Last Halloween, I did henna at a friend's party just "for fun". I cannot convey through text the sarcasm that should now be attached to those two words. The party was composed entirely of twenty-somethings all of which were intoxicated not long after the party started. I was stationed at the dining room table, a chair in front of me, my pattern books next to me. On my other side was a young man called "R." whom I had hennaed on a prior occasion. R. had designated himself as my personal henna assistant- meaning he sat over my shoulder half the night watching me work. At the end of the table was a sullen young blonde who came with her fiancee, who was off somewhere becoming obnoxiously intoxicated. My friend who threw the party, an ever gracious host, requested that I henna the blonde first since she appreared to be having a miserable time. I offered to do a design on her and immediately she perked up and picked out a design for her lower back. She was an enthusiastic, pleasant, paitent, and obedient subject. After being hennaed, she returned to her spot at the end of the table.
 
I hennaed a few hands and feet but, being mostly college students, most of the designs were on upper and lower backs and resembled tattoos. At the end of the table, the blonde was joined by her saturated fiancee. R. was beginning to get on my nerves, so I offered to do a henna design on him just to get him stationed somewhere else other than in the corner of my eye. Immediately, he launched into a description of a tattoo design he liked. Out came the pad of paper and pen as the description progressed further.
 
Things at the end of the table became heated. Apparently, there were some personal issues arising between Blonde and Fiancee. R. continued with his design request, drinking periodically. R. soon forgot my name and began referring to me as "Babe". His description and illustrations had lasted 45 minutes. Frustrated and inflamed, I took the pad from R. and helped him settle on a maltese cross, meanwhile reminding him how you pronounce my given name.
 
As I was in the middle of the maltese cross, a guest came by and started discussing with R. how this particular symbol had been used throughout history, including that the Nazis had used it. Blonde's fiancee hears this, as he has been observing the design. Immediately he launches into a high volume and fairly inarticulate rant in defense of the symbol, which was not under attack. Someone in the crowd incites the fiancee while blonde is at the end of the table is practically in tears over his behavior. As if this wasn't enough, the fiancee then launches at the inciter and has to be restrained and tackled to the ground. At this point, I stop and leave the house, overcome by the youthful drama. I contemplated just wiping the design off and calling it a night but instead, I returned and completed the design.
 
My head was ready to pop off from being haunted by R. all night and being in the middle of blonde's future marital problems. Desperately, I sought out the bowl of Halloween candy and gorged myself, refusing any henna requests for the next hour. Once the chocolate had taken effect, I recruited a couple of girls who are open to being experimented on and doodled to my hearts content, leaving little room for further drunk people. I did, however, henna a friend of one of my doodle girls. She had been outside "smoking" and was so relaxed she lolled around through the whole design, which was a dragonfly on her shoulder. Once it was finished I attempted giving her care instructions as she flipped her hair through the design and nearly got it on her shirt. At this point, I'm beyond caring and return to my doodle team. After six hours of doing henna and a major exercise in self control, I am ready to go home. I say goodbye to my friend and make plans to exclude a small list of obnoxious people from the next get together.  Even though doing henna caused my Gryphoemia, it also managed to relieve it... Well, that and a bowl full of bite-sized snickers.

Return to the Gryphoemia main page
 

Can't find what you want here?  Try The Henna Page Main Index.