Yer a Wizard, Johnny

Our friends Gabby and Derek invited us to a Harry Potter themed party at their house. I always sort of secretly wanted a Hogwarts outfit and wand since we visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando like ten years ago. Well this party plus our pending trip to Universal Studios Hollywood pushed me into wizard mode.

It's completely normal to dress like a magical British school child, I think.

Gabby really went all out with the menu. There were wands made out of asparagus with like croissant dough wrapped around them, and deviled eggs with little olive spiders.

They had a boozy butterbeer in production as well. Somewhere in the middle of mixing up a batch of these Derek blurted out that Gabby was pregnant!  That was fun. Maybe we won't completely lose all of our friends after we have a baby after all.

In addition to growing a human she also made some pretty frightening little potatoes.

I brought some fancy booze out of the beer cellar from the far away land of St. Louis.

I also brought a non-alcoholic potable from the even farther away land of a Saudi Arabian shopping mall with a big hole on top. We initially planned on popping it for New Year's but ran out of time.

Derek has a 3D printer he's proud of and made several creations with that. They also printed some fun Harry Potter style nerd glasses with lightning bolt included that were fun.

At the end of the night we did a lot of Expecto Patronum spells at some black Dementor balloons that attacked us. They even had some 3d printed patronus animal figurines inside. These guys really went all out. 

I went home with my very own 3D printed Dobby the House Elf parting gift.

Seattle Halloween

I had the solemn honor of showing Viry and Lolo around our fair city today.

The view on the 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington can be pretty amazing. There's plenty of water, some skyline, and on a clear day you can see the mountains of Olympic National Park behind it all, and this was a very clear day.

I think we have the most rundown looking Hard Rock Cafe on the planet. Like the one in Guyana looks better than this.

We were headed to check out the space needle but we had to take quite a lot of pictures first. Tourists, I tell ya.

As you walk up to the elevators that take you to the top, there's exhibits about the history of the structure covering the walls. They are in kind of an annoying spot because I feel like I was rushed through them, and you can't go back for more afterwards.

The view is amazing anyway but today was an exceptionally clear day, especially considering that Seattle is known for its constant gloomy cloudiness. We could see Mt. Rainier clearly.

There's a little bar at the top which was fun.

This wine wasn't quite done yet.

I showed up my new night workplace, Climate Pledge Arena.

There were even a few selfie stations provided that took pictures and emailed them to you. So convenient.

Another fun part of being up here was watching the seaplanes take off and land.

One floor down from the top is fun because it has a glass floor and is rotating.

Pike Place Fish Market is well known for throwing fish at each other and other antics.

Checked out the gum wall.

It was Halloween and I think there was a bit of a shortage of costumes due to covid supply chain issues. Anyway I had nothing to wear to the costume party. I grudgingly decided to be lame and recycle a costume from a past year. I had a shark and hotdog costume to choose from... but I couldn't decide and decided to be a shark eating a hotdog. 

We did a pregame shot before going to the party. Viry already had her vampire fangs in and decided to drink hers with a straw.

It did not go well.

Our Seattle friends Andres and Marcela always have the best food spreads at their parties. 

There was pumpkin carving.

Lydia tried some fancy stuff.

I stick with the classics. Classic me.

"The great pumpkin is the world's first imperial pumpkin ale! It's packed with pumpkin and roasted pumpkin seeds, and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice."

Afterward we popped back over to Wilde Rover Irish Pub in Kirkland. It seemed like the Halloween place to be last night.

The ladies said they'd never seen a shark eating a hotdog dance so beautifully before.

The costume... was hot at times. Peeing in it was also not fun. Luckily there was a lot of fabric to soak it all up.

There was group of girls all dressed like Mr. Clean complete with bald caps, and they had booze in a pretend bleach bottle. I don't know.