My economic stimulus idea

Last night I attended Hellenica's birthday party at her parents' San Francisco pied-a-terre. It was in a beautiful old building atop a hill with magnificent views of the Bay. And very thoughtfully, they hired a valet to park cars since parking can be a pain in that part of the city.

When the elevator opened directly into their unit, I was surprised to see a man wearing an oversized felt artist's hat. He apparently had been hired to draw caricatures of the guests as party favors.

And later, as I was in conversation with another party guest, a man walked up to us, rolled up his sleeves, and said, "Would you like to hear about my economic stimulus idea?"

Confused, we said that we would and he pulled out a wad of coupons. He babbled something about dropping coupons from the sky and inspiring Americans to support small businesses. And as he went through this idea, his coupons turned into cash, then back into coupons. My new friend was thoroughly confused, but I had been warned that there was a magician wandering the party, so I was better prepared.

Later, an a cappella singing group showed up to perform, which seemed nice, but again, a bit on the awkward side.

Clearly, this wasn't my typical party experience, but it was a nice gathering and since I was driving, I managed to not get too drunk or disorderly!