Got there pretty much on time. Saw Pagan Guy in parking lot, didn't holler loud enough. (Need his cellphone # for networking purposes later, clearly.)

Milled about, located table already populated by trystan_laryssa, dustraven, and member(s) of samurai_ko's Heroes game. Located Pagan Dude. We had too many people to merge parties. Ran into Butch Lady (all dragged up in femme gear); pointed her to our table and to Pagan Dude's table. Had brief discussion with trystan_laryssa about my current single status. Imagine my surprise when I confessed a certain crush I had on a certain individual, only to find that she knew him through gaming as well!

Cheered for company owner, had fun. Totally flipped lid when Presidential Impersonator showed up, because damn, we're none too happy with the President, to the point where I would consider being an impersonator will have become a dangerous job. There were some people in the buffet line behind our table who actually voiced the sorts of joke you're not supposed to make, and it had the ring of ha-ha-only-serious.

There were video cameras all over; assorted shots were taken of the attendees and put up on the big screen. There were a few people who noticed that they were up there and clowned around, like that one guy.

Dinner was good. I obtained booze; 1 Tequila Sunrise has me entirely sloshed for a good portion of the night. V. cheap date. I was entertaining with a caramel apple. Ran into beeochkitty in the dessert line as I was returning with the apple; we discussed where we were sitting for about two minutes before we realized that in fact we were sitting at the selfsame table!

Then OMG GIN BLOSSOMS. After the first song or two, I went right up to the dance floor. Toward the end, someone dragged me into the FRONT ROW. The company owner and a girl in a very sparkly dress were dancing right in front of me. Then the lead singer hopped down from the stage and started hugging people and posing for pictures. The pointy red cube badge guy had been pointing his cameraphone at all the proceedings to begin with; his cameraphone was pointed in the right direction when I got swept up into one of the hugs. OMG I GOT HUGGED BY THE LEAD SINGER OF THE GIN BLOSSOMS, YO. I am going to have to petition the red cube badge guy for the location of his photo/video stream.

Things wound down a little. There were prize drawings, which were exciting; I didn't win anything, though the short chick on my team (although she's moving to another department) won a prize, and I think beeochkitty's boyfriend won something, although he has a common first name and I wasn't taking notes on the last name. There was more dancing; I was featured on the big screen at some of those points, although I wasn't aware of it; I was just having an awesome time, and celebrating the fact that I was wearing flats, although one of my transparent jelly slippers did shoot off at one point, great Cinderella moment. There were more drawings (this was when they won). During the last drawings, the roof of the ballpark opened up, and it got very windy very fast. After the last drawing ... FIREWORKS!!!!!!

We made our way out. I got a bag o' swag. I now have a number of company-branded items: messenger bag, windshield screen, water bottle, winter hat, lanyard, and little multifunction clock.


So much for that bright idea. For the record, one of my absolute dealbreakers is homophobia. There are a lot of things I can deal with and work around. Homophobia is really not one of them, not as far as starting things goes. If I've already started things with someone, and they turn out to be a flaming 'phobe, there's a slim chance we can work things out by them agreeing not to air that topic around me. Gay jokes can be dealt with, sometimes. Everyone's the butt of a few jokes. Homophobic cracks, not so much. I trust my observer to know the difference. Ah well.