Rocktober

In honor of it now officially being the BEST MONTH EVAR, allow me to share some of my favorite Halloween memories:

• As a child of 8 or 9 (or before we moved away from Georgia), I decided to be a mummy for Halloween. My dad got totally into it. He wrapped my arms, legs, torso, and curly blond hair with strips of real linen until only my nose and eyes showed. He pinned a fake spider to my chest as a makeshift scarab. He and my mom then applied a sickly, pale make-up job to my exposed skin that honestly gave me the willies when I saw my own reflection. My brother, our two neighbors, and I all went to a costume contest at the mall. I was so proud of mine, I was sure I would win. The emcee, a loud man dressed in a clown suit, pulled me onto the stand and announced, "This little boy is dressed as a mummy." ....I didn't win.
• Flash forward to Junior year of high school. Every girl, at some point, has to try a sexy Halloween costume. And who is sexier than Jessica Rabbit? For those of you who don't recognize the name, Jessica is the animated human wife of Roger Rabbit. I was a little more modest than the cartoon version: I had a floor-length red sequin dress (with sleeves and, if I recall, a short train, but no slit up to there), a fur coat, long black gloves, bright red lipstick, and mildly curled hair that flipped perfectly over one eye. And just for effect, I borrowed a small stuffed Roger Rabbit from a friend (whose name is actually Jessica). I was feeling hot. Even the school principal recognized who I was trying to be. And you know how my homies and I spent the evening? It blizzarded. We went to the Rialto (the ancient theatre downtown), toured the haunted house underneath the stage, and watched Creature from the Black Lagoon. IN 3D!
• This isn't exactly a memory from Halloween. It happened in February as I recall. But my dear friend Miller Genuine had gone as Scout's giant ham costume (complete with chicken wire) from To Kill a Mockingbird the last Halloween. She talked about burning the costume for months. Then one very cold night in February (after watching The Office, I think) a small group of us went to the Miller parking lot and burned the thing. It was awesome.

In other news, click on this: http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/downloads/emoticon_dwight.pdf