Halloween Logistics, Part 1 of ?

Well, no more than eight. There are only eight days until the rally. Yes, I'm a bit nervous. My usual pattern is, fall asleep gently. Wake two hours before I'm supposed to. Be scared to death for two hours as I plan the adventure. Go through the day sleepy.

Then it's over.

Eight days to go, and a lot of things are going on and need to happen.

Before I go on, I wrote this post yesterday for publication today and I have news:

I Have A Buy-In

I spoke to my wife's friend, J, who's coming down to the rally. She called and normally the calls result in either a hand-off or a "she's still at work. Try again later."

Instead she wanted to talk about when she'd arrive and where and how so I could handle that. Then she said "I hear you're going as a non-witch". She said she might have some scary witch props. A couple were kind of feminine, but she said "that should be OK since you're going as a female non-witch". At one point, she asked if I was going to buy a rally shirt. I said "I already have something to wear" and she said "true".

It seems someone told. Which means she's on board, not trying to figure out how to sabotage it.

I'm not sure how much my wife told her. I offered no details.

Later I told my wife that "it seems she knows". She deadpanned "she thinks it's hysterical". I said "everybody will, but you". No reply.

But I have a buy-in.

On To Logistics!

The long-range weather forecast is for partly cloudy skies,high of 56. That's a bit cool, but it works. I'll keep checking. I don't want to be out on a nasty rainy day. The rally is rain or shine. Meg is a fair weather friend.

J will be coming Friday to stay overnight. Although I do not want her to know, this is not a showstopper. She does make things more difficult. For one, my wife will spend some time with J while I'm getting ready. That makes it more obvious that I'm doing my own makeup.

Remember: no stories, but if she doesn't ask, I'm not telling. If she does, I may deflect, but No Stories.

I'll be out late (past midnight) Friday night. I'll have to get up early Saturday: I generally make breakfast. I want to get out of the house at 10. That means I start getting ready at 8. It also means I have to make sure the ladies know I want to leave at 10. I'd rather go with "the girls" than by myself.

Because J is here, I'll tone things down a bit. This will have the side effect of confusing my kids about whether this is a costume thing or not. :) For instance, I'm considering black hose or tights. This will prevent the "You shaved your legs for this?" line of questioning.

By the way, the shaving thing has me a bit concerned. My arm/leg hair mysteriously comes and goes. My kids have either never noticed or never said anything. If they never noticed before, this will bring it to their attention. That means more caution on my part in the future. On the other hand, people at work who know this was more than a Halloween thing don't even notice when I'm wearing a women's shirt to work.

I have a (very long) short list of Things To Do Before Halloween:

* buy a small stuffed monkey and a small stuffed Mickey Mouse. I want something I can attach to my clothes or purse strap.
* buy name tags or blank tags. Print name tags (I'll show y'all what I have in mind soon).
* buy some business cardstock. Print some cards (ditto).
* buy eggs, butter, milk.... Oops. Wrong list.
* bring the O'Donnell picture to MAC or Sephora and see if I can get a lipstick/gloss, eye shadow, and blush in the right colours.
* look for/buy smaller hoops (silver?). I think the ones I have are too big for her style.
* look for/buy shoes. Any excuse....
* make sure I have good black hose or tights! (note: I did this last night ~ good to go!)
* find everything I need and put it all in one place: suit, bra, panties, hose, shoes (and flats, just in case), cinch, pads, necklace and bracelet and earrings, wig, wig brush, makeup, contacts and contact cleaner, sunglasses, purse.... Is that all? That can't be all!
* call manicurist for an appointment (probably next Thursday) for manicure and eyebrow wax.
* call my favourite haircut lady, make sure she'll be available for a Thursday haircut and back-of-neck wax
* preshave arms, hands, legs, feet, chest
* load purse: cash, metro card(s), license, insurance cards, credit cards, glasses case....

Eight days, and I still have a full time job (and my after-hours job). And I have an all-afternoon interview next Wednesday (cross fingers, keep them that way). I'll keep you posted as I cross things off the list. One more thing to add to the list: I was planning on striking a couple of things off the list after work today, but I have another interview scheduled so I won't have time.

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