My stunning Hallowe�en costume has been hanging up for a few weeks now, and yes, just as I had hoped, I�ve been looking at it and loving it and anticipating Hallowe�en with glee.

There�s just one thing. The next step involves making metre-long slices in the existing costume. Two of them.

It�s so pretty, and it looks so damned drop-jaw good on me. I�m petrified to ruin it, quite frankly. These two metre-long slices would really make the costume though.

S�okay. I have five weeks to work up the courage to do it. Well, four, because next week is chock-a-block full of work and teaching and such things. Three, actually, because I�d need a week to recover from the heart-stopping knowledge that I�ve committed hara-kari on a costume that�s taken me hours to get to this almost-perfect point. Now that I think about it, it�s only two weeks, since I�ll need a week to do the finicky final touches after I�ve hacked it apart, and then a week to rest and like it again while recovering.

Oh please, gods, let this work.

I feel the sudden urge to go fetal.