Detailed instructions for making lemonade
New Years Eve.
I love New Years Eve. Over the last few weeks I've tried to explain why I love it so much with a few recurring explanations. My parents live in Calgary and I always have to work christmas so I don't really see my family during the holidays. In a lot of ways my friends have become my surrogate family. NYE is the get-together-with-friends holiday during this time so it's become a little bit more exciting for me than opening gifts at christmas alone in my living room. I've also suggested that NYE is an exciting night because it represents the potential of the new year. Everything that was good or bad about the previous year can be improved upon. I guess it's sort of like a feeling where you can get a fresh start. blah blah blah
I think in reality my love for NYE has something to do with whiskey, dancing and dressing up. Maybe.
This year I decided to buy a ticket for a swanky party at the WAG that promised an open bar, 3 rooms of music, hors d'oeuvres and champagne. I put together an outfit (and looked damn good thank you very much), organized some friends, talked it up to everyone who would listen, got a hotel room for the end of the night so I wouldn't have to worry about cabbing home or finding my way there in my good shoes, and get myself psyched up.
But not too much. Hopefully I remained realistic. I knew that open bar presumably meant free drinks but I also knew that it would mean waiting for drinks with everyone else in attendance. You wouldn't think that it would be any different from any other night at the bar but for some reason it ends up meaning waiting longer for drinks. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that they were only letting people get one drink at a time and they weren't pouring doubles. Maybe the staff was told to serve slow in order to make the alcohol last. Who knows?
My plan for the evening was basically to chill out in my room, have a shower, maybe a nap and maybe hit the pool and sauna. I figured I could get into my outfit for the evening and shuffle over to the WAG without having to bundle up very much.
I invited some friends to join me in the room for a few preparty drinks and so we could arrive as a group. I was optimistic.
So, after organizing myself and packing my bags I headed down to the hotel and checked in. I dropped off my bags and went out to run some errands and pick up some liquor and a sandwich.
Hanging out in a hotel room is boring. Thankfully it's a boredom that is easily counteracted. I got the party started early. By the time Ian, Maria and Steve showed up I was starting to feel the beginning stages of a comfortable tipsiness. Not so much that I was even close to being remotely drunk but warmed up enough that I wouldn't feel desperate to get a drink when I showed up at the party. Around 10 we got ourselves suited up and looking fine and headed over to the WAG.
We arrived and everyone was looking stylish and gorgeous. Most people were dressed up and looking well put together. We dropped off our coats in coat check and started mingling.
There were already long lines for the bars when we arrived. I didn't really feel like going from one line to the next in order to keep a drink in my hand but I certainly wanted to have a few. I was sooooo glad at this point that I had a few drinks at the room beforehand.
There's not a lot to tell about the next 2.5 hours. I mingled, had a couple drinks, and talked with strangers and friends. I saw a lot of people I knew and danced with a lot of people I was meeting for the first time that night.
I'm not sure what happened exactly but shortly after midnight the bars started running out of alcohol or shutting down or something. I had heard a rumour that the bar in the "techno" room had stopped serving and that people had rioted and started throwing glass around. I had been standing at that bar trying to get drinks a few times and I could swear that I saw people sneaking behind the bar to steal bottles. Not just bottles of beer or wine but large presumably full bottles of vodka or gin. Things appeared to deteriorate quite quickly. It went from the bars being closed in the penthouse to the penthouse being shut down and the people up there being corralled down the stair to the main floor where the bars shut down shortly after. The masses were desperate trying to figure out what to do. Should we leave and go to another party? Where is there one? Wasn't there an after party? Did they really run out of booze? What actually happened up there? Who's to blame? What happened? What happened? What happened?
I got an address from a friend and pushed through the crowd hoping to cut the line for coat check. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that people were in the coat check area trying to find their own coats. I was hopeful that no one would walk off with my coat but I wear a black wool Pea coat so someone certainly could make a mistake. I looked around for the label in my jacket knowing exactly what the label in mine looks like and hoping that it's unique amongst the piles of coats.
Finally I found my coat. Even after I confirmed that it was mine by checking the label in the pocket someone walked up and grabbed the coat and challenged me thinking that it was theirs. Things were starting to go in a very bad direction. People were freaking out. I struck up a conversation with a pair of girls (Amanda and Jackie) who were sitting near where I found my coat watching people panic. We chatted about the drink lines and the insanity of the coat check and whether or not we thought the party was a good value. I invited them up to my room for a few drinks and some relaxation before we walked over to the after party over in the exchange.
So we headed up to the room, discovered Ian and Maria laying in bed (sleeping. nothing salacious), divvied up the last of my rye and headed out to the exchange to find the after party.
I'm so shocked that we didn't get jumped walking down ellice and king street after 2 am but somehow we made it.
We arrived at the after party ticketless and prepared to bum rush the door. We were owed... something... for our disappointment with the party and we were gonna get it... damnit.
Someone out front of the building didn't believe that we'd be able to get in successfully but we did it. I basically just said to the security guard that we were supposed to meet people there and never could figure out where to buy tickets (which is true. where were they sold?).
So Jackie, Amanda and I danced and had a few more drinks and laughed and joked and had a good time. I think they were tripping out because out of nowhere Amanda complained that she was having a bad trip and took off home leaving Jackie confused and wondering how she was supposed to retrieve her stuff.
It was nearly 4 o'clock at this point and I was starting to fade out. I grabbed a cab and went back to my room and crawled into bed.
So that was my new year's. I tried to be pretty detailed in parts and not so much in others. I had a really good night last night and I think that this will be a year of new opportunities and beginnings.
I guess from one perspective it might seem like I was disappointed by some of the things that didn't work out with the party at the WAG but ultimately I had an excellent time and go to hang out with some truly awesome people.
I feel really good about what 2007 has the possibility to be.
I love New Years Eve. Over the last few weeks I've tried to explain why I love it so much with a few recurring explanations. My parents live in Calgary and I always have to work christmas so I don't really see my family during the holidays. In a lot of ways my friends have become my surrogate family. NYE is the get-together-with-friends holiday during this time so it's become a little bit more exciting for me than opening gifts at christmas alone in my living room. I've also suggested that NYE is an exciting night because it represents the potential of the new year. Everything that was good or bad about the previous year can be improved upon. I guess it's sort of like a feeling where you can get a fresh start. blah blah blah
I think in reality my love for NYE has something to do with whiskey, dancing and dressing up. Maybe.
This year I decided to buy a ticket for a swanky party at the WAG that promised an open bar, 3 rooms of music, hors d'oeuvres and champagne. I put together an outfit (and looked damn good thank you very much), organized some friends, talked it up to everyone who would listen, got a hotel room for the end of the night so I wouldn't have to worry about cabbing home or finding my way there in my good shoes, and get myself psyched up.
But not too much. Hopefully I remained realistic. I knew that open bar presumably meant free drinks but I also knew that it would mean waiting for drinks with everyone else in attendance. You wouldn't think that it would be any different from any other night at the bar but for some reason it ends up meaning waiting longer for drinks. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that they were only letting people get one drink at a time and they weren't pouring doubles. Maybe the staff was told to serve slow in order to make the alcohol last. Who knows?
My plan for the evening was basically to chill out in my room, have a shower, maybe a nap and maybe hit the pool and sauna. I figured I could get into my outfit for the evening and shuffle over to the WAG without having to bundle up very much.
I invited some friends to join me in the room for a few preparty drinks and so we could arrive as a group. I was optimistic.
So, after organizing myself and packing my bags I headed down to the hotel and checked in. I dropped off my bags and went out to run some errands and pick up some liquor and a sandwich.
Hanging out in a hotel room is boring. Thankfully it's a boredom that is easily counteracted. I got the party started early. By the time Ian, Maria and Steve showed up I was starting to feel the beginning stages of a comfortable tipsiness. Not so much that I was even close to being remotely drunk but warmed up enough that I wouldn't feel desperate to get a drink when I showed up at the party. Around 10 we got ourselves suited up and looking fine and headed over to the WAG.
We arrived and everyone was looking stylish and gorgeous. Most people were dressed up and looking well put together. We dropped off our coats in coat check and started mingling.
There were already long lines for the bars when we arrived. I didn't really feel like going from one line to the next in order to keep a drink in my hand but I certainly wanted to have a few. I was sooooo glad at this point that I had a few drinks at the room beforehand.
There's not a lot to tell about the next 2.5 hours. I mingled, had a couple drinks, and talked with strangers and friends. I saw a lot of people I knew and danced with a lot of people I was meeting for the first time that night.
I'm not sure what happened exactly but shortly after midnight the bars started running out of alcohol or shutting down or something. I had heard a rumour that the bar in the "techno" room had stopped serving and that people had rioted and started throwing glass around. I had been standing at that bar trying to get drinks a few times and I could swear that I saw people sneaking behind the bar to steal bottles. Not just bottles of beer or wine but large presumably full bottles of vodka or gin. Things appeared to deteriorate quite quickly. It went from the bars being closed in the penthouse to the penthouse being shut down and the people up there being corralled down the stair to the main floor where the bars shut down shortly after. The masses were desperate trying to figure out what to do. Should we leave and go to another party? Where is there one? Wasn't there an after party? Did they really run out of booze? What actually happened up there? Who's to blame? What happened? What happened? What happened?
I got an address from a friend and pushed through the crowd hoping to cut the line for coat check. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that people were in the coat check area trying to find their own coats. I was hopeful that no one would walk off with my coat but I wear a black wool Pea coat so someone certainly could make a mistake. I looked around for the label in my jacket knowing exactly what the label in mine looks like and hoping that it's unique amongst the piles of coats.
Finally I found my coat. Even after I confirmed that it was mine by checking the label in the pocket someone walked up and grabbed the coat and challenged me thinking that it was theirs. Things were starting to go in a very bad direction. People were freaking out. I struck up a conversation with a pair of girls (Amanda and Jackie) who were sitting near where I found my coat watching people panic. We chatted about the drink lines and the insanity of the coat check and whether or not we thought the party was a good value. I invited them up to my room for a few drinks and some relaxation before we walked over to the after party over in the exchange.
So we headed up to the room, discovered Ian and Maria laying in bed (sleeping. nothing salacious), divvied up the last of my rye and headed out to the exchange to find the after party.
I'm so shocked that we didn't get jumped walking down ellice and king street after 2 am but somehow we made it.
We arrived at the after party ticketless and prepared to bum rush the door. We were owed... something... for our disappointment with the party and we were gonna get it... damnit.
Someone out front of the building didn't believe that we'd be able to get in successfully but we did it. I basically just said to the security guard that we were supposed to meet people there and never could figure out where to buy tickets (which is true. where were they sold?).
So Jackie, Amanda and I danced and had a few more drinks and laughed and joked and had a good time. I think they were tripping out because out of nowhere Amanda complained that she was having a bad trip and took off home leaving Jackie confused and wondering how she was supposed to retrieve her stuff.
It was nearly 4 o'clock at this point and I was starting to fade out. I grabbed a cab and went back to my room and crawled into bed.
So that was my new year's. I tried to be pretty detailed in parts and not so much in others. I had a really good night last night and I think that this will be a year of new opportunities and beginnings.
I guess from one perspective it might seem like I was disappointed by some of the things that didn't work out with the party at the WAG but ultimately I had an excellent time and go to hang out with some truly awesome people.
I feel really good about what 2007 has the possibility to be.