Mark and Janine's party didn't happen, and BART back to the city would have been crazy so Nicole and I ended up going to Foxes, a bar near them. The place was practically empty when we got there; it was just after 10 and there were maybe 5 others inside. There were 30-40 people by the time midnight approached though.



Our drinks came with a side of condoms (lolwut), and I won a stuffie out of the claw machine. I didn't think I would, since I've never been able to before. Maybe I just needed to be drunk first. I thought it'd be weird to be carrying around a stuffed animal all night, at a bar, on New Year's Eve, but everybody loved it and was impressed I got it out of the machine. Even the security guard. Some guy named it Billy. ( more pics )

It was a fun night, and there was free champagne. Also, I can shake it! A black chick complimented me and danced with me so it must be true. Also also, my outfit was awesome.

Happy 2009!

( This on my mind ), my New Year's Eve started out somewhat glum. But that changed when we got into the city and met up with Paul and his friends.

The last (also first) time I was at the Embarcadero for fireworks was 4 years ago, for 2003, but this was my first time there for the occasion with J, and my first time meeting Paul (nice guy, reminds me of his brother a lot).



Can you tell from the photos from then and now how much older and more mature I've gotten? And by older, I mean jaded.

Happy 2007. Here's to another year.
Still to come is my 2006 wrap-up and goals for the new year, and also answers to my "7 are false, 3 are true" meme.

And here's the video J took of the fireworks finale. ( click to view video behind cut )

Last New Year's Eve, we had dinner at Tran's Vietnamese Restaurant on Webster Street. It was me and the guys, all 3 of them over 6 feet tall, and they sat us at a table for 4. It was a small square table against the wall, with 2 seats on either side. I'm sure 4 Asian people would have fit fine, but we weren't a party of 4 Asians. We were one and a half Asians.

After we were seated and brought waters, Erik knocked his glass over and soaked the table. They moved us down one, and J tipped over the vase before we were finished sitting back down. They gave us a stack of napkins rather than risk a third table getting wet, in case they got more customers. It was funny then because usually it's Mike and me that are the clumsy ones.

We went back this New Year's Eve, to get snacks while we figured out a game plan. We had twice as many people this time though, so we were seated in the back at the long tables and not one of the small ones along the wall. J and I split the Chicken Shish Kebab plate, which came with rice and fish sauce. I think I'll have to order that again next time we're there and I'm not in the mood for pho. We also got Thai Iced Teas and the ice in J's glass formed a smiley face.



Jesse and Heather have been hanging out with us after we got back from Reno. They were there with us on New Year's Eve, and we invited them to the movies with us last night. It was nice to hang out with another couple for a change, and not feel guilty about being too couple-y around single and sometimes emo people. That and Jesse and Heather are just cool people. And it's such a small world that it turns out that Heather is going to school with my brother and I graduated with her sister, and Jesse also went to the same high school, but he left right before I started.

well, i guess now i know how he feels when i act like this.

new year's is overrated anyway. too many people and too many issues. forced celebration, forced memory. but it sort of worked out. we had our own countdown in the car, and saw fireworks from the freeway as we made our way between parties. what mattered was that it was the five of us together, singing and yelling out as we were driving into the rain.

the party at charlie's was fun. or maybe it was the relief that 2004 and the more unpleasant part of the night was over; a new year had started. a sip of champagne, my goldschlager shot, a pink opiate, and i was good to go.

he had too much though, and was pretty fucked up by the end of the night when charlie was emptying out his apartment of people. everyone was worried about him, but i've seen this before, and knew that he'd be ok. i was really annoyed by the way he was stumbling about, and the fact that he was doing it on purpose. i asked him to stop, and he said he would, but kept right on doing it, slammed into the wall, and pretended to fall unconscious. it pissed me off and freaked out kiki.

i drove home and tried to go to bed but he wouldn't stop apologizing and kept beating himself up, saying he was a stupid idiot, completely worthless, that he didn't deserve me and that we shouldn't have gotten back together. he said that he was still in love with other people and lusted after girls in magazines and that he was a bad boyfriend, that i've done so much for him and that he's never given me anything. and then he basically said that deep down inside, i really just hated him.

he fell asleep in my arms, but woke up when i moved him because i had to go to the bathroom. and he'd grab onto me and wouldn't let me go, and started rubbing me and pulling on my clothes, then fall back asleep again. this happened two or three times over the course of the night. i couldn't sleep and watched cartoons and tried to play some more paper mario.

he'd been sleeping all day, and woke up not remembering what had happened after we left charlie's, or what happened after we got home. i feel bad that he's hungover and not feeling well, but i can still be mad. i don't understand how he can go from telling me how much he loved me to accusing me of hating him; i don't understand how he can go from telling me that all he wanted was to go home and fall asleep in each other's arms to being so mean to me.

i enjoyed my new year's. until the end.
happy 2005.

coarsegold 12.27-12.31
snowcapped mountain tops in distant view (& i wanted it to snow so bad). logs and wrapping paper burning in a blazing fireplace. it was a second christmas with j's family at his mom's (i got more gifts from her than from my own family). kids and babies and kids with babies. lots and lots of junk food, chocolates and double stuffed oreos, dryer's homemade vanilla ice cream and brownie bites. but somehow i managed to lose two pounds instead of gaining ten, so yay. it was a nice and amusing five days in the middle of nowhere, isolated away from everyone, and i heart the overly hyperactive kitty.

davis 12.31-01.02
new people and old people, people i haven't seen in a long time and it was just that yay happy feeling of being around people that i haven't felt in a long while. drinks and jello shots and smoochies; charlene kept telling me and j to kiss because we were too cute (but jackie had me first at midnight).

san jose 01.02-01.03
i am at a lan party. a lan party. and i'm not bored. omfg?