Sometimes Fun Isn't

11 October, 13

Starting in the 10th grade at Hartsville High School, I gradually came to the conclusion that I should try everything. Sound familiar? Everything to a high school student in a small Southern town didn't provide for a lot of options. I never attended an opera.

To say I was a little wild in high school is like saying a Jack Russell Terrier has a little energy. My nickname was "Danimal the Party Animal". I did a lot of things that, looking back, I know I shouldn't have done. I just didn't have the capacity at the time understand the potential consequences of my actions--like death.

One time my parents were leaving for the weekend, and they had the foresight to make me stay at my grandparents' house, instead of leaving me to myself at home. What they could not have planned for, however, was what would happen before I got to their house. That Friday at school, I told a few of my friends that we were going have a party at my house, and they could tell a couple of their friends, too. You know, to help me get a proper guest list.

Kevin Davis came home with me that day, and we put away all the breakables. Good idea. Then we waited. I knew we were onto something big, when I saw the airplane toting a banner behind it, reading, "Party at Danimal's!"

Our house on College Avenue was nothing grand. It was adequate. A middle class home in a middle class neighborhood. We had over 200 people in that house. Cars and beer cans littered the entire block. Sam punched a hole in the wall of my bedroom, because he was mad at somebody. Chad was skateboarding on the hardwood floors in the dining room. People were throwing french fries into the ceiling fan in the den, to see how far they would fly. Pandemonium.

And here's the kicker. I had to be at my grandparents' house by 11PM. Getting people to come to a party is evidently a lot easier than getting them to leave a party. I cleared out most of the people, down to a manageable 30 or so and got a few people to promise to stay at the house all night to watch over things. And then I walked out and shut the door behind me. Brilliant right? I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

The next day, I went back home to survey the damage and to begin the restoration process. Forty seven bags of beer cans later and a good bit of scrubbing got the house spotless. I put a poster over the hole in the wall. No damage to the hardwood floors. No dead bodies. Dodged a bullet.

I realized that the only person who did NOT have a good time that night was me. I was a nervous wreck the whole time. It never occurred to me that other people would not treat my house well. Would they ride a skateboard in their house? Or throw french fries at the ceiling fan?

Then it hit me. Sometimes fun isn't. I still have a lot of experimenting to do, as evidenced by the fact that I am sitting on a terrace in Spain, writing a blog about one of the grandest experiments of all time.

Here are some things I have learned along the way:

1. Controlled burns are safe. Nuclear explosions are not. Don't go crazy with your idea. Keep it within some boundaries. How am I doing on that one?
   
2. Do as much work as possible on the front end to eliminate problems on the back end. Putting away all those figurines before the party saved my butt.
3. If you're gonna have a party, plan to stay the whole night. You can't just walk away from your problems and hope for the best. 
4. Know who your friends are, and hang onto them. They can bail you out, when you need it.
5. When you make a mess, you must confess. I told my parents about the party. I think they were too shocked to punish me. Living through the party was a punishment in itself.

We've lost a little sleep over here in Spain. Katherine is stressed out, because she is not getting all 100's on her tests, which are in Spanish. Elizabeth is constantly looking for something American. They brought pre-packaged, sliced bread home last night. Sacrilege. Susan is a little down, because she hasn't found her place yet.

So basically it's going just like I thought it would. Now we just need to get through the night and clean up the mess at the end of the party. Anybody wanna help?