Best Oscar party
Last night, I had the opportunity to see the Oscars in style. One of my roomates (Jessica) has a friend who won 4 tickets from a radio station to a ritzy Oscar party in a ritzy hotel in San Jose. Jessica's friend asked if she wanted to go and bring a friend. Jessica knew how much I love the Oscars so she invited me!
Let me back up. I really do love the Oscars. I think they're fun. When I was in college down in L.A. my friends and I always wanted to dress up and pretend we were famous so we could walk the red carpet and catch a glimpse of the movie stars. One year we came really close...we were within 2 blocks of the red carpet and we could see the tall Oscar statues out front and all the cameras. But sadly, we got turned away.
So anyway, this was a FORMAL occasion so we got all dressed up, hair, make-up, the works. We meet up with Jessica's friend (Jenna) and her husband (Joe) and we all drive over together. The first thing we see are ladies in full-on formal gowns. Whoa, this thing really is fancy!
When we walk into the hotel, there is a red carpet! Woot! I was going to get a (fake) taste of what it would be like to walk a red carpet. I was totally in my element. They even had people with cameras taking pictures of us. A lady all dolled up comes up to our group and tells us we are going to be filmed for Comcast cable further down the carpet and we will be asked to quote a favorite movie line. If we do a good job and are selected, we will be shown in movie theaters before the movies start.
I start wracking my brain as we get closer and closer to the interviwer lady, trying to think of an amazing movie quote. Think, Sarah, think! There are a million good movies out there with a million good quotes! And all I could think of was Ace Ventura Pet Detective. WHAT!?!?! I don't even like that movie very much! I remember it coming out when I was a junior or senior in high school and I thought parts of it were funny, but mostly it was dumb. So why is it at the moment I need a good movie quote, that is the ONLY movie that was in my mind?!?
Before I realize it, we are at the video interviewer. She is super dressed up and totally has the "announcer-interviewer" type voice. I happened to be first, so she asked me to look at the camera and say my quote. So I get the biggest, dumbest grin on my face, open my mouth real wide and say, "ALLLLLLLLLLL RIGHTY-THEN!!!!!!"
Do you ever have that feeling where you wish you could turn back time? At that moment, I wish I could have. There was this silence and the lady just looked at me. I am sure she had heard all sorts of good ones like "Life is like a box of chocolates" or "But they will never take OUR FREEDOM!!" and then some chick comes and quotes Ace Ventura. (* crickets*) I was pretty much mortified.
So then it gets BETTER. The lady wants to make it seem more like the Oscars so she asks us where we got our dresses. If you watch the Oscars, this is where the actresses get to share their designers like Versace, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. So since I happened to be first, she turned to me. So...where did you get your dress?" And without thinking, I said, "Ross."
ROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am surrounded by women in gowns and men in tuxes and I just said I got my dress at Ross. Wow. I can't believe I just said that. It was true, but I should have made up a fib, like Macy's or some nice outlet in San Francisco or something. But no, I had to say I got my dress at ROSS. I felt like I was headlining the "white trash" version of the Oscars. First Ace Ventura Pet Detective, then this.
So after that debacle, I was like, "Get me out of the spotlight!" and I made a beeline for the ballroom door. We went inside and it was SO NICE. Tables everywhere, candles, a buffet table, two bars, and a popcorn machine. Ooooh, popcorn! Jessica and I drop our stuff off at a table and make our way to the popcorn machine. The guy serving us is super nice and tells us he works at the radio station. I make the mistake of asking him if he is an intern (he looked kind of young) and he gets totally offended and says no he is NOT an intern. He is a program manager thank you very much and the only reason he is stuck slinging popcorn all night is he wore a suit instead of a tux. We could tell he was pretty bitter.
So he hands me my popcorn and our hands miss each other and the bag of popcorn falls all over the floor. "White Trash Sarah" strikes again! I started laughing nervously and apologizing profusely while Mr. I-Am-Not-An-Intern just starts moving the popcorn under the popcorn maker with his shoes. He's just sweeping the popcorn with his feet under the machine! It was something I would have done. Suddenly, in my eyes, we were kindred spirits. Probably not in his eyes though. Jessica and I hastily left the area and returned to our seats.
Nothing really eventful happened after those first exciting ten minutes. When we got closer to our table, we saw some men sitting there who Jessica described as "the Italian mafia". Tan, suits, pinky rings, you name it. I am half Italian on my dad's side so I confidently tell her that these are "my people" and I comfortable being the one to sit next to them. So we sit down and introduce ourselves. It turns out we are at the "Sponsers" table. We were sitting with VIP guests, who are the CEO and Vice President of a carpet company and they advertise on the radio station hosting the gala.
Because of them, we got primo service, lots of visits from the radio station president, and we got to go first in the buffet line. Thanks guys! The food was delicious! The plates were super small though. I am sure everyone felt like a pig because you seriously needed three little plates to hold an average amount of food. It was fun being in line and seeing people struggling and juggling their plates around.
The Oscars were so fun! At commercials, the morning DJ's would go up and give out raffle prizes and talk up the crowd. I am glad Helen Mirren won for Best Actress, because I made a bet with a guy at work. I am now ten bucks richer. Sweet. The Departed won for Best Picture, which I haven't seen but I heard it was pretty violent so I'm not sure if I want to see it.
Anyway, we were at the party from 5-9:30 and we were super tired by the end. I have never been to a formal Oscar party so it was a fun experience. I sure left my mark. I can't wait to see if I've been chosen to be shown in movie theaters. I highly doubt it.
