Why I Probably Blocked Out Large Chunks of High School...

[rusty_armour]

Yesterday was my friend S's birthday, so I organized a little get-together for her. As she had thrown such a nice party for me on my birthday, I wanted to return the favour. I think the evening went fairly well, though I was reminded a few times why I really hate organizing these things.

For one thing, there was the birthday girl herself. I arrived at her place a couple of hours before we were supposed to meet our friends at the Milestone's in Scarborough. I had bought a birthday cake because S wanted to invite people back afterwards and I had refused to let her buy her own birthday cake. Anyway, we had a pleasant time talking and I got to play with her cat. About forty-five minutes before our reservation, S said that she had this great dress she had bought a few days ago and was going to wear it to the restaurant. I told her that was a great idea and assumed it would only take her 10-15 minutes (tops) to throw on the outfit, some make-up, etc. She was in the bathroom for at least 25-30 minutes, during which time I was trying to keep her cat occupied and throwing frantic looks at my watch. When S finally emerged from the bathroom, we only had about 15 minutes to get to the restaurant. Of course, that's why S's cat decided to hide under the bed and not come out. As this is the most curious and destructive cat on the planet, S insisted that she couldn't stay in the bedroom and we had to get her out from under the bed.

It was almost 6:55 by the time S finally pulled her cat out from under the bed. The reservation was for 7:00, and we were definitely going to be late. As S sauntered slowly across the parking garage in her stilettos and asked if her dress was too short in the back, I just hoped that at least one of our friends arrived on time and we didn't lose the table. Fortunately, they didn't give our table away, but the friends who had arrived weren't happy with where we'd been seated (the bar area) and were trying to get a new table. The only problem was that we had a reservation for 10 people (nine of whom showed up) and it was the only place they could seat us. I knew this going in because I had made the reservation and I honestly didn't think it would be a problem. I should have realized that it would be given this particular group of friends. As it was some of them were still trying to get us seated at another table, including S who had been told (by me) that it was the only table available.

Eventually, everyone accepted the fact that we had to sit at this table, though it didn't stop them from complaining. Why didn't they automatically bring water to our table? Shouldn't they have been here to take our orders already? I was thinking that the staff was probably trying to hide from us and kept shooting apologetic looks to the server. I even left a bigger tip than usual as we each had separate bills. I'm sure if we'd all been on the same bill, there would have been arguments over who owed what, etc. And, yeah, okay, it's not like I'm any less bitchy, is it? *g*

Well, despite the griping, I think everyone had a pretty good time. Really. Most people went back to S's afterwards for cake, and S really seemed to like her presents. It was almost 12:30 before we all disbanded, so I think that's a pretty good sign. I'm just relieved that it's over and hope that I won't have to organize anything else for a very long time.

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Before I forget, I just want to give a shout out to espirk, who often writes such interesting posts about her weekends. She's also been kind enough to mention me in a few of her LJ entries, so I thought it was time to do likewise and mention her in one of mine. :-)

Comments

[espirk.livejournal.com]

My goodness! If you will permit me to be bold, some of the people in the group seem to be a bit high maintenance :oS I personally don't see any problems with the way you planned the get-together. I don't understand the unhappiness about getting a table close to the bar...? *scratches head*

And like you, I would also be in a panicky state if I was running late for a reservation! I don't get how getting dressed up takes 30 minutes? I can see how it would if she had to shower too, but if it's just getting dressed/make-up/hair, it surely doesn't take that long, does it?

Kudos to you for getting through it and for organizing a birthday get-together that everyone enjoyed!

Thanks for the shout out! You are too sweet :o)

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm fine with you being that bold! *g* Don't get me wrong. They're good friends. However, some of them can be a bit high maintenance, as you say. Anyway, maybe they felt it was a bit too noisy near the bar area, though I didn't really notice a big difference myself. And I know we were kind of close to the door, so one of my friends was wearing her jacket towards the end of the meal. Still...I didn't think it was a huge hardship.

I'm not sure how the birthday girl took that long either. I didn't hear her shower, though I think she did style her hair. From what I could tell, she really wasn't concerned about the time issue at all. Oh, well. We all survived and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. That's the important thing.

I was only too happy to give you a shout out. It was long overdue!