The Costume Info

Halloween. Yes, every year it gets a bit stressful around this time. People are worried about what their costumes will be. Will they be the funny one? Will they be sexy enough? Will people recognize what obscure movie character I am playing? Is is going to be cheap to do?

These and other questions loom in our minds.

This year I had the luxury of borrowing a costume of my sister's. She went as a roller derby girl a few years ago and told me it would be "no problem whatsoever" to put the costume in the mail for me. Fast forward three weeks and I have no roller derby costume. She flaked. So I began perusing the internet for non-skate requiring costume ideas.

This weekend I put the final touches on an new, even better costume, much of it hand-stitched by me. Since no one reads this blog, I will spoil the surprise. I am going as a black widow spider. I found a costume template to follow on some obscure DIY sewing website. Anyway, so far the costume has cost me about $40.

$6 skirt
$14 shirt
$5 two bags of black tissue paper
$2.50 piece of red felt
$5 cobweb stockings
$4 white hair paint stuffs
$2 little bugs
$1 ribbon
three pairs of old black nylons (free!glad to get rid of those)
Tax (@9%)
Total $43.05

I told myself that I would spend only $25, but whatever. This is Halloween. The paper supplies stores likely use this holiday to gather 11% of their annual revenue (right behind Christmas, V-day, Mother's Day....). Halloween should have been promoted more heavily by the Feds as a fiscal stimulus target.

New Animal Collective Album!!!

Can this be? Less than a year ago we were gifted with Merriwether Post Pavilion. This new album proposed promises to be different, maybe darker, but surely amazing. Watch for "Fall Be Kind."

See article: click here

musicmusicmusicmusic to my ears

Oct. 13, Mon, Junior Boys, Mezzanine, SF
Oct. 21, Wed, Blind Pilot, Great American Music Hall, SF
Oct. 22, Thurs, Noah & The Whale, Swedish American Hall, SF
Oct. 23, Fri, Islands, Bottom of the Hill, SF
Oct. 30, Fri, Regina Spektor, Fox Theater, Oakland

small world, big camera

Below is a series of emails I just received from friends and family of the lost camera owner:
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Rachel

The world is SO small. We found the owner of the camera. He is the brother of a member of the Arab Horse society here in South Africa. He lives in California and was on holiday in Italy.

I forwarded your letter to a council member who recognized the man in the photo. I am sure they will contact you. Thank you so much for your excellent detective work !

Kind regards

XXXXX XXXXXX
Secretary
Arab Horse Society of South Africa

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Dear Rachel

My goodness! What a small world this is. Thank you for your ‘detective work’ regarding the lost camera!

My husband was visiting his brother and sister-in-law in Huntington Beach in June/ July of this year, when that photo was taken. I know that his brother, XXXXX and XXXXXXXX (our sister-in-law) have recently been on a trip to Italy and so am assuming it is XXXXXXXX’s camera! I will forward your email to her and she can contact you directly.

Many thanks again

XXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Lost and found

Dear Mr. XXXX,

I am writing you on the behalf of one of your members (or a friend of one of your members) who may have lost a digital camera while vacationing in Italy a couple of weeks ago.

I found a camera in a shuttle bus connecting Naples airport to Sorrento on Tuesday, Sept. 15. I took the camera home (to California) and today I looked through the photos more closely to try and find some clues as to who this thing belonged to.

I found a photo of someone wearing a shirt from your organization, Arab Horse Society of South Africa. See attached photo. I was wondering if there is anyway you can identify this person for me? That way, I can contact him directly. He is likely to know who owns this camera, if it isn't his own.



I also attached a photo of the camera itself in case that is of any help.




Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Rachel XXXXXXX
Graduate Student, University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

****************

Dear Rachel,

Thank you very much for your efforts to get hold of the owner of the camera. I will do my best to establish who the person on the photograph is and provide you with his contact details.

Regards,

XXXXX XXX

51,396...

The mergers between NW and Delta airlines have created a frequent flier situation that is SO on the verge of being redeemed. It is hard to contain my excitement. That said, I am still 1,104 miles shy of a free round trip ticket to Hawaii.

With a target number of 52,500, my goal seems SO far away. Perhaps mummy can help out. We will put in a request, asap, for mileage transfer....update to come.