Bringing the Drama

On Saturday after the HALF MARATHON, it was time to go back to Chalmette for the big Halloween party. I was anxious to go again after the fantastic time last year, and then my aunt sent me an email in September about it. I was going to dress up this year, and do more than tape black circles to my shirt. I was not going to have work on a Saturday, so I had no excuses. I struggled for a costume idea though. I posted on Twitter about it, and the only response I had was from my friend Adriene whose suggestion was disappointing. I mean, I figured she’d suggest a Twilight character at least…..but she didn’t. So the week of the party, I’m thinking about not dying in the HALF MARATHON and what costume I’m going to wear. I went to Target, Walmart, and a Halloween store, and nothing. I wasn’t wanting to pay $60 to dress up like the BK King, although that would have been cool a couple of years ago. I had a fake mustache, wasn’t there something I could figure out???

Two days before the big day, I noticed I had a new follower on Twitter, and it was the Quiznos toaster oven. You may know him from the commercials where he talks to Scott, the Quiznos employee. Apparently he had started following me when I asked about costume suggestions, so clicking through his page I came upon a page full of suggestions related to Quiznos. A couple of them were dressing up as the oven himself, but I didn’t have a box big enough to pull that off. But behold, dressing as a Torpedo! BRILLIANT! It’s unique, it’s something I can make, and it’s cheap. I could even wear my fake mustache!

On Friday I went to WM and bought a white sheet for $4. FOUR DOLLARS! I’m not sure how many other people were going to be dressing as Torpedos, but I got one of the last white sheets. After running the HALF MARATHON on Saturday, the costume was put together. I had some help drawing the logos on and pinning it, but I thought it came out fine. The result is below:

And yes, that is my HALF MARATHON finishers’ medal I had EARNED earlier in the day that I was wearing no matter what.

One of the highlights was a drunk lady who tried to befriend me by showing me her Star Wars shirt and saying it was vintage because it had Jar Jar on it (she kept saying it was a jabberwocky). That doesn’t mean it’s vintage, that means it sucks. I didn’t tell her that though because she was really excited about it. She was going around by herself and told me she lost the rest of her family, but she was still collecting candy in 3 bags; two for her family, then one she said was for her dog. You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you are trick-or-treating for your dog, or worse….LYING about it.

When I got a facebook email last week from my aunt inviting me to come play Bunco last Saturday night I was skeptical. I had played twice before and have not won anything. The night consists of two games, loud coaxing of the dice, bell ringing, plenty of food and drink. One time my cousin and I were on the cusp of locking up first place and yet lost on one of the final rolls of my other cousin’s now ex-boyfriend. However, I’m not one to pass up a fun filled night of plenty of food, mixed drinks, and throwing dice so I told her I’d come.

My aunt that lives near me called me yesterday afternoon and offered to pick me up, so I took her up on that offer. We got to the house in Chalmette and the game was ready to begin at 7:45. My partner for the first game was this guy I had never met before, and I am not sure he had played Bunco before, so it was an up and down game. We won one game on a tiebreaker when he rolled a 5 (all 3 dice the same number at the same time), so that was exciting. However, we finished in the middle of the pack, which meant no prize. The vanilla vodka my cousin had bought was very good though.

After a short break that included losing to my uncle 4 times in pool (twice was my own fault of knocking the 8 ball in too early), we were about to begin the 2nd game. I drew my card for a partner and got this guy who before last night was a sort of nemesis. A couple of years ago I played in a poker tournament and this guy beat me. It was down to 3 people, and I had been on a roll, and if I had stayed in until only two people were left, I’d have at least won my buy-in money back. This guy beat my triple 6′s with a straight. I’ll never forget it. Anyway, so I draw him as my partner and inside I’m going “ARRRGH, New Guy!” (NG is his nickname, it’s poker related, long story). However, being partners with him proved very beneficial. Since Bunco is completely luck and there’s no skill involved, you want to throw the dice as many times as possible. People who aren’t paying attention or take a long time to roll are not the best partners for me. So NG and I are rolling really fast, and we went on a 6 game winning streak. One game we were behind by a lot, and I said “the only way to win now is to get 2 buncos.” Then a few minutes later, I had rolled two buncos! BOOM! The dice were hot, and we went into the last game tied for first place. Unfortunately we lost and finished 2nd, but that still meant we didn’t leave empty handed. It was an amazing victory considering my past results. Also, I finally seemed to get over the nemesis thinking with NG, and wouldn’t mind him being my partner again next time.

Following the excitement of my own final results, my aunt who gave me the ride to the party was in a roll-off for 3rd place. Three teams were seated around a table with everyone else watching. As each team got closer and closer to the winning score of 21, the crowd got restless. The crowd would groan with disappointment when a number was not rolled and cheer with anticipation for victory when the prized 6′s were rolled. My cousin and his friend were trash talking the other teams even though they were in last place and needed a miracle. My aunt took a turn with her team needing one 6 to win, and she rolled it. The crowd went wild, and she walked away with 3rd place.