Sunday, December 14, 2008

Social Incompetence



Dupont Circle was a busy place last night. People were out, not so much to go to clubs (as the taxi driver explained) but because everyone was going to parties.

I was one of those people, gathering with others to celebrate a friend's fiftieth birthday. It was a beautiful party. I saw lots of people I haven't seen in awhile. There were cakes (nine of them). There was champagne (a bathtub full of bottles). I love cake. I LOVE champagne. I love my dear dear friends.

But.

It was a big party. Big. A hundred people in a small condo. There were so many people and so much noise that I wanted to hide in a corner, I wanted to jump out the window, Once I convinced myself neither option was appropriate, all I could think was wouldn't it be nice to have a conversation with one person at a time, a conversation that could fulfill itself, instead of party conversations in which a couple of sentences are exchanged, and then there's a distraction? Well, wouldn't it??

Small parties I love. A dinner party for six or eight? Perfection. Or a cocktail party for twenty? Really fun. But the party scene from Breakfast at Tiffany's??

All I can say is YIKES.

11 comments:

r. said...

I would be the little kitty! For sure! :-) Enjoy your Sunday Reya! xo, r

Merle Sneed said...

My version of crowd control is to stay home.

ArtSparker said...

Feels so good when it stops, doesn't it?

Tess Kincaid said...

Oh, that's funny! As you were describing the party, before I had even scrolled down to the end, the party scene in Breakfast at Tiffany's came to mind! :)

tut-tut said...

That was a different time. Wasn't it??

Big parties scare the dickens out of me.

Washington Cube said...

I have a friend who still does theme parties (next up, Christmas. I always compared his parties to the one in Breakfast at Tiffany's. You can't move and snake through people. People talking in the bathtub. The sound of breaking glass. In youth? Fun. Older. Not so.

Reya Mellicker said...

I knew it really was breakfast at Tiffany's when the coat rack collapsed. When I left I had to dig my coat out of a huge pile.

It would have been fun if only I could handle this kind of event. The people throwing the party are two of my very favorite humans, and their friends and family are lovely. It was just me that was the problem!

Oh well!

Lori ann said...

'tis the season for social incompetence here too...

at least you can never have too much champagne!
xx

Lynne said...

I'm not a big party person either. We don't entertain much ourselves and I don't know what got into me but now I've invited some people over for eggnog and cookies this coming weekend thinking that most people would already have other plans. Not so, they are ALL coming!! Yikes! (only 12 though)

Steve Reed said...

I went to a party last week that was so loud I could barely talk to anyone. I thought, "What's the point of THIS?"

But I gotta say, I do love that party scene. :)

lettuce said...

9 cakes!!!