Halloween has always been my most favorite time of the year, well a close second to Christmas atleast. My love of this special holiday has led me to accept a position at Nobbies Party Store in the West Des Moines area. I started late August and had been working there for a tiresome two and a half months until November 1st when a list of twenty or so names appeared on the bulletin board. I admit that I was a bit saddened to see this, because my experience was indeed one that I do not regret. I met plenty of friends and will miss them all greatly. Near the end of my Nobbies Adventure I heard about a coworker who suddenly left us on October 26th. I never knew her to well, but everyone including myself never expected to lose a fellow employee to a terrible stroke. Her locker in the brake room now holds a small shrine in her memory and will be welded shut with a small engraved plaque on the bottom.
My time there before that was also challenging. I explained to my boss during the interview process that I was talented in face painting and drawing. There was infact a position open to assist the resident part-time makeup artist with some of his clients and I was happy to volunteer. I'd never done more than do a few simple designs on faces at picnics, barbeques, and childrens' parties, but nothing close to professional special effects makeup artistry. My first clients were booked by myself and they requested two zombie looks for themselves. They gave me a very generous tip, though they never did send a picture of themselves for my collection as they promised, but my second client seemed excited enough to oblige. I transformed an ordinary dentis from Idaho into a ferocious orange cat. He was the most thrilled by my amateur face painting. I say amateur because I know I can always improve and after waiting so long for an opportunity like this, it's hard to say that I'm very experienced.
Sadly I was unable to take part in any or all Halloween festivities, though I probably should've seen that coming before the fact. I was dressed up parading around in my festive "grim reaper" costume that I purchased with the employee discount and was having a ball. I even was seen on t.v. all dressed up when the local news stopped by to do a story on the Halloween rush at Nobbies. My biggest regret is that I don't have the heart for scaring children, so my "character" was short lived on the floor until "Beggars Night" when all the kids were away trick-or-treating and the adults where prepping for a night of drinks and dancing at the clubs downtown. Since my collection of costumes has grown, you can expect me to throw my inhibitions to the wind and unveil my scariest tricks for next year.
