Sunday, October 31, 2010

Yet Another Strangely Trivial Synchronistic Event (#6)

First, a preamble:

Some years ago, my friend Evelyn and I dressed up for Halloween and went out to West Hollywood to see and be seen. She was dressed as an airplane(you had to be there -- guess where she put the twin propellers) and I was in drag. Not the outrageous, Milton Berle-kind of drag, but a more subtle, 'natural' drag. I actually shaped my hair and everything(which wasn't a problem, since I had hair down to my butt in those days), but as my legs weren't(still aren't) even close to being close to Betty Grable-grade I wore a long black dress.

Well, Ev's wacky but spectacular costume really attracted a lot of attention. People kept stopping to talk to us -- to her, really -- and bless her heart, she was really enjoying being in the limelight.

I, on the other hand, was pretty much ignored by everyone. No one seemed to care about the result of the two mortal hours I'd spent emptying a can of hair spray on my hair or the very real discomfort I was experiencing in a pair of pantyhose.

So I was beginning to feel kind of pissed off when this bunch of dudes stopped to talk to us -- and they actually engaged me. Maybe they took pity on the homely girl with no figure, who knows, but anyway we got along and we yucked it up pretty good for a few minutes.

Then I started to talk about the trouble I'd had earlier in the evening, trying to make myself look somewhat reasonably like a girl, and that's when I found out why no one had paid the slightest attention to my costume -- they actually thought I was just a girl in a Morticia dress...

Anyhow, that's the story -- and now for the synchronicity part: a little while ago I was typing this very story in Korean for my cousin Tami. The TV was on at the time, and a news feature about some Russian educators visiting South Korea was being shown. I got stuck for a translation for the word 'costume' and went to get an English-Korean dictionary, mumbling "Costume... costume...". And that's when the narrator said "costume" on TV. The Russian visitors were enjoying a performance of the traditional fan dance, by dancers in elaborate, colorful costumes from Yi Dynasty times.

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