the end. Almost everyone showed up and though it was a slow start at the beginning, it got quite lively. We had old horror movies on the television, a 'scary sounds' CD playing and pumpkin candles lit. When we flicked off the lights and partied by candle and TV light, it got a lot better. All the food was eaten, my strawberry fruit dip went down like it was 1999, and no one even minded that my castle cake decided to do the old stick-to-the-pan routine and came out in crumbles.

Even Scott had fun, regardless of the large amount of people in his house which usually freaks him out a bit. And best of all, all the girls oohed and ahhed over my baby room, which was really the most important part of the evening.

And my biggest fear, that people would come, be bored and leave an hour later, resolved itself when the entire crowd was still hanging out at midnight! At which point we all proved our incredible old-peopleness with yawns and gasps of horror when the time was discovered. Everyone left, Scott and I tidied in less than five minutes (hurray for paper plates!) and I went to bed a happy lady.

I love parties. And even more, I love having friends.


Cleopatra (Lori), Pocohantas (Jacqueline), Sumo (Roger), Knight in Shining Armour (Scott), Unbelievably Scary Guy (Matthew), Pink Lady (Amanda), Witch (Cheryl) and Glamour Puss (Lorna)

Not pictured: Val the Cowgirl and Darren the Real Life 2nd Dan Blackbelt (as of last night) who arrived after his grading