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Good Party

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JustAskJulie

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Saturday night we headed to our local social, and as usual had a really good time. But, we noticed something seemed a little off... it was a little bit us and a little bit something else. Pet has not been feeling well, we are thinking (and kind of hoping) that it's his turn for his gallblader to go out. By hoping, we are hoping it's nothing worse. So even though he's not been 100% lately he was feeling ok and we went to the party anyway.

 

Actually, if there was ever a day to skip out this weekend would have been it. He's been dealing with this stomach issue for about 2 weeks, plus his car's been making some weird noises. So Sat. morning he gets up and takes his car in thinking he'll get the transmission serviced. Then he finds out that they can't do it (where he took it) so they put it back together and he heads home to find it's acting up worse. Did they forget to connect something or what? So he comes home gets me and we head back over there. They look at it, a guy rides around with us and the end result is that maybe there was air in the lines. The original complaint is still there but the car has to go to the dealer because the jiffy lube didn't have the necessary equipment to work on Pet's car. While he was out the first time I discovered that my printer decided to die... it's wireless which is awesome, but now no printer. So after we finally get his car taken care of (more or less) we grab a late lunch (at this point it's around 2:30). We were actually originally slated to help set up for the party, but that was already well underway, so we decided to stop by Office Depot and look at printers. Next thing we know it's after 4pm and we are supposed to be at the hotel by 7. So we headed back home to figure out what I was going to wear to "Lady in Red" night.

 

It wasn't Red.... We barely managed to get out of the house and get there on time, grabbed a hotel room (one of the last King beds they had), and got our space saved and hung up a few banners for the new book. I wasn't planning to do an actual "signing" at this party, I'm doing that next month. But, enough people knew about the book and had told me they wanted one at THIS party that I had them ready to go. Once the party got started I was running back and forth delivering and signing books, saying hello to old friends and new, etc. Pet seemed to be his usual self but when I caught up with him later I found out he wasn't feeling all that well.

 

It seemed to be a weird night all around. Very little dancing (which is odd for this group) and not as much mixing and mingling as we usually see either. We were both still moving around a lot and talking to people but it just seemed a little off. When we'd looked at the signup list we noticed a very high proportion of out-of-towners and newbies signed up for this party. It seems that word of mouth is spreading very well that this is a great party, so we are getting more and more folks from surrounding states and all the way down to Mobile... actually I saw one couple signed up from Destin FL. When we were talking about it today we couldn't help but wonder if that high proportion of non-regulars threw the balance off a little bit.

 

That brought up another discussion between the two of us, of how that might just be what causes some clubs to seem clicky. The truth is they aren't clicky at all, but rather no one knows anyone and since there aren't enough locals circulating, there's not enough crowd movement overall so that it looks like people are just sticking with their friends. In fact, their "friends" may just be those people they happened to sit at a table with (and may be people they've never met before that night).

 

All that said, it was a fun night, I was really and honestly surprised at the reception the book received overall. But, mostly, it was just really great to see our friends again and to talk to everyone. There were a lot of really cool people that we were able to talk to... and a few strange ones... but that's another story.

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We've already got March's party penciled in on the calendar to try out this group for the first time, so evidently all four of us even planning to be at the same place at the same time is enough to have some sort of effect before it even actually happens :eek:

 

Seriously though, your point is well taken. I think any social gathering, swinging or vanilla, can go either way depending on the crowd. If the crowd is too familiar with one another and just a little fresh blood there, then it feels cliquish to the new people and may even eventually become routine to the regulars and not as much fun. If it's the other extreme, then everybody has that awkward feeling where you think everybody but you knows everybody else well, when in fact they don't and unbeknownst to you are feeling the exact same thing. The problem is that balance is hard enough to get at all, much less maintain consistently.

 

Make sure and bring plenty of books, we've been waiting to get our's signed in person, so you're guaranteed at least one sale.

 

P.S. Hope Pet gets feeling better and the car thing works out without too much hassle.

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Thanks and it'll be good to see you guys. The party was still a great party and I'd still recommend it. I think it was just a weird night.

 

I believe that starting next month they are also going back to the 7pm start time (which I am thankful for). When we moved to this location they backed the time up to 8 and started staying open till 1am. Most of those who are going to hook up and party are out of the room by midnight anyway, and those who have to clean up are dead by 1. I'd much rather get an earlier start.

 

You may even find that we aren't the only ones there that you know.

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