DEJA VU, ALL OVER AGAIN

Somehow I ended up at the Fitzwillys Christmas party tonight for the fourth year running. I swore this year I wouldn't go, but once again the phone call came at the eleventh hour, someone needed a last minute date and I found myself at Harry's Bar attending the absolute last of the holiday festivities in town.

It was a nice party. They shut down the restaurant for this one day a year so all the staff can celebrate together and they don't cheap out. As always, the hearty buffet table was well loaded with substantial food to counter the effects of the open bar. The egg rolls, a new addition this year, were especially good.

I've never known the Fitzwillys crowd well. However, I was struck tonight by the fact that I barely knew a soul in the place outside of my 'date'. The other thing that struck me was how young this new crew looked and how contained they were. The first one of these parties I went to was totally raucous. They did a lot of shots and got silly. These kids tonight were quite staid in comparison. It made me wonder if young people were getting more responsible these days or merely more afraid to cut loose in front of their employers.

I left early but on my way out, I stopped to chat with Fitzwilly's owner Fred Gore and his partner Jai. I was glad to catch up as I hadn't seen them in some months and was happy to see Jai well on her way to recovery from a recent auto accident. I really hadn't wanted to go to this party but in the end, it was good to see old friends and have an expected night off from this drug war.