S and I went to a Halloween party last night. It's the first non-kid social event we've done since the start of Covid, I believe. It was fun. It was a costume party, which is really cool. I love costume parties. I love getting dressed up, even though I hate the idea of actually assembling a costume. I'm not artsy at all, and I hate shopping, so the idea of fashioning something is not very appealing to me. This is when I'm thankful for Amazon (and not being a poor college student), so that I can put an idea into action without needing to scour a bunch of clothing stores in search of costume parts that would work and are reasonably priced for a one-off event -- or trying to make something cool out of, like, cardboard, hanger wire, and poster paint. That never really worked for me.
This year I went as Billy Hoyle, Woody Harrelson's character from White Men Can't Jump. It's the same costume I used two years ago, but it was a different audience. It worked out well because I already had all the materials, and people have told me before that I resemble Harrelson (which is how I got the idea in the first place). The costume is spot on if you're familiar with the movie, but it didn't quite land as I would've liked . It was a slightly younger crowd, mid-30s-ish, and I think that ten years makes a big difference in terms of culture relevance of a niche classic released in 1992. Still, I got a few people who were, like, "Hey! White Men Can't Jump!" So that was cool.
I talked S into going as Rosie Perez's character, which she agreed to, I think, in large part, because it's easy, and she's been super busy with work lately, so she didn't want to deal too much with picking out a costume. We were jokingly wondering if she was going to be accused of cultural appropriation since Rosie Perez is Latina. But I posited that it's okay if you move up or laterally in terms of historically oppressed groups, so she was probably good, since she's a brown woman portraying another brown woman. It sounds silly to frame it that way (because it is), but that's kinda how it works.
It's always interesting to see how seriously people take costumes. They were explicitly requested in the invitation (as were vaccinations -- a good pairing for Halloween in the time of Covid), so some people went all out -- the host and hostess were done up in full-on makeup and dress as Pennywise and The Wicked Witch of the West, respectively -- but some people totally mailed it in. Like, one guy had the "sign costume," which amounts to just taping an identifying statement to your regular clothes. Another guy wore a lion's mane around his neck and otherwise normal attire, and then there were a few women with the little cat face and ear headband thing going on. (My favorite costume was my friend J's. He dressed up as a member of the secret society from Eyes Wide Shut. The password is "Fidelio.")
No shade, by the way. I've been the costume-not-costume guy before. One Halloween in college, I fashioned a crude triangle out of sticks, duct tape, and tinfoil, and wore it around my neck for the night. "What are you?" people would ask.
"A triangle," I'd say.
"A triangle?" they'd respond.
"Yes," I would explain, "it's a three-sided geometric shape."
And then they would either laugh, and we'd have a fun conversation, or they'd politely walk away.
It's funny how different parties were back then. They wouldn't even really start until, like, 10, and everybody would be trashed by midnight. Now it's like, let's get there by 8:30 so that we can be back in bed by a reasonable hour because our kids wake us up at 6:30 not matter what. I usually have much more of an appetite to stay out late than does S. But I'm often happy to go home when wants to because it saves me from being hung over in the morning. I'm a social drinker, and I mean that in the sense of actual drinking, not just drinking alcohol. I constantly sip at a party without even realizing it, and I don't get drunk easily, so if I stay too long, all the sudden I realize, Shit! I'm a six-pack in. It's going to be a rough morning. Actually, you know what really helps this -- the rise in popularity of canned seltzer water. Now, it's seamless to go one-for-one, a beer and a water, which basically cuts my alcohol consumption in half and makes it so that I can wake up the next day at a reasonable hour relatively painlessly.
In fact, the most painful part about last night was the Uber ride home -- $54! Fifty-freaking-four! (It was only $19 on the way there.) That's surge pricing for you. But before I complain too much, I should point out, we could have taken the Metro home for like $10, but that would have required 25 minutes of walking and probably just as much in wait time, which wasn't very appealing to us at that moment.
Also, before Uber came along the price of a ride home on any weekend night in DC was effectively infinite because you couldn't find a cab to take you. When you tried to hail one, they would roll down their window and ask where you were going (in defiance of DC law, I might add), and if it was more than a block or two they'd drive away. Their goal was to burn through as many customers as possible because the flat fee per customer was way more profitable than the mileage rate. That's why when these ride sharing apps rose to prominence and the cabbies complained, my reaction was basically: tough shit. They had been illegally exploiting a bad system for years in a manner that did not serve the people they had agreed with the city to serve. I can't count the number of times I was turned down by a DC cabbie back in the day -- and I'm white! You should have read what Black people were saying about it online at the time.
So, when you take everything into consideration. The option to get a ride for $54 isn't as terrible as it sounds on first blush.
Alright, that's all for now. Until next time...
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