arrrrlympics

I'm probably too drunk to blog effectively -- it's not quite to the point of the infamous 2005 ski trip, for those of you who remember that ridiculous drunk blog post, but it's almost there. I had an excellent day! If you don't know that the Olympics started today, please stop reading my blog, since we're officially not friends and you're completely cut from the program. The Olympics are something that I look forward to with rabid enthusiasm every two years, and this year is no exception. In fact, because of the political climate and the human rights issues and the general sense of unease, I'm looking forward to these Olympics even more than I was looking forward to Athens -- which is saying something, since Athens was a complete clusterfuck from an organizational standpoint (to use more vulgar language than I do when I'm sober).

Ssss...anyway, I had a party in honor of the opening ceremonies. This was a good thing, since it encouraged me to unpack. I went a little overboard on the theme -- I baked the requisite five Olympic Rings Cakes (tm), but I added on this year with Olympic Rings Dips (salsa, guacamole, cheese, sour cream dyed blue, and spinach/artichoke dip dyed black), and Olympic Rings Fruits (pineapple, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, and chocolate sauce). I also made cosmopolitans and mint juleps, and had ingredients for mojitos. Unfortunately, drinks are not my strong suit, but the cakes and dips were quite delicious.

The party itself was lovely. I had a good mix of old Stanford friends and new(er) work friends, although the work friends are pretty much old friends at this point. There were just enough people to feel like a party, but not so many that it was overcrowded. And some of my more ridiculous friends showed up, which is why I'm rather inebriated right now -- John and I relived old memories by drinking whatever we could come across (in this case, a 'blackberry shot', which started off as a shot of rum, club soda, black food coloring, and a single blueberry), and Adit refined the idea with some concoctions of his own (still with black food coloring and a blueberry, but I don't know what else he put in it). After two cosmos, one mojito dyed blue, four 'blackberry' shots, and then the drinks I had at the Geary Club afterwards with Adit and Oniel, I'm quite a happy camper. Tomorrow I will be a sad camper, but I will deal with that when it arrives. And I probably won't be as sad as John -- he showed up with a pirate hat, and then added to it by painting a mustache on his face w/black food coloring, but food coloring doesn't wash out easily. Too bad for him, but v. entertaining for the rest of us.

So the party was excellent. Special shoutout to Alaska Matt and his wife Alaska Kia -- they claimed this was the best party that they had been to in months, which, considering the fact that they said this after Matt was subjected to a mint julep and then watched me dye my mouth black with all the 'blackberry' shots, says a lot about their social life. I think a good time was had by all, and I'm looking forward to the games kicking off in earnest tomorrow. I tivo'd the opening ceremonies, so I'll probably have to watch again when I'm not playing hostess, but I'm glad I got to hang out with my friends.

After the party ended at midnight, Oniel and I met up with Adit at Geary Club. We hung out there for an hour and a half, which was fun, before Oniel walked me home. Initially we said that this bar was someplace we should take my parents...they actually allow smoking, which I don't understand how they can get away with in California, but whatever. However, on the way home at two am, we walked past a lot of sketchy people, including a guy walking around in pink tights and a camouflage speedo. So we decided that perhaps it wasn't safe to take my parents out in the neighborhood when all the crazies are out. But Oniel kept me from getting stabbed in the kidney, and now I'm turning in for the night. Happy Olympics, everyone!