A Former Life...

Those who read this blog regularly may be aware that I am not much of an alcoholic beverage drinker. A few reasons keep me from partaking in the spirits. I don't like to drink and drive home. I don't like to drink alone at home. I'm not a big fan of the taste of alcohol. And maybe the most important reason, I don't like the person I become when I drink.

That does not mean I have not been part of a few different parties in the past. There are two parties from my days of living with Adam that have pictures that I do want to post. I am not so much interested in posting the stories of those parties (but I probably will mention them a bit) as I am in posting a couple of the pictures.

April 2003

Adam and I threw a few parties together. In two years of living together, we hosted four parties. There were even a couple at my mom's house before we moved in together. People tended to enjoy the parties, but I'm not sure that I did all that much. There were fun moments from each, sure, but many times it felt that it was an excuse for Adam to invite all his friends over who could snub my friends. Some of his friends were nicer than others, but the overall effect was not pleasant.

I'm not posting pictures of his friends on here at all. I don't care and I hardly remember some of their names. But this was a party where I did not get hammered (good) and the best part of the party was the after party. And it is an excuse to post pictures of Adam's shirt. He wore it to work one day and everyone teased him about being a cowboy (Rhinestone Cowboy, pick any song with the word cowboy in it and you get a picture of the day he had).

These pictures were not taken on a digital camera and have been scanned using my old, crummy scanner.



This is what I looked like at that party.



I do love this picture of DM. She's smiling and having a good time and I love it.



Just so you can fully appreciate the shirt. And he wore a cowboy hat! It's too classic!

October 2003

We threw a party that we called, "Adam & Beth's Autumn Bash". Our two bedroom apartment held 24 people (including Adam, his live-in boyfriend (a bit of a sore spot), and myself). Of the 21 remaining people, 2 were people I considered mutual friends of Adam & myself. Then there were four other people I considered my friends. That leaves 15 of Adam's little buddies running around.

At the beginning of this party, I did not drink any alcohol. Adam, being as unobservant as always, made me a martini with melon flavor in it. I handed it to Matt. When Adam made me another one, I handed it to Matt in front of him. His reaction, "You like these." When I replied I did not, he said, "But you had one that night we went out for pizza." To which I replied, "Remember how I took one sip and then gave it to you? That might be a clue that I didn't enjoy it much."

I should explain, before going too much farther, that I had recently caught Adam in a lie. It was a lie he used during a fight nine months prior to get out of the fact he deliberately hurt me. That compounded with the fact his boyfriend moved in without consent or any additional rent two weeks before had me in a sour mood.

There was a friend whom I wanted to call and invite to the party, but I didn't have his phone number. So I called another friend to get the number. This other friend is a guy that I've known for a few years and had had a bit of a crush on. It was one of those crushes that I figured nothing would ever happen with and it was more that I was just attracted to a good looking guy. I never imagined any type of relationship (other than the friendship we had) and so when I invited him to the party (because I felt guilty calling him up for someone else's phone number) and he surprised me by saying, "Yes," I decided that was a good time to start drinking.

The rest of the party was a bit crazy. I was extremely drunk by the end of the night (those who were there do NOT need to comment on details of this party). I had a fight with Adam at the very end of the night (which needed to happen and I would have never brought it up if I hadn't lost all inhibitions). I also had a newly formed awkward state in my friendship with the guy I called because of actions by both of us.



Matt had been partaking in the spirits a bit as well. None of us know why he felt that DM needed to be kissed, but that is exactly what he did when she walked in. And of course, it is caught on camera.



One thing that Matt does when he drinks is pick people up. Not hitting on them, but exercising the muscles in his arms and hold people. He did manage to lift up two guys at once during this party, but this is the picture I'm choosing to post to demonstrate the point. Also, this is what I looked like at this party.



This is not a fantastic picture of my friend whom I called, but it works. And now you know what he looks like. I do miss his friendship. We were pretty close friends before this evening happened and we are both trying to obtain that again. (This includes drunken phone calls on his part, emails, and a bit of text messaging recently. Recently as in last night.)