12/13/2103: Christmas Masquerade Ball - what a ball!

   Last night was Greg's Christmas Ball.  I had been looking forward to it since Bridgette first contacted me with the invitation.  After I finished my afternoon coaching session with Emmanuel, I quickly headed back to the hotel to get into my tux and grab my mask.  As the driver headed out of London towards Greg's house, he told me that traffic can be busy on a Friday evening and it may take a bit longer to get there.  I was fine with that as we were on schedule  However, we no sooner started out when  we started to run into some serious traffic.  The radio indicated a couple of bad accidents heading out of London and that it may add an hour or more to travel time.  My driver said he knew an alternate route, but we would still be a little late.  "It's always good to be fashionably late.. now worries", I told him.

     I took about an hour and a half to get to Greg's house.  We pulled into the driveway and right away I could tell the caliber of people I would be meeting just by the cars parked out front.  Well, first of all I saw Greg's brand new Lamborghini Matador, which was delivered that afternoon.  It was absolutely beautiful!  It was surrounded my Porsche s, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Land Rovers and other luxury cars.  I immediately got a little nervous.  I am not used to mixing socially with people of this level of success.

     The masked door man opened the door and greeted me and ushered me into the main entry way.  Straight ahead I saw about a dozen people all clad in tuxes and fancy dresses, gathered in front of a large light-up bar.  The bar had 3 bartenders busily mixing drinks and puring champagne.  A gentleman to my left reached his hand out and introduced himself as John.  Even with the mask on I could tell it was Greg's father.  I had seen some pictures of him on Facebook from a vacation that he and Greg had gone on the week prior.  I asked if he was Greg's father and he said yes..  I told him who I was and he said "oh, the one working on the book with Greg" I was pleased that Greg had told him.  

John then took me over to the left of the bar where 3 lovely ladies stood wearing nothing but pretty lingerie.  I was greeted by the girls with a nice smile and a glass of champagne.  It was then that I noticed that the girls lingerie was actually just painted on!  John laughed at my expression when I realized this.  We both had a nice laugh at that.  I was glad that I met John right away.  I knew no one at the party.  After we chatted a bit, he took me around and started to introduce me to people.

People kept coming around with all sorts of wonderful appetizers.  And every time my champagne glass got close to empty, one off the lovely lingerie ladies would come up and give me a new glass.  I love champagne and this was excellent champagne.  I met some very interesting people in all areas of business: motivational speaking, real estate, authors, traders, a fashion designer, social marketing.  Most of the folks were very nice to me and offered me some great advice and showed their support.  I was very pleased.  

Greg's sitting room, where we had our training sessions, had been turned into a dance hall.  All of the furniture had been removed.  A mirrored dance floor had been installed and two DJs stood behind a long table spinning some great energetic music.  Greg's assistant Bridgette, called everyone into the dance room for some entertainment.  A Marilyn Monroe look alike came in and did this burlesque style dance.  She finished her dance by spraying the crowd with a bottle of champagne.  She really did a great job and received loud cheers from the crowd.  The next entertainer was a European looking girl.  She came in dressed in veils etc.  She did a dance and threw flames into the air.  Entertaining, but not as good as the Marilyn look alike.  

I mingled and met some more people, including Greg's mother and some friends of Greg's sister.  Greg's sister's friends were flat out fun.  Bridgette then asked everyone to come outside behind the pool area.  Greg had arranged for fireworks, which I heard were common for his parties.  The fireworks were fabulous!  I mean, these were full blown fireworks with an incredible finale' at the end.  You should have heard the cheers from the crowd.  I tried to call my wife and then my father via SKYPE on my phone for them to see, but sadly I couldn't catch them.

I spent the rest of the evening talking, I danced a bit, drank a bit too much champagne.  Finally about 2:00 AM I asked Bridgette if she could call me a cab. When my cab arrived, I shook hands and said good bye to the new friends I had made in the UK.  I arrive back at the hotel about 3:00 AM totally worn out.  I got out of my tux and collapsed on the bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.  What a ball!

Here's to your success!

Bill McManus