As midnight approached, I was handed an entry card into the costume contest.

First prize was $250, second was $150 and third was $100.

Everyone lined up and the field was narrowed by applause from the audience. The voting came down to seven sexy girls, a headless bride, and me, Dr. Octopus.

I won! 

I pocketed the prize money and immediately began dreaming of the next costume contest at Cal Expo's Zone Ball Saturday night. The top prize there was $2,000.

I stayed for a while, fielding spiderman questions and enjoying myself.

I caught this fantastic shadow on the wall of a building as I left. I was grinning from ear to ear.

The only improvement I made Saturday was to string wire inside the forward claws. 

I practiced grabbing Stacy's head. She was a good sport the first 200 times.

I made it past the ticket line, the weapons search, and the limbo entryway with just minutes to spare.

Scott was dressed as King Kong, complete with his own Empire State Building.

He leaned to his wife when he spotted my costume, "there goes first place".

In the background you can see the gray head of the space anteater. A costume by another friend, Lon, that used compressed air to shred and shoot crepe paper from its snout. Here was some real competition, but I was still pretty confident. Even if I won third place, that was still going to be $500.

The contest took forever to get started, so I took my own photos and talked with the other contestants.

I found my way back on stage for the second night in a row, begging for applause from a sexy, appreciative crowd.

Please read the last page of the Dr. Octopus Costume.