A Vision Fufilled

I have found that for the posts that I really want to do well, it takes me a few days to put the narrative together. I now feel that time has come.

I'm not sure when I first thought of the idea of being the Cobra Kai. In fact for a long time I thought my roommates and I should dress like the Channel 4 news team from the movie Anchorman. However none of the roommates who are capable of growing moustaches (I am not one of them) did so. Dan and I had procured Cobra Kai T-Shirts last summer and the Karate Kid is one of the favorite movies of 3076. So that being said our journey began.

In typical Peter fashion we did not start putting our costume together until about three days before we needed it. So you might be asking yourself, "Where exactly does one find a costume for a movie that came out 23 years ago?" The answer...you don't. But I thought surely we can find a skeleton costume that can pass for the Cobra Kai. And so the intrepid Dan Nelson, the adventurous Brian Barker, and the possessed Peter Brent Dorsch set out to find the aforementioned costumes.

We had heard that there was a costume shop in an area called Seven Corners but didn't know much beyond that. Of course it was raining cats and dogs and that made it even more difficult to find the shop. After several near surrenders and under an extreme time crunch to get home before a planned viewing of the Karate Kid (http://http://mandyjensen.blogspot.com/2007/10/karate-kid-and-men-of-3076.html) that we were hosting we found the costume shop. The place was packed with people and all sorts of Halloween paraphernalia. We searched gallantly for a Skeleton Costume but the one we found was no good. It was cheaply made and had no "bones" on the back. We did not leave empty handed as we were able to find the correct face paint for our costume.

The Cobra Kai Make Up. A crucial component of the costume.

The following day was Thursday. One day before the big barn dance. It was now or never for our costumes to come together. Dale had told me that there was another costume shop on Four Mile Run so we decided to check that one out but this time we had a secret weapon...Mandy Jensen. And as high as our hopes were they were quickly dashed as we discovered that they too were without skeleton costumes. Facing mutiny from some of the fellow Cobra Kai members even my own faith in my vision for the most dominant group Halloween costume was shaken. Dan mentioned that he had seen on the Target website that they had skeleton costumes. So sensing that Target was our last chance we entered the red bulls eye. Heading back to the costume department we noticed quickly that they only had children's costumes. Needless to say I was disappointed. It appeared that all of our journeying, planning, and plotting would be for naught. Then fate stepped in ( I am thoroughly enjoying using as many cliches and as much hyperbole as possible) and we headed to men's clothing and I happened upon the black athletic tights. I though this might just work. I found the sizes I thought might fit and tried them on. It was tight...literally and figuratively. I think most people would be a little bit shy about walking around Target in this particular ensemble but I wasn't. I went and found Brian and Dan and told them they must put it on. Like good soldiers they did just that. We found Mandy and she laughed quite hard when she saw us. It was just the reaction I was looking for.

The bones courtesy of a little athletic Tape.

Now that we had the outfits the next big question was "What are we going to do for bones?" I thought perhaps we could paint that on but almost immediately I thought that would be just to hard. All we need to do is approximate bones. Athletic tape was the answer. And because Target has most everything you need we found the tape we needed. We picked up an extra costume for Matt and were on our way. We made a quick stop at the Shoe Rack where Dan and Brian bought Converse Allstars, the official shoe of the Cobra Kai and Mandy bought an adorable pair of Rocket Dog slip ons. We had snatched victory from the jaws of a near Halloween defeat. We then made a quick stop at Walmart for white gloves and do rags. We were unable to find white do rags but the black ones worked out just fine.The Whole Gang

The whole day at work I was so excited about the party. I knew our group was likely to be the funniest and certainly the most creative. Granted the Karate Kid isn't exactly "modern" but it definitely classic plus as I told Mary and surely something Derek would agree with "Our costumes are not for the proletariat, we are not appealing to the masses." Friday was especially fun because my dear friend Tia was visiting from Charlottesville. She used to work in the office across the hall and I miss her terribly. We had wanted to go to dinner at 2 Amy's but when we got there the wait was really long. We did however have a lovely Mexican dinner and our usual great conversation. Meanwhile Dutch calls me and tells me that Bobby and Tommy are once again on the verge of Mutiny. I'll tell you one thing, Sensei Krease would have been none too pleased with their attitudes. Face paint and tight pants are nothing to worry about.

Once I got home I rallied the troops and we all got into costume, since I was running late I had a lot of help putting the bones on and Mary was so awesome about painting our faces. Burke came as Daniel-San to complete our group dynamic. Our lovely, sweet, and hot neighbors Kami, Diana, and Jenny came as Luigi, Mario, and the tooth fairy respectively. Mandy was a beautiful rodeo queen, Mary and Joe John were LOL KATZ, Jenell was the Morton's salt girl, and Miss Beal (As voted by both Dan and I ) was a Scottish Bar Wench (and a lovely one at that).

Actual smiles make it extra creepy

As soon as we walked into the dance we did what we do best...DOMINATE. Some people "got" our costumes right away, others had no idea it was me, but everyone loved them. Certainly the highlight of the dance was when we recreated the scene from the movie. We chased Burke through the dance and with an assist from Mary we went crashing to the floor. A lot of people were wondering what was going on. The dance was pretty fun, the music was okay, and the company was excellent.

We ended the evening with a trip to Denny's which was quite gross. B-Rock I was thinking of you when I was in the restroom at Denny's washing off my face paint. This dude comes up to me and asks me why I am doing that. I briefly explain that the paint is uncomfortable all the while wondering to myself, "Why is this guy talking to me?" Not talking to strangers in arestroom is as fundamental as washing your hands with soap. We made it home by 4:00 am and were so tired we missed football the next day (which we regretted for the rest of the weekend.)

Everyone gave me massive props and I know it will be difficult to top next year, but c'mon...it's Papa Burgundy!

Live or Die Cobra Kai!