011_medusaman.jpgThe latest incarnation of the Halloweenie came and went, Hekate-yeah!  It looks like this last Celtic New Year was so bone-jellying, even the Incorrigible Witch was out of town on random adventure.  I can’t blame her, it’s been a year of staring at the rotten face of Medusa and kissing the gorgon’s revolting mouth on the bony lips.  I’d much rather have pizza…and margarita shooters!

My costume didn’t come together as I planned at all.  Couldn’t get all my scattered pieces whole for Goth Boy, so I had to improvise with a Melting Face attempt from Make-up Monsters.  The cotton balls didn’t stick as planned, and the bean-corn syrup-flour-water mix was more gooey than I anticipated.  I felt like my costume, my pumpkin carving, and my potluck all stunk.  My Mirage was laughing at my feeble attempts the whole time.  I’m such a noob.

One interesting thing is that the face mixture does dry after a while.  You get lots of drippy tendrils and nasty looking textures.  After two hours, the dry parts begin cracking and shrinking, forming cool textures.  Some areas crack, and ooze as wet mixture bursts forth from not-dried pockets to make new formations.  My mask tightened and during the potluck started to crumble.  I couldn’t eat very well, because my face was held in place.  A guy sitting next to me said, “You look like the lizard king.”

As Karin the vampire would say, “Having your face fall off is so embarrassing!”

I finally went to the restroom and proceeded to peel my mask off.  Then it hit me – on the end of the year I’m shedding my old green skin for the fresh, soft skin underneath.  I thought of Medusa, and how much I self-identify with the feelings her story draws out of me.  My old life turned to stone and crumbling behind me, tearing down the old house to the foundations and building something new.

My Mirage snickering behind me.  Maybe a stupid failure of a costume serves a purpose after all.

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