By about noon yesterday (when I realized neither T nor H would be joining me at Oktoberfest), I had pretty much decided that I was in no mood to dress up in a beer wench costume and freeze my ass off all day.  But the rest of my friends were still planning on attending, and seeing as that I make a noble attempt at being un-flaky, I didn’t want to bail on volunteering and just show up to party.

I’m just seriously too old to be wearing this freaking outfit, I thought to myself as I slouched in front of the mirror with one pigtail tied up in a pink ribbon and the other half of my hair hanging limply in my hand. Knee-highs? Really? Maybe I should just show up in jeans and get one of the t-shirts they’ll have…

I consulted with J, who said it was perfectly reasonable for me to decline showing up in a costume without my two sidekicks. So, I showed up at 1:30 donning cuffed-up jeans and sneakers, and I changed into one of the Noblefrau t-shirts available for volunteers.

“I’m ready,” I said. “Where should I go?”

“Well, only girls dressed as bier fraus are supposed to serve beer, so you can choose between the food tent and the kids games.”

“Okay, I’ll go check out the food tent,” I decided.

I arrived at the food tent, ready to serve, and was turned away because they didn’t need any help. So I ended up hanging around near the front gate with two other homely looking individuals wearing cuffed-up jeans, sneakers and Noblefrau t-shirts. I watched the girls dressed as bier fraus begin to filter in and head towards the beer tents. Then I  began to irrationally seethe with envy because they all had something to do (serve beer), and I was just standing around wasting my afternoon (which was entirely my own doing because I was too moody to wear my costume).

What the hell is wrong with me? I thought.  Am I really so old and boring that I’m going to stand around in jeans and a t-shirt all day when I could be having fun serving beer in a frilly skirt?

Hell no! I went home and put my costume on. Most of those other girls were older than me anyway, and I know for a fact that I look super cute in green, brown and pink. I skipped the pigtails, though, and just pinned up the front of my hair in a bow.

I arrived back at Oktoberfest just in time to get a spot serving Straub Beer (super delicious) all afternoon. Turns out, I don’t need to be flanked by two friends to have a good time in my bier frau costume. I met a bunch of other nice girls and had a pretty decent time.

I guess the moral of this story is that if you’re too insecure to wear a beer wench costume out in public by yourself, you should just live a little and do it anyway.

Or maybe it’s just that I’m a little indecisive, but I think we already established that.

This crazy trip has got me feelin’: dizzy
And I’m singin’ along to: These Days – The Black Keys