The worst cold I’ve ever had? The one that left me perched before a roomful of students, unable to make words? I shared it with the wife. So she’s spent her favorite holiday curled up on the couch “watching” her favorite holiday special when she’s ripped from sleep by hack, cough or Sukhee Kang. (Four calls so far today!) Like all decent people and (irate dinosaurs), she abhors the sexification of Halloween:
Because the only thing she loves more than me is one-third of Europe dead, I dedicate this Google failure to her. It’s comforting to know some things remain sacred.
The Edge of the American West 
14 comments
October 31, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Sam-I-am
That’s fabulous. The next time I have to dress up — maybe after the kids are grown — I’m going to be a plague doctor. Except with this mask:
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/10/wicked-wearable-sculpture.html (The first mask shown.)
October 31, 2008 at 3:48 pm
urbino
My favorite thing about SEK is that half the time I’ve got no idea what the fuck he’s saying.
October 31, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Sybil Vane
I’m going as Ashley Todd. Not sexy.
October 31, 2008 at 5:05 pm
urbino
You should have your companion go as the specter of a large black man.
October 31, 2008 at 5:06 pm
dana
Sybil, that’s awesome.
I am not doing anything on Halloween.
October 31, 2008 at 5:59 pm
SEK
Didn’t mean to be opaque there: the wife loves plague and there are, as of now, no “sexy plague doctor” costumes out there. I suppose it’s only a matter of time.
October 31, 2008 at 6:06 pm
urbino
My comment wasn’t a veiled criticism. I was serious. Once I have time to go clicking on links, I’m sure all will be made clear. But I sorta like the fact that I can’t quite tell what you’re talking about until I do go clicking.
It’s different from the usual case, where you can tell exactly what someone’s talking about and what they’re saying about it, with the links simply providing additional context or evidence or whatnot.
With you, I often can’t even tell what the subject under discussion is until I clicky clicky. It’s like a puzzle.
October 31, 2008 at 7:09 pm
grackle
Surely, The Little Womedievalist owns or knows of my favorite tee shirt?
October 31, 2008 at 8:42 pm
tf smith
I have yet to see a “Sexy History Prof” (TM) costume…
October 31, 2008 at 10:30 pm
SEK
grackle, at some point, Ancrene Wiseass linked to that very shirt, and the wife received one of ’em about a week later. So yes, she’s a BD groupie.
urbino, I like my posts to be like your namesake: “Which path leads to Raffaello’s birthplace?” “I have to climb a brick ladder to get to my hotel?” “The bar’s in the bookstore, beneath that building on the right there?”*
*I think. Urbino ain’t that big, but I sometimes confuse my plazas. I only lived there two months, you know, and I spent one of them studying for my qualifying exams while my wife shacked with communists restoring medieval churches.
November 1, 2008 at 12:38 am
ben wolfson
A bar in a bookstore is a fantastic idea.
November 1, 2008 at 12:39 am
ben wolfson
That bookstore picture is hot, to boot.
November 1, 2008 at 1:35 am
SEK
Sadly, it’s not a bookstore and a bar so much as a bookstore then a bar. The bookstore closes at 5 p.m., stuff’s moved around, then the bar opens at 8 p.m. with a line of liquor where the books used to be. Granted, you delve deep enough into the bar—by which I mean, deep enough under the palazzo ducale—and you’ll be drinking in a booth comprised of bookshelves beneath an 800 year old courtyard with inlaid glass blocks the size of manholes . . . and did I mention how much I love Urbino? I’ve tried and failed to write its Borges-esque awesomeness up properly, but maybe it’s time I tried again. There’s a BLDGBLOG-worthy post in there, no doubt, if only I had half Geoffrey’s knack for architectural scenery.
November 1, 2008 at 2:06 am
urbino
Such attachment to the place! One suspects you must have had an Indian Summer experience there. (Actually, it does sound/look quite awesome.)