Late Arrivals & Leather Thonged Muppets: All Hallow's Eve '15
I am one of the unfortunate babies to have been born the day before All Hallow’s Eve. Yes, it may not seem as bad being born on Christmas, but you are sadly mistaken. At least if you’re born on Christmas you might get double the gifts. However, when your birth celebration falls on the day before a holiday people are usually too busy preparing for said holiday to remember or bother with you. I know kids are starving for Kim K’s app in India, but this is just as bad from my perspective. Those poor unaware of Keeping Up with the Kardashians kids. Don’t judge me! As a child my parents forgot my birthday several times. Can you imagine what it feels like to wake up at 8 years young to nothing more than a good morning from your entire family?!! I was gutted! So after the first time I said never again. I was a very understanding preteen. Now in the present day I really don’t expect much each year when the day rolls around.
On the 2015 edition of my birthday pity party, my friends came to visit me in LA from my home state of Tennessee. Never going back to that place…..well maybe for the fried chicken. I was thrilled to see three of my college buddies and ready to paint LA a nice shade of burgundy.
Something became very apparent after the first full day of being around my old friends. I wondered had I changed and became worse of person or had their little quirks spiraled into burgeoning annoyance. I had been living and breathed the LA haze for over a year now, and maybe I was suffering from self-absorbed mania. No! I’ve always been a horrible person, so that was not it. Then I realized that to someone new to LA they might consider all Angeleno behavior quite odd. I complained about everything when I moved to the city of angels including its constant sunny days. I can honestly say I love most of what Los Angeles provides now, but my friends hadn’t had ample time to adjust.
On day two of my school zone paced birthday extravaganza, I began to grow tired of it all. I’ve always loved when people came to visit, yet having to explain why I have road rage on the 405, why In & Out is a must, and why the beach is not a magical place just turned me off to the whole situation. I gave my guests the option to roam about the city doing tourist things without me. It may sound like sacrilege to others why I don’t want to see the stars on a sidewalk or Kristen Stewart’s dog walker, but the thrill wears off 10 seconds after landing at LAX. And don’t get me started on the nonsense that is the Los Angeles International Airport with its constant construction and perpetual terrorist scares. But I digress….
I got into a huge argument with one of my guests. I learned through the process of listening that I had been sort of wishy washy at every stage of their visit. I am able to reflect on it now in a most dignified way. Here goes: I was right and you were wrong, get with it! But seriously. We talked through our initial problems and found some common ground. I think the lesson we both learned is that I’m the worst person to visit if you want to go the touristy route. Come visit I’m lonely, but I do consider the unbeaten path the only option.
Halloween night puttered in like a cranky old woman with gout and weak lungs. I had decided to venture out into the famous West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval. Loved it! I am not one for huge crowds or public intoxication, but this was a fun night. First, the costumes were wonderful, amazing, trashy, elegant, scary, inventive, and most of all memorable to say the least! Some highlights included: The Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus, Gara from my favorite anime, the ghost thingy from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, and best of all a girl dressed as a working police cop on patrol (pics and video below). Let me not forget the hundreds of men dressed in scantily clad outfits showing more sausage than a meat market. The first time you see a burly middle aged man wearing a black leather thong claiming to be dressed as Animal from The Muppets will change your life. Thanks Trevor...or maybe it was Cameron….
We walked the long stretch of Santa Monica Blvd taking in all the sights. I stopped a few times to take pictures with great costumes and to laugh at horrible ones. All in all it was a good experience and one of my better birthdays. I can’t say that I’ll start looking forward to the day or the holiday it precedes, yet I do have lots of hope for All Hallow’s Eve Eve 2016. Better late than never….
