Gin, Tonic and Cachaça

It appears that I should plan to be drunk or hungover every day for the next three weeks (of course it doesn't help that the hangovers now tend to last two days). Because the goodbye parties are starting to roll and the end is looking blurry.

My very good work friend Jeff who manages our company's business in Asia is traveling for the next three weeks to China, Thailand and Malaysia. He returns just before Steph and I leave for Switzerland, which means we wouldn't have a chance to drink together again--and we've made quite a business of drinking together over the years--so he graciously held our first going-away party at his condo Thursday night.

It was a great party, attended mostly by friends from work ("the usual drinking crowd," as they're known). His condo is beautifully decorated and he provided an awesome assortment of food from a European-themed caterer--various excellent cheeses, olives, pates, meats, etc. Many brave souls who had just attended International Wine Night last Saturday stuck with wine. Since we're setting heat records in Chicago right now (bad for the marathon this Sunday, poor Steph!) I chose my favorite summertime concoction, the always delicious gin & tonic. Stephanie demonstrated her discipline by only consuming one glass of wine, otherwise hydrating nonstop for Sunday's big run.

Things were well enough under control until later in the evening (after Steph had left, when I usually get into trouble) when Jeff and I and a few others started doing shots of Brazilian rum--a very good liquor called cachaça that tastes somewhere between rum, tequila and whiskey--that had been a gift from our Brazilian salesman. Well, the curtains pretty much dropped on me after that. Some other very nice and less-drunk friends shared a cab and shepherded me home because I don't think I could articulate my address to the driver.

As has happened to Jeff and me countless times--in Mississippi, Minneapolis, California and Tokyo, among other places--we each woke up in the morning still fully clothed from the night before and also feeling quite ill, him sitting straight upright on his couch as if watching TV and me under the covers at home. But everyone had a great time and he's one of the many people that have been so generous on our behalf approaching our move, and also that will be sorely missed. But Europe is only a short flight away, and we're planning to repeat the routine on that continent sometime very soon!

[By the way, for those following along with previous party antics, my work computer was luckily not destroyed by the DJ'ing fiasco last Saturday night, just slightly bruised and apparently stunned for about 48 hours. Join the club...]