Halloween

Heading to the Halloween party at 10:30 PM.  Like most things at McMurdo, the costume is ripped
and patched with duct tape.

 Current Conditions:  Temp 19ºF (7ºF with windchill).  Mostly cloudy.  Population = 787

As I mentioned before, we have a long work week:  6 days per week with the clinic open from 7:30 AM to 9:00 PM.  Sundays, our day off, provide just enough time for a Facetiming family, a short hike, doing laundry, eating meals and going to the science lecture.  We do have three official holidays:  Thanksgiving (celebrated on Saturday, Nov. 30), Xmas (two days off) and New Years (two days off).  But we work Sundays in those weeks to make up one day.  So, in total, we have three days of holiday over the six months here.  

The Air Force Crew.  Elmo (Jim) does an amazing Elmo voice but couldn't be heard at the party.
Caveman Josh hiked down to the gym with bare legs and flipflops.  He's made of tough stuff.

So on Saturday nights, people party.  This past Saturday was the Halloween party.  I made the costume modeled below by creating paper maché out of flour and shredded clinic notes (there's no newspaper here), molding it on a balance trainer, drying it for a few days in the barometric chamber room, and pasting on pili of pink felt.  Dean rightly felt the costume was beneath his dignity as the lead doctor and an Air Force Colonel, so Marisa and I wore it to the party.   If you can't figure out what we were, here are a few clues:  1) My former boss, Gary Schoolnik, is an expert on the pili (PMID:2409203) and 2) we also wore condoms and a few public service announcements taped to our backs. We were simultaneously quite popular and unpopular.  Let's just say there was an outbreak last year at McMurdo and the costume was topical.   



I've posted a few pictures but it was hard to get good shots of the best costumes; the gym was dark, people were bouncing up and down and the gym was packed.  There was a huge gender reveal costume with three people inside it, a touch tank from the science building, a great Jack Sparrow, a Max from "Where the Wild Things Are", and way too many onesies.  I'm not big on crowds or noise--you couldn't hear people shouting right next too you-- so I left within an hour.  I bequeathed (or I should say transmitted) my costume to Joe and he and Marisa partied until 1:00 AM.  By the end of the night, all the pili and the condoms were stripped off.  We didn't win "best costume" but everyone says "we was robbed".

My favorite costume of the night:  Bob Ross painting the backdrop.

Elmo captured on camera being carried back home by a penguin at 1:00 AM
after imbibing a bit too much.
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Comments

Upi said…
I love your costume! Were you the resistant kind? I can imagine that folks who may have recently been "affected" were grumpy to see you :-)
November 12, 2019 at 9:55 AM
JP said…
I think, overall, people were pretty amused. Also, in the following week, we had no requests for pregnancy tests, plan B or azithromycin. So I guess it was an effective PSA.
November 12, 2019 at 10:08 AM
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