My Girl Wants to Party All the Time

Ah, September. The time of year when a young girl's fancy turns to sticky-floored frat basements and red plastic cups. Until she remembers that college is OVER. Gone are the days of slutty costume parties, the ambient sound of beer pong balls whizzing through the air, and long brunches spent discussing who did the walk of shame out of whose dorm, who peed in whose closet, and who climbed out of whose window. Sigh...

I'm not really sure I yet understand/appreciate the post-collegiate party life. You didn't have to worry about finding something to do. Boom there it was - dance party in the "This Week" Guide! Evite from the social house! Friend of a friend has a friend with champagne! Weekends at college had a familiar, wonderful pattern: 1. Put on eyeliner 2. Dance party 3. Rehash scandalous events at brunch. Bingo.

It's not that I don't enjoy going out now: 1. Go to bar with friends 2. Drink cocktails that taste like fruit 3. Overshare details about personal life. I mean, obviously, that's good times. But there's a biiig part of me that wants to run onto the student center dance floor with my girls and shake my butt to the sweet sounds of "Hips Don't Lie," simultaneously fending off creepers like townies or freshman while making eyes from the hottie who sits two rows back in Civil War and Reconstruction. See, that was the other brilliant thing about college. Even the guys who were moderately sketchy weren't that sketchy. School was small enough that everyone pretty much knew eachother or knew someone you knew, so yes, while you risked a heinous crime like potential awkwardness by the salad bar in the dining hall, the chances that someone was going to roofie you and leave you in a dumpster were very small.

This weekend I was, quite literally, poised on the threshold between my new and old worlds. After cocktails and cake to celebrate our wonderful Stage Manager's birthday (it was a beautiful cake - chocolate vanilla swirl with vanilla frosting and "MANAGE THIS" written on it. Other Actress, who bought the cake, is a genius) I set off to join an old friend from highschool, who now works at a law firm, at a wine mixer thing full of other law firm/business school types. I set off determinedly into the heart of Cambridge, and wound up smack in the middle of Harvard freshman orientation. Not the official freshman orientation, obviously. The "we're away from home for the first time WOOHOOO" kind of orientation. I saw people outside a building, so I thought it might be my party. This gaggle of boys held the door open.
Boy: So...you going to the party?
Me: Yes.
Boy: I think I've seen you at the science center...you a freshman?
Me: Um...yes. *Giggle*
(I'm a totally compulsive liar with strangers. I don't know why. I just am.)
Boy: Yeah, us too.
(Dawns on me that this is probably not the right party, as lawyers and business people are probably not throwing freshman ragers.)

I hate to say it, so shameful, but there was a part of me that really, really wanted to follow these total strangers to a party full of harvard freshman. Letting go of college is a lot harder than I thought. Thankfully, one of the boys addressed the other as "Bro" right then, which is an appellation I find really stupid, and snapped me back to sanity, as I realized I was not going anywhere with three drunk 18 year olds. I said I needed to find another party and left, after agreeing with Boy that yes, I was sure I'd see him around the science center.

Turns out, however, that leaving for the grownup party totally paid off! It was, in fact, kickass. Ok it'll sound like I'm a huge loser, but I had the best time ever. All the lawyers were having a SHOWTUNES SINGALONG! Turns out the host was an excellent pianist, and I got there right as they were seguing from Sound of Music to Beauty and the Beast. I was four cocktails in, which means I think I can do anything, which results in me either: 1. Doing splits 2. Expostulating on the finer points of the Louisiana Purchase 3. Sprinting or, most likely 4. Singing. And maybe it was just the cocktails, but I was on fire! We next did Phantom of the Opera, which I had played Christine in in the WORST production EVER when I was 15, but that does mean I know the score forewards and backwards. And after my Beauty and the Beast warm up, I was all BAM! Check out that cadenza! BAM! High B! BAM! High C! BAM! The phantom of the opera is THERE inside my MIND, bitch!!!
I think the girl who brought me was a little embarassed. She kept telling me to let other people sing. When I told her I wanted everybody to sing (which I did. I was full of song and love.) she replied that they needed to hear themselves. Whoops. And I think I totally ruined a romantic moment with her and the guy she was macking on by singing along on their duet. Whoops.
Regardless, I was having the time of my LIFE. Which gives me hope for the future!!

The post-college party scene ISN'T as bleak as I thought! There was disney singing and magic and frosting and no one tried to make me drink beer! (gross)
Things are looking up.