I won the battle with my dark side and went to the Halloween Party at The Porch in Harlem. That’s Mark, Beth, and Dena’s listening room/bar/café to be in Harlem. There is still work being done on the interior so for now they appropriately enough use their porch. I was on the fence about going. The Wormtongue on my shoulder said, “You’ll be all alone there, and it will make you lonelier.” Gandalf the White was on my other shoulder saying, “Go, there’s a brass band, Beth, Mark, and Dena will be there, it’s a party and you can wear a costume.” As he did with Théoden, Gandalf won. When I have these internal debates, I have found that going out is usually the right course of action. There was a third character without a shoulder to stand on, maybe he was on top of my head, in a baseball uniform saying, “Watch the World Series!” He had a good argument as it was apparently a great game and the team I’m rooting for, the Astros won. Going out was still the winning call; especially as I wanted to wake up early this morning and the series would run late. I could have in fact watched the end of the game when I got home but the desire to not die of sleep deprivation won out.
I went with an archetypal costume, something I could throw together cheaply and quickly. It was not one of my creative masterpieces, but it worked. I went as the Shadow.
Insert picture of me in costume here.
I should have asked Beth to take a full body shot of me. I was black from head to toe except for the slit around my eyes. I even wore black gloves. The total cost was $1.50 for the gaiter. I got it at a thrift shop yesterday. I was looking for anything black to cover my face and this was perfect. It also doubled as a facemask.
One reason I knew it would be fun was that this was a family that knows how to do Halloween. They used to turn their Victorian home in Yonkers into a haunted house. They had a basement filled with Halloween decorations to be brought out once a year. Now they live Harlem not far from The Porch. From these pictures you’ll see that they met my expectations. That’s Beth as Daenerys. I didn’t recognize her, not even when I photographed her. I didn’t expect anyone to recognize me from just my eyes, but Dena did. I suspect witchcraft. Mark, Beth, and John who was doing sound didn’t have a clue who I was. Beth on the other hand showed her whole face. It’s amazing what a wig can do.
The music was by the Funkrust Brass Band. They are clearly related to Mucca Pazza. Who knew that Circus Punk Marching Bands were a thing? It’s pretty much impossible to not enjoy yourself watching Funkrust or Mucca Pazza. They are delightful chaotic dada. If only they could bottle them the anti-depressant industry would go broke.
Here is a video of their entrance.
I almost got arrested on the way there. I encountered a group of cops some of whom were unmasked. I did what I usually do when people near me are unmasked, I signaled by pointing to my mask. Often people, perhaps usually, people put their mask on. I’ve had good success with cops. That’s my good deed of the day, COVID-19 is the number one killer of cops. This time, the one that was totally unmasked just ignored me. One of his colleagues said, “He doesn’t have to he’s vaccinated. Well so am I, and I was wearing a mask, not just the gaiter. No matter what you feel about wearing masks, it is the law in New York City that masks are mandatory anywhere in the subway, both on the cars or in the station. It’s the cops’ job to enforce the law, not publicly flaunt it. One of the cops said, “He’s a veteran. Like that matters. Novel coronavirus has no interest in a person’s military status. It shows that they were taking it totally wrong, as a sign of disrespect on my part, as opposed to a matter of public health. They asked me if would tell other people to wear masks, and I told them that I do, all the time. They didn’t believe me because I wasn’t walking up and down the car telling people to wear masks. To them this was all about a challenge to their authority. When I took my camera out the one with no mask on at all immediately masked up. I took a photo of the leader’s badge; he was the only one in a position for me to take the picture without getting up. I couldn’t get a good picture of the totally maskless officer. The leader said, “you think we’re scared? Nothing is going to happen to us?” That’s the problem, they feel they can do what they want with impunity. I am going to report them today.
I got my exercise in yesterday, I walked to Stop & Shop. I walked 5.77 miles for the entire day. As my wheeled cooler broke, I carried the food in my backpack and what couldn’t fit in a shopping bag. Next time I take a cart. My back was not happy about carrying the weight. It was heavy.
Can you believe that I started writing at 7:35 AM? I can’t. I finally made progress on moving my circadian rhythm in preparation for working the polls at 5 AM tomorrow. I woke up at 5:15 this morning, tomorrow it will be 4:15. I want time to be able to make a hot breakfast before I leave. I’ll make sandwiches for the rest of the day. Maybe I’ll hard boil some eggs too.
Wise Madness 