He sees cops getting dressed into riot gear.

It all starts with me deciding to throw myself a 21st birthday bash. I figure I only turn 21 once so I might as well go big and hopefully I’ll have something to remember...or not remember.

My invitations to the party were nothing more than word of mouth about two weeks in advance. Everyone was told open bar, bring your friends.

Next, I extended my invite to the crew of guys who lived in the house next to me. Being the typical athletes on campus, I knew that they would invite lots of people and more importantly, a lot of attractive women for my birthday viewing.

Two weeks later, this is how the party unfolds.

The party could not fallen on a better day. It’s a sunny Saturday, fall quarter starts in two days, sororities just finished rush on Friday, and all the people who left the Greek System for the summer are back and sharing a common goal: getting ass drunk without suffering any educational consequences before school starts on Monday. (By the way, I’m not Greek. I did, however, live within the “Greek System.”

4:00pm: Pick up my three kegs, cups, and ice at the Dawgpound, a local keg store where you can also buy cases of High Life tall boys for $10.99.

7:15pm: Kegs have been chilling for three hours, I’m anxious to get hammered so I tap my first keg and let the festivities start. It’s just me, my best friend Paul, and two other friends who live in my house.

9:30pm: I’ve been pacing my beer intake so as not to pass out before 4am. I meet up with the crew team to confirm that they are all drinking. (By the way, they have an excessive amount of cheap hard liquor that they are only giving to girls.)

Anyways I ask for an estimated head count on how many people they think are going to show up. They estimate around 200 and with the 100 or so I think will come from word of mouth spread by me, I’m fixing to have a decent sized party that night.

10:00pm: People start arriving. I give half the keg cups to my friend, Karmen to help pass them out.

10:15pm: Music is officialy on, about 100 people have arrived, everyone is drinking.

10:45pm: First sign of the police. An cop randomly drives down the street. However, there are so many people by this point that the party has overcome the basketball court and the crew boy’s yard to the point where people are just drinking on the sidewalk and in the street.

The cop uses a megaphone to clear the street and he passes through unharmed.

This is my first sign of trouble. But whatever...RIGHT?, I’m boozing, I’m happy drunk. It was just ONE cop--it is time for me to get wasted. I'm 21!

The first keg is gone.

11:15pm: Around this time I receive word that random party goers, who I don’t mind being there, are selling keg cups for my beer. This. I do mind. This was an open keg party and people are trying to profit from it. No way I'm allowing this to happen.

11:16pm: Reality sets in. I can't stop the chaos. My friends start selling keg cups for me. I have no other option.

11:30pm: I get my first gift and it was the best gift ever: a Breathalyzer. This was something I knew would come in handy later.

Midnight: Having the time of my life. I’m drunk. But, I can’t find any of my friends. I was too focused on drinking and meeting new people. I was enjoying every minute of the party. Police records estimate 500 people at this point. (I’ll get to the police later) Keg lines are long--very, very long. I only have one tap.

12:15am: Too many cops driving around for my taste. I have no idea the cops are cordoning off the block.

12:16am: I’m still partying.

12:30: TROUBLE! Cops seem to be visibly zoning off the area around the party. No one cares enough to leave. By now the local frat parties have died because all the girls have swarmed outside to where the real party is. There are people everywhere!

12:35am: Word must have spread to other local parties about the cop presence at my party. It seems that their presence has attracted another 200 people, according to the future police report that will be written, bringing the estimated total to 700! Awesome!

12:45am: People still partying, I’m now drunk and confused.

1:00am: Hmm, we have a problem. Seattle Police have definitely zoned off the area. They’ve confined the party to a one-block radius. I like it. Everyone cheers. Things are about to get wild.

1:15am: Remember Paulie, the friend I started drinking with at 7:15. He is getting stoned about this time. (Mind you, this is a story I hear from him the next day.) Anyways, with his head out a window into an alley with reefer smoke billowing out, he sees cops getting dressed into riot gear. Cops ask if he is okay, he doesn't respond. He closes the window and continues getting stoned.

1:20am: I’m outside on my roof for a better view of the festivities taking place on the street. I’ve somehow managed to move all three keg shells into my room. They are gone, naturally. The party is no longer a party--it is an all out riot.

From my heightened vantage point I can see a car that is turned over, people are breaking the car window with bricks. Bricks are being tossed at the incoming police lines with riot gear on. There is a S.P.D. helicopter above us with a spot light illuminating the entire area. I’m loving every minute of it.

A highlight I’ll never forget was when I heard this kid say to his friend, “You just threw a full beer at a cop car, party foul!” Turns out this was not just any cop car. It belonged to the S.P.D’s Chief Coordinator of Greek Affairs.

Down the street I can see furniture on fire. Cops are in formation walking towards the hub of the crowd. They are firing rubber bullets, spraying pepper spray, and have dogs on leashes. It took little time for the police to break up the riot. Nonetheless, the damage had already been done.

Remember the breathlyzer. I used that when I was up on the roof. 2.8 BAC. In every sense of word, I was TANKED, but continued to drink.

Eventually I black out. I can't remember when I went to bed or how I got there, but I ended up waking up in the comfort of my own bed.

9:00am: This is about when I get up. I'm still drunk. I'm still dressed. I brush my teeth, damn near puked doing it, and head to my friend's house to recap last night.

9:03am: The front door is not a good exit. There are four tv vans outside with camera crews interviewing people, one of whom is my best friend. In the few seconds I had the door open, I noticed the flipped over car was gone, and the streets were clean. Turns out that if you throw a big enough party the city of Seattle will do the pick for you!

9:05am: I slip out the back door and down the alley where Paulie was catching some "fresh air" the night before.

9:10am: I'm at my friend's apartment. Everyone is laughing. They're watching Northwest Cable News. Looks like my 21st birthday party made the front page and was the top story on the news! All day long I watched video clips of the party on all three primary local news channels.

The party was also mentioned briefly on CNN and was a part of the scrolling tracker on the bottom of the screen. GO ME!

11:00am: The inevitable call from my parents! "Was that your party?" "Are you okay?" "Are you in trouble?" My answers were, "Yes, yes, and no." That was end of the conservation.

So did I get in any trouble? Of course I did, but the charges against me were bogus. I was cleverly tricked by my landlord (who nearly kicked me out of my apartment) into giving a statement to the police in which I admitted guilt to a felony...unlawful possession of alcohol with intent to sell. Complete BS!

That's right! I got in trouble because "I" (I couldn't blame my friends) sold keg cups. Apparently this was illegal. It didn't even matter that I was giving the alcohol to minors or that the party caused a riot. (It turns out that the riot ended up costing the city of Seattle a pretty penny. To the dismay of the Greek System, the SPD added extra police patrols for the remainder of the school year, OPPS!)

As for me, I went to court and accepted their proposed plea bargain. I attended an alcohol and drug awareness class for $50 and I received one year probation. I am still on probation for another four months.

And here is the bullshit part about that. I received the charges against me exactly six months from the date the party happened. Just one more day and the charges would have been unenforceable as the law only allows six months to press charges for such alleged offenses. Consequently, I was put on probation starting on that day and will remain on probation through 1.5 years after the party.

Turns out I got what I wanted from my 21st birthday party. I have the court paper work to show my kids how awesome my 21st birthday was and an unforgetable memory of a party that nearly got me expelled from the UW.