I woke up early Saturday morning in the U-District, freezing in a cover-less bed, next to my friend Kim. With much getting ready to be done, I left the house and headed back to the burbs. After some scrambling, I arrived at Gillian's house—the permanently designated getting-ready location—and began bringing my ideas to life.
For months I had been dreaming up the perfect outfit to wear to the Monster Ball. At some point, I discovered a performance video of a song called "Glitter and Grease," about a man in love with his car more so than with his woman.
The combination of the dirty and the glamorous drove me absolutely wild and I started assaulting a notebook with sketches and words of inspiration. I envisioned a lavender mechanic's jumpsuit, cut up and covered in sequins. Thrift shopping for a basic mechanic jumpsuit proved to be an exhausting experience, but naturally Gillian had one in her closet. I first chopped off the sleeves and cut the legs to my mid-thigh. The suit had already dealt with wear and tear, so it had a nice distressed feel. Gillian's sister, Gwen took the suit in so that I wasn't drowning in denim. After the shape alterations and a trip to Joanne's, Gill and I dyed it in the sink until we achieved a desired shade of purple. Finally, Gill hand-sewed red sequins on the back, and the suit was complete!
Before the suit was completely finished, shoe shopping had to be done. I decided there was only one way to go to this show, in heels, so I visited Red Light and the Crypt, finally deciding on some PVC stilleto ankle boots from the Crypt.
So day-of, I zipped on the jumpsuit and my hooker heels, we added some purple hair pieces, wrapped my hair in a bandanna, and painted my face. Dark eyebrows, a red and purple eye, and black lipstick felt rather perfect. Glitter and grease topped it all off, of course.
It wasn't as easy as that, I suppose. The song my outfit is inspired by comes just after GaGa's car breaks down, so it seems fitting that my tire was nearly flat. Rearranging of cars and a lot of stress eventually led to a solution, but I thought I might be groaning, "Now we'll never get to the Monster Ball."
Luckily between the stress of getting ready and the stress of a near-disaster, we survived and were on our way. An arrival, a bit of waiting, and we were in. Hello fellow Little Monsters.
Lady Starlight DJed, danced, and drank Jack like a maniac before Semi Precious Weapons came on. Justin was sexy as per usual, never failing to get me excited. Finally the moment came when our Lady took the stage, opening with "Dance in the Dark." Amongst all the monster paw-pumping, Terry Richardson took a picture of Gillian and I. Realization set in and I excitedly called, "Heyyyy Terry!" We were like giddly litle girls. Moving on, I danced uncontrollably, ignoring the creeping pain in my feet, even jumping in my stilettos. The show felt like a religious experience. Power filled the room. Here's one beautiful moment GaGa Daily noted:
Our eyes met a couple of times over the course of the show, engaging in spirit sex. Her stares will forever remain burned into memory. Obviously her performances were amazing, but her unsung words had me in near-tears as well. Not everyone feels it or understands it, but that's perfectly alright. Life is beautiful on this side.
On the way back to the car, a heel snapped off of one of my boots, which seemed like a perfectly poetic moment. It could have broken earlier, but it didn't. A drive to Seattle for Rancho Bravo tacos and Dick's ended the night quite perfectly.
The next day I was tired and bruised, but I didn't care. I earned those fucking bruises.
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