Being There

So far I'm enjoying 2006.

This New Years has been one of the better in recent memory. Just enough fun with some relaxation thrown in. No drinking so much I didn't make it to local midnight. No trying to wipe away a year gone by, just a good time.

I went to the mountain with a couple coworkers to visit coworkfriends cabin. It was fun. Of course, me no evening is complete without some random small adventure. There were two:

I haven't been in a real snowfall for a long long time, so I really wanted go out and play. Middle of the evening I proclaimed "I want to go out and play in the snow." Ended up at the lodge at the base of Ski Bowl. There were bunch of people at the top of the stairs proclaiming Happy New Year's to everyone. I ended up getting offered a bought beer for coming on up and celebrating. There were 3-4 Czech men, a (self-proclaimed, but I'm still not convinced) Irishmen, 1 Czech woman, a French woman, and an American woman up there. Funny, the main hooligan was wearing a tall pointy black plastic "Happy New Years 2006" hat. Everyone called him Kaiser Wilhem. He kept trying to talk people into sliding down the ski runs on a shovel. On my way back from the lodge, ran into some kids asking if I knew where 94.7 was........told them they were halfway there........still not sure how far it actually was to the base of the other runs where I assume the radio station was broadcasting for New Years.....:->

Second was after going to see the midnight fireworks (actually maybe seeing the fireworks was a mini-adventure in itself), but ended up at bar ????????. The floor was sticky/slimy, full of plastic new years hats and (I'm guessing as I no longer can really tell this age from afar) a bunch of 21 year olds. Anyhow, there was a fight in the bar. As many bars as I've been too in Portland.....no bar fights. That and there was close proximity drunken gun fire at 3-4 AM. There is something wrong where you're allowed to get incredibly drunk then shoot off firearms.......

Shift to middle of the week:

Leaving work tonight asked what I was up to; thought I might head for pub night. Been along time since I've had a weekly pub night. Asked if there was a strong group of us at pub night; my answer was no; but as I drove home and on my way to pub night, I realized that there's been a period of time which I've mentally blocked from immediate recognition, and also that I've spent so much time with myself in 2005 that my stock response has turned into not hanging out with anyone.

At pub night there has been my former housemate, Franz, who somehow drug himself down to that place with me for awhile before proclaiming "I'm tired of pub night." And who through differences in personality and other reasons has brought me to today. There was my friend Christian, who when he lived in Portland would skateboard down to the pub for his nightly chess match and who is no longer able to join due to the distance involved. There was the housemate, Eric, who wasn't old enough to drink, but was able to join in pub night because its a "restaurant" and who seemed to enjoy in the busy randomness of the place. There have been other friends who've joined on rare occasions, but that forms the bulks of the group. So I guess at one time I did know how to hang out with others.

In conclusion, surprised at how good a woman's memory is (yes probably stereotyped, my memory is just bad all the time). Was confronted by one of the servers tonight asking me if I'm back permanently or visiting and how I got along in Hawai'i......


Steam rises, Kilauea Caldera, Big Island, Hawai'i, May 2005, by LHD