A celebration of birth, of Charlies Birth. More important was than the cause was the cause to drink. Today, we drank in the park. It takes an hour for the collective to peel the thick plastic that preserves true openness. Voices grow louder, stories become lewder. A girl brings her two dogs and the animals spend the party looking up at their owner in confusion. I suspect that when the girl takes her dogs out, it’s for a run, a quick walk, or a quick shit. The dogs were silent and awkward, constantly observing but never holding a gaze. This was defiantly their first party. Conversations grow deeper and dig into the true selves of the guests. We are in the park and not in a bar. No roof. We occupy a picnic bench but it is no picnic, it is a party. People come heavy and leave light. Trash and empties pile and for hours no one seems to care of what will come, the only concern is the content within. It was not always this way.
When I arrived it was raining lightly. When I left it was raining lightly. Peter gave the name of the park but not the exact picnic table within the park, Da’an Park. It was first sold to me as the Central Park of Taipei. Children run on webs of walkways, they hide in little coves of bamboo, birds perch on trees with trunks like strands of muscle fiber. Adults bring tents and find a spot of grass and pitch up for the day. Balls are thrown and caught, games are invented and forgotten, scrapes are made and stay for days afterward. I witness five year old Robocop roller skate by me, this child covered in hard plastic, his head in motorcycle helmet. The father trailing behind withing an arms reach of his son. The Taiwanese are notoriously cautious of things they should not be cautious about and mindlessly reckless with what should be pursued with caution. I did not know were the party was and I did not care. I was content with wandering around the park until I found a group of drunk white faces. Walking north I spotted a large group. The faces were not white but it was large enough to generate interest. As I cut through the group I cursed myself for not bringing my camera. It was a DIY lizard cosplay convention. Owners had made convincing dragon wings and other such appendages on large iguanas of every color and size and were walking them through the park like thoroughbreds at the Westminster.
I soon found the picnic table of drunk white faces and sat down. The plastic had yet to be peeled. A science fair had just ended next to the birthday picnic bench and fifty red and white tents stood empty waiting to hold back the trickle of rain for that special someone or someones. At the time we take no notice of this. Conversation after conversation, some deep and some directionless but all of good spirit and good humor. Interests become mutual and the dirt becomes mud. It was beautiful not to care about what dwells so heavy on the mind during the day and it was invigorating to care about everything else. Shortly after the buildings pulled back the sun a man I did not know, he was short and unmemorable, made an announcement. It was one of these: “Can I have your attention everyone?!” It was Charlies birthday, we were expecting a toast, why else would you interrupt everyone’s conversation at a party? Heads turned to this small man and he spoke to us like we were children. “It’s raining and there are empty tents right there. Everybody move to the tents!”
We ignored this man. He did it the wrong way. You can not make such a declaration upon a party if you want to succeed. You have to tack. A direct line, a strait command will not work with a group. You have to approach it from an angle. The group, especially a drunk group, runs on emotion or necessity. Unless you are a Caesar a command will just piss people off. The man should have yelled, “I found some goddamn fucking tents!”, then run off. It would have defiantly would have worked if he had done this naked. Shortly after the man who yelled left the party. It was a lost cause anyway. Da’an park is not the central park of Taipei, Taiwan. Da’an Park is the park where you don’t mind drinking in the rain.