Completing the costume, I added a fabric backdrop and three hats.

Friday Night: Deon Taylor's One Scary Nite.

Exactly what was at stake in the costume contest was not clear. The previous year had advertised a $1,000 contest ($500/$300/$200), but this year the flyers simply said "Cash Prizes". I assumed this meant "less money than last year".

I was wrong.

When we arrived, fliers let us know the prizes: 1st place was a $1,000 gift certificate to Aquamarine Jewelers, 2nd was $500 cash and third was $250!

The line to park the car was long, and the line into the door was longer.

After we had been outside in line for about 10 minutes, they made an announcement, the event was sold out. No more tickets were available.

I was surprised. I thought $50 was out of scope for a Halloween party, but apparently I was wrong.

This gave me a good feeling. My doubts about the value of the party were erased. Not only was this event worth the $20 I had paid, at least a few people had paid $50 for the privilege.

When Scott and I finally got in the doors, we were greeted with enthusiasm and a cheer. Pretty awesome, and when we signed up for the costume contest, they let me know that we had just made it... they were just about to hand in the costume registration forms to the stage manager. I asked how many people had signed up for the contest and she counted the pages.

"Six pages worth". It looked like about 140 names, at $5 each.

The party was sold out, and the auto museum looked full and fun. Wading into the crowd, I hit as many people as possible with a flood of flashes. The VIP section got an eyeful. Some people posed for their moment in the spotlight.

Right away I found Greg in his Whiplash costume. It isn't apparent in the photograph, but his whips and chest light were dazzlingly bright. It was awesome.

With the paparazzi costume, I had pretty good vision because my head wasn't buried in a cardboard box. That was nice, but every place to buy a drink was swamped with people. A thick, jostling line was no place for a big costume, so I steered clear.

As if on cue, they announced that the costume contest would begin in about 15 minutes.

The stage area was very crowded, costumes had to carve out a spot to assemble for the staging. I guess that's why they call it a staging area?

Some VIP judges took their place onto stage and the costume contest began. It was chaotic.

Two groups went up, and four finalists were selected, including myself. But then MC had a change of heart and postponed the contest until later, after Bil Biv Devoe and another group had performed.

When it was time to restart the costume contest, everyone who hadn't had a chance to cross the stage lined up, next to the stage, as well as those of us who had been cheered into the final round. There was some line jostling as people who had not yet been judged asked for a better place in line.

With the music perfomance over, and at least one look at the costumes on stage, some of the crowd was ready to leave. A snake of people began to make its way out of the building.

The music faded and a single costumed predator took his place on stage, accompanied by Mark S. Allen, the MC.

Mark introduced Predator, explaining that he had inadvertently missed the first rounds of the costume contest. The crowd cheered meekly.

Then, in a twist, predator was announced as the third place winner in the contest! $250 cash!

I was surprised, and prepared for the worst. What happened to the final round? Were the rest of the costumes going to be let onto stage?

No. It was over. The MC announced the second place winner and my costume, Paparazzi, as the winner!

I was mystified.

But, being a wise contestant, I accepted my victory and went backstage to collect the prize.

I was presented with my $1000 gift certificate to Aquamarine Jewelers. I had never visited Auquamarine, but I was hoping they sold tools.

Backstage, jostling for a photo with Marc S. Allen, I met a young woman who didn't think I deserved to win. She was lecturing me about how much better the predator costume was, and about how he had been sweating in his latex skin for hours and that his was clearly the best costume in the building. I was speechless.

Finally she let me know that she wasn't going to talk to me anymore, because I obviously didn't care, and wasn't listening to her.

I had no doubt I had the best costume, but her lecture really bothered me. I guess its easy to think you've got the best costume, and hard to swallow when someone tells you it isn't.

Saturday Night: Exotic Halloween Ball

The next night was the big contest, with a $5,000 costume contest ($2,500 / $1500 / $500 / $250 / $250). Scott's friend Cooter joined us. He had just finished his massive sock monkey costume.

Odd isn't it? I always make friends with the best competition. Cooter's costume was on stilts, nine feet tall and completely awesome. He even had fans inside for cooling.

Where do these people come from?

Getting inside was easy, and the first order of business was qualifying for the costume contest.

After failing to legitamately win a finalist bracelet last year, I was nervous. The pre-qualifying was done by a little panel of radio employees, who tried to determine the best 10 costumes in the building before seeing all of them. They have to resist handing out bracelets too early and running out before any final superstar costumes arrive. But they can't be too stingy, they also have to ensure that at least 7 or eight of the best costumes make it on stage.

I did my best at the audition, and it worked. I got a finalist bracelet.

I was in.

Near the stage, another costume friend came over to offer congratulations. My friend Rich, in an extremely funny "Shake Weight" costume.

We said hello and he showed me the spring action on his shakeweight costume. It worked! He asked me if I had seen the Transformer yet.

"Bumblebee?" I asked.

"No. A black one." He answered.

Rich had a finalist bracelet, but Cooter got denied.

No bracelet for the giant sock monkey. I couldn't believe it. I can't remember seeing a stilted costume NOT get a finalist bracelet.

It didn't take long to find the black transformer. It was huge.

There isn't anything in this photo to indicate the scale, but he was on stilts, and he had a robot head perched on top of his head.

That wasn't all. He had a wing on his back with jet engines and missles, that was suspended even higher than his head.

It was massive.

This was Francois Tau.

Meanwhile, Greg was squeezing his Bumblebee costume into the room. The only doors that were open were man-sized, so he had to disassemble it outside and cart it inside in pieces.

Assembled, it looked awesome. Not only is it a supersized stilted costume, it is also painstakingly detailed.

Inside, he got a good reaction from the pre-judging panel and was rewarded with a wristband. Of course.

Now, we walked around enjoying ourselves, and waited for the costume contest.

Having the party at Cal Expo means that its in a huge room. There are probably 3,000 people inside at the party, but there is still enough room to get away from the crowds.

Did I mention that the paparazzi costume is really fun to wear? It is. It really makes people happy, until they are blinded.

Snow White.

At one point, most of the great costumes in the building were on the left side of the stage, posing for photographs in a large cluster, like the seven wonders of the costume world. That was awesome.

An appreciative crowd went from one to the next, posing and taking photos with us.

It would have been fun to talk, but everyone else had masks on.

If you want a lot of hugs, dress up like a sock monkey.

At 11:45, we all lined up at the stage entrance and waited for the contest to begin.

Bathroom tile man was in the finals.

Rounding out the costume contest were the Winter Princess, Lars in Greg's Whiplash costume, another predator costume, different from the one from the previous night.

And two gigantic transformers.

The MC was a radio station DJ, assisted by Sasha Grey. Its always a little nerve racking when the MC doesn't take the contest seriously, as he's the only one on stage who isn't in the contest, and he can sway the audience with a few poorly chosen words.

It did not go well for paparazzi. A blind man could see that Bumblebee and Optimus Prime were going to take first and second place, and after a brief demonstration by paparazzi, Rich's Shake Weight costume took third.

Hard to believe, but the paparazzi costume got beat by better costumes. Both transformers were absurdly large, yet reasonably mobile, and the shake weight was a brilliant idea, something that everyone loves, beautifully rendered with a shaking effect!

I couldn't complain. It was a great batch of costumes this year.

Posing on stage with Sasha Grey.

Scott, Cooter and I stayed until 2, filling up memory cards and avoiding drunks. When we could no longer lift our shoulder brackets we walked back to the cars and shed our costumes, recounting the adventures of the night and the perils of dark crowds and hot glue.

When halloween falls on a Sunday, halloween is a three-contest weekend.

There was no night to recover. I woke up and repaired my costume, replacing most of the batteries. I also weighed my costume for the first time, 22 lbs.

Sunday Night: Thunder Valley Howl at the Moon

($5000/$1000/$1000/$1000/$1000/$1000/$100/$100/$100/$100/$100/$100/$100/$100/$100/$100)

There were a few costume contests scheduled for Sunday night, but the largest prizes were definitely at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, California.

After some trick or treating with Stacy and the kids, I threw the costume into the back of our car and headed to Lincoln.

I had never been to Thunder Valley Casino, so I was somewhat anxious about how the contest was going to work. It only takes one tiny door to ruin a big costume, so I prefer to know as much as possible about the layout of an event before I arrive.

I pulled into the parking lot, hoisted my costume onto my shoulders and made my way towards the elevators. I had heard that the casino would be wary of costumed characters, but that as long as my face was visible, I'd be ok.

The elevator doors opened and I was on the gaming floor, staring at an endless phalanx of slot machines. Weird! I was looking for a ballroom or arena, but that's not how it worked. I just had to register at a table, pose for a photograph and I was done.

Scott met up with me a little after 9pm. We had an hour until registration was closed, an another hour after that to hear who won. We were free to roam. There was no stage to cross at midnight, we just had to wait until 11 pm for the results to be announced.

So we roamed. We decided to stick to soda, which we were delighted to find out was free. For much of the evening, I wondered what I would do with $5,000 in free play. It appeared as though I would need to spend the money on slot machines. I'm sure the odds are terrible, but I could walk away with half of that in winnings, couldn't I? I was nervous just pondering the thought. It really was an exciting prospect!

But I hadn't won anything yet.

A procession of costumed patrons came in and made the rounds, but there were no transformers. I had high hopes.

We made a round through the table games, interrupting a few hands while people stopped to take their pictures with us. There were an amazing number of employees in the casino, and all of them seemed appreciative of our efforts.

A "three blind mice" costume was unexpected, and we spent some time talking to her. Chinese to go box and Sushi shared their costume-constructing woes. Sushi had cut hundreds of styrofoam popcorn kernels in half, and painstakingly glued them onto her costume.

Finally, a little after eleven, the costumed people congregated in the bandstand area and awaited an announcement.

The MC announced that the judges had had a difficult time choosing, so they decided to award 10 runners-up prizes as well as the $1000 and $5000 prizes.

Scott was the first one announced. "Oscar the Grouch!". The crowd cheered.

To enter, we had all been required to sign up with a Thunder Valley Club card, and they let us know that if we won, the money would automatically be credited to our cards. Pretty slick, right?

I got through the honorable mentions and we were onto the $1000 prizes. These included best impersonation, most creative, scariest, and sexiest.

I didn't see any "giant" costumes besides my own. I was beginning to get the feeling I could win the grand prize.

I won! Not the grand prize, but $1000 for "most creative". Even after winning, I didn't lose hope, maybe I was still eligible to win the grand prize?

No! It went to "the four seasons" foursome dressed as winter, summer, spring and fall. $5,000!

My stomach dropped. It sure is odd to be heartbroken after winning $1,000, so I kept my cool and flashed a path out of the crowd.

Scott was disappointed for me. We both figured the four seasons were actual Thunder Valley patrons instead of costume ringers who crashed their party expecting first and second place.

You never know what's going to happen in a costume contest!

Summary
So, it was a great year. I had a stellar time at three different parties and was a finalist in three different contests. The paparazzi costume survived the trauma, so I'll probably hold on to it or parade it around on special occasions.

My parting question is this: How much should I expect to win on $1,000 of slots play?