Abstract:
I’m throwing a huge birthday party on the weekend of April 9th 2010, and i don’t care how well you know me or if you know me at all; everyone is invited.
Mentality:
There are three main motivations behind throwing this birthday bash:
1. A change in mentality about keeping my birthday a secret.
2. New Orleans is a fantastic city that i strongly feel that everyone should visit at least once.
3. I have many friends and acquaintances scattered across the country, and because of the sheer amount of people who have gotten back in contact with me from various points in my history (particularly because of facebook), I want to see what happens when they all come together into one area.
i don’t want the birthday to be about me; i just want to use myself as a conduit to bring people together and visit new orleans. as such, i don’t even really care if you love me or like me or even hate me. All i want is for people to come and have a good time.
The concept for the weekend is to do your own thing with whomever you want. If you want to hang out with me at all, you’re free to do so but are by no means obligated to do so. On Saturday night, i want to rent out a space for people to hang out and hire an open bar package and/or caterer. You’re welcome to come to that or do your own thing.
Details: (updated Jan 2010)
First and foremost, no one is allowed to get me any gifts. Money on a plane ticket and hotel is good enough. If you really want to give me something, give me a cash donation to help cover the cost of the Saturday event.
Secondly, at this stage i need to get as accurate of a headcount as possible so i can figure out the scope of what i’m going to do for the party (as in i can possibly afford catering/open bar/venue for 100-150 people, but not for 200-250 people). I’m going to be making my final plans based on the numbers i get by February 17th.
For those that are involved with WGI, this falls on the same weekend as WGI Color Guard Finals and one week before WGI Percussion Finals. I’m sorry it works out that way, but unfortunately this is the only weekend that makes sense for me to do this since the week of my birthday i’ll be likely be in Dayton and the week after is Jazzfest which will triple travel and hotel prices to New Orleans.
RSVP:
Please RSVP on the facebook event page. If you don’t have a facebook account and don’t intend on getting one, just drop me an email. Please let me know too if you’re going to bring a guest or guests that are not already confirmed on the facebook event page.
Other Logistics:
If you coming from out of town and have a need to make hotel arrangements, please fill out the Hotel Guest List Form ASAP by doing the following:
1. login to creator.zoho.com as user “n o l a b d a y” (no spaces) and password “T h e B i g 3 5 ” (no spaces, case sensitive).
2. Go to “shared apps” and click on the link for the birthday database.
3. Fill out the Hotel Guest Form.
If enough people have yet the need and have yet to make arrangements, i will work on trying to reserve a block of rooms at one of the hotels in downtown new orleans to get a group rate. If i need to make a down payment, i may ask you to mail me some deposit money.
The Hotel Guest Form is available for viewing by that account (but is not public to anyone on the internet) so that if you’re interested in rooming with someone you can contact them and request it. If you would prefer your specific information to not be viewable, email me.
Also, if you could fill out the Guest Schedule Form, i would appreciate it so that i have an idea of who is coming in when.
If you have any questions concerning logistics for travel, new orleans, &c, drop me an email or a message. you can email me with anything at darknote dot org.
If you want to hang out at any point before or after the weekend, my schedule is hindered only by what i have going on at work and what preparations i may have to do for people coming in. The Tulane University Marching Band is having their spring concert on Wednesday April 14th and a dress rehearsal the previous evening. As the following weekend is WGI finals, i have tentative plans to leave for Dayton either thursday or friday.
Hope to see you in April!