New Year's Eve 2005

Well it was a fascinating night last night; whatever had been ailing me for the last day or so seemed to have passed and I was able to enjoy the parties with a clear head.

The first party was a fundraiser for a group called Equality Texas and was held in the house of some friends on the other side of town (a less than twenty-minute drive here in Austin!)

When we got there it felt a bit like a scene from The OC, the path up to the house was lined with little oil-lamps, as was the pool. There were staff (actually I think they were Equality Texas volunteers) manning two bars and serving food. I particularly liked the first-floor deck with the open fire and great views back towards the city centre. We were relatively high and the wind cooled you fairly rapidly so, even in my kilt, the fire was a lovely touch – and I love the smell of wood-smoke when I’m feeling cosy.

It turned out that Brett knew several of the other guests from his days as a local, so he was happily chatting away. My outfit was just as much a hit as expected and as well as several verbal enquiries, I also got groped several times by people trying to discover if I was wearing underwear or not, but nothing objectionable.

As midnight approached we got a brief thank-you from the Chief Exec of the host group and then the champagne was poured and we counted down into 2006. Much toasting and kissing followed…

People started to drift off after that and in due course Rich came by to propose we went on to another house-party with some of the other guests he knew. We duly headed onto the house of a retired Hollywood producer called Jack. It turns out he hadn’t really organised a party as such but instead had some snacks laid on and people just came back after he’d got back from dinner earlier in the evening.

It was a very different crowd. They were mostly younger (Rich observed that having to pay to get into the previous party put off the younger generation) and more outrageous. I fear I upset the drag queen (blonde and 6’4”) by turning up in the kilt and diverting her spotlight but we behaved amicably and she shortly headed off to a club to do some dancing anyway…

As I said, it wasn’t really a party; while we were there several groups of people arrived, did the rounds and moved on again. I was quite taken with the house; even larger than the previous one it definitely had a Hollywood feel to it, although because there was no real party, I couldn’t get to explore it much beyond the main ground-floor rooms. There was one wall absolutely full of pictures of our host with various celebrities over the years.

Around 2am though we, in our turn, made our excuses and headed home.

It was quite a night; I felt a little like Cinderella, the lowly IT-scullion, invited to the Austin ‘Gay A-List’ Ball. Fortunately though, I already had my handsome prince and so could enjoy the parties without having to scarper at midnight. It’s certainly a very enjoyable-looking lifestyle if you have the money to support it. Maybe one day… if we keep to our New Year’s Resolutions…