costume for 2008!!
Posted by admin in Halloween 2008
oooooh!! i am so brimming with pure excitement I can barely contain myself. Seriously. I’m ready to burst at the seams. I jsut decided after much thought what I should be for Halloween & I’m going with a costume that’s not super popular anymore but I think I can pull it off really well with what I’ve got: THE GIRL FROM THE RING!!
I’ve got the hair already, I’ll just do up my face, find an old nightgown to wreck… and it’s creepy as hell! Especially in a club or other dark enviroment ( I have NO idea how I’m going to see since I can barely see with my hair down now, let alone in front of my face… LOL. Anyways, it was between that, a witch or a zombie. No more cute or sexy costumes for me (this year at least) I’m going back to what I think Samhain should stand for!
Age 21 -1998
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
I was working at Slave On Foods as an undercover floorwalker. I had a kick ass 1980 burgandy Monte Carlo that ate up a lot of gas. Fortunately it was cheap back then! I was SUCH a tomboy at this time. I honestly am not sure of what happened this year so I am not going to say anything until I get it all sorted out. Onto the next year.
ADDED MARCH 11, 2009 – George and his new Korean girlfriend (now his wife) came over with one of her other Korean student friends. They were studying in the country and have never celebrated or seen halloween before so they wanted to trick or treat. I helped them with the makeup and we all went as either a ghoul or zombie. We went trick or treating around my area for while. The weird thing is that I cannot remember what we did afterwards.
Age 20 -1997
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
I am so confused if the events I recall happened this year or the next year. It became a blue for several years so I have to skip this until I can be sure of everything.
ADDED – March 11, 2009 – I just found some old halloween photographs in an envelope which confirms, through resonable deductions, that I was a zombie this year. Amielie, George and I went trick or treating around my house. Am dressed as a girl in pajamas looking adorable while I looked horrifying. After that, we had to go to Superstore to pick up some ingredients for Lisa Ha’s Halloween party (she started having regular really popular parties at this time & the house would fill up!) It was my first realization that there are people who have to work on Halloween & can’t get the day off!!! I was weirded out and horrified and am sure I just stared at them like they were aliens. The party was good; I remember a lot of people being there and possibly making out with one with Lisa’s friends in the bathroom (whose name totally escapes me).
Age 19 – 1996
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Holy crap, that last years post took a lot out of me. A lot of old memories had to be rehashed and pondered over. I am getting tired tonight already…
This year I was working at Vancouver Film School. I think I may have worked this day but I really doubt it. I don’t totally recall what I did that day. I had just gotten my first REAL car (not counting my 75 Honda Civic at 16) a red Nissan Pulsar and was so proud of it! By this point I was no longer talking to or even in touch with Steve C since we started doing “stuff.” I was a burn victim that year; it was a funny sight since I had short bleach blonde hair at the time.
I went trick or treating with Audrey’s friend, her name slips my mind right now but she is half east indian & half white. Plus her friend I can’t remember her name. They dressed as a witch and a housewife with bathrobe & curlers in hair.
I went to Lisa H’s house and waited until she put on make up to finish her costume as a Chinese Girl. She wore a blue cheong-sam and that was it, LOL. We drove up to North Van to Niva C’s house where she was having a party… and it was extremely asian. There probably was one white dude, y’know the token white who hangs out with all asian dudes and has yellow fever. I can’t remember how late we stayed out or if anything crazy happened but most likely probably not, LOL. Yeah we’re such a fun bunch.
Age 18 -1995
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Okay, this is definately the most stressful year of all my halloweens. In addition to doing the annual Ray Cam Haunted House in, this year, the boys changing room. (see picture above) We were kind in charge of the big annual Haunted House at Aberthau, a community center near Spanish banks beach situated in a huge & very old mansion. It was ridiculously huge, dark and had a ton of rooms, double floors and a grand open foyer with a big curving staircase. It was everything we needed to create our first big haunted house. Oh yeah, we as in me, Danielle and Steve C. That was the year I was went to Blanche Macdonald for make up artistry and met Audrey, so I was armed with knowledge of out of kits SFX makeups, not prosthetics though. That would kick more ass.
Danielle, Steve & I were in charge of one room each, making it whatever we wanted. oh, I didn’t mention we were in charge of 13 year old Girl Scouts (or whatever their troops are called at that age). We had a real budget and real props to work with; I even accidentally kept a rubber skull that is still in the doorway of my Christina Lake house. My room was HUUUUGE, probably a library in earlier times with a fireplace, so we made it the insane asylum!!! Danielle had a torture chamber where she was the executioner, complete with guillotine. And of course Steve had Freddy Kreugers boiler room, what else? I can still picture every detail of Steve’s prosthetic Freddy pieces, the smell of his replica red/green striped sweater and how amazingly hott he was as Freddy….. Since Steve & I had SFX make up experience, we taught Danielle all we could and basically did ALL the make up for all the other girls, which was a LOT. Literally, we had to get there early, set up our stations and start barking orders. It was a big deal getting all the rooms ready too; as in actually building stuff, finding props, and designing the whole tour and what the backstory is. The girls were very creative and into the whole project; this was the last year that I know of that this HH kicked mega butt. More on that later!!
The day went off PERFECTLY. There were huge line ups outside and most of the little kids ( and even a lot of the adults ) were freaked out and screaming. The tour guide led you through the
1. Alien disection room, which Steve made the head for with foam & Fimo. I kept that head for a few years in my room.
2. the Insane Asylum with crazy freaks like me, girls in cages & all
3. Danielles torture chamber, with a full on execution and head falling into a basket. Whippin good ole time!
4. Freddy Kreugers boiler room, with fiery cannisters, smoke and Freddy leaping out at you.
It was my first taste at what I can only dream of doing. There is no way to describe the satisfaction I felt that way, and that wasn’t even Halloween day itself. It happened on the Saturday before. Halloween fell on a Tuesday that day & I remember Steve saying that he was too wiped out from doing the Aberthau HH that he probably wasn’t going to go TTing. I was F-ing PISSED. I can recall how Steve & I would talk about how one day soon, we would open a store to rival Act 1 and we would give classes every week. He would do prosthetics and I would do out of kits FX. We would comprise our own kick ass team of artists and do make up for movies & TV shows…
I was working in an officer downtown on Granville & Pender, the headquarters of Ingledews Shoes where I was in inventory control. It was a fun job for an 18 yr old as I got to wear office clothing, like suits and pumps, LOL. When you’re young you wanna look older than you are and vice versa when you get older.
The Ray Cam haunted house was great… AGAIN… thanks to me, Kaley & Danielle. I don’t even know if they still do it or who superceded me in organising it. This was my last & best year at Ray cam in general. I had started to outgrow it last year but still wanted to hang on to those traditions; It has been my second home since I was almost 14 and I met some of my closest friends there.
I also helped my friend Kris plan a big Halloween party for his little sibling. It wasn’t a big deal since he lived close to me, right off Hastings. I believe the party happened on Sunday, so it was a full weekend! It always struck me as weird how his mom would seemingly flirt with him, like he was a boyfriend. And how she seemed jealous of his friendship with me, another girl and possible competitor. She would always be touching him, demanding his attention and treating him like a lover & not like a mom….
On Halloween day, Victor, Beatriz’s boyfriend, drove us to Brentwood mall where we found out we were too old for the costume contest. It was Danielle as a dead Raggedy Ann doll, Steve in FULL Freddy Kreuger garb, Beatriz as a dead Catwoman and me as a Killer Japanese Doll. We trick or treated in the mall & checked out what was going on there. Then Steve had to meet his other friends, Danielle went somewhere and Bea & I trick or treated all the way back to my place!! Vic met us there and we just spent the night in. I wondered what Steve was doing that night.
That year was what I wished it could be every year. It was the perfect one, though I didn’t realise it until many years later.
Age 17 -1994
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Someone gave me an old VHS old school style videocamera recorder. It actually took the VHS right in it so you can imagine how big this contraption was. It was given to a drug dealer “friend” as payment & he didn’t even want it so I borrowed it & I guess he forgot about it. So I actually used it to tape Halloween day that year, just hanging out at my house with John, Luis, Rudy & friends. I don’t know whatever happened to that tape though… Itried to keep it for as long as I could & I remember taping next years HH at Aberthau after it…
At that time I had gradded and working at, oh gawd, at Mr Submarine at Pacific Center mall. That was my most embaressing job ever in my life. Working in food services at a fast food joint. It was most humbling and humiliating & I vowed that I am much better than that & to never go there again. Anyways, I had to book off Oct 31 specifically & I was in near danger of actually having to work it, which would be a first for me! I can’t believe I just admitted to working at fast food. It makes me more feel more blessed & thankful at what I’ve accomplished.
The Ray Cam haunted house was a big hit as usual; it all turns in to a blur year after year. Pulling out the old decoration from the basement vault, shopping for more cobwebs & punkins at Superstore…. good times. Kaley & I dressed up as dead prom queens; we found old prom dresses at Value Villiage on Hastings & bloodied them up good.
Soooo on Halloween, after hanging out at my house goofing off, we all went to Metrotown Mall, my FIRST EVER year going to a mall. I mean it was early so we didn’t compromise our time outside. They had a big costume contest which had some SERIOUS contestants. Then we went TTing in the mall but they gave our really crappy candy, since there were so many kids. More later on how malls are diluting and changing Samhain tradtitions for the worse rant.
Then we took the Skytrain down & went TTing outisde, with Sara and ummmm… I really can’t remember anymore but there was a bunch of us! I think Beatriz & Zsuzanna was there but not Kaley for some reason. Possibly Luis & John. We went around the Renfrew skytrain station and somehow trick or treated our bad asses down to Broadway near Main St. Isn’t that random. The stragglers & I went into Wendy’s on Main st for food. I remember taking the bus home by myself, psyching myself up for all the Halloween specials my parents helped me tape on the VCRs. That, to me, was the BEST part of the night. The anticipation of going home & watch hours of halloween specials while eating candy till I fell asleep.
Age 16 – 1993
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Grade 12 – 16 years
The last year that I got to relax, that is how i remember it best. We did the now annual HH (haunted house) at Ray Cam Community Center, alternating between the girls changing room and the boys changing room, lol. I preferred the boys changing room even though it was smaller, the space was divided into rooms instead of one huge open area. It made it that much spookier & easier to get the 7 year olds to cry. OMG I am so sadistic.
The HH went off without a hitch. It was a big hit as more & more kids went through it every year.
This year, Beatrice (now using her middle name on a daily basis) & I decided to have a sleepover at our friend George V’s house. He lived near John Oliver HS, by 45th and Fraser, that’s all I can remember. It was a low rise apartment and he had one floor above him. George has also had ghostly encounters on & off throughout his life ever since they discovered dead bodies buried in the basement walls of their old family house in Winnipeg since he was a little boy. They used to have ghostly experiences (understandably) in that house a lot and maybe because of that he is now more in tune with that side of things. Keeping an open mind helps. I on the other hand am ABSOLUTLEY FREAKING TERRIFIED OF THE SUPERNATURAL & GHOSTS. It didn’t bother George at all. To me this was the ultimate Halloween experience since he said that he’s had a couple of weird encounters in that house already, just like his last house. Why does he keep picking these old creepy “heritage houses?” hmmmm
So Beatriz & I went trick or treating around that area. That year I was “Bopper Ninja From Hell” I think I got that idea from watching the Best of the Best martial arts series and there was one fighter who had a ridiculously long braid that he’d wrap around his neck when not using it. During a fight, he’s release the hair braid!! Which also had a metal ball with spikes on attached to the end…. so of course, what 16 year old wouldn’t want to duplicate this?? lol. & Ninjas are cool.
THe rest of the costume was pretty silly; all black clothing & I’m sure some make up on my face.
It was kinda sucky cuz it rained that year… that HARDLY ever happens even though this is Vancouver we’re talking about. I think we might have brought am umbrella & the streets were kinda bare… SUCKY!!! I hate bare streets the most. that’s just depressing.
When we got back George was all freaked out cuz apparently, he was in another room and the TV just came on in the living room all by itself!!! I was all creeped out by that but underneath it all, I hoped something would happen that night just for Samhain, no matter how scared I thought I’d get…. and nothing did.
The rest of the night was uneventful, we had a sleepover and I believe that was a shcool night too so we had to attend classes the next morning… at least that’d be the last year of schooling forever for me!!!
Age 15 – 1992
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Grade 11 – 15 yrs
Getting up there now!! I was really involved with Ray Cam this year & at this point in my life. This was the first year of the Ray cam haunted house for the little kids. Basically we would take over either the girls or guys changeroom downstairs and transform that into a haunted house with a very miniscule budget and our imaginations (and a lot of cardboard & garbage bags). We’d get as much as we could from our planning committee trips to Value Villiage or Superstore. We’d make a cardboard tunnel from the entrance, glueing scary masks, spiders & whatnot to the sides. In the bathroom stalls we’d put scary stuff in it or have someone in costume jumping out to scare the kids. I mean, these are LITTLE kids we’re talking about, like 4-10 years old so it wouldn’t take that much, thank goodness. cuz we really had nothing!
This year Ray Cam had a halloween dance as well. I remember going to it and they were playing Madonna, lol. I left early and went to this guy that I was kinda seeings’ house. He wasn’t there since he was on a trip to Quebec but that wasn’t the point; I went over to make out with his younger brother. I can’t put names in here since they could google this stuff & find out… I don’t care about the making out with his bro crap, just that this whole blog is weird and I’d be quite embaressed.
This year I went trick or treating with Kaley & May, first around Ray Cam since they both lived there. But we left super quick cuz it’s a poorer neighbhorhood ( it’s the housing projects) and they gave out sucky candy. So we took the bus over to the Granville and 33rd area & hit the good houses. It was a pro since they gave out full sized choco bars and good candy, but we really had to hoof it a long ways to get the prize. Kaley wasn’t that into TTing and half the time she just hung out by the sidewalk smoking (yeah, she had just started smoking ). May was acting like she was too cool for this stuff but she liked the candy… we took the bus back to RC and we may have gone to Quangs house to hang out after that.
I can’t remember my costume choice that year.
I was still taping the Halloween specials religiously. I started buying both TV Guide and the free TV Week that came in the Saturday edition of the Vancouver Sun. Since both only listed descriptions for some shows, I found it best to buy both and highlight all the ones that had halloween specials, just to make sure I had em all covered! hehe. My parents would help me tape them & I couldn’t wait to get home that night & watch em all!
May & I used to go “scamming” a lot then. that was our code for “shoplifting” and we’d hit a diffrerent mall every weekend. I’d roll up empty plastic bags from mall stores and put them in another shopping bag. May would be the lookout, though she was REALLY heaty while doing it; talking too loud and looking around way too suspiciously. I’d love stealing Halloween goodies from Hallmark and Zellers, like decorations, candle holders, stationary and little knick knacks. I’d give them to my friends as Halloween gifts and thus started a tradition for several years. Every mall trip I’d come back with at least a couple bags full of loot and split it with May.
Decorating my house had also become a tradition of sorts. I remember at 13 or 14 I even bought some decorations with my own money to put outside my parents house. They were cheap cartoony cutouts & stuff, but it’s all about effort & thought.
We’d hang around Doug & Chris Linleys house by Strathcona a lot then, me May & Kaley. Cozy times! I like that area around Halloween, there’s a lot of big trees and “heritage houses” around, it had a nice feel to it.
Age 14 – 1991
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Grade 10 – Age 14
Halloween was on a school day this year, I remember because I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could rush home, change into costume, eat and take the bus back down to Guin’s house. She lived by Britannia Secondary on Victoria in an old drafty house with a hidden hallway in the attic. We met up with Ashton and then trick or treated our way down in a straight line to my house! At the time it seems like a long ass trek but we did it and got tons of candy on the way, passing my Temp in the process and a bunch of hooligans. We were kinda bad that year as well. If there was a kid holding a huge bowl of candy when we knocked on the door, we’d just reach in and scoop as much candy as our little hands could fill, lol.
Back at my place, I was walking by the side of the house, which also looks into the neighbhors basement suite. They screamed when they saw me walk by their window which was hilarious and they came out to check out our costumes. Inside my basement suite, we watched a horror movie and then some Halloween specials after we checked out our loot. I don’t remember what we watched or anything. I was dressed as the grim reaper that year, with makeup and a long black cape. Ashton was a vampire and I can’t remember what Guin was. Then we had a sleepover and I think we all slept sideways on my bed, ROFL. Good times.
I do know that I was hanging around Ray Cam a lot that year.
Age 13 -1990
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Grade 9 -Age 13
This year I transferred to Britannia Secondary (another asian run school in the Eastside) which I liked more than Tech. I had a new group of friends, some which I met while volunteering at the Strathcona daycamp during summer hols (hahaha, summer hols, that’s a british term). I don’t think I started hanging out at Ray Cam just yet… but we did hang out at the Brit community center & they has a haunted house in part of the indoor pool area. It was a whole Halloween festival but as high schoolers, we were way too cool for that.
I went trick or treating around Britannia with Melinda, Charlene and a couple others. It was a busy year but we didn’t go to that many houses as my friends weren’t into it the same way as I was. At the end of the TTing, we climbed on the roof of the daycare center portion to light off Roman Candles ( I didn’t buy em but my friends got hold of some). There were these older boys that were doing the same on the roof and they tried to grab our bags of candy. I held onto mine as they tried to do the grab & run but my bag ripped and a lot of my candy fell out. I tried to salvage as much as I could with my broken plastic bag and then we went straight to Charlenes house which was a block away. After we sorted out our candy & traded I took the bus home, with less candy than I wanted. Getting back home & snuggling in bed to watch Halloween specials was nice.