NYD

The last couple of days has been a blur of booze, friends, and ice cold temperatures. I survived but it wasn't a walk in the park. New Year's Eve was uneventful. Place was packed just before midnight. By quarter after at least 25% of the people had left. I guess I don't understand why people feel the need to be out at midnight but then decide to pack it in immediately thereafter. I didn't stay out late. I knew New Year's Day was going to require all of my drinking skills to make it through the day.

I have some friends who insist on leaving the confines of a warm house to go jump into a freezing lake. No, it makes no sense to me. I freeze my ass off on a drive home from the bar. No way I am subjecting myself to more hell. But I will let them.

This year my house was designated at the launch pad. They decided to check out South Shore Park by my house. Word was a smaller group would jump into the lake there. This was much easier to navigate instead of going to the east side and the mobs at Bradford Beach. Friends arrived around 10 and the drinking began. For those going into the water, liquid courage was needed. For others it was just a time to drink again.

After polishing off a case we headed to the lake. A caravan of 4 trucks weaved through the neighborhood and down to the yacht club. It was a very small crowd. There was no one in the water. This seemed confusing at first until we realized what was going on. They were riding bikes into the lake one by one.



They were having fun doing it. I didn't quite understand why they didn't just jump in. Soon enough the 3 people in our group disrobed and jumped off the ice into the water. I was still content to be on the shore wrapped up and warm. We watched the bikes for a bit before deciding to get out of the cold and into a bar. Seeing how this group seems to like tradition we headed to Puddlers Hall. We stopped in last year to warm up and had a good time. This year we didn't know to expect some entertainment.

Soon after we arrived and got some drinks and talked in the back there was a commotion in the front by the bar. Apparently some lady came into the bar, sat down on a stool, talked with the bartender for a bit and passed out. She was out cold and not responsive. One of our group happens to be a cop so he went up front to help. Soon the called the fire department to come help her. They arrived and laid her down on the floor. I began talking to the barkeep to find out what happened. He told me the girl came in and soon zonked out. Before she did she mentioned she was a stripper and had to work later that day. Being the smartass I am, I let a few comments go to insure my place in hell. "So if I spoke to her earlier I could have gotten laid for sure?" "If she is ok, is it wrong to ask for a lapper?" Or when they wheeled her out, "Bye mom, see you at home!" Yep, I am an ass.

Spent some more time talking to the owner of the bar. Seems like a great guy. He kept our beer flowing, even providing the girls with cold ones when they let theirs get warm. He just took over the place a couple months ago. Seems like that is what he does. Takes over bars and gets them up on their feet. I will have to check them out on a Friday night.

Many hours later we headed out in the cold and over to someone's house. Not sure why but he wanted to get a fire going in his backyard. It was like 5 degrees out and he wanted people to sit outside around a fire. Not going to happen. Same person would later pass out 3 times. He disappeared to a neighbor's house and came stumbling back. He passed out face first on the floor. Soon there would be bodies all over the living room in various states of sleep. It was barely 9 and everyone except for the kids were snoring. A quiet end to a fun day.

To think we just need to wait 363 days for this to happen again.