Last night I went to an event that could’ve been a real snoozer. It was held at the Jonathan Club in Santa Monica (fun place, beautiful beach) outside on the sand. Once again my sky high Christian Louboutin’s proved to be an issue, but let’s focus on what we’re here to talk about. Last night’s event was a networking gig for USC’s Marshall School of Business. Correct me if I’m wrong but could this sound worse? No Paris Hilton look-a-likes expected at this soiree, but that’s ok; I really do want to stay married so this situation was a must-attend. I made sure to soften the blow with a fabulous margarita on the rocks. The margi worked but so did something else – new BFF Chuck Gold. My God, the guy’s a keeper.
Any of you who know me understand that USC is a sore subject in our house. My husband is OBSESSED with these freakin’ Trojans – the football schedule, the cardinal and gold gig, the stupid doormat we have at the house that I can’t convince him is an atrocity. So you can imagine my delight when my little angel becomes head of marketing whatever for the alumni networking events. Translation: Better get the nanny on double time, the chief will now manage to never get home – he’s got a “legitimate” excuse to carouse and booze. So yesterday with nanny safely in place, we met up at the JC and signed in at this veritable feast of Trojan love. While securely affixing the “Hello, My Name Is” sticker, I catch something magical out of the corner of my eye. It’s that little flutter that must have touched every gold-miner’s heart, the flicker of promise ahead. My Lord I thought, it’s a bingo card. Bingo? Bingo is my all-time favorite game EVER. Nothing like a little friendly competition for what seems like an “easy” score.
Now that you’ve realized this is the longest blog ever, I’ll wrap it up. This little genuis Chuck put together a USC bingo card – what are the odds???? Basically the point was to network your way around the event and write in the names of every person at the event that fit each square. You had to fill the entire card (a bone of contention for me because I thought I had won prematurely) with names of event attendees. You had to find people at the event who were “born after 1982” or “born before 1962”. This part alone was great because you just looked for someone really young or someone you wanted to compliment and marched your sweet self right up to them to inquire about their birthdate. Another square had you match up someone whose birthday was in the same month as yours. Turns out Chucky-Poo and I are both December; I knew he was a keeper.
The bottom line? This stupid bingo had me jumping around that party like a kangaroo on crack. I was going to win! Meet people! Network ’til the cows came home! Who cares, a prize awaited competitive little me. (No matter that I didn’t even know what the prize was or that Chuck was too busy “scoring two chicks” at the end to give me my well deserved trinket.) That’s ok, I’ll let Chuck buy me a beer the next time Traveler makes his circle around the Coliseum. So, looking for an icebreaker for your next event? Well if you don’t have Chuck’s home number (relax honey, I’m not going to give it out), just try the Chuck Gold School of Networking Bingo Trick and I GUARANTEE you won’t have a lame event, no matter what it is. MS + CG = TPG Love. Enough of that, it’s not back to our regularly scheduled updates on Lindsay Lohan. See ya!
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