Return of the (lack of the) Costume Gene

Its October 12th and that means Halloween is approaching. When living in a tropical country there is no changing of the leaves, there's no crisp undertones in the air, there's no need for a scarf.  My mom told me she was surprised to be seeing pumpkins in the supermarket.  At the local Lotte Mart I can get squash at all times of the year, but never pumpkins.  There are places in Indonesia, like on Sumatra, that have pumpkin all the time for soups and local delicacies. If it weren't for Della, I'd forget.  Della is one of my closest friends here and she's blessed to have the gene, the costume gene. Here's a reminder of my opinion from last year.

I do miss the change of season.  I miss the tables in the markets of apple cider, pumpkins, hot chocolate and bags of mini candy bars. I don't miss having to figure out something witty to be for Halloween.  I liked my costume last year.  I was a 1950's era deadline rushed reporter. See it here. 

Last week we had a costume going away party.  You can tell many of my friends enjoy fancy dress parties (that's a costume party for you Americans).  We have color theme nights for regular Fridays out.  The going away party was Mobster Monday.  I was able to scrape something together quickly, using bits from the reporter outfit of last year. Not bad huh?

So, I'm culling you, my imaginative, creative, interesting readers.  Throw out anything.  I still am not confident enough to wear something like this

Not to mention I wouldn't know where to find it in Indonesia.  But I kinda want something more feminine than last year.  Help!

Does the costume make the man?

It is Halloween night.  In the United States children are preparing for trick or treating that won't commence for hours.  The final candy is being bought, the finishing touches being put on bars, restaurants and haunted houses about the cities. Here?  It's a quiet Sunday evening after the last call to prayer. Most folks are home with family, perhaps dreading the eventual Monday return to work.

I am left reflecting on the events of the weekend and the holiday.  By most measures it was a big Halloween for me.  As you hopefully read in a previous blog, I'm not much for dressing up.  That being said, I was convinced to do so this year.  A friend and I hit a new bar on Friday night.  Being that we were the only two people crazy enough to be in costume, we won the costume prize. The bottle of moscato is in my cupboard.  I was happy to see my first jack o'lantern of the year and felt good about my costume.

he's so cute!

 

Not bad, and comfortable to wear.  No paint necessary.

I skated through on one costume for two nights. Donna had two completely different looks; a pirate on Friday and a cyber punk on Saturday. As expected, the bars were full of people, especially women, using the holiday as an excuse to reveal a skanky dressed side of themselves. Night one included a vampire, a nurse and a devil all in unbelievably short dresses and all Indonesian. Night two included Poison Ivy from batman in short shorts, a dominatrix (in pants but tight clothing), Amy Winehouse, Snookie from Jersey shore, a strange orange and yellow thing that involved short shorts and skin, a girl dressed in a short white dress and wig, black cat in skin tight black and numerous others at the bar. I will give a hand to the creativity of cyber punk, Papa Smurf, the Chilean miner and Cruela Devile.

Cyber punk!

Chilean Miner

Cruela Deville

I was asked more than once what my costume was.  A friend made a great guess via facebook today of Lois Lane.  I should have said that was it.  One friend said, "Oh a reporter? don't you mean a sexy reporter?  It's Halloween, whatever you are, you are a sexy that."  Ahhh no.  Not wanting to be a buzz kill I didn't go into my line of thought about the sexing up of Halloween.

There were several, more than several, guys dressed as women.  I often wonder if they're trying out cross dressing, giving way to an urge that stays hidden the other 364 days of the year or if they do it just because it's easy to find the parts for the costume. Do our decisions for costumes say something about us? Is it a peek into our subconscious?  That I prefer to be comfortable in a costume that has sloppy built into the idea? That I am rebelling against the sexing of Halloween? That I don't like my thighs and therefore will not wear a ridiculously short skirt?

When I would stay home and pass out candy from my mom's house in Seattle, we would often keep a tally; how many princesses, how many ninjas.  I figured most parents knew what their child is doing and hopefully helped them choose a costume.  Even as kids turn into teens, I would continue to hope that parents are involved in the Halloween plans and processes for their kids. A unique example?  A friend works at a large international school here told me about a student of hers. The student was given 300,000Rp to buy a costume. On Friday morning the child (13 yo) got into the car to go to school in full Nazi regalia. The father complained and rightfully so.  By the time the kid got out of the car at school he had changed his costume.  He was Jesus. Jesus! Hitler one minute, Jesus the next. I can't be the only one shaking my head.

Halloweenie

I believe that there are two types of people when it comes to Halloween and it's genetic.  Either you have the "dress up gene" or you don't.  My good friend Donna would probably quite happily dress up every day of the year given time and resources are available.  I,  on the other hand, can hardly be bothered.  I have other things I'd rather get to with both my limited time and money. In my six months at EF in Pluit there was a "fancy dress" (as the Brits call it, which still makes me think Oscar attire not Halloween attire).  the three weeks prior I mentioned once that I MIGHT try to get something together and then promptly gave in to my real self and announced I would be costumeless.  It was a super heros and super villans party.  It consisted of lots of underwear outside of pants and towel capes. After weeks of explaining that costuming isn't my thing, everyone was still shocked that I walked out into the party (it was at the house where I lived) WITHOUT a costume.

TO THE RESCUE?

 This year I have been nudged into participating this year.  I have Donna who helped guide my costume search. We even found a way to make costumes suited for me.  Rules: 1) nothing sexy and smutty and cliche.  No sexy nurse, sexy witch, sexy vampire etc. 2) it must be comfortable 3) no need for expensive make up or paint.  DONE!  and not just one but two costumes.  Plan A is a sherpa/mountain lady  (photos will follow and hopefully help alleviate the confusion you must be feeling), Plan B a 1950's deadline rushed reporter.  Did I have second thoughts about not using Halloween to show as much skin as possible? Yeah, it crossed my mind for a minute that when we go out to the bars tomorrow night I will almost definitely be the only girl in costume without her boobs out. Being different is a good thing though. . . .right?

roll your tongue up, put it back in your mouth and carry on boys!

I'll let you know how Halloween turns out.  I'd love comments on what you're dressing up as, what you're plans are or after the fact, how it all panned out.

As a final note, if you are interested in everything Halloween, check out http://www.howstuffworks.com/search.php?terms=how+halloween+works  !
How stuff works has a great website and an even better line of podcasts.  I should be getting paid for this endorsement!  I like "stuff mom never told you", "stuff you should know" and my favorite is  "stuff you missed in history class". I'm test driving "stuff they don't want you to know" a video podcast this week.

And lastly as a fun reminder, here are some Halloween rules. I didn't think of them, but I laughed all the same.

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster, NEVER check to see if it's really dead.

2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out.

4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else's voice.

5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair offand go it alone.

6. As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.

8. If you're searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it's just the cat, GET THE HELL OUT!

9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out!

10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.

11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it. Don't stop and look around.

12. Don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you're sure you know what you're doing.

13. If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice. Also note that, despite the

fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it's still moving fast enough to catch up

with you.

14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for

blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, kill them immediately.

15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog (you're in trouble if you recognize this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine (or Alabama).

16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road,do not go to the nearby deserted looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange because you thought you had half of a tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.

17. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices in your house.