Halloween - finally!
Hi and sorry! School's been busy, I've been sick, and the weather's getting chillier, all contributing to me not spending as much time online, hence the lack of entries here.
So, let's skip back to Halloween, about which many of you are quite curious.
Saturday the 28th was spent racing around town, getting last minute pieces of costumes and doing the final sewing bits on a few items. We had a momentary panic attack when Nicole's sewing machine decided to go on strike, but Kate and Michelle quickly got the situation under control with the help of a local seamstress. She was able to put Dorothy's skirt (complete with denim petticoat for oomph) and shirt together for us for about $15 in a couple hours. What a lifesaver! Kate and Michelle did have quite a time of pantomiming how the skirt was meant to be big, since it would be going on a man... but in the end, it fit like a charm and Patty loved his floofily skirt.
After getting our costumes mostly finished, we all split up to get going on other chores for the day. I had promised my creative costume services to Lee and Vicky, and also to Troy at Bench for decorations, so I headed from Nicole's, to Kate's for lunch, then over to Bench where I met up with Vicky and Lee. I also ran into a new girl there, Kathy (Irish, petite, nice), and brought her along on our shopping trip. After making Bench into a properly spooky and cobwebbed cave, our troop headed a few blocks over to the wig shop - all under my direction, I might add. (I was surprised as anyone when we showed up at the right place!) There, I ran into Mandy, for whom we dog-sat during Chuseok. She was trying to shop for her and her husband, but couldn't come up with any good ideas. I immediately recruited them to be our Glinda (Mandy) and Wicked Witch of the West (hubby), since yet again our witches had backed out. Mandy and I quickly found a skirt and overlay top for her, and then started looking at wigs. Meanwhile I was helping Lee put together a pirate costume and succeeded in finding him a perfect head scarfy-type-thing in a pretty shade of blue velvet that worked SO well with his blue cape and Jack Sparrow-esque persona. We also managed to get Kathy in to the wig spirit, and she went home with a long red wig reminiscent of the Little Mermaid. For Vicky (who had decided to be a baby in pajamas), we found a plush kid's 'purse' that looked like a strawberry, and a sippy cup on a strap she could wear around her neck. And to top it all off, I found the piece de resistance for the tinman's ensemble - a perfect wig, which you'll see in the photos.
All told, I was up at 8am and running like mad until 6, when I returned home to shower and head to Kate's. Our Wiz crew was scheduled to meet there at... 6. Ha. But luckily just about everyone else was running late, so when I got there at 7, I only joined Lindsay and Kate. As Patty, Michelle and Lee arrived, we put final stitches in costumes, sewed on Michelle's tail, painted faces and stuffed straw in all my pockets and boots. Scooting out the door, we put Dorothy on the back of Lee's motorcycle (the rest of us were wearing skirts far too short and/or tight to straddle a bike) and then hailed a cab for the remainder, making it to Bench a little before 10. Disappointingly, loads of other people were running late with their costumes, so the crowd was a bit lighter than expected. Nonetheless, we royally terrified the locals with our Halloween parade through downtown. Leaving Bench, the Wizard of Oz crew walked directly behind Troy and another guy carrying a big banner proclaiming the Benchwarmers Halloween Parade. We weaved through the streets, ending on a major corner where a stage had been erected. There, we all did a bit of a runway show, pausing for professional photos (which will be available online for sale at some point) and for the 5 judges. A throng of Koreans had cameras, camera phones and gaping jaws at the edge of our stage. Parents would pick up their children to look over the crowds and point to the strange foreigners in their weird clothes. Can you imagine how strange this holiday looks to people who don't celebrate it at all?!
After the parade and fashion show we headed back to Bench, stopping under a structure called "Shigae Top" which is inexplainable - but I'll try: it's like a big circle, supported by four pillars (one on each corner), far above the street (buses can pass easily beneath it) that hovers over an intersection in Shinae (old downtown). The professional(ish) photographer climbed up to the roof of a building on the corner of said intersection and took a picture from above of all of us bunched together -and stopping traffic- under Shigae Top. I'm sure this makes no sense, but when the photos are available online, I'll let you know.
So - back to Bench for a dance party! Smart planning by Troy; he didn't announce the costume contest winners until about 1:30am, so everyone had to stay at his bar at least until then. When he DID announce the winners.... we got the prize for Best Group! And our friend Josh, who went as Rambo, got Best Costume. The two Korean School Girls (Wendy and KiwiKatie) got sexiest, and I honestly don't know who ended up with Most Original. There were many contenders for that one, my favorite being the guy who had a giant box that was covered in tin foil and a sign that read "beer powered sex machine." He appears in quite a few photos. Also interesting was the tetris piece (Mike), but he didn't show up until after the contest was finished and as such was ineligible.
After the results were announced, we took our winnings and headed to the other foreigner bar, Tombstone. There weren't many people there, so we took our party to the makkoli bar up the street and had some delicious rice wine and snacks. From there we disbanded and headed home, pleased with our win and ready to get out of our itchy face paint and short skirts/too small shoes/arm bands/stupid hats etc.
I'm working on the photos right now... so check back if you don't see them.
:)
So, let's skip back to Halloween, about which many of you are quite curious.
Saturday the 28th was spent racing around town, getting last minute pieces of costumes and doing the final sewing bits on a few items. We had a momentary panic attack when Nicole's sewing machine decided to go on strike, but Kate and Michelle quickly got the situation under control with the help of a local seamstress. She was able to put Dorothy's skirt (complete with denim petticoat for oomph) and shirt together for us for about $15 in a couple hours. What a lifesaver! Kate and Michelle did have quite a time of pantomiming how the skirt was meant to be big, since it would be going on a man... but in the end, it fit like a charm and Patty loved his floofily skirt.
After getting our costumes mostly finished, we all split up to get going on other chores for the day. I had promised my creative costume services to Lee and Vicky, and also to Troy at Bench for decorations, so I headed from Nicole's, to Kate's for lunch, then over to Bench where I met up with Vicky and Lee. I also ran into a new girl there, Kathy (Irish, petite, nice), and brought her along on our shopping trip. After making Bench into a properly spooky and cobwebbed cave, our troop headed a few blocks over to the wig shop - all under my direction, I might add. (I was surprised as anyone when we showed up at the right place!) There, I ran into Mandy, for whom we dog-sat during Chuseok. She was trying to shop for her and her husband, but couldn't come up with any good ideas. I immediately recruited them to be our Glinda (Mandy) and Wicked Witch of the West (hubby), since yet again our witches had backed out. Mandy and I quickly found a skirt and overlay top for her, and then started looking at wigs. Meanwhile I was helping Lee put together a pirate costume and succeeded in finding him a perfect head scarfy-type-thing in a pretty shade of blue velvet that worked SO well with his blue cape and Jack Sparrow-esque persona. We also managed to get Kathy in to the wig spirit, and she went home with a long red wig reminiscent of the Little Mermaid. For Vicky (who had decided to be a baby in pajamas), we found a plush kid's 'purse' that looked like a strawberry, and a sippy cup on a strap she could wear around her neck. And to top it all off, I found the piece de resistance for the tinman's ensemble - a perfect wig, which you'll see in the photos.
All told, I was up at 8am and running like mad until 6, when I returned home to shower and head to Kate's. Our Wiz crew was scheduled to meet there at... 6. Ha. But luckily just about everyone else was running late, so when I got there at 7, I only joined Lindsay and Kate. As Patty, Michelle and Lee arrived, we put final stitches in costumes, sewed on Michelle's tail, painted faces and stuffed straw in all my pockets and boots. Scooting out the door, we put Dorothy on the back of Lee's motorcycle (the rest of us were wearing skirts far too short and/or tight to straddle a bike) and then hailed a cab for the remainder, making it to Bench a little before 10. Disappointingly, loads of other people were running late with their costumes, so the crowd was a bit lighter than expected. Nonetheless, we royally terrified the locals with our Halloween parade through downtown. Leaving Bench, the Wizard of Oz crew walked directly behind Troy and another guy carrying a big banner proclaiming the Benchwarmers Halloween Parade. We weaved through the streets, ending on a major corner where a stage had been erected. There, we all did a bit of a runway show, pausing for professional photos (which will be available online for sale at some point) and for the 5 judges. A throng of Koreans had cameras, camera phones and gaping jaws at the edge of our stage. Parents would pick up their children to look over the crowds and point to the strange foreigners in their weird clothes. Can you imagine how strange this holiday looks to people who don't celebrate it at all?!
After the parade and fashion show we headed back to Bench, stopping under a structure called "Shigae Top" which is inexplainable - but I'll try: it's like a big circle, supported by four pillars (one on each corner), far above the street (buses can pass easily beneath it) that hovers over an intersection in Shinae (old downtown). The professional(ish) photographer climbed up to the roof of a building on the corner of said intersection and took a picture from above of all of us bunched together -and stopping traffic- under Shigae Top. I'm sure this makes no sense, but when the photos are available online, I'll let you know.
So - back to Bench for a dance party! Smart planning by Troy; he didn't announce the costume contest winners until about 1:30am, so everyone had to stay at his bar at least until then. When he DID announce the winners.... we got the prize for Best Group! And our friend Josh, who went as Rambo, got Best Costume. The two Korean School Girls (Wendy and KiwiKatie) got sexiest, and I honestly don't know who ended up with Most Original. There were many contenders for that one, my favorite being the guy who had a giant box that was covered in tin foil and a sign that read "beer powered sex machine." He appears in quite a few photos. Also interesting was the tetris piece (Mike), but he didn't show up until after the contest was finished and as such was ineligible.
After the results were announced, we took our winnings and headed to the other foreigner bar, Tombstone. There weren't many people there, so we took our party to the makkoli bar up the street and had some delicious rice wine and snacks. From there we disbanded and headed home, pleased with our win and ready to get out of our itchy face paint and short skirts/too small shoes/arm bands/stupid hats etc.
I'm working on the photos right now... so check back if you don't see them.
:)
posted by pixelpulp at 2:16 AM
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