About Parties

When we were young, like in high school, throwing a party was truly exciting. Nerve-wracking, in fact, because we could only throw a real party - loud, intoxicated, sexual - when parents were away. So a party was dangerous, illicit, and there were more than a few that got out of control or got you busted by your parents when you didn't cover your tracks well enough (like one time when we thought we'd cleaned up pretty good - except for the dried spray of beer that Tyler had spewed from the second-story landing, over our living room wall).

Grown-up parties are not as much fun - how could they be? We gather. We drink, or not. We talk. We eat, or not. At a company party - like the one I went to in the hills outside San Jose last night - there's also the fine line between shop talk and, well, everything else.

But for all my grousing, here's the funny thing - I almost always have a good time. I just don't have the pleasure of anticipation, since, again, we're not getting away with anything and no real surprises are in store. But the gathering, the lights, the feast (gotta have the feast) - these are still fundamental. And of course, for better or worse, I'm a born talker. And talk - even more than food and drink - is what the party runs on.