On Friday I had my first 'party crashing' night. With my best friend as my guide, we hit the circuit. First we stopped by Rock The Block. Rock the Block is an annual party started by a few college students several years ago to raise money for the Wheelchair Foundation. The money collected through donations is then used to provide wheelchairs to those in need throughout third world countries. We arrived really early to talk with DJ Kendal and then we stayed and helped take collections for about 30 minutes. We took off and headed over to the Marriott School of Business Opening Social. We had sloppy joes, listened to music, had a little battle royale on a gladiator balloon and ran into a few friends. As we were getting ready to leave we ran into some of our roommates who told us about a Luau happening across town. We decided to head on over and this is where the night really changed.
The party was hosted by Cade and his family at their home in the river bottoms. The house was huge, but frankly it was nothing to everything else surrounding the house. Out back from right to left they had a storage shed nicer and bigger than my apartment. It also included a tennis room for, what else, but a regulation tennis court. I've never seen a nicer private court. Moving across the sweeping rich green grass we next find a white sand beach volleyball court. The court hosted a variety of shirtless men tanned with perfectly sculpted muscles sporting board shorts diving through the air and into the soft sand. Just a few feet away was a heated swimming pool and hot tub full of other beautiful people. At the end of the pool and volleyball court was small grove of trees and several small paths through the wood, one of which takes you by a fire pit with heat radiating off warming you as you pass. As you emerge on the other side you find a sunken trampoline under a 15 foot basketball hoop. Next to that is a white sand table tennis court. The table is made of solid rock and the net is made of four loosely chiseled rocks about 4 inches wide. As you continue along the trees there is a red brick gazebo and a perfectly groomed soccer field with goals. Going back to the main house takes you by a pool house with more square footage than the homes of my parents and their siblings. In the side room there is a soft serve ice cream machine. All across the grounds are fruits, vegetable platters, nut mixes, chocolate, candy and basins full of gatorade, apple beer, rootbeer and water. As I looked around I wondered why I'd never been invited or even heard about such parties, but I only needed a quick glance at my fellow party goers to realize that this was a full blown 'pretty people' party. Except for myself and one or two others, EVERYONE was sporting designer clothing, bulging muscles and tanning salon tints. While I was impressed that most girls were modestly dressed and the dancing was largely clean, it was simply uncomfortable for me. I was not a 'pretty person' and while I'd like to look better and take better care of myself through diet and excercise I realized, I still never wanted to be like them, I would never feel comfortable changing into someone I'm not to be accepted by them. It was quite an experience and one where I glimpsed into the lives of how the other lives.
After a while (to long by my liking) we headed back to Rock the Block. I'm still not much of a partier, but it was so refreshing to just be with a diverse crowd all gathered together for a good cause and having fun together. Yes, there were pretty people there, but there were also Poly's, geeks, athletes, rich, poor, young, old(50+) and it was just a lot of fun. With my friends hook up, we also spent most of the night at Rock The Block with DJ Kendal and Ryan up on the DJ platform learning about mixing music and reading crowds. I even got my first bouncing gig assignment taking care of some party goers causing a small comotion on the equipment trailer. At the end of the night we went to get some Beto's. Now that's the kind of fun I look forward too.
