Perhapablog

Friday, September 05, 2008

whatcha gonna be for halloween?

okay...

back in the day, halloween was a bigger deal for me than it is now...
i mean WAAAAAY back in the day it was, y'know, candy and trick or treating.
then, in my teens, it was going out and having eggs and shaving cream and toilet paper and fun.
also at that time, i would work at the local rotary's haunted house; a re-configured barn that we would build various chilling scenes in which were manned only by students in eleventh and twelfth grades (knowing the man who coordinated this part of the holiday spook-tacular, i managed to start as a ninth grader) it was great fun and really spooky!
later, my friends and i would work on costumes that we thought would attract the most attention--and maybe the ladies...--and go to bars and parties and drink and make fools of ourselves. like any other night, just with costumes on.
later in life, my roommates and i began having halloween parties at our house--costumes mandatory--and we'd start letting people know right about now that they should start thinking about what they were going to come as...

now, well, we don't live in a place that really lends itself to parties.
and it seems that no one really goes to the trouble anymore.
i'm hoping that changes.

around here for the past few years, there has been this great store that opens up in some vacant storefront in the mall or in one of the other empty stores in the area called "spirit of halloween." do they have that by you...? it's got a fantasatic selection of costumes and decorations--some of them scary, some disgusting--and masks both fun and creepy. each year i find a great mask that i think will scare the bejeezus out of everybody and i'm so tempted to get it...and then remember that there really isn't anywhere i'm going that i'm gonna be seeing everybody. i don't go to a job and i don't have any parties to go to...

but dammit this year i think i'm just gonna buy one and where it in the car, wherever i drive. raaaah! that's me! that should scare the $#%@ outta somebody!

here are some of the front-runners this year...







so that's it...
whaddaya think...?

and whatcha gonna be for halloween...?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

here's a picture of jake driving my car.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and because now i'm in a crazy, crazy
halloween mood, i stole these multiple choice
questions from a halloween trivia website

"five for friday"

1. What phobia do you suffer from if you have an intense fear of Halloween?

A: Phasmophobia, B: Samhainophobia, C: Wiccaphobia, D: Halloweenophobia


2. According to superstition, if you stare into a mirror at midnight on Halloween, what will you see?

A: Bloody Mary, B: Your Future Spouse, C: Your Death, D: Dead Ancestors


3. How much does the world's biggest pumpkin weigh?

A: 245 pounds, B: 485 pounds, C: 685 pounds, D: 1,385 pounds


4. How many "witches" were burned at the stake in the Salem Witch Trials?

A: Twelve, B: Twenty, C: Thirty-three, D: None


5. The first Jack-o-Lanterns were made out of what?

A: Watermelons, B: Coconuts, C: Turnips, D: Pumpkins


have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

14 comments:

Brian said...

We're actually doing a Halloween Party this year, on the 18th, so if you find an excuse to visit Craig, you guys are more than welcome to come.

Not sure what I'm going to be, but my fall back is Officer Mulcahy, as I'm always in costume for that role.

On to the five for friday.

1. No idea, but Halloweenaphobia is so obviously wrong that it has to be right. Right?

2. Dead Ancestors?

3. I'm going to go with 485 lbs.

4. None. They were hung - you don't waste good firewood in a cold climate like New England.

5. I'm going to guess Turnips.

~ Wendy ~ said...

ohhh .. I vote for mask #1 or #3 - and I dare you to wear it while driving! I double dutch dare you!! I can just see everyone's reactions. LOL

Last year I went as an overworked, tired mom (baggy dress, hair messy with some curlers in it and a wooden spoon sticking out in one spot, two different slippers on, two very different earrings, huge bags under my eyes, flour smudges on my cheeks, etc) .. when I walked my youngest around to the houses in the neighborhoods all the dads were like "what are you suppose to be?" and the moms just burst out laughing ..getting the whole concept. :-D

ok ... my guesses for the friday 5 are:



1. C: Wiccaphobia (wicca - witches?)

2. C: Your Death

3. D: 1,385 pounds

4. D: None - everyone knows there is no such thing as witches (mawhahaha).. but seriously, weren't they drowned? I thought they would tie them to something, place them into a large body of water and if they floated they were witches but if they sunk they weren't (what logic!!)

5. C: Turnips

Have a great weekend everyone! We are off to check out a couple of the local fairs...

Christian D. Leaf said...

I vote for mask #2. It has the right head head shape, but once you turn to look at someone they're gonna be dropping britches bricks. #3 would be good if you've got a convertible.

No idea what I'll be for Hallowe'en. Something non-scary with Lilah around. Maybe I'll be the Man in the Yellow Hat and she'll be Curious George since she's developed quite an affection for the little monkey.

The Fiver:
1. B
2. D
3. C
4. D
5. C

alison said...

Ah, the haunted house. t - no one on the Rhinebeck site remembers the year it was in the garage next to the deli. Am I crazy? I swear that was the year that Mrs. Zitz literally peed her pants going through it and it was also the year of the scariest moments in my life. I got separated from my friends somehow and a pair of outstretched white gloved hands suddenly appeared from a dark corner and followed behind me, hovering in a strangling pose the whole while. YIKES! It's a wonder I didn't pee!! It was probably then that I started checking under my bed, in the closet, and behind my door each night.

One of my funniest Halloween moments was at a party where a woman who was dressed up in what looked like a nightgown with a picture of Freud on the front came up to me and said, "Guess what I am," in an "I'm just the coolest person here" kind of way. So, I said the first thing that came to mind, "Someone's worst nightmare?"
That poor woman actually cried and walked away whining over and over, "I'm a Freudian slip," to anyone who would listen.

As for the masks - if you really want to scare the crap out of people, why don't you just let Jake drive you all around that day. He looks up to the task.

Okay, I'm taking a shot:

1. Samhainophobia
2. Your Death
3. 685 pounds
4. None
5. Turnips

Matt Wieringo said...

I vote for mask number 4. That's bitchin' cool. But if you REALLY want to scare other drivers, go ahead and let Jake drive for real. I mean, that would scare me.

I was going to be ROM, Spaceknight this year but I didn't have time to work on the costume. Oh, wait. That was YOUR fault. :)

todd said...

alison!

yeah, we used the barn next to the deli for the first two years i was allowed to be in there. i think the two years before that it was in the barn across from ruge's. i was in the electric chair scene as the mad doctor and debbie danaher was in the chair. she was two years older than me but she thought i was cute and made me sit on her lap when there weren't any kids coming through. one time i was chewing about five pieces of bubble yum (weren't they the ones that had spider eegs in them...?) and was blowing this huge bubble--it looked really cool in the blacklight--when these girls came around the corner unexpectedly. one of them screamed, "his stomach's coming out!" and they all ran into the darkened hallway. a little while after that, some big kid from red hook sprayed me in the eyes with menthol shaving cream and i had to have my eyes flushed out for about 20 minutes. joe paydon and eddie vaughn went and found the kid and beat the crap out of him.
it was probably joe paydon who followed you with those white gloves--he was always the wildman in the cage, but he had a way out to follow the cute girls...

todd said...

d'oh, matt...

sorry--


(not.)

Leanne said...

Those Spirit Halloween stores are awesome. We always get two or three that pop up in our area around September/October. I have to go with mask #1. That thing's creepy!

Does Jake have a license to drive that car?

Anonymous said...

Jake is so freaking cool!

my favorite part of this post is Alison & Todd reminiscing about a local haunted house.

Hey Leaf- I thin you & Lila would be great as Curious George & the Man in the Yellow Hat.

Russ Burlingame said...

I'm totally going to be Booster Gold for Halloween. Incriminating photos to follow.

Anonymous said...

That 2nd mask is awesome. The lil bit of hair hanging out the side gives it extra points on realism...I guess?
They turn the old Pier 1 Imports place turns into a Halloween shop, then an old place across the street gives them competition...fun to see the signs grow for the sales and then they start sending people in costume out to the road with signs...good times! Will have to venture them this year for cool stuff, but we usually wait until after the day to stock up on discounted goods.

Yesterday, the propane guy came and was filling up the tank, I had to calm the dogs so I was not able to greet him. I got out there just in time for him to finish. He did not see me as he wound the hose back up (we have a high wooden fence-he was on the other side of it). As he returned I had just leaned back to look at a bird's nest that fell from our pine tree (this made it appear as I was behind the tree hiding from the guy). As he shut the gauge cover, I sprung out and said, "HELLO!"

This nearly gave him a heart attack.
I apologized, and gave him the check. He left kinda ruffled from the experience. But I believe we are all entitled to one good scare this season, and to give one good scare.;)
1. Your guess as good as mine?
2. Youe Death...I think...will try this year
3. I'll go with C
4. None, but one was crushed by the good people by laying huge stones on him.
5. Turnips...there was a haunted story on tv a while ago about that...

alison said...

Joe Paydon?? If I had known that I almost definitely would've peed.

Yeah, what about older high school girls wanting cute younger boys to sit on their laps? I remember being like that with the cute little boy across the street - until my mother told me that I really shouldn't be so cuddly with him because he just might not be seeing the cuddly as I was seeing the cuddly. hmmmm, hadn't thought of that before - and ick. A few years later, though...

renecarol said...

I like the 1st one and the 3rd one. I'm not sure what I'll be this year. Definitely dressing up though.. prolly decorate too.. I'm excited about my first halloween here.

Russ Burlingame said...

PS - I'm thinking #2 is the creepiest just because of its understated nature. Think the automaton in the film version of "Hellboy."