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Some reasons

Mick Wenlock

Admin Emeritus (retired)
In different forums (fora? forae?) the occasional question comes up "why did you stay in the Sea Org" - and yes I have to agree that there were sufficient and good reasons to have gotten the hell out there but there were also some lesser reasons that did give hope and reasons to stay.

There were some very funny moments in the SO.

Christmas 1978 - FOLO EU. At that time FOLO EU the org and the berthing were in a building in Saxogade - just off Istedgade in Copenhagen and not far from the red light district. The FOLO had a good November and December GI wise and Guillaume and the Ad Council had decided we were going to have one hell of a Christmas. And we did. My wife was AG FOLO at the time (we had just gotten married in November) and she was in charge of ordering the food. Guillaume made the strategically faulty decision to put me in charge of the drinks.

The Italians (predictably) wanted everything done their way - but eventually they settled for making home made lasagna for the first course and getting a shipment of Panettone's in. They were led by - Gloria Idda (and Gavino hr husband) along with Clara Colu and a bunch of others. The lasagna was superb BTW - Gloria knows how to make a great lasagna..

Anyhoo, I was tasked with getting the booze. I had never done anything like this before so I made a quick calculation, it went something like this:

How much beer would I like to drink for that evening? A six pack of Carlsberg was my answer (and I was cutting back..)

How much wine with the meal? A bottle of red. How much white? Half a bottle because I really didn't like it that as much.

For toasting? A half bottle of champagne.

For the coffee at the end? A third of a bottle of cognac.

Now I thought I was being a tad on the conservative side. I multiplied that list by 80 - the number of people expected and - voila! 10 cases of wine, 20 cases of beer, 40 bottles of champagne and 25 bottles of cognac.

It never (I swear, your honor) occurred to me that there were people who a) did not drink at all or b) could not drink very much without getting plastered.

The evening was a roaring success. Vanella (Guillaume's wife) was so drunk she fell off her dining chair before we even got to the main course. We had a lot of singing and by 2 in the morning the "disco" was being loud. Then the police arrived - two of them - to ask us to dial it back a notch. Guillaume rolled up to the front door where I was talking to them and handed them each a bottle of beer and we toasted Christmas. (I should note that the AG FOLO had long before abandoned her post and gone to sleep...). By four in the morning there was me, Guillaume and and Icelander called Thorstein were the only people still standing.

Next up:

Mick and Bertie at the German bar in Clearwater - New Year's Eve 1984.
 

Alanzo

Bardo Tulpa
In different forums (fora? forae?) the occasional question comes up "why did you stay in the Sea Org" - and yes I have to agree that there were sufficient and good reasons to have gotten the hell out there but there were also some lesser reasons that did give hope and reasons to stay.

There were some very funny moments in the SO.

Christmas 1978 - FOLO EU. At that time FOLO EU the org and the berthing were in a building in Saxogade - just off Istedgade in Copenhagen and not far from the red light district. The FOLO had a good November and December GI wise and Guillaume and the Ad Council had decided we were going to have one hell of a Christmas. And we did. My wife was AG FOLO at the time (we had just gotten married in November) and she was in charge of ordering the food. Guillaume made the strategically faulty decision to put me in charge of the drinks.

The Italians (predictably) wanted everything done their way - but eventually they settled for making home made lasagna for the first course and getting a shipment of Panettone's in. They were led by - Gloria Idda (and Gavino hr husband) along with Clara Colu and a bunch of others. The lasagna was superb BTW - Gloria knows how to make a great lasagna..

Anyhoo, I was tasked with getting the booze. I had never done anything like this before so I made a quick calculation, it went something like this:

How much beer would I like to drink for that evening? A six pack of Carlsberg was my answer (and I was cutting back..)

How much wine with the meal? A bottle of red. How much white? Half a bottle because I really didn't like it that as much.

For toasting? A half bottle of champagne.

For the coffee at the end? A third of a bottle of cognac.

Now I thought I was being a tad on the conservative side. I multiplied that list by 80 - the number of people expected and - voila! 10 cases of wine, 20 cases of beer, 40 bottles of champagne and 25 bottles of cognac.

It never (I swear, your honor) occurred to me that there were people who a) did not drink at all or b) could not drink very much without getting plastered.

The evening was a roaring success. Vanella (Guillaume's wife) was so drunk she fell off her dining chair before we even got to the main course. We had a lot of singing and by 2 in the morning the "disco" was being loud. Then the police arrived - two of them - to ask us to dial it back a notch. Guillaume rolled up to the front door where I was talking to them and handed them each a bottle of beer and we toasted Christmas. (I should note that the AG FOLO had long before abandoned her post and gone to sleep...). By four in the morning there was me, Guillaume and and Icelander called Thorstein were the only people still standing.

Next up:

Mick and Bertie at the German bar in Clearwater - New Year's Eve 1984.

Excellent view of Guillaume, Mick.

There is good in all of us.
 

Div6

Crusader
<snip>
It never (I swear, your honor) occurred to me that there were people who a) did not drink at all or b) could not drink very much without getting plastered.

<snip>

.

:D
Of course it never occurred to you. You were Biker Boy. The rite of initiation to that cult was massive drinking and hedonism....
"Some is good, more is better, too much is just enough..."


That is funny...
 

RamsBlue

Patron
Some of the parties we had in the SO were truly epic. The old adage of "play hard party hard" was certainly true, at least back in my time.

Bosuns day and SO day where the most outrageous, and boy did I look forward to those!

From what I understand, they've really toned back SO day and it's barely celebrated. Is that true?
 

Zinjifar

Silver Meritorious Sponsor
Some of the parties we had in the SO were truly epic. The old adage of "play hard party hard" was certainly true, at least back in my time.

Bosuns day and SO day where the most outrageous, and boy did I look forward to those!

From what I understand, they've really toned back SO day and it's barely celebrated. Is that true?

What's left to celebrate?

Zinj
 
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