Act natural

( Wednesday, Jan. 01, 2003 12:30 pm )

>We'll drink a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne

Happy New Year! I did indeed make it out, with both Anise and Jelly, plus two science geeks and Anise's computer geek friend. We went out to dinner and then back to this girl's (enormous, beautiful) apartment (apparently 1,000 bucks a month will get you four large rooms plus bathroom, deck, fireplace, washer/dryer, and outlandishly-sized closet, all in a good neighborhood. Hmmm. This month I'm paying about 250 after painting-earnings). And then briefly into the city for the fireworks, and then back to the apartment to settle down into more focused drinking. I spent the actual count-down portion of the evening hurrying along Front St., along that enormous wall that separates you from I-95, the river, and, occasionally, fireworks. So I missed the actual ball-dropping-type-year-changeover altogether. No smooching, just power walking. We watched the fireworks going off behind suspended stoplights and highway signs and cars with alarms constantly going off.

The real highlight of the evening occurred when we and everyone else in the world were sweeping en masse along Market St. and Jelly was suddenly stopped by three Japanese tourists walking against the current of drunks, back towards the water. "Excuse me," says the guy, "but where are the fireworks?" Jelly points towards the river, adding, "but, they're over." "Over?!" says the guy in disbelief, and one of the Japanese girls grabs at her hat and starts hopping up and down.

After that we went back to the girl's apartment, and I have to say I'm beginning to like Anise a lot more. I used to label her as a gossip, but so are they all. Anyway, the superstars of the evening were Drunk Girl, who got very very drunk indeed, but was very pretty and blond so the boys liked taking care of her after she got to the less attractive asleep-on-the-toilet phase of the evening, and Anise's friend Alex, who drank shot after shot, and became very manic and amusing up until it became necessary for him to puke in the kitchen sink, taking with him all my hope of having someone to go see the Mummers (Philly amateur crossdressing drunk parade) with this morning. I guess I knew after a certain point, "ah, fuck the mummers." They're getting rained on now anyway.

So around four o'clock we all started the long drunk walk home, putting Drunk Girl in a cab, and Anise and I walking some distance with Alex's arms over both our shoulders. I kind of liked it, since after a few drinks I have a strong compulsion to hug everyone which I dare not indulge with anyone but the occasional Juney. Anyway, I like to think I was real nice to Alex like he was a little kid, bullshitting to him about how he was like a pimp with a ho under each arm. And he said, "Who else walks like this?" And I said, "Hmm, let's see. Computer programmers?" And Alex goes, "Hey, that's me!" What a little boy. I could be wrong, but I like to think that last night cemented me in place as a Friend to Anise, Alex, and Jelly. I could be wrong.

And congratulate me, for I erred on the side of caution, had five drinks only, and felt A-OK all day and night and day again, with not even any room-spinning when I went to bed or much headache this morning. I probably could have had more to drink, but I was very moderate and resistant to peer pressure. Aren't you so proud of me? The last thing I wanted was a repeat of last New Year's when I went to a party with Juney and had to puke up vibrant red Gatorade-puke at 7 am in some girl's bathroom and then go back upstairs to let her pit bull lie on top of me for several hours. I was sooooo sick all New Year's day.

But today I am going to have a tremendous, happy day blissfully alone, and think about but not do any of my resolutions. Happy New Year!

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