St. Patrick's

"Moderation is a fatal thing; nothing succeeds like excess," Oscar Wilde reminds us. I took this tenant to the next logical step and had a party... a Walk on the Wilde side, paying tribute to gay Irishmen (and women) and the people who love them.

Mostly, this entailed getting people drunk. Indeed, nothing succeeds like excess in the realm of drinking.

Andy was kind enough to provide liquid refreshment in the form of Harps (a light, sweet beer) and Guinness (a foamy, dark, yeasty one).

Snacks included Ranch curry dip with veggies, various savory snacks, chocolates, Irish cheeses with crackers and Irish Allsorts licorice candies. Very tasty.

Louisiana Jambalaya with sausage and tofu on the side was the main dish. I cooked from 3-5, making sure that I got everything done early, so I could enjoy the party. Yeah, right. You can never really relax at a party, because one's mingle consultant and goodwill ambassador duties seldom allow for much of that.

Thankfully, I had assistance. Andy did a little shopping for me. And Michael was a big help for the party, too. He even came early to lend and help set up the speaker system for my laptop.

Afro Celt Sound System has a dj/remixing applet on their CD, so I thought Michael, who has wonderful taste in electronica, might want to play with it. He and Andy (the roommate) had a little fun, but they both decided to just let the MP3s do their thing at the party. Probably a wise decision.

Michael and I also enacted an unintentional performance art piece.

You know those Spring PCS commercials where people mistake "The Captain and Teneal" or "Charro" for other words? Well, I asked Michael for some Bailey's Irish cream for some Irish coffee, but I only said "Bailey's." Well, Michael heard "bay leaves" instead.

It turned out for the best, though. We'd already used all of the whipped cream before our after dinner coffee was served. (And almost no one wanted coffee, anyway....)

Michael also dropped off some nice clothes from the Banana. I've been needing a few more shirts for work -- I only packed 5 dress shirts when I came up here -- so Michael brought a few over. That was sweet of him.

The big disappointment of the evening was that Dr. Michael didn't make it. There was a communications snafu. (Love that word -- one of my favorite military-developed etymologies: "Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.")

He thought that the party was cancelled because of the water being out. (It was cut off because the owner didn't pay the bill.) I had called him and bemoaned the fact that I would have to cancel it if water wasn't restored. But I didn't clarify it completely. So he thought the event was off! What a shame. It was embarrassing.

-j