First Chance
It began not being a festival of drunken splendor on Friday evening. That is when neighboring metropolis South Bend had their Saint Paddy's Day Party in the Down Town area including a 15 -Bar "Pub Crawl" and $5.00 admission Tent Party.
This one was the fourth annual. Which means that there were three years of hype rolled up into this bad boy. We had heard that last year (and I'm saying we because the original plan was to go with Shelly and my wife along with anyone else I could con into going) there were 2000+ people. It was predicted that there would be even more this year.* So five dollars to get into the tent party and maybe three dollars per drink at each bar, if we only had one drink in each one that would equal $50.00 a person without buying food or drink in the tent. It was more than we wanted to invest in an evening that were going to drink out of our memories forever.** That is not to mention the fact that with the alarming amount of people present it wasn't very likely that we'd actually make it into any of the bars.
I almost talked Mozz, Tony, Howard, Joe, Uncle Ken, Lonnie, my cousin Myke and Ryan (this kid I work with) to go to it with me.***
Second Chance
Saturday night Houlihans was having their parking lot Tent Party on the actual date of the holiday. We were going to go to that (this is the original we of Keely, Shelly and Myself). At this point we had almost talked Joe into going with us.
Keely and I were out and about early on Saturday Morning when we drove past Houlihans. They had a huge tent and a large banner advertising that evenings events. What it mainly said was "Tent Party - call 271-FOOD for details."
I called the number to get all the information I could. I wanted to be prepared, I wanted to know what was available to eat and drink and if the prices were any good. When the girl picked up the phone she said "Houlihan's how may I help you?"
"I am calling for Details." I said.
The silence was lingering but I knew I had not lost the call because I parked right outside the building. "Excuse me?" She finally answered with a question.
"I saw your sign about the tent party and it says to call this number for details. So I would like some details." I said. From my point of view this was all pretty straight forward. Keely later told me from her side of the phone call it was humorous. Funny in a way, as if I should have known to make reference to the thing in the parking lot that was basically shutting down the shopping area around it and prompted them to place banners on their building referencing it, when I asked about it.
"Just a minute," she said.
There was nothing. Then a new person picked up the phone. After Keely's coaching I had a better approach to asking the question.
"I am calling about information regarding the Tent Party?" I asked confidently.
This spurred an almost automated response from the lady explaining that four bands were going to perform, the cover charge was eight dollars and just about every thing inside was five dollars a pop. This would probably have been cheaper than hitting every bar in South Bend on the previous night but we couldn't get past the eight dollar cover. We are old and cheap people now (27-30yr olds). We can't see any reason to pay for the mere admittance into a place beyond Sam's Club or the cheap movie theatres (and we are not unanimous in that). It's sad really, because being this cheap, it isn't really apparent where all our savings is going? I am not going to think to hard about that one right now.
Plan B
As a nearly fictional member of a Management Team I have learned you almost always need a plan B. This is not because plan A is always doomed to fail, but so you don't look like an ASS when it does. There is a horrible place for leaders that often look like an ASS (unemployment). However there is another place which I am bound for that leaders go when they only look like asses to their subordinates but always look like Heroes to their superiors (mediocrity or success it's really had to tell at this point). This is a discussion for another time because there is much drinking and merriment to be had.
We picked up Shelly and Joe and brought them back to my house. Keely had gotten a CVS gift card for $25.00 when she moved a new script there. We went and let Shelly pick out the kind of booze she thought she would like to drink. I had beer, Shelly's old bottle of cheap vodka and a half bottle of Irish Creme. We ended up buying a mango mix, Malibu Coconut Rum and some very cheap whiskey.
The drinking commenced early. When Keely and I had been out and about we had bought Hot dogs and Pop at Sam's Club (that is a value of wonder right there). Later we still had our cups when we picked up the Vodka at Shelly's House. I added some to my cup and started with a Skinny Russian, before we made it to CVS.
At CVS Joe bought an energy drink beer and a jar of peanuts. He began drinking on the way back to my house. There is an open container law in INDIANA, but I live two blocks from CVS and Keely was driving. Keely by all aspects of her visual existence in the community is a SAINT. No one can see her as anything less than the kind and gentle woman that she is. I tell you now that is all a facade! She does have a great driving record. The only accidents shes been in have not been her fault and violations haven't existed on her record since 1998. Cops don't normally pull over Blond Saints two blocks from their home for not breaking any laws, even on Saint Patrick's Day.
Back at the McBrier Home Joe wanted to watch Borat (which I had recently purchased). Keely and Shelly went to get something to eat when the movie started and Joe wanted to talk with me about his blog instead of watching the movie. Little known to us, he had seen most of the movie already. He didn't get to hear all of it because of his recent living arrangements.
Joe had been living in the basement of his parents house. The why is not important. This year alone he has fallen victim to three spider bites. His family has called out an exterminator several times but it seems Spiders are the plague of our times and will not be destroyed but will bring on the destruction of all mankind. This is a theory that Howard is working on to substantiate his fear of arachnids. Once again that is a different story. So Joe moved up to the living room. His living room already has his grandmother living there. Her choice in cinema differs a lot from Joe's. She wont leave him alone when he's watching something that she doesn't care for. "Are you watching that?" she'll ask, repeatedly. It's a real concentration inhibitor.
So alone with Joe and the drinking I felt obligated to read all of his latest Blogs. That's what he's into now. He blogs on MySpace. I know it's not as fantastical as blogger but it's a starting place. He thinks it will lead to his rags to riches story of being discovered as a genius or at least talented writer/comedian. I think it's a good place for him to hone his skill if he really wants to pursue it, there is of course constant and almost instant feed back on the material he posts there. However if it's only looked at by people that like him it will be a false positive of accomplishment.
When Keely and Shelly returned we played Texas Hold'em to the best of our untrained/unlearned ability. We don't know all the rules but from a combination of printed material that came with the game and some sources online we picked up what we are calling "the basics." Then we filled in with what we call "Keely's intuitive idea of how things should be." It's fun even if it's wrong, and until we find someone who knows how to play we'll never know the difference. We are not really afraid of meeting anyone who actually knows how to play, because we seldom meet new people.
Now I don't know what happened to the fun evening I planned but somewhere mid-stride our happy train derailed in a cross relationship emotional massacre. I was sitting across from Keely and Shelly was sitting across from Joe. Suddenly Joe and Shelly were having a heated discussion pitted against each other. I think it was good intentioned on the part of both parties but neither one could see the other side. Shelly didn't want Joe to act like Joe anymore and Joe wanted the things that he said to be taken for truth instead of hurtful assumptions about things he may not have all the information about. No one cared about what I wanted, which had previously been getting drunk but had escalated to a deep desire for my friends to like each other as much as I liked them.
I don't remember how things ended. I don't know who won at Hold'em (not that any real money was involved). What I do know is that I probably won't invite Shelly and Joe to hang out at the same time for a long time, or maybe ever again. It makes me real sad because they used to be so close. They had lockers next to each other in high school. They hung out a lot. Who knows...
*It is of course after-the-fact, and I could research it and tell you how many people where there this year, but to me that would just be rehashing all that I did not partake in.
**I'm less worried about Drinking away good times now that I have a digital camera with memory card that has room for 800 pictures. I can always reference them later to piece it back together. Also I heard on NPR that we do regrow braincells now, and I have nothing to worry about, except cancer, global warming and foreign politics.
***Almost is more like - I tried to suggest that they go by telling them I was going, but in most cases it had the opposite effect. In fact when I told Howard I was going he told me that he wasn't going to go. Later when I told him I wasn't going, he suddenly was. I told him his sudden change is position on the subject was highly suspicious and was forcing me to assume he wasn't even trying to hide his extreme dislike of me; so much that he would make it completely clear he would rather be anywhere that I was not even if that meant going to places he hadn't planned on appearing at.
[if the font is all crazy sizes I am newly illiterate to teh internets]
