Halloween has come and gone again, and as I woke up the next morning, I was again thinking, is this all there is? Is Halloween really the only local event where adults can shamelessly dress up and go out?
I’ve seen costumers around my area from time to time – a couple in 19th century garb swirling through city streets on Troy Night Out, a woman in an interesting cloak at the annual lantern parade at a local park, a few women at the Victorian Strolls in Saratoga and Troy. Reenactors at historic landmarks in the area.
I went to a local craft store the week before Halloween, only to find they were completely out of the supplies I needed because New York City’s comic con had just taken place. Is that the closest place to go if you like to dress up? How is that possible?
Yet every time I search for costuming events in my area, I come up empty. Albany Museum of Art and History is nearly the only hit (mainly for its collections). Depressingly, the only other link was what looks like a con in 1989. It was such an old reference I didn’t even click on the link.
There’s a store where we grocery shop that on a clear day with no traffic and all green lights, it takes ten minutes to get there.
On other days, it takes about 15 minutes. I made that number up, because while it hasn’t taken ten minutes since the one time it did, I refuse to do any real research about how long it actually does take — anything more than ten minutes will be a disappointment.
Since it’s centrally located in an area with a number of other places we go to sort of regularly, I always have that ten minute drive in my head whenever I’m headed that way, as a sort of measuring stick for planning when I’ll need to leave to get to a counseling appointment, how long to give myself for a trip to the craft store, or figuring out a trip to that place that has a bull’s eye on my wallet.
So, remember when I expressed fear that my recent visits to the naturopath would result in me having to give up every food I love?
Over the course of the past year, participating in book clubs at my local library, one of the things that came up was video conferencing etiquette around pronouns. One of the moderators asked us to state our gender pronouns at the beginning of the call. I went with it that first time, but I felt really uncomfortable about it.
Any week, I could begin to tell you how I’m doing by saying I’ve been striving, and each week it would be no less true than the one before.
Today, many times, my eighteen year old son flew past the house on his motorized scooter wearing slides and no helmet, doing wheelies in the rain. I debated internally whether to call out to him to put a helmet on, and maybe proper shoes. He is of age, and he knows how I feel about safety.
I didn’t say anything.
