Octoberfest II
Continuing my last post's recounting of my Halloween celebrations last month.
The day after going to Universal Studios (again), Mike and I drove down to Anaheim for Knott's Scary Farm's Halloween Haunt. This has been a tradition with Mike and I for about 16 years now. We used to drive down, wait with a huge mass of people for the park to open, then squeeze through the metal detectors and wait in long lines to get through the mazes and rides. Now, since we're both a little older and have better paying jobs, we buy a package deal which nets us: a commemorative shirt; hotel stay; spooky dinner; early park entry. We usually get to the hotel early and take a nap or Mike watches the college football games while I play portable videogames, then go down to the buffet and walk to the park to get in about an hour early. We hit all the mazes and rides we can before the rest of the people get in, then hit the shows and round off the night with funnel cake. This year wasn't much different except our room wasn't ready so we took naps on the couches of the hotel lobby and I played some DS while Mike went to the bar to watch the game. Knott's is definitely the best when it comes to these theme park Halloween events, and this year didn't disappoint.
The next Saturday was when the Halloween parties went into full swing. This time I was with Michael Cornacchia, and our first stop was for friend Mark Reilly's 4th Annual Spooktacular at his place in Hollywood. Mark threw the party with his roommates and girlfriend, Stacy. Costume wa
s mandatory and since I hadn't preconceived one, I went with my old standby: The Crow. Since I'm half white, half Asian, and my hair's long at the moment, I really didn't have any other choice -- I mean, I barely even need makeup. When we got there at around 10:30pm, the party was already in full swing, with Greatest American Heroes, Nacho Libres and Nintendo characters spilling out of the house and onto the lawn. 
The place was packed and it took many minutes to get through the living room to the kitchen to drop off beer and pick up some taquitos. Some partygoers went all out on their costumes - my favorites of which were Mario and Luigi, although seeing Mario downing a Bud and Luigi burning through a Parliament dulled the magic a bit.
After some
ed and were let through the gate, the first people I bumped into were the awesome couple, K.P. and B.Lee - fully decked out in Matrix gear, playing dodge ball with a team of guys wearing Dodge Ball (the movie) uniforms. Not sure who won, but it was fun to watch. Mike and I hung for awhile, then walked down a few blocks to Norms and got breakfast.
The day after, I met Fig and a couple of his friends, Heidi and Erin, down in Long Beach to check out, *deep breath*, Queen Mary's ShipWreck 12th Annual Halloween Terror Fest. I hadn't been to the Queen Mary's Halloween event in a long time, probably at least 5 years or more, so I was happy to see they've upped their game since the last time I was there. They had four mazes on the ship and three off, with a big dance party in the "Dome of Doom" where the Spruce Goose used to be housed. They could still do a lot more with it, 
but since winding your way through the dark bowels of the Queen Mary is already pretty creepy, I found it to be fun, even when a monster followed us out of the ship to get me in trouble for taking pictures in the maze. Management wanted me to go back to the car to drop the offending piece of gear off, until I played dumb and pulled my Treo out, which they found to be "maze safe", since it didn't have a flash.
A couple of days later on the 31st, when Halloween finally came around, I drove to Valencia for Mike's (my brother-in-law) and my annual, Mr. Spooky's Haunted House for the kiddies in the neighborhood. Every year we make the garage of his house into a creepy den of evil, complete with skeletons, strobe lights, fog and sound effects. I play Mr. Spooky, a 2000 year old disembodied spirit who teases and taunts the kids into entering our terrifying domain in search of candy. Mike and I usually get loaded outside while my sister (his wife) makes tons of food for family and friends inside. It's always a good time and I hung out there until about 10:30pm when I left to go meet up with some friends who were partying in West Hollywood. Unfortunately, by the time I made it out of the Valley, the area around WeHo was so completely packed with people and cars, it took me what felt like hours to get even close to the neighborhood. By the time I made it to my apartment, my friend Mitch was already passed out back at her place and my other friends were wrapping up their festivities.
That night I slept quite soundly, content in the knowing that Halloween was behind me. I had a great October, and loved hanging with friends and partying, and dressing in costume, and eating candy, but enough. Seriously. At least until next year.
4 Comments:
You are the Crow!
My lord! You take partying for Halloween to a new art form!
You are a machine. How come I never get invited to any of these parties!??! I'm very uncool.
i AM the crow!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home