It seems as though Halloween was a very long time ago, doesn’t it?
(12 weeks?!)
Notorious events in the world have taken place and so many things in my own life have changed since then. The most welcoming of which was ringing in a new year and it’s something I’d like to toast to you all before I jump into this post.
We did it, you guys! We made it out of 2020!
Of course, the slate wasn’t wiped clean coming into 2021, but any chance for something new feels promising and I think we are all very past due for something promising.
I wish you all the best this year and always. <3
Although so much time has passed since that most beloved night of mischief, the days revolving around my Halloween night are a grand tale that couldn’t be passed over. I wish I had gotten around to posting this sooner, but as many of us are already privy to, it’s hard finding time for extracurricular activities when there’s a full-time job to manage. Speaking of which, I might like to write more about how that’s going for me (in the next post) since re-entering the working world last July.
Without further ado, I present a spooktacular story that occurred many moons ago.
I spent the weekend before Halloween face-painting in front of the camera with the hope of uploading a few different how-to faces on YouTube. I managed to upload 1 of the 3 attempted. I elected to post this video solely because it was well executed and not as common as a mermaid face (which I didn’t do as well as other videos already online).
I painted a nifty barn owl face that I wore to work some years ago.
That following Monday, my coworker arrived to work showing off a brand-new owl purse her Nana had gotten her. She proclaimed how much she loved owls and I wondered if I had been oblivious to that knowledge for the past 2 months I worked with her. I didn’t dwell much on the double dose of owl, however, until a couple of days later when a friend casually asked about my Halloween plans and then suggested I dress up as an owl.
Surely, he saw the video I just uploaded.
He hadn’t, he said.
I thought that really, really weird, but dismissed the possibility of a synchronicity as a jest. He had to have seen the video and was totally screwing with me, no?
Well, the next day I went out with my good friend and her husband to celebrate her birthday. Courtesy of the restaurant, our meal wrapped up with a sweet treat to share, but we all agreed that more was to be had after that teasing slice of cake. I suggested a bakery up the road I’d been meaning to try and discovered they had not been either.
We popped over and had a look around, goggling over which delectable sweets to choose. I was eyeing a shelf of cookies when my friend mentioned some cute mugs for sale. I turned towards her and saw owl mugs.
Like, carved-in-the-shape-and-painted-like-an-owl mugs (available in 2 colors).
Ok.
My heart skipped and my shoulders and insides tensed as I kind of felt a bit frightened in that moment. I stared at the mugs wondering what the fuck as I cooed at her, oooh, yeah, they’re cute. I didn’t say anything more as we moved on to order a sampler of miniature pies and tarts. I transferred my focus back to the evening, tucking away what I perceived to be something auspicious occurring around me.
The crazy owl business, however, was long forgotten by the next day; Halloween preparations for my eventful evening took immediate precedence. I had scored a ticket to an improv comedy show and was invited to a small get-together for afterwards (of which I was particularly ecstatic for because parties were forbidden in the year of 2020).
I had costume ideas for the evening but questioned how much effort to put into them when half of my face had to be covered at the comedy show. Last minute, I decidedly threw together a kind of pop art skeleton look to accompany my glow-in-the-dark skeletal shirt.
The outdoor event was the perfect setup for a spooky show where organizers had grouped seats of 2 and 4 dotted around their dimly lit parking lot and filled each chair with candy and glow sticks. To the backs of the audience, a full moon further set the stage for a night of tricks, treats and laughs. To the left was a beer tent and a merchandise table. I helped myself to a drink and took a seat dead front of the audience.
I love when people are afraid to be in the front because I always get a great seat.
The hour not only was a much needed comic relief, but I felt extremely honored when the host announced that it was their first night open since doors had closed to the public in March.
I’ve missed live improv comedy.
I left feeling light-hearted and in reminisce of Station Theatre, a comedy club I frequented before leaving behind my Houston Heights apartment and venturing off for Spain.
I was last to arrive at the Halloween party, but no one minded as everyone was full and merry from an evening feast of grilled meats and liquor. I helped myself to a plate and a drink and joined the outdoor festivities around a fire pit.
It was late for a typical evening out for me, but I remained alert with excitement, not retreating back home until half past midnight. I proceeded to stay up for another hour (or 2) to watch an episode of The Queen’s Gambit. Daylight savings was sparing me an extra hour for a frightfully good night and I was glad to stay up late and still get up early.
The following morning, a faint and seemingly distant alarm stirred my senses from a dead-ass sleep. It’s faintness penetrated my dream until I groggily awakened to consciousness. This was not the sound of my phone alarm.
I sat up in bed to a dark apartment and pulled out my earplugs. The beeping continued. The sound was close, but it wasn’t coming from within my home. Fully alert, I cautiously approached the front door and tapped the knob to check for heat before slowly opening it. I didn’t see smoke nor smelled it, but the fire alarms in the hallway were ringing and blinking and I watched my neighbors sleepily vacate their apartments.
I closed my door. I didn’t feel immediate danger, but just as well hurried to grab my phone, a jacket, shoes and keys. Any actual signs of a fire and I would have snatched up my cat, stuffed her in the nearest bag and run out without a thought for anything else. Under these less threatening circumstances, I felt her safer and less traumatized left untouched on my bed.
Upon leaving, my neighbor across from me and I opened and closed our doors in unison. We smiled, said hello and followed everyone else down the hall to the main stairs.
It was dark outside.
We stood safely away from the building with our fellow residents awaiting the fire department before I checked the time on my phone. Ahh, the best Halloween-daylight savings prank ever; I had been asleep for all of 4 hours.
My neighbor and I chatted through the wait for firefighters, through their inspection and the ok to re-enter the building.
We got on so well that we exchanged phone numbers.
I went back to bed and managed to kind of sleep another couple of hours. I later awoke to sunlight, feeling tired and lazy, yet amused with the eventful holiday weekend.
My neighbor and I met up a few days later at a brewery. In the wee hours of the past Sunday morning, we had discovered we were both from Houston and chatted a little about things to do in Dallas. During the more relaxed meetup at the brewery, we covered backgrounds, careers, likes and education. It turns out that my neighbor is a graduate from Rice University.
For those of you who don’t know, the mascot for Rice University is:
An owl.
You may be thinking, oh, woooow – that’s not very strange, Kat.
Maybe, but let me just sum up the whole spookiness of my Halloween story real quick; the fire alarm in my apartment building went off when I met this person, who I had lived across from for 2 months, and there were owl omens attached to myself and 3 other people I know in the week leading up to that moment.
There’s also something else that I hadn’t realized until after our meetup, which I’ll get into shortly.
We spoke for a while over a beer and a bite before she had to leave for an evening work meeting. The company and conversation were nice, but oddly, the original vibe we had shared was off. She wasn’t the same kind of bubbly and friendly as when we met and I felt ridiculously nervous, which she probably sensed as I’m easy to read.
As for myself, I think it was jitters over the potential of making a friend and wanting to make a good impression. For her, maybe she had work on the brain since she had to be back at it after only a couple hours’ break. Overall I had a nice time, but… I couldn’t tell if she did.
We parted without plans to meetup again, but figured I could invite her to join me for coffee sometime soon.
Through the weekend and following week, I must have run into her 4 times on my way in and out of the apartment building. And with every next time I saw her, I felt strongly that maybe I should invite her to do something. There was one instance I saw her cleaning out her car as I was on my way to work and the way she looked up and smiled reminded me of something. I later recalled the familiarity of how her face looked in that moment.
I think it was right after I had officially moved all of my things up here – so I had been at the apartment for almost a week – when I went outside to the parking lot to have a cigarette and de-stress. I noticed someone crossing the lot (like, 20 feet away from me) and I decided to say hello to this person as she neared the stair entry. She looked at me and smiled.
I am almost certain it was my neighbor. It’s the same face I saw when she looked up from her car.
It’s funny to me when I pieced this together and wondered about the how’s and why’s of people being inexplicably drawn to others.
After running into her so many times and feeling that pull to invite her somewhere, I finally extended a last-minute invite for coffee a few days later.
She couldn’t make it.
A lot of time has passed and I haven’t seen my neighbor since then. I have kept a little in touch with how’s-it-going texts over the holidays, yet I no longer feel that strong draw towards her.
Though, I am still oh-so curious to find out more.
I feel like that 2-week period was significant and I’d like to know why.
Perhaps the significance had passed after that window or perhaps we never miss the significance of encounters. Maybe they are only circumstantially delayed.
I think finally finishing this blog entry has fueled that curiosity a little bit more and I will be reaching out to her again soon. I wish sometimes the universe would just tell me what the fuck, ya know? Instead of feeling like I’m on a blind treasure hunt.
I will be sure to keep you posted if I uncover the booty of my mysterious owl synchronicities!
