Here's the bummer.

[Town Redacted] has this excellent Halloween parade. Very loosely organized, hip, street happening involving thousands. Gothic, mythic, seductive, surprising, shocking, silly, and otherwise grownup costumes abound. It's awesome. There are antlers, spangles, flashing lights, pantomime horses, wiggling hips, bass drums, floats and stilts, snake dancers and fire jugglers. People plan for a year what they're going to do for their Halloween spectacle.

And I'll be out of town, in lonely Indianapolis, missing the parade, residing in some residence hotel with some unknown individual and missing my [Redacted].

i love a parade, even when you don't have an anarchist float break in in the middle like we use to do in Bton. As far as i know, everyone who use to make a scene there left one way or another.
i'd try to meet you if i wasn't planning to be several hours in the other direction. What the hell are you going to be doing there anyway?


And where is a public brouhaha for the free shaking?
Does this mean i should make a costume anyway?

i need inspiration. Abstract, bizarre inspiration.

So, train travel... is anyone gonna search my stuff? Do i need a valid ID? Are there things i should know if i take a longer trip to a coast or a hinterland?

I don't know about trains, but the last time I was on a bus, in Nowhereville, the capital of South Nowhere, drug sniffing dogs and a SWAT team (well, that's what they looked like in their getups, anyway) pored over the passenger bags. And that was BEFORE 9-11. *shakes head*

I'm not sure I understand the question.

I used to go to Whitby for Halloween, but no more. I'm pretty sad about that.

So smuggling is out of the question on buses, but trains?

Eamon, which question?
1.) Is there anything going on in Chicago for Halloween?
1a.) Is there anything going on for Halloween that would be worth going to Chicago for (as it might be possible for me to do)?
2.) What is going on for Halloween?
3.) What are you doing for Halloween?
4.) What should i be for Halloween?
5.) So smuggling on trains is completely out of the question? Even if it was a vial of original LSD retrieved from Leary's butthole before his bodily disposal that is easily concealed in a cigarette case? Do i double wrap in foil inside a thermos for the humbert humbolt? If a battery powered toothbrush turns on, will they blow up my luggage? What about the absinthe?

What's in Whitby, seany?

In Whitby at Halloween, the Goths come out to play.

1) There is, but I am not hip enough to tell you what those things are.
1a) Most likely, although it is midweek.
2) Parties, drink specials, haunted L rides, the Chicagoween Festival, club events, costume contests.
3) I have no plans as yet.
4) I have no suggestion.
5) Totally, although I've never had trouble on the DC-Chicago overnight route. If you bring Absinthe, I will make you a sazerac.

I spent two Halloweens in Chicago, and though every adult I knew went all out, I saw not a single child decked out in costume. I suspected that schools or churches probably sponsored Halloween (or anti-Halloween) events so the kids didn't have to go wandering around at strangers' doors.

Most of the Chicago Halloween action I saw was in bars, or at private parties.

Last year, our first year in a new apartment, I bought a modest bag of candy. The Fella saw it, nodded vaguely, and zipped out the door to the shops. He returned with three enormous bags of candy eyeballs, severed fingers, ghoul lips, and disembodied ears. Much better.

Not one child came to our door. We ate pb- and caramel-filled chocolate body parts for weeks.

We gave out twenty-something bags of candy to the kids last year. Halloween is a very, very big deal in our (Edgewater) neighborhood.

I'm usually so busy with preparing for the kids that I rarely do any bar-hopping. I'm sure I'll be asleep by 9.

You can come to my place for our party if you're in town, eth. I'll send you the invite.

Eamondaly, you're not going to bed until after you show up at my party, dammit.

Thanks for the offer, me3dia.
Things are still up in the air with possible amendments (because some people who think they can rend the fabric of space and time with their computer machines and overthrow global economies don't seem to be able to see the point of printed calendars or looking at them) but if it's a me3dia party, i really need a good costume idea.
i'd probably have to arrange Chicago crashy space.
Any other Mechattel coming?

As I said, eamondaly *better* be.

There are a couple others invited, but I'm not sure if they've responded to the evite yet. I think we could scare up a couple, though.

I'll send you the evite with the details.

i registered for you, dammit!
Ok, if i can figure out how to show without a ready crash pad, i expect the local Mechattel to bring it on in costume.
i have sequins stuck to me!
i'm not sure what i'll be but there will be some sequins somewhere.
Or a scaly skin.

Crush, you should come!
And i want to see the who wears the Mrs. Pants in the family!

ethylene: I will be there! I have a costume and everything! it lacks sequins, but it also lacks pants.