Happy New Year to all my readers out there.

Last night was probably the best New Year’s Eve that I’ve had in the past few years.

Considering I was traveling for about 12 hours during the day (combined with waking up at the PST equivalent of 5AM), I didn’t even know if I was going to make it to midnight. D.C. to Atlanta, 4 hour layover, then Atlanta to San Diego on a flight that sat on the runway for 45 minutes before taking off because we had to unexpectedly change flight attendants.

I landed at about 9PM and left the airport with my luggage at about 9:30, sorely in need of some real food and a shower. I left P in charge of food while I cleaned up, and we made it to the Pink Elephant by 11. We then proceeded to stand in line for 15 minutes, only to be told by the doorman that we had to be on the list to get in.

This did not bode well. Word to the wise – if your show/event is sold out, you might want to let people know. Put it on your website. Have a sign by the door. Have the bouncer periodically check that the people in line know that it’s sold out.

With no other real options, we headed to the Whistlestop, uncertain if we would even be inside the bar by midnight. But surprisingly, there was no line. When P and I showed up, we ran into Mario outside, who immediately put us on the list without us even asking. Talk about a nice guy. I hope Brian Sweda gets the justice he deserves.

Once inside, we met up with the rest of our friends. I was happy to see Kasey working the bar – I haven’t seen him in so long that I figured he wasn’t working there anymore. But after a tour with Sleeping People, he’s back in town, and provided us with great drink service the whole night. Nevermind that I haven’t seen him in about 8 months. Yet another really nice guy.

After that, things turned out just like a regular fun night out on the town. Everyone got drunk, no one got sloppy, we danced a bit, and 1:30 rolled around without even so much as a yawn from me. There was the obvious cheering and drunken making out (or rather, kisses on the cheek for the guy friends) at midnight, but aside from that, you wouldn’t have known it was New Years Eve. And I think that’s the key to enjoying New Year’s Eve – don’t make it into some big night that will directly change the course of your entire life for the next year (or so you hope). Expectations like that will always fall short. Just treat it as a fun night to get together with really good friends and have a great fucking time.

Special shoutout to Anita who made a kickass brunch today. Bacon ALWAYS cures hangovers.