Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Devil's Night - Zero Nine
Halloween Zero Nine

After another year of waiting, The Devil's Night came and went like an apparition in your head. This year, despite being on a Saturday, things didn't seem as spectacular as they did in previous years. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the night, oh no. I loved every minute of it. So let's start at the beginning, yeah?

As usual, my Halloween mindset began weeks (almost months) before the big night. Around August, I had initially planned to discontinue the black & white toy theme. I was looking around my room for ideas knowing I couldn't live up to Jaden and Dorian, but I still wanted something genuinely creepy and if possible, interactive. In my closet, I discovered a poorly made jesters hat that I [purchased from the dollar store years ago. It's black and purple, and a few of the bells on the tips were missing, but I thought I could do something with this.

I scoured the 'net to help give me idea for how to do the rest of the jester outfit. I was hoping that I would find clothing from a thrift store with similar colouring and just work from there. It was already September and I had nothing. The more I worried about the jester costume, the less I like the idea. I didn't want to be compared to that premade, manufactured "evil jester" costume that's usually seen in costume shops around the world and I really didn't feel motivated enough to start an original one from scratch. Eventually, I completely scrapped the idea.

And so the stress began. October arrived and I had no costume ideas.

Meanwhile, I started reading the letters written to Mr. Grinn. I think three years running the streets was enough for him, so I left the idea of his resurrection alone. But wait... Three years. Three. In terms of the monochrome toyset, I was only one away. I started with Jaden the marionette, and succeeded him with Dorian the wind-up toy. This was a good sign now that I had a general theme to follow. But who... or WHAT to complete the trinity?

It wasn't long before I envisioned the wonderful little creation to complete the monochrome toy trio: a simple doll.

Creating the face was time consuming as usual. The major difficulty was making the rest of the look. My props this year were a pair of hands, extending from my own and controlled by the wrist. The hands themselves were made from cardboard, a bit of stuffing and a loads of duct tape (which was blue.. and I don't remember why.) With the hand base done, I had to figured out what to covered them with. and what to cover the rest of me with. I then realized the inevitable. I had to sew.

I needed white cloth to make gloves for the hands, and black cloth to make a shirt with custom length sleeves to compensate for my elongated arms. While working out ideas in my room, I let out a frustrated yell. "Fuck! I have to sew!". Youngest Sis must have heard me because she came in and said "Good. Now you can make me my robe!"

The story behind this is that Youngest Sis, as you may already know, is a Harry Potter fan (her fandom inspired me to make the wands and all) so she's been wanting a robe for Halloween and to have at the ready for conventions and whatnot. She concocted this deal that if I didn't make her a robe, I'd have to buy one online or something. I never agreed to this, but I thought making a robe would be an interesting experience.

I visited the nearby fabric store with Youngest Sis and my mother (since she knows a tonne more about this stuff than I do). I felt a little awkward being the only guy in there at that particular time of the day. But I was on a mission to complete my costume and the Hogwarts robe side quest. I picked a thick white cloth for the gloves so no colours could show through, a fairly decent red cloth for the lining of Youngest Sis' robe and about 8 feet of that cheap Halloween fabric for the outside of her robe and my own short (which was going to be a one time use anyway).

I finished the gloves in a fair amount of time, despite doing it by hand. I knew I needed a machine for my shirt and the dreaded robe. I took out my mum's sewing machine, placed it on the table in the dining room and sat down. "MOM! TEACH ME THIS THING!" She entered the dining room a bit on the irritated side since I happened to yell during a phonecall. Mum set up the threads and whatnot and taught me what to do. That night, I learned the basics of sewing shit together.

Making the shirt was moderately easy. I just stitched together some cloth for sleeves, another piece for the torso, put those pieces together and voila! Instant top. After stitching in some white yarn to simulate larger stitches, the shirt was done. I planned to wear my big pair of black pants to complete the out of proportion look.

Now came time for the robe. That damned Hogwart's robe. I searched for an easy to do pattern on the 'net, but it was hoodless. I found one with a hood but it was too advanced for me to do. At this point, I figured "Fuck it. I'll just combined the easy one with a hood." and proceeded to do so. It took hours into the night to complete. Since the sewing machine made things ridiculously easy in term of putting it together, I spent most of my time just sitting with the fabric in my hands, trying to figure out which part gets stitched first, which parts go inside-out, which parts need that hem thing to straighten it out, etc, etc.

By the time I finished, I had snagged a clump of fabric twice, redid mistake stitches about 6 times, and misaligned stitches at least a dozen times. I needed to finish it at that time while I was in he groove of things.. If I left it until later, I probably would've screwed up a lot more and perhaps not even finish at all. In the end, it turned out a helluva lot better than I would ever think it to. It was about 4:00am so Youngest Sis was fast asleep. I tried it on myself to see if everything was alright. The shoulders were tight which put me in a slight panic... but then I remembered that she's smaller than me, so it wasn't that big of a problem. I went to sleep just before sunrise that night.

Just a couple of hours later, a kiss on my forehead and delighted laughter temporarily woke me up. "Thanks, Kuya (big brother)! It's so awesome!". Youngest Sis was trying it on over her school uniform (which isn't too far from Hogwart's garb) and admiring the robe in the mirror. "I'll adjust it and add the other bit later.. Now go away, I want to sleep." I grumbled. After a decent amount of rest, Youngest sis came home from school and so I shortened the robe to her height and asked where she wanted her wand pocket. After adding the final touches, I handed her the robe and said "You owe me. Now go away."

Thinking my work was done, Lil Sis asked if I could help her think up a zombie character for our outing this year. She used her Zombie Schoolgirl several times for zombie related events like the Toronto After Dark film fest and the annual zombie walks around the city, so she wanted to change it up for Halloween night. At first, she had planned on a Red Riding Hood zombie, but she felt it would be too similar to the look of the main role in the recently released Trick 'R Treat. Her next thought was Zombie Snow White, but adult sized costumes were sold out. We went to a couple of thrift stores for inspiration.

Value Village, a chain of thrift stores in the city, had tonnes of costumes in stock. At this point, it was just a matter of choosing which one we were going to bloody up. After taking a look at the selection, the decision became increasingly harder to make. If it wasn't too big or didn't fit with a zombie theme, it was the slutty version of a normal costume, marketed towards lazy whores who look forward to getting their photo taken by cellphones so that they can get drunk on the one day in the year when prostitution has a dress up theme. Anyway.. Lil Sis decided on a black & white film star. Think Audrey Hepburn-ish, but Asian and dead. She found the dress, gloves, feather boa, pearls and whatever all in one go. All she needed was a nice jacket to wear over it all (Halloween isn't usually very warm)

With one more sleep before the big night and my costume and sisters' costumes ready to go (though Youngest Sis wasn't coming with us downtown), all that was left to do was wait. Another cousin was staying over for the night to chill with Youngest Sis so he arrived in the evening that Friday. At around the same time, I received a phonecall from the cousin who was coming with Lil Sis and I downtown, telling me to brace myself for his costume. I wouldn't have expected anything less. Just before heading to bed, I asked Lil Sis if she could tie my hair to make "pseudo-dreads" for lack of a better term. I wanted to differentiate this years style from the previous ones, and tying it up all kooky-like was my only idea. When my seemingly endless overexcitement for night ahead died down, I finally fell asleep.

October 31st - Halloween

I woke up with my scalp feeling a little sore because I'm not used to sleeping with my hair tied up at all, let alone tightly done in a dread style all over my head. I mixed up a pitcher of iced tea and had a quick snack, just enough to get me through most of the night. As tradition goes, the feast comes at the very end so I didn't want to eat too much.

Lil Sis put on her dress and asked me if I could add some tears and ruffled edges here and there before dabbing a bit of stage blood to mimic scrapes and wounds. While she still had it on, I CAREFULLY poked and cut through the fabric of her dress with an exacto knife. With the addition of some stage blood over the opened tears, it made a great simulation for undead bang-ups. It was about this time my cousin arrived.

Disclaimer: Before I continue, I should note something. This year, my cousin donned a costume portraying a particular figure, and though on its own it really doesn't seem like much of a big deal, there are a couple of details (mentioned both in the report and visible in photos) that might make it seem a bit on the offensive side. I will take this opportunity to warn you in advance that the rest of the report will contain some bits that may make us seem like blasphemous basterds. Perhaps we are... But we are also Catholics with a sense of humour. Besides... Halloween is the one night in the year when we can raise a little hell. Why not have a bit o' fun with it, yeah?

With that out of the way, let's continue.

The 'Cuz greeted me with his adopted catchphrase for the time, "Mornin', Fuckface!" (despite the time being halfway into the afternoon), marched into my room, shut the door and proceeded to change into his costume. After a few minutes of rustling clothes and an occasional "Oh.. Haha! It's backwards.", out of my room stumbled Jesus Christ.

I laughed my ass off at how Jesus looked. Not so much a savior.. The wig gave him this "stoner" look. Despite this, he was hoping to put in a detail or two so that his costume was as "accurate as possible". The 'Cuz dabbed a bit of blood gel where the thorns in his crown would poke, letting a bit drip down his face. In addition to the crown wounds, he wanted some lashes of blood across his back. I obliged by swiping a paintbrush of blood over the top layer of cloth. We pocketed a small bottle of stage blood to bring downtown for the final touch to the Jesus outfit. Jesus was more or less ready to go.

After helping Lil Sis with her makeup a bit more I suited up and placed my mask on, knowing I wouldn't be taking it off until late into the night. It took a bit of help from Jesus to secure my hands and, well, I pretty much had to depend on him for a number of other things like opening doors and paying for busfare. We gathered whatever necessary effects in my pockets and/or Lil Sis' purse and headed out.

At the bus stop, we waited for about 20 minutes, which to our advantage, gave enough time for Lil Sis to run back to the house (about 40 metres away) to grab her cellphone which she had forgotten. By this time, the wind was picking up, which would have made for a great high-speed camera shot of Jesus and his robes flowing in the wind. When the bus arrived, we hopped on.

Lucky for us, a trio of seats were free right in the centre. Needless to say, we had many eyes dart back and forth at us out of curiosity, amazement and in Lil Sis' case, fear. A Filipina and her child kept their eyes focused on Jesus. It wasn't long before the mother encouraged her child to "say hi to Jesus". Nice, I thought.

A man sitting opposite us noticed the Jesus costume and began talking to The 'Cuz about Catholicism and job hunting. Acorss from us sat a chatty pair of hideous looking girls who resembled rats and no, they were not in costume. Since my eyes were completely covered by my mask, I would occasionally give a heads-up to Jesus and Zombie that many people were reacting to our costumes. So far so good.

After a bus trip to one station, then a train ride to another, we emerged the underground passages to a dark, windy and chilly night. We made it downtown. First stop: The Video Game Shop

This place holds a special place in our heart because of the nostalgia one feels once you enter. This store sells games for almost any console in existence. Lil Sis introduced it to me a couple of months ago and since then, I've bought a new (old) game every time I've visited. What attracted us to the shop are the old school Nintendo games. We're talkin' everything NES and SNES, which to me, make up 85% of my video gaming childhood. There's a great condition original copy of Chrono Trigger sitting in one of the glass cases for... erm.. $70.00. Despite already owning the same game for my DSi, I'm so tempted to pick it up just so I can sit on my couch and play through it again and again, using the very same controllers I used when I was a wee lad. In any case, it's an old-school video game heaven.

So for what reason would a doll, a zombie and Jesus visit this little shop? 5% off if you arrived in costume AND everyone else in the store would be dressed up too. The place is independently run and the guys there are awesome. Last year, one fellow dressed up as old-school Joker and have Batman games running on their Sega Genesis and Super Nintendos. This year, the same guy dressed up as Moonwalker Michael Jackson. At one point during the night, he started up the Moonwalker game and started doing a Jacko commentary (voice and all) while playing. The two co-owners of the shop dressed as Shinobi and Solid Snake. We saw a Pokemon master visiting as well. It was a neat little gathering of gamers in a very cramped store.

Though the 5% discount for any purchase was definitely appealing, we couldn't take advantage of the offer because none of us has cash and mroe importantly, nobody could decide what to buy. We snapped a photo or two and went on our way.

It was well into the evening now. The temperature was tolerable but the wind was picking up. Thankfully, it wasn't raining. From the game shop, we walked to Chinatown to stop by the bank and if we were hungry, pick up a snack. The smell of barbequed meats was enticing as hell but I held off because I was saving my hunger for the feast at the end. Jesus picked up a hotdog and ate it while we walked. I regret not asking Zombie to take a pick of Jesus ordering the tube steak. Many passers-by gave him a look of amusement and confusement. Oh well.

This year, I wasn't exactly all that excited about the costume competition since 2007 set the bar pretty high (that's when I won Third) and I knew this years costume wasn't going to place because people are deadly creative as time passes by. I mention this because at this point in the night, we were already somewhat late to enter as we were too far away from the street party. However, I wanted to spend as much time at the party as possible because it only gets bigger and bigger as years go by and there was much to see.

With that said, I motioned to Jesus and Zombie to pick up their pace so we could get there sooner. Unfortunately, we got lost in the process because we ended up in a part of the city none of us were familiar with. After circling a few blocks several time and yelling out frustrated sighs, we eventually saw rainbow lights. Ah.. That must be where "The Village" is. To the Gaybourhood!

Once we were close enough, we felt it. The party was pumpin' and the crowds were ridiculous. The main stage featured a DJ blasting dance music that could be heard for blocks. There were literally thousands of costumes out and ten times as many cameras. Halloween was alive and we were once again in the middle of it all.

The moment we started mingling in the crowds, flashes went off all around us. Zombie, Jesus and myself were quite the attraction to various fans. It was tricky since I kept asking Zombie to take pictures of the costumes we thought were cool. After escaping the crowds for a bit, Zombie made her way to a Subway to get a sandwich and a drink to replenish her undead energy. While Zombie ate in the subshop (surrounded by curious Croatians, no less), Jesus and I made some rounds just outside to scope out good costumes, hot girls and rare combinations of both.

Jesus decided that at this point, it was an opportune time to implement the effect that would both add detailed accuracy to his look AND push the blasphemy even further. He pulled out the small bottle of stage blood and added a dab to his hands. He clapped his palms together and stamped the excess on on top of his hands. Voila. Instant nail wounds. When the blood dried, he pulled out a small round piece of bread. He motioned at it asking if I knew what it was. I laughed at how ridiculous he was and shook my head. "We're going to hell, man." I said. He replied, "Look around. We're already there." Good point, Jesus. Good point.

After zombie had her snack, we began to party. Well, our idea of partying isn't necessarily dancing half naked in front of the stage with the same sex (though that IS the idea for many others on the street). Instead, we were content just walking around, taking photos and feeding our Halloween characters' egos by getting our picture taken.

The rest of the night was spent interacting with the many people around us. Zombie lurched around as much as she could while still taking as many pictures as possible. It was a little difficult for her to stay in character. Her weaknesses are cute babies. Cute babies dressed up in costumes are super effective. That night, she would see one all too often, disabling her from groaning like true undead. Her highlight that night had nothing to do with infants though. We encountered a very done Shaun from Shaun of the Dead, cricket bat and all. He posed with Zombie for an impromptu screengrab from right out of the film. Zombie's wish for at least ONE zombie killer to attack her was granted.

Jesus would pose for shots by offering the bread up as communion for the people who pretended to eat it. At one point, Jesus encountered ANOTHER Jesus (who didn't look very Jesus-y), and eventually started a Jesus battle. In the end, our Jesus won since he had the bread and blood to prove it. The other Jesus needed to borrow a friend's ID (which actually said Jesus) for his move. It ultimately failed and our Jesus was victorious. After posing for a couple of shots, the Jesus' went their separate ways.

My interactions with the people were quite playful this year. Since I wasn't suspended from strings or relying on gears to function, my movements felt less restricted. I stumbled around often, swinging my arms low and jerking my head in an unnatural fashion. Again, I took advantage of the eyeholes concealing my line of sight and spied on passers-by who appeared creeped out by my costume. While their eyes were still trained on me, I would turn my head quickly and let out a shriek. Of course, this instigated my victims to let out a shriek of their own, followed by amused laughs and sometimes clapping. For photos, I would play on the ragdoll influence and bend backward, at times reaching a full 90 degree angle, while wrapping my extended arms around those in the photo with me. I received many comments regarding my flexibility, most of which would be inappropriate for virgin ears. I took them as compliments regardless. The arms made a fun impact on some who weren't paying attention to the fact that my new wingspan stretched out a few feet longer than normal. I was a little surprised by the number of children who were brought out with their parents that night. For whatever reason, many of these parents thought I would be a great person to take a photo with, despite having a mask on that isn't necessarily the friendliest-looking face. After the snap, I'd offer my hand out for a high-five or handshake. One gave me a hug which, again, threw me off.. But hey... If you get enjoyment out of seeing a mask like this, I like your style, kid.

Some fun moments to note:

- During a backwards bend, a crossdresser remarked that if I bent any lower, I could smell his "cooch" or "hooch" or something. Grossed out and somewhat confused, I got back up while he/she convinced me to ACTUALLY take a whiff. I shook my head and ran off.

- While Lil Sis was taking a pic, an old European man nearby held his camera up hoping to take a snap of her. He stood still with a cherub-like grin on his face for a good few minutes before I motioned to Sis that he was behind her. She turned around and they both screamed. Everyone around had a good laugh.

- A man posing with me waiting for his wife to take the picture was emitting a strange, nervous moan because the flash wasn't going off. He would trying telling his wife to fix the settings to make it work and to make sure the shutter is pressed properly, all in another language, nonetheless. This happened about three times while he moaned during the whole bit. Lil Sis was having a ball behind us.

- Jesus scratched 'down below' once in a while. I'm positive I wasn't the only one who saw. Thankfully, the noise and my mask covered up my laughs.

- The Japanese sound of surprise/awe (Heeehhhhh??!?) is the most satisfying thing one could hear. What's even more satisfying? Screams or terror. I was very satisfied that evening. (That almost sounds perverted.. Oh well.)

After an entire night of awesome, the three of us felt the night should come to a close. It was just past midnight so the best costumes were dwindling in numbers while others made their ways home or to clubs for hours of sweaty shaking. Lil Sis' camera ran out of battery power anyway, so with nothing else to do, we hailed a cab and went home.

When we returned to the house, we unfortunately just missed my aunt and grandma who had dinner with my parents. It would have been neat to show them our costumes but thinking about it again now, it was probably better that we didn't. With our costumes still on and stomachs empty, we drove over to our favouritest Chinese take-out place in existence to pay the old Chinese lady there a visit and, of course, order copious amounts of food.

Upon our arrival, the lady gave off a delighted scream and welcomed us in. She left the counter space and inspected our costumes while laughing and frequently commenting with a "Wow" or "Whoa". With just enough camera battery left for one final flash, we decided to take a photo with her to commemorate our annual tradition of stuffing ourselves with her distinctly delicious cooking taking place once again.

We said goodbye and walked out with multiple bags of tasty goodness. Returning home once again, we dropped the bags on the dinner table, set up some plates and chopsticks as well as a few pitchers of water and left for our rooms to change back to our real-life personas.

The 'Cuz had the easiest transformation, as he only needed to wash off some blood on his forehead and change clothes. Lil Sis' carefully removed her wounds and washed off her makeup while I spent a good 20 minutes pulling the little elastics out of my hair. I'll admit, I was a baby because I screamed every time one would get caught and tug my hair, but honestly, it did hurt.

Resuming our everyday look, we returned to the dining room and were joined by my other cousin and Youngest Sis. Lil Sis brought her laptop in and uploaded the night's photos so we could all have a look back on the night. With a fullscreen slideshow up and running, we opened up each piping hot dish and began to feast.

After eating, we managed to use what little energy we had left to clean up and head to the basement to play some video games before drifting off to sleep.

As I said, this year couldn't have topped previous years, but nevertheless, I couldn't be happier with how this yearly indulgence of mine turns out. I sometimes get asked why I put so much effort into Halloween of all days. Well... When the results give me a tale like this to tell every year, it is so worth it.

And now for your viewing pleasure, I present to you the more exciting part of my annual post: PHOTOS! (and captions!)

Please enjoy!


The Trio
Here's the cast of our little Halloween adventure. (Glam'd up with character-appropriate movie poster effects!)


Moonwalker
This was a shot from the video game store we visited earlier in the night. Moonwalker Michael Jackson ACTUALLY playing Moonwalker was definitely a sight to behold.


Shinobi
And in the background, a pretty cute Charlie Chaplin. (from the video game store.)


Where the Wild Things Are
In the Gaybourhood!


Queen Bees.
Get it? Hur hur hur..


Bioweapon Scientist
I can't say I know what he was researching.. but I don't like it.


The Wicked Witch of the East
Note the ruby slippers. Now watch as her feet curl up all fucked up-like.


Pope Gregory VII
With his boss, Buddy Christ.


Zorro Gal and Zombie Bathrobe
Y'know... Hotels want you to pay for those.


Mardi Gras Man
I can only assume this is what he was. "He danced around a lot" says Lil Sis


Adam & Eve
Sans nipples.


Sailor Mangirl
Aye-Aye Captain! *shudder*


Superman
And his curiously large head


Candy Tossers
More like Salad Tossers! But seriously... They were on a rooftop throwing candy to the people below.


Blurny Rabbit
I don't know what this is.


Ninja Doctor, Robyn and Indiana Jones
Not a common grouping but still fun!


Venetian Grim Reapers
With scythes, of course.


Canoers
Fishing trip!


Gothic Loli
Kawa-- Wait.. who's that beside you?


Chicken
Come and get me, Colonel!


Maxed Out Credit Cards
Thankfully, I use neither of those banks.


Dreadknight
He was here last year.. Being all dready and shit.


Demon Mages
Hooray dark sorcery!


Big Fuckin' Skull
Deep in thought.


Palm Tree Lady
With Curious George BEFORE captivity


Winnie the Goddamn Pooh
Standing next to the silly bear, Asian Vampiress


Tiki Warriors
Ooga booga!


Spiderman, Green Lantern and Supersomething
Don't worry, Asian fellow. Green Lantern's got yo butt!


"Condy" w/ Crazy 8s
Playin' it safe


Superman and Superpup
Widdle puppy gonna save the world? Yes he is!


Superpup w/ Lucian
Smile, canine superhero!


Death & Death's Bride
Open bar reception... IN HELL!


Mario?
What the..?


Vamp & His Magenta Victim
None of this new age fangless vamp garbage. Oh hey, it's Gothic Loli again!


Spider'd Man
He stays in an attic for the other 364 days.


Cone Puppy
The lamp's getting away.


Paul Stanleys
God gave rock & roll to you... and you.. and you.. and you...


Scotsman
Yes, that's a true kilt. Pray for no wind.


Sweeney Todd
No, thanks. I don't need a shave.


Pope & Jesus
Note the blasphemous nail wound.


Stomach growth
Holy f-, what is that?!


The Proud Mother
You might wanna get that checked.


Santa Claus & Marilyn Monroe
Happy Birthday, Mr. Claus.. Mmmmm..


Werewolf
FIGHT TWO DEMONS!!! (If you get this, I'll see ya in hell. *smile*)


Vampire
..or Mr. Hyde...


Jesus Fight!
My money is on Jesus.


False prophet
Jesus doesn't wear a wig on his face so...


False Jesus' crew
If he was real, the pirate wouldn't need those crutches and the cow would've been slaughtered.


Luchadores
Oro de Boobies


Dead Kennedy
Nobody is safe here.


Dead Play Nurse
Some plastic stethoscopes actually work, y'know.


Cowboy
Because only true cowboys have holsters for their cell phones too.


Zoot Suit Demon
Watch out, Little Old Lady!


T-Shirt Ninja
Props for attempted costume. Double props for something concealing your identity.


Brock Samson
You look stronger on TV.


Monarch, Number 24 and Lady Monarch
I should start watching Venture Bros. again..


Spiderman
C'mon, pose! Do something, Spidey!


Friendly Neighbourhood Thumbs Up
This is what you get when you suddenly ask someone to do a cool pose.


Mad Hatter & Queen of Hearts
Young for a queen, eh? Princess of Hearts, perhaps?


Klingons
tlhIngan maH!


Glammed Gay
This almost looks Bruno-ish


Phantom Gentleman
We were the only ones who could see him.


Hi Doggie!
It's a bat or somfin'


18th Century Man
Where did I leave that blasted time machine?!


Paper Bag Prince
I wonder if he eats yardwaste.


Borat
Eh.. We just missed him.


Jailbird & Cop
The warden ain't gonna like this.


Mariachi Man & Cat Slave
Two different approaches at spicing things up.


Newpaper Box
Fucker took my change!


Clown Duo
I thought the girl was really cute.


Clown Duo again
There's something unsettling about these fellas.


Hi Another Doggie
Did you pick that costume?


Iron Man
Tying his Stark Industry laces.


Captain America, Iron Man, Spartan Cheerleaders & A Wild Thing
Now THAT'S a crossover!


Greek Goddess
"Honey, where did you park the chariot?"


Deck Maiden
Please be a girl because I find you a little cute.


Wicked Witch, Glinda and her winged friend
Rasta witch commin' atcha!


What the fu--
Did I just step in this?


Swamp Things
Ah.. That's what it was..


Dead Dancer
..and his staff of whacking.


Bunny
Bunny bunny bunny!


Princess Precious
I can't help but think of Buffalo Bill here.


Captain Jack
Rum? OKAY!


Hannibal Lecter
Well.. Perhaps his scenester son.


Venetian Bird Mask
And a mother gorging on junk food.


Edward Ssscissorhands
*Meant to be said all lispy-like


Two-Face
There's a cream for that.


Dorothies
Definitely not in Kansas now.


Crossdressers
Here's where it gets weird(er).


Qipao Guys
Probably bloodied up in a quarrel over who massages who.


What in the world?
Don't come any closer!


Bumblebeeses
The buzzing bastards of summer.


Ladyboys
They just kept posing and posing.. Well.. It's the night for it, at least.


Century Wig Guy
I'm focused on the cute nerd nurse girl, actually.


Blue
Aren't you cold? You must be cold.


The Dutch
These guys dressed up as a pair of nurses for a previous Halloween. Keeping w/ the couple theme, I 'spose.


Strange Gang
I'm sure I've seen these figures before somewhere..


Retroooo
Bad fashion goes with Halloween too!


Silk Spectre's behind
The front would give him-- I mean, HER away.


Silk Spectre from the front
Ah, too late.


Crossdressin'
I'm creeped out by the fact that this seem familiar. Oh god....


Glam He-She
Apparently, she's Catholic.


Steel Punk Skull & Frankenstein's Monsta
I... don't even know what's going on anymore.


Crossdressing Ho Ho Hos
Festive, are they not?


Showoff
It's rare to say no to boobs.


Pervert
With underwear drawing included.


Not a costume
Seriously. I laughed my face off.


Jerseyless Footballer & Bee again
Somehow, I doubt he plays the sport.


Rollerbeans?
They're dressed in green and were on rollerblades, conga-ing through the crowds. I have no other explanation.


Mischief Imp
Methinks I see a Tink in the back.


Glam-sha
I suck at making up neat names.


Yellow Thing
Do yo.. clean things?


Gorilla Tits & Mime
Gorilla Tits is probably something you should call someone on any other regular day. *laughs*


Gorilla Tits again
Touch' em!


Fatties
Somehow more insulting to call a girl than Gorilla Tits.


Big Red Cheerleader
I just felt the opposite of cheer.


Rabbit Stew
Needs some PO-TA-TOES


Almost Jester
This won't go down well with the king.


Guy-shas
Eh, I think I did better with the name thing this time. *laughs*


Dumbledore
I saw a better Dumbledore but had no camera. Oh well, he's dead now.


Split-face
I like this mask, actually.


Persian
Definitely not Spartan.


Bananas
Just... focus on the bananas and nothing else will harm me.


Craft Time Couple
Their kids made their costumes.


Clash of Weird Shit
I told you this was a strange place.


Starla
I'm gonna call her Starla, okay? That makes the most sense in this bizarre world.


Dork
HAHA, WHAT A LOSER!!


Dorky Loser
Look at that dweeb wave like an ass!


Dorky Dweeb Ass Loser
What are you smiling at, nerd?


No, Zombie!
Stay away from that Dorky Dweeb Ass Loser Nerd!


Scottish Family
Is this accurate? I hope not.


Pooh & Tigger
Cuz Tigger's a wonderful thing!


Jail Bitch
You're gonna lift that, aren't you?


Jail Bitch Panties
You lifted. You fuckin' lifted it.


Big Sass
"I'll eat you up, little boy."


Marge Simpson & Drunken Asian Popeye
I am fuckin' terrified at this point.


Barbara Streisand
Can't be anyone else.


Tinsel Dog
Furry just got an upgrade.


I give up.
Seriously. But from this point on, it becomes the awesome. Trust me.


Flintstones!
Bam Bam, Betty, Barney, Pebbles & Fred... IN A BEDROCK CAR!


Yabba Dabba Doo!
Told you it gets awesome!


Yoda Pumpkin Baby
The babies this year were top tier. This is Star Wars, Halloween and cuteness all wrapped up in one smiling little package. The father toted her around and chanted "Best Costume! Best Costume!". It's definitely up there!


Thor & Captain America
Lil Sis, the comic book fan, loved it.


Cute Bloody Couple
Literally.


Killer Robot & Space Lady
Guess what the robot does.


HE FUCKING LIGHTS UP!
That's right!


Gloomy Bear
This one is for Pom Pom.


Hagrid
Same guy from the other year. Same gigantic size too. I'm convinced it's him.


Another look at Space Lady & Robot
I drink tea out of her rocket pack.


The MOOna Lisa
Get it? GET IT?!


Peanut Butter Jelly Girl
Look at her nana pride!


Chefs & Lobster
Best family costumes of the night! Lil Sis mentioned that the mom is boilin' another lobster in her pot, if ya get what I mean. (She's pregnant you slow bum.)


Lobster baby and chefs again
Lobster baby snapped her claws around all night. Too adorable.


A Pug
What? It's a pug.


Spartan
W/ SMG


USB Man
He's gonna 2-point your 0. Ehh.. I'm lame.


GIMLI
Holy shit, this was fuckin' awesome. It's not the best costume of the dwarf, but RINGERS REPRESENT!!


Super Grover
Sesame Street is immortal


King of Pop
This is oddly accurate. R.I.P. Jacko.


Carrie
They're all gonna laugh at you.


Scared Girl
Again, I think I know this from somewhere I just can't remember where. She was genuinely creeped out by Lucian.


Giant Jellyfish in Bikini Bottom
Yes, that's Spongebob at the bottom there. Creativity points to this one!


The Breakfast Club
Captain Crunch, Franken Berry, Count Chocula and Lucky.. My childhood mornings are alive!


Michael Myers
From Austin Powers, right? Joking aside, it was fun watching his lurch around with his knife and expressionless eyes.


Nuns
Taking the body from ol' J.C.


Communion
H has more than one, y'know.


Catholic Family
Close runner up for Best Family Costumes. They were pleased to see Jesus.


Nun Baby is displeased
Look at her face! *laughs* She's adorable.


Catholics W/ Lucian
At the request, the Macabre stepped in for a pic too.


Devil Baby
Lil Damnation.


Boba Fett
What's Halloween without a Bounty Hunter?


Cool Ass Shirt
It's one of those shirts that detect sound and lights up bars accordingly. The 'Cuz bought one for himself online not too long after.


Iceman & Wolverine
A little stylized, but still a great take on the mutants.


Skeletonnes
Many of them. I really like this shot.


Kung Fu Panda
If Lil Sis went schoolgirl again, this would've been fun.


Another Michael
I thought there would be more of him this year.


Shaun
He''s got some red on him.


Killer Robot once more
Lil Sis hoped he would murder that clown to the right.


Harry Potter
Youngest Sis saw this and went "Pssh. My robe is way cooler than that." I'm so happy.


Bruno & O.J.
I can't help but laugh when I think of this film.


ORCS & URUKS
Again, not the closest to P.J.'s vision but RINGERS REPRESENT!!! Actually, I think these orcs look fuckin' cool.


Super Mushroom and item block
I feel super just looking at her.


Bill & Hillary Clinton
Valiant effort back there, Hillary. Good thing you got Bill, eh?


Miss Bath Time
Bubbles, hairnet, scrubber and ducky, the full set!


Tall Guys
They were on stilts or something. I'm sure Lil Sis must've thought they were cute.


The Queen and her Guard
God save her. Jesus, you mind calling your Dad?


Big Bad Wolf
*laughs* This just cracks me up. Not such a subtle disguise, is it, Wolfie?


Bert & Ernie
We did see actual muppet-like versions of these two, but I think that these real-life incanations are just too much fun. The resemblance is quite close, eh?


Seigfried unt Roy
Post-tiger attack Roy, nonetheless.


The Enquirer Issue
I'm sure some of you would have an aunt who would want this issue.


Roman Guard
Your sword is in your shield, man! Put down the camera!


Kigurumi Gang
Only Asians...


Colonel Sanders
He's not dead, man. He won't rest till all them chickens are fried!


Jesus & The Colonel
Who do you think brought him back to life?


Nurse
Gettin' friendly with other ladies. Mm.


Fry & Leela
Because Futurama is awesome.


Myers & Myers
Before and after? I wasn't around but Lil Sis said they stared each other down for a few minutes straight. THAT is fuckin' scary.


Myers'
No... Fuckin'... Emotion...


Jon & Kate Plus Eight
It was always about money, wasn't it? I still think Kate's a bitch though. ANYWAY... The gang's all there!


Chinese Lion
Lettuce Destruction!!! Hmm? Too early?


Florida
Best fucking cartoon reference of the night. Homer made an honest attempt, didn't he? Fuck you, Gamblor!


The Traveller
I don't quite know what this guy is... but his costume look hella awesome.


That guy from the Sopranos
"What do you mean it's Halloween?"


She's thinkin' Arby's
Look closely.


Mr. Burns
Smithers, release the hounds. Too cool!


Maleficent
The villainess from my favourite Disney film.


Not a costume
But a very cool hat!


Cute Witch
Of course, we he have a few snaps of pretty and cute girls. Not very many though since Lil Sis had the camera. *laughs* You can see the fellow with the cool mask on to the right here.


Cute Police, Alt-Fashion Girl & T-Shirt Ninja
Lucky ninja bastard.


Kimono Girl
You'll notice a trend with these "cute girl" pics. They're all pretty much Japanese girls. The thing here is that there isn't a sizable Japanese community in Toronto. Well, at least from my experiences. Japanese reside in a few very small pockets throughout the city, so seeing so many on Halloween took me by surprise.


Cute Vamps & Cute Witch
The absolute best part about all the Japanese tourists and Torontonians is that they're REALLY into the spirit of Halloween and they really know how to have fun. With that said, interacting with them was an absolute blast. (And by 'interacting', I mean trying to scare the shit outta them).


Fun Japanese Group
(And Hiro from Heroes)


Cute Pirate
I kinda wish she fully smiled here. Regardless, she's a very pretty pirate.


Pretty Cop, Pretty Minnie, Pretty Bee and Pretty Dancer
My nose bled under my mask.... Don't tell anyone.


Slash & Cute Leprechaun
Jesus and I were with Lil' Sis when she took this shot. We were both oh so tempted to tell her boyfriend to go away for a minute. *laughs*


Hellooooooo Nurse!
"Umm.. I have a nosebleed."


Cute Scout Geeks
I thought these girls were too cute. Is it weird to bubble up over such dorkiness?


Jesus & a fan
Speaking of dorkiness, Jesus was such a goofball that night. Plenty of people got a real kick out of his costume.


Jesus & another fan
These are just a few of many. Needless to say, Jesus is a popular guy. Notice how he attracts the cuties too?


Jesus' Fairy Angel
Lucky... bastard...


Shaun Vs. Zombie Film Star
Despite being behind the camera for a majority of the night, Lil' Sis had this precious moment with Shaun after he discovered she was undead.


Lucian Stretch
Of course, I had my share of fun too.


Post-Scare Witch
I mentioned before that I would often let out a sudden shriek while walking through the crowds. Here's one of my pretty little victims.


Lucian's Tongue
I stuck it out a lot that night. The next day, my tongue felt really sore. I never thought I'd say something like that.


Freaky proportions
Just a glimpse at my elongated arms.


Lucian & Little Asian Guy
Lil Sis thought his hair was fascinating. Sorry for blocking it.


Kids love Lucian too
If I heard correctly, the girl cried after this was taken.


Lucian & The Frightened Korean
This would make for a GREAT movie title


Lucian & Cutie
Bendin' backwards for the ladies.


Lucian running somewhere
I had a lot of fun with my pseudo-dreads. If I walked fast enough, they would bounce and it felt cool.


Cute fans with Lucian
These arms can accommodate many. Bring your friends!


Freaking people out
Lil Sis explained to me that since I have a slight resemblance to most Asian horror figures (most notably the long hair, white face and unpredictable movements), many people had trouble approaching me.


Messing with Lucian
Some people held me up thinking I was falling down.


Lucian Shriek
Letting off a scream sometimes attracted more cameras.


Lucian Lean
Rather than stand up straight, I thought it'd be interesting to level myself at the same height as others. I'm not really that tall.. There were just a lot of shorties that night.


Lucian & The Barmaid
I suddenly want a beer. And her.


Jigsaw's Puppet & Lucian
Ah, I was wondering when we'd see a Saw reference tonight.


Tying my shoelaces
It was exceptionally difficult tying up a pair of Chucks with your smaller real hands obscured by bigger fake ones.


Lucian is a family figure
Just a keepsake for the photo album at home.


Posing with Lucian
Mimicry is the sincerest form of thinking I'm awesome.


Nosebleeds
Trivia: I kick myself every year for not talking to girls like this even BEHIND a mask.


Only on Halloween
I'm officially jealous of all my Halloween personalities. Lucian topped the list this year.


High-fiving tall people
Perfect.


Lucian the metal drummer
This is an interesting story. I was taking a break and resting against a parking ticket machine when a skeleton gentleman approached me with compliments on my costume. He then asked if I was a musician because I apparently had the aura of a creative mind. When I mentioned I am a drummer, he took another bite of his ice cream and asked if my band had anything online. I responded with "I don't have a band at the moment". Seizing the opportunity, he told me about a band he was producing that needed a drummer. They're a metal band with a very powerful sound. He told me his email address so we could keep in contact and so he could send over sample of the band's work. I haven't emailed him because I'm not good enough for metal (really.. drumming is just a hobby I take only 3/4 seriously).The fact that my costume attracted a band producer out of nowhere just blows my mind.


Ultimate bend
One of my more extreme leans that night.


Waiting for Chinese Food
Sitting in the take out place later in the night. Probably one of the better looks at my mask.


The Cast W/ Chinese Food Lady
This is my favourite pic. It's all kinds of awesome in one shot.


Goodnight Jesus
This is Buddy Christ signing out. Bless you all!


Goodnight Zombie Film Star
Unngghh...


Goodnight Lucian
Wasn't that fun?


And that's it for 2009. 100% Halloween goodness to to once again prove why this is my favourite holiday ever. So what did you guys do this year?

Well.. I'm gonna send this report to Mr. Grinn and see what he thought of this years escapade. Thanks for comin' by! Til' next year, boys & girls! Can't wait for the next installment!



- enin -


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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

And I Still Love myO
I'll grow up next time. I'm enjoying myself too much.

Enjoy the song!
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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Hey. It's me.
It's almost 8:00 in the morning. I ate an unhealthy amount of Chinese food at 3:00am. So... even if I wanted to, I'm not sleeping anytime soon.

I'm posting here tonight this morning because I've posted on this day years past. Posted once when I was crazy in moderate way... Posted again when I went... mental.

Oh yeah. I wanted to move my Halloween post away. It's a little ridiculous in the length department.

So here I am again. It's 2009 and I'm feeling like a cloudy day. There's enough light to go about my business, but not as bright as it could be.

I'd feel like posting a life update of sort quite frequently but I'd never get around to it. Typically, I have too much to say and little motivation to actually get it down. So what happened? So much and so little. Bulleted update, activate!

- Holidays were a treat. Celebrated Christmas eve at our house for the first time. Purchased, cooked and successfully devoured 35 lbs. of prime rib. With that said, food was quite plentiful. Good times with family even more so. I couldn't ask for more.

- Bought Lil Sis an electric guitar. She's been torturing herself by watching YouTube vids of people soloing to metal tracks and whatnot (Yup. The shortest and second youngest in the fam is a bit of a metalhead). So I decided to spend a bit of my Santa money and get her guit-box. Went to the music store with her and the Cuz, pretending to check something for my drums. Skipped the drum department completely and said "Pick a guitar. Merry Christmas". She picked a loooovely Mexican-made Fender Strat with a Midnight Wine finish. Coupled that up with a Roland X30 amp w/ effects and made Lil Sis very happy. The girl who made the transactions was this gorgeous angel of metal, but I digress. The guitar has been christened "Dahlia" for several reasons. One be it's a Mexican made guitar and dahlia's are flower native to the country. The other being... X Japan fucking rules. Anyway, she's adamant about practising and so all is well. I like to mess with it sometimes too.

- Lil Sis also has a Texan boyfriend now. He's cool, but he pissed me off at Korean BBQ. I held the rage in and it subsided quickly. He is currently still cool.

- Youngest Sis has braces now. She makes me laugh without even trying.

- I reunited with the band. Yes. THE band. The very same one that flooded to the brim with drama and unnecessary stupidity. THAT band minus Mr. Rhythm Guitarist (My Cuz) and Mr. Vocalist. So.. only the core 3. The main reason for the reunion is Mr. Bassist is leaving for Vancouver in August, so we're having a "last live" in July since the last time we played on stage didn't go so well and we feel the need to end on a good note. The night we decided to get back together was interesting. Along with a dozen pitchers of beer split between 4 guys and a girl, it was full of nostalgia and good times. I'll update later on with more detail as stuff happens. It should interest some of you to know that we'll be covering some songs from Beck. Journey, Face and perhaps Gymnasium are currently at top bid for our setlist. It'll be fun. I hope.

- My father got a new job at a huge hospital as the building manager. Pay is similar to his old job but the stress/responsibilities are less than half and it shows. He's a lot more relaxed (and twice as goofy) these days. Everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) at his old job broke down in tears when they heard he was leaving. The CEO of the company admitted to my dad that the place would fall apart without him. Man.. When I heard that, now I can only dream to be half the sort of man my father is. My father is achievement. My father is success. I can't express it any better than that.

I'm missing tonnes of little stories here and there. I'll get to those some other time.. Maybe..

Of course, awesome times don't come alone. I've had my share of shitty moments. I'll jot these down quick and painless then:

- Lost my cellphone on one day. Got it back eventually, but my numbers disappeared for some reason. I've only re-added approx. 20% of the number so far. I doubt anyone of the other 80% would wanna talk to me anyway.

- Macbook Pro stopped working in the middle of a project the next day. Apple's turnaround time for a repair wasn't bad at all, but I lost my project.

- A screw off my wristwatch came loose and the whole thing fell into a slushy puddle that day after that. Now it comes loose pretty often and the fucking thing is supposed to be indestructible.

- I got excited for a job posting at a sticker company looking for illustrators with diverse styles. they were looking for people with knowledge/experience in a whole variety of different art types including anime/manga, sci-fi, fantasy, Japanese art, comic book art, and so on. They wanted 20 pieces to show diversity so I worked hard for a week straight. When I went to check on the posting, it disappeared leaving my efforts somewhat in vain. I'll still continue adding to my portfolio, but it killed me to see my opportunity just vanish like that.

- Lost my Macbook remote. It's a pain in the ass to listen to music now.

- I got completely ignored by staff at a music store. I was asking for people to help me figure which drumhead was good for a snare. A half hour waiting around and I see everyone else getting service. Even people who just walk in. Meanwhile, I'm being told to "Hold on a sec. I'll be right with you." Needless to say, I didn't buy anything that day and my drumskins are still crappy and worn. Perhaps it was bad timing and everyone who came in has previously arranged for service. If not, then if I go by my observations, nobody will take me seriously as a drummer unless I'm a tall, lanky white guy with sweeping bangs, acne and my band as an entourage who all seem to look the same as well. I felt pretty demoralized that day. It sucked to say the least...

- Lost a chunk of my big toenail. I think it might from when someone stomped on my foot at the POLYSICS live. I felt no pain then and now, but the dead piece of nail is gone leaving an awkward looking nail in it's place. It's growing back slowly, but for some reason, I felt very self-conscious about it.

- Speaking of being self-conscious, I am pretty much a shut-in these days. I no longer feel very comfortable going out anymore for any reason except work and the occasional snack run/game run. My self-esteem is really shaky these days so I often don't feel like wasting anyones time.

This brings me to today. I'm not going to get all mopey about being a a single guy on Valentine's Day (though I can't help but think about it sometimes). What does bug me is that everyone I know is busy with their special someone today. Even though being without a significant other isn't bothering me so much this year, it's just a little depressing that I don't even have a single buddy to have a beer with. Especially my band members... who claim I'm such an important part of their lives. After catching up with them, it seems that they barely spend time APART from their girls. I guess catching up with a "close" friend they haven't seen for years over a beer and keeping him company on a practically meaningless holiday isn't very important. But when the time comes for the live, they have no problem letting me back them up with a solid beat so they can soak up the limelight. Fuckin' hell. I'm contradicting my opinions on these guys all in one post. Pardon that.

Guess I'm on my own today. I guess I am complaining then. Iunno what I'm really talking about anymore. It's human nature to yearn for things you can't have right? I'll leave it at that for now.

Whatever you're doing today, it doesn't matter to me. Have a great weekend.




Toasted.

- enin -


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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Hell's Eve - Zero Eight

Ah. It seems it's time for my annual Halloween report. And as part of the tradition, I'm posting it where reports of years past stay. Here at MyOtaku.

This year, I created a new character named Dorian. He is a wind-up doll constructed by Mr. Grinn. After seeing the success that Jaden, the marionette, had last year, he felt another toy would've been a great idea to make people smile. Mr. Grinn created Dorian in his own image. He gave him a bowtie, a proper jacket and hair as dark as the night. His face wasn't perfect though. His looks were brittle and cracking away from the edges. Despite this flaw, Dorian managed to keep smiling. The final piece, a large, silver key was then inserted into his back. Mr. Grinn pointed him in the direction of Halloween Town, wound him up and set him free.

My Halloween begins not on the 31st, but weeks before. I had decided on dressing up as a wind-up doll but I lacked a plan on how to pull it off. As a nut job who takes Halloween very seriously, I wasn't going to restrict my costume with just a plain old key sticking out of my back, like those stupid shitty ones where a big felt key just hangs off. I wanted it to be functional and interactive. I wanted to become this toy. So I drew up a plan and went shopping.

My father has a close friend at Home Hardware so I used that connection to my advantage and did most of my shopping there. I probably spent a good three hours walking back and forth in the store, trying to come up with a working idea. I wasn't prepared to make the key rotate on it's own or play music (but that would've been gnarly), so I felt I would be satisfied if it simply turned and made a clicking noise. I ended up opening packages and creating an alpha version of what would eventually be my key base. I used a piping cover and big-to-small piece of pipe, a paint mixer, a few washers, a nut, a huge screw and several pieces of tupperware, broken up into pieces.

It didn't take long before I finally assembled a functioning base, using the paint mixer to click-clack against the tupperware pieces secured around the walls of the inside of the tube. The paint mixer itself was put in place by the washers and smaller pieces of pipe. Now that I had the base, I needed to create a key. That's where my carpentry skill came in.

I bought a wood pole which had a diameter of 1 3/8". I cut it to a height of about 2 feet, give or take and drilled a hole that fit the handle of the paint mixer perfectly and then hammered it on. This bit acted as the "shank" of the key. Once the wood pole was in place, I needed to put the "bow" (the part you hold to turn a key) in place. I had originally wanted to carve the bow myself out of a sheet of pine, because it's a strong yet light wood, but I was running out of time. Instead, I found a precut piece of pine, used to decorate... well, something. It looked a little elaborate but I thought it was fitting since my wind-up doll had vintage qualities about him.

I took the piece of wood home and carved into the shank with my Dremmel to put the bow in place. I also secured the bow with some piping reinforcements so that it didn't slip off. It kinda of gave it a bit of a steampunk look too. With the key nearing completion, I had only to figure out a way to secure the key to my back. My father suggested using a piece of board to level it out on my back and using a bungee cord to strap it around me. Last year, I had a belt strapped around my chest to keep my puppet control in place so I wasn't afraid to get a little kinky this year. *laughs* The bungee cords I found weren't long enough to go around my chest in a criss-cross pattern like I had intended it to, but it worked in my favour regardless. I attached two cords on each side of the board holding the key and wore it like a backpack. After putting everything together, I gave the entire thing a quick coat of paint. With my key complete, I only needed to choose what to wear with it.

I remembered last year in the summer, during a bout of boredom, I put on an old jacket I found at a thrift store and danced around on video, making my first attempts at animation dance. I felt it was appropriate for my monochromed character so I added it to my costume. This jacket is a bit long and styled similar to a tuxedo. The only catch is that it's a woman's jacket, as it has a pleated skirt-looking part on the back. This didn't bother me considering my destination for Halloween. I cut four holes into the jacket and a white shirt I was going to wear underneath to pass the bungee cords through. With some black pants, black shoes, a bowtie and a different hairstyle, my costume was finally complete.



October 31st, 2008 - Halloween

I woke up around noon, jumping with excitement for the night ahead. It was a beautiful sunny day and the evening was going to be nice and mild, perfect for Trick-or-Treaters and everyone else going out that night. The plan was to wait for my cousin to arrive so that he, Lil Sis and I would travel downtown together, then eat, then head straight to Church Street. Cuz told us he'd be at our house by 4:30, which gave us a good amount of time to prepare before sundown. I had some soup so I wouldn't be starving by the time dinner came around. I'd hate to walk around on a full stomach.

When playing Mr. Grinn or even last years Jaden, my hair was straight. This year, to change it up, I wanted it wavy. There was no way I'd use a curling iron on myself since I've never used the damn thing. Instead, I asked mum, the only person in the house who used it. So there I was, sitting in the washroom while mum curled my hair. I wasn't planning to have it totally curly. I just wanted enough volume so that I could mangle it up into a big mess. Despite the curling and hairspray, my hair straightened back out during the night. It probably knew where I was going and needed to assure me it was "straight". *laughs*

My hair was done... All I needed to do was put on my shirt, jacket and key and a bit of black face paint around my mouth and jaw to darken the bit under the mask. Preparations weren't finished though. I had to help Lil Sis with her costume. This year, Lil Sis dressed up as a zombie again. She's a huge fan of zombies, zombie subculture and zombie byproducts. She's met George Romero, she goes to horror film festivals and takes part in the annual Zombie Walk. So seeing her as a zombie isn't much of a surprise. But with most zombies, it's always more memorable if that zombie had a character, persona or even a job before it "turned". I gave Lil Sis the idea of a Schoolgirl Zombie and so she modelled her look after Japanese high-school uniforms (pleated skirt, white shirt, neckbow...thing, sweater, socks, colourful accessories and pigtails). She gathered her costume bits and dressed up. Lil Sis looked fun as a schoolgirl... but she needed to die then come back to life. That's where I came in.

I first started tearing holes into her clothing and ripping pieces off here and there. This was a guide for where I was to splash blood. After modding her clothes, I started her makeup. As a child, I had originally wanted to do some work in the visual effects industry for film and whatnot, but it never came through. I do, however, have a collection of visual effects makeup, including woochies and oil based paint that blends oh so well. I began on Lil Sis with a base of pale colour, then added some darks spots to indicate decay, reds and purples for bruising, and yellows and reds for infection/wound markers. Time was running short, so I rushed a little when doing her wounds. After completing her makeup, it was time for the fun part. We went outside so I could paint blood on her wound, on her clothes and then eventually just take a dollop and swipe at her. A neighbour was passing by and thought it was a pretty amusing scene. Lil Sis splashed a little blood on her hand prop and filled up a small bottle with extra blood for a bloody drooling effect later in the night, then she was good to go.

Cuz finally arrived and by then, I had suited up. He was dressing up as Jack Sparrow simply because he wanted to. I'll refer to him as Jack from now on. It was pretty fun watching him try to put his costume on. The belts were giving him a helluva hard time and he didn't know how to put on the bandana with dreadlocks on properly. I could've given him a hand, but my key was already in place so my movements in the room were somewhat restricted.

When it was finally time to leave, Jack realized he needed a sword. We decided to take a short walk to the nearby dollar store to see if they had anything there. We grabbed out essentials and walked out the door. On our way to the store, we experienced a pretty scary moment. It was Halloween and all, but we weren't expecting anything like it.

The 3 of us were walking down the sidewalk in a row. Ahead of us, a man was approaching. We didn't break formation until he was about 20 metres away. As we were just about to pass, the man grabbed Jack by the shirt and started cursing, saying things like "Don't f*ck with me!", "I'm not gonna take sh*t from you!" and "I'm gonna f*cking kill a *****!". It was clear the man was suffering from mental issues and it was possible that he was armed with a weapon. Even if he wasn't he was a danger. What I think happened was that he felt territorial and when he saw the three of us walking, he felt threatened. Jack made the smart move of not doing anything and waiting for him to walk away. If anything went down, Lil Sis and I wouldn't have run. Despite being limited in my movements, I would've done what I could. Lil Sis said she'd do the same and even admitted to clenching her fist while he yammered on in preparation for an encounter. After running his mouth for a minute or so, he walked off muttering to himself. We turned to each other and just as we were about to say "WTF?", the man return and grabbed JAck by the shirt again to mouth off some more. It was now obvious the man had a mental issue because Jack coughed directly on his face and the man didn't notice. He let go and walked off for good. Jack fixed himself up and we had a short laugh about how ridiculous that was. Jack then turned to Lil Sis and I and asked "Why me?". I told him "Well.. Jess (Lil Sis) is a schoolgirl and I look pretty feminine right now... So he targeted the biggest threat." *laughs*

We reached the store and Jack ran in to find that they didn't have any plastic swords... only foam ones. He bought one anyway. After leaving the store, we went to the bus stop and met a little boy who was fascinated by our costumes. He kept telling his mother to look at us, but Lil Sis' zombie schoolgirl costume might've been a bit too disturbing. The kid was so intent on making his mother look at us, by the end, he was just pointing and shouting gibberish. It was cute.

When the bus arrived, the three of us walked on and zoomed towards open seats. With the key sticking out of my back, it was impossible for me to lean back to I sat sideways, with the key in the place of an empty seat. Jack and Lil Sis sat behind me but on elevated seats so it was hard for me to just turn and look at them, let alone talk with them. There was a guy standing in front of me so I was blocked from view. And so the fun began.

As people got on the bus through the front door, they would see a pirate and a zombie school girl first. It was only when when passed the guy in front of me did they see a still toy, hunched over and swaying with the braking and accelerating of the bus. My costume had a strong effect on one person in particular. She was a young Korean girl, who looked nearly identical to my other Lil Sis here on TheO, Pomegranate. As she walked on the bus, she started heading towards some empty seats at the back of the bus. She took notice of Jack and Lil Sis and seemed a little creeped out, but kept moving. It was when she saw me she made a complete 180 and sat near the front. As we travelled, I noticed her frequently looking back at me, waiting to see if I moved. I was tempted to give her a scare as she got off at her stop, but the bus was rather crowded and if I moved, I would've hit someone.

After reaching the station, we took the subway to Chinatown for something to eat. We all agreed to have dim sum, even though we enjoy it more as a brunch meal. As we walked into the restaurant, the guy at the front desk was fiddling with his phone. It seemed they weren't busy tonight. We peered in and saw maybe 4 tables of 60 filled. When we approached the desk, he looked up at our faces and jumped back. After a good hearty laugh, he showed us to our table. I removed my mask, Lil Sis put down her severed hand and Jack took off his bandana. We placed the items in the middle of the table, hoping something magical would occur. Nothing happened. So we removed our items and made way for our orders. As much as I love dim sum, I didn't want to fill up tonight or eat anything saucy to mess up my facepaint or white shirt. With that said, curry squid, chicken feet, steamed rice rolls with shrimp and bean curd rolls were out of the question. I stuck to eating about 18 har gow (shrimp dumplings) while the other two ate sticky rice, beef ribs, fried wonton. In the middle of the meal, we toasted with our teacups, "To an awesome f*ckin' Halloween. Cheers!" After the meal, we fixed ourselves up and our journey began.

We walked east, towards Church Street and Wellesley where the block party was being held. Here's a bit of info on that:

Every year, they close down the streets to allow people in costumes to roam around and have fun. It's become a rather popular tourist attraction so every year it seem to get bigger and bigger. This is the second year the Halloweek events have taken place. Halloweek is essentially a week long Halloween celebration with different events all leading up to the block party on Halloween night. Oh, and it's all run by the gay district of the city. Church and Wellesley is in fact, Gay Town AKA The Village. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them. In fact, I'm quite pleased with them since they throw the biggest fuckin' Halloween party in the country. In years past, we've had thousands on the street and as the events become more and more popular, they get more sponsors which in turn makes it a truly unmissable party. With this year's Halloween on a Friday, they were expecting high numbers, so the roads were to be closed until 2:30am, the stage for performances and the costume competition was doubled in size and extra blocks were closed off. This year was going to be big.

Before reaching the block party, a man with a video camera filming the sight and sounds of T.O. caught us and asked if it was alright to film us. I put on a toy show, while Lil Sis snarled and Jack pranced. It was nothing compared to what we were going to experience later.

We finally hit the street. It was nearing 8:30pm and it was PACKED. Costumes, costumes, costumes were practically infesting the streets, dwarfed only by the number of cameras taking pictures. It was a beautiful sight. Speaking of sights, most the photos that you'll see at the end of the post were taken by Lil Sis, which was appropriate considering she was a Japanese Schoolgirl before becoming undead.

As soon as my foot stepped off the sidewalk, I became Dorian. I rigidly walk around, stopping periodically so people could grab a snapshot and/or wind me back up. Jack would trail behind me as my guide, holding on to my key in crowded spots so it wouldn't hit anyone and winding me up if nobody around understood how I worked. I gave Lil Sis the mission of "taking pictures of as many fuckin' awesome costumes you can find." As you'll see in a bit, she did quite well.

My sights were set on entering the costume competition so I wandered until someone with a cart full of skulls on a stick stopped me and said "Great costume! Take this and bring it to the stage when the competition starts." He handed one to Jack as well, which was convenient considering the stage area was very crowded and I would've knocked up some faces.

Jack and I roamed around until the competition started, frequently meeting up with Lil Sis who kept squealing at the fact that many people were taking pictures of her as well. It put a good feeling in me since her face was my work. *laughs* She also had fun taking pictures of people taking pictures with me., or as she puts it, she became a part of the crowd.

Before hitting up the stage, I met with three classmates from school. Two of them are a couple so they dressed up as green and red grapes. The other, a rocker and skull fanatic dressed up as a ghoul with one badass wooden sceptre he found at a local store. It was more than appropriate for him.I chatted with them for as long as I could while staying in character. Eventually, the costume competition began so we parted.

While Lil Sis stayed in the crowd to take pics, Jack and I headed backstage to get in line for the presentation of the initial costumes. Some were unworthy of their skull on a stick... Others made me feel insignificant due to the effort put into their costumes. And the rest were typically gay. Y'know. Crossdressing and whatnot.

As Jack and I were about to step on stage, someone asked what we should be introduced as. I told him Dorian and Jack. My name was called seconds later. I walked on stage to break down in the centre while Jack came running in behind me. I swung around and knocked him down with my key, as part of our last minute improv. He got back up, wound up my key and we walked off stage. I felt disappointed because the crowds response wasn't a big as I had hoped it would be.

When we walked off stage, we met a Joker with two of his friends. I assumed he was a drama student or at least an art student of sorts since he was in character as well. If not, then it's a waste of good talent. He wound up my key and started a cackle. Basing his voice of the late Heath Ledger's take on the Joker, he said "You amuse me to no end. I could use something like you." We chatted a bit while watching the other costumes walk off stage. Our conversation was interrupted by the crowd screaming with delight at a certain costume. I turned to Jack and said "I think I know who won..."

Some organizers told us to move to the back lot and wait to see if our names are called. I paced back and forth waiting to hear "Dorian". I didn't hear my name, but others somehow did. Other competitors were motioning to me to return to the stage as part of the final 20. I knew I lost, but it felt awesome being up there again. I had another look at the finalists and they definitely were worthy. My favourite had to be Medusa and the Stone Warrior. I could try to describe them, but it's best if you see the costumes for yourself.

As the hosts went down the line saying each contestants name and gauging them based on the applause, I stood still and psyched up for one last mechanical dance. The host pointed towards me but never said my name. Instead she said Jack. What surprised me was that nearby, a Captain Sparrow stood, but he was not my cousin. Someone snuck onstage and stole our spotlight. My name was never properly mentioned so I received no applause. I didn't even move. It felt like I was just tossed into a bin.

It was heartbreaking. This is the only day of the year I knew I would feel some love and I got completely shut out. When they announced the 3 winners, I walked off stage and sat down. Jack and I chatted about how we got f*cked over and laughed it off. Despite feeling disappointed, I encouraged myself into performing for the rest of the night, regardless of whether or not I won anything. So that's exactly what I did.

For hours into the night, I walked about, with Jack trailing behind me and Lil Sis zipping back and forth taking snaps of great costumes. When I stopped, I could see people lining up in front of me to take photos. It would take awhile before anyone figured out my key was turnable and that I'd only move if they wound me up, but when they did, I could hear laugh of joy and amazement surround me. People would yell at each other to not turn the key yet so they could take their photo beside me. Before I knew it, I had crowds following me.

It wasn't long before I completely forgot about the competition. Onlookers would chant "Wind him up! Wind him up!" from afar and those nearby would cautiously approach me to turn the key. As soon as I heard three turns, I'd activate. I would turn around to face the one who gave me life again, do a mechanical bow and be on my way.

The old ones would comment on my energy. The young ones would express delight in seeing a big toy. The straight ones would say how creepy I am. The gay ones would call me gorgeous and touch my bottom. The gangsta ones would yell "Ohhhh shiiit! Mad poppin' skills, yo!". The Asian ones would gasp loudly and giggle furiously while taking pictures with me. No matter who they were, I saw smiles on their faces. Smiles were everywhere. I did it, Mr. Grinn. I did it.

Seeing all those happy faces really picked me up. This was the reason I love Halloween. And just when I thought I couldn't feel any better, I found myself completely surrounded. Creating a circle around me, a crowd gathered. So large that I saw hands with cameras shoot up from the back of the lines, indicating that there was no way in or out.

Unfazed by the the growing numbers, I continued to perform. I stopped for a photo op and Jack wound me up. As he turned the key, he said into my ear, "You can't really go anywhere right now... Just dance." So I did. Whenever I was wound up, I moved erratically and showed off what I learned from watching animation dance videos. During my show, I heard something that melted my heart.

"You've got the best costume tonight!"

"You have the best costume EVER!"

And after that, a roar of applause and cheers. I swiveled my head and saw hundreds of smiles, hands clapping and even more cameras going off. My night was complete. I bowed repeatedly to the crowd and then continued to perform until the end of our night.

Before leaving the block party, I met up with my classmate who dressed up as a ghoul and another classmate who came later in the night who dressed up at the Joker. The three of us are close friends and also drummers. We three also share a great love for Halloween. It was an pretty unforgettable moment for us three meeting there. Ghoul told me he was doing a show in a couple of weeks and invited me to see him perform. Joker's birthday party is set to be the day before Ghoul's show, so we all planned to meet up again.

After saying goodbye to my classmates, Jack, Lil Sis and I admitted to being extremely tired and somewhat dehydrated. I phone home and asked my father to order some Chinese food for us because by the time we made it home, the kitchen would've closed. After confirming the food was going to be there when we got back, we walked around a little more to take some snaps of a few more costumes before heading home.

We left the street by 1:30 am, an hour before they reopened it. The buses were crowded as hell because the subway had closed for the night. We took a cab home and I sat behind the driver facing the window with my key in the middle. We said very little on the way home because we were so tired. We had an idea of what we were thinking anyway.

The moment we made it home, we took off our costumes and quickly washed off what needed to be washed off. Jack prepared the dinner table, while Lil Sis scrubbed off the blood and gore. I washed my face quickly and went to my room to stretch and lie down for a few moments. When it was time to eat (Close to 2:30 am) I set up my Macbook Pro and uploaded the pics to so Lil Sis could show Jack and I what we missed.

We talked about the little things that happened during the night. About how Lil Sis was stalked by a man who took dozens of pictures of her. About the a homosexual man tried to pick up Jack (and got denied). About the dozens and DOZENS of beautiful girls who surrounded me for pictures and how I was helpless to do anything about it since I was in characters and even if I weren't, they probably thought I was gay anyway. We watched a slideshow of the photos before cleaning up the table and passing out in our beds.

That's the end. What can I say? It was certainly a memorable night. There were ups and downs but overall, it was an absolute fuckin' blast. Big thanks to Lil Sis for taking such awesome photos and Jack for keeping an eye on me the whole night.

And now... A TONNE OF PICS!

Meet the cast!


Our trusty navigator and quick on his feet... as Captain Jack Sparrow, it's my cousin!!


Our little dead photographer, always hungry for a good snap or brains & flesh... as Zombie Schoolgirl, Lil Sis!


Everyone's new favourite toy... As Dorian the Wind-up Doll, it's Enin!


Here's what we saw:



The Lipstick Pumpkin
We're close. It's beginning...


Zombie Couple
I really like their poses. Lil Sis must've been excited to see her fellow dead.


Freddie & Zombie Warhol?
I'm only making a guess at who the other guy is. I really have no clue. Close to Warhol though, right?


Invisible Man
He's holding the skull on a stick, the prerequisite to entering the costume contest.


Batman & Villians
Riddler, Catwoman, Mad Hatter and Poison Ivy. Cool crew!


Asian Doctor
He was actually a part of the Batman group. Lil Sis took his pic anyway.


Zombie Schoolgirl & Panda
I imagine this to be a twisted remake of Xiaoyu and Panda from Tekken. It'd be pretty sweet to have a zombie version of Tekken peeps.


Potpourri of Costumes
You've got some Asian garbs, a bit of Egyptian and Roman clothing and a drugged up hippy. Hooray!


Nurse Joker
The red smile paint is a bit big, but a fun take nonetheless... The look on the lady's face behind him is priceless!


Red Shirt Joker
Make up looks alright... The jacket looks a bit big..


Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way..." I'll believe that..


What the f--
A duck thing... and an orange... thing. God help us...


Leprechaun
Looks like someone ate the pot of gold...


Ostrich Rider
Poor bird...


Long Coat Classic joker
Ah.. An attempt to NOT portray Heath's Joker.. Could use a bit more smile but great job!


Dead Couple
Love lasts forever..


Man-Leia
Yes.. It's a dude.. A tall, slender dude. Despite covering up his adam's apple, the muscular legs give it away.


Hero Trio
The outfits are neat. The Green Lantern one is pretty sweet.


Classic Joker, Harley and Ivy
The Batman fans were out in numbers!


Harry Potter & Dumbledore
Sure, Dumbledore is a homosexual... But Harry?! .....yeah. Seemed pretty likely to me too. Seems Asian Potter's got some "Blue Steel" action there.


Dorian and ladies
Cuuute... The one on the left seems to be forcing her smile... Afraid, maybe? Haha!


Klingons
That's Lil Sis' severed hand they've got. Get your own flesh!


Bat-Girl.... man
Another cross-dressing superhero. Even if his face was less masculine, there's a bit that gives the guy away. *laughs*


Dorian fans
When my crank stopped, it was a perfect opportunity for picture taking. Then someone would wind me up again and off I went.


Hamster & White Tiger
A cute couple. Clever enough to wear a warm costume since it got pretty chilly later in the night.


Snow White & A Ladybug
Adorable little babies! I love the look on Snow White's face. She seems rather concerned about something.


Pirate
I can't tell if he's any pirate in particular. I do like his rapier though.


Dorian, A Ghoul and Grapes
These are the classmates from school The grapes are a couple and the ghoul behind is a fellow drummer. His skull sceptre is brilliant. Green grapes is plastered, by the way. He was yelling "Onegai shimasu!" at Lil Sis (behind the camera) because of her schoolgirl outfit.


Guy Fawkes & Cute Witch
Aw...


Marilyn Monroe & "Babe Ruth"
Met these two backstage. I think I can guess where your line of sight just focused on... Don't worry.. I did too.


Japanese Maid
Ah, a visitor from Japan. A little obvious, isn't it? She really liked Zombie Schoolgirl's outfit.


Magician & Rabbit
Uh-oh... Someone looks like they want a "big carrot"... Or should I say "Magic... Wand"? *Dr. Evil smirk*


Zombie Surgeon
If this is the doctor, I'd hate to be the patient.


Bumblefly
A happy little baby waving to her admirers atop her proud father's shoulders.


Pirates
These buccaneers seem to be distracted by a certain toy off camera.


Baby versus Dog
According to Lil Sis, the baby was trying to communicate with the pup. Cute moment.


Napoleon Bonaparte
This was a fun sight since I recently saw War & Peace, the opera. Great costume!


Dorian gets surrounded
Here I am looking around for a space to get through. I was surrounded by cameras.


Princess Aurora
I recognized this princess the second I saw the costume. Princess Aurora is from one of my Favourite Disney movies, Sleeping Beauty. Of course, this fella is rather homely compared to the original animated girl. Neat costume anyway!


Hack Heads
A funny couple with cleavers in their skulls. Great spirit!


Dorian & Out-of-town fans
Just a couple of visitors posing with the toy


Tin Soldier
She was apparently very still for awhile. I love it when they play the part.


The Captain
Is he in costume or...? Nevermind..


Jigsaw's Puppet
It's not Halloween anymore without something from Saw


Marilyn Manson
Here we have a Manson fan sporting the Mechanical Animals look. In case you can't tell, this is her real exposed flesh (face, neck, tummy, boobs and everything else), all painted up.


Cute Asian Trio
A Vampiress, A Witch and A Maid. Lovely, lovely.


Kermit
Waiting to go onstage..


Brass Pole Dancer
Yes. That's a whip and that's a brass pole. No, that's not her his real body. Thank goodness.


The Evil Queen
Of course, someone HAD to flaunt around in a costume like this... Snow White ain't got nothin' on her.. him...


Stone Warrior and Medusa
This duo was brilliant. Medusa had all these Snakes and the soldier was all painted up rock like. Better picture in a moment...


Frank the Bunny
I just love this shot. The lighting is superb. Donnie Darko fans should love it too.


The Stone Warrior & Medusa up close
Can you see the snakes now?


Van Gogh
THIS is what the crowd was voting for. He won first place and deserved it completely. His legs were hidden so all you saw was a floating frame with Van Gogh himself, brush strokes and all! Really awesome job.


Dorian with Top 20
On stage beside a dead groom and.... the pole dancer.... *shudder*


Pole Dancer
...oh...my... g--*puke*


Dorian & Bunny Fan
Ladies, ladies everywhere all come to play with me.


Little Fairy Princess
Dawwwwwwwww....


Rocky Horror
Magenta and everyone's favourite transvestite from transsexual Transylvania, Dr. Frank N Furter.


Mummy and King Tut
Sayin' hi the Egyptian way


Unicorn Baby
Fly away, little one. It isn't safe here...


Father & Son
This is a funny pic of a kid on his father's shoulders. The mask is neat but the father's pose is what gets me.


Dorian's Key
Turn it, muhfucka.


Happy Asian and Dorian
Someone's winding me up too..


The Pope
Are you lost, Your Holiness?


Dorian heads for pizza
...but not really.. Just getting his pic taken again..


Crying Dragon Tales Baby
It was my fault... *laughs* I'm mean, I know...


Jigsaw Puppet & Little Red
Sooo... How did you two meet?


Fighter Pilot
*machine gun sounds*


Silly Asian Group
I can't figure out what the guy on the right is...


Sayin' hi to Killers
Michael Myers, Leatherface, Ghostface... Pleasure to meet you!


A Clown and a Pimp
An adorable couple making the best of their years. Glad to see you join the festivities!


Corpse Couple
These girls are Filipinas. Quite happy-looking for dead-folk, eh?


Shabby Man
Is that really your ass?


Dorian & Jack
Taking a breather from the crowds


Getting wound up again
Don't just stand there! Help me, Jack!


Hugging Dorian
You might wanna get out of the way when he's wound up again


Sith chicks
I'm not sure who they are exactly, but the red lightsaber is a sign that they're probably bad.


The Toy Pose
May I wind you up too? Where's YOUR key?


Asian Cop
Servin' and protectin'


Chillin' with Dorian
Hey Miss Pirate Wench... Wanna play?


Look at the guy
"Why am I here?" he asks himself. "Why...?"


She-Joker
What drink is she holding?


Jedi
...that's Force...


Wayne & Garth
"You're like... amazing, dude."
"Thanks. I like to play."


Dorian & Zombie Schoolgirl
With a special appearance by Andy Serkis!


Dorian & Zombie Schoolgirl again
"Dorian told an adult's joke!"


Surrounded
That's my head in the centre of all the bloody flashes..


The King
Apparently, Elvis takes the TTC (public transit).


Peach & Luigi
I could say something dirty about the Princess.. But she get enough of a bad rap for f*ckin' with Mario..


Dead Hunter
Scopin' out the sights from pa's shoulders


The Devil & His Joker Son

They seem distracted


Dorian loves nice smiles
"Hiiii!"


Surrounded Again
Oh, Bunny. You so fine...


Bert & Ernie
This costume was cool, but it damaged my childhood.Bert had a "Just Married" sign behind him. Noooo!


Oompa Loompa
He totally got the pose down


Joker & Batgirl
Looks like someone got in a scuffle with Catwoman..


Gladiator
Reminds me of Xena... *laughs* XENO!


Dorian and another fan
Random fact: My face always has a neutral expression under the mask.


A bug?
Miss, you've got something on your head..


Rose & Zombie Schoolgirl
This costume is brilliant. Why? Remember Titanic? After Rose let Jack go as she froze on the floating plank and the search and rescue team came by and the only way to get their attention was with a whistle because her voice was shit? Now you know why.


Conjoined Heads
Cool mask... A little unsettling to look at, but cool.


Fabio Joker
Tall and long-haired.. Fabio, right? Hah


Ambiguously Gay Duo
...ehhh.. Not so ambiguous, guys..


Celebrity Zombie
Wherever you see zombies in Toronto, this guy is there. Lil Sis is a huge fan.


Old Man Time
Ah.. The horrors of old age..


The Wizard of Oz
L to R: Scarecrow, Glinda the Good Witch, Some balloon man, Dorothy, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. They've all received their gifts from the Wizard, but you can only see the Lion's.


Posing with Dorian
How they sneak under my arms, I still don't know..


Dirty Clown
There's a bone beside his... bone... UGH!


Crazy Zombie
Lil Sis says he was frantic... and quite insane..


Thicker Nurse Joker
The Harvey Dent sticker is a nice touch... Minus one point for not having a proper white shirt underneath.


Crazy zombie & Zombie Schoolgirl
Lil Sis gets in for a pose


Dorian waiting to go
"I have to peee....."


Ghostbuster
Unfortunately, I didn't very many ghosts... Seems there wasn't much to do for him then...


Big Joker
Your tie is a little small...


Leia & Han
Nerdy couple costumes always rock.. Stars Wars is super bonus plus!


Liza Minelli
...still kickin'



Animal Warriors
Erm.. Something about the Chinese Zodiac?


Dorian says Hi
Don't be afraid, miss... I'm just a toy..


Zombie Cop
There's a head wound.. That's means your brain is destroyed. You should be dead! INACCURACY!


Panda Girls
Wahhhh, so cute!


Strange Clown
Doo doo doodle doo doo doo doo doo doo!


The Crank
Wind to activate.


Richard Simmons' back
I'm a pony!


Super Flamboyant Lone Ranger & Tonto
Oh boy.. There goes a piece of television history.


Big Monkey Suit
Heh. Look at the two embrace behind him.


Steampunk Poison Ivy & Batman
These two made me really happy. I doubt very many people understood what they were, but it didn't take me more than a moment to realize they're spreading some steampunk love.


A Pig & A Horse
I love these masks..


Evil Clown
I'm surprised Lil Sis managed to take this pic considering she's deathly afraid of clowns, let alone scary ones..


Dorian & Gorgeous Girls
For one night, I was a lucky, lucky toy...


Lady Flasher
Oh, my innocent eyes!


Dorian & Jack
Taking a break from performing..


I see two more Jokers
Can you?


Spiderman
His suit was awesome! The best I've seen in Toronto.


Big Creepy Face Man
Lil sis ran up to him and asked for a picture of his face. Afterwards, my cousin said "What if that was his real face?" Lil Sis then got pretty embarrassed. Fortunately, after inspecting the photo, we've come to the conclusion that it is indeed a prosthetic. Well done!


Riding Frankenstein's Monster
For a piggy back, she's still fairly low to the ground.. Haha


Kayako
The girl from Ju-on (AKA The Grudge). I think she's kind of cute.


Silly Crossdressers
They always know how to have fun


Jacketless Joker
Could've done more work on something OTHER than the makeup.


Chinese Opera Singer
He looks so evil! *laughs*


Alice & Proper Devil
Hey, it's Alice from the Resident Evil films. I dig accuracy. They were both very friendly folks. The Devil called out Lil Sis as a zombie and told Alice to kill her. It was a fun moment.


Devil's Amusement
He seemed quite blown away by the crank..


Alice
Close up of Alice and her gear


Fireman Zombie & Alice
A nearby zombie makes his attack, but she's one step ahead..


Bloody Kid
I swear, I recognize him from a film or something... Anyway, he played his part quite well... Mimicking me as if I was completely new in his world. Kinda creepy too..


Amused Asian Maid
That's such a cute smile!


Ghengis Khan
...or if not, just a Mongolian archer. I'm so getting this outfit for my father. His facial hair is perfect!


Red Riding Hood, Jester and Gypsy with Dorian
Yes, I'm real... But please.. Keep touching..


The Devil
Whut up, Satan?


Leatherface
...with a camera for those kodak moments.


Darth Vader
WITH A BLUE LIGHTSABER?! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!


Winding up
Ready? GO!


Samurai
..with anachronistic eyewear!


Buzz Lightyear
Aww.. Little one.. I'm child's plaything too...


The Flasher
That's a woman with a big, long fake dong. 'Nuff said... *laughs*


Bunny Angel Thing with Dorian
They have to be clubbers.. They're the only ones who'll throw on silly accessories and call it a costume.


Bunny winds up
I was resting, y'know...


Former Classmates
There are two classmates of mine in this photo. Both are into Halloween as much as I am. Can you guess who they are?


Drummers Unite
Dorian the Doll, A Ghoul and The Joker. Superb!


Captain Jack & Davy Jones
My cousin messing around with his nemesis...


Little Britain's Bubbles Devere and Vicky Pollard
I broke character and totally cracked when I saw these two. I love Little Britain!


Call me Bubbles, Darling!
It's not Bubbles until you see it all! *laughs* Champagne! Champagne for everyone!


Crazy-Ass Doraemon
Doraemon.. What happened?


Just a Crazy Ass
Not a clue what this was... He must've been blitzed out of his skull...


Miserable Crossdresser and DRACULA
I recognize Drac from last year. The queen looks a bit sad, don't ya think?


Smokin' Joker
He's a midnight toker.


Man Chun Li
Man-li? Chun-lo? *shrugs* Nice work on the costume though! *laughs*



The Penguin
Ah, Cobblepot.. It's a pleasure to meetcha. And who's your feline friend?


The Bondage Pimp
He... Umm.. I don't even know..


Dr. Zoidberg
Woop woop woop woop woop woop!!!


Rebel Fighter Pilot
Aww, you totally need your helmet!


Shaun of the Dead
Jigsaw's Puppet got some red on him..


Bird Lady?
Creepy muhfucka...


Zombie Schoolgirl & Pinocchio
He's a real boy!


President Obama & Man-Palin
That's not a mask. He really does look like the new president elect. Congrats, Barack!


Angel & Devil
Heaven & Hell.. but mostly Hell...


Hellboy
Speaking of Hell, look at the handmade stone arm. Brilliant!


Sailor Moon
...never running from a real fight...


Dr. Horrible!
w/ Freeze Ray


High fivin' a Smurf
She was cute and high.. Juuust like the cartoon characters..


Skull Punk
There's something incredibly badass about some that'll eff you up and is already dead.


Mr. Bean
I find it sad that few people knew who he was. Lil sis got it the moment she saw him. And all was well!


Lara Croft
..minus the guns. Just stand there and look cute. No one will attack you.


Fish
A fish, a fish, a fish... Oh!


Super Tool
Ah! I get it!





Now... What did you see a lot of? Well, the three of us were on the look out that night and even made a bet. Closest number without going over. Price is Right styles. Jack bet we'd see 7. Lil Sis said 12. I said 19. The grand total by the end of the night? FORTY-EIGHT. That's right. 48. Can you believe that?

48 What? Well... It was destined to be this years costume. And we've got shot of quite a few... Behold! JOKER WATCH 2008!


Why so many?!

*laughs*

By the way... the three of us agreed that my drummer friend/classmate was one of the top Heath Ledger inspired Jokers. His makeup was pretty well done and his hair wasn't neon green. He's a Batman fanboy too, so it served him well.



Hmm.. It seems that's it. Did you make it through the entire post? If you did, thanks. It means a lot to me. If not, then that's okay. I know. It's a lot.. But Halloween is my favourite day and I won't take any shortcuts when recording it for memory. This year was insanely fun and I'm glad it turned out as well as it did. Next year, Halloween is on a Saturday, so it'll be just as crazy. I've already got some ideas... As crazy as it sounds, I might just be able to top this year..

Well.. It's time to retire Dorian to the toybox. He might make an appearance again some time.. Who knows?





Play nicely.





- enin -


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Friday, March 21, 2008

The End of a Chapter
Well. I graduated.

The ceremony went quite well. The portfolio review went better than I expected. I gave away digital copy of my portfolio on cd, wrapped in an origami case, as well as a teacup with my logo on it. People seemed to like that. Yeah, it was great fun.

Although I'm thrilled to finally move on into a new stage of life, I can't deny that I'm feeling a huge empty sadness.

My class was (and will always be) the biggest graduating class in art institute of T.O. history. Despite the numbers, they were still a lot smaller than any other college/university. With that said, over the past 18 months with them, we bonded, to the point of knowing every single little quirk of everyone in class.

We said we'd keep in touch and I know some of us will. For awhile at least. Something in me fears losing these guys forever.

We are a platoon. We each had specific specialties for graphic design. I know if I see a mission for one of them, I'm sending it their way. It'll be one way I can stay in touch. Otherwise, I'll just call them out for drink or whatnot.

It still hasn't hit me. The "school" portion of my life is over now. I making my transition into the workforce. Into "official adulthood". I used quotation marks because if it requires maturity, I'm nowhere near my goal yet. *laughs* But seriously. Unless I attempt a degree (which I WON'T do), I don't have to go to school again.

I acquired a few leads last night at the portfolio review, but I still need to really push myself to find other place to get some work. Mr. West acts as sort of an inspiration since he's more of less just a few steps ahead of me career-wise. When I see an opportunity, not only will I seize it, I'll sink every ship of the competition in the vicinity. *laughs* Okay.. Maybe those words are a bit extreme but you get me...



Well.. The new Worlds dealy from Version Vibrant seems pretty cool. Of course there are bugs to work out and whatnot, but it's lookin' good. I created some worlds just to save me a spot. I haven't done anything there yet and I don't know when I will. I don't know if I'll be posting here anymore either. Version V is all sleek and stuff but MyO is my deal. This is where I evolved from an 18 year old fool to... well, a 21 year old fool. And this is where I met another platoon. The anime subdivision. There's no way I'm ditching MyO forever.

I'll make this an unofficial goodbye. Who knows when I'll come back. It's a new chapter from here. I'll tell you how the story goes when the time comes. You all know how to get to me online so say hi now and then.

In the meantime, think of me when you drink of tea.



Toasted.

- Joshua -



P.S. I made a promise to myself. I set another goal to accomplish as soon as I graduate. I think it fits with the big life event theme.

I'm totally confessing to Leona.


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Thursday, February 7, 2008

I play the jester
It's a bittersweet night. Erm.. Morning, I should say. It's currently 3:41 AM and this is the second time I'm writing up this post. I was writing it in Word, but the bastard program quit on me and autorecovered one half of the first fucking paragraph. I also tore a little hole to the left of my tongue while eating a super crispy french fry. Honestly, how the fuck does that happen? It only hurts when I touch it with my tongue.. Otherwise, it gives off a constant weird throbbing.

So, you'll notice that I'm going to whine a lot in this post. The best part is that these issues aren't anything big. They're just a collection of little problems, building up a Megazord of sorts, bringing me down. It's all in my head, I say. Allll in my head.

Since I'm putting classes in top priority, I'll start with that. Like I mentioned the other day, I had a list of things to do. I've started on most of them, including a number of the illustrations I wish to put in my portfolio. I also have a marketing project that I really need to advance. It's basically an assignment where we get to make up any product or service, then use our marketing skills to promote it. When I say "anything", I bloody mean ANYTHING. I have classmates who've made up time traveling devices, education VR helmets, and even a cell phone that stores "physical stuff". Don't ask me how that works. Anyway, since Molly asked, my invention is a dream recorder. I thought it'd be really sweet to have something like that because oftentimes, drams are lost the second we wake up. Only the memory of enjoying that dream remains with us. I have a lot of other promo ideas for it, but I'll keep it. So yeah. I have to so some preliminary sketches soon.

As for creating my resume, I... haven't exactly started that yet. I'm getting advice and help from all directions. I just need to pick what's right for me. I also need to make sure my contacts are updated. That means I have to speak to my former boss and computer arts teacher sometime very soon. I also need to return his CD case full of at least 100 music albums. I've been holding on to it for over two years now. I hope he didn't go out and buy replacements.. I have a feeling he did. I felt like such a dick. I'm sure he'd be pissed about it so I'm going to think up something to make up for the "borrowing". I also need to invite him, my other boss, and the marketing girl I worked with to my graduation. I hope they can come. They're the people who got me into graphic design in the first place. I have a career to look forward to because of them. So yes, I must work on that.

Now for the illustrations I plan on adding to my portfolio, I've been using a lot of brush and ink. It's very fun to experiment with especially since you get such awesome textures normally unachievable in Photoshop and the like. I might be putting a few non-portfolio pieces up on dA soon. Perhaps with some colouring too. Portfolio first though.

Aww fuck. I still need a Wacom tablet. I've been doing so much conventional illustration, I keep forgetting to look into buying a new tablet for digital work. Okay... Gotta check the stores tomorrow then.

On a completely different topic, I'm gettin way way wayyyy into pop n' locking now. Well, specifically popping. And to be even more specific than that, Japanese popping. Crews like U-Min and Egu-Splosion are my fucking heroes. They've got some amazing routine up on YouTube, so you may go check them if you like. I wish I discovered them before Halloween, so I could've used a few moves while walking the street of Toronto dressed as a marionette. After watching their videos multiple times, I think I'm getting the hang of a few basics. And I definitely know what I'm gonna be next Halloween. And it's on a Friday this year! I'm going all out and all night this time.

Hmm... It's 5:10 AM now. I shouldn't have been sneaking in drawings time while doing this post. I'll never get through it!


I suppose I'll get most of my whining over with. Loyal readers might have already guessed this has to do with none other than Ms. Leona of the convenience store down the road. At this very moment, my prediction with regards to anything unfolding with said girl is jack shit. I am going absolutely nowhere with it and I doubt I ever will.

The most recent happening brought me down a few notches. If I weren't so negative, it wouldn't have but it did. This happened last night actually. It's snowing like hell outside so I'm all covered up. Scarf over my face, sunglasses protecting my eyes from the winds and coat all buttoned up. I walked in and tugged my scarf down and glasses up. Leona was busy with two customers in the line. I went and grabbed my drink (Lipton Green Tea with Citrus.. GREAT alternative to Arizonas) and headed back to the cashier.

The first girl was on her way out bundling up. "Have a goodnight, Jennifer!" Leona said as she stepped out. The second girl in line (ahead of me) asked Leona if she knew all her customers names. She said that she tries to remember as many names and faces as she can. So second girl prepares to face the cold outside as Leona greets me with a "Hi, Josh. How are you?" The girl turned around and said "This is ridiculous! Alright, my name is Olivia" Leona introduced herself, they shook hands and the girl was off.

I managed to break my usual goofy smile and actually ask "So you remember a lot of names?". She smiled and said "Yeah... A lot."

She wished me a goodnight and I did the same as I geared up to walk a block to my house. At this point the sky was nearly black and it snowed as if the heavens were emptying. So what's wrong with what happened? Remember, at that moment, I was surrounded by darkness, cold, and a thick gloom. So naturally, I had negative (yet absurd) thoughts. Leona knows a lot of names and matching them with just as many faces. Nothing wrong there, right? Well... I kinda don't feel special anymore. I know, I know, it's dumb.. But that's just how it hit me. I thought the fact that she greeted me and wished me off every time by name was really cool. Maybe we developed a neat little friendship there. But when I thought about it, she probably does that to all the regulars. I'm no doubting our possible friendship, but I'm just sayin'. She's nice to everyone and I'm probably just another customer.

Ugh.. As stupid as it sounds, I feel like I'm being lead on. And I hate that feeling. It's happened many times before. My mood started to really dip as I thought upon the subject. I always screw up somehow. It's usually a mix of my inability to make a fucking move, and this cursed imagination. Girls I've been into in the past who returned no such feelings usually ended it quite abruptly with the "nice guy" cliché. Girls who I were more or less into AND liked me back eventually got bored of me because I didn't do anything. Hesitation strikes again. And then there's the category of girls who I never liked initially, but liked me for whatever reason, then after getting shut down by me, they mutated into unbelievably good-looking girls. They've all got boyfriends now so even if I wanted to give it a shot, my effort would be in vain.

If anything, I think I'm the perfect "Pre-Boyfriend". I'm the guy who gets involved for a bit, then fucks it up completely, making the next guy so much more enjoyable. I'm like the transparent layer of primer one adds before applying the beautiful coat of paint. Can't have awesome without the suck, right?

So back to Leona... I'm tempted to just give the situation a big "fuck you" and abandon it... But to be honest, I don't think I'll have opportunity like this for a looong time. It's not like high school where I interact with a number of different circles, which in turn gives me chances to meet new people. Not anymore. I'm finishing a graphic design program in a private school with few students and no time to do anything else. It's not like I can start chit-chat with just anyone I meet. I can't do that... That's why I feel 'loyal', for lack of a better word, to Leona, despite feeling really negative about the sitch.

It would be so much easier if I could actually perform the scenarios in my head. They're so simple. For example, regardless how my day went, I could tell Leona that I've been having a bad day. I'll describe minor things that would normally bring me down. After she responds, I could throw in something along the lines of "Well.. It doesn't matter now that I've come to see you." See? Simple.. It hints at attraction and isn't all up in her face. But noooo. I can't do that. Even after countless, mind-numbing pep talks I give to myself from the bustop to her store, it doesn't happen. Fuck this imagination. The moment I think of an outcome, it's void from become a reality.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to my regular Chinese take-out place to pick up some food. Normally, I'm greeted by the old lady who owns the place (and knows my order by memory, to the point of preparing the change to give me because she knows I always use $20 bills to pay her.). Anyway, this one night, a Chinese girl was at the counter with the old lady talking to her from behind. The girl was stunning. Great hair, awesome glasses and cute modest clothes. What really got to me was that she had a stack of sketchbooks and art stuff she worked on between taking orders. While waiting for my food, I got caught gazing a few times, but nothing too serious. Despite the insta-crush, I shut her out of my head instantly. Firstly, I knew anyone as talented and good-looking as her would NOT be single. Even if she was, a random dork she took an order form one night wouldn't be on her list. Secondly, I only thought of Leona. At least she knew me by name, smiled at me and gave me a faint feeling of something more than a "pay your money and go" sorta deal. Well, that was before my retarded thoughts of not feeling singled out anymore.

I understand how I must sound like when I rant about this subject. This seems more fitted for a singles message board or something of the like. Because of school, my social circles are pretty limited... This is the only way I could get anything out. I beg your pardon for the way I'm reacting to the matter. Hopefully, I don't sound like an emo douchebag or anything of the depressed sort. I'm not depressed, I'm not emo, I'm not melancholy, I'm not gonna starve myself and turn all stupid again, only to receive a fucking headbutt when I'm supposed to be enjoying a visit. No.. This just happened to be a minor issue that has been itching the back of my head for awhile now.




I suppose now is a good time as any to talk about cake. I've been having cake cravings for the past month of so. There's a Chinese bakery that sells slices of this extremely delicious mango mousse cake. I could eat 8 slices in a sitting. It's so light and tasty. GLaDOS wasn't lying (though I sure she was serving up a black forest chocolate cake). I find myself eating a lot of cake these days. I wonder why.. *cough* I'm probably gonna get fat soon. This sucks...





Here's where I shutup for the day. Don't fret. As long as a bitching that was, I assure you, I'm feeling pretty good overall. I just wish these little things didn't build up in my head as they did. Augh...... Hopefully the next post is less glum. Have a nice Thirstday. Drink a cup of tea.





Toasted.


- enin -

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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Good god, he's going mad.


My worries, stress, and general thoughts are building up in my head and have just started overflowing to my hair*.

I'll post for serious once I get through a lump of work. I've a good amount to say about a Korean someone, my cake cravings, fun with ink and a plan to see familiar faces again.

In the meantime, I've got a resume to write (plus cover letters), a magazine to design (including a majority of the content), a portfolio to fill (with illustrations) and an insane invention to market. Wish me luck...


..wait. Forget luck. Send me money. Lots of it. So that I may stop working a live in luxury. Donations can be sent to Happy Dude, at 742 Evergreen Terrace...


Scratch that. Just... hold tight, 'kay? I'll be back in a bit.






Toasted.


- enin -



*Not really. But there IS way too much on my mind so I dekcuf up my hair in frustration. Surprisingly, it stayed like that all on it's own. Crazzzzy...



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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Destiny... in garbage form
Funny little thing happened to me yesterday. It's nothing special, but it does amuse me a lot and so that's all that counts.

On my way to class downtown, I sat at the back of the bus in my usual spot (which, luckily for me, is usually empty... Or maybe it's just my timing). I found the packaging of one of those 4 coloured pens in my bag. y'know those pens where you can click the different inks out. Red, black, green and blue. They're fun for doodling during a lecture because you've a small variety of colours all in one pen. But I digress.

So this package was essentially garbage. I didn't want to keep it in my bag and I was feeling too impatient to wait until I reached the station for a trashcan. Now I never throw stuff on the ground or anything like that, because I think littering is one of the ugliest things we can do to our surroundings. But I was on a bus. And these buses get cleaned so technically, I'm not doing much harm, right? I contemplated upon for awhile until finally deciding to just tuck the garbage into the side of the seat in the back. I left the bus without a worry.

It started to bug me at random points during the day. I hate littering. As much as I wanted to get it out of my head, it was useless. Thankfully, getting to work was enough of a distraction. Class went well as usual. We presented journals on advertisements that used sex to market products to us. I did a couple of ads for lubricants and won a free designers textbook. Normally it would cost $55, so it was a total bonus. For the second half of class, we took a "field trip" to a large bookstore nearby to look through magazines so we could choose a style to do our editorial project on. We were in there for 2 hours just... loitering and lookin' through mags for free. 96% of us eventually bought something for project use. It was a neat sight. A class of twenty or more students just hanging around the shelves, just skimming through the magazines while sitting on the floor or stairs or leaning against columns. Employees had no problem with it though.

Before leaving class, we all passed around our 'zines. Everyone had awesome work. Well.... mostly. There were a couple we wanted to set fire to, but that wouldn't be in good taste in a designers classroom.

I went home a bit early so I could get ready for a dinner with some friends. When I got on the bus, I sat at the back again. Just as I sat, I noticed something familiar. My shock prevented me from holding back the laughter. I had gotten on the exact same bus from the morning and lo and behold the garbage was still where I put it. I thought to myself "Maybe I should've just thrown it out to begin with. It's fate." *laughs* What fun odds. Spooky, but fun.

Sitarose asked what I do when Leona isn't working. Funny you mention that. She wasn't there when I went yesternight. I saw her mother instead. So how do I go about this? I curse the gods for taking away my sunshine, and then dramatically break down on the convenience store floor, writhing in agony and weeping. Or sometimes, I just be really polite to her mom. Which I think is working in my favour. She doesn't give me much of an evil glare as before. She probably still thinks I'm a dork, but that's okay. I can't ask for it all.. I mean, if her MOM started calling me by my first name.... I'd worry.





Have you had pho recently? Have you had pho AT ALL? Shame. You've gotta give it a go if you haven't already. I still find it funny how an x-tra large bowl can feed a family of four... or one Josh. *laughs* The stuff is so good.


Oh yeah, I put a lot of my old aRt online somewhere. Humour me and take a look. There's a surprise or two as well. Just for kicks, yo.


Remember not to litter. It'll come back for you. Pho'real.





Toasted.



- enin -








C
Co
Com
Comm
Comme
Commen
Comment
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Monday, January 14, 2008

There's nothing
What do I speak of? Steak & eggs, of course. It is possible to request for both to be cooked well done, but who in their right mind would? I treated myself to steak & eggs on Saturday morning because I haven't had it in a long time, especially not during what's typically "breakfast time". I'd eat breakfast meals any time of day though. And I mean a real breakfast. Eggs, a meat accompaniment, taters in some form (or rice... Yes, rice), some toast, coffee, a glass of orange juice, maybe a glass of milk to wash it all down.... That's a real breakfast.

...Or maybe a half dozen waffles with a dozen sausages. That counts too. Cereal doesn't count. I like cereal, but it doesn't satisfy. And if it's the milk that is doing the filling, then I might as well drink milk. I'll leave the cereals to children, people in a rush to work/school, and chicks in their pajamas gossiping on the couch.

Since I've naturally been waking up at around 5:45am, I've had opportunities to make breakfast for myself every day. I've been alternating between eggs + whatever and waffles. I'd do eggs everyday but clearly, it'll be the death of me. Maybe not... I just know that I'm not training to become a sumo. So yeah, I go easy on the eggs.



It's been a very nice for the past few days. Like I said, waking up early and making most of the day. I pretty much finished all my assignments the day they were assigned, but it's still the beginning (of my FINAL semester) so it's not a huge deal. This left me spare time to do what I/ wanted.

On Thursday, I spent most of my day watching Samurai Champloo, cleaning my room, and some light drumming (the blisters are gone, but I want to take it easy for a bit).

Saturday was spent doing some more cleaning and organizing in my room. It's not like it's a disaster, I just want to detail my tidying so I can streamline my living. (Did that make sense?)

I also visited a buddy at work and sketched while I chatted with him for awhile. I hate his boss though. He's a dumb-fuck, condescending, bumbling idiot with bad breath and an old man Koopa Troopa face. I fucking hate him. Why? Well, he had nothing against me hanging around my bud for awhile.. What he did to piss me off was use one of my inking pens without permission.

He needed to write something down, so he grabbed an inking pen from my pile of art tools and started scribbling with it. Now this might not mean anything to some of you, but it was a 0.05 inking pen and a top quality one too. Those familiar with this type of pen know they cost a shade more than regular pens and that they must be used gently. Well, this stupid fuckjam took mine and mashed the pen tip into his page, bending it to the point of uselessness. I haven't had much of a chance to use that pen yet, so it was pretty much brand new until he fucked it up. I probably sound rather dramatic ranting over a pen, but it's common decency to at least ask. What really ticks me off is that there was a can full of perfectly good pens off to his right. *grumble*

Sorry about that. It was kinda bugging for for a bit. I needed to let 'er out. Anyway, Sunday wasn't all that bad either. I was done organizing everything in my room except for one very large art case containing a mass of my old work. I decided to look through it and sort out what I wanted to have on hand and what I could store away. Lemme tell you, looking through old work is an interesting experience. You feel all nostalgic thinking of the past when you sucked at what you did. Almost depressing at times. My work was pretty embarrassing compared to what I do now, but it's comforting to know you've improved.


I skipped talking about Friday because it was a little different from my days off, cleaning my room and bitching about the wrong usage of art supplies. Here's how she went. I woke up early, as usual, but this time from a nightmare. I have no recollection of what it was about or anything. I just remember waking up terrified, in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. After opening my eyes, I didn't move for a good 20 minutes waiting for the sun to rise a bit and light up my room.

The rest of the morning didn't go so well either. I starting suffering from a light panic attack. It began with putting on my boots. I have no idea what it was but as soon as I strapped my boots on, something in me felt something was going to go extremely wrong. I almost wanted to change my boots but I was already out the door. As I got on the bus, my hands started perspiring more than usual and I felt really uneasy. I went to the back of the bus to isolate myself a bit because I started breathing irregularly. My panic attack started to become worse as I started shaking at the sights of large garbage trucks and tractor trailers. As I type this, it seems a little ridiculous but thinking back to it, they almost seemed like fuckin' monsters. I don't remember having a panic attack before so I looked it up. I think it might be from the drastic change from sleeping during the day to sleeping during the night, and the coffee in the morning. I don't normally drink coffee but it's convenient when my parents make it before going to work so I have some... That's probably why. But man... I did not like experiencing that.


As soon as I got to class that day, I returned to normal. For our last set of classes this semester, we have professors that we've had before, except for one. He has an incredible likeness to Robin Williams. He doesn't go wild with different voices/characters which is sort of a relief. It might be fun for awhile, but there's only so much Robin Williams one can take. And it's a four hour class.

Our prof is very laid back though. It's Career Development class so there's lots of interacting and conversations going on in class, and barely any work. It's the same class that will be giving us a mock interview that we'll need to prepare for. That should be exciting. Our first assignment was figuring out our skills and personality type and all that kinda stuff. I believe this is the same stuff Mr. West is doing at the moment with his job search. Our prof had us do one of those Jung/Myers-Briggs type indicator tests. My results (after taking the same test several times for confirmation purposes) are ENFP. Go look it up and maybe take the test yourself. I'm one of three ENFP's in the class. It's strange how easily we can be categorized. After looking for detail about my results online, I found that the descriptions are disgustingly accurate. That's right. DISGUSTINGLY ACCURATE.

[EDIT: I remember West posted his results some time ago so after a moment of backtracking, I found it. He has the same result. Neat!]



Class ended early on Friday so I went straight home to finish work, but not before finding an excuse for visiting Leona. As always, she promptly greeted me with a "Hi, Josh!" while in the middle of dealing with other customers. I think I bought a tea that day. I always make sure I don't have the exact amount so as she rings up the change, I can see her a bit more, even if it's for an additional second or so. I also dick around and struggle to but my purchase into my bag and put my headphones back on inside the store for more bonus time. *laughs* As silly as it seems, I do make the best of even the shortest moments.

I still have this irrational fear that she's arranged to marry some Korean superstar... or something. Impossible, right? *nervous laugh*



I suppose I'll get my day started. I started typing this at 6:45am and it's now 11:04am. I get distracted easily. Hah. Go have yourself a nice snack now. I say you've earned it.




Toasted,

- enin -








Mango juice.
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Thursday, January 10, 2008

I can't seem to kick myself hard enough.
There's a reason for this too. I made a complete fool of myself in front of a certain someone. More on that in a bit.

My day was quite delightful. Like I mentioned in yestermornings post, I woke up bright and early and annoyed the crap out of everyone in the house with internet videos, loud music and dancing in their paths. I just felt really great. Oh, I had a lot of cereal and coffee too. Then some eggs and toast with orange juice. Two breakfasts! Very good stuff.

Train/bus ride to and from class went smoothly. No delays. No psychos on the tracks. No flat tires. No irritating ladies. Super perfect. Class was enjoyable. Same professor from a previous quarter is teaching us a different class this time 'round. He looks EXACTLY like Byron Mann. In case you don't know who that is, he's the actor who played Ryu in the quite unfortunate Street Fighter live action movie. As an assignment, I've got a portfolio to build with his help. Should be chock full of illustration, both conventional and digital. I JUST NEED A FUCKIN' TABLET!!!


*exhale*


I'll get it soon. I'll be okay.


Now... After getting off the bus, I made sure I had enough money in my pocket to buy a Crunch bar before even heading in the convenience store direction. I did. I had plenty. So in I went.

For the first time this year, I was greeted by Leona's sunshiny smile. I got all warm and stuff (which was nice because it was windy and chilly that day).

"Hi, Josh! Long time no see!" she said.

"Yeeah.. I've been busy.. with... stuff"

Oh. Quick note. When I use those dots like that, they stand for actual pauses between words. I hadn't even finished my sentence and I was already failing.

As she handed change to a customer buying lottery tickets, she asked "So how are you today?"

"Fantastic." I replied while waiting for the lady to move out of the way so I could pick up a Crunch bar from the front of the counter.

The woman moved and continued organizing her lottery stuff. I grabbed my Crunch bar and attempted to continue the chit-chat.

"So, how were your holidays?"

"They were great--" she said before being semi-cutoff by another customer in the back. "How about yours? Lots of food?"


All I could reply was "Yeeah..." in the most awkward tone possible. I was too busy trying to stop myself from saying "I had a lot to drink too!". That would've been dumb. Thankfully, it didn't come out.

Unfortunately for me, for the next while, NOTHING came out. "Oh, that's nice" she replied, "By the way, thank you so much for the card. It was very sweet of you."

I was probably stunned from the thank you. I couldn't reply properly. I think I might've said "No problem" but it probably came out as a whisper. I just fuckin' stood there.

It seemed like an eternity. I didn't know what to say next. The lady was still there watching me as well. I was trapped in an awkward silence while Leona continued smiling, waiting for me to say something.

After the most obvious *gulp*, I finally killed the small talk with a very shaky "I'm... I'm gonna go... now..."

At that point Leona wished me a goodnight and goodbye, while the lady kinda snorted... The type of snort that says "Boy, you're way too nervous". She could tell. I know she could tell. She just shook her head and smiled.

I turned quickly and wished her the same and as soon as I turned back to the door, I smacked my face on the glass. Not a subtle smack either. I made a huge THONK! noise and my headphones rattled and slid over my face. I did not want to turn around again. I could already tell they were both about to laugh... Well. If they noticed at least. Which they did.. I'm sure.

I rushed out and walked home, shaking my head along the way and trying to pinch myself awake. I said to myself "Well.. I won't be going back there for another month or so." I'm kidding. I was just trying to laugh a bit of the embarrassment out. But still...

Why me!?



Oh well... Despite the humiliation, she DID like the card I gave her (after suffering the gaze of her stone-faced mother, of course) so that's a bonus. I just need to work on not being a complete retard in her presence. And perhaps gain enough exp. point to level up so I can visit without buying some for the sake of getting to talk with her. Someday....



In the meantime, I'm gonna finish assignments and learn Korean with the help of random lessons found online and Korean pop and rap (Thank you, bananafish for sharing the rap tracks). Well, okay. The rap doesn't help because they're so fuckin' fast. But it's really awesome to listen to. Very catchy and twice as dancey. Perhaps in an alternate universe, I'm dancing with Leona at a house party to these tracks.


I don't have class today. Other than spacing out, I'll probably just relax. Listen to some tunes, jam on the drumkit, dance around the empty house after some wine. Should be nice.



I hope your day goes swell. Tell me a good story if you've got one. And remember to floss.






Toasted,


- enin -



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