well, the ys staff christmas party was once again a smashing success. i’ll try to post a few select pictures later in the week when i can access them. our very creative staff really went for it in the costume contests. lots of great 70s and 80s tuxes and dresses. and some fantastic twists on ‘formal wear’: lisa wondercheck and her husband aaron won the ‘best formal wear: couple’ category for their killer late 80s/early 90s goth prom outfits. i’ll really have to post a pic of that one. jen and jay howver came as the ‘grunge prom king and queen’ (you should see jay in his wig!). two couples came with the wonderfully tacky combo of a coach with a female student; one even pregnant, via costuming. leslie lutes was a john-hughes-perfect 80s nerd, with frizzy hair, homemade headgear hooked to billy-bob teeth, a slip 6″ longer than her skirt, and a ‘kick me’ sign on her back. tic and terrie long went as the school custodians, with custom custodial shirts that said ‘t & t custodial: your spill is our thrill’. jeannie and i went as prom protesters. we passed out chick tracks, and had horrible 80s fundie outfits and hair. i had a t-shirt on over my fundie clothes that said ‘dancing leads to sex’, and jeannie had one that said ‘dancing makes the lord cry’. we stood outside when people arrived with picket signs that said ‘youth specialties leads to hell’ (just like the signs that were present at dcla and our anaheim nywc this year). i have to say that there was some humor in the fact that i was wearing this costume and holding this picket sign at the exact moment the cbs news piece was airing.

but the costume that took it all — the overall grand prize winner — was carrie clausen, who came as carrie, from the movie. yup, full-on red gown, long blonde wig, drenched in blood (which we all discovered was dried, red-colored pudding). alex roller came as her date, and his outfit was great too; but carrie was the belle of the ball.

we had a king and queen ceremony, with our receptionist leoney winning queen, and alex roller winning king, and, after crowning them, had them dance together (great, great laughter). the talent contest was fun, but not the highlight, which turned out to be the karaoke competition. each table of 8 people (7 tables) had to choose a karaoke song from a list and perform it. we really just expected people to sing. but when the first group actually turned theirs into a full-on performance, all the groups went into overdrive constructing full performances, which turned out to be so completely hilarious, that we were all in pain from laughing so hard. my table performed ‘the wind beneath my wings’. when we saw the other groups stepping up on performances, i leaned over to john freese (his wife vicki works at ys) — john is a close friend of mine, and an even larger fellow than myself — and said, ‘dude, i think we need to do an interpretive dance. and i think we need to do it with our shirts off.’ john’s response: ‘i’m in!’ we wrapped ourselves in long blue gauzy table cloths (completely concealing ourselves, excect our faces) and got down on our knees in the middle of the dance floor, heads down. during the verse, we slowly rose, spinning around. but when the chorus hit, we stretched out our coverings to reveal the horrible shirtless truth, then ran around the stage with the tablecloths billowing behind us. alex roller later told me, ‘i’ve never laughed so hard and wanted to throw up at the same time.’ our table won, by the way.

we also had three different group dances (line dances) that we were taught, an amazing dinner, and lots of other fun stuff. after 11, we moved up to the ‘after party’ at tic’s house, which has a pretty view of the el cajon valley and lots of outdoor seating.

i work with an amazing group of people.