Countdown to Launch

I'm in the midst of planning a launch party for the Chongqing Grooves magazine. Do I know how to launch a party? I'm discovering how it's done.

Thankfully, the Singaporean owners of the local Singaporean restaurant (our venue for next Sunday) have been extremely helpful. They have much more experience in such matters than I.

After all, some ten years ago I was but a shy boy surrounded by half-veiled zealotry. Now I will be making speeches, handing out prizes, perhaps overseeing (but not partaking of) a few drinking game competitions, and generally pulling everything together.

I'm canvassing the town: from the ivory English-school towers to the grubbiest backpacker haunts, through the leafy universities to the hippest new restaurants and cafes. Meanwhile, I've sent Cherry to go down the peninsula to the famed Chaotianmen market. She can haggle up some good decorations for us.

And in the end I'm just left to worry whether fifty people will show up or two hundred will show up. Either way could present some difficulties.