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Now that was a party! The last guests just left and I really should go to bed. However -- LJ junkie that I am -- I must blog about it first! Besides, Stumpy is curled up behind my head as I sit on the couch so I can cuddle with my baby girl as I write -- bonus!
The party started slowly, with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xirpha (and his horde of food) as the only guest for quite some time. We chatted for a bit and then played games. First was Girl Genius, which I won by a fair margin. Next was St. Petersburg... where I thought I was being trounced but ended up losing by one single point (out of scores around 110 each).
During the second game, momentum began to build. Other guests arrived and we eventually hit a respectable size -- twenty one people. There were definitely some regular attendees who were missed this time... but we somehow managed to force ourselves to have fun without them!
There was, of course, the annual game of Mega-Death Ultra-High Stakes Four Square. This is a top draw of the Event Horizon summer parties, as people flock from near and far to behold the legendary might and majesty that I possess. Alas, this year the game went on for so long that I was eventually ousted in order to fire up the grill and feed people before it got dark. Personally, I think it was all just a devious plot to remove me from the game so that others would stand a chance at winning. After all, all who behold my prowess at Four Square know fear![*]
Once I left the Four Square game, I flipped burgers until enough meat -- and meat substitute -- had been grilled to satisfy all. Then our local firemastergyades -- freshly off the plane from Sweden -- started up a bonfire in our firepit. It went on for several hours, with groups congregating both around the fire and inside the house. I flittered back and forth between the two, so as to spend time with all my friends while I am here.
For this party, I wore my new Utilikilt -- many thanks togyades and cheshcat and polymorphism for the gift! It was as big a hit here as it was at Starwood... with several lovely ladies diligently making sure that I was wearing it in the proper fashion! Additionally, at some point after dinner I was lucky enough had the misfortune of being administered some birthday spankings. And it isn't even my birthday!
The entire day was much fun. However, I think that two points stand out as highlights. One is that, after the bonfire had burned down to glowing embers, I had my first -- and second! -- attempt at firewalking. The impossibly adorable C[**] knows how to do this and she demonstrated. Afterward, R[**] decided that he would give it a try. I had not intended to sample firewalking -- really I hadn't! Indeed, one person joked that I was next and I laughed it off. Except that after R's attempt -- which was moderately successful -- I found myself getting up and standing next to the coals, then walking across them. I definitely need more practice before I can consider myself competent at this -- the soles of both feet are slightly burned right now -- but I gave it two decent attempts! So, yeah, I tried firewalking tonight! How cool is that???[***]
The other highlight was near the end of the evening, when a small army of intoxicating women took it upon themselves to make me quite drunk... without imbibing a drop of alcohol. I won't divulge any more details on this, except to say that their cunning plan was most definitely a success. I needed to avoid the firepit for a while thereafter, as I could not trust myself to walk in a straight line!
When the Event Horizon was my primary home, there would be bi-monthly parties. Now that I live in Oxford, these are obviously less frequent. Nonetheless, the annual summer party is consistently a great success -- looking back, I recall how much fun the party was last year and the year before! It is times like this -- both today's party and the entire week that I have been here -- that make me remember how much I enjoyed living here. It was a good life, shared with many wonderful friends. To be sure, I also very much enjoy living in Oxford and the life that I have been building there... but that doesn't mean that I don't miss my previous life. Ah, if only I had the powers of Jamie Madrox! In any case, I am grateful that I can still re-visit my life -- and dear friends -- in Chicago every now and then.
[*] The neighbors' children seemed greatly amused by our game, whereas their parents seemed somewhat annoyed at the ruckus.
[**] If these people have LJs, I do not know their names. If you do, please fill me in!
[***] No thermal jokes, please. Too obvious. If you must make a pun -- and I fully understand the compulsion -- try for something more clever.
The party started slowly, with
xirpha (and his horde of food) as the only guest for quite some time. We chatted for a bit and then played games. First was Girl Genius, which I won by a fair margin. Next was St. Petersburg... where I thought I was being trounced but ended up losing by one single point (out of scores around 110 each).During the second game, momentum began to build. Other guests arrived and we eventually hit a respectable size -- twenty one people. There were definitely some regular attendees who were missed this time... but we somehow managed to force ourselves to have fun without them!
There was, of course, the annual game of Mega-Death Ultra-High Stakes Four Square. This is a top draw of the Event Horizon summer parties, as people flock from near and far to behold the legendary might and majesty that I possess. Alas, this year the game went on for so long that I was eventually ousted in order to fire up the grill and feed people before it got dark. Personally, I think it was all just a devious plot to remove me from the game so that others would stand a chance at winning. After all, all who behold my prowess at Four Square know fear![*]
Once I left the Four Square game, I flipped burgers until enough meat -- and meat substitute -- had been grilled to satisfy all. Then our local firemaster
gyades -- freshly off the plane from Sweden -- started up a bonfire in our firepit. It went on for several hours, with groups congregating both around the fire and inside the house. I flittered back and forth between the two, so as to spend time with all my friends while I am here.For this party, I wore my new Utilikilt -- many thanks to
gyades and cheshcat and polymorphism for the gift! It was as big a hit here as it was at Starwood... with several lovely ladies diligently making sure that I was wearing it in the proper fashion! Additionally, at some point after dinner I The entire day was much fun. However, I think that two points stand out as highlights. One is that, after the bonfire had burned down to glowing embers, I had my first -- and second! -- attempt at firewalking. The impossibly adorable C[**] knows how to do this and she demonstrated. Afterward, R[**] decided that he would give it a try. I had not intended to sample firewalking -- really I hadn't! Indeed, one person joked that I was next and I laughed it off. Except that after R's attempt -- which was moderately successful -- I found myself getting up and standing next to the coals, then walking across them. I definitely need more practice before I can consider myself competent at this -- the soles of both feet are slightly burned right now -- but I gave it two decent attempts! So, yeah, I tried firewalking tonight! How cool is that???[***]
The other highlight was near the end of the evening, when a small army of intoxicating women took it upon themselves to make me quite drunk... without imbibing a drop of alcohol. I won't divulge any more details on this, except to say that their cunning plan was most definitely a success. I needed to avoid the firepit for a while thereafter, as I could not trust myself to walk in a straight line!
When the Event Horizon was my primary home, there would be bi-monthly parties. Now that I live in Oxford, these are obviously less frequent. Nonetheless, the annual summer party is consistently a great success -- looking back, I recall how much fun the party was last year and the year before! It is times like this -- both today's party and the entire week that I have been here -- that make me remember how much I enjoyed living here. It was a good life, shared with many wonderful friends. To be sure, I also very much enjoy living in Oxford and the life that I have been building there... but that doesn't mean that I don't miss my previous life. Ah, if only I had the powers of Jamie Madrox! In any case, I am grateful that I can still re-visit my life -- and dear friends -- in Chicago every now and then.
[*] The neighbors' children seemed greatly amused by our game, whereas their parents seemed somewhat annoyed at the ruckus.
[**] If these people have LJs, I do not know their names. If you do, please fill me in!
[***] No thermal jokes, please. Too obvious. If you must make a pun -- and I fully understand the compulsion -- try for something more clever.
