This year was the second annual Rumpus party - Rumpus 07. The traditional gift for a first anniversay is something involving paper.
And yes, I do believe paper played a key part in the celebrations. I was just thinking of all my highlights - and a lot of them involved high quality white computer paper.
First of all, there were Damon's fantastically retro-classy invites with the lettering that you could run your finger over for textural pleasure. There was much time spent cutting those out by him (and Ange, at work). Nothing says class like a party that has an official, well-designed invite. We made matching DJ badges (which were laminated by me and my own personal laminator) and the chocolate smashing instructions.
Then there was the Paris Wall. I spent many an hour with Damon perfecting that. We searched Warehouse Stationery for just the right quality paper - and got 160gram paper. It's like silk, baby. Nothing cheap would do for that collage. I was the official putter-onnerer of double-sided tape for that, and did the white trim around the edges. Damon and Morgue came to help at the last minute and proved somewhat incompetant (how hard is it to fold, cut and stick????). :)
Ah, and then there was the roof of the Womb Room. I was the designated cutter-outerer of the spirals (proving that I have versatility in my paper-skills - I'm more than just a tape sticker). Morgue used his natural born skills and was the official putter-on-the-roofer, and Damon was the go-between. That roof was a thing of beauty if you looked at if from the right angle and the shadows were cast by the red lava lamp. Awww! Purty. And it looked like a school of hungry sperm. The boys have some Freudian issues there.
And then, the highlight of it all, there was was the OVEN! It was one of those random ideas that just popped up towards the end of the planning. Damon had an old oven in his kitchen. It had to be moved out. The front door had to be blocked off to stop that side of the house from becoming annoying to the neighbours and maintain the desired flow of people. So Morgan decided it would be one of those incongruous gems of an idea to put the oven on the doorstep. The original plan was to put the neighbour's old oven there too and have them facing off or mating (depending on much things heated up between them). But after jumping the fence, Morgan and I decided it was way to bloody heavy to hoist over. And the one oven was more than enough......
But then Morgue decided the oven looked almost like it had a face. So he wandered around grabbing items that could make an eye........ and I cut out some teeth, and Damon found an old bike light to give it a glowing red mouth effect.... and it was genius!!! Again, paper played a key part in the making of the teeth and eyes.
So there....... what will the theme be for the second anniversay? Is it cotton or something? Do I have my whole anniversay gift thing wrong??? Can't wait for the diamond anniversay, anyhow.
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And let me expand on my highlights.......
I think the Rumpletron was again a little confused. It couldn't tell who was a girl or a boy this year (even more than usual). But that just adds to hilarity, I say! I love that Daragh the Builder came out as Congresswoman Moore. And there seems to be some conspiracy that led to Jon being Tiny Cleetis. That's hilariosu stuff, that there.
There was a nice mix of tribes this year, too. Good on ya, Rumple! I came out as Disco Lyssa.
Moments of hilarity for me were caused by someone (I will allow them anonymity - for now) seeing someone else they'd met on a series of internet dates there. Much avoiding and subtle-photo-taking and staring ensued. It was scandal. Then he was snapped (quite litereally) in his boxer shorts with another lady, helping the Womb Room live up to its reputation.
The world debut of DJ B*stard was a great thing to be a witness too. We love the 80s music and the organe-vinyl-jacket! Many 'magnum' and 'blue steele' attempts ensued as RELAX was played. Svend may have a calling as a male model.
Some pikers went off to see the rugby (bah!) but they came back. Drunker than before. Justin's friend had an odd affinity for the monkey. Justin himself ran around the different rooms catching us up on what was going on with everyone else and giving updates on anything scandalous. Meanwhile, I stayed fairly solidly in the Womb Room for a while. It was red and soothing.
Oh, earlier in the evening Ange's flatmates had a time of pretending to be bouncers (they certainly looked the part) and asking people for ID and invites as they came to the door. Really, they were just loitering around the free beer. One of them, Daragh, has officially never smiled in a photo in his life. He always looks like a miserable bastard - so I made it a mission to catch at least one good shot. That is why he features rather prominantly in the photos you can see via Damon's site. And, by gum, I did catch him a few times! I think I could actually be a good paparazzi person.
There was someone called Steve. Who the heck was he???? Apparently he's one of the Hutt crew, but I've never heard of him. And I like to think I know everything there is to know about everything. I suspect some kind of conspiracy.
Oh gosh.... and the smoke machine. What a highlight! Several people over the course of the night (Ange, Nick!) decided to just crank it up. There is something fantastic about being in a hazy room where someone can literally become invisible if they stand in the right spot across the way from you. It was cool! I'm sure by next time Damon'll figure out the magic of the strobe too - then he can truly bring the night-club home.
It was good seeing people from last year's Rumpus like Fraser (who generously gave out Sparkles and wore his name-tag on his forehead all night) and his fellow Fushia-Angels Sam and Michael. I got to vent about my outsting from the Ultimate circles many a time (it appears not being able to actually THROW a frisbee may count against me when the time to pick teams comes). There was the other Richard - the one who's good with computers - who I waved to on ocassion.
I said hi to lots of new people. Then they'd say, 'So - how do you fit in?' and I got to proudly say, 'I'm Kate - I'm on the invite.' Sometimes that was not enough explanation, so they asked how I knew Damon or Morgan. This perplexed me a little. But the easiest answer is, 'Through Sam.' If they didn't know Sam, this was of little help. More people should know Sam. He's a hub.
The party minions were a fabulous idea, and they came around with their pots of chippies and sausage rolls at regular intervals, exchanging empty bottles for full. Every party should have minions.
It all went very nicely. Nothing major (other than chocolate) was broken. Only one person vomitted, and they were considerate enough to do it in the drain in the garden. Only one couple (that we know of) had gratuitous sex around the party. Everyone seems to have gotten home safely (though, last I heard Billy was just heading to go for a walk on Petone Beach at 4am ..... I hope he's been spotted since).
I have heard positive feedback from many people. Though nobody filled out the optional form we provided at the exits.....
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It is now holidays! Phew. I've been on auto-pilot for a week now and my clothes have been unironed and my hair a mess..... Time to regather.
Tonight I will either go on date #3 or go watch the ukulele band from school play a gig in town (or both).
Sam and I then met Boy-Sam at Club K for karaoke. I have finally met someone else who doesn't mind karaokeing with me! Watch out! When we first arrived, Girl-Sam and I were quite literally the only ones there. It made for ideal warm-up time. We kept making the DJ stop playing hip-hop shite and put on some cheesy old songs for us to warm-up to. We started with Islands in the Stream, and it was fairly fortunate there was nobody there to listen...... The girl part is high. I have a very limited vocal range.