A harrowing Friday Five
Nov. 2nd, 2003 01:14 pmThis week's questions lead from childhood memories to a description of where I went on Friday, who was there, and how
djjo ended up with vaseline on his arm.
1. What was your first Halloween costume?
I probably had others before it, but the first one I remember was a full-body leopard suit my mother sewed for me the year I was in kindergarten. It got full use. I wore it again in grade 3 for a class circus. It hung around and was even worn by children, who managed to destroy it.
2. What was your best costume and why?
In about grade 7 I went as a Viking. My father is a skilled woodworker and he helped me with this one. He cut a round shield out of plywood, which I stained brown. The sword was made out of some better wood with a gentely bevelled blade, and I painted it silver. There was an ax, too, with a plywood blade fastened to a handle of dowel. I wore some kind of leggings that looked like deerskin, cross laced with leather thongs. I wore a large bulky-knit sweater, gathered at the waist with a belt. Using cardboard, I made a helmet with a nose guard and covered it with foil. I wore a big green felt cape. The ax hung at my belt. With the shield on one arm and the sword in my other hand, I looked ferocious. I used the costume endlessly during games in the woods for the next couple of years.
3. Did you ever play a trick on someone who didn't give you a treat?
No, I was such a good boy.
4. Do you have any Halloween traditions? (ie: Family pumpkin carving, special dinner before trick or treating, etc.)
My family didn't do much beyond a few handmade decorations in the yard and the front hallway. My children haven't been around on Hallowe'en for a few years, and trick-or-treaters don't come to my place, so I usually visit Toronto for Hallowe'en. A few streets get closed in the Gay Village, but we didn't visit there this year.
Instead I went with
djjo,
bitterlawngnome and
danthered to the Toolbox where the Gen-X Bears had a party, complete with marvellous costumes. I met the lovely
jgrizz clad as a Catholic school girl.
5. Share your favorite scary story...real or legend!
At the Toolbox, the most memorable costume of all (frightening to some, perhaps) was
token_otter's handballing contraption, a plywood box from which his head protruded, a stuffed torso and some fabricated legs, high in the air, with an arm-sized cavity between its cheeks. Danny went fisting for apples—vaseline-covered apples. Steven's head wailed and thrashed in ecstasy. Danny retrieved the right combination of apples, winning a small teddy. I was amused, but too shy to attempt it.
1. What was your first Halloween costume?
I probably had others before it, but the first one I remember was a full-body leopard suit my mother sewed for me the year I was in kindergarten. It got full use. I wore it again in grade 3 for a class circus. It hung around and was even worn by children, who managed to destroy it.
2. What was your best costume and why?
In about grade 7 I went as a Viking. My father is a skilled woodworker and he helped me with this one. He cut a round shield out of plywood, which I stained brown. The sword was made out of some better wood with a gentely bevelled blade, and I painted it silver. There was an ax, too, with a plywood blade fastened to a handle of dowel. I wore some kind of leggings that looked like deerskin, cross laced with leather thongs. I wore a large bulky-knit sweater, gathered at the waist with a belt. Using cardboard, I made a helmet with a nose guard and covered it with foil. I wore a big green felt cape. The ax hung at my belt. With the shield on one arm and the sword in my other hand, I looked ferocious. I used the costume endlessly during games in the woods for the next couple of years.
3. Did you ever play a trick on someone who didn't give you a treat?
No, I was such a good boy.
4. Do you have any Halloween traditions? (ie: Family pumpkin carving, special dinner before trick or treating, etc.)
My family didn't do much beyond a few handmade decorations in the yard and the front hallway. My children haven't been around on Hallowe'en for a few years, and trick-or-treaters don't come to my place, so I usually visit Toronto for Hallowe'en. A few streets get closed in the Gay Village, but we didn't visit there this year.
Instead I went with
5. Share your favorite scary story...real or legend!
At the Toolbox, the most memorable costume of all (frightening to some, perhaps) was
no subject
Date: 2003-11-02 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-02 11:59 am (UTC)safely in the privacy of my own home this time
Date: 2003-11-02 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-02 01:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-02 07:09 pm (UTC)Really.
On the way over in the subway Danny and I saw a guy dressed as a condom made out of plastic wrap.