I have spent this day multi-tasking in the best way. Listening to the audiobook version of “A MEMORY OF LIGHT” for which it feels as if I have been waiting forever while simultaneously running the pictures from last night’s party through Photoshop. As expected, many pictures were too dark and too fuzzy to be worth rescuing, but there was a good selection of pictures that came out reasonably well.
It was a frustrating photographic venue for me and my Canon Powershot sx260 hs, which is a pretty good little point and shoot, does not have a fast enough lens to handle the low available light … nor does it have a good enough strobe to provide discriminating fill flash. Being short does not help either. Tall photographers can see and sometimes reach over the crowd. Even with arms fully extended, I’m still vertically challenged. And yet … I managed to come up with a fair number of acceptable, even good, pictures.
Speaking of celebrities, the place was crawling with them but most of them were people I’ve met at other parties and who were colleagues of my husband so it was amusing to realize that he was actually one of the celebrities … and for some obscure reason, I sort of was too, although I’m not really certain why. Some people turned out to follow my blog. One rarely never knows who is following. Just today, I learned Queen Mab of the Winter Fae is following me on Twitter.
I have little familiarity with court protocol, especially of the Fae, but I would certainly not want to be anything but highly respectful of the ruler of this high court! She has some serious magical powers and could make my life very difficult. And she would have been a fine addition to the party.
Mab, Queen of the Winter Fae
So who did we meet and who are in these pictures? First, The Examiner did a story about the party and you can pop on over and read all about it. Queen Mab was not in attendance though I’m sure she would have livened up the affair.
Garry and I chatted with — and I took some pictures of — Ray Flynn, Mayor of Boston. He was surely the most fun of any mayor Boston has had since the revered Mayor Curley.
Bob Lobel emceed the event and he and Garry also, having been colleagues, had a few memories to share. Derek “Turk” Sanderson, one of the greatest of the Boston Bruins and a Hall of Famer, in whose honor the event was being held was there and he and Garry remembered each other very well indeed. Edward Burns, actor/producer, director Doug Atchison, producer Shep Harmon. All were there to gather support for a movie about “Turk” and his battle against drugs and booze, a battle that many others at this party have also fought.
Noteworthy was that this was a very sober crowd and they still seemed to be having a good time. I’ve never been a drinker, and my one coke (the drink, not the drug) barely slaked my thirst which is not an allegory. I really was thirsty, but the line at the bars were too long to do twice.
This was an amazing — huge — change from parties of the past. I’m pretty some of these people who knew each other from “the old days” had never spent any time together when all were sober. Something to ponder.
There comes a point with drugs and booze where you have only two choices: quit or die. Because after a certain point, your body isn’t going to tolerate the abuse.
I was glad to see so many people who made the good choice. They quit. Good for all of you. It is a hard battle to fight, harder to win, hardest of all to hang on to that victory. Since winning the battle over addiction is the theme of the movie, it was appropriate that a large number of the attendees knew the story up close and very personal.
Z-CoiL Footwear Explained (Pain Relief Footwear) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SVRZNGVlvI
Good to see you out and enjoying a good time! Haven’t done that in years and it doesn’t look promising in the near future. Thanks for sharing
Yes, what are Z-coils?? It was a great party. I never even finished my bottle of non alcoholic beer. Still, we paid and are still paying the piper for a harmless night on the town. I wonder if this happened to Nick and Nora when they got older??
I think that would make a great movie. Nora and Nick: the sequel. Walkers and all.
On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 12:11 PM, Serendipity
Nice photos, good fun. thanks for sharing. Hugs, Tasha
It’s fun because we’ve been so locked in for so long. These are the first “parties” in some years now. I’ve been feeling fragile and Garry is tired and can’t hear. But at these things, no one can hear anyhow, so it doesn’t matter … and this really is Garry’s crowd. For me it’s a photo challenge. For him, it’s genuinely social.
Definitely looks like you and Garry had a nice time that night. Great to see you both out and about rubbing elbows. Thanks for sharing the memories with us, Marilyn.
The guy who throws these shindigs is a PR guy … maybe THE PR guy. We used to be on his “a list” years ago, but then life happened. Just before Christmas we started getting invites again. It’s nice to get out into the world a bit, even for short periods. As long as no one needs me to get really dressed up, I’m okay. We both used to own formal clothing back in the days when Garry was working and we got lots of invitations and he emceed events of all kind (not surprisingly, the annual fund-raiser for the deaf and hard-of-hearing was his favorite) — but that was long ago and far away. Now, it’s fun for Garry to see the “guys” again. Good for me to get an airing. He rarely sees his old buddies anymore and I go even fewer places than he does … mostly, doctors visits. Getting out also gives us something to talk about (and me to write about!) for a while. I was surprised at how much press coverage the event got but then I realized its whole purpose was to bring attention to bear and hopefully backers to this project, so if it hadn’t gotten attention, it wouldn’t have accomplished its goal. We went for our own reasons, but the event was held for theirs.
I jokingly suggest you look into Z-coils since you are vertically challenged. They are the rage on the West Coast. Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead in them.
What are Z coils???
I believe I included a link to their web page. Literally they’re shoes mounted on springs.
I think that would be just a bit unsuitable for a crotchedy lady with a bad back. And way too weird.
There are bumper stickers all around Portland, OR that states, “Keep Oregon weird”!
I think the whole left coast is pretty strange.
You’ll get no argument from me.
I think I would wear them only if I were first disabled with a stun gun. It was fun …probably because there were a lot of familiar faces. Usually I go to these things and I don’t know anyboy, but this time, I knew quite a few people … and even more knew me, but I have a terrible memory for names and faces. It’s embarrassing.