writers love an open bar...

on thursday night the ottawa citizen held a wine and cheese soiree exclusively for carleton j-school students... the rumour was that we would be granted one drink and some nibbles... however, once we got there we quickly realized that this was in fact an open bar event with a line up of hot hors doeuvres... yikes...

the reason behind this shin-dig was that the ottawa citizen was announcing a new scholarship available to carleton j-school grads... something along the lines of decent money in your pocket and a year working at the paper... whatever... by the time the speeches were being made i was sucking down my second glass of red wine and eyeing the huge block of brie...

needless to say it didn't take long for many of my fellow j-schoolers to feel the effects of the alcoholic beverages... one former citizen reporter proceeded to hit on my friends jess and suzy and i... asking us where the after party was had us looking around the room, screaming "help!" in our minds... ewww...

then as we chatted it up with a features reporter from the paper, out of the corner of my eye i noticed a j-schooler bail as she was being escorted out of the room... oops... someone can't handle their wine... the reporter then glared at us as suzy leaned in to whisper to me that she thought one of our profs was attractive... "you girls are a bit bitchy, eh?" she said with a straight face... obviously she thought we were whispering about her, but regardless, that got embarassing quick...

as i approached my friend laura to check her status of intoxication, she promptly told me she needed a washroom STAT... well, we didn't quite make it, but the hallway soon became the home of her snacks and vino... the bartender saw the sight unfold... she was inevitably cut off for the evening...

it was hilarious to see what free drinks and schmoozing could do to a usually rigid bunch of overacheiving students... unlike my previous experiences at family weddings, i was able to keep myself in check... and though i was feeling the effects of my 5 or 6 glasses of red, i hid it well...

when i eventually stmubled down rideau st to catch a bus to my friend janice's place, i laughed to myself as i played the night back in my head... i don't think they'll be throwing one of those again, which truly is a shame...