Q's birthday was a success. The room we had was extremely extravagant. The living room, dining room and bedroom (including king sized bed) were all bigger than those in our house. Having 3 bathrooms helped too, as one sink was filled with ice and used as the beer cooler. We were on the north-east corner of the top floor, which gave us a fantastic view of the city and water at night. We also had a fantastic dinner with his best friend and her husband at L'Auberge de Pommier. Possibly some of the finest cuisine I've had in Toronto. Who knew that smoked salmon and honey went so well together?
My plan was for us to go to the hotel in the afternoon, spend some "quality time" together, head out for dinner and come back for the party - all of which was supposed to be a surprise. I'd also arranged for all the glasses and such to be delivered to the room after 6:00 so he wouldn't see any of it. Unfortunately they brought the glasses up at 5:00 and instead of knocking, the bellman just waltzed on in. I had just finished getting dressed when I turned to see a small, old, Filipino man standing in the the living room doorway with glassware. I immediately ran and shoved him into the dining room, reiterating how this wasn't supposed to arrive until after 6! Thankfully Q stayed out of it, and didn't ask any questions. I thought these guys were supposed to knock! If he'd arrived 10 minutes or more earlier, we'd have been right in the middle of things, at which point I'd have been laughing my ass off and Q would have been mortified. Would have served him right.
The party ended up being a lot of fun. I was worried that there weren't going to be enough people there, but it ended up being just the right amount. However, the night wasn't without incident. I'd invited Q's ex, Scott, and their mutual friend Paul. Q and Scott may be exes, but they still have an amicable relationship and keep in touch (unlike how I make sure mine drop off the face of the earth). They acted strange all night. Paul was acting like a kid who was upset that all the attention wasn't on him, and Scott would join in from time to time, when he wasn't getting all touchy feeling with Dickey and making everyone slightly uncomfortable.
The thing that really pissed me off though, was that I had spent a few hours on Friday night creating a playlist of music on my ipod for the party. I put on stuff I liked, some generic stuff, some songs that would make people go WTF?, and most importantly, I included a lot of songs that Q liked. Those two walked in and immediately went over and began fucking with the ipod - skipping songs and searching for ones they found suitable. Not only that, but made numerous comments on me having an old ipod (it sits in my glove box 99% of the time, why should I care if it has a color display?) and repeatedly made comments about how the music sucked, or would roll their eyes as they reached over to skip yet another track. In fact, when Scott left he said something to the effect of "Thanks for the party. I'm going home now. I can't wait to get away from the music."
I'm sorry I left my copy of Circuit Party XXXIII at home.
You know, I'd do stuff like that when I was a teenager. It's not the type of behaviour I'd expect from a 30 and 40 something year old. I found it to be very disrespectful, offensive, immature and rude. To me, music is a very personal thing. If you don't like what I'm listening to, then I can respect that, but I do have an issue when it becomes derogatory. When I've gone to a party, I wouldn't dream of walking over to the stereo and changing tunes. For me, party music is more background noise than anything else. What's important is the people and the conversation, which leaves me wondering exactly why they'd focus on that? Not to mention they started throwing shit at Q while he was on the phone, like sugar packets, then coffee packets, then chocolates and nuts, then creamers, and then Scott picked up a lime and whipped it hard and it smacked into the window. It's like they took everything too far.
I've talked it over with Q and some other people they all noticed the strange behaviour. We all agree that it boils down to immaturity and jealousy. Q is very happy in his life right now - and it's not with either of them (Paul had a thing for Q for years) - and it appears that they don't like it.
I'm disappointed because I liked them both, and I especially considered Paul a friend. Q suggested that I talk it over with Paul, but the truth is I don't think it's necessary. To talk it over would mean I want to continue some sort of friendship, and frankly I don't want to be friends with anyone who acts that way, or makes me feel the way he did. He just went from friend to acquaintance and is staying there.
It's at the point where I don't feel comfortable inviting either of them to the house whenever we get around to having the housewarming. I'd hear comments about the music again, and then probably something like "Oh you have a plasma TV? Well I have an LCD and they're much better." At which point I'd snap and tell them that if they don't like it than get the fuck out. I don't have time for that kind of bullshit. It's not a big loss though, they've distanced themselves from Q in the past year. Scott's only seen the house once, briefly, and Paul has never come by, despite numerous invitations. They've known each other for well over 10 years, and I can't believe that two grown men would act like 3 year olds instead of being happy for their friend.
I don't want to make it sound like it ruined my night, because it didn't. It ended up mostly working out the way I wanted and I had fun at the party regardless (vodka helped that a lot) and I think everyone else did too, despite the music. It wasn't until the next day as I thought about what had transpired that I got pissed. They just won't be invited next time, and if I ever get asked why, I'll tell them - or Q will.
