Halloween is just around the corner- it’s time to get puuuuuumped.
Today's post apparently has a soundtrack. I ended up listening to the whole Nightmare Before Christmas album while rage-writing.
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a costume teaser. guesses? |
It’s our last Halloween in the states for a while, so I wanted to put a little extra love and awesome into this year’s costumes. Which eventually lead to me thinking “hot dang, we could probably win a costume contest with these!”

id contest.
The contest we have selected is at a casino this Friday, and our respective outfits are ready to go. Then, after the contest, THE VILLAGE PEOPLE will play a show. Like, the real Village People. YMCA, In the Navy, Macho Man, those people-of-the-village. In real life. I shall report on that next week.
I should be excited about this event 100%, but I’m sort of struggling. Why? Because of Mac.
Let me ‘splain. Last weekend, I started up the holiday festivities by taking Mac out to THREE separate pet-costume contests, and... he lost all three of them.
Some would say it’s supposed to be about the fun of participating, but
- I am a sore loser,* and
- Mac’s costume was CLEARLY the best of all participants.
We lost to dogs in chintzy store-bought costumes, dogs who were so poorly behaved that they should not have been allowed to leave the house, saying nothing of their owners stuffing them into costumes they clearly hated and then putting that grumpy stressed dog in a small space containing other grumpy stressed dogs with poor visibility because there’s a hat on their head.
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This is awesome and you know it. |
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The "pumpkin king." UGH. |
At that same event, we lost to a dog wearing an oversized orange t-shirt who spent the entire event time being dragged forward by its leash, or pawing at the t-shirt to get it off. It was “a pumpkin.” Seriously, what the hell?
Now, I will concede that the third event was justifiably lost. The winner was a tiny majestic steed. It was adorable. Congrats to that tiny tiny dog. Except we didn’t even place top three after her...
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Banana for scale. That dog was probably a rat in a dog costume in a horse costume. I suppose it's a righteous win for the double costume. |
But aside from the lil' sebastian impersonator, I’m really bitter about it all. Like, can’t even crack jokes about losing because I’m that bitter. What were the judging considerations? One would assume that a costume contest for pets should be judged on the creativity and crafting of the costume, and to some extent, the pet’s ability to cope with that costume.
I know that along with my serving of bitter pie I’m clearly biased toward Mac, but I’m still totally within reason to believe that if those were really the considerations, I should have beat a damn t-shirt, hands down. (the first time I typed that sentence I typed "t-sh*t" and I debated leaving it because HELLO APPROPRIATE DESCRIPTION.)
I know that along with my serving of bitter pie I’m clearly biased toward Mac, but I’m still totally within reason to believe that if those were really the considerations, I should have beat a damn t-shirt, hands down. (the first time I typed that sentence I typed "t-sh*t" and I debated leaving it because HELLO APPROPRIATE DESCRIPTION.)
AND THEN - in a move that feels more like “insult-to-injury” than a real offering of peace, after loosing at each event, Mac was quietly given a small bag of treats on our way out for being “such a good dog!” That he didn’t lunge at any other dogs or try to get his costume off wins him an award which gets no formal recognition. Miss Congeniality cookies, if you will. Really? At ALL THREE contests this happened. DAMMIT, GIVE MY DOG A GIFT CARD TO YOUR STORE SO WE CAN AFFORD HIS AIRLINE-APPROVED GIANT CRATE! HE EARNED IT!
It was a big hit to my self-assurance as an artist and crafter. I feel like I really needed a win, and I really had some confidence going in. That was summarily smashed into atomic-sized bits.
Now I find that I don’t feel too great about the costumes I made for The Mister and myself, even though I know they’re really cool. Because I don’t know how the contest will be judged or who I need to suck up to beforehand to make sure I beat the dude wearing a dirty white-shirt who claims to be “a ghost."

Have you ever REALLY wanted to win something, or really BELIEVED you were going to win something?
Did you ever fail at something unexpectedly?
How did you cope with it?
TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS. Truly. I need some help there.
*I am an only child, don’t pretend my inability to cope with failure on any level is a surprising fact to you.