An Australian Halloween
Hello and happy, happy, happy Halloween! A day or so late, but it doesn't matter since Halloween has a tendency to stick around for a while afterward with mountains of candy and piles of dress-up clothes floating around for a week or so (or so) after the event.
I admit, I was frightened that this Halloween wasn't going to be as festive as I usually crave it to be. The candy is easy--but there are no Halloweeny-decorated wrappers. There are people that dress up--but only the young ones in unspecific areas that are accompanied by parents as they trick or treat and the only people of my age dressing up are all getting hammered out in the clubs. The skank rule definitely applies. So I prepared for Halloween in my own Tina-like fashion, getting Marcus on-board, and I discovered a $2 shop (because they don't have just a plain ol' $1 store!) that was rife with Halloween paraphernalia and I stocked up: witches hat, sequined bat wings, feather boa, cowboy hat...then I made a stop by the grocery store for requisite confectionary goods, and I made my way back to the office. I had talked about Halloween to my office ladies, saying it was my favorite holiday and how unfortunate that it was that it wasn't really celebrated in Australia. They listened but didn't comment much and I didn't think much about it when they ushered me out the door on Thursday night at five on the dot.
Halloween morning, I got up and decked myself out in black with my orange pearl necklace that I can't seem to be able to wear for any occasion other than Halloween, and an orange cardigan I'd bought especially for the occasion. I felt festive and ready to go. Marcus suggested that I take my fancy dress accessories to the office with me and wear my wings during the day but I brushed it off sadly, saying I would be the only silly girl in the office with wings on. :( But I grabbed a bag of candy and set out the door. When I arrived at my building, I saw one of the auditors waiting for the elevator. Once inside, she casually asked if we had decorated the office for Halloween. I gave her the ol' one-eyebrow and said, "Um, no." ??? You crazy. The elevator stopped at the 14th floor and when the doors opened, my eyes spied...Halloween! Cobwebs and spiders, black and purple garland, ghosties and ghoulies, and even a glow in the dark skeleton. The picture was completed with two of my ladies dressed in black with witch's hats, yelling, "Happy Halloween!" It was like a surprise birthday party!!! Except...Halloween. They had decorated my computer, chair and printer with cobwebs and spiders and left the skeleton hanging over my head. They even bought me "Wacko Jacko", a fatty little faux skeleton man whose red eyes flash while he walks backwards (strangely enough) accompanied by the typical two-noted "Oooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo" Halloween music/siren. Then one of the other auditor managers came over to me with a big handful of candy and said, "Trick or treat!" and handed me a handful of candy. I cracked up with a returned, "Happy Halloween!" after which I was instructed by one of my ladies, Rosie, to put my candy in my special Halloween basket. Ah, a special Halloween basket! I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. It was reminiscent of my CSF days and having my cubicle decorated for my birthday by the birthday groupies.
Then to complete our group, the third of my office gals, Katie, showed up with her witch's hat, complete with purple wig attached, and a replica of my bat wings on. :) I felt like such a nerd, of course I should have brought my Halloween gear! Anyway, Katie walked in with a Krispy Kreme box in hand, which could only mean one thing. Halloween doughnuts! They were disgustingly sweet and appropriately perfect for the occasion. As I inhaled the rest of my doughnut, Katie nonchalantly asked when we were getting chocolate. Rosie and Beth looked over at her with wide eyes as if to say, "Shut UP!" and then their eyes traveled back to me as if to say, "Uh, did you hear that?" Of course I did, but I had no idea what it meant. They sort of whispered for a few seconds and then they said, "Okay, let's go now. Tina, pick up your basket, we're going trick or treating!" They had organized for the four of us to go trick or treating through the office! I just wanted to scream and give them all a huge hug, I couldn't believe it! I haven't been trick or treating since I was 13, but not for lack of wanting to go. I would be out there with my pillowcase in a heartbeat if I thought I could get away with it! I need to find somebody's kids to use for a night...
So the four of us went from office to office, saying "Trick or treat!" and having the auditor managers give us candy that Rosie had given them earlier that morning. We got chocolate frogs and sherbet bombs (yes, I was certainly feeling Harry Potterish) and there were even these chocolate-covered carmels with bios of actors and actresses from Australia and New Zealand. Faaaaaaaaaantastic! In true Halloween style, I ate so much candy throughout the day that by 4:30 I crashed hardcore. My eyes started getting sleepy and kept losing their focus, I felt light-headed and cranky...poor Marcus got to deal with cranky, over-sugared Tina for the rest of the night. :)
After work I traipsed around downtown raiding the video stores for a copy of Hocus Pocus (to no avail) and hunting down Australian-type pumpkins in the grocery stores. I did manage to find one butternut pumpkin, at which point Marcus met me in the grocery store looking frazzled from my lack of success mixed with sugar crash and overheatedness from the weather (it hit 37 degrees that day--98 degrees fahrenheit!). We managed to buy our groceries then headed out to meet up with some of Marcus's uni friends (I still hate using the word uni, but there it is). (And, by the way, Marcus has just finished taking the rest of his exams for his grad classes and should be admitted to the bar early next month. Yay!!!) We submerged ourselves in a bavarian beer cafe and I sucked down some water to try to help rebalance my temperature and sugar levels. To no avail, I sat in a bit of a haze while they chattered away. When we left, the temperature had taken a massive nosedive (the temperature literally dropped 10 degrees within a matter of 10 minutes). I put my sweater back on as the ocean winds whipped around us, and concluded it had taken a fitting turn for the Halloween spirit.
When we got back to Erskineville (the train station closest to our place), we were again denied access to Hocus Pocus, but as we walked by the local, sketchy produce shop I peered in and found they had a large variety of pumpkins. Yay!!! So I bought a short, squat green pumpkin and we went home and carved away! We found that Australian pumpkins' rinds are much thicker than pumpkins back home, which certainly made the carving more difficult. But we persisted and triumphed! (With our cheapie little knives!)
Um...no picture yet? Blogger is not allowing me to put pictures up, so I'll try again later.
Then we relaxed on the couch in our witch's hats and bat wings after a few hours' worth of pumpkin carving and reveled in the jack-o-lantern candlelight. The best kind of candlelight that exists, in my mind.
I admit, I was frightened that this Halloween wasn't going to be as festive as I usually crave it to be. The candy is easy--but there are no Halloweeny-decorated wrappers. There are people that dress up--but only the young ones in unspecific areas that are accompanied by parents as they trick or treat and the only people of my age dressing up are all getting hammered out in the clubs. The skank rule definitely applies. So I prepared for Halloween in my own Tina-like fashion, getting Marcus on-board, and I discovered a $2 shop (because they don't have just a plain ol' $1 store!) that was rife with Halloween paraphernalia and I stocked up: witches hat, sequined bat wings, feather boa, cowboy hat...then I made a stop by the grocery store for requisite confectionary goods, and I made my way back to the office. I had talked about Halloween to my office ladies, saying it was my favorite holiday and how unfortunate that it was that it wasn't really celebrated in Australia. They listened but didn't comment much and I didn't think much about it when they ushered me out the door on Thursday night at five on the dot.
Halloween morning, I got up and decked myself out in black with my orange pearl necklace that I can't seem to be able to wear for any occasion other than Halloween, and an orange cardigan I'd bought especially for the occasion. I felt festive and ready to go. Marcus suggested that I take my fancy dress accessories to the office with me and wear my wings during the day but I brushed it off sadly, saying I would be the only silly girl in the office with wings on. :( But I grabbed a bag of candy and set out the door. When I arrived at my building, I saw one of the auditors waiting for the elevator. Once inside, she casually asked if we had decorated the office for Halloween. I gave her the ol' one-eyebrow and said, "Um, no." ??? You crazy. The elevator stopped at the 14th floor and when the doors opened, my eyes spied...Halloween! Cobwebs and spiders, black and purple garland, ghosties and ghoulies, and even a glow in the dark skeleton. The picture was completed with two of my ladies dressed in black with witch's hats, yelling, "Happy Halloween!" It was like a surprise birthday party!!! Except...Halloween. They had decorated my computer, chair and printer with cobwebs and spiders and left the skeleton hanging over my head. They even bought me "Wacko Jacko", a fatty little faux skeleton man whose red eyes flash while he walks backwards (strangely enough) accompanied by the typical two-noted "Oooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeooooooooo" Halloween music/siren. Then one of the other auditor managers came over to me with a big handful of candy and said, "Trick or treat!" and handed me a handful of candy. I cracked up with a returned, "Happy Halloween!" after which I was instructed by one of my ladies, Rosie, to put my candy in my special Halloween basket. Ah, a special Halloween basket! I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. It was reminiscent of my CSF days and having my cubicle decorated for my birthday by the birthday groupies.
Then to complete our group, the third of my office gals, Katie, showed up with her witch's hat, complete with purple wig attached, and a replica of my bat wings on. :) I felt like such a nerd, of course I should have brought my Halloween gear! Anyway, Katie walked in with a Krispy Kreme box in hand, which could only mean one thing. Halloween doughnuts! They were disgustingly sweet and appropriately perfect for the occasion. As I inhaled the rest of my doughnut, Katie nonchalantly asked when we were getting chocolate. Rosie and Beth looked over at her with wide eyes as if to say, "Shut UP!" and then their eyes traveled back to me as if to say, "Uh, did you hear that?" Of course I did, but I had no idea what it meant. They sort of whispered for a few seconds and then they said, "Okay, let's go now. Tina, pick up your basket, we're going trick or treating!" They had organized for the four of us to go trick or treating through the office! I just wanted to scream and give them all a huge hug, I couldn't believe it! I haven't been trick or treating since I was 13, but not for lack of wanting to go. I would be out there with my pillowcase in a heartbeat if I thought I could get away with it! I need to find somebody's kids to use for a night...
So the four of us went from office to office, saying "Trick or treat!" and having the auditor managers give us candy that Rosie had given them earlier that morning. We got chocolate frogs and sherbet bombs (yes, I was certainly feeling Harry Potterish) and there were even these chocolate-covered carmels with bios of actors and actresses from Australia and New Zealand. Faaaaaaaaaantastic! In true Halloween style, I ate so much candy throughout the day that by 4:30 I crashed hardcore. My eyes started getting sleepy and kept losing their focus, I felt light-headed and cranky...poor Marcus got to deal with cranky, over-sugared Tina for the rest of the night. :)
After work I traipsed around downtown raiding the video stores for a copy of Hocus Pocus (to no avail) and hunting down Australian-type pumpkins in the grocery stores. I did manage to find one butternut pumpkin, at which point Marcus met me in the grocery store looking frazzled from my lack of success mixed with sugar crash and overheatedness from the weather (it hit 37 degrees that day--98 degrees fahrenheit!). We managed to buy our groceries then headed out to meet up with some of Marcus's uni friends (I still hate using the word uni, but there it is). (And, by the way, Marcus has just finished taking the rest of his exams for his grad classes and should be admitted to the bar early next month. Yay!!!) We submerged ourselves in a bavarian beer cafe and I sucked down some water to try to help rebalance my temperature and sugar levels. To no avail, I sat in a bit of a haze while they chattered away. When we left, the temperature had taken a massive nosedive (the temperature literally dropped 10 degrees within a matter of 10 minutes). I put my sweater back on as the ocean winds whipped around us, and concluded it had taken a fitting turn for the Halloween spirit.
When we got back to Erskineville (the train station closest to our place), we were again denied access to Hocus Pocus, but as we walked by the local, sketchy produce shop I peered in and found they had a large variety of pumpkins. Yay!!! So I bought a short, squat green pumpkin and we went home and carved away! We found that Australian pumpkins' rinds are much thicker than pumpkins back home, which certainly made the carving more difficult. But we persisted and triumphed! (With our cheapie little knives!)
Um...no picture yet? Blogger is not allowing me to put pictures up, so I'll try again later.
Then we relaxed on the couch in our witch's hats and bat wings after a few hours' worth of pumpkin carving and reveled in the jack-o-lantern candlelight. The best kind of candlelight that exists, in my mind.
Comments