Oh. My. God. How dreadfully boring. Not that there was really EVER any question in my mind as to whether or not I was into politics, but last night definitively confirmed it. Neither Jane nor Dick are political, either, so we had fun making fun and talking amongst ourselves.
The best part of the night for me was being able to dress up for the occasion.
Turns out the only reason we were there, really, was because the head commissioner or President of the Republican Committee (or Head Poobah or whatever his title is, I forget already) is also a builder who “gave” Jane some new construction listings…if she bought these tickets! (You have to figure $100 is a small price to pay for the eventual commissions!)
But this meant we had to sit through THREE HOURS of The Glorification of all Things Republican, hallelujah to God Almighty. (When things seemed over-the-top, I had to remind myself that we were the ones out of place. We were in the middle of 250 staunch republican supporters.) There were introductions and awards and more awards and speakers and music (hoo boy, the music—I actually said to Dick “These people either know the mayor or they gave a large contribution.”) and then finally dinner. A BUFFET. What? A buffet dinner for $50? Oh, that’s right. What was I thinking? We were at a FUND-RAISER, which means the dinner is half that and the other is a donation to the Party. Eeesh. But the food wasn’t too bad (I almost took a full plate of mashed potatoes, then stopped myself!).
We passed the evening nicely by drinking (and drinking…and drinking)—in honor of Tom! Yes, it’s true! Dick and I drank Tom Collins’ all night!! Jane was buying, so I figured why not? There have to be SOME benefits to this evening, right? (I also told her later that these benefits were MUCH better than any I ever got at Staples!) During dinner there was more music (we were right next to them so they were TOO loud and therefore way too distracting) and then more awards and more talking and blah blah blah blah blah blah. I swear I felt like I was in Charlie Brown’s class—you know how the teacher sounds!
Then it was time for the keynote speaker—some guy who didn’t win governor but is apparently going to be running again. Lovely. Oh my, did he talk WAY TOO LONG. You can’t keep people’s interest for 25 minutes right after they’ve eaten a big meal—especially if you are a losing gubernatorial candidate. (But then again, I’m not Republican. Maybe they thought he was great.) He wasn’t a great speaker, either—good, but not great. I could listen and pay attention to any great speaker talking about anything…but my mind wandered with him and I just keep looking at my watch. And drinking.
Then, mercifully, it was over…and we were out the door like a shot…across the hall back to the bar! (Can you see a pattern here?) I was done drinking by that time (since I had to drive home later) so I just finished my drink while we visited and Jane went around talking to all the people she knew. I got to talk to Dick and learned more about him and his life, so that was cool. About 11, we headed back to Jane’s and started to watch a movie. I was getting tired and really wanted to come home (although she said I could crash there if I wanted) so I was home by midnight.
So, it was a fun night out with friends…but I never need to go to a Republican fundraiser again!