Here as promised are pictures from my Halloween party back in 2000.
Sorry it took so long to finally get posted. One main reason why it took so long for these pictures to get put on the site (aside from my extreme business, what with the thesis and the wedding and the moving and the new job) is that very few of the pictures I took turned out very well. So rather than run EVERYONE's pictures, all I really can do is run a few highlights and talk about everyone else.
Anyway, here we have Theresa and Sarah, who coordinated their costumes so they could both come to the party as hippies. Just like in 1999, Theresa drove all the way down from St. Louis to Cape just for our little party. Unlike 1999, she did not come alone this time around. She brought with her a friend named Amy who dressed as a "sexy cat-girl". She wore this short leopard-print skirt and cat ears. Because they came in from such a long distance, Theresa and Amy were the first to arrive in the mid-afternoon. My friends being their typical late selves, most everyone else showed up around nine-thirty or so, even though the party officially began at eight.
Just as in the previous year I chose to come to the party as an obscure comic book character, this time Rorschach from Watchmen. (I think I pulled off the costume very well personally.) But again, just like the previous year, I chose a character who wore a full mask, not thinking about how hot it would get under there. I DID learn one thing from the previous year's costume: if you're going to be at a costume party, you have to have a way to drink. So my mask had a tiny hole cut into it, near the mouth, so I could slip a straw in and sip on my drink.
Another change from the previous year is that I nixed the idea of providing people with a drink. The Ecto-Buzz from the previous year was sort of weak and not very popular--I had jugs of the stuff left in my fridge for a good month after the party. So this year was BYOB, which meant a very full fridge.
But one thing that did not change were the party rules: no smoking, no spillage, no vomitus. These rules were clearly posted on the foyer door as you came in. I did add a rule this year that I learned after my birthday party the previous spring--bathroom breaks must be spaced five minutes apart. If this did not occur, the toilet would cease to flush. Needless to say this rule proved difficult to enforce after we'd all been drinking for a while, and some folks ended up going outside to pee.
Here we have Thomas and Melissa as Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Note the funky wig Jesus apparently wore. Talk about historical accuracy. (This picture is the only picture I have of Thomas and Melissa, even though they attended MANY of our parties.)
Thomas and Melissa were also kind enough to show up semi-early to the party, around eight-fifteen or so. This meant that they were two of the few people who got to participate in our first drinking game. See every year during the early part of the party, while I'm still waiting for everyone to show up, I like to watch a classic Halloween-themed or scary movie. At the 1999 party, I believe it was Night of the Living Dead. In 2000 though it was Nightmare before Christmas, and our drinking game was simple: choose a second-tier character (example: axe-in-the-head guy) and drink whenever that person is on screen. Drink two if that person speaks. It's really just an way to kill time before people show up and the party actually begins, but it was still sort of fun.
The tall guy on the left dreesed in a kilt is Wes, one of the first-year TAs in the 2000-2001 school year. Wes brought this girl as his date, and now, it being a year and a half later that I'm writing these words, her name is a total blank. But that's OK, because it was their first date and they only went out on two more at most. Anyway, Wes was one of two TAs to show up at the 2000 party, up one from the previous year's one: Heather. The other one to come was named Stacy and she and her boyfriend both came dressed as ghouls. Stacy and her boyfriend left early on in the party, but Wes came late and stayed later because he knew more people. He sort of knew Doorhinge, from the English department, and Jared, from College Republicans apparently. I know, I know, but just because they have wrong-headed political beliefs doesn't make them ALL bad. :)
Jared by the way is one of those unfortunate many that I don't have a good picture of. He came with Tracy and just like in the previous year they "co-ordinated" their costumes. Tracy was a lifeguard, and just like in the previous year, she pulled off her costume much better (and looked much cuter) than Jared did. Jared apparently was a victim of a piranha attack, as evidenced by the painted on piranhas and blood all over his shirtless body. Yes, I let him go shirtless for I am a fool.
Other folks started rolling in around nine-thirty as I mentioned before. Doorhinge came as Otis from the movie Kicking and Screaming (and in case you didn't know who he as, he wore a name tag that told you). Sarah Perry came with him as a Playboy "bunny," which just meant a Playboy emblem t-shirt really (and not even a skimpy one at that, unfortunately)... no bunny ears.
Stephanie and Malinda-Michelle coordinated their costumes based on some artsy photo they had seen. M-M was God, who apparently wore a dress suit in this picture, and Stephanie was the devil I think. She had horns on anyway. (Like I can talk about recognizability with MY high-concept costume.)
Progger was a bit more recognizable, as you can see here. He came as Mork from Ork. Progger ended up winning the costume contest by the way (simple process: everyone throws votes in a hat; no hanging chads--look, a pop culture reference that fits the time period of the pictures!). Because he won, he got to pick something out of my infamous prize closet, which I believe he chose the eels' cd, beautiful freak.
So it started getting late. Celebrities was played. Buzz was played. Towards the end of the party, we had a few final arrivals. Todd and Carney stopped in for all of about ten minutes; they were sans costumes and really just came to use our bathroom after the nearby homecoming game ended. But it didn't work, so Carney had to pee outside.
Jon showed up late too, and he came as a reality television show winner. He had checks that he had printed up on his computer made out to Richard Hatch and Eddie (the one-legged guy from Big Brother). He wore swimming goggles (like Richard--thank God he didn't come as naked birthday Richard) and he hopped around on one leg.
And here we see BJ came as the Punisher, which was also a pretty popular costume with most folks. They all arrived just in time to watch Shakma at midnight (we got to induct Thomas and Melissa, who didn't seem to mind our comparing a character in the film to their friend Mike Connaroe) and as all good parties should the Halloween party went on so long that we actually traveled through time. Yes, that's right: the party took place on Daylight Savings day, so when it became two o'clock, we were all magically transported back to one o'clock, at which time everyone left.
