Parties, Porn, A Park, And Projects

Yes. You read the title correctly. I’ve been busy these last few weeks, going to parties and working through projects for my internship.

First, let’s get the “porn” out of the way. One of the parties I attended was for HBO’s new documentary entitled “Thinking XXX,” a film that focuses on porn stars. It was the strangest event I’ve ever been to. While almost everyone else in the room seemed to know all of the porn stars by name, I had no idea who most of them were. Eventually, I was able to identify them as “all of the short people” in attendance. Seriously, they were three apples high, which makes sense I suppose. They’re people with average-sized appendages attached to small bodies, which makes them look quite impressive on screen. In any case, the party was all very tasteful, with a lot of press in attendance. I even met a gossip columnist who felt compelled to tell me a story about Lindsay Lohan snorting cocaine in a lavatory at a Vogue event. I ended up leaving after about an hour. As I left, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to these people when they left the party. There, they were truly stars. But in the real world, they were practically prostitutes. I couldn’t imagine living their lives. They just seemed so lost to me.

Prior to this party, I had spent the day with my coworkers at the Six Flags in New Jersey. I had fun, but the day was not without incident. Some of the people on my team insisted that I go on a water ride. I didn’t want to go, but when I saw some people exiting a raft, happy and dry, I reasoned, “Why the hell not?” Well, let me tell you why not. As the raft went swirling around, a mini-tsunami began to form downstream and headed in the direction of the raft. About five seconds before it hit, I knew I was going to get it. And sure enough, the wave reached over my head and drenched me from head to toe. At that point, my phone – which was in my pants pocket – began to vibrate incessantly. I thought, “Someone must be calling me,” but when the ride ended and the phone wouldn’t stop vibrating, I realized that there was a problem. Eventually, both my phone and my iPod recovered from the drenching, but it was not fun having to spend another six hours in the park wearing pants that were soaking wet. Additionally, a friend of mine asked me to stay behind to ride another roller coaster, which I did. Unfortunately, the lunch I had just eaten and the heat from the day had me feeling queasy going into the ride. By the time I got off, all I wanted to do was vomit. But I somehow managed to avoid that fate while being dragged through the park to an area with carnival-like games. It was here that a bug flew into my eye. And it was there that I decided that I had had enough. We promptly left the park for the city.

I’ve gone to numerous other parties, mostly “see and be seen” affairs, which I’m terrible at because I don’t really care to see these people and I could care less if I am seen. Still, they’re good for a laugh. People take themselves VERY seriously at these things. I also went to a house party in the city where the host just talked at me for half-an-hour. That was not enjoyable. I’m often amazed by people who fail to see the distinction between dialogues and monologues.

My project is well underway. I’m drafting a formal test plan and have been assigned an additional project. So work is definitely keeping me busy. But with a full social calendar, it’s been difficult striking a balance between my social and professional lives. It’s exhausting, but fun.