A tradition has developed between one circle of friends of mine: when we all go out partying, whoever does NOT decide to go out that night is inendated with a series of drunken voicemail messages. There'd always be at least one person who didn't go out on a night of partying, and to this person (different everytime), we'd call, pass a cell phone around, yell at them for not coming out and lay on the guilt trip. And we'd always end the voice message with crazy monkey noises.

My friend Mienri said it best when he said, "If everyone goes to your bon voyage party, who's gonna get the drunken monkey noises?"

Point well taken, the drunken monkey never came about. My "Bon Voyage, Birthday & Book Buzz Bash" last Friday had about 80-90 people in attendance, including friends who flew in from Colorado and Miami, drove down from Canada and drove up from Philadelphia.

If the only goal of the party was to have a grand old time to say goodbye, catch up on old times and get completely and utterly hammered, then mission accomplished.

You can see all the photos from the party here:
http://www.theglobaltrip.com/galleries/TGT2bonvoyage

The photos are in chronological order and you'll notice that as the night progressed, there seemed to have been a lot of middle fingers raised -- but all in good fun. The later photos are a bit blurry, because something got on the lens or something. Oh well.

If anyone has seen my brother's digital camera, a small Sony DSC-U30 (like mine but in silver), please post a comment and let us know.

Special Thanks goes out to Gina Planas, John Yacat & Family, Robin Glowski and Nicole Judice for pledging The Global Trip 2004 Pledge Drive. You're all gettin' postcards from the road!

Super Extra Special Thanks and Love to my mom and dad for their loving support and generous donation to The Pledge Drive. You'll get MANY postcards and some phone calls too!