Estoy Nueces

I survived Halloween at work. Lots of partying going on, but I was working so I only walked up to the front, took my bloody Mary, and went back to work. Okay, a stop or two for chocolate along the way. I didn't find out there were whole tables of sandwiches and food until it had been sitting out gathering ptomaine for hours.

I ended up opting for the minimal costume. I bought some devil horns and a little devil tail and pitchfork at Walgreen's the other night. I wore a red t-shirt, horns and a tail, and I was festive. The boss that loves Halloween so was dressed as a chicken with a feather boa around his neck and feathers glued all over his tights. He's a wild one.

The best costume of the day was "the prize whore." I don't know if I've written in here about the disdain that radio people have for prize whores. These are the folks that come to every remote and only come to eat all of your food and win all of your prizes. And they aren't loyal listeners. They come to every station remote and don't care if it is a Metallica CD or tickets to see Pete frickin' B*nz. They just want to be a hog. There's even a movie made in Austin by another local radio person about them. Now that I have a DVD player (got it last week!) I need to buy that movie. The prize whores she chronicles are "my" prize whores. They come to all of our events. They come to every station event. They are not hated or reviled, but just irritating in their greed.

Anyway, back to Halloween. This co-worker/friend came as a prize whore. She dressed sort of as white trash with an overstuffed chest and butt in a polka dot dress with black tights and white socks and ankle boots, red-Rosanne Rosannadanna hair, a blacked out tooth, and bad make-up. All over her outfit she had every station's bumper sticker and every prize she could attach: Oil change certificates, movie passes, football megaphones, CDs, etc. It was priceless.

See? That's what I'm up against and it is easier to be in that "see-I-Don't-care-and-I'm-not-even-trying" category than it is to put in an effort and have it fall flat and look stupid.

So. Halloween ended. Came home to find that my sweet husband (who wanted leftover candy!) had bought candy today and there was a treat bowl by the front door so I guess he had given some out to the neighborhood kids. I hope our true neighbors came by before the pickuploads of predator kids descended (the ones that grow up to be prize whores!).

Tonight I had a more solemn Halloween and Day of the Dead ceremony. I pulled out photos of Mark's wonderful Uncle Charlie, my precious Aunt Det, my grandparents, Mark's two granddads that meant so much to him (and one meant so much to me, too), and some photos of more distant ancestors that we didn't know, but somehow have that strong family connection with more than with other ancestors. I made my own little memorial setting to them and had a good conversation with them all. I may not like Halloween, but I think Day of the Dead as a day to remember and appreciate our ancestry and our dead friends and relatives is a day that everyone should honor.