Epic fail: The only time I ever dressed up ... as a Jawa

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For some reason, I am not into costume parties.

The only time I jones'd to dress up was as a pillbox-hatted Singapore Airlines stewardess complete with drinks tray at my local rave club* ... except I never found the uniform on eBay.

So I can't quite explain how my Lego-lovin' friend Steve Ransom talked me into attending a StarWars costume party. I should have known better - it was set for 1pm on a Sunday afternoon in a friend's loungeroom. What kind of crazy stuff ever happens at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon in any friend's loungeroom?



Can you believe I did this? 


So here I am, at a Star Wars party in Eugene, Oregon. Amazing what you can do with a pair of Planet Bike bike tail lights, a bit of electrical tape, a piece of dark mesh and a flasher's trenchcoat...

I arrive and the first sign that something is amiss is Steve is in non-costume. Wait, he brought his Hasbro light saber. I only made it halfway across the living room floor - my knees were killing me - before failing to raise so much as Darth Vader's plastic eyebrow among the assembled Star Wars collective. The room glanced at me blankly,  blinked a couple of times, then turned to fixate on the real thing playing on the TV.



A couple of kids stared at me in disgust. What is it with kids these days? 




Starr Shake shows how far I went to pull it off - on my knees.

Even more embarrassingly, I'd invited my friends George and Ann over - you know what it's like when you invite friends of friends of a friend. I am not surprised I have not heard from them since...



OK, the only reason I did this was to execute a particular technical idea: to use bike lights and electrical tape!
So why have I never been drawn to dressing up? I'm not sure whether to blame my anal left brain Oriental ethnicity or my extensive travels on a bike that have made me far more enamored of reality than any kind of fantasy. 


Here, I had this (admittedly left brain) vision for a Jawa, and I simply wanted to pull it off.

I report that no-one tried to chat me up on this occasion, but the host's garden gnome eyed me longingly on my way out the gate...

*Freak Night at John Henry's, Wednesdays, Eugene, OR run by the excellent DJ Shaun Mediaclast

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