Culmination

So after two months of planning, running around, signing and signing off, the party came off without a hitch... 171 people, no problems, and just a whole lot of fun.

There were some who were MIA, due to travel problems, sickness, timing issues and/or difficulties with getting everything straightened out, but overall we had a great crowd and a great party.

We rolled in around quarter to nine Saturday night, hung around with a few early arrivals, handled all the last-minute details with the head of the club, and then around 9:30 people started streaming upstairs. By 10ish, the party was 25 or so strong, and by 11 it was loud and hoppin'.

There were some minor issues with food and drink specials, as per usual; and there were the occasional wallflowers who we did our best to ingratiate with the remainder of the crowd. But overall everyone seemed to have a good time, and the club owner was very impressed by the fact that we filled the room until 3:30AM. Our last party at Club Iguana was an anomaly; everything was going well from 9:30 to midnight when the doors burst open and the public invaded the space, rendering any hope or semblance of a cohesive group useless. So our last party basically died around 12:30AM. This time around, however, the room was ours until closing -- 4:00AM -- and we had at least 30 or 40 people hanging around to 3:30 and they would have stayed around later had we not agreed to Last Call. Kaia had gone home around 12:30 or 1AM because we'd had a long day and she'd spent the night meeting, greeting and hanging out with a good number of the attendees, so I was ready to leave once the club owner suggested we call it.

I was really thrilled; assembling a number of people in that space was a dicey proposition. We knew the upstairs space was going to be perfect but we weren't sure how many people would come out after our last shindig; the rainy weather wasn't helping and it was a bit cold so we weren't sure if we'd get as many as we expected, but 171 people later -- plus my co-host and I, and Kaia and our friend Heidi -- wound up with a profoundly rewarding six hours of party-time. There were the usual hook-ups and the unusual ones (sshhhhh), but overall I was jazzed from start to finish. When we grabbed the mic from the DJ to give our regular Thanks For Coming shpiel, it really made me happy to see the response we received, and the response on an individual basis thereafter letting us know how much each of the attendees appreciated what we had managed to pull off.

My only disapppointment of the night was that I didn't have more alone time with Kaia, but as per usual, she was understanding and nothing but supportive; I worked the room along with my co-host to make sure everyone had every- and anything they needed, and it paid off. I'm looking forward to our next one, and even more importantly, I'm looking forward to spending some alone time with Kaia before she heads back to San Fran.

At this point the mass evacuation of all the party-goers is most likely complete; my Internet connection pooped out -- sort of -- so I'll try to get pictures up at some point soon. Meanwhile, if I've been and continue to be slow to keep this space updated, I apologize; I've been spending as much time with Kaia as possible prior to her trip back to San Fran. I'll try to keep updates regular and informative for your reading pleasure ;)

Check back soon :-)