J's dinner parties have become something of an institution I have to say... while he was living in Melbourne he would come back every few months and would invite a bunch of his Adelaide friends over for dinner... the interesting thing always was that it was never the same group of friends twice... I've been to all of them, but, other than J and members of his family, I think I'm the only one...
And, like me, J "collects" people because they're interesting, not necessarily because they're "normal"... so you can imagine how interesting some of his dinner parties have been. And it's usually a mostly gay crowd, so the conversation can get a little blue on occasion too.
But I wouldn't miss them for the world, because they are actually a lot of fun... even if various people at individual parties have annoyed me (specifically J's ex, the woman J used to share a place with, and the random drag queen boyfriend of one of J's friends).... I always have a really good time, chat to at least a couple of people I haven't met before and generally amuse myself and others.
And last night was actually no exception... even though it was basically me, J, Monkey, J's galpal Sally, another random pal of J's, J's family and Ma. J and I have been making vague noises for a while now about getting his Mum and Ma in the same room together, and originally we were talking about taking Monkey to the Zoo while he was here (which, when I read that sentence back just sounds weird... hehe)... but Monkey wasn't actually that fussed on the idea, so instead J invited Ma to his dinner party instead. And in theory it was also so she could meet Monkey since they disappear back to the other side of the planet next week and she won't get another opportunity for a while.
I was amused when we arrived, because it seemed like most of the household actually came to the door to greet us, so I got to do the official introductions pretty much standing in the front hall. And I will confess that I abandoned Ma to J's parents briefly after we arrived... well... they were doing the whole "do I hear an accent?" thing that people have a tendency to do with Ma (she's English, and supposedly still has an accent... I can't hear it though)... and she's a big girl, she doesn't need me for that.
It was a fairly cruisy evening all up... dinner was pleasant as always (and an official shoutout to Monkey for the really nice capsicum dish he contributed to the table... I need to find out what he actually did to that)... you really can't go past a roast dinner with all the appropriate veggies on a cold winter's night.
I'm fairly fond of J's family I have to say... well, mostly... I adore his sister, she's just too cool... and his mum reminds me of Ma in a lot of ways (and is partly the reason J and I wanted to get them in the same room together)... his dad is very dry and laconic, but he's a good guy... it's just J's younger brother who bugs me... the boy has no social skills whatsoever... grrr... mostly I just end up ignoring him...
After dinner, and dessert and coffee we all sat around and just kind of chatted about this and that and nothing much at all really, and before we knew it it was about 12:30am... so, in a complete and utter first for one of J's dinner parties, I was the first person to officially leave (okay, Ma and I if you want to get technical)... although I think J, Monkey and crew were headed out for a night on the town and so would have all left together anyway.
Then in the car on the way home we did the official debrief on the whole evening... and it was interesting listening to her interpretation as an outsider of my interaction with the crew... nothing bad or overly surprising, but just interesting to hear.
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