Ringing in the New Year

Well, here I am back in the States. I was of course sad to leave Madrid, and I miss my friends there everyday, but I have been having a blast since the moment I landed in Philly. I have caught up with a lot of my friends here, made some trips to Solaris and Towey's, my favorite bars in Chestnut Hill, and have been trying my hardest to catch up on a little American cuisine- hoagies, mac and cheese, my mom's meatloaf. I saw pretty much my entire family over Christmas, at both the annual gingerbread house decorating at my grandmother's and the Christmas dinner here at my house. But the best part so far has definitely been my New Year's Eve. Caitlin D, a friend of mine and my brother's, had a party at her new apartment in Old City which I attended with Freddie, my friend Sara, and her friend from school, who is also named Caitlin. I wasn't sure what exactly to expect, but it ended up being an extremely fun party as well as a night of complete debauchery. All day I have been reminiscing with Freddie and wishing I could relive the night. Since that is impossible, I guess I will just have to relive it here for all of you. Some of the highlights:

- Walking into the party, I was confronted almost instantly by Danny D, Caitlins cousin and another Chestnut Hiller. I have known Danny for some years now, but last night there was a distinct difference in his appearance- Danny had grown a perfectly groomed, curled at the tips mustache. He was extremely proud of his facial hair, but also very disappointed that others weren't equally impressed. It was funny, ofcourse, but I don't think I've ever said a nice thing to Danny, so I made fun of him for it the entire night. I begged him to shave it but, delivering a sweet burn to me, he said he would only do so if I shaved MY moustache as well. Ouch.

- Mike Kilkenny ingeniously brought the best thing to the party- a personal breathalizer. We all took turns testing it out, and Mike, who had been at the Eagles game all afternoon, blew a .18 by 7 o'clock, drastically over the legal limit. Needless to say, he was a train wreck all night and, as usual for Kilkenny, a complete sleezebag as well. He made numerous fervent yet poorly executed attempts at hitting on Sara, and late in the evening approached Karen, a well endowed girl at the party, with this glowing line: " Debbie, I'm pretty much a respectable, nice guy but...I really think we should just, like, fuck." He's a regular prince charming, ain't he. Unfortunately, as smooth as he was, he quickly got shot down. He did however score some sweet prom style photos with her before the night was over, in which he tried to grab her tits every shot.

- After five years of unanswered requests, Caitlin's roommate Kim finally got the drink fountain she's been dying for. To anyone and everyone who entered the party, Kim proudly showed off her new gift, and shortly before midnight we filled it up with champagne punch for all to enjoy. It was absolutely delicious, so much so that I just stood next to it and refilled my cup after every sip I took. I thought it was funny, but I quickly stopped when Kilkenny of all people told me that I was being majorly sleazy. I got that painful message loud and clear and immedietely moved away from the fountain.

- It was clearly the night of Michael Kilkenny, who pulled off the best moment of the evening and possibly all of 2006. Waiting upstairs for the bathroom, I noticed that one of the floor boards felt a little soft. I was alarmed by the danger of it, and told Kilkenny to feel it, saying that "someone could fall right through". Well, what does Mike do but stomp his foot down right on that spot and goes straight through the floor. With his leg immersed up to his thigh, I burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter as I tried to pull him out. He had broke all the way through to the kitchen, leaving a giant hole in the ceiling. Unfortunately, though, just as Mike went crashing through, another guest walked through the kitchen door right next to the incident, causing everyone in the room to blame him for it all.

- This morning, I woke up on the living room floor, with little memory of the last hour or so before I wound up there. Apparently, Slats had tried to wake me up to give me a ride home earlier, but I was unresponsive. Maybe if he had played the bongos on my stomach like he had done to Freddie, he would have had more success. Anywho, without a ride, Fred and I had to grab a cab to Suburban Station and take the train home. Still wearing my gold dress and stilleto heels, but with Freddie's blazer on as well, I looked like the ultimate walk of shame. It also caused a lot of attention from everyone we passed- the woman at Dunkin Donuts, some fifteen year old kid in the station and, most of all, the ticket guy on the train. He was extremely amused by my brother and me and how absolutely banged up we looked. He was less amused when, still drunk, I crashed face first into the train door as I attempted to exit. Similarly, my dad was very pleased when I initially came home and asked him to cook me an omelet, but less so when I passed out on the couch for 5 hours afterwards.

Luckily, although I'm upset New Year's is over, I think I have a lot to look forward to this year. I have high expectations for 2007, and its going to be an important year for me: assuming these next few months go as planned, I'll be graduating college, and I guess I will have to face the fact that that probably makes me a grownup now. Its pretty exciting, but also extremely scary since I have no clue what I'll do. Whether I'll start looking for a job, bum it for awhile, or maybe go back to school, I don't know. But one thing about 2007 is sure: as long as there's more nights like the last, its gonna be one hell of a year.