Happy New Year!

My New Year's Eve began with many a question mark. I entertained several invitations to parties before finally making up my mind essentially at the last minute. My goal was to go to dinner with a friend or small group of friends beforehand and then maybe go to a laid back get together followed by a party, and it actually ended up working out that way after convincing my friend Erik to tag along. He was debating between coming along with me, going to a bar/club on the opposite side of town from where he lives and paying a cover charge, or going home, the latter of which he seemed the most resigned to choose. Finally after some encouragement, I got him to join me on my journey, and I was glad he did because I would not have known many people there and it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

When we arrived that the smaller gathering, I would have to say I initially had my doubts. There were a few people there, and most of them were playing Rock Band while the other two were playing Gin Rummy. Once we joined in on the Rock Band action, we could not get enough. We spent a majority of the two hours we were there playing that game and ended up leaving with less than an hour before midnight. It was fun because the host - who actually went to my high school and later was a substitute teacher there while I attended - just got the game for Christmas, so everybody was new at it. As such, they were marveling at my drumming skills (even though, like them, I was only doing it on easy), which was fun for me, to actually feel like I was doing well.

We finally got to a cutoff point and departed for the party where we would ultimately spend the remainder of the evening. It was a bit refreshing, because there were actually some additional people I knew there aside from the two who came with me. One of them I already knew would be there, a former co-worker with whom I am playing in a softball league, but there were a few other people who I have at least met in passing. One was a girl who substituted in our softball league for one week, another I met because he was briefly dating a former co-worker, and another guy who was an acquaintance through the same group of people. It was a little awkward at first, gathering my bearings with a large crowd of strangers, but I became more relaxed as the evening wore on and 2008 became past tense. I spent most of the night conversing with the group of people I knew as well as a few additional guests who may have been celebrating the birth of the new year a bit too much. It appears I made a good enough impression with the aforementioned girl from softball to be invited to her birthday party this Saturday, which I may or may not attend, depending on how the day pans out.

All things said, my friend Erik was glad I diverted him from an evening of solitude, and I have no regrets for the choices I made. Everything played out well, and I could not have foreseen my expectations to be mirrored so closely.