Halloween Pizza Party

I so did not want to go.

Up at 4:00 in the morning, by the time 12:30 rolled around -- when festivities were to begin, I was so sleepy that I couldn’t see straight.

However, as The Seer had decided to get creative and come up with a costume ONLY because I’d said I was wearing one, I felt compelled to attend.

Would you believe that, when I offered The Seer the use of one of my tutus, she didn’t know what a tutu was?

Apache knew, and he’s a guy.

I described it to The Seer, “You know … one of those little skirts made out of netting.” (Actually, tulle, but if she didn’t know what a tutu was, she most surely wasn’t going to know tulle).

She looked confused.

“Dancers wear them”.

Still looked confused.

“Ballerinas wear them.”

“Ohhhh” she says, “A tutu”.

It amazes me sometimes what normal everyday people are not aware of, like Big L – the woman who retired from the Navy and is nice when she’s on meds, to be avoided when off. One day she asked me, “What’s that thing I see in your ear when you’re walking?”

She can’t possibly mean the IPod, thought I.

“That green thing”.

She DID mean the IPod, “It’s my IPod”, says I.

“Why do you wear that? What’s it for?”

She’s serious.

“Music. It’s a music player. I’m listening to music and walking to the beat.”

Can you believe Big L has traveled the world, seen things I only see on television, but hadn’t seen an IPod before?

Not that I know everything. In fact, a couple days ago, a young man who obviously is living illegally with one of the residents engaged me in conversation. Topic turned to the slogan, “What would Stuckey do”.

I didn’t get it.

He was just as amazed at my lack of knowing as I at others’. However, having a curious mind, I logged onto the internet and learned Stuckey's is a famous roadside convenience store chain found on highways throughout the United States that offers pecan log rolls, pralines, divinity, goo goos, chocolates, flavored pecans, and nuts.

I don’t travel and have no interest in Stuckey’s offerings, so my not knowing can be excused. Not so much with not knowing tutu and IPod.

I think the problem with most of my fellow residents is they’re so busy living in the past, talking about how much they miss Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, that they're oblivious to the NOW.

So anyway, I cowgirl up’d, got a shoe on my still slightly swollen sore foot and limped on down to the Community Room at 12:30, dressed once again as Captain America, but with the new Winter Soldier logo.

Last Year's Logo

This Year's Logo

While we’re on the topic of what normal everyday people are not aware of, as obvious as it was, no one knew what my costume was last year. One resident guessed “Wonder Woman” another “Super Girl”, others asked, “What are you?”

This time I walked in and got, yet again, “Wonder Woman?” also “Are you some kind of super hero?”

It was a much better showing for the new Activity Director, 17 people attended. Again, nowhere near representative of the number of residents, but enough to make the event somewhat successful.

I was disappointed to see so few of us in costume, four out of seventeen.

The good news is, that with the poor showing of costumes, it was easier for us four to win a prize, as there were precisely four categories … Scariest, Most Beautiful, Most Original/Most Popular, Most Serious.

Bloody Butcher won Scariest
Mardi Gras Mystique won Most Original
Nun won Most Serious
Captain America won Most Beautiful

I was so excited at my prize -- a Walmart Gift Card, that I neglected to notice what the others won.

On the menu were pizza, chips, soda, salad, cake, pumpkin pie. I opted for salad and a small slice of cake and pie. Hopefully not enough to cause my stomach to rebel.