Indian Charity Dinner

The ballroom for the charity dinner

I had far too many things going on today, and on top of it all, Oxford Boy (remember him?) asked me if I could come into the office and meet him for lunch today.  A lot to pack into the schedule, but I managed to make it into the office, find a desk (a pretty mean trick on a Wednesday!), and met him at our usual place just after noon.  

He had with him an American intern who was over visiting, and I vaguely remembered him saying that he wanted to introduce me to her.  She was nice, if overly-bubbly (there is something about the speech patterns of girls who use the word "like" in their conversation too frequently that makes you think someone needs to take them in hand if they are ever to be taken seriously), and I did what I always do, charming the crowds and making everyone adore me.

Our table at the dinner

It was kind of a pity, as I didn't get as much of a chance to catch up with Oxford Boy as I would like, although I managed to gather that his relationship continued on, although his girlfriend was a bit insecure.  As he felt she wouldn't be comfortable with him attending Caroline's birthday party at the weekend, given that he'd gone on a few inconsequential dates with her in the past.  Which made me wonder:  1)  Why on earth had he told her?  I'm all for honesty in relationships, but there seemed to be absolutely no point to that other than to make her feel insecure.  And 2) How much was he still hung up on Caroline, who is stunning and vivacious and the girl every boy desires?  He made some throwaway comment about how he'd never quite gotten over her, which he said ostensibly in jest, but there seemed to be a grain of truth behind it...

At the end of the day, just as I was about reaching the point where I needed to leave the office to go to a charity dinner a friend of mine had invited me to, I was quite surprised when Qatari Boy popped up online, asking if I was up for going for a drink with him.  Apparently he'd had a rough day, and thought that some time with me might be just the thing to perk him up.  NOW he asks?

I will admit, the venue was lovely, I could imagine it being a great ballroom

Of course, I had to refuse him, as I was due at this dinner very shortly, and I had to leave.  But I engaged him in conversation for a little bit, as it was nice to hear from him (particularly in a mood to see me), even as I was frustrated by his inability to make plans further in advance.  Finally I was out of time and really had to leave, so I bid him goodnight and headed out to this charity event.  

I had been joking with Qatari Boy that he need not worry about any other men competing for my attention, as I was quite sure that knowing the friend who had invited me, the table would be mostly girls.  I was right, as the only guy in the crowd was the husband of one of the girls.  Now how did I know that?

Everyone paying a ton of attention at dinner

When I arrived, there was a champagne reception, although trying to be good for my personal trainer, I had only one glass of champagne.  There was a woman doing henna hand painting, which a few of the girls had done, but since I didn't have any cash on me for the suggested donation, I didn't bother.

There was wine with dinner, which was a surprise, although I had only one glass of that as well.  The dinner itself was a curry buffet, and then we were dragged into a bunch of boring charity activities, like playing "heads or tails" and being called on to just make random donations.  All of a sudden, I remembered why I don't like charity balls, as it's bad enough that you overpay for your ticket in the first place (which you always chalk up to the fact that it's an event for charity), but then that the shake-down continues throughout dinner.

The guy at our table totally into the Bollywood dance routine

There was a cool dancing demonstration by some Bollywood dancers which was kind of cool, and made me think that learning to do that kind of hip-shaking dancing must be a great ab workout.

The Bollywood dancers doing their routine

Finally, when it reached 10 PM, I was much too sober, I was stressing about some work I had to do, I had been secretly texting Qatari Boy the entire time I was so bored, and the charity auction had yet to even begin.  So I made my apologies to the hostess, and dashed out of there to go home.  Kind of a waste of an evening, but that's a lesson learned:  Enough with the charity events, all dinners in the future shall just be for their own sake!