Sidewalk Superheroes

Oh, today. *sigh* Today was Catwoman’s first day back, and my first in a while. I was supposed to go in this weekend and get the last few days of the big crowds and (ideally) big money, but it was overcast and cold and my Padmé costume is pretty much toast. She had a good run for a one-time wear cheapo store bought costume, and earned her money back and then some, but the time has come to make a real Padmé costume — it’ll be so cool, just wait — and put the old one out to pasture.

But I digress. We have plans. We started doing new things today. I learned that those Snap & Go curlers are indeed crap, and both of us may have texted each other about the new No Texting While Driving law while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. I’m choosing to go with the fifth amendment to keep from incriminating myself.
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Well, I’m afraid I’ll have to start out with the sad news. Bat A wrote me this morning through MySpace and said that he’s leaving for who knows how long. He’d mentioned before that he would have to go back to the motherland for a bit, but it sounds like the visit was extended and pushed forward, because things are just getting too ugly down here. It was a very sweet letter, especially considering the fact that he’s found this blog (hello, dear!), and it made me sad in a very bittersweet way. While I thought he was just being cranky or maybe avoiding me, being silly and egocentric, he’s apparently been going through a lot behind the scenes, so I’d just like to say that all the cranky bits I’d written in the past are moot and he will always and forever be my Batman. I’m sorry we won’t be able to work together, but I’m so happy we had the time on the boulevard that we did, that I met him, and that we’ll hopefully keep in touch while he gets a much needed break. I’ll miss him terribly.
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I really have to be more careful when typing. When I was uploading new pictures to Flickr just now, twice I typed in this blog’s address as hhherpes.wordpress.com. Um. That must be Paris Hilton’s blog. Just a warning to those of you who think that one letter can’t make that big a difference.

So today was another busy day, though time seemed to move slower today. I did better financially for nearly the same amount of time, but we had more down time and more people trying to stiff us today. Vader lost his temper again and refused to pose for a photo until people had paid up, because too many people would say, “Okay, I know how it works” impatiently before the photos, then pretend to not know English or think one dollar would suffice for four people. Right. Be careful, if you’re thinking of stiffing any masked character, folks. They have mouths and they talk some mean shit, and you can’t even hear because of the masks — but everyone else can. Also, some of us will follow at a discreet distance and warn other characters that you’re a deadbeat so you don’t scam anyone else. Okay, I do that when I can. So don’t think you’re clever and you’ve found a new way to scam people, we know it all. Most of the time we just let you get away with it while calling you retarded or an asshat, just so you know. You’re not smart, but we’ll let you keep thinking you are.
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And today it’s a New Pornographers reference. Don’t worry, the music references will always be relevant to the conversation. Just consider it a free guide to great bands, in addition to the usual entertainment. 🙂

So, today. Today was clear and bright, and the winds that pushed the last storm away from us had finally died down, and it’s supposed to get to the mid-60s now, so I doped up on Sudafed — it’s expired, but it seems to still be okay — and headed out. I didn’t much feel like going, more out of laziness than anything, though my family had been a little worried since they heard about Freddie’s beatdown, but I’m glad I did. It was packed, so much so that I couldn’t really get pictures of anything because the crowds obscured everything. Everything, that is, but this:

tickets to Vader's gun show

Today was my last day of work until after Christmas. I was actually planning on working Christmas Eve morning (confusing?), then heading straight over to my dad’s side of the family for our usual all night thing, but it’s going to rain all day, so neh. I’m really glad I made the cookies yesterday, then, ’cause otherwise no one would have had them before the holidays.

If you’ve been jonesing for some strangeness and felt the last couple entries have been lacking, let me welcome you back into the fold:

Naked Guy

So. I’ve tried Batgirl on my own for three days, and all three days she struck out. Maybe this weekend isn’t as good as everyone hyped it to be (which seems to be true all around), maybe I need to be more pushy, but the long and short of it is that women on the boulevard are kinda screwed when it comes to thinking up a good solo costume. Everything that’s come to mind relies on another character, and it’s just very slanted against us. Argh. So, until Catwoman comes back and we can tag team it, I’m going back to shivering in the cold as Padmé and working with Vader and Storm Trooper.
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I’m going to mix Saturday and Sunday together, mainly because I can’t remember everything. I went to a party Saturday night and got drunk, stayed out ’til 5, then got up at 7 for work. I did remarkably well for usually having to have at least 4 hours of sleep every night, but as you can tell, my memory suffers.

So last weekend it was fairly busy. Still slower than other years, when the economy was better, but like every other part of Hollywood, there’s always something going on. We don’t talk to Superman as much now, because already it seems that he doesn’t work. I mean, he pays his rent and bills just fine and has plenty of cash left over to buy all those collectibles, but now he doesn’t even really pose or work the boulevard. He’ll just show up, pull a book or DVD from somewhere (seriously, I don’t know where!), and will show random people. He’ll talk about being on Jimmy Kimmel, make lewd comments to passing ladies, and sort of hurt our business in general. *sigh*
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I need to hurry up and get to the present! Stuff keeps happening, but if I don’t post chronologically, nothing will make sense. So I’ve discussed two weekends ago, our first as Catwoman and Padme, and the week leading up to this past weekend, where the Batdrama began. Let’s go to Friday, where things began to pick up again.

By this time Bat M was truly insufferable. We would somewhat work with him — well, he hovered near us all the time, so we couldn’t really help it, and even when he was mad at us, he couldn’t stay away for more than five minutes — but as soon as Bat A showed up, we were off. We began to be less subtle about it too, which may sound mean, but if no one catches that you’re being subtle, why bother? Besides, he kept following us anyway. It got to the point where Bat M would corner us somewhere and be so involved in whatever it was he was talking about — his past life as a well-paid mechanic, his hatred of Bat A, how he and Bat T were cool with each other, even though we’d never seen them exchange a word — that we began to text each other. He didn’t even notice. I even managed to shoot this with the camera on my phone and send it to Catwoman right in front of him: (more…)

So in my last entry I sort of glossed over last week. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, but I’m afraid of being long-winded, even though there is a lot to talk about and I’m sure it’s highly entertaining to some of you out there. Admit it, you love to laugh at other people’s lives. Anyway, while the last week was pretty low key business-wise, and we usually only stayed a half day, things were beginning to brew below the surface.

Take, for instance, the beginning of the Batdrama. From what I’ve heard this has sparked up at odd times before we came on the scene, but it’s new to us and involves us, which makes it more melodramatic. I wasn’t doing so hot as Padmé by myself, though in the latter half of the week I began to get chummy with Storm Trooper and Vader and they invited me to work with them. I didn’t want to just start hovering nearby and poaching pictures because they have a good thing going already, and I don’t want to be one of the crap characters. Yoda does that, I don’t. Anyway, they’re usually only around on weekends, so I needed a backup. I also needed something warmer, because it’s December and even in Hollywood it gets frosty. I decided to order a Harley Quinn costume because I love Harley and have always wanted a costume of hers, and I might as well use this job as an excuse to get or build all of the costumes I’ve ever wanted. She fell through, sadly, though maybe that worked out for the best (you’ll find out why later). So I ordered Batgirl. (more…)

First off, let me just say that my partner in crime, Catwoman By Day, is finally here! Now I can give her a name and quit calling her my partner, ’cause that sounds a little more intimate than we really are. Anyway, fast forward to the weekend after my last story. We hadn’t seen each other during the week because we had other things to do, but Catwoman and I talk all the time through email. It’s like a non-committal chat for us. Anyway, we’d sent pictures back and forth of the costumes as they came in — in her case, piece by piece — and we were really feeling it. This weekend would be good.

I showed up at her place early with a t-shirt and jeans pulled over the costume, because it’s pretty revealing and it was a cold morning. Besides, no free shows to the truckers on the freeway. From there we carpool over to Hollywood & Highland (H&H), because we’re poor and cheap and it’s better to split parking. The regulars recognize us right away, which is nice, and promise we’ll do loads better with these new costumes. And we do! I’m still lagging a bit, because a lot of people don’t recognize me as Star Wars or think I’m Leia. Plus, Catwoman can work with Batman, which the tourists love. And the Japanese businessmen are obviously turned on by the bondage aspect of her costume and the whip, so they want her by herself, even though I’m in a torn shirt and wielding a gun. Perverts. (more…)