Study 035 - The Werewolf and the Vampire - Part 1

The “how often do you shower” thing came up between me and a guy who was definitely interested in me. I said I showered once every two or three days, and he said he showered twice a day. Then he proceeded to ask me very seriously if I would change my showering habits for my husband once I was married. This of course was a weird thing to ask, especially since we were eating dinner with friends and they were just watching him try to convince me to shower more, just in case my future husband - who knows who it might be? - wanted me to. We weren’t even dating. This was a pre-date public interview.

Penny Nicoles

Dear Speaker Eric, since both you and your partner have "appropriate outfits at the ready", you might be interested to know that Anchorage, Alaska is a city with many, many costume-craving residents, the evidence being all of the costume-encouraging events throughout the entire year --- costumed runs for any cause out there, even in winter, plus the Slush Cup, Running with the Reindeer, themed birthday parties, Solstice, Equinox, or an occasional person in a Winnie-the-Pooh onesie caught in a fender bender on a Wednesday afternoon. I hope the place you live has similar possibilities for you.

I am more surprised that you have a producer than that one of your fans is The Strangler.

nils hedglin

The stripping skeleton reminds me that I once saw a horror burlesque show where a zombie stripper lurched around in an undead parody of a sexy dance and ultimately stripped off prosthetic flesh from her face. Good times. My meet-cute: I met my partner almost 15 years ago at an Oktoberfest costume party hosted by mutual friends. (She points out that "beer wench" is a good outfit for meeting people; I for my part had a vaguely steampunk thing going on with German aviator goggles.) We bonded over having costume closets with appropriate outfits at the ready. We talked all night and walked went back to my place to...well, just watch "Torchwood" until she was sober enough to drive, but still. We started dating several weeks later. Bringing all this together: I have a photo from the NecronomiCon Providence 2013 Eldritch Ball of my partner with the same woman who had performed as the zombie stripper, both of whom happened to be wearing homemade shiny, sequined Cthulhu masks. (Hmm. I guess I'm only assuming the zombie stripper used a prosthetic, since the only other time I've ever seen her, she was masked.)