Since 2015 I have been performing Thriller dance with my group, Bay Area Flash Mob.
At first I thought it would be a pain in the ass because of all the makeup. My experience with makeup has been very poor because I used to dance Balinese dance and their idea of beauty was so suffocating and stringent that I instantly dreaded wearing makeup. On the other hand BAFM is so open, accepting, and non judgmental, I feel welcomed finally. And they allowed me to redefine what it means to wear makeup and own myself regardless of what others say.
My first year I was a sleepy zombie. I wore a pair of pink pajamas with ice cream sundae motif and polka dots that I got from Thrift Town. I wore angry birds slippers, too. Then I started wearing it to bed all the time, so now it’s really worn out.
I had long hair and one of the dancers said I could do girl from the ring. I had not seen the film so I googled her and her costume was easy. I went to Thrift Town and got white dress, white shirt. Then I looked on YouTube on makeup tutorials for girl from the ring (Samara). It wasn’t that difficult. I was ok.
I also looked up some of her most famous scenes so I can get a sense of how she behaved. I went to perform at Oakland Museum with my group and crawled around.
The feedback was good. Here is me and my friend Jacqui who is Giggles the clown. 
I got some good mileage out of that. I even opened my first OkCupid account as “girlfromthering” there and interacted with people back when it was easy to do so. Now it’s not as easy.
I was Samara for the next two Thriller seasons. I went to Target the first year and took some photos.
The next year I went with my dancer friend Britney to Target and In n Out Burger and did photo shoots there.
I cut my hair after I was Samara in 2017, so I couldn’t really legitimately do Samara this year.
I have been mildly obsessed with The Handmaid’s Tale this year, so I decided I had to be a handmaid (although in reality, I’d be sent to the colonies because I’m old and barren, though I still have my sense of humor).
Again, I went to Thrift Town, got my red shirt and skirt and a lampshade for my bonnet. And ta-da! Ofcat was born.
I also opened my first Tinder account as Ofcat. Took a screenshot of it and basically took down my profile. The last time I interacted with people as a zombie, I also attracted people who were…. not compatible with me, and I don’t have a lot of time to waste.
So here is Ofcat’s tinder profile.
