My New Years Eve this year was by far the best I’ve had in Chicago to date. The Love, The Adventure, The Intrigue, The 4 cabs.

The evening started out with my date (lets call him fashionably late) running behind schedule. My next-door neighbors were getting married, with the ceremony beginning at 8:00pm. I know! Married on NYE? I’ve answered that question tooo many times to count so I’ll not answer it again. Anyway, he arrived around 10 minutes to 8:00pm and we raced to the wedding arriving in an amazing 15 minutes (in Chicago!!!) Once we found parking and our way into the hall, we realized that the wedding ceremony had already begun. We opened the door to the hall a crack and there before us was the Bride and Groom in the middle, no extra set of doors, nothing. We stood outside a moment unsure if we should enter lest we create a disturbance when the door was pushed open from within and the Best Man bid us enter where we quickly made for the cloakroom. Being a bit of an adventurer, I attacked FL (Fashionably Late) and we started making out in the cloakroom.

Moments later, we made our way to empty chairs for the remainder of the ceremony, and it was lovely. The entire wedding party wore Chuck Tailors and the vows brought tears to my eyes (which, for those that don’t know me, is quite a feat considering my emotionless and cold heart). After the ceremony, we hit the bar, the food and the loo. We socialized and mingled until the toasts where the bride and groom were informed of the specifics of their honeymoon. They were given a Honeymoon as a present, but not told where they would be headed (just that they’d need a passport). The speech was both funny and touching (I’m sure there is a word for that, but its late, and I can’t think of it) and they informed the new couple of their trip to Costa Rica for a week of sun, sand and each other.

Honeymoon mystery solved, FL and I snuck out of the hall to rush home to ditch the car and get to the first of our 5 parties on the list. Arriving at home around 11:30pm and searching for parking for 15 minutes, we realized that we wouldn’t make it to the party before the midnight deadline, so we quickly changed into more comfortable clothing and rushed back out (FL with sandwich and champagne in hand) to hail a cab.

This is where it gets a little funny. Walking towards Broadway we knew the moment of midnight was less than 2 minutes away, and paused in an alleyway (FL sandwich and champagne in hand) and waited. I suggested we make out in the alleyway at midnight and he washed down his mouthful of food and leaned in for a little kiss. Spotting the dumpster out of the corner of my eye, I chuckled to myself knowing this would make it into my blog.

We jumped into a cab headed for the party, only to arrive at the address to find it the parking lot of a gas station.
“I’m sure this is the address,” I told FL.
“Maybe you wrote the number down wrong” was his reply.
“No, I remember it was 3912, but there is no 3912″ I shot back
“Lets call Wayne,” he said
“UGH” was all I could say.
After repeated attempts to contact the host, a friend, or anybody with an address to this party we agreed to head home for the information I had so conveniently left sitting on my dresser next to my cell phone.

Arriving back at my place…
“I told you it was 3912″ I gloated
“Um, yeah but the street name is not __________ its _________” was his cheery response.
“Well shit, I give up, lets go to the next party on our list, its much closer.” I said.

Jumping in our 3rd cab of the evening, we headed back out into the night. The party was a blast and was populated by many of the people I hold dear to me. Friends from camping, ex-lovers I still care about, and acquaintances from my days here in Chicago.

We ended the night, after our 4th cab ride, tucking each other into my bed where we stayed for the remainder of the weekend. (except for food and water)

Happy New Year to all, may 2005 bring you happiness, success, good health, and true contentment in your lives.