TT 15 Creative Costumes

Ahh . . . Halloween. The time when even the shyest among us dresses up in outlandish costumes and act like fools in public. My favorite hobby during this time is people watching. (Well, I pretty much do that the rest of the year anyways, but now I have an excuse.) Below are 13 of the craziest, zaniest and most creative costumes I've come across this year.

1…. Dirty laundry. This was one of my favorites, just because it was so random. A guy had cut a hole in the middle of a laundry basket, which he put around his waist and filled with clothes. The best part, though, was the sock on his head. He gets high marks for creativity.


2…. Lego man. This was definitely a grand entrance kind of outfit. He had a big yellow head and was holding yellow Styrofoam hands. He did have a hard time walking because on his feet were two shoe boxes painted blue to look like Lego blocks. An A+ for interesting attire but a D for comfort. (He had to take off the outfit after a little while because it was so hot and uncomfortable.)


3…. God's gift to women. I laughed hysterically when I saw this guy, especially when he told my friend, who asked to take his picture, that he was hers, so she could do what she wanted. (Not in a dirty way.)

4…. Brokeback Mountain. This was a twist, of sorts, since it was two women who were dressed up as gay cowboys. From some comments I heard at the party, I think they may have been lesbians, but either way it was really funny. They get bonus points for the real-looking mustaches and sideburns.


5…. Fork. I can't say I've ever thought of going as an eating utensil (or even how I could pull that one off), but one girl cut a large fork out of Styrofoam, spray-painted it grey, and left a big hole for her face to go through. That one earned a chuckle.


6…. Satan on Sunday. Now, I didn't see this one, but I heard all about it from a friend. We left the party too early to see the devil in his bathrobe and slippers, with a bagel stuck on the prongs of his pitchfork. I'd have paid to see a costume like that.

7…. Mermaid who'd been caught. This girl took Ariel to a disturbing new level when she dressed as a mermaid holding a fishing pole and a fishing hook stuck in her mouth. It was even funnier watching her try to talk and eat with that piece of metal stuck to her lip.


8…. Where's Waldo. Not terribly hard to make as a costume (white duct tape on a red outfit), but it made me giggle nonetheless. He kept popping up where you least expected to find him, generally in a crowd of people dressed in crazy outfits. Now why does that sound familiar?


9…. Summer. This girl had a pretty outfit on, rather bohemian by the look of it, but the green shawl and vines and flowers wrapped all around her added to the effect.

10…. Desperate girl. One poor unmarried young woman was brave enough to wear a wedding dress with a sign saying that she's desperate for a ring on her finger. I should have asked her if it worked, cause I could use some help in that department.


11…. Mastercard. One enterprising soul decided that instead of making a costume, she'd wear a sign instead. Shirt . . . $30. Pants . . . $80. Shoes . . . $60. Getting a costume she didn't have to make . . . Priceless.

12…. Switching roles. A wife who was 8 months pregnant dressed as a man with a bear gut (wifebeater and all) while her husband dressed as a . . . woman who was 8 months pregnant. It was rather funny to see them together.

13…. Goose Girl. Last, and definitely least, I promised to show pictures of my Halloween costume, so here it is. not terribly creative, I know, but on Saturday when I didn't have a costume, my blind date and I decided to visit a costume shop. I really liked this medieval dress, and plus, I look dang cute in it. For work, though, I had to come up with a literary figure to fit the costume (since I work for a book publisher and all), so I chose the Goose Girl, Isi. She's the heroine of one of my favorite books, the Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale. Beautiful story if you haven't read it.
Bonus…. I have to add this one in because I thought it was hilarious. Some trick-or-treaters came by, and one 14-year-old boy was dressed like a nun. Teenage boys kill me.

Horrors (and highlights) of dating

I'm so bored. I feel bad, but Blind Date #1 is talking to me on the phone right now, and instead of talking to him, I'm blogging and saying "Uh huh" and "Yeah" every once in a while to make him think I'm actually paying attention. I'm so bad, I know, but I don't know how to tell him to stop calling me. I'm such a chicken.

Ahh! I just want to scream. I had to stop typing for a minute there because he caught me at it--he could hear me typing over the phone. Well, I told him that I wasn't interested in going out with him again--after he talked about nothing for a good fifteen minutes--but he wouldn't let it go. He kept asking if he had done something wrong or offended me. I told him no, and then he proceeded to ask me if I wanted to go out as friends. That thought scares me as well because I'd be bored out of my mind for who knows how many friendly conversations and non-dates.

Then he asked, again, if he had done something wrong. Once again, I told him no, but then he kept talking for another ten minutes about how you can't really get to know someone in only one date, and so he asked me out again. I really hope most guys aren't that dense, but honestly, when I tell him I'm not interested, how many times do I have to repeat myself before he understands? It also made me feel really guilty that I was turning him down, but there's nothing to do about that. I don't want to go out again.

Okay, so breakdown of my weekend. Needless to say, he was a little weird. Even my dad admitted that today when I talked about my date. (Thanks, Dad, appreciate you trying to set me up with weirdos. Can't wait to see what you're going to try next.)

Well, he arrived an hour and a half late, which I only minded because he kept calling every few minutes to tell me he was running late, and then that he was lost. Once we finally got going, I was holding on for dear life as he drove. He's originally from Mexico, so I'm pretty sure that's where he learned to drive. (I'm not saying everyone in Mexico drives poorly, but I've seen some really scary ones before, and he was definitely among them.)

Bowling was okay, but the conversation was really boring, and he also kept getting into my personal space. I'm not sure I've discussed this before, but I really have issues with guys I don't know invading my personal space. Hovering over me qualifies, big time, as invading said personal space. As I was bowling, he would stand right behind me--he never sat down. I kept inching closer to the lane to get away from him, so it made it harder to bowl. That didn't hurt my score, however, as I creamed him, nearly doubling his score. It also bested my personal record. Three strikes in a row and a score of 172, thank you very much. (Okay, I know it's not much to brag about, but that was good for me.)

Okay, I'm done talking about that date. I'd like now to move on to much happier dating experiences with Blind Date #2. (Sorry, this is going to be a long post, but if you want good details, you'll have to slog through it.)

He was a little late as well, but once I told him where to turn he got there just fine. We went to breakfast and had a really good conversation while we were there. It seems both of us really like to travel: he got back from a few weeks ago from a trip to China (yes, I am very jealous) and I went camping, which he also likes to do. So far, so good. (I have to add in one annoying thing from my previous date because I just thought of it. Every time I'd agree that a certain movie was good, or even when I told him I went to the same university as he did, he'd say, "That's another thing we have in common." Honestly, if you have to search for things you have in common, that's pushing it a little too much.)

Back to the other story, after lunch we decided to visit a costume shop to see if we could find Halloween costumes since neither of us had any idea of what to dress up as. It was fun looking around, and we helped each other choose costumes. I'll leave you in suspense about my costume for a few days. I have other parties to go to, and I'll post some pictures later, but I have to say that I do look pretty dang cute.

That date ended well, and it was interesting to find out that we both go to the same church and he's good friends with one of my good friends. Talk about kismet.

So those were my dates. We'll see how #2 works out. Who knows what will happen there, but it will be interesting to see how things progress.

Shoot me now

Alright, let's try that again. Stupid computer isn't cooperating tonight, so we'll see if I can get through an entire post without it messing up again.

So I'm not looking forward to my blind date tonight. But there is hope--we're supposed to go out at 7 o'clock and he hasn't called yet to get my address or anything. It's 6:20 right now, so I'm really hopeful that he either forgot or can't do it.

I know I'm mean to say things like that, but I really don't want to spend a whole evening with him. I haven't met him yet, but every time I've spoken to him on the phone I get so bored. He's repeatedly told me that his favorite hobbies are bowling and miniature golf. He also enjoys reading books about his work as an engineer, rather technical stuff. Nothing in common with me, so far as I can tell.

Maybe I'm just too nice about it, at least when talking to people. I should have just said no when he asked me out, but my dad is the one who gave him my number, and I didn't even want to get into that. Needless to say, this will be a one-time-only event.

The blind date tomorrow morning is a different story. I've spoken to him several times as well, and we seem to have a lot in common in addition to him being interesting to talk to. We'll see how it goes.

Dang it. I just got off the phone with Bachelor #1, and he'll be here in half an hour so we can go bowling. I don't mind bowling, per se, but when I've been on four or five dates where that's been the sole entertainment, it gets old quickly.

I need to have a better attitude. It'll be okay. I think I'll survive. But be sure that if there are interesting details (especially bizarre, random things that always seem to happen on my dates) you will all be the first to hear.

Off and running

Well, I'm off again. It seems like I'm really busy these days. Not really, but I keep myself busier than I have these past few months. Sometimes I enjoy lounging about my apartment too much for my own good.

I'm headed to my writing class in a few minutes, and then tomorrow night is a blind date, Saturday morning another blind date, and a Halloween party that night. (But I still have no idea what I'm going as. Any suggestions? Well, other than the obvious "Naughty __fill in your own blank here." Those are about the only costumes available for women anymore.) Whew, I won't know where the time has gone. And how, exactly, am I supposed to finish all the books I'm reading when I'm out being social? Priorities, priorities. I need to get my act in gear.

Finally

I'm back, and I'm hoping it's for good this time. I finally got Internet access in my apartment, but it's much slower than I'd like since my roommate took charge of setting it up. But oh well. I'll take what I can get.

Work is good, though today one of the cats (we like to call him Chubbs or Fatty because he looks like a hippo) was playing a little too forcefully and hooked his claw deep into my finger. Since I'm allergic to cats, my finger didn't take this so well and is swollen to almost twice the size. It's been nearly five hours now and it still is difficult to bend, so I might not be typing much tonight.

On the dating front, I have two blind dates set up this week: one Friday, the other Saturday morning. I'm excited about one but not the other. The Friday night date I'm not looking forward to considering the poor guy bores me to tears just talking to him on the phone. The second guy sounds really nice on the phone and has many of the same interests I do. I've been waiting a while to go out with him because he took off to China for a few weeks on vacation, and then I was gone the past two weekends hiking and camping.

Which brings me to what I've been up to lately. A week ago I went with my family to Bryce Canyon overnight so we could go hiking. It was a lot of fun, but four hours of hiking up and down mountains wore me out. However, it was a great warm up to this weekend when I went camping for three days in Zion National Park. (I have lots of great photos, but I'll post those later because I'm too tired to download them to my computer right now.)

My friend and I went on three good-length hikes. The first, Angel's Landing, was incredible but it really made me nervous at points. Those afraid of heights, and especially those afraid of walking along the edge of a cliff on both sides with only a chain to hold onto, are not encouraged to go on this hike. People fall off and die more frequently than I'd care to think about. In fact, the friend I went with informed me today that the most recent time someone fell off and died was in June.

We also hiked through the Narrows quite a ways, getting wet up to waist deep, which wasn't terribly pleasant when night started coming on. The weather was wonderful considering it is the middle of October, but it did get pretty chilly at night. The last hike was also up a mountain, some of it going along cliff edges with only chains to hold onto, but it was gorgeous. It's called Hidden Canyon, and it's exactly that: a canyon hidden high up, with beautiful trees in the shade of tall walls of sandstone. One of the nicest things about the time of year was that some of the trees were just starting to turn since autumn hits southern Utah later. The green, yellow, orange, and red leaves contrasted beautifully with the red and white sandstone.

That's about it for now. I'm still really tired, exhausted really, considering we hiked a long way and I'm still really out of shape. But it was really nice to get away for a while and not even think about work. Sigh. Now it's back to the grindstone, but at least I'm more relaxed and ready for life.