Looks like we forgot to share Labsgiving 4.0 (2020, aka Labsgiving: COVID Edition- Outdoors, with all items individually packaged and no serving utensils) and Labsgiving 5.0 (2021, back to normal!), but rest assured we have not foresaken our annual tradition. Recently, we celebrated Labsgiving 6.0 (aka 2022 Edition).
As in years past, we were again warmly welcomed by some custom artwork.
The turkey looked (and tasted!) delicious
We had a special turkey-shaped butter decoration, which was promptly beheaded.
So many desserts! (But, let’s be honest, that’s the real reason we were there.)
Including cupcakes that were almost too pretty to eat (almost…)
We confess, Halloween kind of snuck up on us this year. But, rest assured, we still did a group costume and it was just as amazing as you have come to expect from us. We did The Good Place!
From left to right (click photos to enlarge):
Matt dressed up as Michael, the architect of the neighborhood. He was rocking a 3 piece suit with a matching bowtie and pocket square
Steph went as Best Person Eleanor complete with shrimp in her bra
Sam was ‘regular’ Eleanor with a flannel shirt and skinny jeans
Zack dressed up as Chidi and even brought his own Ethics book
Margaret made an excellent Janet, cactus and all!
Ricky nailed the Jason Mendoza look – tracksuit and gold chains. But he did not take advantage of the opportunity to bring jalapeno poppers
The in-character photo!
The whole BME-BPC Crew: TORL as The Good Place, Brown Lab as favorite condiment, Greenbaum lab went with black t-shirts printed with their own microscopy images, and Freytes Lab went as ghosts
Looking back through the posts, it’s become apparent that we’ve neglected Halloween on this website, which does not align with our actual treatment of Halloween. We love Halloween! So, here’s a look back at the TORL Halloween costumes throughout the years.
For our first annual TORL Halloween (TORL-o-ween?) we decided to go as The Office.
Matt was, of course, the World’s Best Boss and, in true Michael Scott fashion, he bought himself that mug.Steph was the Assistant Regional Manager Assistant to the Regional Manager Dwight, and the lab even put her stapler in Jello. They wrapped it in cellophane first, but it never was quite the same.Lewis was 3-hole-punch Jim, and Paul doubled down and went as 3-hole punch Asian Jim, channeling two different episodes. Impressive!Danielle went as Angela, complete with sour expression and a real, live, (stuffed, not real, not alive) catZack went as Toby, the HR rep, and was generally kind of sad that day.Emily, on the other hand, went as the very chipper Kelly Kapoor!
Last but not least, Stephanie C was Pam, and even carried the phone around all day just to make sure she didn’t miss any calls.
Some Outtakes:
Throwing the cat in the air!Cracking up between takes
2018: First Halloween in BPC
(and therefore first Halloween where other labs dressed up too)
In 2018 we went with a slightly less cohesive theme that gave everyone a bit of room to flex their creative muscles. Our theme was “90s Nickelodeon”.
Front Row, L to R: Lauryn: Plankton from SpongeBob, Paul: Timmy from The Fairly Oddparents, Danielle: Angelica from Rugrats —- Back Row, L to R: Alex: Krumm from AAAHH! Real Monsters, Zack & Stephanie: Nigel and Eliza Thornberry from The Wild Thornberries, Steph: a contestant from Legends of the Hidden Temple, Lewis: Otto from Rocket Power, Matt: Artie from Pete & Pete
Next Up, 2019!
Aka the upside-down year, or the year we did Stranger Things season 3.
From left to right: Steve, Alexei, Jonathan, Murray, Joyce, Jim, and Eleven
2021: Squid Games
In what is perhaps a disturbing metaphor for the way we’ve felt for the last ~18 months or a scathing commentary on the cutthroat world of academia (or just what everyone was watching at the time), we opted to go as characters from Squid Games. Except Steph– who has never seen the show and doesn’t want to– chose to go as 2000s-era Netflix, complete with DVD. Only somewhat relevant but everyone decided to allow it.
We took a break during the BPC holiday party to take this delightful photo of (some of) us standing in front of a Christmas tree, located in front of a mural with some Raleigh highlights (the PNC Arena and the Jim Graham Building at the fairgrounds). May your holidays be as bright as the lights on the tree and the fireworks on the wall!
It was once again time for our most favorite annual tradition – Labsgiving! That day when we eat too much food and celebrate all of our awesome lab members. Luckily, no one passed out at the end of the night this time like last year. We also didn’t take quite as many photos, because we were too excited about the food. We’ll try to do better next year.
And rest assured that our fearless lab manager did join us, but she came late because she scored Hamilton tickets and, frankly, we’d skip the start of Labsgiving for Hamilton too.
TORL got together over the weekend to celebrate the holidays. As is to be expected at any -sgiving event, much fun (and way too much food) was had by all. Check out a few photos below.
We were greeted by an original L. Fisher work of art.
Matt points out the ACL and meniscus on the turkey leg. We thought it only fair that Stephanie Cone be the one to eat it, but she declined.We have concerns about the size of his tools relative to the specimen. Perhaps try a scalpel next time?
Delicious turkey, pre-dissection.
We don’t know what Zack said, but he literally had Emily in tears.
