I may not dress up, but I can still judge

Somehow, I was roped into serving as a judge for our office building's Halloween costume contest today. So, at the appointed time, I dutifully excused myself from a very long conference call ("I have another, ahem, meeting.") and made my way down to the building lobby.

I'm not sure why I didn't think of it, but I was only one of two judges who didn't dress up for the event! A Halloween scrooge, if you will.

In any case, there were only a few contestants this year, when apparently there were typically 20 entrants in any given previous year. I'm not sure we could blame the weaker turnout to the economy, but I'm sure it crossed several minds. We had a Rastafarian, Miss Piggy, a disgusting chef with rats all over him, Richard Simmons, Mario, a witch, a Mardi Gras witch, Marty McFly and a boy scout.

After careful deliberation, we gave first prize to the witch, second to grody chef, third to Miss Piggy and an honorable mention to Richard Simmons. Marty McFly was one of my personal favorites, thanks to the accuracy of his costume, but I appreciated all the effort that went into the witch's elaborate makeup. I think most of us included Richard Simmons in the count simply because the fellow showed up in embarrassingly short shorts and a tiny tank top.