How I Spent my Summer Vacation (sort of)

There have been rumors to the effect that the Merovingian is a Unix based AI program that has run amok, delving into databases and making cognoscente connections among the bits and pieces thought buried safely away by those that would steal the very shirts from our backs. I wish to lay these rumors to rest.

I spent the evening where there were no agendas, no gavels, no lying, and maybe just a little cheating. Where I spent my time may be a bit of a shock to those who feel they have come to know me, however it was a story and I am glad that I was there to be able to tell it to you. I spent the evening at the Sixth Annual Stiletto’s Erotic Ball in McAllen.

The number of other people from Brownsville (who I will not name, as it is none of my business) surprised me at first, but as the evening progressed it felt just as natural as being at the Jazz Festival or Sombrerofest . It was so refreshing to be among people just being people. The unwritten agenda was to simply be, and that we did with wild abandon. The crowd was unusually smart. I do not mean to say that it was anything like a geek convention, oh so far from it. The creativity of the costuming said so much about the people enveloped in them. The many people that I engaged in conversation, or who sought to engage me were all well read and witty. In that brief time I learned so much about so many of them. It was not my usual quest for facts and figures. People were sharing who they were and what they were about. The only thing I can compare it to would be a family reunion, where you meet people you may not have even heard of, but share stories of people you have in common. The theme of the party was lewdness, but the people there simply saw that as an excuse to ditch the social walls and barriers that surround every one of us in our day to day lives and just be. The party was a good colonic for the soul and it was one of the most satisfying times I have had in recent memory. If I were limited to one word to describe the experience, that word would have to be “existential”.

As I drove home at two in the morning, I reflected on the evening remembering each and every one of the hundred or so people in attendance that I interacted with out of the vast number that were there. I want that feeling again.

The Merovingian