Happy 2008!

It was decided soon after the annual Baditude Holday Bash that he would also host our New Year’s festivities. Diana was unfortunately unable to attend, but I headed over (purposely avoiding beating everyone else over there by an hour! Yay! :) and met up with my peeps. Once we were all gathered (me, Baditude, Iwan and Sara, Gabe and Rhiannon, Little Buhr and Jen, Little Jay, and Speaks), we unloaded food and drinks (including about 50 gallons of booze), and headed over to the Blue Flame (or something like that) to meet up with Papa Roston for some drinks and appetizers. Papa Roston is always a fun guy to be around, and always knows exactly where the center of the party is – wherever HE is.

After appetizers, we headed back to Eryn’s pad for dinner. Steaks were on the grill, asparagus and smashed potatoes were being heated up, and Little Buhr and I found an opportunity to slip down into the garage to play the first of probably a dozen games of ping pong. I haven’t played any pong in forever, but man, what a fun game that is. Over the dozen games or so we played through the night, I’m sure I only won two of them. Say what you will about Little Buhr, the guy knows his way around a ping pong table. It was also fun to get in some one-on-one time with Little Buhr, as well. I think we both really enjoy those kinds of friendly competitions (I’m reminded of our 9-ball games when we went boarding at Mammoth recently). Good times.

Dinner was spectacular, with Speaks as official grill-master and doing a bang-up job. Rhiannon claimed to not like many vegetables, but I think his asparagus won her over. I realized later that I’d arrived with a salad (made by Diana), but totally forgot about it at dinner time. Oops.

After dinner, it was time for Rock Band. Let me tell you, that game was pretty much made for a room full of people in various states of inebriation. I started on drums, and S’Martin started on vocals, with Baditude and Little Jay on guitars. I have never seen S’Martin as fired up as I did that night. Between every song, she was bouncing all around pretty much screaming “I LOVE THIS GAME!” Songs were belted out, not only by the singer, but everyone else in the room. It was really, really fun.

As midnight rolled around, our rocking was interrupted briefly by watching the ball drop on TV and ringing in the New Year.

After midnight, though, the party had definitely turned a corner. Some folks were getting good and properly sauced, when people start stumbling around, that’s usually when I make myself scarce. I played a couple more games of pong with Little Buhr (hoping to take advantage of his drunkenness, but to no avail). Rhiannon and I rallied around a little, and it was nice to have some alone time with her.

I said my goodbyes around 1am. Eryn was washing dishes. S’Martin and Jen were having a suspicious heart-to-heart talk on the couch. The rest of the boys were smoking stogies on the porch.

They party continued the next morning, when Diana and Allison and I showed up for breakfast. Everyone was pretty bleary eyed, but up and watching college football. Leftovers were delicious, and it was nice to hang out with friends and Diana at the same time.

And now, it’s 2008! I can’t help but wonder what the year will bring. I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions, and this year is no different. I do hope, though, that not a whole lot changes. Life isn’t perfect, but it’s humming along pretty well. It’s going to be exciting to see how much Allison changes in this upcoming year. Diana has done a great job of taking pictures and videos, and it is already fun to look back at her first month and see how much she’s changed.

Hope you, whoever is reading this, have a great year!