A New Year

The Ultra-Exclusive New Year's Eve Party at Jenna and Manney's was, despite possible reports to the contrary, a success. Why, you ask.

No one threw up, no really annoying people showed up uninvited, and since prettymuch all the guests brought something or other, we didn't run out of food or booze or anything. There were some minor squabbles I didn't quite understand, but said squabbles proved to be as entertaining as they were pointless.

And as long as I'm entertained, Dear Reader, everything is fine.

I showed up freakishly early, as per usual, so that I could twiddle my thumbs until Adam showed up an hour or so later. He drove Jenna and me to Applebee's (curiously empty; we were seated immediately), where ate dinner and chatted, working on our sparkling dinnertable conversation.

(Adam's probably the only person in the world who always gets my jokes, even if he doesn't always laugh at them. Factitiousness was the order of the day.)

Jenna and Adam are an excellent conversation-making team. For several years, Adam and I have made debunking Jenna's outrageously sweeping claims a joint hobby of ours. Most, if not all, of my best conversations with Adam have been a result of some provocation from Jenna.

At one point, much later that night, Adam ended up defending the concept of "politics" while I stood up for "language."

Adam's big talking point right now is U.S. farm
subsidies, which he has brought up at least three times recently as the cause of all that is wrong in the world.

In the past he's held forth passionately on the Van Allen Belt (as a reason to fake the moon landing) and the health risks of aspartame. His track record is (nevertheless?) quite good.

Any intellectualism to the contrary, Adam was the first to drink at New Year's, having made Bloody Marys from a secret recipe. I joined in an hour or so later, having my first domestic beer not made in some random town in Wisconsin.

Here's a good place to bash the American attitude towards drinking, as opposed to the more casual (in every respect) German attitude; it took me at least an hour to get through one bottle. Suffice to say that Adam and I both know how someone can "maintain," a concept some people seem to find foreign.

Jenna (whose take on drinking is more in line with the Cookie Monster's take on snacking) refused to drink before 10. In fact, none of the Hamline people even showed up before 10. I thought that was a bit odd.

Also odd: making a toast "To Graham!" with said blowhard's girlfriend, for lack of anything better/more-creative to drink Tequila to.

I still haven't forgiven Tequila for the many times it has hurt me, by the way.

Except for Dylan and Larson, the/my whole crew from Brainerd was at the party. Not having to deal with strangers, and getting to celebrate New Year's with my friends instead of at the cabin with a half dozen relatives, was excellent. We didn't watch the ball drop, but NBC had Conan do a hilarious countdown for the Central Time zone.

I resolved… well, I make hollow resolutions all the time, so New Year's isn't special in that respect. Something about tolerance or patronizing people or something. I forget. It's all just bean counting anyways.