After a memorable evening at a graduation ball with friends from college and dancing until late, I was on my way home with a couple of friends. We stopped at 'The Ivy' to see if we could dance some more. It happened to be the same night as the Aria awards and the after party was at the Ivy. Invites only. I struck up a conversation with a few people who had just walked out of the club and they offered us their passes. So, my friends and I walked through the red carpet (now quite deserted), into the club. It turned out that one of the passes was a VIP guest pass and gave us access to the penthouse. We just missed partying with Robbie Williams, Michael Buble and the boys from Empire of the Sun.
A beautiful young woman approached us and asked us for a lighter. She was surprised that we didn't smoke and decided to sit down and talk to us. Or, rather, she talked and we patiently listened. She seemed under the influence of something illegal. One of the things she said was that she wanted to be 'normal.' She seemed to think my friends and I were 'normal.' Because we didn't smoke. The irony of that comment, in a posh Sydney club, filled with smoke and the smell of alcohol, made me wonder if all these people actually wanted to be there. Was it just trendy to be in the vicinity of celebrities? Is it just trendy to be out dancing late under the influence of some unhealhty... umm... influencers?
Anyway, we didn't really care much for stars. We just wanted to dance, but they closed the club soon after we got there. So, we enjoyed the warm beauty of summer twilight in Sydney as we walked home.
On a side note, random things I've said in the recent past:
- Walking past a glass house in the Botanical Gardens - "Oh, look, a glasshouse made of glass."
- At a bookstore, "This is a good place to buy books." Then, realizing the obviousness of my comment, "I meant, this is a good place to buy kids books." We were sitting in the kids section.
- Admiring a painting at an Art museum, "This was painted by an artist."