Party of special things to do
Several parties of late here in SLC.
Last month saw a surprise birthday for me at the Bongo. I had often thought watching TV and films that the whole notion of surprise birthday parties was impractical and somewhat inconceivable. Yet there I was walking into the bar at 4PM or so on a Sunday afternoon to cries of “Surprise” and a crowd of onlookers.
Now I understand the surprise element of the party nomenclature. I’d often considered that duping the subject into a state of unawares would be somewhat difficult to the point of being unworkable. But apparently for several weeks, various phone calls, rendesvous and the like had all been guarded from me and interpreted back to me as something else. As I ambled into the Bongo, I was blissfully imagining an afternoon of sitting quietly at the bar whilst Wendi had her makeover at the salon.
Anyway, yes, I was surprised. And shaken. So much so that everyone proceeded to beat the palpably shaking me at pool, including Wendi’s 80+ year old grandfather. To which end I embarked on a world of drinking. This tactic ended badly with me in bed feeling pretty unwell.
This last weekend was a different kind of party, to be precise a tailgate party. For those of you who don’t know a tailgate party proceeds and American football game. My friend Derek had tickets for the Utah VS San Diego game so I agreed to tag along and try out this tail gating lark.
My initial thoughts on this new type of party was that getting up at 6.30am was not the best party experience. Less fun was to be had an hour later, which found us lugging a cooler of ice and beer across a murky car park. And then spirits changed. Around 8am the drinking started.
Apparently during a tailgate party people turn up stupidly early in the car lots around the stadium. Not just a couple of people but hundreds. Motorhomes and RV’s arrive, tents go up, BBQ’s and cooking equipment are connected to propane; people generally cook food, drink beer and talk rubbish from as early as possible till just before the game starts. Things were looking up. It was reminiscent of the atmosphere at a musical festival. If it were held in a parking lot.
The morning consisted of breakfast and beer from approximately 8am through till 12.30 or so, the game starting at 1. We then (under considerable influence) walked down to the arena with yet further beer to assist with the arduous 5 minute journey. The game was at the University (capacity 44,000) stadium and as such alcohol is not allowed inside. On arrival at the stadium any remaining beer was thrown away before proceeding in.
College football in the States is fairly popular. This game had a crowd of 40,000 or so. Sadly the first two quarters were an uninspired let down in terms of attacking football. The third quarter welcomed an array of scoring before a final dull fourth quarter; which also saw Derek asleep. That’s what nearly four hours of American football and the slow creeping effects of sobriety will do I guess. The game ended with Utah winning 23-7.
Then back to the car lot for more drinking and food. The heaves however decided to open at this point and the remainder of the day was a bit of a damb squib. People started to meander home around 6PM and the day was done.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:07 am
If you’ve all been drinking all day, who drives home?