Let me jump ahead of myself for this article.  I have just attended two events, given by the Imperial Plaza Activities Staff, and had a great time.  I would like to attempt to tell you about them and the participation.  The staff of two is great and does a fine job that should be commended.  It takes a lot of hard work and time.

As I have mentioned before, there is one activity attended by men.  The activity is called “Romeo” which stand for Retired Old Men Eating Out.  Since it’s a men only function, Ron, the assistant activities man, the other being female and his boss, always go out with us men.  Last Thursday evening, Ron drove the little bus because the regular driver had driven all day and could not drive us, like he usually does, on our outing.

We went to P. F. Chang and there were only ten of us men.  Paying to go out was seven of us walking normally, two in wheelchairs and Ron.  This is a poor showing for a senior community the size of Imperial Plaza.  I have taken the once a month outing three times now and each time the turnout is very poor.  I have heard rumors about some of the other men saying they cannot afford it or there is another conflicting engagement.

The men that attend the outing is usually the same as always.  I have asked about this and was told that it’s normally ten to twelve men.  The other men also said they have tried to get other men to attend without any luck.  Ron told me the same thing.  I’ll drop it and not dig any further.

The other event was the Pre-New Year party that was a blast.  The band “Second Floor” provided the music, a mixture of Christmas, pop, rock and soul.  The party was to be from six thirty to eight with drink, food and dancing.  My wife and I did not leave until almost nine and some people were still there.   There was wine, champaign, a punch fountain, chocolate fountain, and finger food.  Those that were able to danced and everyone was singing to the music.

One of the residents got on stage sang and so did Ron.  My wife and I also had a new resident sit at the table with us and found out she had only been there a week.  Since she lived in our building and we were also new, we became immediate friends.  She walks with a walker and is from Southern California therefore we told her to contact us if she needed anything.

As my wife and I started to leave with another resident from our building, the band was still playing and most of the party participants had preceded us.  It was a lot of fun and my wife even had a picture taken of us and posted it on Facebook.  It was a good evening.