I was hoping this once to have a stress free Halloween. Unfortunately it was not meant to be.
For the past few years I have had a lot to deal with around this time. I’ve taken three trips to Jamaica about now which require work to prepare for. Plus trying to get a costume ready for the Halloween parties has its own dilemmas. Halloween is the one time of the year that I like going to bars. Girls are easy to approach when you compliment them on their costume. So it is an important weekend for me. My one time of the year when I can feel normal. (Irony?)
This year was going to be different. The vacation should be easy to prepare for because I just came off one that had a lot of similar elements. I just have to be lazy on unpacking and my work is half done. The costume was going to be easy, I’ll just use the one from last year again.
Two years ago I had a costume custom made for me. A scary demon with cool moving wings. It was great. Last year when I wore it, there were some technical difficulties. The first party I went to, one of the cables/strings that operate the wings broke. I was able to figure out what was going on and repair it myself before the party the next day. However, due to the first injury, a support strut had gotten weak and broke during that party. This malfunction seemed more than I could handle, so I took it back to the manufacturer to ask her to see if she could repair it. That was on the 31st of October, so it wasn’t a rush order. I didn’t need it until next Fall.
Around July I was getting concerned. It still had not been repaired but she said she would be done during the next weekend. That is the last I heard from her for some time. I made another request hoping that I could get them before I left on my European vacation. I still didn’t hear back.
On the 16th of October I finally got word from her that she would try to be done by the weekend or the beginning of the next week. She was super busy. That is cutting it close because I wanted to have them back on Thursday (i.e. today) so I could use them at a Halloween party tomorrow. I sent her an email on Monday asking for an update. No response.
Yesterday, the stress was killing me. So I sent an email just asking her for the wings back and I would do my own poor-man repairs. I figured that if I hadn’t heard from her by now, she probably still wasn’t done and I should just try and do it myself. I thought I had been very patient. Of course, email always makes people sound angrier than they are. And reading it again, it does sound insulting.
She has now replied back, and she is angry with me. I have given her attitude. She has thrown out the repaired piece. I am never to contact her again for anything.
At least I got my broken wings back.
But now I’m feeling like a monster. A stressed monster. I am trying very hard to tell myself otherwise. She has had nearly a year to work on them and has given me a string of broken promises. I gave them to her with a long deadline precisely so this kind of stuff wouldn’t happen.
I still emailed her an apology, but she did say I am never to contact her, so she probably won’t even read it. I have gone and done a tour of hardware stores and I’m going to try and make my own repairs tonight. Last minute. i.e. More stress.

I think I am semi-friends (via Friday Feasts) with a relative of hers.