August 3rd was the date for the annual Sica Tiki Party, this year aptly named "Embrace the Chaos" which is exactly what residents of Rockaway and surrounding areas were forced to do after Superstorm Sandy.

To throw a party of this magnitude requires alot of hard work, creativity and alcohol.  All of those ingredients were there in abundance as this years shindig was the most legendary of them all.

I would like to thank many people, so I will go in chronological order.  First, my loving and lovely wife Rita who has the patience of a saint to put up with all the madness that surrounds being married to me.  She watched the yard transform from a fun house in the mid eighties, to a zip line in 90, then a half pipe in the early 90's and finally the back deck she always wanted in the 2000's.  Unfortunately the deck came with a price, a little Tiki Bar constructed in the back corner.  Over the years the Tiki grew, overtaking most of the yard.

Next, the other Sica's, Brian, Trish, Mike and newest member Liz.  They all pitch in with their hard work, creativity and friends, lots of them, to prepare, execute and recover from the party.

The party begins with a concept, a theme, usually beginning in my mind and then discussed and fine tuned over some beers at the Tiki.  Many names were chosen for the 2013 bash but after Sandy everything changed and with the help of Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theroy, "Embrace the Chaos" was chosen. 

To create excitement for the event, and to preserve its memory for all times a poster for the ages must be created.  In past years, I designed them myself and although I was always proud of them, I commissioned a local artist and dear friend to design this years poster.  Mike O'Leary worked dozens of hours over many concepts and presented them to the planning committe of Brian and myself over some beers at the Tiki weeks before the party.  Brian converted the art to digital and touched up some colors for the final product.

It was hard to settle on one, so they will all live in infamey.  One was chosen for the poster though, and it was so well recieved that a call for t-shirts was demanded.

The yard had to be cleaned and decorated.  Brian had a concept for twinkley colored lights strung high across the yard.  John wanted a wall to be projected with reminders of Sandy and parties past so Brian edited together a collection of videos and pictures.

There was piece of unpainted plywood hanging from the Tiki which is the back of the dartboard.  Theo felt it needed its own theme and another local artist and dear friend, Casy Bro was commissioned to design and paint a "Embrace the Chaos" Tiki themed masterpiece.

John posed for six hours while Casey created  this work of art.