My friend Kelli invited me to a wine tasting party in Fairfax three weeks ago. I was a little wary of going to a party, where I only knew one person–but I was feeling particularly daring that week, so I decided to go. Since the theme was “Wild Wine” everyone was required to bring a bottle of wine either named after an animal, or one that featured an animal on the label. I was able to find a cheap Virginia wine featuring a raccoon at Total Beverage. I showed up at Sarah (the host)’s place on-time, but Kelli was running about 45 minutes late. Rather than sit in the car, I decided to brave the house full of wine-drinking strangers. I’m glad I did. It was amusing walking into the house and watching everyone struggle to recognize me. After explaining that I was a friend of Kelli’s, they were all quite warm and welcoming. It took some time for me to figure out who everyone was, but I was soon able to join in the conversations. Since there were about 15-20 people there, we went through about 15-20 bottles of animal wines. My raccoon wine was the worst of the bunch. My personal favorite was one of the several eco-friendly fish wines. The white wines were the general favorites of the group. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much wine at one time before. I was definitely tipsy, and decided to stay seated in the same chair for the duration of the party. Eventually, everyone assumed it was time to go (partially due to the fact that no one had seen the host in over an hour–we assumed she had passed out upstairs). I bid my farewells and took a few parting photos.

Last night was the DC Rollergirls benefit party at Dr. Dremo’s in Clarendon. I arrived around 8:30 PM and did a quick walkthrough of Dremo’s to check out what was going on. Amy was already there, so we sat at the bar and talked for a while. It was good to catch up with her after her two months in Turkey and the Ukraine. Kelli showed up around 9 PM. Some DC Rollergirls came around and asked us to join a raffle to win a date with a rollergirl. Kelli and I both entered. I entered twice, since the girls were so persuasive–once for Summer Fling and once for Fili*Bust*Her. When Amy left, Kelli and I went downstairs to check out the bands and scour the merch tables. Kelli bought a DC Rollergirls tumbler w/ stickers, pins, etc. I was tempted to donate $5 to arm wrestle a rollergirl, but I was pretty sure the girl would have taken me. We went back upstairs and talked until Kelli had to leave. After walking her out, I went back inside and was greeted by Jaime (a girl I met at a WIT improv comedy class), her husband, and one of her friends (who I believe is an announcer for the Charm City Roller Girls). We all headed downstairs for some full-on DC Rollergirl fundraising action. I stopped at the merch table to donate $50 for ten entries to the “Win a Date with a DC Rollergirl” raffles (one for each of the 5 girls and the rest to Summer and Scrumptious Rump). When they announced the winners at 10 PM, I was pleased to have won one of the dates (w/ Fili*Bust*Her). I figured I was done for the night, so I said goodbye to Jaime & pals. When I got outside, I ran into Summer. We talked for a while, then headed to IOTA, where she was going to meet some friends. It sounded like fun, so we hopped in a cab and headed up the street. IOTA was okay. I had never been there before, and it seemed kind of cramped. The $10 cover was pretty steep, too. I met some of Summer’s friends and had one more beer (I was cutting myself off). We stayed for a few songs, then headed back to Dremo’s so she could help tear down the merch. We ran into more rollergirls. I had five more bucks in my wallet (where did all the money go?), so instead of buying another beer, I was convinced by one of the rollergirls to donate $5 to get spanked by her five times. I figured it was better than impairing myself more right before I had to drive home. After a “nice ass” remark, she swatted me five times. Other girls at the bar complained that she should have hit me harder. I was going to offer them an opportunity to rectify, but quickly headed downstairs instead. Things were winding down. The bands were packing up. The DC Rollergirls were packing up. I bid adieu to Jaime and her pals (this was the second time), then helped Summer carry boxes of shirts down to her car. I said goodbye to her, then said my final goodbyes to Jaime et al. when we crossed paths once again in the parking lot. Since the alcohol had totally worn off, I had a splendid drive home. All in all, it was a really fun night. The DC Rollergirls are a lot of fun, and I can’t wait for the season to start in January!

Bridget, my co-worker, recently hired me to photogarph her engagement party. You’ll probably find the pictures dull, if you don’t know any of the people involved. Nevertheless, here they are…