My Weekend In Three Parts*

Part the First is The Cathedral

Ralph Lee is brought in by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine every year to field a parade-full of ghouls for their Halloween Extravaganza. They show one of three silent films, this year it's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, with organ accompaniment. At the end of the film the organist continues to play and we ghouls pour forth into the crowd. We get to interact with (read: scare the pants off) the audience and play with our fabulous costumes and masks and generally have fun. Then we go upstairs and have sandwiches before we do it again. I don't get the call every year but last week I did so from 6 - midnight on Friday I'll be whooping it up puppetry-style in a famous church. Showings are at 7 and 10, let me know if you're going to swing by. When it's all over I rush home via cab because I have to be up early the next morning to walk the dog and eat a hearty breakfast in preparation for...

Part the Second, The Great Pupkin

I wrote a comprehensive post about this event over at The Women's Colony last year but I've filed it somewhere now and it's no longer online so you're getting this paragraph instead. Twelve years ago Kath had a funny idea about giving people prizes for dressing their dogs up in costumes. This year she's making a meat dress and being interviewed by Gothamist and generally presiding over Brooklyn's premiere Canine Costume Competition (it's more of a heated race than you might think). I've been working on Eddie's costume all week and I think it's going to come together nicely. In trying on his "safety vest" last night I discovered that, like the dog pictured above, he goes pretty immobile when draped in something foreign to him. I think this is going to work to my advantage. I'll be meeting up with NDP at 10am to help with the set up but registration starts at 11am and judging begins at noon if you're coming. (You'll love it.) About the time it's all disassembled for another year Mama Kizz should be arriving (just couldn't work out the timing so she'd see the contest) for...

Part the Third, (not my) wedding

My cousin is marrying his beloved (not pictured but they share a couple of things in common with this much-maligned couple) on Sunday in a day time ceremony followed by brunch in the fantastical borough of Queens. If you've ever tried to navigate public transportation between Brooklyn and Queens on a Sunday you'll know why my mother and I will be leaving my house at approximately 5am and that, even if there's another guest who has traveled from Timbuktu, we will still have had a more arduous trip to the event. I'm very excited to see the family and wish we all had more time here in the city to hang out. Much of the group will be bowling on Saturday but their lane reservation at a bowling alley I've been hankering to sample is exactly during the Pupkin so, alas, I shall miss it. There are still three of us left single and a whole other generation yet to come so next time perhaps bowling will be in the cards. This time it will be enough (it's always more than enough) to see the happy couple shouting their promises from the rooftops (not literally...I don't think).

And on Monday? I sleep.

*Which I keep typing as my WEDDING in Three Parts which...just...no.