I just added another thousand to my student loans to get mine. Got a couple no pay gigs around here and threw a couple raves, but mixin's fun enough to do for free if you ask me. Just the "thank you"s are enough to make it all worth it.
On the party, I'd say IT ROCKED. Brought 9 newbies and they LOVED it!! Funny, both hulla's I've made it to so far were E by gum's "last" parties.
Peace.