when nerds do Halloween

Halloween and I never really got along when I was younger, mostly because I hadn't really yet embraced the fact that I was a nerd. It's hard to be a nerd regardless (as treasurer of the Latin Club and the Amnesty International Club, I don't think I have to tell you how much touch I did NOT get in high school) but then you've got Halloween and your friends all want to dress as something slutty and you're like, how come they only make Han Solo outfits for guys? And if I dress up as Amanda from Highlander, is anyone REALLY going to get that reference?

So I would usually dress up as a cat or a ghost or something else boring, but my heart was never in it, especially since my friend Lindsay spent a good four years in a row trying to talk me into dressing up as a tomato. You will never see pictures of me dressed up as a tomato on Halloween, and why, why is that? Because I refused. I may be a nerd, but I've still got some self-respect.

So it was a few Halloweens ago that it finally occurred to me that I could celebrate Halloween like a nerd does, meaning I could dress up as some esoteric cartoon or comic book or literary or pop culture character and people might actually not trashcan me or knock my books to the floor while I was walking into AP English class. Not that they did that to me in high school anyways, because nerds quickly learn to choose one of two survival tactics while being teenagers: a) Blend and disappear into the wall, or b) learn martial arts so you can kick everyone else's ass if they give you crap.

I went with option b.

So I started dressing up as Buffy and Catwoman and a bunch of other fun, moderately slutty but still pop-culture-alternative characters and Halloween finally, FINALLY, became fun for me.

This is me two years ago as Neil Gaiman's Death (and yes, I'm aware Death was a brunette, but blonds should be allowed to kill people too).

Me as a blond Death. Also, that's my friend Chase, and men, no, she's not single, stop asking.

What Neil Gaiman's Death actually looks like.

And speaking of blonds being allowed to kill people...

I found my costume for this year. Meet Harley Quinn, the Joker's main squeeze, and a true blond that kills people. A lot.

The first two photos are very classic Harley Quinn in a jester outfit, but a) the jester outfits look lame on 95% of the population, and b) the outfits are skin-tight, and I've got more than 1% body fat, so no thanks.

The second two photos are Harley Quinn from Batman: Arkham Asylum, the new video game, and I love the new look they've given her.

So I'm combining the first look and second look by keeping the color scheme all black and red, then mixing in some punk and Arkham Asylum by throwing on a red and black corset (the one I was wearing in the Dia de los Muertos pics), black and red arm warmers, a black skirt, red tights, black fishnets, tall black boots, and painting my nails black and red. I'll also be sporting pigtails and throwing on tons of black eye makeup and blood red lipstick. Wish me luck.

And Benni is going as a very classic Joker, so we should balance each other out quite nicely :)

So does everyone have their Halloween costumes? What are y'all going as?? I wanna know!!