When real things happen to imaginary people

Our Halloween was very quiet. We had plans to get window seats at our local brewpub and watch the massive community trick-or-treat event, but the skies opened up around 3pm with a torrential downpour. We stayed at home and watched movies.

The other reason our Halloween was so low-key is because of a Fri-Sun Magic: the Gathering tournament at the local convention center, and the Stroppy One was in attendance to do the World Famous M:tG Artist thing and sign people's cards in exchange for money. These shows are great and yet exhausting for him; on Saturday there was never a break in his line, he was there for over 9 hours, was the last artist to leave, and came home with three commissioned sketches to do. This has become the norm for shows for him, in part because he only goes to ones that have a specific tournament format that focuses on the expansions that he has the most art in, but also because he's one of the most prolific artists in the game.

I went to a friends' low-key party last night, which was wonderful. Costumes were optional, so I just pulled out my fancy witch hat and covered my under eye circles with glitter. Did you know that there are now glitter temporary tattoos?! That you can cut apart and layer for the coverage you want?! And the glitter does not budge, to the point that it took several rounds of jojoba oil to remove.



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I did some last-minute gothy impulse shopping thanks to mailing list discount codes: this belt from Videnoir, and this over-the-top ruffled collar from Devil Fashion. And then an Etsy seller I follow sent me a massive discount code, so this giant onyx pendant is headed my way. (It's the store that I purchased my massive labradorite pendant from, so I know the quality is good.)

Bat. Hoodie! With a ruffly skirt made from glittery bat chiffon, which BlueJay made for me years and years ago.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Soooo the StuntHusband and I went on a Halloween expedition to ALL THE CRAFT STORES today!

StuntHusband laughing makes me nervous:


He posted these images to Tumblr with the comment of "Really? Really."





I reblogged them, adding "YES, REALLY.", because I am predictable like that.

To celebrate, we went to see Wicked at the Paramount. (Hey, when the touring production sets up in Seattle over our anniversary, of COURSE we're going to go.)

The burgundy velvet coat I'm wearing in this photo was made 15 years ago, by the long-since-vanished Raevyn Designs, as part of my wedding outfit.

We only saw about a dozen trick-or-treaters, but there was a group of three girls that made my night. I answered the door to two witches and a zombie girls, who all chorused "Trick or Treat!"

Then one of the witches looked at me and said, "Hey, you looked like that last year."

I smiled widely. "I look like this every day."

"Every day?!" replied the zombie girl.

"Yep, every day," I assured her, dropping candy into their pumpkins, watching the thought of OMG the neighbor lady is REALLY A VAMPIRE cross their faces.

They nervously said "Cool!", wished me a happy Halloween, and scampered down the stairs into the night.

Happy Anniversary, stroppy_baggage!

I love you very much.

To the rest of you, Happy Halloween!

Me sitting in front of pix_kristin and noisedesign's house, waiting for trick-or-treaters.

You know what's really fun about handing out candy at the house of a sound designer? The GIANT SPEAKERS on the front porch, blaring the custom Halloween sound effects and music playlist. At one point, I was standing silhouetted on the stairs, with the echoing sounds of terrified whispers and monster growls coming from the porch behind me. A group of pre-teen boys turned up; one of them nervously came up to the path, I leaned forward and smiled. He turned around to leave. His friends had to push him back toward the house. I don't even know if my fangs were visible at that distance, but I certainly unnerved him. I think that means I win.

Everyone, please go take a look at the LJ comm savesnowssanity. snowcoma is a delightful person who is in a horrible situation. There are all sorts of interesting things that are being auctioned off to help raise money for her medical bills; I'm offering a personalized, signed copy of the Gothic Charm School book: http://community.livejournal.com/savesnowssanity/6091.html

Thank you for any taking a look at the auctions, and for any help you can give.

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The quote that best sums up my evening: "Head for the giant flamethrower, then turn right at the chainsaw-wielding clowns." We went to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights with pix_kristin and noisedesign! Many, many actors, dressed in scary costumes. With prop chainsaws.

"But Jilli!" I can hear some of you thinking, "You are notoriously easily startled and scared, even though you love the horror genre! How on earth did you deal with the packs of roaming fiends determined to terrify the guests at the park?" Good question! By deciding that hey, aren't they cute! Look at them, being all Grr! and Graaaaargh! Let's blow kisses at them! Most of the monsters seemed amused by this, and one said "You're like, a dark Mary Poppins!"

( Mazes. )

There is no jaunt to the Kingdom of the Mouse on this trip; the Stroppy One is Disney-ed out right now, and I sympathize. (I mean, I am always up for a trip to Disneyland, but I understand that it is not everyone's favorite place to go.) I will miss visiting my spiritual home of the Haunted Mansion, but I'm okay with it. There will always be other trips home; maybe someday they'll give me my rental agreement when I ask for it.

Guess which one is mine, and which belongs to the Stroppy One.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

(X-posted with my LJ)

On the one hand: yes, in Goth we DO trust, thankyouverymuch.

On the other hand, I did find these in their Halloween costume section.

(I did not purchase them. I decided I don't need ANOTHER set of armwarmers/fingerless gloves at the moment.)

(On the other hand, I did purchase the spiked choker for $4, because that was a very reasonable price for fifteen metal 1" cone spikes. Yes, I'm going to dismantle it and use the spikes on another project. Yes, this is how I get a lot of my crafting supplies.)