Dressing For The Party

We're closing in on the spring concert for my Chorus, which means it's time for dress rehearsals. We call the last two Wednesdays "dress rehearsals," but really they're just run-throughs of all the songs, in order, with the tech staff in the regular rehearsal room with us. The real, on-stage, three-hours-or-more dress rehearsal is the Friday night before the Saturday and Sunday concerts.

So, naturally, that's the night I've been invited to a happy-hour cocktail party at the house of some acquaintances that same night, and roughly the same time.

Friday evenings in my life are usually thoroughly unexciting. I might go to the gym, have dinner and then retreat home to do laundry. Occasionally, I have dinner with other people, or go to dinner with Dan, if he's off work. (Not that I'm complaining; Fridays can be very recover-from-the-week for me this way.) However, all this seems to go out the window on the three nights of the year when I have these final dress rehearsals. Witness:

• Holiday Concert — same night as Dewayne's Worlds Collide Party 2004
• Spring Concert — This cocktail party (see above)
• Pride Concert — Same night as Dan's birthday, traditionally a nice dinner-out night (Stay tuned on how I manage through that one.)

In fact, when I think of it, of the other at-home cocktail parties to which I have been invited this past year, one fell on the day we returned from the cruise, while the other coincided with Jerry's surprise birthday party. It's not that my dance card is usually full — the next calendar item I have on a Friday night after working hours is in May, when I'm in Seattle! — it's just that somehow, certain nights seem karmically destined to be overloaded with options, while others are completely devoid of activity or interest.

Is that just me, or do you feel the same? Comment away!