I had an odd, eye-opening experience this past weekend. My husband works for a company that revels in its employees’ nerdy/geeky passions, and actively encourages them both in the workplace and beyond. Last Friday was their annual holiday party, and for the first time I was able to accompany Hubby to the shindig (yay! for childcare!).
To give you an idea about what a seriously big deal this party is, I offer the following. As the company has grown, it’s opened branches in two other large, Midwestern cities. In order to ensure everyone the opportunity to indulge, they hired two busses (motorcoaches) to transport folks from these other two cities here, where an entire hotel had been reserved for the event.
At this point, those who frequent cons may begin to feel on familiar ground. While events like Gallifrey One don’t actually get the entire LAX Marriott (not for lack of trying, I’d bet), anyone not in on it is likely to feel a bit awkward. It was lovely, therefore, that the party in question didn’t have any outsiders to work around. You knew that anyone you saw there that night was a company employee, a “plus one,” or a hotel employee. (Or one of the bus drivers, I suppose…)
And boy, did they do it up. Open bars, snacks galore, entertainment… For example, before dinner officially began, you could wander around to find various tables covered with bowls of M&Ms, Skittles, or “puppy chow”; a salad bar; a cheese bar; a bacon bar; shrimp cocktail in fancy ice sluices; and multiple other items.
Dinner was buffet style in several different themed rooms: bar/ball game type food in “Area 51” (hot dogs, nachos, and popcorn), Chinese food in “Pern” (it was a dragon theme tying those together…), chocolate fondue in the “Great Hall” (not to mention butter beer), and of course British/American fare in “Gallifrey” (including chicken & waffles, burgers, sausages, apple pies, mac’n’cheese, and—for extra awesome—fish fingers & custard).
Then there was the entertainment. Aside from the alcohol of all sorts, there were arcade games, a swimming pool, karaoke, a casino, board games, console video games, and probably several other things I completely missed. So people wandered around from awesomeness to awesomeness, chatting and laughing and enjoying the hell out of themselves. And yet it wasn’t quite perfect.
Because here’s the thing: while the event was bloody brilliant, and I’m already looking forward to being able to do it again next year, these weren’t my peeps. I could enjoy the brief pre-dinner “program” in which accomplishments were touted, prizes from the raffle drawn, and awards for things like “Newbiest Newb” were presented, but I didn’t always “get it.” It dawned on me that this is probably how Hubby would feel if he went with me to Gally—now and then, a joke would land, and he’d understand (at least mostly) how funny it was and why, but most of it would be over his head. While those around me reveled in their connectedness, I was just barely on the outside.
So I don’t see myself pressuring Hubby to join me at Gally any year soon. But I sure as hell am looking forward to being among my own people again, and feeling on the inside of the frenzy of awesome moments. There’s nothing quite like it.
Roll on, February!
What a company, though!
Wow, never heard of anything like this, though! Never even been to my husband’s Christmas party – and you know why – they don’t give one to their employees! As a prof, I never had them, either!
I know what you mean. I don’t think I’ve ever been to an event or party where at some point in my head I wasn’t mocking it. A bit mean, I know, but I always felt as if I didn’t fit in. For years I went to my mom’s Christmas’ parties. She works for a small local t.v. station, and most people are nice, but the ones who are on the air just think they are a gift to the world. And it’s a local station in a small town!!! So that’s where my internal voice mocking them usually came in, and I started going to those parties when I was a young teen.
Those people were always “on.” Man, they were just so tiresome and assured of their own beauty and the idea that the world needed them. It was so laughable, their exclusive vanity. (Got that phrase from a British comedy and love it!) Shouldn’t generalize, though, not every single one of them was like that, I did make friends with a couple of them.
But my point – you see my writing has a theme, like my stories, I wander off a bit – I wasn’t with people like me. I knew it from a very young age. I don’t know if I’ve ever been. I need to go to a con. I guess the closest I’ve ever come is when I was in upper level and grad History courses. The love for the subject was palpable, and I knew others got what I got.
But, I am curious as to what a “bacon bar” is! I also would have liked to try butter beer, because I have always wanted to know what that is, too. I know my husband would have gone crazy eating all that food, and not gained more than 3 pounds which drives me nuts (I’ve been gaining and eating virtually nothing, and I think it’s a heart issue like 2 years ago, but my regular drs are not listening to me, although one of them is trying really hard to find out what is going on, so I might have to have a lung biopsy, scary for me). Don’t see the cardiologist until March! So here I am, living on air, gaining 10 pounds in 2 weeks, and dreaming of a buffet with choices like that because I haven’t really been cooking, and my husband can eat all he wants and only gain a few pounds!
Off the subject, though. Butter beer sounds so good, but I fear I would take a taste and spit it out! 🙂 I’m glad you had a good time even if it wasn’t amongst your true “people.”
I really want to go to Gally 1 next year. I think I have to get on the site in mid Feb and try to reserve! So I have to start to try to convince my husband within the next couple of days….
Indeed
It totally was an awesome party. Never got around to trying the butter beer myself; maybe next year. 🙂
As for the bacon bar, they had chocolate dipped bacon, candied bacon, and chicken-fried bacon (with a jalapeño marmalade for dipping). It was off the charts.
I'd love to see you at Gally! They will be announcing after this year's con when they'll open up registration for next year. It'll probably be in mid-March. You're also welcome to come to the Twin Cities for the new con that is just starting up here in May (first one in nearly two decades)! It's called CONsole Room, and you can check them out online here: http://console-room.mpls.cx/