Fit to Be (Black) Tied - Part 2

Hitting on Ramses.

The annual Apollo Circle Benefit took place just a few days before my birthday, and it was a great way to start my birthday weekend! To be in the Apollo Circle, one must be between the ages of 21 and 39 and donate a certain amount of money to the Metropolitan Museum each year. Ed is a member, and so was contacted about buying tickets to this year's benefit, but apparently even non-members can buy a ticket for this event as long as they fall into the right age range. Of course it is always fun to dress up, and I had never danced and drunk cocktails surrounded by ancient artifacts before, so when Ed asked me if I was interested in going, it wasn't a hard decision.

When we arrived on Thursday night, we were ushered in through the main doors of the museum. As we walked through the wing that houses artifacts from ancient Egypt, there was someone stationed every 40 or 50 feet to point us in the right direction. Initially, I thought this was very accommodating, as it is a large museum and tough to navigate, though I realized as the evening went on that having lots of hands on deck is necessary when you put a bunch of young people into a museum containing both priceless treasures and an open bar.

Apologies for the poor picture quality. It was dark.

The main event was in a room with portions of Egyptian temples lit in red (and, of course, roped off). Scenes from movies like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes were projected silently on one of the walls to go with the theme of the night, which had something to do with the pop art of Andy Warhol, though I didn't notice the theme anywhere else. There was a dance floor which was a giant mirror - not a good idea for those of us in short dresses until it got dirty and scuffed by dancers - and several bars with scanty hors d'oeuvres and plentiful bottles. My beverage of choice for the evening was champagne mixed with fruit compote. I tried both blueberry and peach, and liked peach more, though I was less enamored of it when an unapologetic girl next to me knocked my elbow, causing me to dump the contents of my glass down my front and onto the sleeves of two people near me. I did the best I could to dab it out of my hair and dress and switched to vodka and soda.

Despite the champagne bath, which Ed kindly said made me smell pleasantly of peaches, we had a nice time.  Several of his friends met us there, and we chatted, danced, and did a lot of people-watching. Apparently single girls in the city will do just about anything short of selling a kidney to buy a ticket to this event in hopes of meeting wealthy men. Dispersed among the roving bands of unescorted ladies, there were indeed a lot of men who appeared to be going stag. In most cases, however, their lone wolf status was not surprising. Most were short and sweetly dorky looking. When Ed and I first arrived, we watched a very short, balding man who looked like he was toeing the upper line of the age limit chatting happily to a tall, blonde bombshell who looked to be in her mid-20s. She stood on the floor and he stood on a step in front of her, making him almost eye-level for her. Throughout the evening, we caught glimpses of him, each time talking to a different woman. They seemed friendly enough and he was beaming, but I don't think fortune was favoring him too much.

As the party-goers continued to visit the bar, things started to feel a lot like a standard club. Sure, the surroundings were incredible and the clothing posh, but people were staggering around and dancing to the hip-hop soundtrack just the way they would at the bar where I used to check coats. I had expected murmured conversations about sophisticated topics over chamber music, but this turned out to be pretty far from reality. When we were about 15 minutes from the end of the event, Ed and I said our goodbyes and went to an all-night restaurant where I had macaroni and cheese.

Pre-champagne debacle

Because my boss was out of the office last week, I had made arrangements to work from home on Friday, which turned out to be a good thing as I wasn't in bed until sometime after 2:00 A.M. I woke late the next morning and spent the day working on my couch in my pajamas. My birthday weekend was off to a great start! More on that in my next post.