Didn't we cover the topic of costumes at the start of the month? I seem to recall posting a bunch of photos, back when I put effort into this sort of thing. I'm glad tomorrow is the 31st; not for candy, but so I can bring a merciful end to these 31 days of blog posts and Writer's Block questions (before launching into NaNoWriMo, which is even more soul-crushing).

Anyway, I don't think we're doing anything for Halloween this year. If something should come up at the last minute, I have my Mr. Peeps costume that would suffice. Not sure what Mika would do, though; but like I said, I don't think it's going to be an issue.

In the interest of fully answering the question, I bought my Mr. Peeps costume on eBay. I had a tax refund and a moment of stupidity.

Tomorrow is my EDO. No work for me! We'll see what kind of hell this unleashes next week. I have made a to-do list, but there's not much on it - vacuum, write my Ben Folds review, buy a few groceries, make a pumpkin pie, pick up my paint pen from the Toyota dealership, take out the garbage, do laundry, do dishes... maybe I will make those Bits and Bites that I have been threatening. I should also sleep buckets because I haven't been doing enough of that lately, even though my new American comforter is super great. In fact, I should go do that right now.

Boy, it would be handy if they put the questions on this screen so I could see to answer them.

I haven't had that many Halloween costumes of note. Last year, of course, I dressed up as Mr. Peeps:



That was me making a sad face. I don't WANNA be a Peeps. I WANNA be a dumptruck.

A year or two before that, I was... well, I don't know what I was:



That's a Mexican wrestling mask, a red feather boa, taped wrists, a loosely tied tie, and a studded collar.

Many years ago, in my larger days, I was Amish:



That's me with my grandma (I'm the one in the hat.)

At the time, I'd just started dating Kristin (which I guess means this was in 1999). She hadn't yet told her parents about me. When she did so, she sent them one of my Amish costume pictures and told them that there weren't a whole lot of pictures of me; for religious reasons, I didn't like having my picture taken. I am not sure how long her mom believed that for, but I think it might have been a few months.

And of course, though it was not Halloween, I dressed up as Bea Arthur for one of Laura's parties this year:



...and Arthur Dent for one of Laura's parties a few years ago:



(Wow, I've aged a lot in two years.)

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is I really like costumes. No idea if we're doing anything for Halloween this year, though. If we are, I can always be Mr. Peeps again - a problem with costumes is their limited re-use value and so far, I've only worn the Peeps costume at work (and briefly to the mall for lunch). 

Or or OR, I could combine my two costumes from Laura's parties and go as Bea Arthur Dent. Shady Pines, Zaphod...

As promised, I went to work yesterday in the Peeps suit. Only two other people on my floor dressed up, so my costume got a lot of attention. My picture was taken repeatedly. It was one of those days that I will regret when they make the slideshow for my retirement, I am sure.

The costume was a hit around the office. Scott Argue laughed his fool head off. One guy suggested I should take my pants off to show off my chicken legs. My boss tried to hug me because I'm so soft and fuzzy (but he fled in terror when I tried to hug him back).

The real question was whether or not I would wear the costume to the mall to pick up lunch. hansen9j  said I should, because his friends were going to be at the mall and he had high hopes of hearing about the dude in the weird chicken suit. Chad also said I should, but admitted that he himself would not do so. Chad then asked Dean, who said that I would wear the costume to the mall if I had any balls.

Well. I have balls! Two of them, in fact. So off to the mall I went.

The first thing I noticed was that surprisingly few people even notice if you walk through the mall in a chicken suit. It is Halloween and all, but there weren't that many people in costume. Maybe a dozen, not counting the people who were working there and had their costumes mandated by head office. I turned surprisingly few heads. Of course, I did have a big yellow flap obscuring my vision so my powers of observation were hindered.

In general, though, people like you more if you dress like an big yellow marshmallow bird. I got laughs from the people working at Edo, as well as a friendly chat with the lady running the lottery kiosk - she rarely seems in a good mood so I counted this as a big victory.

Of course, the big PEEPS logo on the bottom of my outfit was too subtle for some people. I was misidentified as the following:

• chicken
• duck
• Big Bird

Other stats:

• Percentage of cute girls who will smile at you if you are dressed as a Peeps: high
• Odds that they are not laughing WITH you: high

I was in line for food when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to have my picture taken by my dad's friend Dennis. I didn't think about it at the time, but I'm glad he was there to document this occasion - now I have proof that I wore the costume to the mall (and, by extension, non-graphic proof of my balls). I do not know what Jeff's friends look like, but if they did not see me, it was not for a lack of trying on my part.

Photos:



Mr. Peeps has come back at long last!



(shhh - don't tell anyone, but it's just me in a fantastic costume)



At the mall.



My hilarious end-of-day, post-costume hair.

I feel positively compelled to write a blog entry. No idea why. Nothing has been happening. Work has turned into a bit of a gong show, but there's nothing new about that. It will be nuts for a while and then it will level off again. I went to the gym tonight without running into a bitter, divorced janitor. I went to the mall afterward and had a pita and it was pretty good. I came home and got beat at Uno by strangers on Xbox Live. Same, indeed, as it ever was.

Tomorrow is Halloween. For the first time in my life, I have an actual costume - hello, disposable income! Goodbye, disposable income! And I intend to wear this costume to work (or, rather, I will wear it AT work, because wearing it TO work sounds like a good way to get beaten up by the hairspray sniffers I saw in the park at 8:00 this morning) but aside from that, I have no exciting Halloween plans. Mika's driving down, which is nice but entirely unrelated to the holiday.

I don't have any actual web hosting anymore, but I put a picture of my costume up on Facebook. Let's see if it will show up here:



I'm making a pouty face because Mika thinks it's funny if I pretend like I don't want to be a Peeps.

Today was Free Slurpee Day. I so desperately want to go to bed as I am exhausted from the excitement, but Cynthia has demanded that I post Slurpee pictures.

Sadly, I cannot.

I mean, I did, up on the ol' Facebook, but I can't post them here. Apparently I changed webhosts? I knew this was coming but knew not that it had happened. Now I cannot access my files. Oh well! You will just have to take my word for it when I say I had FIVE free Slurpees today. Two Coke, one lime, one grape, and one Slurpaccino. Grape Slurpees rule. As do Coke Slurpees. The lime and the Slurpaccino were merely okay.

The pictures aren't any good anyway. They're all blurry. I don't think I'll make a new LJ icon.

Last year, it was super hot on Free Slurpee Day and when I stopped on the way home, they'd already run out of free cups. Today, there were tons even at 10:00 at night. That's what happens when it hails on Free Slurpee Day.

As we were driving around after supper (pitas) and enjoying our free Slurpees, some dude turned left and nearly hit us. He saw we were there, we had right of way, but he was going regardless. Apparently leaning on the horn makes it okay? Whatever. I saved the day with my superior driving skills. Then we saw two drunk chicks crossing the street. One of them fell over. The other one helped her wobble to her feet. Then they both staggered across the street. "What the fuck are you staring at?" they yelled at us as each they gave us the finger. "...you?" replied Mika, quite accurately. Gotta love living in the hood.