Halloween Follow-up

 

Remember how I posted that I felt like I wanted to go all out for Halloween, but I wasn’t sure what that meant? It did not end up meaning much.

Actually, I have had this issue for quite a while with most holidays where I really want to celebrate big—whether in terms of decorating or giving or partying—is that as I get there I am too busy to plan anything.

With Halloween I would have loved to have an amazing costume, crazy decorations inside and outside of the house, and do some fun things. There are germs of ideas there. I have been wanting to get back to the Sauvie Island Corn Maize for years, I wanted to go to Fright Town because one of their sections was post-Apocalyptic, I think I could do interesting things with incorporating the natural twists of my hair into a Medusa costume, and the Christmas version of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland makes me want to experiment with pumpkin gargoyles. And I say that as someone who really wishes they would wait until after Halloween to Christmas-ify something that is so perfectly Halloween-ish on its own.

Ultimately, none of this happened. Time sped on, as it always does, and none of those ideas were achieved, even though some of them have been going on for a while now. It’s not that Halloween was a total disappointment. I was writing about vampires. In fact, I was writing the scene where Nick and Dexter were fighting off Tori at midnight on Halloween, which was pretty cool. (I was also writing about vampires on Bram Stoker’s birthday, and will be writing about them on Thanksgiving, though that doesn’t relate as much.)

Also, I listened to spooky music that week, including the Misfits, Concrete Blonde, Oingo Boingo, and Warren Zevon. I changed my Twitter name and picture, so that I at least had a Twitter costume, changing it back at 12:15 AM November 1^st (I needed to finish the scene and make sure Dexter was okay). I was Desultory Plebe. If I can find a picture of an irritated looking water fowl, next year I will be Sulky Grebe.

Just to really change it up, I wore make-up that day, and I think it was exactly a year since the last time I wore make-up. All it really does is remind my mother that I should do it more often, so in retrospect that was probably a bad idea.

So, those were things that were cool, but for me Halloween is all about the creativity, and the only thing that even came close to my original plans was that I did still carve five pumpkins. This is the one thing that I always seem to manage; even if I am carving one pumpkin the day before Halloween, I somehow get it in.

My initial plan was that I wanted to do one Draculoid pumpkin (for Danger Days) and I wanted to do one like the Misfits skull. Those would require larger pumpkins. Maria took her class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch, and came back with a small pumpkin. Now, what they do with the Haunted Mansion is a Nightmare before Christmas theme, so with all my mixed feelings about it, I thought I could do a Jack Skellington head on the small pumpkin. Maria said, no, do Zero. Well, I love Zero, but again, that would require a large one. I bought three large pumpkins, but then it felt wrong to have Jack with Zero and not Sally, so I bought one more small one.

The carving results were mixed. Actually, I feel like Jack and Sally came out best. Zero would have been better if his nose had not fallen off. The Draculoid was pretty good, but I was not at all equipped for the Misfits one. It’s a rather complicated design, and one eye was kind of okay, one was already going downhill, and then it was all over when I got to the teeth. (While that was disappointing, it was, I think, the one that looked best when lit up.)

I started thinking that maybe it was time to invest in some better tools. I use a table knife for carving, and a tablespoon for scooping out. It’s pretty low-tech. I did trying using a vegetable peeler for working through the layers, but it was a total wash. I also picked up one of those carving kits one year, and the blade snapped right away. However, it probably is possible to find something with a blade that is thinner yet still strong, so I can do more detailed work (like tiny teeth).

As I had in mind to keep my eyes out for a good knife, it occurred to me that if I really wanted to do something for Halloween, I was going to need to plan it long before October, when there is no time pressure. If I start looking for a knife now, and start sketching ideas for the house in March, that’s how it could actually happen. Waiting till October is basically deciding that nothing will happen.

That’s when I realized it was time to start planning my birthday. It’s already only two months away, and sure, that sounds like plenty of time, but the reasonable amount of time is not enough for me, so I need to plan on being unreasonable.

It’s weird how awesome planning in advance feels. The things that I go back and forth on don’t seem to matter so much. Maybe the extra time changes the perspective.

So, it will be much like last year, with karaoke at Pyzano’s, except that this time it is actually going to be for my birthday, rather than something that I happen to be doing near my birthday. That’s right; I’m owning it! This primarily means that I am bringing cake.

Sure, the thoughts and concerns come up, but they are resolved so quickly. Like we will be on the early schedule for church next year, so getting to church at 9 after being up singing would be rough, and then I thought, hey, I’m going to visit Aloha 1^st Ward that day. I miss them anyway, and it gives me an extra two hours. Plan!

I have scheduled a hair appointment for a few days before, so I will be looking as presentable as I get. I will also start keeping an eye out for a new outfit. I love my family, and without them I would only own three shirts, but those three shirts are the ones that I like, so okay, I can reasonably put some effort into finding a new top that will be good for rocking.

I have thought about doing a scouting trip to see if certain songs are available (top picks: I Wanna, Dragostea din tei, and Saturday Night), but I am going to wing it. If we end up closing the evening on a group sing of Bohemian Rhapsody, well, that is pretty fun.

Yes, it is common for there to be weather concerns around the time of my birthday, but I’m going for it. It’s close to where I live, I could walk if I needed to, even in snow. And that’s one thing that I have found, is that trying to make it convenient for other people does not work, so I am making it convenient for me. I am also starting the invitation now, so people have plenty of time to decide, and I am just inviting everyone on Facebook. Okay, I won’t invite the two dead friends, but people in other countries, in jail, or on missions? Invited! I may even invite my pharmacy tech.

This is different for me. Usually I try and think about who might enjoy it and who could realistically come, and nope, you decide. Yes, I am worried that only annoying people will come, or people who get along with me but hate each other. I am also a little worried that I will have to tackle someone for their car keys. I’m just going to go with it though. I’m welcoming chaos more lately. It seems to be the right thing. I’m not sure why, but if I understood that, I probably wouldn’t need to do it.

If you aren’t friends with me on Facebook and want to come, comment on this, or message me through Twitter, or something like that. I’m down with it.

So now the only real question is whether I have given myself enough time to be up for major baking for Christmas.