We’re now at Day 32 of my “no drinking” challenge, and…well…that’s a lie. I fell off the wagon. Okay, I don’t want to say I “fell off the wagon,” because that makes it sound like I failed. More like, “I asked the wagon to pull over and let me off, because I felt like I’d made it to my destination.” Basically, I proved to myself that I could do it, and I was satisfied. During my sobriety challenge, I faced down several drinking opportunities and passed each of them with flying colors. Observe:
- The Super Bowl
- Valentine’s Day
- Happy Hour with co-workers
- Bowling
- Friday night at the bar
Not only is it tempting to drink in these situations, people get angry if you’re not drinking in these situations! So. Success. Kinda. It’s true, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t make it the full forty days, but I wanted a margarita last week and I’ll be damned if some non-court-ordered, self-imposed challenge was gonna stop me.
Anyway. This past weekend I attended an art gala. This is not something I would typically do. But. The girl who runs the organization is a friend of mine, and I wanted to be supportive. And I thought it might be a good chance to meet some new people.
I went over to the studio space Saturday afternoon to help with the setup (volunteering = not having to buy an $85 ticket), and quickly realized I was out of my element. When some girl told me I needed to ruche the curtain, I stared at her blankly for a few seconds, until she decided to have me move tables instead.
The event was fun (pictures here if you're interested). Very artsy. They had naked sushi, which was kinda awesome. That's where the sushi is placed (strategically, of course) all over the body of a naked woman. From what I'd read about it in the past, the girl is supposed to lie perfectly still the entire time, while people just pluck sushi from off of her. Well...for one thing, you didn't pluck anything from anywhere -- you would tell the guy what you wanted and he would carefully remove and replace the sushi (fair enough). But when she saw that I was a little flustered (well?!) she giggled! And then chatted with me! Not very geisha-like (not that I'm complaining). Anyway, this was her...
Anyway, there was performance art (groan). Lots and lots of berets. It was exactly what you would expect an art gala to be. I'm glad I went though. I think I'm going to try to force myself outside of my comfort zone this year. Be sociable. Meet people. I guess that means I'll be going to more art galas.
Now then. The next couple of weeks should be pretty quiet. This is because I have a very big trip coming up. I’m going to a resort outside of LA for four days and then I’m off to Sydney for a week after that! I’m thrilled about both trips. The trip to LA (Dana Point, actually) is care of my dear brother, who was awarded top salesman for his region (or something). We’re staying here...
Fun! The cherry on top of this little sundae is that not only do we get to spend three days relaxing by the beach, but we also get to go to Disneyland!
Because our father is notoriously cheap, we never visited Disneyland as kids. Or Disney World. In fact, the only vacation that we ever went on as children (aside from trips to grandma and grandpa's house) was a grueling, two-day, sixteen hour drive to Cincinnati, so our dad could go to a college reunion. Good times. Anyway, not only did my deprived childhood cement in me an unwavering commitment to take my kids on awesome vacations...it also allowed for Richard and I to squeal with joy at the idea of going to Disneyland. Sure, it might be a little unusual (or scary) to see two identical grown men skipping gleefully through the “Tinker Bell & Her Fairy Friends” exhibit. But I don’t care. It’s gonna be awesome.
