Fitting in with the theme, I acquired slap bracelets and metallic scrunchies to give out to attendees. I looked at the confirmed guest list and realized I recognized a good handful of the names, both in the attending and declining lists. I had read some of the names in the news. Some of them I had voted for before. I figured that it was going to be a little bit political.

Last weekend it happened. It almost didn't because my alternator went out, but I was able to replace it with a friend's help. I arrived and, once I had seen the house Lego collection, started giving out favors. It's amazing how many people had never received a slap bracelet in school (apparently, as I would come to learn, because they were eventually banned in most schools because the outer cover would wear away, leaving a metal strip of bloodletting). I met four judges I didn't know (apparently I missed three others in attendance) and many Rotarians. I had a beer with Pflugerville City Council Member. I put a slap bracelet on a Texas State Representative. And then there was the nice older man who introduced himself by putting out his hand and saying "Hi. I'm Lloyd." He really needed no introduction because a) I went to high school with his daughter and had met him before and b) I've been voting for him for over two decades. Wine and beer flowed (moderately, mind you). Conversation swirled, ranging from the Athenian wrestling match that is politics to the mundanities of personal life (many of these folk have run in the same circles for decades). Some guests were actively avoided (some politicians do pleasant worse than others).

Once the party was officially over and the political class was gone, we who remained, family and non-political friends (among which I had been numbered) watched a Star Wars movie and disassembled a whiskey/scotch/bourbon advent calendar. I'm not into brown liquors, but once I got past the taste of burning, the ones I tried weren't bad.

All in all, I give the weekend a solid 7/10 (it lost points for the alternator thing). What (as they say in the vulgar argot) is up with you guys?