this must be where pies go when they die

last night was awesome.

after several months of talking, and not much doing (both on my part), i finally got the twin peaks started, and it seems to have been a success---if for no other reason, then just because on my first such event, i already put the smackdown on markus's 'movienight' (in quotes because we never seem to watch movies anymore) by having three (count 'em) women present. hahahahaha. (the 'movienight' regulars are always complaining that there are no girls present.) of course, though, then they tried to change the rules by claiming that it didn't really count, since one was married and another fianceed. [rolls eyes] there's just no pleasing some people...

but really, it was a great time, and we packed my tiny little apartment nearly to capacity (while keeping everyone reasonable comfortable); there must have been around twelve of us (hrm... in order of arrival: me, ildar, dena, conlin, helen, jim, markus, fabius, leah, sylvain, sean, enno... did i forget anyone? don't think so. well, that makes twelve alright). what was even crazier was that we somehow achieved a critical mass of americans; with six of us, we weren't the minority anymore. :)

i made a huge pot of corn chowder, and good thing, since by the time everyone left there were exactly three tablespoons remaining in the bottom of the pot. it lacked a little bit of salt, but that was easily remedied, and people raved over it. i tried to make sure i was stocked with drinks (i had amassed a pretty decent assortment of juices, soft drinks, and spirits) and then we just ended up going through the 4 bottles of wine that various people brought anyway. [shrug] it's funny how you can never really predict what people are going to do; in fact, about the only thing you can predict is that they most certainly will not do whatever it is you expect or want them to... haha.

oh, and on the food note, i had sent markus out after donuts, since he had heard of a new shop near the train station that supposedly made the real thing (not very common here). i mean, come on, it's twin peaks; there's gotta be donuts! anyway, i gave him what i hoped would be way too much money (though in switzerland you never know, and it usually isn't), and told him to go for 3 dozen, just to be safe. he got there and the guy laughed at him before explaining that there were only 4 left. the hell?!?!? what kind of self-respecting shop can have the nerve to call themselves a _donut_ shop, and yet let their inventory fall as low as FOUR pieces? that's just insanity, plain and simple! [throws hands up in frustration] so we cut them into little tiny pieces and passed them around. it was hilarious in a sad sort of way. :) next week we will try to call ahead. (though i am a little sticker-shocked; the singles were 2.80 each, and while i persist in hoping for a volume discount, such things are rather rare in switzerland...)

around nine, i popped in my [veeerry expensive] hongkong bootleg dvd of the pilot episode (i explained that fiasco in an eariler post, didn't i? well, speak up, if you're confused) and let them debate about whether or not we should turn on the subtitles---which, by the way, happen to be in something more like 'engrish' than 'english' (seriously, it's pretty pathetic at points). we had them on for a while, and then people were laughing so hard we had to turn them off, and then later we put them back because some people were having trouble understanding (the sound isn't very well mixed, so it's hard even for me to understand at certain points).

in the end, everyone sounded excited to come back next week for more, so i'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. my only apprehension is that if we increase by more than a couple people, we might need to move to a different venue---which would completely undermine my underhandedly sneaky plan to trick people into coming all the way over to my side of the city to visit me. :)