Halloween

I have to agree with WCA when he says that Halloween is too much pressure. Movies make it seem like it's easy to have fun on Halloween, especially in college, but it's actually harder than you would think. Last year was pretty lame because it was on a Wednesday, so I didn't want to go out, despite my awesome hooker costume. Halloween weekend last year was lame too, my friends and I wandered along Court St. trying to find a party, and by the time we did all the good parties were pretty much over, and no longer worth the $5 you have to pay to get in.
I was optimistic this year, but last night was pretty much more of the same. I loved my Kaylee costume (sadly, no one took a picture), but the night itself wasn't very fun. I had opted to hang out with my non-rugby friends, so I skipped the girls' rugby party, and hung out in Nicole and Dana's room. I wasn't drinking really, so that was the first clue I might not have a great night, as it's less fun than you would think to hang out with drunk people when you are sober. (Dana had a friend who she said was going to the IB to make fun of the drunk people, but I think that's incredibly stupid. She isn't 21, so she would be paying to stand in a hot, dirty, packed-to-the-gills bar where she wouldn't be dancing. I don't get the appeal at all, but to each his own.) We tried to play various games, but they never got started, and around ten we decided to try and find a party. You would think it would be easy, but apparently the cops had warned the frats not to have opens, so it was slim pickings. We wandered around aimlessly (it felt very familiar) until I admitted that I was pretty much killing time at this point, and I just wanted to go to the IB and meet up with my ruggers. Dana had never been to the IB before, so she wanted to come, and we decided to go back to their room until 12, and then go to the bar.
We went to Monroe, and chilled for about an hour, but the evening was clearly winding down. We sat around eating hint of lime tostitos and sharing a beer that Chelsea's boyfriend had left in the fridge until it was time to go. Dana fell asleep, so it was just Clarence and me, and when we got to the IB Clarence said he'd keep me company in line, but then he was going home. I found Pete B*nnister in line, and we were all chatting, which was nice, but he burned a hole in my shirtsleeve with his cigarette ash, which was irritating. None of my friends were at the bar yet, and it was the most crowded that I had ever seen it. I wandered around looking for people that I know, and waited in line for the bathroom just so I would have an unawkward place to stand. While I was waiting, who should appear but Goose, holding hands with a girl that wasn't beautiful, but was pretty the way Paul's high school girlfriend was pretty. Small, thin, good hair, good make up, like a beagle is what a dog looks like, they are what pretty girls look like. He said hi, and sort of touched my shoulder, and i felt like I had been punched in the solar plexus. Just in case I wasn't uncomfortable enough already, being alone in the most crowded bar in the world, I now had to deal with the possibility that I would see Goose kissing this Barbie. That didn't stop me from looking for him all night, I always look for him at the IB, but I only see him when I'm in a jumpsuit with smudgy make up on my face to make me look like I've been working in the engine room on a spaceship. I didn't see him again, but just that brief encounter was enough to bug me for a good long time.
My friends eventually showed up, and we danced and did the normal bar stuff. It was too late though, my night was past saving. It was too hot, and I wasn't in the mood. No one ever dances with me at the IB anymore. My friends do clearly, but no strange boys. I feel weird saying I miss strangers latching onto my dragonfly-style, but it makes me feel sort of rejected. One guy did come up to me actually, he was a friend of the Marine's, and unbelievably drunk. He tried to kiss me too, which was not ok. So I'll occasionally get hit on by creepers, but that's all. It's discouraging, especially when past boys are around to see how much of a hit I'm not.
The lights came on at 2:00, and my friend Oaks realized she had lost her blood sugar machine, card, license and phone. So we waited around the bar during the clean up, looking through the bits of costume debris on the floor. It didn't turn up though, and Colin said that it wasn't in the building if they hadn't found it. I felt really bad for Oaks, that's a really unfortunate end to a night, especially a holiday, when there's more pressure to have a good time.
Halloween is hard. It's probably going to be a letdown as long as I have any kind of expectations. Maybe I'll like it when I have kids that I can take trick or treating, but for now I'll just look at it as a pit stop on the way to Thanksgiving, the lowest pressure holiday.