Halloween Adventure 2

Andee's Halloween Adventure-The Sequel

How can a holiday like Halloween be described as a girl's dream come true? It can when careful planning, fortuitous timing, and a bit of luck come together to create an experience of a lifetime.

Some readers may remember the story of my Halloween adventure at the office last year. Attending the party "dressed" last year at my otherwise very conservative office went very well, with nearly every reaction in a good spirited positive vein. I didn't think there ever would be a set of events that could measure up to the great experience I had. But then I couldn't have imagined how this year would unfold.

Andee Last Year

I started a new job last spring, but still with my current employer. Luckily my new coworkers were colleagues I had worked with over the past several years. As a group this bunch is a real "party crowd," and their Halloween celebrations are renowned for the food, entertainment, and just general fun that people have. I was relishing the opportunity to find a reason to be in female costume. Last year I was ostensibly "Ms. Linda Tripp," it in reality it was just some notion of rationalization for wearing my long dress and spending the day en femme. This year I knew someone on the entertainment committee who was looking for an "act" or skit that would engage the crowd. This was my chance to try something really different.

Okay...shoot me...I've always had a liking for the ladies of country music. As a child practically in my parent arms I remember hearing Patsy Cline at a barn raising celebration in rural Virginia. The young female artists today are beautiful and talented, and the "cross-over" potential has insured plenty of airtime on both country and contemporary music stations for the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Winona Judd, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and my favorite of late, Shania Twain. Her Revlon commercial and her performance on the CMAs caught my attention and planted the seed for how to realize every girl's dream.

Shania's album "Come On Over" is a good mix of up tempo songs. Two in particular have had a lot of radio play. "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" sounds like it could have been written for all the T* girls of the world. "That Don't Impress Me Much" is a social commentary on conceit and being phony, and I'm sure all of us could cast people we know into the characters described in the song. Some of you can start to see the picture I saw begin to come together. My contact on the entertainment committee was my "Supremes" lip-synch partner from last year. I suggested to her that I could dress like Shania did in her video (dancer's costume, top-hat, long jacket, etc.) and do a lip-synch to the first song if we could get some backup guitarists to move like the players in the video. She thought it was a great idea. We later decided to add the second song for all the big egos that work for our company.

After cross dressing last year and seeing people's reaction to it I planned to come from home dressed in "regular" business attire. Like many corporate wonder-women you often see I wore a "little black dress" sleeveless shift and a black jacket, with dark hose and low heels. Understated gold jewelry enhanced the classic look. I even used Adobe PhotoShop to make a facsimile of my work ID badge with my femme name and picture.

Ready For Work

I was mentally getting ready for the first test - the long walk in from the parking lot into the building and then to my office. Once inside I needed to walk about one quarter of the way through our large corporate campus, down the main central hallway and past our cafeteria and credit union. I had arranged to have my nails done at the on-site hair salon and luckily that was right on the way. Although I was nervous I must have passed pretty well because I didn't seem to garner any second glances. I even walked right past a coworker from my office who didn't recognize me.

It was kind of unreal to be sitting at the manicurist's station in the hair salon waiting for the owner's wife. Other patrons were coming and going for their hair appointments and nobody seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. The owner actually had given me a haircut earlier in the week and even he didn't recognize me. I had grown my nails out for about a month and had shaped them so all I really needed was a polish and that was done quickly. My manicurist was coming to the party later and she was excited to see how people would react.

I came into my office via the "back way" instead of passing by all the mahogany row secretaries. I did have to go by one secretary who knows me but doesn't work for me. She barely glanced up from her work when I came in and just said "hi"...it was obvious she didn't recognize me and must have assumed it was one of the many new employees I've had showing up over the last month. I had told one of my coworkers I'd be "...coming dressed, and don't be too shocked," and so my next stop was at her door...the first of many times that day I heard the expression "ohhhh...myyyy...GGGodddd!"

The day was like a blur, and I was trying to take it all in like a camera. What I ended up with was small observations of the most memorable events. The shock and surprise on people's faces, of course. But after that the "nice" smiles, in a sense not laughing at you but thoroughly enjoying seeing you this way. The inevitable questions about who did your makeup, nails, clothes, shoes...do you do this all the time...how did you coordinate your jewelry...did you shave your legs...what does your wife think of you. Women _do_ compare themselves to each other, and I treasured every positive compliment, especially one comment on my slim build: "...as in shape as you are you look better than most other women your age." More than once a small group of women would form around me and for an instant it was as if I was part of their circle...comments were made in passing that I'd never heard before in mixed company. No...not like that...nice things women say to each other but not with men around. I had my hardest time dealing with the men who work for me. For some I'm sure the illusion was too much. They avoided eye contact with this soft spoken woman who was giving them guidance in place of their boss. They never could have imagined she existed...truly a scary Halloween.

But for me I was having a blast. Here I was in my office the way I always wanted to be. Typing on my computer was like an out of body experience when I caught sight of my painted nails, almost like I was seeing someone else's hands. Sitting in my chair with my legs crossed felt both good and a little strange. Hitting my earrings against the phone receiver certainly surprised me and I wonder if not more than one of my callers. For the folks who needed to work with me, after at first being what I sensed was uncomfortable, adjusted into what I would call "cautioned acceptance"..."...hey, I know this person, but something isn't the same...but I guess it's okay."

By the noontime start of the party everyone in my immediate office had become accustomed to seeing me. Of course the party would have about 100 people there from our whole department, and would be in the atrium in the center of our corporate campus. This was to be the most "out" I'd ever been. As I arrived there were many more chances to surprise people. I was having fun since about half of the party goers weren't in costume and people instinctively lumped me in with the "regularly" dressed folks! The trap was set.

For the entertainment I had secreted my dancer's costume away in a small room off the atrium up a flight of stairs next to the stage. As the crowd mingled I disappeared and changed clothes, and waited out of sight for my cue. The entertainment committee chairperson began to work the crowd with my introduction:"...and now...direct from the Nissan Pavilion...the country music star of the year...let's all welcome...Shania Twain!"

I came down the stairs to a round of applause and then the realization by the crowd that all was not what it seemed. The music came up and I started my song looking over at my guitarists "Let's go girls..." and the show was on. I've performed as a musician before, so I know about an audience, but I'd never performed as a woman. Exciting cannot begin to describe the feeling. If any of you have seen the video of this song I mimicked Shania's moves and got a crowd reaction at every bump and swing. As the song ended I saw that we had attracted an even bigger crowd of people who were just passing by and wanted to see the show, and they were all applauding and cheering for me! Later I'd find out that my secretary had to work hard to convince someone in the audience that I really wasn't a girl performing. The second song, and skit that we did with it, came off as well as the first. I was in heaven.

Shania's Stand In - Man! I Feel Like ...

The costume contest was almost an anticlimax...by acclamation I won the "Most Original" category, and then was voted the "Best Overall." But as the party wound down I wondered what to I do after this tremendous high? Like everyone else, get back to work. Dressed how? Well, what did I wear to work today? So I changed back into business drag and I stayed the way I came. As the afternoon wore on there were still more folks to surprise, but more in an accepting way.

And that's how I reflect on the day. More people were accepting than upset. I know that it is not the same for those of us ready for full-time RLE, but I'm convinced that even in a conservative company like mine there are more open and positive attitudes than ever before...or than could be hoped for or imagined.

Every girl deserves her dream...to be pretty and the center of attention...even if for a fleeting moment. On this special day I was able to live the fantasy. The prelude for the future...?

This page was prepared with Claris Home Page 2.0, and was last updated on 7 November 1999.

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