We made it back safe and sound from Jimmy's Halloween party in Texarkana! We arrived home about 4:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, EDT, which was 3:15 after we adjusted for the return to Standard Time.
A fun time was had by all! I didn't drink anything but Diet Coke, because a) I was driving, b) I had to take some allergy medication on the way there, and c) I don't drink that much anyway. (Alana's seen me drink maybe half a dozen alcoholic drinks). Alana was... happy! *grin* The party was a lot of fun, particularly for me this year because my costume — that of a vampire hunter (Alana was the vampire) — didn't require me to wear a mask. It's a lot easier to enjoy yourself if you don't have to cover your head in latex. The music was good, with someone volunteering to DJ. The police showed up around 1 a.m. because of the noise; oops!
If there was a downside it was that far too many interesting people hung out in the smoking section, so I didn't get to talk to any of them.
I will post pictures when I get some from Jason that I took on his camera, and some that he took himself.
I'm curious how much chicken Jimmy had remaining. Alana and I brought chicken fingers from Raising Cane's (a Louisiana-based restaurant that makes the world's best chicken fingers), as per Jimmy's request. I think at least half the 150 fingers were gone by the time we left.
Jason spent a fair bit of time pouring absinthe for folks. They had the "completely legal and made in the U.S." stuff, and the "legal to possess, but illegal to bring into the country" stuff from Sweden. Gosh, wonder how that got there? Oh, and I learned that apparently absinthe was never made illegal in Canada. (According to Wikipedia, the U.S. is one of the few countries that outlawed absinthe — largely due to rumour, myth and innuendo — that hasn't removed the ban. Also according to Wikipedia, the drink's hallucinogenic properties are wildly exaggerated in properly distilled absinthe. The oil from wormwood isn't present in large enough quantities to be noticed, and to drink enough for it to be noticed you'd be too drunk to tell.)
There were probably fewer people there this year, though it's hard to be sure. I thought they layout of the house, particularly in Jimmy's living room where the casket bar was set up, was better this year. You could get more people in that room, and you could actually sit there, so I think it gave more space, thus the rest of the place felt a little less crowded.
The costumes were pretty good! Stephanie won the costume contest (she was dressed as a martini glass)... not that she was angling for the win or anything! Jimmy was an afro-haired hippie, who looked remarkably like Sib Hashian, the drummer for the band Boston from 1975 to 1982. Jason was dressed as a tourist, with Hawaiian shirt and matching hat (and shorts, socks, and sandals). Mark was a Harry Potter-esque wizard, with an excellent robe. Alana swears that she will hire the woman who made the robe instead of trying to do another one herself; she made a robe for me last year, and one for herself this year, and she probably wouldn't survive a third! Paige, a friend of Jason's and Jimmy's, did a good job of portraying Audrey Hepburn, even with her leg in a cast. A couple I recognize from last year, but whose names escape me, were another "couple costume": a pirate and his wench. I'm glad I got to see Tom in his highlander outfit, but sorry he had to leave soon after.
Next year we may put the dog up in a kennel. We were too poor for that this year, so we had to drive back that night to get back for Sabine. The drive home was uneventful, which is about the best you can hope for in a late night drive. I did discover that Tom's salt and vinegar potato chips (some of the few salt and vinegar potato chips you can find in this part of the world) help me stay awake while driving. I don't know if it's the process of eating, or the vinegar taste. I'll have to experiment... the next time I have a late night trip.
4 Good Years
7 years ago
7 comments:
Halloween 2006 was probably the best year yet. We weren't far off last year's numbers as far as guests. But the upside is that we had no incidents like last year. We did have a much better layout in the bar room. The decorations were a bit better. And the DJ was great. We got a lot of positive comments on that. The police officer who came to the door was very polite. Jimmy reckons having a visit from the police is a sign that the party is good. The food was just as good as last year and we did have around 30 chicken fingers left because Dana's little brother didn't show this year. That was good from my perspective. I ate Raising Cane's chicken fingers for breakfast and dinner. They really are the best in the world and we are glad we have someone who can bring them up from Louisiana. I think the costumes were better overall this year. You and Alana got some praise for your costumes from some of my friends. I was going for cheap and practical this year after spending all that money on absinthe. Surprisingly I got several compliments on my costume. Speaking of the absinthe, it is actually from Switzerland. The brand I bought has a green fairy on the label and is made in the village where the stuff was invented. I wanted some of the good stuff because I don't intend to become a regular absinthe drinker. I was just curious about it and figured it would go over well at the party. I was fairly pleased at the response from the guests. I still have 80% of the bottle remaining. I'm sure I'll still have nearly that much by the time of the next party. The flavor puts most people off. But I can tell anyone who enjoys sitting around sipping regular NyQuil, but would like it to be 144 proof, they may want to look into absinthe.
We are glad you guys got to come for the party again and are looking forward to next year.
Jimmy reckons having a visit from the police is a sign that the party is good.
No, it's a sign the party was loud! *grin*
Otherwise I agree with your assessment.
They really are the best in the world and we are glad we have someone who can bring them up from Louisiana.
It's odd that they don't have a store in Texarkana. There are two Raising Cane's in Jackson, MS, and now two in Shreveport, so you'd think Texarkana could get one.
You and Alana got some praise for your costumes from some of my friends.
That's pretty cool! I didn't hear much about our costumes from anyone. One of the guests realized I was a vampire hunter, and another asked if I was "Van Helsing". I'm glad folks liked our costumes.
Your costume was pretty good. Sure, it might have been easy, but it was well thought out.
Speaking of the absinthe, it is actually from Switzerland.
I did say "Sweden", didn't I? I meant Switzerland... Odd, I don't remember drinking...
We are glad you guys got to come for the party again and are looking forward to next year.
So are we!
I was delighted ya'll could make it; I totally agree, you have to board Sabine next year. Sad to say, I may not have a cat problem by that time, so you can board here. We actually had several boarders...Jimmy's sisters, and a very drunk Daniel. The last sober guest...a real cutie, did not leave until 6:16am standard time. Did anyone think to tell you about the fire? Hope to see you before next year...
Sad to say, I may not have a cat problem by that time, so you can board here.
Sorry to hear that!
Of course if we did stay, it looks like we wouldn't have gotten to bed before about 3 am as it was! *L*
Did anyone think to tell you about the fire?
No! What fire?!?
There was a fire in the bathroom a couple hours before dawn. Jimmy had two small plastic candle holders shaped like tombstones. Each one held three candles. There was a slight design problem in that the tops were rounded so that the candles on the ends would burn the top when the candles got low. The problem was noted last year and Jimmy was not going to use them again. Mark insisted that they be used because they looked too cool to be left out. He placed one a a wire rack on the bathroom wall and lit it. The other was lit in the living room. Along about 3:00 AM I saw that one of the candles was beginning to burn the holder so I put it out. Nobody thought to check the one in the bathroom. I think it was around 5:00 AM when Jimmy smelled the smoke and went to check it out. As I recall, he said the candle holder was on fire and it was burning up the wall. He threw a double handfull of water on it and that put out most of it. Then he grabbed a cup and splashed the remaining fire several times until it was completely out. The candle holder was slagged and the wall behind where it was looks like charcoal. There was soot all over the bathroom. I think if it had gone on a few more minutes Mark could have lost the entire house. After that we put out all the remaining fires inside and outside. I know Mark had some smoke detectors but I don't know if they were operational (oops) at the time. Getting all the detectors operational is his project for this week. Anyway, it was kind of scary but thanks to Jimmy's nose and quick thinking disaster was averted. I bet in the future we'll make sure the detectors are working properly and candles are better monitored and so forth. If they aren't too afraid to light candles again, that is.
There was a fire in the bathroom a couple hours before dawn.
Good lord!
I don't know about down here, but the fire departments in Toronto were always big on telling people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors when you changed the clocks, in the spring and the fall. I got into the habit of doing that. Of course that wouldn't have helped if Mark started doing that this year, because the fire started the day he would have changed the batteries.
At any rate, it's a very good idea to test the smoke detectors regularly and make sure the batteries are changed frequently.
Good job on Jimmy! If the wall was starting to burn, there wouldn't have been much time left before the house went up.
My nose has always been sensitive to the smell of smoke....even though I grew up in a house of smokers...I can smell smoke on cloths for days after if they are not washed, when I go out to a club the first thing I do when I get home is wash my hair cause its so bad. I still smell the smoke in the house and everytime I go to the bathroom I try to spend as little time as possible in there its that bad for me...I would have hated to have to go through another house fire...I lost everything right before I moved back to texarkana about 6 years ago in a house fire.
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