If the current state of the Hello Kitty balloon is any indicator, everyone had a blast at my Bye, Bye, Bash last night. About a dozen people turned out, but I was concerned they might not be able to find me because the Hello Kitty balloon went FERAL on my ass.

Normally, helium balloons float up towards the sky, that is unless there are winds whipping them back and forth, knocking over your drink and dragging the trophy they’re tied to across the Biergarten. Basically, the Hello Kitty balloon acted like a real kitty on a string would have. I eventually tied it to a water spigot next to the bar and hoped people could just find me on sight.

There were a lot of people competing in the live band karaoke competition, probably because there was a $500 prize. Most everyone could actually sing, so no one at my table felt brave enough to belt one out. Which meant I didn’t have to buy anyone a drink!

To continue on the Hello Kitty theme, Kristen brought her Hello Kitty Polaroid camera that she got in Japan. It even has a tiny mirror on the front so you can angle a self-portrait surprisingly well, as you can see:

I also got to chat with a blog reader, Joanne, who is a friend of a friend. Some of my high-school friends drove up from Louisville. A few old coworkers dropped by as well as some other friends. Hanging out with everyone actually made me a little bit sad that I’m leaving. I do like a lot of things about Indianapolis, and an evening at the Biergarten is certainly one of them, especially when I’m surrounded by friends. However, most of my stuff is packed and I paid my security deposit, so I’m moving no matter what. On to the next adventure!

Everyone is welcome! Drop on by if you can!

When I haven’t been buying cat-shaped balloons, I’ve been busy packing everything I own into liquor store boxes which I’ve numbered for easy reference. Thanks for the tips, guys! Wednesday is the big delivery day at the liquor store near me. So they’ve been really happy to see me come by the last two weeks. They practically tossed the boxes into the car for me. Of course, my new neighbors are going to think I’m a total alcoholic. Jose Cuervo and Captain Morgan are my new best friends.

Jennette’s Bye, Bye Bash
Wednesday, June 23
6:00pm-9:00pm
The Rathskellar Biergarten
401 East Michigan St
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Google maps link

Drop by to say good-bye to Jennette before she packs up her things and leaves Indiana for the hills of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We’ll hijack some picnic tables and drink overpriced beers in the Biergarten. It’s “Can You Rock” night, so karaoke with the live band if you dare! You could win a prize, and I don’t even have to pay for it!

ETA: Uh, I just noticed there is a $3 cover charge. Sorry about that. See, this is why party planning gives me hives.

It was fun to escape into a bubble universe for the weekend and live in a land where everyone is happy to see you and there is much dancing and revelry and ass-squeezing. (I’m looking at you, jenfu.) I am a bit disappointed no one flashed me or made out with me, and the raw food restaurant made my face so splotchy that it caused my fellow diners to frantically search for an antihistamine, but overall it was a high time. It was a place where my only responsibility was to make sure my bus buddy wasn’t left at the laser tag arena.

But now I am back in my day-to-day life and there are many responsibilities, like scheduling a conference call and picking up a friend from the mechanic and finishing a client’s site. It is tempting to contemplate a life where every week was a party week, yet I think the regularity of such revelry would destroy the properties that make those events so magical. It would also destroy my liver.

If every weekend was a party weekend, it wouldn’t be special at all. It would just be the weekend. Part of the fun of a party is that you get to escape from your regular life. If the party became your regular life, eventually you would seek to escape that. Anything that is fun and fulfilling has the potential to become a rut. It is an endless, annoying, vortex that circles around and around and sucks you in before you knew the whirlpool had formed.

And as much as I liked everyone who came to party, I know that if we all hung out 24/7, eventually there would be fights and disagreements because that is just what happens with human beings. There are very few people I could hang out with on a daily basis without beginning to fantasize about smothering them in their sleep.

So, it was a good weekend, a weekend I’d like to have again, but all the weekends in between are what make the fun never end.

PastaQueen is not giving away butter. Find out what she is giving away behind the jump.

The Superbowl is not until Sunday, but the residents of Indianapolis do not care. Our local news crew is already on the ground in Miami covering every movement of the team. My neighbor has proudly hung a Colts banner outside his front door. Kroger has blue frosted cupcakes and cookies on sale. And yesterday the city dyed the canal blue. You would think water would already be blue, but it wasn’t ELECTRIC BLUE, now was it?

So, when I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter contacted me about giving away a gift set for a Superbowl party to me and one lucky reader, I decided, what the heck, let’s do it. As a resident of Indianapolis, I am practically mandated by law to watch the game, so I may as well throw a little party while I’m at it. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter is giving away a gift set as part of their Reach Right campaign, which encourages people to make smarter food choices while also satisfying cravings. The gift set includes:

• Tasty appetizer and dessert recipes to help you plan your meal
• A serving dish for your Super Bowl spread
• $30 gift card to purchase your ingredients

No doubt there are some of you who prefer butter to vegetable spreads like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. That’s cool. I understand. You don’t have to enter. You can peruse the ingredients for ICBINB here and make your own informed nutritional decisions about the product.

To enter, just leave a comment on this entry. I’m a little late in posting this, so the contest is going to end at 11:59pm on Wednesday, February 3, 2010. The winner will be selected randomly and the prize will be shipped directly to the winner by ICBINB, hopefully in time for your own Superbowl party.

ICBINB also wanted you to know they are on Twitter @ICBINotButter.

BTW, if you are waiting for my thoughts on week 3 of The Beck Diet Solution, I have fallen a bit behind on that due to personal health problems, but I will try to get caught up by next Monday.