A Decade of Halloweens at the Office.

A (Near) Decade of Halloweens at the Office

2011 -- Wearing my new Bubble Boy outfit -- at work, I wore my Shippou (InuYasha) and went to what would become the only "real" lunch event -- I was the only one in costume, though. Unfortunately, the SDCC Volunteer Dinner was a bust, due to my name being "hijacked" from the list. The hijacker admitted what happened, but never did reconcile. They were also in charge of the Daily Bulletins during Comic-Con, but in all the years of my volunteering there, he never did get photos of my cosplays. Only by sheer luck did I get a photo in, when they allowed individual submissions.

Halloween experience round-up:

Old Town Cosplay Gathering WIN with a few dozen cosplayers

Comic-Con Staff Party/Banquet FAIL to be Remembered (wasn't put on the list)

This weekend Saturday Seaport Village 'Meh...' (had FB responses but none showed)

Sunday Haunted Trail with the Aspies Group WIN -- one of the Zombies even recognized me.

Tonight WIN -- actually had some trick-or-treaters and my Bubble Boy costume didn't deflate on me.

2012 and 2013 were lonely Halloweens in the office (wearing my "go-to" Shippou outfit), and 2014 I brought the spacesuit that I made back in 1998 to add variety to the clown club's parade groups. I was still by myself, though, in the office.

2015 I wore my AIM Suit (didn't get any photos), but for 2016 I decided to build a suit based on the Texas Bubble Boy, as a challenge of sorts, as well as a base for future cosplay events. Still no "special lunch" though, as it was "phoned in" on the weekly conference call. I sent a photo of the outfit, and still just "maybe next year".

2017 brought the closest to what I was trying to accomplish, with a special lunch and sending "office family album" posts to corporate social media -- every year, groups from Texas, St. Louis, and Atlanta posted some incredible Halloween stuff, and I tried to spark that here in California. He was busy doing what I could've done, if only he realized my capabilities, so we got a "real quick" lunch nearby, and I was able to send this photo of the Bubble Boy and Pirate for an ephemeral moment of visibility.

2018 I brought my brand-new Buzz Lightyear, and just before time to go, got a call from the manager, who was hoarse from flu -- he said that he brought it home, and then caught it back from his kids. He was an anti-vaxxer.

The Bubble Boy gets to try out a new suit themed after Buzz Lightyear in time for Halloween

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My Buzz Lightyear outfit with a 'bio-isolator support pack' added for the Boy in the Bubble motif that matches my mindset, especially since when I go out into the 'social world' I'm often wearing one of my cosplay suites, as if I was stepping out of the isolator bubble for the day.

2019, and I made one more try. The manager phoned it in again, with that "guilty voice", but I let him know that I was counting on this. Just before 3:30 (end of my workday), I made my decision to retire, and called the Admin Manager and said that I would like to "pull the trigger" on retirement, effective Valentine's Day 2020.