Good news on many fronts, today. Firstly, I am no longer sick with Space Flu, which is nice. I don't have to wear a face mask, and I am no longer contagious! I'm still a bit congested, but Julia says it should pass in a day or two. Good thing, too! This brings me to Part Two of my Good News Bulletin:
The morale aboard the Zephyr IV has improved at least tenfold since the party, so much so that Dr. Hynes has been able to get ANOTHER party approved! Considering the time of year (Earth time, anyway) It is a Halloween Party! There was a brief announcement from Captain Peterson about it this morning. She also went on to say that we have extra free hours this week so that we can use the recreation rooms to do crafts or make things for our costumes. (Don't ask me, I have no idea. I didn't bring trick- or- treating gear with me into space. I'll have to wing it just like everyone else.)
CRAVE has assured us that she will be able to handle all the minor subroutines, and that if she comes across any issues she will immediately alert us. Not much danger out here in Border Space, except of getting lost. Luckily, our Prime OS and CoreComm connections are still a-ok, so no risk of that happening any time soon.
But, even though I'm not horribly creative, I can fill you in on some ideas that he others have had. Mickey is going to go as a Mexican. He brought one of those great colorful ponchos with him, and apparently he plays the guitar. He's going to borrow the Sombrero that one of the Marines has hanging in his room if he can. (The fact that he's Samoan seems to make it funnier for him. Funny guy.) Junpin said she's going to go as a nurse. (Ok, that's not creative, but we all joked around that she would be a HAPPY nurse. Even she laughed.)
Lets see, Royce and Maria said they're going to try to make chef hats in the rec room out of paper and an old pillow case, and they'll wear the aprons. (They were going to be covered in red food coloring goop, but they had yet to clear violent costumes with the Captain. I mean, we're all adults here, should be fine, right?) Archie is going to paint his face like an owl and be the grumpy owl from the Disney Sword in the Stone. Julia and me are going to try and come up with something to do together. Three days to go and no effing clue.
On another note, I had a great discussion with Zee the other day. We were walking towards the Mess hall to eat dinner, and he asked me what Halloween was. It surprised me, because he's really up-to-date on a lot of our culture and history. At least, historical figures, and politics and (most) social nuances.
Anyway, I told him that it was a holiday that started off about the spirits of the dead, and turned into pretending to be something you aren't and getting candy.
He was quiet for a second then said, "I do not understand where the costumes come from."
This was hard for me to answer because well, I'd been raised in the 'wear-costume-get-candy' age, and a lot of the earlier stuff was lost on me. So I told him that, "I think that people used to dress up to scare off evil spirits, because back when it was All Hallows Eve, it was supposed to be the day that the dead could come back to life or something. Now, since we aren't as superstitious as we used to be, it just turns into dressing up and running around. Although, a lot of it is trying to be scary, too."
He looked at me sidways - which was his eye stalks rotating 90 degrees to look at me - and said, "We believe that he spirits of those passed are always nearby. You just need to be skilled enough to speak with them."
That got me thinking about it for a bit, slightly creeped out by his intensity. I was going to joke that he's already gotten into the Halloween Spirit, but I could tell he was being serious. When we got to the mess hall, everyone else contributed in describing the nuances of Halloween. And then HE came by.
Masaru Hamatsu.
He said that kids dressed up in Scotland in the 1800s and called it 'Guising' for the disguises they wore. They carried carved out turnips to scare away spirits, and trick-or-treating came from these same kinds memorizing jokes or riddles or songs to perform door to door, which is how they would get their sweets. Something also about getting all the goodies to bring home for their soul party where they would set sxtra seats for the dead.
That helped Zee a lot, he liked that. Then Masaru smiled at me. I'm pretty sure I smiled back, but I was a bit dazed at the time and now I can't remember. Oh God I hope I smiled back. I'll ask Julia later.
Julia asked Masaru what he was going to be for Halloween and he just kept smiling and shook his head. I guess that means it will be a surprise. He seemed excited about the idea. He asked what I was going to be, and I think I made the face of a fish gasping for water, so Julia rescued me with some obscure comment about it being a secret.
I've decided that I'm going to ask CRAVE to fabricate some pumpkins for us in the food processor. We'll see if they don't come out like pumpkin pie filling.
And now for Rec Room Time - C'mon Julia, lets come up with something good!!!!!
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