Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

Party Time!
Today was the day of the big party. It was a big success. Erika was smart and got catering done for the event (by By Davids), so we didn't have worry about the food/drink side of things, and we both managed to have a good time at our own party. ;-) And despite the fact that we said "no gifts", we came away with enough "housewarming" gifts of wine to last us well over a year.

At its peak, perhaps about 40 or so people dropped by, including a few friends that Erika knew from the film biz, lots of our neighbours, two of my Aunts, some friends/family from work. There were lots of kids too, so Vanessa had a blast chasing around with all of the girls, while a contingent of boys filled up water balloons and hurled them in the laneway (occasionally at each other, and at least once at my mother-in-law. ;-)

The first arrivals started coming just after 4pm, and the bash lasted until about 10:30pm (which was when I put Vanessa to bed -- a full 2 hours past her usual time -- and which people seemed to take as a large hint). At the end, it was our immediate neighbours who stayed the longest, and after our party died, the party simply moved a couple of doors down the street.

I made my semi-traditional batch of Painkiller for the event as well. Erika had recently finished divvying up the contents of a gallon jar of pickles between ourselves and her mother previously in the week, and I used this jar to whip up a big batch of Painkiller. It was only by the conclusion of the party that I found out how popular a drink it must've been. Was somewhat amazed that by the end of the party, there wasn't even enough of the stuff left to make for a reasonable nightcap for me. ;-)

I was also given the task of providing the music for the event. I set up the stereo out of our shed, and I expressly burned an MP3 CD for the event, played through my portable AVC Soul MP3 player. Erika had cautioned me "not go overboard" with lots of dance music, so I toned things down and went for more MOR stuff, at least as MOR as I ever get. Turned out to be pretty popular, and I ended up explaining several times about MP3s in general, and how I didn't really have an 100 disc CD player running somewhere hidden in the background. For the record, here's the song listing on the CD:

Alison Krauss - Down to the River to Pray Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter Bjork - Big Time Sensuality Blur - Chemical World Bob Marley & The Wailers - Jammin' Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love Carolyn Crawford - My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down) China Crisis - Wishful Thinking Chris Clark - Love's Gone Bad Contours - Do You Love Me Counting Crows - Mr Jones Cowboy Junkies - I'm So Open Crowded House - Distant Sun Crowded House - Something So Strong David Bowie - Heroes David Bowie - Golden Years Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough Elgins - Darling Baby Ella Fitzgerald - Reaching For The Moon Ella Fitzgerald - Isn't This A Lovely Day Ella Fitzgerald - How's Chances Ella Fitzgerald - Change Partners Ella Fitzgerald - Slumming On Park Avenue Ella Fitzgerald - You Do Something to Me Ella Fitzgerald - Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love) Ella Fitzgerald - Too Darn Hot Ella Fitzgerald - Miss Otis Regrets Elvis Costello - Accidents Will Happen Elvis Costello - (Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice Gladys Knight & The Pips - If I Were Your Woman Harry McClintock - Big Rock Candy Mountain Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) Jackson Five - I Want You Back Jackson Five - ABC Jackson Five - Never Can Say Goodbye Jane Sibbery - Bound by the Beauty Jane Sibbery - One More Colour Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him Jr. Walker And The All Stars - (I'm A) Roadrunner Jr. Walker And The All Stars - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) Kim Weston - Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) Lenny Kravitz - Let Love Rule Martha And The Vandellas - Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach Marvelettes - Don't Mess With Bill Marvin Gaye - Pride And Joy Men At Work - Overkill Moby - Find My Baby Moby - Porcelain Moby - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad OMD - Forever Live & Die Paul McCartney - Summertime Paul McCartney - Twenty Flight Paul McCartney - I'm in Love Again Paul McCartney - Don't Get Around Much Anymore Paul McCartney - Bring It On Home to Me Paul Simon - Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes Paul Simon - Kodachrome Paul Simon - Gone At Last Paul Simon - Rene And Georgette With There Dog After The War Paul Simon - Under African Skies Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes Peter Gabriel - Shaking The Tree

Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill Peter Tosh - Johnny B Goode Poi Dog Pondering - U-Li-La-Lu Portishead - Glory Box Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang Radiohead - High And Dry Radiohead - Karma Police Rare Earth - Get Ready Sade - By Your Side Sade - King of Sorrow Sade - Lovers Rock Sarah McLachlan - Vox Sarah McLachlan - Sweet Surrender Sarah Mclachlan - Drawn To The Rhythm Shorty Long - Function At The Junction Sinead O'Connor - The Emperor's New Clothes Siouxsie & The Banshees - Dear Prudence Smash Mouth - Walkin' On The Sun Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - The Tears Of A Clown Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye Squeeze - Black Coffee In Bed Stevie Wonder - Fingertips - Part 2 Stevie Wonder - Uptight (Everything's Alright) Supremes - Baby Love Talking Heads - Take Me To The River Temptations - Ain't Too Proud To Beg Temptations - (I Know) I'm Losing You The Barenaked Ladies - Jane The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love The Beatles - It's Been a Hard Day's Night The Beatles - I Feel Fine The Beatles - Ticket to Ride The Beatles - Drive My Car The Beatles - We Can Work it Out The Beatles - Hello Goodbye The Beatles - Lady Madonna The Beatles - Something The Cardigans - Love Fool The Goo Goo Dolls - Name The Hothouse Flowers - Don't Go The Housemartins - Heaven Help Us All The Housemartins - So Much in Love The Housemartins - He Will Find You Out The La's - There She Goes The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray The Originals - The Bells The Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done To Deserve This The Pixies - Here Comes Your Man The Psychedelic Furs - The Ghost In You The Soggy Bottom Boys - In the Jailhouse Now The Soggy Bottom Boys - I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow The Spinners - It's A Shame The Stranglers - Golden Brown They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse In Your Soul Thomas Dolby - I Scare Myself U2 - Bad U2 - One XTC - Playground XTC - Some Lovely XTC - Stupidly Happy XTC - We're All Light

Erika put the CD-R in the player, as I was busy talking to somebody else at the time. This means that I never got to tell her about the randomizer function, so the songs just played straight through. The party ended with one of the Sarah McLaughlin songs, so the party lasted until "s".