Party All Night

Oh my…I am 34 and one day, give or take a few hours. For some, that means I'm an old geezer, while to others it seems I'm quite young. For me, no matter what my driver’s license says about me being born in 1973, I will for eternity, be 23 and that means for the year 2007 I was born August 5, 1984. Hey, speaking of 1984…… my younger brother was born that year. I remember the day he was born and the exact time; 11:06 am. I had to walk home from school everyday at lunch to walk my sister to school, who attended the same school as I, but was in the afternoon kindergarten. That day, my uncle was at our house with my parents nowhere to be found. I remember asking about my mom and that’s when my uncle told me that I had a new baby brother. That is when I still believed that mom’s took pills to HAVE babies and not to prevent pregnancy. Yes, we were very sheltered kids. But, I still want to believe that is how my mom got pregnant with me and my siblings.

This weekend I got to celebrate my birthday along with the birthday of a good friend of mine, T. I went to his party with a friend last year, and that’s when I hung out with T and discovered we shared the same birth day….although as I like to remind T, he’s 3 years older than me! The party is held as his exclusive cottage community. We’re talking secret passwords and handshakes and of course militia security people guarding the entrance. It sounds great, but rest assured, we're talking septic tanks, well water and the great outdoors. At least the toliets flush and there is a nice lake. Another friend also owns a cabin there that has been in his family for a very long time, we're talking 60 years+. This place is really secluded...after a few turns from the main road, it's a right turn off a rural road to the fenced "camp". After the entrance, you drive through dense forest for about 1 mile on a very narrow one lane dirt road. If you happen to meet another vehicle heading in the opposite direction, one of you would probably have to back up all the way back from the direction they came, in order to let the other vehicle through. They should install some kind of light mechanism to notify other vehicles that the road is in use when anyone is entering or leaving the camp. Kinda like trains and railroad tracks have. But I don’t think it really necessary as the is place is really not busy with people coming and going except for a few nights a year…this past Saturday being one of those nights.

The party was really big, people living across the lake and from surrounding lakes come to it…either crashing it or being invited. Friends bring friends who bring friends who bring friends. I would estimate that there were over 100 people. I arrived just after the sun had set and there were people already a little tipsy from all the booze. I swear this one guy was walking at a 70 degree angle, he was barefoot, hitting on the girls and almost got into a few brawls with the guys that had enough of his blabbering. One girl drank so much she was slurring her words and had to point at the beer tap to get more. She outdrank one guy and laughed in his face. His ego was shattered as he himself consumed enough liquor to raise his BAL (blood alcohol level) to at least .25%! The camp has a licensed bar and for this party, people among the invited, are asked to bartend. T bought approximately 8 cases of adult beverages (AB’s) around 96 bottles and two HUGE kegs of beer. The beer disappeared…mind you that is over 400, 16 oz cups and many of the liters of liquor had hard a drop of liquid in them as the 5th hour of partying elapsed. At one point during the night I was invited to bartend; my first time doing that at any function. But being very knowledgeable on the expansive subject of adult beverages and the fine art of mixing drinks, I was well prepared and I made many of the customers happy. I was tossing bottles in the air, spinning them in my hands, and remarkably not spiling much. As humble and giving as T is, the AB’s were not necessarily free. Drinkers were asked to give "TIPS TO BUILD A NEW DECK" for the camp. But from what I noticed, the amount given back as tips was only 10% of that which was paid to buy the AB's. And as the night wore on, the buckets set up to collect the tip money were being filled with lower denominations if anything at all. Maybe all those dead brain cells caused people to forget. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all. I made some killer drinks…Jaeger Bombs, some crazy concoction of Pucker Apple, Grey Goose Vodka, Crown Royal and cranberry juice a very nice girl taught me to make, and easy to make screwdrivers although I put in 4 oz Absolute, 8oz OJ. The only girly drink I would allow to be made on my watch were the colorful cosmopolitans...no pina colads or daquiris allowed. The most popular besides the Bud Light was Grey Goose and Red Bull. I settled simply on the bottled water and a few Dt. Pepsi's. At around 2:00 the lights were turned off at the bar, signaling the end and still people refused to go….eventually the last remaining drunks crawled out and it was time once again to navigate the long road to the highway. There were many designated drivers in attendance and few people who were recovering alcoholics who remained sober. All in all it was a very good time and everyone made it home ok. There were no boat accidents and no one made too big a fool of themselves. Except those two girls who were up on the bar and started..........oops, sorry, whatever happens in SC, stays in SC.

I finally made it home at 3:30 and went to bed at 4 with my smoke infused clothing still on. I spend my real birthday recovering and enjoying a surprise impromptu party with my family. They got me ice cream cake but I didn't allow them to sing! I got a few very nice cigars and also a speedometer for my bike from my friends that stopped by to wish me Happy Birthday.


You may have wondered why pictures were not posted of the party. There were many pictures taken and a few videos shot. And as you can imagine when people and alcohol mix, the wild side of everyone shows up, and I would hate for anyone to be embarrassed at some point in the future when they are running for public office or become a contestant on American Idol. So those shall remain on the memory card until they get overwritten with next year’s party pictures. Sorry.