My Halloween Costumes, the 2011 Edition

So let’s look at my Halloween costumes again this year.  Fun stories abound!

Cocktail Bunny(2006/2007):  This is my favorite.  I originally purchased it my freshman year of college when I went costume shopping with Larissa.  I was deciding between it and the black version and Larissa said “Clearly, you should be wearing pink.  It’s just you.”  And that’s that.  I also wore it to a Playboy Bunny party the Theta Xis had around Easter one year.  I dressed up in full bunny regalia and Melissa went with me, brought some ears, but halfway there decided she would be “that one girl” who didn’t dress up fully.  Turns out, every other girl decided she would be “that one girl” also.  Let’s just say, I was very popular that night.

Devil (2008):  So the year I bought this costume, my riding crop was very popular with all my fraternity friends.  I do not think there was a person on Halloween that did not get slapped with it.  Lucky were the people that let me “slap” them; I simply tapped them and said “My my, I think you’ve been naughty.”  If you were slapped by a fraternity gentleman, I apologize because that thing is real leather.

 

Mad Hatter (2009):  So the year I wore this costume on Halloween (actual Halloween), I went to Denver with Allie and some of her friends.  Let me tell you the story of how I twisted my foot.  We went to a bar and I was sitting at the bar, enjoying beverages, with the heels of my shoes clamped over the rungs of the bar stool.  Well a guy dressed as Max from Where The Wild Things Are (because that movie had just come out that year) barreled toward me.  As I was falling, I managed to unhook one foot, but not the other.  And so, I twisted my foot and wandered around Denver like that.  Then I iced it all the next day.  And the next (when I wasn’t in class).

Sailor (2009):  I wore this costume on the day before Halloween when Bree planned a double date with her, me, Kegan, and old Brody.  We went to a local Haunted House that had an intro Haunted House.  We also paid for fast passes to skip the line.  So the four of us went into the haunted House and within the first ten minutes, something terrified me and I spent the rest of the evening hiding my face in Brody’s jacket and clinging to his back.  What a waste of $30, right?  I opened my eyes twice.  Once when we were in a pitch black room that you had to feel your way out of…  Inevitably, old Brody, who was doing the feeling, hit an actor in the face.  It went kind of like this:

There was a smack.

A disembodied voice cried “Ow!”

Old Brody responded with “Sorry, bro.”

I also opened my eyes at the end when the chainsaw wielders chased us out.  The one part that terrifies most people, I just calmly walked out of.  This is the Halloween that also spawned one of my favorite Halloween musings, from old Brody, “Well you do know that Halloween is for girls to be sexy and guys to be funny, right?”

Bumble Bee (2010):  I bought this last year as an alternative costume.  I can’t think of any truly notable costumes, but the wings are hard to maneuver in crowded rooms.

Angel(2010):  My dream costume from last year.  No real stories here either, but isn’t it lovely?

You know what’s coming Wednesday…  Because tomorrow’s Tuesday.

TSM Thursday Number Four

Welcome back to TSM Thursday from our Wednesday move last week.  Let’s get started.

Being completely responsible for getting glitter all over your boyfriend’s bed. TSM.  I’ve done this several times.  I painted Lilac’s clipboard in Evan’s bed a few years ago.  I colored Christmas cards in old Brody’s bed.  The list goes on.  Crafting happens.

My Lilly dresses truly mess up the color-coding in my closet. TSM.  I don’t own any Lilly dresses yet (it’s a dream of mine; perhaps I can find a lovely one for a bargain), but many of my sundresses do cause this problem.  How do you color organize something that’s not all one color?  Very hard.

Our littles are so cute I want to take eight of them and be Octo-Big. TSM.  I see this all the time with the newer members and I loved being a three time Big.  It would be great to go back and take more and more.  My family is big on multiple Littles.  Erika was a trend-setter.

Your looks get you to the bedroom, your personality gets you to dinner. TSM.  I am a full believer in this.  Any pretty girl can get a guy to take her home.  But you have to have looks and a personality to get a date.

The night before bid day is like Christmas Eve, but better. TSM.  I have had trouble sleeping before every Bid Day.  Formal…  Informal…  Mine…  Someone else’s…  Whatever.  Getting pledges is exciting!

The Firing

Happy cinco de mayo?

So after my hard couple of days with fighting with my mother and working all day yesterday, I get home to find an email from my trivia boss.

My bar requested another host.

Why?  I was only working for three weeks and they didn’t even give me a chance.  It’s not like I worked four days a week for three weeks either, then I would get it.  I worked a total of six hours.  That’s hardly fair.

I have two working theories.  Either the manager went back on his wanting a later start due to the draft and complained that my timing was bad, once again.  (He missed the week where I was spot on, so that’s unfair as well)  Or, that team that are poor sports complained I was showing favoritism to other teams, when all I told them was “it’s just a game for fun, don’t you think?”

Regardless, I am now out some money I was counting on…  And that sucks dearly for me.

My manager is cool, I guess, and has asked me to come in for more training.  And I said I would go tonight, since I had that time blocked off to work anyway.  Hopefully another bar comes up for me soon, but my chances are looking slim.  I have yet to even get paid for the work I did do and it doesn’t sound like training is paid.

Alas…  At least I didn’t end up acquiring a tiny pink sombrero…

And, if nothing else, I did take two groups of high paying customers with me (old Brody and Derek), so that puts a small smile on my face.  Teach them to fire me.  I take my friends with me, suckas.

Weekly Guys’ Night Out

I want to talk about guys’ night.

You know how I play trivia every week with my friends and it’s mostly the girls, plus Seth? (and old Brody that one time)

Well, Derek and friends have a weekly tradition like that, but it’s wing night.  All-you-can-eat wings for around $12.

Not a good deal for me, but for men with endless stomachs, it’s a pretty good deal, right?

I attended this past Tuesday because Derek really wanted me to go.  I hesitated, because it sounded like guys’ night and I know everyone needs their night out with their friends, you know?  But he assured me that another friend was bringing his girlfriend, so I obliged.

I would definitely call it guys’ night.

It was just me and this other girl as far as females went.

Where it got awkward was that they all invited Dezi…  I’m still struggling with what to tell Dezi about his thoughts on me and how I’ve been seeing Derek…

I may talk about that in a few days, but my point here is that I don’t think it’s right to infiltrate guys’ night…  Yet they all asked me back for this next Tuesday…  I don’t know if I’ll go.

More Thoughts About Boyfriends

So it’s been a while since I discussed social mathematics.  Let’s talk about them again.

Have you ever noticed that the more boyfriends you have, the more boyfriends people think you need?

That’s not quite what I meant, but you kind of see the point I’m trying to make, I hope.

Let’s say you have a boyfriend, named Bobby Joe (he’s from Kentucky or something like that, because I just gave him two names).  You really like Bobby Joe, but because you really like Bobby Joe, Michael and Tom think you should definitely date them.

And then there’s random guys in bars.

And random guys you meet at work.

And everyone everywhere thinks that even though you’re perfectly happy with Bobby Joe that they are a better choice for you.  And you politely decline them because you’re perfectly happy with Bobby Joe, and why can’t they see that?

But maybe things with Bobby Joe go downhill, and you had Michael or Tom’s numbers and decided to give them a call.  You suggest hanging out, but  they’re busy and they want nothing to do with you…

And the random guys in bars stop hitting on you.

And so do the random guys at work.

Suddenly, you’re no longer dating Bobby Joe and all the perfectly suitable guys go away.

What is up with this?

Really, I haven’t the slightest idea.

It happened with Evan, old Brody, and Shawn.  And every time afterward, I was at a loss…  If any men stumble across this and could let me know, I would really appreciate it.

Join Me and My Pink Cowboy Hat Every Thursday!

The above is apparently my new ending bit for my trivia show.  I’ll explain.

I get there with all my equipment an hour early because the last time I was there, the restaurant manager complained that I “took too long” to my manager, so he wanted to come last week and work on timing with me.  He wasn’t able to come, but I had an easier time this week, so it was all right.

I only took forty minutes to set up (only forty), so I’m glad I came in an hour earlier.  Hopefully I can get it down to a half hour, at least, and then maybe twenty?  Twenty may be pushing it though.  But, maybe not!  Since we’re only technically supposed to be there a half hour before start time and we still need to get teams interested in playing.

I did start about ten minutes late because I was waiting for a couple more teams, but ten minutes is fashionably late, as I like to say.

The game went well, my teams are still scoring really high, so I’ll figure something out.  I do have a special contest planned for next week’s tie-breakers in honor of the NFL draft.  It will be exciting, or it will go horribly wrong.  I’m not sure yet.

Anyway, when I went around to the teams, I hadn’t yet put on the cowboy hat I decided to wear last week to be memorable, and a lot of the teams from last week were like “Where’s your cowboy hat?  Did you forget it?”  Once I put it on, old Brody says “Oh, there’s the cowboy hat, she means business now.”  One team also drew me a whale wearing a tiny cowboy hat, so I ended up ending my show with “Join me and my pink cowboy hat every Thursday for trivia and college night.  See you next week!”

When I first got there, an older man was sitting on the porch and he asked me if I was meeting anyone.  I said I was hosting trivia and he and his friend were welcome to play, as it was free.  He said “No, I just wanted a date.”  So I shook my head and said “That’s too bad.  I definitely consider dates with people who are willing to play my trivia.”  It was probably a little snide, as they didn’t end up playing, but the guy was at least as old as my mother, so why would I be interested?  Seriously.

Anyway, until next week when I finally find a box to store my stuff in and transport it, yay!  I’m thinking pink storage containers?

The Crackberry that Went Swimming

So, an update on my filling yesterday.

I asked my dentist if teeth that need filling are supposed to hurt and they “only hurt if they’ve gotten bad enough, or if your teeth are sensitive.”  So my co-worker is weird, not me.

Anyway, we got another second place yesterday, so yay.  We rock at trivia, and that’s five out of five.  I guess I can go for legit championships now, but I’m just happy to play.  I think it’s making me smarter.  Or at least smarter at random facts.

Anyway, today I want to tell a story about old Brody’s crackberry, because my co-worker at trivia was telling me about his new one while he was supposed to be hosting…  Also he wouldn’t give me paper.  I was annoyed.  He made me rip my own paper.  I work three jobs.  You can find some time in your week to rip paper.  Anyway…

So I used to date old Brody and whenever I would stay over at his apartment, we would take water to bed.  Not in the bed, but we would set the glasses on his night stand.  We would also set our phones on the night stand.

This one particular night, I think I left my phone in the bathroom.  I don’t know why, but I did.  All I know is that it wasn’t on the nightstand when I woke up the next morning.

I had to stretch, so I stretched out my arms and when I was pulling them back, I hit one of the glasses of water.

Well the crackberry decided that it was a fantastic time for a dip and got a bit wet.

Old Brody freaked out and we hurriedly dressed, showered, and ran to Verizon Wireless.

I still don’t have the $400 to spend on a new Crackberry, but as it was November, I definitely didn’t have the $400 then.  So I was freaking out.  Mostly because I felt terrible at having destroyed old Brody’s phone.  Secondly, because $400, eep!

As luck would have it, the phone somehow survived that ordeal unscathed.  There was no water damage present and because old Brody was still under warranty, they decided to send him a new phone.

I bought him lunch and finally remembered how to breathe.

We then got rice for the phone and hoped it would work again.  It did not, so old Brody used my phone for the weekend.  It was interesting having his entire family calling me for a few days, but the phone eventually came and all was well.

Where Every Thursday You Learn…

So last night was my first hosting gig by myself…

The equipment takes forever to set up!  I may have to be there an hour early every time just so I can get everything set up on time and have time to mingle and get participants.  I did have to upload all of the owner’s music on my computer, though, so that did take up a lot of my time.

As for the rest of the night, it went all right.

First, let me give you my job duties.  I’m not really there to host trivia.  I’m there to sell alcohol.  That’s right, I’m a booze jockey.

The restaurants hire us to get people into their establishments and drinking.  I’m totally okay with that.  It makes perfect sense to me.  So you can imagine my failure in forgetting the specials a few times.  I think I was fine by the last round though, except I forgot that they play beer pong after I leave.  Next time.

I am happy though that it’s college night when I host trivia.  I noticed during my trainings that older people complain the most about the whole game.  It was nice to see mostly young people playing.  Although I did get a few complaints when I asked old Brody to look up something for me because my phone doesn’t have data.

Next week.  Next week it will have data.

That was nice that old Brody came to support me, though.  It made me very happy to have someone I knew playing and maybe more of my friends can come next time.

There was a way to make my voice louder on the equipment, so that made me happy.

But, I did have a problem with adding, so I messed up a few times on team scores.  They were mildly understanding and I figured out a way to fix my score sheet for the next time to make simple math easier for me…

I was talking to old Brody about it and I asked him what he thought of these potential slogans:

“Welcome to trivia, where every Thursday, you get to watch me make a complete ass out of myself.”

I’m kind of partial to this next one though:

“Welcome to trivia, where every Thursday, you learn why the government is pushing for more math and science in our public schools.”

I’ll update you all next week on my improvements.

24 Before 24 Amendment

I wanted to make a 24 before 24 amendment.  I have “Beat old Brody in scrabble” on my list.  But, why should anything on my list depend on another person?

This goal depends on Brody still speaking to me long enough for me to beat him in scrabble.  And, he hasn’t been speaking to me for a couple of weeks now…

I don’t want any one of my goals to depend on whether I’m still spending time with any one person.

My goals are about things I want to do.

Sure, I do want to beat old Brody in scrabble.  But that’s not the same as saying “get on a horse” or “visit four new states.”  I wouldn’t want to do those things on my own (because conquering your fears alone is terrifying and traveling alone for an entire trip is no fun, respectively), but they are things I am fully capable of doing on my own.  I can’t beat Brody in scrabble without his full participation.

So I want to edit that item on my list.  I’ll keep it on there, and if I can complete it and my alternative, I’ll call myself awesome.

But for now, my alternative is to really focus on redecorating and cleaning.  I don’t know what you call this.

Let’s call it house maintenance.  I want to focus on house maintenance.

It’s time to bring back Operation Room Redecoration!

Trivia Champions!

So yesterday, I was able to get a few of my friends (Addy, Hailey, Seth, and a girl from work) together for trivia night at a local bar/restaurant.  We had a pretty good team slated and we did fairly well.  We ended up winning the second round and getting third place overall, so I’d say we were pretty good.  Also, yay for a gift card.  That’s a mark of victory.  You get a gift card.

I’m not going next week, because I have work, but that doesn’t bar the rest of them from going, I suppose.

Anyway, here are some highlights of the night.

Too late to actually get the answer right, I decided to “phone a friend” over a hockey trivia question.  I called old Brody and had the following conversation:

“Who was captain of the Edmonton Oilers during the 1980s?”

“I have no idea.  I’m good at playing hockey.  I don’t know trivia.”

“Sure you do.  We’ve talked about it before.”

“No, really, I have no idea.”

“Well, you should come play with us.”

We discussed where we were.  And then I had a thought.  “Oh hey, I’m hankering to beat your butt in scrabble.  What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Well I have class at night on Thursdays, remember?”

“Oh right, you have band practice…  Class?  When did you start taking class?”  I then look at my phone and realize I called Brody instead of old Brody.  You can imagine my embarrassment.  “Oh right.  You have class, of course.  Well, maybe some other time.”

In a correct turn of events, old Brody did know the answer to the trivia question, just like I thought he would.

Other highlights include one of our answers being “Charlie Sheen (with Tiger Blood and Adonis DNA)” and “Zero (or maybe six?)” in answer to the number of American soldiers who died at the Battle of Yorktown.  The real answer was eighty-eight, in case you were wondering.  Yes we still won as it was a tie-breaker.

Anyway, so there’s one trivia victory (with jello shots and a $10 gift card) for my goal of five this year.  In celebration, I spent the afternoon watching Titanic.  I would have started earlier, but there was NCAA tournament basketball to watch and the alma mater has been doing well.  So there’s that…  Will we get a bid?  Only time will tell…

Also, as it’s Thursday, check out a post over at Diary of a Woo Girl!