The SAG-AFTRA Holiday Party is an event that I love. I haven’t always gone to it, but I’ve tried to go every year the past few years. It’s not often I get to attend a union event that is all about being social and not about various union politics or issues. While you can’t always avoid discussing those things even at a party, the holiday party really is a time to relax and have fun.
And this party isn’t just a hangout. The LA Host Committee does an amazing job having a nice buffet meal, entertainment, and a photo booth. I usually don’t eat while I’m there and I don’t know if I’ve ever taken advantage of the photo booth, but I have always appreciated the options to have fun and I know that it makes so many people happy.
This year, even though the party fell on a nausea/pain day, I wasn’t feeling too bad when I got there. I was a bit tired from having a long day, but I perked up when I arrived and saw a friend of mine in line. She was nice enough to let me join her in line and that gave us a chance to catch up! Once the party officially started, the check in line went pretty quickly and we were inside within a few minutes!
Our first stop was to get some food and this year I was going to be enjoying it too! There was a really nice spread with lots of options. I had some salad, chicken teriyaki, shrimp ceviche, pot stickers, and prime rib! And there was a dessert spread too with cookies, brownies, and cake (I got some cake that had really delicious frosting!). After we all got our plates we found a table to stand at so we could eat without worrying about holding our plates.
The party was a bit crowded, but that is to be expected. And I was constantly running into friends and people I knew! I really felt amazing when I realized how many people in the union I do know. Sometimes it feels like I don’t know anyone or there are too many people there, but this year it didn’t feel like that. And even though I didn’t get to spend too much time catching up with many of my friends, I did make an effort to do my best. And I also tried to get photos with a couple of people too since I usually forget to do that!
Where we were standing to eat ended up being right next to where the quick speeches were going to be, so that worked out well for us! There was a quick speech to thank the LA Host Committee for doing such a great job with the party and to thank those of us who made it for attending. Then there was a short speech about the current strike we have with BBH. BBH is an ad agency that has declared that they no longer have to follow our union agreement and we as a union are not ok with that. They have an agreement to do union commercials and they should abide by that. So we are on strike until an agreement can be made. It’s an important issue for the union and I’m glad that they took some time to talk about it at the party so everyone there could be up-to-date on what is happening. They also had signs for us to take photos with to show our support for our union, and of course I took advantage of that!
The party was only 2 hours long as I was planning on leaving before it was over because my tiredness was starting to kick in. But of course I kept running into people I knew and got caught up into different conversations. I think I ended up leaving about an hour after I started to say goodbye, but that’s normal for events like this. I always end up finding people I know and hadn’t talked to yet and I don’t want to leave without at least saying hello and goodbye. And I was also helping a friend get an Instagram account set up and didn’t want to leave them until they had everything ready and knew how to post photos.
I’m so glad that I took a bit of a rest day earlier this week so that I could be at the SAG-AFTRA party. Even though I was still a bit tired, I think that had more to do with my early morning workout and maybe not getting enough sleep and not because of feeling overwhelmed and burnt out from too many events. I still have some more holiday parties to go to, but I am evaluating which ones are the most important so I can prioritize them if necessary. I want to make sure that I can have as much fun at any other parties as I did at the SAG-AFTRA one!
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