A Get Together...with a twist!

You know, you usually have a get together to relax, enjoy time with friends and associates, eat, drink and be merry.

There is nothing in the GTR (Get Together Rules) that stipulate having a test, but that is what happened at a casual get together we had with some of my art students a few days ago. Oh, ok, sure - to be fair there are games and activities - like Pictionary, stupid drinking games, card tricks, etc....but not #2 pencil fill-in-the-dot type of thing....

Ok, ok....I am kidding...

I get a call from Blanca one day (one of my favorite students - who is now a good friend) saying that she wanted to have a party for Jo and I. I say sure! (as I usually do), and we agreed to set up a time. Basically, a group of students/friends would come over my house, bring pot luck and drinks. However, while talking, Blanca lowered her voice and asked "You still have paper and crayons, right?" Of course I do, I say - I am still doing a bit of teaching. "Ok, good. I want to do something." I am curious and say, ok, how much do you need? She does not answer too quickly and is not sure what to say (oh, when speaking with me, she tries very hard to use English, and sometimes it is a bit interesting what comes out).

But I assure her that no matter - I will have enough, even if I had to give an impromtu art lesson or something.

I realized a bit too late what the paper was for...

But, let's first take a look at some pics!

Here is the instigator herself! Blanca
Do not let her size fool you! Her personality is in direct inverse proportion to her mass.
In fact, Jo and I have asked her to be the host at our Taiwanese reception party.
When you meet her (if you have not already), you will see why....

Here is Venus and Rita, two more students in both my Art and Cash Flow seminars.
I am proud to admit that their art skills improved so much during the classes!
They did (and I hope are STILL doing) good artwork!

Here are some other students/friends. From left to right:
TheGame, Kevin, Venus, Myra, Joanna, and Louise.
Keep Drawing!

One of Jo's friends also came and added to the fray; Jia Yi.

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Then, Blanca started gathering everyone's attention (which - for her - is very easy), and told everyone why they were all here and what was going to happen now. Basically, it was to celebrate our wedding and that we would soon have a Love Test.

Wha?

I am a good sport and fairly confident in my skills so I was not anxious, but I was wondering just what was going through Blanca's head - since my thoughts and her thoughts could be very different. Thankfully they were (I guess I have watched too many Survivor epidsodes or something...).

Anyway, the first test was a simple "Lift Test" to prove my strength of will.

Needless to say, I passed easily - even though I was much more curious as to why
my lovely wife did not have to pass a Lift Test....hmmmm, not fair, I say!

Next was the "Mental Match Test", which as it turned out, is basically like the show on tv many years ago that had married couples answer questions posed by the moderator and if they both had the same answer (they could not hear or see what their spoouses were writing or saying), they would get points. I was already thinking about what questions they would ask, so I at least was ready.

We we set up like a King and Queen (or was it criminals in front of judges)
and were prepared to handle anything they dished out.
Well, looking at Jo's expression...maybe not...since she knows her memory is worse than mine!

Here is Blanca explaining the rules....

...where basically we had to write on the paper seperately within a time.

Ok, we were set.....

....and the First Question: Where did we first kiss?

As we set to write, the judges seem to be arguing about something...basically,
how risque can they go? I am fine for any question, but there was some hesitation
from some of the interrogation squad....
After all, many Taiwanese are very conservative and asking about first kisses is
a bit too personal for some....

So when I mentioned if they wanted to more specific details, another
ruckus was about and my offer was refused....

So we answered the easy and tame question and what Jo and I wrote were almost identical,
which is amazing since we both have terrible memories
(Jo's is worse than mine - amazing, but true!)

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So it went on like this for awhile and there were about 8 questions in all. Some were easy and some had to be translated back and forth for a few minutes for Jo and me....but overall, we passed. Once of the questions: "What is the other's favorite movie?" came up right for me (Jo loves A Beautiful Mind), but Jo guessed Pollack - which is damn close, but I wil revert back to my manliness and choose The 13th Warrior.

Thank god we passed...I would hate to know that we failed even at our own party!

Jeff & Jo!