Clarification and closure
The "British ambassador" thing in the previous entry is a line from Evita:
On the 9th February 1935, in Buenos Aires: a polo match, between a team of leading Argentine players and the touring British side. The British ambassador said he had never seen a social occasion quite like it. . . . The result of the match? Oh yes—the home team won! But, as the British ambassador pointed out, that did not reflect badly on British horsemanship. Three of the Argentine players were educated at Eton.
I should know better than to attempt obscure references when sleepy.
Our party/celebration thing this evening was at the California Culinary Academy. I'm afraid I wasn't real impressed. There was an hour or so of this event where we were all supposed to practice creating various little food items, and then there was going to be some sort of a competition at the end; but nothing about this competition was explained to us, and the assignments resulted in people not wanting to follow the rules (I, for example, was assigned to the group learning to make beef and pork wontons; given that I didn't know anyone else in that group, and that I don't eat beef or pork, the usefulness of this assignment was limited, but I did make one just to get a vague idea of how to go about it should I ever be inclined to make non-meat wontons). Later, there was a sit-down meal, with decent food but nothing to write home about. It was fine, and a nice occasion for various people to stand up and say nice things about how cool our co-workers are (I wholeheartedly agree; it's a great group), but it did put a bit of a strain on my social-interaction capabilities. Really, it had much the feel of a wedding reception, once the dinner part got underway.
I got a ride home, which was much nicer than having to take the train; I'd still be en route if I'd taken the train, and I was quite right this morning to suspect that I'd be wiped out by this time of night. It was a very good idea for me not to drive to SF this morning; I don't think I'd have made it home tonight.