Reflections on Halloween Past

Last year's Halloween was insanely fun.

I adopted my Colombian friend Daniel for the weekend and proceeded to tote him around to various thrift stores, parties and bars to experience the magic of Halloween in Austin. I don't remember why I picked Dani up at the LBJ School that day. I think it all started on Thursday or Friday. And I'm pretty sure we were just going to get "coffee" or "lunch".

What happened in reality was something more like this:

FRIDAY OCT 31

4:50 pm: Pick Dani up from LBJ School with backpack. Barely slow down. Ask him to jump in.

5:00 pm: Head to Crown and Anchor for beers

6:00 pm: Still at Crown and Anchor. Feeling good

6:30 pm: Decide it is a good idea to have a pre-halloween party at my house

7:00 pm Call some friends to come over for pre-party

7:00 pm: Go to Goodwill to purchase costumes

7:30 pm: Still at Goodwill , enjoying it thoroughly

8:00 pm: Checking out at Register with the following items:

1 glittery black decrepit top hat
1 horrible tuxedo jacket and pantsuit
1 WWF wrestling belt
1 black sateen bridesmaid dress
1 magic wand
1 ugly tiara
and other items I forget. Not sure where we're going with it yet, but leaning towards zombie prom king and queen.

8:30 pm: Liquor store. Buying stuff

9:00 pm: Back at home. Put liquor store items to use. Turn music on

9:30 pm: People start showing up at my house already dressed up

[Please note - by this point in time, Daniel had already managed to lose his backpack and his wallet and was an undocumented Colombian vagabond]

10:00 pm: I decide it's probably time to get dressed up

10:30 pm: I go upstairs and struggle putting on my bridesmaid dress. I call Belen and Ana up to help and they proceed to perform something like open heart surgery to get the thing zipped up all the way.

10:45 pm: Already kind of drunk. I guess we're gonna be zombies! I start putting on makeup on myself and Daniel, doing a terrible job

11:00 pm: Cut up a Hanes t-shirt to make Prom king and queen sashes. Super terrible job. Costume done! I think the results speak for themselves:




11:15 pm: Go downstairs to find somewhere between 25-30 people in my home and yard having something that appears to be a "party" and not a "pre-party". This includes the scene pictured here:



People are there who I do not know. Music is being played that I do not own. People are on their cell phones saying "Yeah dude, it's Garden Street. Just off of Cesar Chavez. [pause] Yeah, I dunno. I guess it's pretty cool. About 30 people or so. Seems like it'll be big."

Here's Allison, Kristina and myself:



12:00 am: I announce loudly that I am leaving and everyone else has to leave also.

12:15 am - 5:00 am: We go to about 4-5 different parties. Dance a lot. Laugh a lot. Forget most of it.

Saturday, Nov 1

3:00 pm - Wake up

3:30 pm - Make it downstairs

4:00 pm - Walk around lake with Daniel for a long time. Try to "sober up". Zimbi was with me still and she was having the TIME OF HER LIFE.

6:00 pm - Eat pizza

7:00 pm - Get a call from my friend Paul Saucido. He wants me to help at his Rock n Roll Dia party at the Mohawk. Dani and I both say, sure why not? We go right over there.

7:30 pm - No one is at the Mohawk yet, but we are assigned to be VIP bouncers. This means free drinks all night, which is convenient for my friend Juan Valdez here because, as I previously mentioned, he had no wallet or identification or money.

8:30 pm - Probably 5-6 free drinks into the evening. We are ridiculous and horrible bouncers. I'm mostly talking to people and letting them invent ways to bribe me.

10:00 pm - Countless drinks later, Dani and I have been moved to merchandise duties, which involves handling money. Good move, Paul!

[Please note - Did I mention Daniel was still dressed up as Zombie Prom King?]

11:00 pm - We are the best merchandise table people ever. People have started fan clubs about us. The Amigos Invisibles are playing, and we have ignored most of our duties to dance.

Midnightish - The show wraps up, and the Amigos Invisibles come by to collect their money. They give us a HUGE thank you for helping them out and then hand us $60 as a way to show their appreciation.

Midnight o'five - Dani and I look at each other after they walk away and go "OH SHIT!!"

12:10 - 7:00 am - We go to Beauty Bar with Belen. Meet her new friend from Spain, Javier, who is out by himself on the day after Halloween and dressed up like Alice in Wonderland (pictured below). End up after-partying with Alice, Belen and other costumed friends we made in the evening, and finish the night with the sun coming up.



So lets add up the numbers here:
Costume crap at goodwill (subtract $8-10)
Liquor Store items for pre-party (subtract $15)
Volunteering at Rock n Roll Dia show with free drinks all night and seeing a $20 show for free (add $60)

So all in all, Dani and I actually MADE money on Halloween!!! What a great holiday.

Shout out to Dani who is far away in Brussels right now. I like him for lots of reasons, but most of all because I'm pretty sure he is the only fan of our blog. And Sheena now loves him for this too. Check out Daniel's great blog here:

http://danielopenbar.blogspot.com/

Also, check out this great clip he sent me recently: