Ephraim Kishon wrote a story once about a Purim party where the people try hard to celebrate but leave more gloomy than when they arrived.  Evidently it’s a failing of ours.  When I went to the Internet to research the term “asak”— which refers to the good cheer, informality, and celebrations that go with the approach of graduation from an army course — what I found more than anything else was soldiers looking for ideas of exactly how to cut loose and have fun for the occasion, being without inspiration themselves.