...In which our heroine survived, once again.

Of course Halloween weekend gets a ramble! It was my first time going out into the city for Halloween, and the city kept up its end of the bargain.

I know when we get off the blue line train at Logan Square and see Vincent Van Gogh and Amy Winehouse, we are terribly underdressed for the Dan Deacon concert. It's chilly and windy and smells like dead leaves (and the dirty ground) when we're walking to the venue with a ton of other scene kids. Emily and I play the "look at that fucking hipster" game, and have a hard time deciding who's dressed up. The shitty opening acts take forever, but one of them has these awesome neon green shark heads that move while they play their instruments. As always, Emily knows people there. Dan Deacon keeps yelling at people to move away from his table but no one does. We dance and drown in electronic neon bliss. Dan thanks us for not doing drugs. This really is a rave, with everyone dressed up like bumblebees and luchadores and the crazy 88s. Two dance contests later, I'm disgustingly hot but then "Woof Woof" comes on. It is an insanely fun show, but I'm so toasty I'm glad when he says thank you and goodnight. Of course then it is freezing outside, and I realize we have to take two trains and a bus to get back to Wrigleyville. This takes approximately one million years. We stop by Ben's apartment and I wonder where he got that obviously original Dark Side of the Moon poster, and if he misses his Johnny Cash t-shirt. We are cordial and friendly as always, and I feel bad when he says all he does is work and school. By now it is very late, and we stop at McDonald's on the way back to Emily's. The stuff we smoke is ungodly potent. We eat, and sleep within the hour. Her couch eats me alive, and at some point in the middle of the night, it sounds like her neighbors throw a body down their back stairs. My mom wakes me up with a phone call - she's in Philadelphia watching Pearl Jam close the Spectrum out, her 23rd and 24th shows. We discuss what we call "good groupie skills" and she tells me she was only twenty or so rows away, and I say Dan Deacon stood a foot away from me, because he did. Emily and I go back to my apartment - everyone on the train looks far rougher than us. I shriek with terror when we watch Candyman with Heidi, Telly, and my RA Megan. Heidi does outstanding gore makeup on Megan's neck, and Emily and I prepare our TV characters - she's Nancy Botwin, I'm Meg Griffin. The costumes are covered with tin foil, and we go to Chipotle. For some reason I get a new burrito combination which is quite delicious. Back on the blue line. We go to a party in a loft in Wicker Park, and the costume stopping is fantastic. On the train we sing Cher with a Rollergirl in drag and female versions of Dr. Gonzo and Raoul Duke. The party is awkward, and I want to go immediately after arriving. Strawberry jello shots are better than cherry or lime, I discover. Telly and I smoke one of her hand-rolled cigarettes and say hi to Wolverine and Catwoman. It's midnight before we can get Emily and Heidi, social butterflies anywhere, to leave. Back on that same trek from last night, except it now takes two million years. I run into Leah from class while waiting half an hour at the Belmont stop, and drunk or not, it makes me smile at how glad she is to see me. A girl eats her dropped Subway off the train platform and I grimace. She gets arrested a minute later for smoking on the platform. We finally get on the train, and to Kris's where everyone is GONE. Tyler gives me a Parliament,which tastes like last fall. I love the smell of tobacco in my hair, and get giggly, eating too much candy and watching Kris and Tyler do Wrestlemania impersonations. Grace falls asleep in her Audrey Hepburn makeup, and we don't leave until 3 or 4 - half our phones haven't made the switch yet. This is the latest I've ever taken the train. A very drunk Mike Tyson gets abandoned at some stop by his friends, and in his place a guy gets on and smokes a bowl, right in the middle of the car. A very scary homeless man sits behind us, and while I'm not paying attention, Telly grabs Heidi and I and tells us to move. I assume he has a weapon, but no, Telly says he was getting personally intimate. On the train. This is why I do not take it alone past one. I thank my lucky stars for making it home alive and not vomited on. The multitude of shit shows in the lobby is amusing. Amateurs. Bed has rarely felt so good, nor has brushing the sugar off my teeth, like my eight-year old self. Some things change, others stay the same.

Sara Quin (Telly) of Tegan and Sara and Meg Griffin make careers out of being awkward.

Heidi should've worn her helmet on Legends of the Hidden Temple...

Emily IS Nancy Botwin. And that is oregano and basil, I promise.

Obviously this is not the Dan Deacon show I was at, but we did this. So, so fun:

Dan Deacon Dance-Off from kata rokkar on Vimeo.
As an aside, why do no one's posts show up in my blog list anymore? And neither do mine. It still shows that my last post was actually the third one ago I wrote. And it says the same for Cassandra and Gallacher. WTF maaaan. How do I fix?