So, we made it through the auction, and it went very well overall. The decor was probably our best ever, and the 'carnival' theme overall was very cool. Yes, there were several snafus, as usual, but nothing fatal. And the $$ should turn out okay, especially considering the horrible economic news of the past two weeks.

We had poor communication with the auctioneer, which I guess is my fault. He didn't show for rehearsal, so we wasted an hour waiting for him. His daughter claimed I never told her about the rehearsal, even though it was in the programming timeline I gave her TWICE. Oh, well. At 5:00pm we thought he might not be coming at all, but then he showed.

I spoke before the appeal, and I think it went pretty well. I was pretty juiced on the nectar of the grape by that point, but I definitely felt the energy. Hopefully I made more sense than Sarah Palin.

The highschool boyfriend ended up blowing us off about attending, which I found out about an hour before he was supposed to come pick us up. This was our big 'coming out party' in front of my co-workers and board members, and he didn't show. Didn't call me, didn't return my call. He told Charlie to tell me he wasn't coming. That was fun to explain to folks who were expecting him to be at my table. And obviously he wasn't around to help us break down the show and load up later, so Rich had to do all the heavy lifting. (So, what's next on this front? Remember what Clemenza said about Paulie in 'The Godfather' . . .)

I felt bad for Charlie, who had already had a day fraught with bullshit. Our computer tech didn't show and sent an incompetent replacement, and she was the one who had to deal with the series of IT issues. She spent hours this week shopping with the highschool BF (who has become a professed 'best friend' to her) and was really looking forward to me seeing him in his new suit and carnival mask. She tried to call and text him repeatedly when she got his message, all to no avail, and she cried a little, but I told her to forget it. Special events are hard enough without any added drama.