Mandatory holiday partying

While I do enjoy the occasional holiday party, there is something weird about having to spend this time with your department/office. The holidays should be about home and loves ones, and escaping those you, barely tolerate, everyday. I have two work parties every year. One is a pleasant dinner party thrown by my advisor. He cooks up a feast of exotic Chinese foods, feeds us, liquors us up, and sends us out to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

The bigger less appealing party is the departmental holiday party. In the past, it was homey affair. The party started around lunch time. It was potluck, so there always was a wide variety of exotic (mainly east Asian) dishes, mixed in with a plethora of baked goods. The jovial department chair brought in egg nog, and spiked it with a liter of Jack Daniel's, he smuggled in the building in a french lemonade bottle.

Now, things have gone modern. Our new department chair is a political being and desired a flashier party like the other departments. So now it is catered, beer and wine is served, and there is some form of live entertainment. When I walked into the party with V, we heard the new Chair giving a speech on how happy he was to blah blah blah blah. I almost turned around, but V said not to be ridiculous.

I headed straight to the make shift bar and ordered myself a white wine. Luckily, the bartender understood the situation and filled the goblet to the top. Ah white white wine, stay close to me. (think UB40 circa 1990's)

The live entertainment was salsa dancing. Lessons were given early in the night, but when the instructors were gone so was everyone from the dance floor. H, who has Hispanic blood coursing through him, asked me to dance. Dressed in my large t-shirt, cargo pants, and orthopedic clogs, I was not really suited for a party, let alone dancing. But with enough music and liquor, all inhibitions can be overcome. I'm not sure if my head was spinning from dancing or the 3 glasses of wine I had, but it was fun. So between more glasses of wine, and awkward conversations with awkward scientists, H and I would dance.

Towards the end of the night, our department chair came up to me to chat. He said, "So ET#1, you are a woman of many talents."

"huh?"

"Yes, we did not realize that you could dance and do science."

So 'til next year, in which I am sure to make an ass of myself in some new and disturbing way.

Happy holidays!