All I can say is, I’ve been to many, many charity events with le tout Fort Wayne over the years, and it’s mostly the same thing — cocktails, dinner, silent auction. Above, a selection from the Gay/Lesbian Dinner Dance silent auction.

It wasn’t a basketball signed by Gene Keady, that’s for sure.

Which was fine — there are enough signed basketballs in the world. Although I was wondering who bought this item; I’d like to know how a person stifles the laughter when one’s partner emerges from the bathroom in this getup.

Oh, it was a fun Saturday night — a huge expo room at the Coliseum packed with every differently oriented person in town with $30 to spend and a hankering to get down with a lot of other differently oriented people:

“Which entrance do we use?” Alex wondered as we pulled into the vast parking lot.

“Follow the well-dressed men,” I suggested.

The party itself was fun, but the after-party was more so. I recall a conversation with a gourmet cook, who every year donates dinner for 8, prepared in your own home, to the silent auction. I bid on it two years ago, setting $400 as my absolute upper limit — it went for $1,100. This year it got to $900. He told me about his specialties (southwestern) and his presentations (something about a salad that resembled Rubik’s cube) and at one point I looked up at the stars — this was on the patio — and thought, I’ve had worse evenings.

And I have.

More tomorrow, with the weekend’s linkage. I’m beat now.