garden party

last night we traveled to the edge of noho to attend a party thrown by a young couple we know. they are part of what i still always think of as the k-town kidz, although only coiledsoul still lives in k-town, and i am not sure E&A ever did. nowadays these young folks of my acquaintance are more concentrated in the hipster frontier town of north hollywood. but the noho kidz just does not have the same ring, convenient metro station or not.

anyway, so it was a mix of old friends and their friends, plus a couple of dogs just for extra knee-level activity. 00soul grilled us some awesome sausages, and later i had a cheeseburger. mmmm. CS had brought a tasty salad, and we had booze and soft drinks and snacks aplenty.

it was an indoor/outdoor party, mostly in the kitchen and backyard of their nice little house. the latter area was dominated by an enormous rubber tree whose spreading network of exposed roots was fenced off by chicken wire festooned with a string of lights. we sat on chairs amid swirly clumps of tall grass, and at one point some of the young folks engaged in nighttime badminton, which fit into the lynchian absurdity of it all.

in the kitchen i met some of their friends from san francisco. it was fascinating just to listen to them all talk. smart young folks with a deeper knowledge of the world around them than many might give them credit for. in some ways a lifetime away from me, but not that much different than me at that age. at one point there was a discussion of just what generation they belonged to: x? y? some other? the outcome seemed inconclusive. and at another point it was noted that three of the girls will be turning 30 next year, and they plan to go to vegas. one invited me to come along, enthusing that it would be girls only and loads of fun. i have never been to vegas; it doesn't seem like my kind of place. my luck at gambling is terrible, for one thing, and i hate musicals. anyway, but then i regarded this trio of bright, sparkly, energetic individuals -- who blithely mix up and enthusiastically consume new alcohol combinations based on something they heard was good, who sneak back to the blackjack table late at night and win big, who brave the jaws of fearsome beasts and call it a day's work -- and decided it was worth considering.

it was a lovely late-summer party, and although it is not surprising -- as i got pretty stoned and pleasantly mellow on wine -- i did feel somewhat distant from the proceedings. i am not always comfortable at parties. someetimes i think the best is just sitting and listening to all the different things going on at once. it's can be cacophonous, but it's like you are inside the party, which is kinda cool. or maybe i was just high.

anyway, i was among the handful of older people in attendance, and it was weird to realize how MUCH older. we tend to think of everyone as adults here in this twenty-to-sixtysomething land of the grownups. but 29 was rather a long time ago for me. i didn't feel superior or have condescending thoughts when the actual time span hit me, but it was sort of thought-provoking. and i love that i know these people, whom i lightheartedly call kids but are obviously functioning young adults with all of the attendant responsibilities, freedoms, anxieties, dreams, needs, wants, etc. i love listening to them talk about pop culture and the tv shows they adore. yet they also talk about politics and the state of the world, with liberal and progressive views that give me hope.

yay for the next generation ... whatever they wanna call themselves.