schmixin' it up

jazz@satchmos

not only was it foti friday in the agency last friday, it was also f-it we're drinkin' friday. nice. happy hour slash monthly birthday party started at 3:30. at that time, the wine, the beers, nachos, wings, veggies were out. got myself 2 nice ice cold bottles of corona. stayed out of the buffalo chix though coz my 16 years of jesuit upbringing taught me not to have meat on lenten fridays. which is the bs reason obviously coz i realize i rarely eat meat much anymore anyway. i did however grabbed myself 2 small plates full of veggies and nachos, preparing myself for the hard drinks which didnt come long over.

by 4:30 the blinds were down in one of the main conference rooms. the drinks were already mixed and put in these not-so-cute improvised plastic cup shot glasses. by :40, most everyone in the team was there. :45, vicki, the team's bday celebrant was there pleasantly surprised of the prepped party (and strangely surprised of her apparent hard drink reputation). by 5, the first round of shots were passed round. everyone was game. hilarious party, much better than the cupcake birthday celebrations obviously. jokes were flying all over the place and everyone was laughing like crazy. too loud perhaps that the office prez went to the room to see what all the celebration was about.

obviously dismayed at the presence of all that alcohol and the fact that we even brought one of the barrels of beer into the room from the agency celeb, he fired us all. ok, he didnt. he was in fact peer pressured into taking 2 shots himself, though it wasnt that hard convincing him. the jokes continued on and by the 3rd round, some have developed a schlur already. and the jokes more and more becoming HR-inappropriate. funniest moment was when julian (our big creative boss) finally got into the room fresh from interviewing an art director whom he said was actually hot. and vicki asking her whether he'd hired her already. and julian, being his usual funny self, saying "yes, starting tonight." nice.

by 6, i was pulled out of the celebration for a last-minute job the client had called in. id had my 6th by then but surprisingly still had my balance and obviously a healthy dose of positive energy to keep me from complaining about why i had to be the designated art director. being the usual speedy gonzalez (which explains why i was the designated AD in the first place coz steve wanted to be out of the place as well soonest), the job was done by 630. in a few minutes, i was out of the office and downstairs at the building's bar, happy-houring with some officemates. scored a free pint of stella from lisa. by 7:30 i was already a bit red/blank-faced, on my way back to b'burgh.

by 8 i was at the friendly neighborhood cafe satchmo's, sober enough and ready to enjoy the live jazz music, a cup of red wine and the company of friends jamey, cathy and elvira. the band's playing was particularly passionate for the night coz the upstairs neighbors were already complaining of the noise. great having the 3 over to enjoy the lively music and conversations with. band started packing up by 10ish. we were out of the place as well but not before id given alex the cafe owner a nice "satchmo" louie armstrong poster present which made him jump like a kid and light up like a neon sign. a perfect ending to a nice day of mixing drinks and mixing with all sorts of people.

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once i had done the last-minute office job, i overheard steve talking to big boss julian, "i ask for a layout and 20 minutes, that pacheyco's done. he's good." "he's -very- good. shall i give him a raise?" "that's not my job. that's your job." hmm, well a fat raise would be nice. that big trip to the philippines with the great il cone in november needs some funding.