It started as just a rumor. Cher was going to be playing Toronto on Halloween for the final stop of her farewell tour. I checked ticket master after I saw the ad in a Queer as Folk interstitial on Bravo. Nada. Zip. Could it be a cruel joke? I didn't have enough money to see her when she toured the first time around (with the inimitable Cindi Lauper). Now that I was working again, I had the luxury of blowing my cash on frivolous essentials like Cher tickets.

A week later, Ticketmaster was online and up to date. Cher tickets would in fact go on sale the next Monday, and damn if I wasn't going to be on the website, mouse poised to click at the first second after 10:00am.

I managed to wrangle floors, row 26, seat 3. I could have gotten closer if I'd have known that I was supposed to scroll down (I lost 4 precious minutes and probably several better seat opportunities).

Between the time I bought the ticket and the time I actually got to the concert, it was touch and go while I racked my brain for a costume idea. I didn't want all the drag queens to laugh at me. I actually contemplated selling my seat, but at the 11th (ok, the 3rd) hour, I saw a kids Bee costume at Loblaws for $10 and got my cajones back.

I haphazardly sewed a skirt to go with the outfit, while listening to The Very Best of Cher over and over (how else was I going to learn all the words?)

I showed up to work in my Bee costume. Several people smiled as I walked by, my homemade yellow crinoline bustling around my black jeans.

One guy even gave me a flower.

I was pretty much the only person dressed up on the subway headed downtown, (aside from a vampire I saw going the opposite direction).

At work, I got lots of laughs from coworkers, and the laughs just kept coming as I put on The Very Best of Cher and started belting out anthems for the lonely and the dumped and the been done wrong.

As the day progressed, I went from happy bee to bitchy bee. It seems that, as someone wearing a bee costume, I am not, in fact, aware that I have stepped out of the house dressed in toe to antennae black and yellow. "You're a bee!"
"Bzzzzz..." "You got some honey?" "Don't sting me, I'm allergic." I'm not really sure why people feel the need to point out the obvious and make comments. I suppose that yes, I am inviting said comments, but no one ever says to Cher: "You're a fabulous Hindu Goddess" "You're a circus master"
"You're wearing a giant mohawk" "I can see your left nipple."

Pre-Cher, I had a party to go to that was totally unrelated to Cher. I was really impressed with the creativity and slickly put together costumes. It's been a while since I'd gone to a Halloween party, and it was really encouraging to see so many people putting an effort into the spirit of the evening.