I went to the Crystal Ballroom for their Halloween party with my 'Death' costume. Parked my car in a garage about a block from the Ballroom. As I was heading out of the garage the attendant handed me a card with a number on it. He tried to explain what it was for, but his English wasn't very good so I nodded and smiled, looked at it briefly and then stuck it in my coat pocket. I figured it would make sense later.
As I was going into the club I saw some pretty good costumes. A satyr complete with horse hoofs that clopped, lots of vampires, ghouls and pirates. (Why were pirates so popular this year?). I got quite a few comments from people liked my get up because it was quite disturbing. Just the kind of reaction I was hoping for.
The party started off slow, but as more people arrived I was getting very hot with my sport coat and my outer coat. I didn't see a coat check, so I just ran back and put it in my car. Had a good DJ with nice heavy beat industrial music. There was a woman there that just started dancing with me out of the blue. Very flirty and very cute. She certainly had no fear of Death. Her date, however, was not so appreciative of her actions so I kept it to just flirting.
About 11 pm there was an 'intermission' where they had a group of four women doing an erotic Indian type dance. It was planned, but not announced. They just worked their way to the front of the dance floor and started their performance. Everyone was standing/sitting around in a semi-circle toward the front of the dance floor watching. I happened to be in the very front of it all sitting on the floor in front of them. The perfect place.
After the costume contest (which I did not win ... and didn't really want to) I went out to get my car out of the parking garage. It was closed... locked... Ah-ha! Now that number made sense! There was a keypad outside the door. So I reached inside my sport coat ... read the card.
"Inspected by #25"
D'oh! The code was in my outer coat which was now in my car that I could see locked inside the garage through the bars. Wait! I think I remember there was 5 numbers to the code! It started with 22 and ended with 47. So there's only 10 combinations. So I can try them all! "22047".. no. "22147" no. "22247" no. .... "22947" ... this has to be it... No. Crap. Fine. I'll have to come back and get my car tomorrow. Time for the contingency plan. Public Transportation.
I walk to the nearest Max station, since it's only half a mile from the Merlo station to my house. I look at the train schedule and the last train is at 12:30. It's 1:30. No deal. And now it's beginning to rain. :-( There's no one I can call because a) it's 1:30 in the morning and b) my cell phone is ... in my car.
Fortunately, it is only 1:30, so I duck into the nearest open bar and have them get me a cab. I was probably the only sober person asking for a cab at that time, but it was better than walking. $25 later I'm punching in the code to my garage (the one I do know) and go to bed.
...
Next morning, I get up and it's pouring rain. Max station is half a mile from my house, and the garage is about a half mile from the downtown station. Not a problem most days, however... my coat, my umbrella, my cell phone, and my laptop are all in my car and are all in a garage in downtown Portland! So....
I get to the garage about 8:00 am and as predicted I am completely drenched. I tell the morning parking attendant about leaving my car for the night and he tells me "You must pay the daily parking fee because it is after 7am". Great. I'm getting jacked, but by this time I don't care and don't have the time to argue. So, I give this Indian National his seven dollars of extortion money and drive to work. Glad to be done with the ordeal.
As I was driving back to work, I pulled out the card to see what the number was. Turns out I was right. ... 2247
As I was going into the club I saw some pretty good costumes. A satyr complete with horse hoofs that clopped, lots of vampires, ghouls and pirates. (Why were pirates so popular this year?). I got quite a few comments from people liked my get up because it was quite disturbing. Just the kind of reaction I was hoping for.
The party started off slow, but as more people arrived I was getting very hot with my sport coat and my outer coat. I didn't see a coat check, so I just ran back and put it in my car. Had a good DJ with nice heavy beat industrial music. There was a woman there that just started dancing with me out of the blue. Very flirty and very cute. She certainly had no fear of Death. Her date, however, was not so appreciative of her actions so I kept it to just flirting.
About 11 pm there was an 'intermission' where they had a group of four women doing an erotic Indian type dance. It was planned, but not announced. They just worked their way to the front of the dance floor and started their performance. Everyone was standing/sitting around in a semi-circle toward the front of the dance floor watching. I happened to be in the very front of it all sitting on the floor in front of them. The perfect place.
After the costume contest (which I did not win ... and didn't really want to) I went out to get my car out of the parking garage. It was closed... locked... Ah-ha! Now that number made sense! There was a keypad outside the door. So I reached inside my sport coat ... read the card.
"Inspected by #25"
D'oh! The code was in my outer coat which was now in my car that I could see locked inside the garage through the bars. Wait! I think I remember there was 5 numbers to the code! It started with 22 and ended with 47. So there's only 10 combinations. So I can try them all! "22047".. no. "22147" no. "22247" no. .... "22947" ... this has to be it... No. Crap. Fine. I'll have to come back and get my car tomorrow. Time for the contingency plan. Public Transportation.
I walk to the nearest Max station, since it's only half a mile from the Merlo station to my house. I look at the train schedule and the last train is at 12:30. It's 1:30. No deal. And now it's beginning to rain. :-( There's no one I can call because a) it's 1:30 in the morning and b) my cell phone is ... in my car.
Fortunately, it is only 1:30, so I duck into the nearest open bar and have them get me a cab. I was probably the only sober person asking for a cab at that time, but it was better than walking. $25 later I'm punching in the code to my garage (the one I do know) and go to bed.
...
Next morning, I get up and it's pouring rain. Max station is half a mile from my house, and the garage is about a half mile from the downtown station. Not a problem most days, however... my coat, my umbrella, my cell phone, and my laptop are all in my car and are all in a garage in downtown Portland! So....
I get to the garage about 8:00 am and as predicted I am completely drenched. I tell the morning parking attendant about leaving my car for the night and he tells me "You must pay the daily parking fee because it is after 7am". Great. I'm getting jacked, but by this time I don't care and don't have the time to argue. So, I give this Indian National his seven dollars of extortion money and drive to work. Glad to be done with the ordeal.
As I was driving back to work, I pulled out the card to see what the number was. Turns out I was right. ... 2247
betandy:
Thank you for this amusing and exhausting tale. Nodding and smiling is always dangerous. 
mistressvamp:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 