Halloween.

In some circles it's known as the Gay Christmas. Where to begin about my Halloween? Well, pre-Halloween you know a little about. The two year-old's costume party - I was lazy and went in the all-too-fashionable Clark Kent "costume" (you've seen it - the Superman shirt beneath a button down).

Yesterday to get a free lunch at work, I replicated that costume (as an aside, I first rocked that about 8 years ago, long before everyone and their mother was doing it!). The day was a blur of non-productivity. I returned to the Butterfly Cave, ready to change into costume. My groceries were scheduled to arrive by 6p and the Princess & FB dropped by earlier to get into costume. Despite my hermetic tendencies, I was able to be coaxed out for the annual WeHo celebration this year.

As for last night, I'm just gonna give a Reader's Digest version - the long story made it sound too much like I didn't have fun. (Maybe I didn't, but do you really wanna read about that?!?!)

FB created a fabulous Joker outfit and I put together a somewhat skanky Robin getup. The Princess put on devil horns and some kick ass red eyelashes. After the drama of the groceries arrving nearly 45 minutes late, we headed over a mesh-clad friend's place and made our way down. It took nearly an hour in crushing traffic (from Silverlake, by the way!) but we finally got the honor of paying $20 bucks to park a mile away.

Noteworthy costumes included:
- Hurricane Katrina (two guys spinning in clouds - you had to see it to believe it)
- Hurricane Katrina victims (two guys sitting on the "roof" of their costume - ditto)
- White Lies (i.e. "the checks in the mail," "we have no WMDs," etc.)
- More than life-size puppets of Jack Skellington & Zero (from The Nightmare Before Christmas), operated by a guy dressed as Johnny Depp's character from Sleepy Hollow.

The Batmen were a poor crop. A few kiddie Batmen waved at me and few pedophiles leered. The best of the lot were the lone cool looking one who was attached to Wonder Woman - and how can a Boy Wonder compete with that? - and a Batwoman who scared me a little, but I couldn't discount how cool woman with an Afro in a Batman outfit is. So sadly, there was no photo op to be had with a Batman.

Also, I think I got gypped by the gyro lady. She swore I gave her a ten, but I think I might have given her a twenty. So I may have paid $19 for gyro and a 7-Up.

The crowd crush was a bit much. Some guy kept ramming his camara into my back and pulling on my cape, choking me more than a little. I'm more than a little claustrophobic, so he picked the wrong Robin to piss of. After a few nice and a few not-so nice attempts at asking him to back up a little, I turned around and socked him in the chest. He finally backed up. (My horoscope for yesterday read, "Your Halloween alter ego: a classic superhero, especially Superman or Wonder Woman. Close enough!)

Problems aside, I'm glad I didn't bone out on the plans like I thought I might and I'm glad I emerged from The Cave, however briefly. FB & I have tickets for Wednesday's u2 concert. They're general admission floor tickets, so I'll have to brave the crush again. But with a concert going on, all should be well. And if, not, now I know I don't hit like a girl. If you hear of a riot breaking out at the Staples Center, that was probably me.

Happy All Saints Day, kids!
- J.

This post was sponsored by the Support Your Local Sidekick Committee.