...Is this Oklahoma? I remember this place. Trade one town for another.

I mentioned that Friday night library_lynn went to a bon voyage party. There was another one on Saturday for just the department -- but I was already committed to the "SoCal Spring Cosplay Gathering" picnic in Irvine, followed by tenkuudragon and yana_neko's birthday party. ( I put together a cooler full of soft drinks for her to take to that party, and continued with my own plans for Saturday. )

Last March (2007), when I went to the Spring Gathering picnic, I brought my large cooler. The hundred-plus cans of sodas and waters were all consumed. It's rare for me to bring home an empty cooler! After that, I realized that the ice chest of sodas wouldn't do for the next one.

I knew the Summer Gathering picnic (August 2007) would be big. "Miss Tea" (the main organizer) assured me that they had a handle on buying enough food and water for everyone. I decided I'd buy a 10-gallon barrel cooler and bring lemonade (right). By the end of the day, I'd given away about 15 gallons of lemonade. There were 207 attendees.

( This seemed like a good idea to repeat, so at the Spring gathering picnic this past Saturday I thought I'd do the same thing. )

The estimated attendance for the day was 320, so I bought enough lemonade concentrate and jugs of water to make 30 gallons of lemonade. Then the weather people forecast a high of 90 degrees for the day, so I bought another 10 gallons.

( Amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics. )

By the end of the day, I estimate I gave away 35 gallons of lemonade. The official headcount for the day was 403 attendees. I'd used 44 lbs. of ice. (Ms. Naru found me a 20-lb. bag in the early afternoon.) I didn't have enough ice, so by the end of the day the lemonade wasn't cold anymore, but it was all there was -- the picnic's water supply had run out. I had an extra jug of water I didn't need, so I opened it up and set it out on top of the barrel cooler (left). This meant that people still at the picnic had a choice of water or lemonade (neither of them chilled).

Things I want to remember for next time: Every gallon of lemonade should contain 2 lbs. of ice. When I run out of the 7 oz. cups I want to go back to the 10 oz. size. Using a box for the cups worked fine, I don't need the mount-on-the-side cup dispenser. I need to find a 2-gallon or 4-gallon measure because the gallon bottles of concentrate take 4 gallons of water to mix up. I can get ice delivered to the park for about $35 for 100 lbs. or $120 for 500 lbs., plus the parking fee if we don't meet the truck at the front.

After-picnic reports on cosplay.com start here. There are a lot of messages along the lines of: "I really don't care if I lost some brain cells getting fried by the sun, that was [a] super-special-awesome-fantastic-asskickin-gathering" [daoutlaw] but not a lot of comments about what they could have done better. ( I'll go out on a limb and ask: where is the money going? )

I'll give them one more try, assuming their summer date doesn't conflict. On 2008-06-22 I'm in charge of the animelosangeles recruiting picnic, and I'm booked the first, third, and fifth weekends of August. So depending on which weekend they pick, even if it's not opposite a convention I can't guarantee that I'll come. But I'd like to try one more time. I believe in supporting self-organizing structures and events like picnics and conventions, because they're usually a lot of fun.

I do have to admit, comments like this: "I had a great time! ^-^ The lemonade was perfect, IMO, it's one of the things I most enjoy at the gathering. XDD;" [khtosanimelover] are part of why I like to help. It's nice to be thanked for the little things we do.

I have no idea who khtosanimelover is -- she appears to be local (Irvine), that's all I know. But getting together with friends, and making new friends, is what makes these picnics fun for me. Jerry Shaw and Mr. Postman were both there, snapping pictures. Jack Kim (left) helped Rostao with the food -- if Rostao's not present, we rely on Jack for the cooking, and they seem to work well together. Rostao and Carlo Ondoy are both professional chefs. Carlo got there late, so it was mostly the Rostao show with Jack as sous-chef.

( A whole bunch of people I know from Anime Los Angeles or other picnics were there. )

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After the picnic, I went to the birthday party at Chili's. It was a birthday party, but I had a bit of unfinished business because Yana and Anthony had married two years ago and they were still due a wedding present from us. We gave them a cooking wreath (left). It has chili peppers, marjoram, laurel (bay leaves), sage, and a bunch of other herbs, grown on a farm down in Julian. Anthony's the cook in the family so he'll probably use it up within a year or so.

( About twenty people were at the birthday party. )

And then it was finally time to go home (right). I got home about 12 hours after I'd originally left to pick up fans at the Fullerton Amtrak station.

I had about a gallon of warm pink lemonade still in the barrel cooler when I got home, so I put it in a pitcher in the fridge. It tastes a lot better cold! On the whole, a lovely day.