Party Update (Party Over)

Wow, the sun is coming up already.

People came early and stayed late. I didn't start really relaxing till they left, which was between 2 and 3. (They started arriving at 8.) I thought it amazing that no one in the building complained about the noise, and there was a lot of it. I guess the walls and floors in this old building are thick.

I had a few perishable things to wrap up and put in the refrigerator and ran the dishwasher. B. did some tidying up. Not that much more to do vis-a-vis clean-up.

My only regret is that the pre-party cleaning contingent (God bless them, but it wasn't me) left two bottles of Febreze standing against one wall in the living room and I hadn't caught it. I'd been too busy. "My bad."

Party was very successful, according to the feedback from the attendees (attenders, really).

I over-bought almost everything but better that than under-buying and people going without, or them having to run to the store for booze or ice or whatever, or just leaving.

Wow, it's almost daytime. Gotta think about going to bed. Been hitting the Absolut Peppar for a few Bloody Marys, which I normally don't drink unless there's vodka in the house. Well, we'll be in liquor and beer for days, not to mention lasagne (delicious, which a guest volunteered to bring) and turkey breast. Almost all of the wild Florida shrimp was consumed. Got a lot of compliments on that. B. doesn't eat seafood except for canned tuna -- I'd bought the shrimp for the guests. I also made a mean crab spread which I got compliments on. (Consisting of really good canned crabmeat, capers, mayonnaise and cayenne pepper.)

Enough already. It's getting way bright out the window.

Party Planning Report

If anybody needs a party planner, I charge $1,000 an hour plus health insurance.

Ticking off items on to-do list for B's party tomorrow night is proceeding according to schedule. Tonite after an extended, reinvigorating nap (which I figured would be more valuable than going to the gym), I did some more shopping, finished painting in the guest bathroom, and boiled the shrimp. Shrimp taste great (I ate only one). They're huge, wild, from Florida and taste sweet as lobster. They really don't need any sauce at all, though I'll be making a cocktail sauce and a mayonnaise sauce with dill relish.

The only things left to do are, basically, roast the turkey breast and buy the beer and ice and the remaining fresh groceries. Thankfully B. is off tomorrow and will be a great help. Plus we have to do some tidying up and decorating and stage everything.

Whenever I paint in this apartment, I see how poor the previous paint jobs have been. It always pisses me off. I end up having to sand like crazy or strip the old paint. Fortunately I bought an electric sander and am pretty adept at stripping (although maybe I've seen better says, but WHO CARES?). :-)

Photoshop Seminar Attracts 750 to Broward Convention Center

Attended a Photoshop seminar today conducted by Bert Monroy, an original Photoshop "guru" and creative artist who uses Photoshop (and Illustrator) to create works of art that look like photographs, only more real ("hyperreal"?). He currently lives, works and teaches in Oakland, CA. It was amazing to behold his fluid command of some of Photoshop's most mind-bending features. He's been using Photoshop since before it was even called Photoshop.

Was good for me to get out of town (to Ft. Lauderdale) for the day and get my mind off planning for B's party this Saturday night. That has been an all-consuming enterprise these past few weeks. Plus it was good just to get away from work for a day and be stimulated by something really different. Am tired, though. It was a long session, plus I got up early (for me) to take the bus to Broward -- didn't feel like driving. The ride home took
f o r e v e r. Time to chill.