Birthday Weekend Wrap-up - A Reflection on Age

So, my birthday, for once, fell on the weekend before Thanksgiving, instead of it's usual during Thanksgiving weekend, so I thought I would have a party. I go to school with a fair number of people, so I thought it would be fun to invite some friends and hang out. I spent a fair amount of Friday night as well as all day Saturday making food, baking a cake, cleaning house, etc. By the time it was party time, I was pretty pooped. I always make too much food, even though I am not from the Midwest. I feel it's important to have snacks on hand while drinking. The party was fun, although the air was FRIGID. Man, was it cold! The cool thing about that, tho, was that the backyard turned into our fridge. All the beer and white wine was stored outside - something we've never been able to do in CA. I guess there are some good things about living east. Anyways, people didn't start showing up until 10ish, and the party got underway. There was not a really ridiculous crowd, just small groups of people hanging out. A couple friends brought friends, which was cool. I had a nice time chatting with people and all that jazz. At some point in the night, somebody threw up in the bathroom sink (which is, like, 2 feet away from the toilet - how hard was it to make it to the toilet?) and someone ripped the cover off a magazine I had in the bathroom. The next day, we noticed that the wall leading up the stairs had a big smudge on it, and the kitchen floor was a sticky mess that attracted a large horde of ants. While all of these things are minor, and the party was a nice time, it kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong, I had a lovely birthday, I just think next year I might do something different. For one, I didn't get to talk to everyone I wanted to talk to. I didn't really get to hang with the folks I wanted to hang with, and I found myself still up and chatting to people who came to my house basically for the free booze at 2:30am. We had some randoms and we had some stragglers, and we even had some people there who I did not want there at all. It's funny because when I was in college, we used to have huge parties with kegs and tons of people. We rarely had any problems, and we always had a blast, with the stereo blasting, dancing in the living room, and the keg and bar out back. We'd have randoms and stragglers, but usually it was a so fun and I loved it. Now, at the age of 31, I've begun to realize that what I really want in my busy, hectic life, is a chance to sit and chat with my friends, who I don't often get to catch up with. I've got a lot of acquaintances, and a fair number of people I'd call friends, and most of us are not really into the "party" scene anymore. I'll have a few drinks over the course of the night, but I gotta tell you, that hangover the next day is just not worth it for me. So, what happened at my party was that most of the people who I wanted to show up did not, and most of the people who I did not want to show up, did. So, it's made me learn a lesson on the first day of my 31st year. My next party will be a dinner party, where we can sit around and tell funny stories and get to know one another. I'll have a couple bottles of wine and a birthday cake and I will have a great time. I think I might be done throwing the random "Come One, Come All" party. I am certainly somewhat done attending them. And I can say I've learned a valuable lesson. At my age, it's not important to make more and more friends. It's important to keep the ones you have. I hope it's the beginning of a beautiful year :) Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I wish we all lived closer to celebrate together :)