A few quick notes about New Year’s Eve:
– We had the back room at the Majestic Grille for dinner, and they once again hit the ball out of the park. Dinner was superb. I had the veal, an item from the special New Year’s Eve menu, and it was delicious, as was the lobster biqsue I had as my starter. Others at the table had the beef short ribs, another special menu item, and complimented them highly. We projected a slide show of group pictures onto the big screen in the back room as we ate and mingled. We had reservations for 30 and had more than 30 people who wanted to come… which caused some minor hassles, but we accommodated everyone, and having too many people who want to spend New Year’s Eve with you is a high-class problem to have.
– The Nuh-Uh Girl came over a dozen times to eat off our plates. I’m not using “dozen” as a figure of speech to mean “a lot”… she literally came over that many times. “Are you going to eat that bite of veal, Paul?” “I’m stealing a potato.” “Frank, I’m taking another bite of your short ribs.” “If anyone has any leftovers, I’m sitting over there.”
– After that I continued on to my friends’ party at Central Station. Soon as I got there, I had two reactions: 1) “Plenty of beer and liquor, this is good.” 2) “Some of my friends, the girls in particular, are not going to be happy with the keg situation at all.” (I won’t go into details here.) Sure enough, they weren’t, but other people in my group were smart enough to have planned a backup party at Frank’s apartment down the street. That was a good move and I tip my hat to them for seeing the need to plan an alternative. We rang in the new year there and I stayed until about 1:15.
– There were cameras, cameras everywhere. It seemed like every time I turned around, someone was asking me to pose for a pic or take a pic of them with their camera. I gave up taking pics about 10. There was no need – the evening was well documented by others. Right before midnight, the Nuh-Uh Girl did a smart thing when she said, “All right. We’re going to take ONE picture with ONE camera. ONE. I’m not going to take everyone’s camera and re-take the picture. I’ll take ONE pic and e-mail it to everyone.” Great idea, because otherwise, we would’ve been posing until 2 AM.
– I went back to the Central Station party and stayed until 3:30 when it started to wind down. Drank some Boscos beer and a 40 of Miller High Life. Much thanks to party hosts Patrick, Randy, and Marci for inviting my friends and me. It was great meeting them and their group of friends in 2008 and I look forward to more good times with them in 2009.
– Speaking of “super”… funny how even when I’m at one party, I’m already looking ahead to the next. Our group’s Super Bowl party, one of my absolute favorite events of the year, is only one month away. Can’t wait.
– Also, only five more months until Tube Top Month.
– Plans for today: The Liberty Bowl parade on Beale at 3. I’ll probably get down there about 2 and make my usual drink purchase, a large Call-a-Cab from Wet Willie’s. Guess I’ll have to take my gloves so my hands won’t freeze carrying a frozen daiquiri.