What Are Friends For – #1LinerWeds

I’m still winding my way through the pictures I took in San Antonio. This might be the last week (yes, there’s a hint in that statement) for dedicated San Antonio posts, but you never can tell. Anyway, one of the fun things at the AIIM Conference is one evening when we all get together and eat, drink and socialize. It’s a time for a big bunch of geeks to let their hair down, as it were.

Our party was at A Night in Old San Antonio (NIOSA) a short walk from our hotel. Several of us walked over together, and the partying started as soon as we arrived (thanks to a nearby Margarita booth).

As we were walking in, a young woman came up and smacked us all with something that left us covered in large pieces of glitter. It was fun, but one guy in our group, we’ll call him Bob, got smacked twice. Then, about ten steps later, Bob got smacked again. We didn’t even see the person who did it, but Bob was beginning to look like a human party favor. A few steps later, the glitter-pixi came up, smacked us all with glitter from behind and draped a Mexican looking blanket over Bob. It looked good on him. We all laughed and headed for the next Margarita booth.

As we moved through the venue, we stopped for Fajitas and Margaritas at every booth offering them. There were lines, but there was conversation and stories being told, and we were all having a wonderful time.

Eventually, we moved inside a large building, where a band was playing. There was a booth where you could have silly pictures taken, more food and the tables where we could help assemble the bags for the Conference charity – Girls Inc. I mentioned that in a WATW post.

Well into the evening, at least an hour and a half after we arrived, a policeman came up to Bob and asked him about the blanket hanging over his shoulder. We hadn’t noticed, but it was actually one of the table cloths. Bob explained how he came to be wearing the tablecloth, but the officer didn’t seem to be impressed. Bob offered to put it on one of the tables, but the officer suggested that he would take it. He lifted the tablecloth off Bob’s shoulder and started to step away. That’s when an idea struck several of us at the same time:

“Officer! Could you put it back on his shoulder, so we can get a picture of you taking it off?”

None of our first photo attempts worked out well (bad lighting and margaritas) so we asked him if he could try one more time. The officer didn’t appear happy, but indulged us one more photo-op.

From that minute forward, it was my intention to share the photo along with this story. But, since our friend is a young man, and since photos on the Internet take on a life of their own, and can be easily taken out of context for less than humorous reasons, I decided to crop my friend out of the image. If he wants to share it, he can – his wife asked for a copy.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

The gallery is pictures I took on the way to and during the party. On the way home, I was encouraged to take some door photos. You might see those tomorrow. You can click on any photo to start a slide show. The last five images show what happens when people who may have been drinking, discover that their picture is being taken.

Given food and drink, our group would have been happy to have the celebration here.

Of course, I couldn’t pass by without a picture.

Heading over to the venue, we crossed the River Walk.

It was all down hill from here.

This must be the place.

A great night for a celebration.

I thought I had a video of these women.

This organization has been making these things for decades.

The band is setting up.

Seriously good – I have no idea what they are – I had several.

Girls Inc – Bill of Rights

I forget what these bad boys are called, but oh are they good. There’s fruit inside.

That is not our friend, and the officer did not remove his tablecloth. I suspect the two officers at the gate did when he tried to leave.

There aren’t many dancers in this group.

“C’mon officer, make it look good for the camera.”

“I know these people…”

“Wait, are you taking our picture?”

“Oh no, Get that camera away from me.”

“Come on, we have to make it look good.”

“BooYah!”