Thanks to all who came and partied their tushes off! Here's what I remember, and what the photos eventually helped me remember:

First of all, yay parents! Their present to me was to take care of the yum-yum menu. Quite a gift indeed, especially when your father is a kickass chef! He cooked up some pansit (filipino noodles) and little egg rolls. My mom proudly showed off her fruit and veggie and cheese plates. And we had a vat of fried chicken, I think it was like 100 pieces or something - and it was almost all gone by the end of the evening! Crazy chicken-lovin guests!

 

Also - yay for my friend, Het, who owns a Liquor Store off Victoria Ave... he gave me THE BEST deal on my favorite beer, Blue Moon. Plus he threw in some fancy wine. We had rum, vodka, tequila, more beer, and lots of mixers, too. I'm fairly certain that it was an adequate amount of booze for a party of 50+ folks.

 

All the bands were well-received... Griefshare was spot on and his awesome subwoofer shook the neighborhood, Spartacus was rockin and they were also nice enough to let the other bands use their amps and drums, The Grandmas are always great - and provided the Marvin Gaye soundtrack to my birthdaycakeintheface moment. Mestizo Magic tore it up, with a Justin Timberlake cover that was a stand-out! The Clouds were wonnnnderful. I love them a lot.



I tried to be a good hostess, making the rounds throughout the house... there were new & old buddies, co-workers, high school friends, musicians I've booked, family, and complete strangers. But as the evening progressed, each group "made me" take a shot. Either Jaeger or Vodka everytime. Yeah. I was pretty gone. But somehow I mustered up enough courage to play a couple songs, despite my intoxication. Peer pressure is a mofo! I kinda sorta forgot some words...and don't really remember much of it... but I didn't really scare anyone away..so yay!



And just when things started winding down, and several said their goodbyes, the die-hards stuck around for a bit longer for a little dance party 2009. OH HECK YES.



Apparently I can only dance by imitating other people's moves. :-( Oh! And before I forget... one of my cousins brought A) a pinata and B) an inflatable pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. No joke. I highly recommend both items, but ONLY after drinking the whole night.



Sooooo yeah! That's it in a nutshell. Best house party everrrrr, perhaps? All signs point to yes! I'm most proud of how comfy and chill the garage-turned-venue was. I'm seriously considering the prospect of throwing house concerts every other month. What do you think?

All in all, it was a good mix of folks. Good vibes, good booze, good food... Good night!!

xo Judy

The email below was initially intended for a particular friend. I think that it's suitable for all my friends who I've lost contact with - so I decided to save it as a blog, in hopes that some of you will read it. Sorry about the unicorn thing, it makes sense to the friend this letter was originally intended for. But it really is for you, too. You know who you are.

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Dear Unicorn,

Are you as impressed with my magical disappearing act as I am?

This morning, I found myself reading one of Kimmy's blogs about Karma. Then this magical unicorn gave his response. After reading through, I snooped through his new photos. And I realized that I missed this unicorn. A lot.

You are not my therapist - but I have to throw this question out into the void. Not that you're a void. I meant the internet, silly:

WHY WHY WHY do I shut out people who are completely decent (assuming too much? jk) when I'm going through my own problems?

It's like my brain says, "Your worries are not their worries. Please shut down immediately until you have your shit together, then you'll be a better person to be around. THEN you'll deserve awesome friends."

And I follow this flawed logic down a very lonely path. Then the path turns into a circle, and I find myself where I started: same old shit, but SURPRISE! No more friends.

Today is the last day of 2008. I'm not Chinese, nor do I usually follow their completely generalized zodiac - but tomorrow is the start of the year of the Ox. "The Ox" is a born leader, is dependable and possesses an innate ability to achieve great things. Well congrats 2009, but I was born in the year of the Monkey.

Some pre-teen probably typed this in, but here is a quote from Wikipedia:

"People born under this sign [monkey] should be careful so they do not damage their friendships. It is important to remember for these people think it would be wiser sometimes not to pursue their goals and simply let things pass."

Wowzers! I said wowzers. THIS is the hole I fall into. Or... THIS is the hurdle I can never jump over. After my big break-up, I kept telling myself that I was moving forward. Don't look back. Be a more awesome person without that other person weighing you down.

I am really bad about taking my own advice. I'm actually a pretty good listener and surprise myself when I find words of encouragement for other people. But when it comes to ME, I can be completely dense.

So my question is: Can a monkey turn into an ox?

Let's hope so.

Happy New Year,

Judy

p.s. I'm totally going to copy and paste this into a blog, because I haven't written or typed anything this important to me in months. So thanks, unicorn!