| last week thursday, i experienced my first imason christmas party, and i think it was the best time that i've had since i arrived in toronto!! the social committee of imason did the most incredible job transforming our open-concept IT office into a super-cool lounge with style and class and even christmas cheer (to which i typically say, "bah, humbug!"). with the dim lights and jazzy christmas music, it was an atmosphere that was immeasurably inviting and fun. pretty much the entire company was there, and we all engaged in scintillating conversations about everything although very little about work. spouses and partners arrived after a brief meeting and that just gave everyone more to talk about and laugh about! it's funny how you take for granted people you see day to day at work and then to see them after work with their hair down makes them all seem like completely different and new people!! melanie, the party's unofficial offical photographer was dressed to the nines in a low cut number that i think made everyone pay attention - and not to be undone in the low-cut department, was super-sexy kevin, our new sales director, giving come-hither looks to ... i think it was my boss, rob... oh well, it was a party after all. the highlight of the evening had to be the retro dance-off where bob and jeff and i think nariman were all popping and locking and busting moves all around the pool table... at one point, all the gyrating became too much for goncalo, and i think he grabbed bob and did either a WWF wrestling throw or some bizarre attempt to get bob to straddle his waist... by that point, i'd had about 10 martinis, and my recollection is a little spotty. we kept things going at the office until 1:30am, at which point, things were winding down... but some of us kept going at Alice Fazooli's and we shut the place down. rumour has it that a couple of the hard-cores went for a bite, making them the reigning evening champions, getting home around 5:30am. for myself, i was content to get home at a more modest 3:30am. i had a 9:30am meeting after all that i could not miss. i think that the best part of the evening was allowing myself to enjoy myself and have fun in my own way. there was no pressure from anyone, i relaxed and settled into a comfortable groove, and had a fantastic time. the people at imason have proved to me time and time again that torontonians don't deserve the reputation for arrogance, capriciousness and self-centredness that the rest of canada bestows upon them. the second best part of the evening was feeling charming and attractive again. i look forward to many more parties with this crowd in the future!!! merry christmas!!! - g |