Crappy New Year
New Year's 1998
My mom was nervous at the idea of her eighteen-year-old daughter spending New Year's Eve in a hotel suite with seven college boys (including my new boyfriend), so I had to drive home through thick thick fog sometime between 1 and 2 a.m., when the streets were at their most concentrated with drunk drivers. In the hours before midnight, Ethan and I locked ourselves in a side room while the boys played video games, and I somehow ended up wearing his favorite yellow shirt, and he cried when I left because he didn't want me to go. Luckily I ended up leaving before Jared locked himself in the bathroom and then passed out with his face in the toilet, forcing Jason to barf in the wet bar and clog the drain, which no one noticed until morning.
New Year's 1999
Seven boys again, only this time it was my not-so-new boyfriend, my two best friends, and four flaming high schoolers. This was the night we played spin the bottle and the two straight guys ended up kissing each other more than anyone else. Come midnight, we were the only ones awake in the gated retirement community where Brandin lived with his grandparents, so we only lit one screaming firework before running back inside to escape the wrath of the security curmudgeon. It was insanely foggy again. I had a wine cooler. It was all rather anticlimactic.
New Year's 2000
Ethan is invited to a party he doesn't really want to go to, but agrees to drop in for a half hour or so to be polite before coming to my house to watch the ball drop with my family. Instead, he calls me at 11:50 and tells me he drank a "really special drink" with his new best friend Chris and that he doesn't think he can make it, being 30 miles away and, oh yeah, really fucked up. My parents say for the first of many times, "Are you sure you want to put up with that your whole life?" and I feel embarrassed and sad and angry, and then Dad makes it a little better by going out into the snow and shooting illegal fireworks at the sky.
New Year's 2001 and 2002
I have absolutely no idea what happened these to years. I'm not even sure what state we were in. All I know it it was miserable or else the theory that follows would be defunct.
New Year's 2003
We attended the Blue Party at a stranger's house in San Francisco. The blue punch made me sick and couch-bound, and by 12:01 I was ready to bail. Dancing boy, however, had on his blue suede dancing shoes and couldn't be torn away until 3 a.m., at which point I was really sick and really pissed off.
New Year's 2004
The Red Party, documented here. One of the night's memorable moments was when, on the way home from the city--the first time I drove a car in San Francisco--I slowed the Carolla to an easy roll on the freeway offramp so Lauren could jump out, yank her pants down, and pee right there in front of us and God and the nice policeman in the car ahead of us. It was a good night. We stayed just the right length of time, the company was great, and I was happy as could be. It was with this wonderful New Year's Eve that I started what became the worst year of my life.
So. Crappy New Year. That's what I'd hoped last night would be because Bad New Year's = good rest of the year. And a bad New Year's it almost was. It seemed everyone I knew was out of town and one person who was supposed to fly here in time for New Year's ended up not coming at all. Up until 5 pm, I was staring down the barrell of a celebration at home with my cat and Regis Philbin and a cup and a half of chewy, stale Applejacks and no milk. Luckily, I still had a bottle of Mexicola (thanks SAJ!!!), so all hope was not lost, but I had the Sad Slow Music all queued up and I was all set to wallow. And even though it was another one of those depths-of-despair-cry-so-hard-your-lungs-ache days, I was at least a little comforted by the thought that if my New Year's was horrible, the rest of the year would be magnificent.
But it was not to be.
Teddy, dear, sweet, reliable Teddy, called and we spent the night at a friend of a friend's apartment with a bunch of people who work for Pixar and ended up being not as high and mighty as their stilettos and not as slick and shiny as their indie hairdos. They were quite lovely, actually. We talked Mac versus PC, Malcolm Gladwell, Neutral Milk Hotel, girls with ESP, boxing to the death, Krispy Kreme, plagiarism, and where to buy good gyro meat if you can speak Greek. And with no tv and no wristwatches, we didn't know it was midnight until someone noticed San Francisco's fireworks out the window, so there was no countdown, no confetti and silly string, no massive kissfest where the singles look at the ceiling and then their shoes and then their empty glasses and then their fingernails, trying to hurry the moment along already. No, 2005 slid in all sly and quiet-like with Teddy and a bunch of pleasant strangers and a bowl of olives and a glass of sweet champagne. I just hope that doesn't mean the rest of the year will turn to shit.
In happier news, here are the things, in no particular order, that made the Worst Year Ever a little more bearable:
--Instant Messenger
--iTunes and 3hive
--my own personal Internet Musical Benefactor, who has turned out to be an outstanding friend
-Trader Joe's graham crackers
--single malt scotch and Maker's Mark
--MT Blacklist
--William and Gayle
--zip-leg hiking pants from REI (they're shorts! they're pants! they're shorts! they're pants!)
--a two-layer synthetic down comforter from Ikea
--Netflix
--Mexican Coke
--Nick Drake and Mick Harvey
--youse guys
My one goal for 2005? Find a man who is emotionally, physically, and legally available. I know I may be setting myself up for failure, but, listen, I really don't know how much longer I can go on like this.
I hope this year brings you everything you want. Be well. Cheers.
Wow - I just read 'What happened,' and I'm sorry. A relationship 17 months young ended for me this past year, so I can empathize. She, too, will be ok, as will I. May your coming year be better than you could possibly forecast - I know mine will.
I hope it's a good new year!
been there, did that... and guess what... a good new years eve with people from pixar (btw, I SCREAMED when i saw that... you... i am jealous...) = a happy year with a new man (not boy) on your arm...
Good luck to us both on that one. :) Here's hoping for 2005....
Cheers to the fruition of your goal in 2005 - I suspect it will happen.
Here's to hoping that 2005 will be excellent. *clink*
Happy New Year. I hope you find what you're looking for this year.
I like that fact that you say you want your future guy to be 'legally' available...good move, I wasn't always as smart as you!
New Year's Eve discussions (esp. after a drink or two) on Mac vs. PC are the best. I hope your new friends from Pixar know what's what (Mac rules!). Yeah, who cares.
2004 was a year of records being broken (in sports alone, the Red Sox actually won the World Series). Don't let your Happy New Year ruin the rest of what can be the best year of your life.
dangit! you figured it out.
Yes, I would have to agree that 2004 was a pretty crappy year (the exception being Nick being born). I'm hoping for a better and happier 2005 for all of us!