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The morning of the party is normally the time for getting the house ready, setting the table, getting the games prepared and so on, but this year Bruce's boyfriend Tyler had organized a trip to wine country, in our very own limo, for interested parties, and Bruce suggested that I go along. (Well, if I must.) We called it the first annual Wine Country Caravan. Our slogan was "WCC, yeah you know me."
Here is our WCC gang sign.
The WCC demonstrates that we understand the proper way to enjoy wine.
We had gorgeous weather. I was expecting it to be cold, since it's been so cold in San Francisco. Plus, it's December. I was forgetting that in the deserts of Southern California, it is frequently warm, even in "winter." And so it was.
Things started to get a little crazy when we discovered there was juice, soda, and vodka in our limo, in seemingly unlimited quantities. Some of us are drinking greyhounds in this picture. Mmm. Greyhounds.
And here I am, wearing someone else's cowboy hat, laying on the floor of the limo. After one greyhound? Sigh. What's going to happen when she gets some almond champagne in her?
We came back to find the house cleaned, beautifully decorated, and ready for the party. (THANK YOU Bruce, Phil, Russ, Marshall and Uncle Mike!) Note that every year I do a collage of photos from the previous year's party, so those are visible on the wall.
More elegant decorations. I should have taken an "after" picture of this table. We were gathered around it the next day--at least those of us who passed out all over the house at three in the morning--and it was covered with broken cookies, dried-up cheese, the empty bottle of Bad Idea Tequila, shot glasses, champagne glasses, wrapping paper, some of the gift exchange gifts, and game cards for all of our games.
Dinner was, as usual, phenomenal. I don't know how Bruce managed to cook such an incredible meal for nearly 50 people. This gives you sort of an idea of the scope of this dinner. Unbelievable.
Here's the view from my end of the table. Look at the pretty, happy people enjoying their food!
More pretty happiness. Or is it happy prettiness?
Mo-mo and Ty-ty. At least that's what Bruce calls us! We have love.
Me with my sister and her girlfriend. Said to me later: "Your sister's girlfriend walked in looking like a goddess. I just wanted to worship her."
One of the most entertaining aspects of the annual party is the playing of games. This year we had Holiday Shindig Bingo (SHINGO), and rhyming trivia on index cards, and our annual gift exchange. And Russ's karaoke machine. A lot of people showed up not knowing anybody, but left having met everybody. That's our goal every year!
This is the metal detector that someone (cough-Tim-cough) brought last year, when much hilarity ensued. This year the person who got it re-gifted it, complete with this sign. Bruce's sister ended up taking it home, so who knows if it will be back next year! And in case you were wondering, Tim brought another winner: a candy lava volcano.
The obligatory "Gay Men Singing Stop In The Name Of Love" karaoke photo.
Russ (who has an AMAZING voice) and Bruce (who has a voice that's AMAZING in a whole other way) committing to the performance.
Bruce and I did a spontaneous round of "That's What Friends Are For" and I sang some Britney Spears and an off-key version of "Zoot Suit Riot." Russ did "Music of the Night" and it was awesome.
The rest of the night was just more of the same. More singing, more drinking, more talking, more snuggling on the couches of love. I had this intense conversation with Russ's boyfriend about how love was the most important thing in the world, because at that moment I was overflowing with love for all of my friends, for everyone who had come to the party, and for whatever alcoholic beverage I was holding in my hand at the time.
The next day, Ian and I had to drive back home. And I was not in good shape after all of that crazy party business, so thank god he was there to drive most of the way. I would never have made it. On the way we stopped to have some Peruvian seafood (thumbs up on that, even as hangover food) with his friend Lance. And then we hit good old I-5 and the long ride home.
We took a picture of this sign on the way back. We were excited about the pie at first, until we looked closer. This is just cruel.
365 days ago (give or take):
I never did a photo essay for last year's shindig? Wow, that doesn't seem right."So anyway, we moved all the big things (and by "we" I mean "Ian") and a lot of the little things, but there were still a lot of little things around. The end part of the plan was "throw things in this box and in these drawers randomly." Which we then proceeded to do. Whereupon my housemate came downstairs and said, "Oh, you can chill out with the packing. We postponed the painting. I got the flu."
Cue the jingle of irony!"
what i'm reading:
I got The Dante Club from my boss, and Life of Pi is still around somewhere.
what i'm writing:
I got my copy of IRIS with my poems in it, and wrote submission queries to the seven places I am waiting on to hear about the fate of my poems. (Because it occurred to me that if my mail was getting stolen, my No Thank You letters might have been stolen as well.) I got one "your poems? never heard of them" and one "we're considering one of your poems." So, still waiting on the other five.
what i'm watching:
I went to a work holiday potluck last night and missed The Amazing Race! Woe! I Netflixed The L Word and have seen a few episodes of that.
anything:
The internet is for porn. The internet is for porn.
the monagerie:
Apple lost Agency Pet of the Year to some stupid little dauchshhuhdcnd. I can't even spell that.
journal quote of the day:
"If that wasn't bad enough, it's all smothered in a secret sauce of the ol' "you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it" crap. This may be the biggest crime perpetrated by our public educational system. Not one God damned person on this planet can do "anything they want". In high school, if all it took to achieve something was me putting my mind to it, I would have been touring with the Rolling Stones and having sex with washed up supermodels."
The Armless Monkey is updating for Holidailies. Get it while the getting's good!
mood ring:
shakespeare says:
"God rest you merry, sir." (As You Like It)
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