2001-09-09 - 9:47 a.m.

wherein our plucky young hero hosts a successful dinner party

well, if i must say so myself, the dinner party last night was a *smashing* success. i really couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. i was very busy yesterday getting everything ready in time. i slept in till 10:30 and from that moment until the party started i was going non-stop (with the exception of a nice lunch over at the B&B with eRoommate). oh, but it was worth it.

the place looks great. all the clutter is gone, everything looks immaculate. i wouldn't go into my closet for love or money right now, but you can't have it all. i'm definitely hoping the apartment will continue to be the clean for a bit. i'll have to see how diligent i can be.

i fretted quite a bit over food, and kept discovering that i didn't have the right cooking implement at just the wrong time. i need to do more cooking. it's frightening to me to realize how long it's been that i've been having "boil water, open box" dinners. but the enchanted broccoli forest came out pretty well. the tops of some of the broc got brown, and the rice mixture was both a little too moist, and a little bland. but it was well-received, which did my heart good. steamed organic green beans with garbonzos, then the purchased lemon herb chicken and southwestern egg rolls.

in the realm of the products of zymurgy, we went through four bottles of wine. i think that Rudy and i accounted for quite a bit of that. i know for a fact that the two of us split the last bottle of the evening.

i got a fair bit tipsy by the end of the evening, but i think (and hope) that i continued to be witty, urbane, and charming throughout. not everything thinks that quoting Homer Simpson and puking on your shoes is charming, but they're wrong.

jo3 and Ng managed to extricate themselves from the continuing wedding saga and fortunately, instead of showing up and then having to leave, (as we thought they might) they simply arrived later, but were able to stay. in fact, they arrived about two minutes before dinner was served.

EchoGirl made it and i was very glad she did. she continues to give the best hugs in the world. somehow, last night i wasn't as smitten with her as i have been in the recent past. not sure why.

perhaps it has to do with ImaginaryFriend. by way of proem, let me say that CD has, for as long as i've known her, referred to her friend ImaginaryFriend, but last night was the first time any of us had met her. because of her constant absence, but frequent presence in conversation, we all teased CD that she didn't exist.

i'm glad she does exist.

she's very nice, and quite attractive. after she'd left, CD said that she was single and looking for a boyfriend. HeroMan, Rudy and i all started yelling "dibs!". seriously, though i would very much like to get to know her. we'll have to see what can be arranged.

i think she got a pretty good impression of me, though. the whole sophisticated dinner party thing, good food, good wine, good conversation. jo3, of course, can always be counted on to hold me up, and compliment me in front of women (and the best part is he's always sincere when doing so). one of my photo albums came out, so there was discussion of my acting. CD hinted to me to play some guitar, but i either missed the hint, or chose to miss the hint because i'd been drinking. something like that. the one negative impression i can think of is the mention of the dreaded Dungeons and Dragons (a hobby in which i still engage). the topic was the occasion of much animadvert from HeroMan, and Rudy, while eRoommate was crying out "back-pedal. back-pedal." but i defended it, saying that i'm not ashamed of my hobby. which i'm not.

i've lost my point in here somewhere. i woke up at 7:00 this morning, despite going to be around 2. i couldn't get back to sleep, which is really unusual for me. so my brain is probably not totally functional just yet.

but really, the point is two-fold. i am definitely intrigued by ImaginaryFriend, and hope that the feeling is mutual.

and the dinner party?

the dinner party was a smashing success.

and damn skippy, but that makes me happy.